Method and apparatus for providing latency reduction for flexible duplex communication systems - Patents.com

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving a PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) or a PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel). The present disclosure relates to a communication method and system for convergence of a 5G communication system that supports a higher data transmission rate than a 4G (4th-Generation) system using an IOT (Internet of Things) technology. The present disclosure can be applied to IoT-related technologies such as smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars, connected cars, healthcare, digital education, smart retail, and security and safety services, and intelligent services based on 5G communication technologies.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to transmission of a control channel in a flexible duplex communication system for reduced latency or improved coverage. [Background technology]

[0002] Efforts are being made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems to meet the increasing demand for wireless data traffic after the construction of the 4G communication system. For this reason, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post LTE systems." To achieve higher data transmission rates, 5G communication systems are being considered for implementation in ultra-high frequency (mmWave) bands (e.g., 60 GHz bands). To reduce the propagation loss of radio waves and increase the transmission distance, beamforming, massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output), FD-MIMO (Full Dimensional MIMO), array antennas, analog beam-forming, and large scale antenna technologies are being discussed for 5G communication systems. Furthermore, to improve the system network, technological developments are being carried out in the 5G communication system, such as advanced small cell, cloud Radio Access Network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network, D2D (Device-to-Device) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Points), and receiving end interference cancellation.For 5G communication systems, advanced coding modulation (ACM) technologies such as FQAM (hybrid frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation) and SWSC (sliding window superposition coding), as well as advanced access technologies such as FBMC (filter bank multi carrier), NOMA (non-orthogonal multiple access), and SCMA (sparse code multiple access) are being developed.

[0003] The Internet, a human-centered connection network where humans generate and consume information, is evolving into the Internet of Things (OT), where distributed entities like things exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE) has emerged, combining IoT technology and big data processing technology through connection to cloud servers. As technological elements such as sensing technology, wired / wireless communication and network infrastructure, service interface technology, and security technology are required to realize IoT, sensor networks, M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication, and MTC (Machine Type Communication) are currently being researched. Such an IoT environment can provide intelligent Internet technology services that create new value in human life by collecting and analyzing data generated between connected things. IoT can be applied to various fields such as smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart cars or connected cars, smart grids, healthcare, smart home appliances, and high-end medical services through the convergence and combination of existing information technology (IT) and various industrial applications.

[0004] As a result, various attempts are being made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as sensor networks, MTC (Machine Type Communication), and M2M (Machine-to-Machine) communication can be realized with beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. In addition, the application of Cloud RAN (Radio Access Network) as the aforementioned big data processing technology can be seen as an example of convergence between 5G technology and IoT technology.

[0005] 5G (5th generation) or NR (new radio) mobile communications is receiving increased momentum with global technology activity for various candidate technologies from industry and academia. Candidate enablers for 5G / NR mobile communications include large-scale antenna technology to provide beamforming gain from existing cellular frequency bands to higher frequencies to increase capacity, and support new waveforms (e.g., new radio access technologies (RATs)), thereby flexibly accommodating various services / applications with different requirements, new multiple access methods to support large-scale connections, etc. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a control channel for a flexible duplex communication system with reduced latency. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In one embodiment, a method for transmitting a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) is provided, the method including receiving a configuration for a first one or more PUCCH resources on a first cell and a configuration for a second one or more PUCCH resources on a second cell. The method further includes determining a first PUCCH resource from the first one or more PUCCH resources on the first cell, a second PUCCH resource from the second one or more PUCCH resources on the second cell, and a condition. The method further includes transmitting the PUCCH using the first PUCCH resource if the condition is satisfied, and using the second PUCCH resource if the condition is not satisfied.

[0008] In another embodiment, a user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a transceiver configured to receive a configuration for a first one or more PUCCH resources on a first cell and a configuration for a second one or more PUCCH resources on a second cell. The UE further includes a processor configured to determine a first PUCCH resource from the first one or more PUCCH resources on the first cell, a second PUCCH resource from the second one or more PUCCH resources on the second cell, and a condition. The transceiver is further configured to transmit the PUCCH using the first PUCCH resource if the condition is satisfied, and using the second PUCCH resource if the condition is not satisfied.

[0009] In yet another embodiment, a base station is provided, the base station includes a transceiver configured to transmit a configuration for a first one or more PUCCH resources on a first cell and a configuration for a second one or more PUCCH resources on a second cell, the base station further includes a processor configured to determine a first PUCCH resource from the first one or more PUCCH resources on the first cell, a second PUCCH resource from the second one or more PUCCH resources on the second cell, and a condition, the transceiver is further configured to receive the PUCCH using the first PUCCH resource if the condition is satisfied and using the second PUCCH resource if the condition is not satisfied.

[0010] Other technical features may become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following drawings, descriptions and claims. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a latency reduction procedure can be efficiently performed, thereby reducing signaling overhead and achieving data rate efficiency in an advanced wireless communication system.

[0012] For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals indicate like parts and in which: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example wireless network in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary gNB according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3] 1 illustrates an example UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates an example DL slot structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]1 is a diagram illustrating an example physical uplink (UL) shared channel (PUSCH) transmission or PUCCH transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure for CA operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure for transmitting a PUCCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 13 is a diagram illustrating another example UE procedure for transmitting PUCCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure for determining a cell for periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure for determining transmit power for a CG-PUSCH or PUCCH on one cell of two or more cells in which the UE is configured to transmit a CG-PUCCH or PUSCH in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure for determining time-frequency resources for repetition of PUSCH transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] Before proceeding with the detailed description below, it may be helpful to provide definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent specification. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate" and its derivatives include both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise" and its derivatives mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is an inclusive term meaning "and / or." The phrase "associated with" and its derivatives means "include," "be included within," "interconnect with," "contain," "be contained within," "connect to or with," "couple to or with," "be communicable with," "cooperate with," "interleave," "juxtapose," "be proximate to," "be bound to or with," "have," "have a property of," "have a relationship to or with," and the like. The term "controller" means any device, system, or part thereof that controls at least one operation. The controller may be embodied in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely.The phrase "at least one," when used in conjunction with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items can be used. For example, "at least one of A, B, and C" includes any one of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A, B, and C.

[0015] Furthermore, the various functions described below may be embodied or supported by one or more computer programs, respectively, formed as computer-readable program code and embodied in a computer-readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, instruction sets, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, associated data, or portions thereof configured for embodied in suitable computer-readable program code. The phrase "computer-readable program code" includes types of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer-readable medium" includes any type of medium that can be accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), hard disk drive, compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. "Non-transitory" computer-readable medium excludes communications links that convey wired, wireless, optical, transitory electrical, or other signals. Non-transitory computer-readable medium includes media in which data is permanently stored and media in which data is stored and later overwritten, such as re-recordable optical disks or erasable memory devices.

[0016] Definitions for other specific words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in most cases, such definitions apply to prior and subsequent usage of such defined words and phrases.

[0017] 1-11 discussed below, and the various embodiments used to explain the principles of the present disclosure in this patent specification, are for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention in any manner. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the principles of the present disclosure may be embodied in any suitably configured system or device.

[0018] The following documents are incorporated by reference into this disclosure as if fully set forth herein: 3GPP TS 38.211 v15.6.0, "NR; Physical channels and modulation;" 3GPP TS 38.212 v15.6.0, "NR; Multiplexing and Channel coding;" 3GPP TS 38.213 v15.6.0, "NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Control;" 3GPP TS 38.214 v15.6.0, "NR; Physical Layer Procedures for Data;" 3GPP TS 38.321 v15.6.0, "NR; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification;" and 3GPP TS 38.331 v15.6.0, "NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol Specification."

[0019] In the following Figures 1 to 3, various embodiments are described that are implemented in a wireless communication system and further implemented using OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) or OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) communication technology. The description of Figures 1 to 3 is not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations on the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any appropriately arranged communication system.

[0020] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network illustrated in FIG. 1 is for illustration purposes only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0021] 1, the wireless network includes gNB101 (e.g., a base station (BS)), gNB102, and gNB103. gNB101 communicates with gNB102 and gNB103. gNB101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0022] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 to a first plurality of UEs within the coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes UE 111, which may be located in a small or medium-sized enterprise, UE 112, which may be located in a large enterprise (E), UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS), UE 114, which may be located in a first residential area (R), UE 115, which may be located in a second residential area (R), and UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M) such as a mobile phone, wireless laptop, wireless PDA, etc. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 to a second plurality of UEs within the coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes UE 115 and UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with the UEs 111-116 among each other using 5G / NR, LTE, LTE-A, WiMAX, WiFi, or other wireless communication technology.

[0023] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" may refer to a component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to the network, such as a transmission point (TP), a transmission / reception point (TRP), an enhanced base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G / NR base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a WiFi access point (AP), or other wireless-enabled device. A base station may provide wireless access via one or more wireless communication protocols, such as 5G / NR 3GPP new radio interface / access (NR), long term evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For convenience, the terms "BS" and "TRP" are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to a network infrastructure that provides wireless access to a remote terminal. Additionally, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may refer to any component, such as a "mobile station," a "subscriber station," a "remote terminal," a "wireless terminal," a "receiving point," or a "user equipment." For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to a remote wireless device that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (e.g., a mobile phone or smartphone) or what is generally considered a fixed device (e.g., a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0024] The dotted lines indicate the approximate extents of coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as roughly circular for purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment related to natural and man-made obstructions.

[0025] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-116 include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof for efficient flexible duplex communication operation in the new wireless system. In particular embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof for efficient flexible duplex communication operation in the new wireless system.

[0026] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network, various modifications may be made to FIG. 1. For example, a wireless network may include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Additionally, gNB 101 may directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide the UEs with wireless broadband access to network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 may directly communicate with network 130 and provide the UEs with direct wireless broadband access to network 130. Additionally, gNBs (101, 102, and / or 103) may provide access to other or additional external networks, such as an external telephone network or other type of data network.

[0027] 2 illustrates an exemplary gNB 102 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustrative purposes only, and the gNBs (101 and 103) of FIG. 1 may have the same or similar configurations. However, gNBs may have a variety of different configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation for a gNB.

[0028] 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 205a-205n, multiple RF transceivers 210a-210n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 215 and receive (RX) processing circuitry 220. The gNB 102 further includes a controller / processor 225, a memory 230 and a backhaul or network interface 235.

[0029] The RF transceivers 210a-210n receive incoming RF signals from the antennas 205a-205n, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 210a-210n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are transmitted to RX processing circuitry 220, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 220 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 225 for further processing.

[0030] TX processing circuitry 215 receives analog or digital data (e.g., voice data, web data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 225. TX processing circuitry 215 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. RF transceivers 210a-210n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from TX processing circuitry 215 and upconvert the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via antennas 205a-205n.

[0031] The controller / processor 225 may include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 225 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 210a-210n, the RX processing circuitry 220, and the TX processing circuitry 215 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 225 may further support additional functions, such as advanced wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 225 may support differential weighted beamforming or directional routing operations to effectively steer outgoing signals from the multiple antennas 205a-205n in a desired direction. Any of a variety of other functions may be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 225.

[0032] Additionally, controller / processor 225 can execute programs and other processes, such as OS, that reside in memory 230. Controller / processor 225 can move data in and out of memory 230 as required by the executing processes.

[0033] Further, the controller / processor 225 is coupled to a backhaul or network interface 235. The backhaul or network interface 235 enables the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 235 may support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection. For example, if the gNB 102 is embodied as part of a cellular communication system (e.g., supporting 5G / NR, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 235 may enable the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. If the gNB 102 is embodied as an access point, the interface 235 may enable the gNB 102 to communicate with a wired or wireless local area network or a larger network (e.g., the Internet) over a wired or wireless connection. The interface 235 may include any suitable structure supporting communication over a wired or wireless connection, e.g., Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0034] The memory 230 is coupled to the controller / processor 225. A portion of the memory 230 may include RAM, and another portion of the memory 230 may include flash memory or other ROM.

[0035] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a gNB 102, various changes to FIG. 2 can be made. For example, the gNB 102 can include any number of each of the components illustrated in FIG. 2. As one particular example, an access point can include multiple interfaces 235, and the controller / processor 225 can support a routing function that routes data between different network addresses. As another particular example, although illustrated as including a single instance of a TX processing circuit 215 and a single instance of a RX processing circuit 220, the gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (e.g., one per RF transceiver). Additionally, the various components of FIG. 2 can be combined, subdivided, or omitted, and additional components can be added as needed.

[0036] Figure 3 illustrates an exemplary UE 116 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in Figure 3 is for illustrative purposes only, and the UEs 111-115 of Figure 1 may have the same or similar configurations. However, UEs may come in a variety of different configurations, and Figure 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation for a UE.

[0037] 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, a TX processing circuit 315, a microphone 320, and a receive (RX) processing circuit 325. The UE 116 further includes a speaker 330, a controller / processor 340, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 345, a touch screen 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an OS 361 and one or more applications 362.

[0038] The RF transceiver 310 receives from the antenna 305 an inbound RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts the inbound RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 325 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 330 (e.g., voice data) or to the controller / processor 340 for further processing (e.g., web browsing data).

[0039] TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outbound baseband data (e.g., web data, email, or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 340. TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outbound baseband data and generates a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceiver 310 receives the outbound processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuitry 315 and upconverts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via antenna 305.

[0040] Controller / processor 340 may include one or more processors or other processing devices and may control the overall operation of UE 116 by executing an OS 361 stored in memory 360. For example, controller / processor 340 may control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by RF transceiver 310, RX processing circuitry 325, and TX processing circuitry 315 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, controller / processor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0041] The controller / processor 340 may also execute other processes and programs resident in the memory 360, such as processes for beam management. The controller / processor 340 may move data in and out of the memory 360 as required by the executing processes. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 340 is configured to execute applications 362 based on an OS 361 or in response to signals received from a gNB or an operator. The controller / processor 340 is further coupled to an I / O interface 345 that provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 345 is a communication path between such peripherals and the controller / processor 340.

[0042] Controller / processor 340 is further coupled to a touchscreen 350 and a display 355. An operator of UE 116 can use touchscreen 350 to input data into UE 116. Display 355 can be, for example, a liquid crystal display, a light emitting diode display, or another display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics from a website.

[0043] Memory 360 is coupled to controller / processor 340. A portion of memory 360 may include random access memory (RAM) and another portion of memory 360 may include flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0044] Although FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a UE 116, various modifications to FIG. 3 may be made. For example, various components of FIG. 3 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added as needed. As one particular example, the controller / processor 340 may be divided into multiple processors, e.g., one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, although FIG. 3 illustrates a UE 116 configured as a mobile phone or smartphone, the UE may be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

[0045] Efforts have been made to develop improved 5G / NR or pre-5G / NR communication systems to meet the increased demand for wireless data traffic since the construction of the 4G communication system. Therefore, 5G / NR or pre-5G / NR communication systems are called "Beyond 4G networks" or "post LTE systems". 5G / NR communication systems are considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands (e.g., 60 GHz band) to achieve higher data rates, or in lower frequency bands such as 6 GHz to enable robust coverage and mobility support. To reduce radio wave propagation loss and increase transmission distance, beamforming, MIMO (mass multiple-input multiple-output), FD-MIMO (full dimensional MIMO), array antennas, analog beamforming, large-scale antenna technologies, etc. are being discussed for 5G / NR systems.

[0046] In addition, for 5G / NR communication systems, development is underway to improve advanced small cells, cloud radio access networks (cloud RAN), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communications, wireless backhaul, mobile networks, cooperative communications, CoMP (Coordinated Multi-Points), and receiver-side interference cancellation-based system networks.

[0047] The communication system includes a downlink (DL) which refers to transmission from a base station or one or more transmission points to a UE, and an uplink (UL) which refers to transmission from a UE to a base station or one or more reception points.

[0048] The time unit for DL ​​or UL signaling in a cell is called a slot and can contain one or more symbols. Symbols can also be used in additional time units. The frequency (or bandwidth (BW)) unit is called a resource block (RB). One RB contains a number of subcarriers (SC). For example, a slot can have a duration of 0.5 milliseconds or 1 millisecond and can contain 14 symbols, and an RB can contain 12 SCs with spacing between the SCs of 15 KHz or 30 KHz, etc.

[0049] DL signals include data signals carrying information content, control signals carrying DL control information (DCI), and reference signals (RS), also known as pilot signals. The gNB transmits data information or DCI over a respective physical DL shared channel (PDSCH) or physical DL control channel (PDCCH). The PDSCH or PDCCH can be transmitted over a variable number of slot symbols, including one slot symbol. For simplicity, the DCI format for scheduling PDSCH reception by a UE refers to the DL DCI format, and the DCI format for scheduling PUSCH transmission from a UE refers to the UL DCI format.

[0050] The gNB transmits one or more of multiple types of RS including a channel state information RS (CSI-RS) and a demodulation RS (DMRS). The CSI-RS is mainly for a UE to perform measurements and provide channel state information (CSI) to the gNB. For channel measurement, a non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS) resource is used. For interference measurement reporting (IMR), a CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resource related to a zero power CSI-RS (ZP CSI-RS) configuration is used. The CSI process includes NZP CSI-RS and CSI-IM resources.

[0051] The UE can determine CSI-RS transmission parameters from the gNB via higher layer signaling such as DL control signaling or RRC (radio resource control) signaling. The transmission instance of the CSI-RS can be indicated by DL control signaling or configured by higher layer signaling. The DMRS is transmitted only in the BW of each PDCCH or PDSCH, and the UE can demodulate data or control information using the DMRS.

[0052] 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating example wireless transmit and receive paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmit path 400 may be described as being implemented in a gNB (such as gNB 102), while the receive path 500 may be described as being implemented in a UE (such as UE 116). However, it will be understood that the receive path 500 may be implemented in a gNB and the transmit path 400 may be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the receive path 500 is configured to control a channel for a flexible duplex communication system with reduced latency as described in the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] The transmit path 400 shown in Figure 4 includes a channel coding and modulation block 405, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 415, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 420, an add cyclic prefix block 425, and an up-converter (UC) 430. The receive path 500 shown in Figure 5 includes a down-converter (DC) 555, a remove cyclic prefix block 560, a serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 565, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 570, a parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block 575, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 580.

[0054] As shown in FIG. 4, the channel coding and modulation block 405 receives a set of information bits and applies coding (such as low-density parity-check (LDPC) coding) and modulates (such as Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) the input bits to generate a series of frequency-domain modulation symbols.

[0055] The serial-to-parallel block 410 converts (e.g., demultiplexes) the serially modulated symbols with parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is the IFFT / FFT size used by the gNB 102 and the UE 116. The Size N IFFT block 415 performs an IFFT operation on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time domain output signal. The parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (e.g., multiplexes) the parallel time domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 415 to generate a serial time domain signal. The add cyclic prefix block 425 inserts an inter-cyclic prefix into the time domain signal. The upconverter 430 modulates (e.g., upconverts) the output of the add cyclic prefix block 425 to an RF frequency for transmission over a wireless channel. The signal may be further baseband filtered before converting to an RF frequency.

[0056] The RF signal transmitted from gNB102 reaches UE116 after passing through a wireless channel, and the same operations as those in gNB102 are performed in UE116.

[0057] As shown in FIG. 5, downconverter 555 downconverts the received signal to baseband frequency and remove cyclic prefix block 560 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time domain baseband signal. Serial-to-parallel block 565 converts the time domain baseband signal to parallel time domain signals. Size N FFT block 570 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency domain signals. Parallel-to-serial block 575 converts the parallel frequency domain signals to a series of modulated data symbols. Channel decoding and demodulation block 580 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0058] Each of the gNBs (101-103) may implement a transmission path 400 shown in FIG. 4 for transmitting to the UEs (111-116) on the downlink, and may implement a reception path 500 shown in FIG. 5 for receiving from the UEs (111-116) on the uplink. Similarly, each of the UEs (111-116) may implement a transmission path 400 for transmitting to the gNBs (101-103) on the uplink, and may implement a reception path 500 for receiving from the gNBs (101-103) on the downlink.

[0059] Each of the components of Figures 4 and 5 may be implemented using only hardware or a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components of Figures 4 and 5 may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented using configurable hardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. For example, FFT block 570 and IFFT block 515 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, where the value of size N may be modified depending on the implementation.

[0060] Although the figures are described using FFT and IFFT, this is for illustrative purposes only and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) and IDFT (Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform) functions. It will be understood that the value of the variable N can be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.) for the DFT and IDFT functions, but the value of the variable N can be any integer that is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) for the FFT and IFFT functions.

[0061] Although examples of wireless transmit and receive paths are illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, various modifications to Figures 4 and 5 may be made. For example, various components in Figures 4 and 5 may be combined, further subdivided, or omitted, and additional components may be added as needed. Also, Figures 4 and 5 are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmit and receive paths that may be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture may be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0062] The hybrid slot includes a DL transmission region, a guard period region, and a UL transmission region, similar to a special subframe in the NR specification. For example, the DL transmission region can include PDCCH and PDSCH transmissions, and the UL transmission region can include PUCCH transmissions. For example, the DL transmission region can include PDCCH transmissions, and the UL transmission region can include PUSCH and PUCCH transmissions.

[0063] The UL signal includes a data signal carrying information content, a control signal carrying UL control information (UCI), a DMRS for data or UCI demodulation, a sounding RS (SRS) that enables the gNB to perform UL channel measurement, and a random access (RA) preamble that enables the UE to perform random access. The UE transmits data information or UCI via a respective PUSCH or PUCCH. The PUSCH or PUCCH can be transmitted via a variable number of slot symbols including one slot symbol. The gNB can configure the UE to transmit signals to cells within the UL Bandwidth Portion (BWP) of the cell UL BW.

[0064] The UCI includes hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information indicating correct or incorrect detection of a data transmission block (TB) on the PDSCH, a scheduling request (SR) indicating whether the UE has data in the buffer, and a CSI report that enables the gNB to select appropriate parameters for PDSCH or PDCCH transmission to the UE. The HARQ-ACK information can be configured with smaller granularity for each TB, and may be for each data code block (CB) or for each group of data CBs where the data TB includes multiple data CBs.

[0065] The CSI report from the UE may include a channel quality indicator (CQI) that notifies the gNB of a maximum modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the UE to detect a data TB having a predetermined block error rate (BLER), such as 10% BLER, a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) that notifies the gNB of a method of combining signals from multiple transmitter antennas according to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission principle, a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI) that indicates an index of the CSI-RS used to obtain the CSI report, and a rank indicator (RI) that indicates the transmission rank for the PDSCH.

[0066] UL RS includes DMRS and SRS. DMRS is transmitted only in the BW of the respective PUSCH or PUCCH transmission. The gNB can use DMRS to demodulate the information in the respective PUSCH or PUCCH. SRS is transmitted by the UE to provide UL CSI to the gNB, and in case of a time division duplexing (TDD) system, the SRS transmission can also provide PMI for DL ​​transmission. To synchronize or establish an initial higher layer connection with the gNB, the UE can also transmit a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) as specified in the NR specification.

[0067] Many frequency bands are flexible duplex bands where reception by the UE (or transmission from the gNB) and transmission from the UE (or reception by the gNB) are based on TDD. For example, most bands for 5G / NR are TDD bands. TDD operation offers several important advantages such as using the same band for DL ​​and UL transmission, leading to simpler UE implementation since no duplexer is required, and leveraging channel reciprocity between DL and UL to provide accurate link adaptation. However, TDD operation has several important disadvantages such as increased latency compared to frequency division duplexing (FDD), reduced data rate, and reduced coverage for a given latency because it is not always possible to transmit and receive in the further link direction (UL or DL).

[0068] To address some of the shortcomings of TDD operation, dynamic adaptation of the link direction is considered, where the symbols of a slot, except for some symbols in some slots that support pre-determined transmissions such as synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel (SS / PBCH) blocks, can have a flexible direction (UL or DL) that the UE can determine by scheduling information for reception or transmission. For example, the UE can use the flexible symbol for configured transmission unless the UE is indicated by the DCI format that the flexible symbol is DL or unavailable. A DCI format, such as DCI format 2_0 in the NR specification, can be provided that can indicate the link direction of the flexible symbol in one or more slots using a control channel, and the UE can use the information to determine whether to transmit or receive on the flexible symbol. Nevertheless, in practical deployment, it is not easy for a gNB scheduler to adapt the transmission direction of a symbol without coordination with other gNB schedulers in the network. This is due to, for example, cross-link interference (CLI), where UL transmissions on a cell can experience significant interference from DL transmissions on neighboring cells from the gNB.

[0069] Typical commercial deployments apply UL / DL partitioning of symbols with slots that are fixed or that vary only over a time scale that is relatively large compared to the time scale for transmission from or reception by the UE. The symbols in all slots in a pre-determined number of slots have the same direction (UL or DL) except for some slots that contain bidirectional symbols with some flexible or reserved symbols to provide guard periods for DL-to-UL switching. In this way, the CLI problem is avoided but the problem of increased latency and reduced coverage remains. This problem is becoming more important with the introduction of services that require low latency such as industrial IoT in factory automation as new spectrum is deployed on higher frequency bands where path loss is higher and coverage is reduced compared to spectrum in lower frequency bands.

[0070] One example for avoiding both the CLI problem and the latency and coverage problems of TDD operation is to use Carrier Aggregation (CA) or carrier switching or to use Supplemental UL (SUL) carriers. For example, a UE may be configured with two cells in different frequency bands, where the UL / DL configuration for symbols in many slots of the first cell is complementary to the UL / DL configuration for symbols in many slots of the second cell (except for some symbols in some slots for DL-to-UL switching), so that when the transmission direction is DL on the first cell, the transmission direction on the second cell becomes UL (and vice versa). In general, the UL / DL configuration for different cells may allow the UE to transmit or receive on the first cell when the UE cannot transmit or receive on the second cell, but may not apply to all time instances since both the first cell and the second cell may have DL symbols or UL symbols at the same time.

[0071] This allows the network to use the same UL / DL configuration for symbols across cells in each frequency band, allowing the UE to transmit or receive on either the first or second cell at virtually any time while avoiding CLI issues, thereby reducing or avoiding latency or coverage loss issues. The UE does not necessarily need to be capable of CA operation, as it does not need to receive or transmit on more than one cell simultaneously, and the UE can transmit on either the first or second cell using carrier switching. Similar functionality can be provided for UL transmissions using complementary UL / DL configurations for symbols on the UL and SUL carriers.

[0072] A number of features need to be designed to enable or improve UE operation in complementary UL / DL configurations on different cells or carriers.

[0073] The UE's capability to monitor multiple PDCCH candidates and perform channel estimation via multiple non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for receiving a PDCCH is defined for each combination of (X, Y) symbols, where Y is the maximum number of symbols for a control resource set (CORESET) on which the UE receives a PDCCH, and X is the number of symbols between the first symbols of consecutive CORESETs that are not within Y symbols. For example, for a PDCCH monitoring occasion for the first three symbols of a slot, the combination is defined as (X, Y) = (14, 3). For example, for a PDCCH monitoring occasion for the first three symbols per half slot, the combination is defined as (X, Y) = (7, 3).

[0074] In the case of a UE configured for CA operation between two cells having complementary UL / DL configurations, it is advantageous that the UE does not need to increase the capability requirements for PDCCH monitoring compared to FDD operation with a single cell, similar to FDD operation, and the UE does not receive the PDCCH from two cells simultaneously.

[0075] PUCCH transmission is performed on a primary cell (PCell) and on a UL carrier (not on a SUL carrier) if the primary cell for the UE has two carriers. The primary cell has index 0 (the smallest index among all cells configured for the UE). To reduce the latency for PUCCH transmission and improve the data rate for TB reception by the UE, PUCCH transmission can be extended to be performed on an additional cell / carrier using a complementary UL / DL configuration to the UL carrier on the primary cell, or in general, can have available UL symbols when there are no available UL symbols on the UL carrier of the primary cell. Then, the UE needs to be provided with PUCCH resources on both the two cells or on both the UL and SUL carriers, since PUCCH transmission can be performed on either of the two cells / carriers to reduce latency or improve coverage. The UE can further determine an indication for PUCCH transmission timing using HARQ-ACK information according to the cell / carrier of the PUCCH transmission. The UE must also determine the PUCCH transmission power according to the cell / carrier of the PUCCH transmission.

[0076] The UE may further transmit the PUSCH or PUCCH repeatedly to improve the respective coverage. To avoid substantial latency increase or data rate reduction, the repetition may be performed on different cells / carriers depending on the availability of symbols with UL direction on each cell / carrier.

[0077] Accordingly, various embodiments of the present disclosure recognize a need to allow a UE to determine one cell of a group of cells to transmit a PUSCH or a PUCCH. Various embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize another need to allow a UE to determine a transmit power for a PUSCH or a PUCCH on one cell of a group of cells. Various embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize another need to allow a UE to transmit a PUSCH transmission or a repetition of a PUCCH transmission on a different cell / carrier. Various embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize another need to allow a UE to operate in CA over two cells that use complementary UL / DL configurations without increasing the UE capability requirements for PDCCH monitoring. Various embodiments of the present disclosure further recognize another need to allow a UE to transmit a PUCCH on more than one cell / carrier. Finally, various embodiments of the present disclosure recognize another need to allow a UE to transmit a repetition of a PUCCH transmission on a different cell / carrier.

[0078] Various embodiments of the present disclosure enable a UE to determine power for a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission on one cell and one cell in a group of cells, to transmit a PUSCH transmission or a repetition of a PUCCH transmission on a different cell / carrier, and to operate in CA over two cells that use at least partially complementary UL / DL configurations without increasing UE capability requirements for PDCCH monitoring. Various embodiments of the present disclosure further enable a UE to transmit a PUCCH on more than one cell / carrier. Finally, various embodiments of the present disclosure enable a UE to transmit a repetition of a PUCCH transmission on a different cell / carrier.

[0079] For simplicity, the following embodiments consider that a UE is configured with two cells and that the UE receives or transmits in only one of the two cells at a given time. Unless otherwise specified, in transmitting a channel or signal from a UE, the following embodiments may apply when the UE is configured with an SUL and that the UE transmits in only one of the UL and SUL at a given time, or when the UE is configured with two or more cells having at least partially complementary UL / DL configurations.

[0080] In one embodiment, the UE may configure a sub-carrier spacing (SCS).

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[0081] The term fully complementary UL / DL configuration for a cell pair refers to the case where, when a first symbol on a first cell has a DL direction, one or more symbols on a second cell that overlap in time with the first symbol on the first cell have a UL direction, except for some symbols used for DL-to-UL switching. The term partially complementary UL / DL configuration refers to the case where, when a first symbol on a first cell has a DL direction, one or more symbols on a second cell that overlap in time with the first symbol on the first cell can have either a DL direction or a UL direction.

[0082] For generality, the following considers a partially complementary UL / DL configuration for two cells. In general, a specific implementation of the partially complementary UL / DL configuration is a fully complementary UL / DL configuration.

[0083] In one embodiment, the group of cells is generalized to three or more cells instead of a pair of cells, where the UE monitors the PDCCH for only one cell in the group of cells during the PDCCH monitoring span. For example, having a group of cells instead of a pair of cells can provide additional resources for UL transmission from the UE and increases the flexibility of the network to use partially complementary UL / DL configurations for cells rather than fully complementary. For simplicity, cell selection for PDCCH monitoring is described below for a pair of cells.

[0084] To avoid requiring increased PDCCH monitoring capabilities for a UE configured with two cells having complementary UL / DL configurations, the UE may be expected to monitor the PDCCH for only one cell. For example, the UE may determine one of the two cells to monitor the PDCCH as follows:

[0085] In one example, if a first one or more slots of a first cell overlap in time with a second one or more slots of a second cell, and the first one or more slots do not include any PDCCH monitoring occasions for the UE (e.g., due to the presence of an UL symbol), and the second one or more slots include at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion for the UE, then the UE monitors the PDCCH for the second cell during the second one or more slots and does not monitor the PDCCH for the first cell during this time.

[0086] In one example, if a first one or more slots of a first cell are overlapped in time with a second one or more slots of a second cell, and the first one or more slots include at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion for the UE, and the second one or more slots include at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion for the UE, the UE may be configured or specified in system operation to monitor a PDCCH for at least one of the following: a cell having a smaller SCS configuration for the active DL BWP, a cell having a larger SCS configuration for the active DL BWP, a cell with a smaller index if the active DL BWPs of the first and second cells have the same SCS configuration, a cell with a smaller span Y for all search space sets or a cell with a larger span Y for the search space set, a cell with a smaller index regardless of the SCS configuration, and / or a cell with a smaller or larger span Y for the search space set regardless of the SCS configuration.

[0087] When a first one or more slots of a first cell overlap in time with a second one or more slots of a second cell, and the first one or more slots include at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion for the UE, and the second one or more slots include at least one PDCCH monitoring occasion for the UE, a combination of the above methods can be further applied for the UE to determine a cell for PDCCH monitoring. For example, if the pair of cells includes a primary cell, the UE monitors a PDCCH for the primary cell. For example, if the pair of cells does not include a primary cell, the UE monitors a PDCCH for a cell with a smaller span gap.

[0088] Therefore, even if CA through two cells is configured for a UE, the PDCCH monitoring capability for the UE may be for one cell, and the two cells can be considered as a single cell when determining the partitioning of the UE's PDCCH monitoring capability (number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCEs) between the cells.

[0089] UE has each SCS configuration

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[0090] 6 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure 600 for CA operation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the procedure 600 may include a group of cells having partially complementary UL / DL configurations. A UE configured for CA operation may be configured with an SCS according to the present disclosure.

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[0091] As shown in FIG. 6, in step 610, the UE

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[0092] Next, in step 640, the UE determines the number of DL cells for PDCCH monitoring.

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[0093] In one embodiment, PUCCH transmission from a UE in different cells of the same cell group or different carriers of the same cell is provided. When the UE operates in a flexible duplex band (TDD band), activating PUCCH transmission from the UE in different cells / carriers increases data rates and reduces latency.

[0094] A UE may be configured with two or more cells of the same cell group or two or more carriers of the same cell for PUCCH transmission. This configuration may include individual configuration of PUCCH resources for each cell / carrier, such as provided in the case of PUCCH transmission in a single cell by the higher layer parameter PUCCH-Config known from the NR specifications.

[0095] When the UE detects a DCI format that indicates a time unit (e.g., a slot) for PUCCH transmission, the UE can determine a cell / carrier for PUCCH transmission according to one of the following examples and / or embodiments or a combination thereof.

[0096] In one example, a DCI format such as scheduling PDSCH reception or SPS PDSCH release includes a field indicating the cell / carrier for PUCCH transmission. For example, for a UE configured with two cells / carriers for PUCCH transmission, the field may include 1 bit, and for a UE configured with three or four cells / carriers for PUCCH transmission, the field may include 2 bits.

[0097] In one example, if the UE is configured to transmit the PUCCH in a cell / carrier having a non-overlapping time unit for the PUCCH transmission, the UE may implicitly determine the cell / carrier for the PUCCH transmission based on the indicated PUCCH transmission timing and the indicated PUCCH resource. For example, if the DCI format for scheduling PDSCH reception for the UE indicates a third time unit, and after receiving the PDSCH, the PUCCH resource for the UE's transmission of the PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information and the PUCCH resource of the third time unit include only UL symbols on the first cell and at least one DL symbol on the second cell, the UE transmits the PUCCH to the first cell.

[0098] In one example, when the UE receives the instruction, if the time unit for PUCCH transmission and the corresponding PUCCH resource include only UL symbols on two or more cells / carriers, the UE may transmit the PUCCH based on the previous instruction by higher layer signaling, or may transmit the PUCCH according to a predetermined rule, such as on a cell with a smaller index or on a UL carrier that is not a SUL carrier. For example, referring to a PUCCH transmission slot in a primary cell, if the UE schedules PDSCH reception and receives a DCI format in slot n instructing multiplexing of the HARQ-ACK information in the PUCCH transmission in slot n+k, the UE determines that the PUCCH transmission is performed in the primary cell if (a) the UE determines the PUCCH resource in slot n+k of the primary cell through only flexible or UL symbols, or (b) the UE determines the PUCCH resource in slot n+k of the secondary cell through only flexible or UL symbols, without determining the PUCCH resource in slot n+k of the primary cell through only flexible or UL symbols. The flexible or UL symbol numbers must be consecutive. If the primary cell and secondary cell do not have the same slot duration (do not use the same subcarrier spacing configuration), then slot n+k of the secondary cell is the first slot that is overlapped with slot n+k of the primary cell.

[0099] The above example may also be applied when a field indicating a cell / carrier for PUCCH transmission is not included in a DCI format for scheduling PDSCH reception or SPSPDSCH release (e.g., in the case of DCI format 1_0, when the content and size of DCI format 1_0 cannot be modified). Alternatively, in the case of DCI format 1_0, PUCCH transmission may always be performed in a primary cell, and an additional condition is that the UE may detect DCI format 1_0 in the PDCCH received by the common search space.

[0100] If the UE is configured to transmit the PUCCH in cells / carriers with different SCS configurations, the time unit may be defined according to one of the SCS configurations, e.g., a smaller SCS configuration (having a smaller subcarrier spacing and a larger symbol duration) or according to the SCS configuration of the primary cell. For example, if the UE is configured to transmit the PUCCH in a first cell and a second cell, the time unit may be one slot and the SCS configuration for the first cell may be

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[0101] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure 700 for transmitting a PUCCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the procedure 700 according to the present disclosure is for a UE configured to transmit a PUCCH via two cells or two carriers of any cell to determine a cell or carrier for PUCCH transmission based on an indication in a DCI format. The embodiment of the UE procedure 700 shown in FIG. 7 is for illustrative purposes only. One or more components shown in FIG. 7 may be embodied in specialized circuitry configured to perform the functions described, or one or more components may be embodied by one or more processors that execute instructions to perform the functions described. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0102] As shown in Figure 7, the UE is configured to transmit PUCCH in two cells in step 710. The configuration may include individual configuration of PUCCH resources for each of the two cells, and individual configuration of UCI multiplexing for the PUCCH and other parameters related to the determination of PUCCH transmit power. In step 720, the UE detects a DCI format that includes a field indicating the cell for PUCCH transmission.

[0103] For example, the DCI format may be DCI format 1_1 for scheduling PDSCH reception or SPS PDSCH release for the UE, and the PUCCH may include HARQ-ACK information in response to the decoding result of the TB in the PDSCH or in response to the detection of the SPS PDSCH release. For example, the field may include one bit with a binary "0" value indicating a first cell of two cells (by cell index or configuration) and a binary "1" indicating a second cell of two cells. In step 730, the UE determines whether the value of the field indicates the first cell. If the value of the field indicates the first cell, in step 740, the UE transmits the PUCCH on the first cell, otherwise, in step 750, the UE transmits the PUCCH on the second cell.

[0104] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating another exemplary UE procedure 800 for transmitting a PUCCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the procedure 800 according to the present disclosure is for a UE configured to transmit a PUCCH via two cells or two carriers of any cell to determine a cell or carrier for PUCCH transmission based on a PUCCH transmission timing. The embodiment of the UE procedure 800 shown in FIG. 8 is for illustration only. One or more components shown in FIG. 8 may be embodied in specialized circuitry configured to perform the functions described, or one or more components may be embodied by one or more processors that execute instructions to perform the functions described. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0105] As shown in FIG. 8, in step 810, the UE is configured to transmit a PUCCH in two cells. In step 820, the UE detects a DCI format including a field indicating a time unit and a PUCCH resource for PUCCH transmission. For example, the time unit may be a slot of the cell having the smaller slot duration or a slot of the primary cell. In step 830, the UE determines whether the PUCCH resource in the indicated time unit on the first cell of the two cells includes at least one DL symbol. If the PUCCH resource in the indicated time unit on the first cell of the two cells includes at least one DL symbol, in step 840, the UE transmits a PUCCH to the second cell of the two cells. The UE does not expect the PUCCH resource to include at least one DL symbol in either of the two cells. In step 850, when the PUCCH resource in the indicated time unit on the first cell of the two cells does not include at least one DL symbol, the UE determines one of the two cells for PUCCH transmission based on a prior configuration by a higher layer in the case where the indicated PUCCH resource in both of the two cells includes only UL symbols, or transmits the PUCCH to the cell of the two cells with the smaller index, such as the primary cell.

[0106] Various embodiments of the present disclosure may enable a UE to determine a cell of a group of cells for transmitting a PUSCH or a PUCCH. Various embodiments of the present disclosure may further enable a UE to determine a transmit power for a PUSCH or a PUCCH for a cell in the group of cells. Finally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may enable a UE to transmit repetitions of a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission on different cells / carriers.

[0107] In one embodiment, a decision by the UE is made for one cell in a group of cells for PUSCH or PUCCH transmission.

[0108] The UE transmits the PUSCH in response to DCI format detection for scheduling the PUSCH transmission or in response to higher layer configuration of transmission parameters, the latter being referred to as a Configured Grant (CG) PUSCH transmission. CG PUSCH transmission is beneficial for a variety of reasons, including avoiding the overhead required to transmit a PDCCH, which provides the DCI format for scheduling the PUSCH transmission, and reducing latency because the UE does not need to detect the DCI format for scheduling the PUSCH transmission before transmitting the PUSCH after first transmitting the SR.

[0109] To minimize or reduce latency of CG-PUSCH transmission for operation in flexible duplex bands, a gNB can configure a UE with CG-PUSCH resources on two or more cells / carriers and the network can use complementary UL / DL configurations on two or more cells such that the UE can transmit CG-PUSCH at virtually any time. This configuration can include, for example, individual configuration of CG-PUSCH resources for each cell / carrier, such as provided in the case of PUSCH transmission on a single cell by the higher layer parameter PUSCH-Config of the NR specifications.

[0110] Similar to CG-PUSCH transmission, for PUCCH transmissions configured by higher layers, such as PUCCH transmissions with periodic or semi-persistent CSI, SR or HARQ-ACK information in response to SPS PDSCH reception, the gNB may configure the UE with respective PUCCH resources on two or more cells, such that during a given period of PUCCH transmission with UCI type, the UE may switch PUCCH transmissions in other cells other than the primary cell if at least one symbol of each PUCCH resource on the primary cell is not an UL symbol and the symbol of each PUCCH resource on the secondary cell is an UL symbol. If no PUCCH resource exists in any cell with no UL symbol, the UE may drop the PUCCH transmission, or the UE may transmit PUCCH on consecutive UL symbols of the PUCCH resource (if present) as the PUCCH resource on the primary cell.

[0111] 9 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure 900 for determining a cell for periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE procedure 900 illustrated in FIG. 9 is for illustrative purposes only. One or more components illustrated in FIG. 9 may be embodied in specialized circuitry configured to perform the functions described, or one or more components may be embodied by one or more processors executing instructions to perform the functions described. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0112] As shown in FIG. 9, in step 910, the UE is configured with a periodicity and PUCCH resource for periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH transmission in each cell of the group of cells. The UE may additionally be configured with an offset for PUCCH transmission. In the PUCCH transmission time occasions that the UE determines for the cells in the group of cells arranged according to the periodicity and offset (if provided) of PUCCH transmission and in ascending order of their respective cell indexes, the UE sets the cell for PUCCH transmission as the first cell in step 920 and determines whether all symbols of the PUCCH resource are UL symbols in step 930. If all symbols of the PUCCH resource are UL symbols, the UE transmits the PUCCH using the PUCCH resource on the cell in step 940. If all symbols of the PUCCH resource are not UL symbols, the UE repeats step 930 considering the next cell in the group of cells in step 950.

[0113] In one embodiment, power determination by the UE is provided for periodic or semi-persistent PUCCH transmissions or CG-PUSCH transmissions on one cell / carrier among two or more cells / carriers of a cell group.

[0114] In addition to the gNB providing the UE with CG-PUSCH resources or periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH resources on multiple cells, the gNB must provide the UE with a means by which the UE can determine the transmission power to adjust channel fading so that the transmission power is not too high to create interference in neighboring cells, and not too low so that the reception reliability of data information and UCI is degraded. The UE determines the power for CG-PUSCH or PUCCH transmission using an open roof power control component that adjusts the path loss and target reception power on each cell and a closed roof power control component that adjusts the channel fading on each cell. The open roof power control component can be provided to the UE by the gNB, for example, via individual configuration of a per-cell value, as described in the NR specifications. The UE can further measure the path loss to determine the power for transmission on the cell based on reception of an RS, such as CSI-RS, on the cell. It is also possible that after a group of cells that can assume the same path loss, such as in-band cells, is configured on the UE, the UE can measure the path loss based on RS reception on one cell in the group of cells.

[0115] The closed roof power control component is a transmission power control (TPC) command that the gNB must provide to the UE frequently enough to accommodate the fading channel changes that the UE experiences. In the case of CG-PUSCH transmission or periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH transmission, the TPC command is provided by a DCI format, for example, a DCI format referred to as DCI format 2_2 in the NR specifications, with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by the TPC-PUSCH-RNTI or TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, respectively. In order for the UE to be able to determine the transmit power for the CG-PUSCH or periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH on any cell configured to transmit the CG-PUSCH or periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH, the gNB must provide a TPC command for that cell.

[0116] The gNB may configure the UE with the number of TPC commands for the number of cells having CG-PUSCH transmission in DCI format scrambled in TPC-PUSCH-RNTI or the number of TPC commands for the number of cells having periodic / semi-persistent PUCCH transmission in DCI format scrambled in TPC-PUCCH-RNTI. The positions of the TPC commands may be consecutively arranged in ascending order of the cell index in the DCI format, and only the position of the first TPC command (for the cell with the smallest index) may be provided. Since each TPC command contains the same number of bits, the UE may determine the position of the TPC command for CG-PUSCH or PUCCH transmission in the cell other than the cell with the smallest index. Similar to the path loss determination, it is also possible that a group of cells to which the same TPC command is applicable, such as cells with adjacent spectrum, is configured in the UE, and the UE may determine the power of the PUCCH transmission (or PUSCH transmission) based on the same sum of TPC command values ​​(accumulated TPC command state) for any cell in the group of cells. For example, the UE may determine a power adjustment to make at a standard or predetermined transmit power based on the sum of the TPC command values, and then determine the transmit power based on the power adjustment. A group of cells for which the UE can use the same path loss measurement to determine the PUCCH transmit power for any cell in the group of cells may be the same as a group of cells for which the UE can use the same TPC command value to determine the PUCCH transmit power. For example, the UE may determine the PUCCH transmit power (or PUSCH transmit power) on a primary cell or a secondary cell using the same path loss measurement and the same value for the sum of the TPC command values.

[0117] 10 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure 1000 for determining transmit power for a CG-PUSCH or PUCCH on one of two or more cells in which the UE is configured to transmit a CG-PUCCH or PUSCH according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE procedure 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10 is for illustrative purposes only. One or more components illustrated in FIG. 10 may be embodied in specialized circuitry configured to perform the functions described, or one or more components may be embodied by one or more processors that execute instructions to perform the functions described. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0118] As shown in Fig. 10, in step 1010, the UE is configured to transmit CG-PUSCH or PUCCH on N>1 cells. In step 1020, a search space set for detecting DCI format 2_2 CRC-scrambled by TPC-PUSCH-RNTI if DCI format 2_2 provides a TPC command for CG-PUSCH transmission or by TPC-PUCCH-RNTI if DCI format 2_2 provides a TPC command for CG-PUSCH transmission is provided to the UE along with the location of DCI format 2_2 TPC command for CG-PUSCH transmission or PUCCH transmission on a first cell among N>1 cells. In step 1030, the UE detects DCI format 2_2 and obtains N TPC commands. In step 1040, the UE determines an n-th cell for transmitting CG-PUSCH or PUCCH, and adjusts its transmission power using the n-th TPC command among the N TPC commands. If the UE is configured by a higher layer to apply TPC command values ​​for CG-PUSCH or PUCCH transmission on more than one cell from the group of cells, the number of TPC commands provided by DCI format 2_2 may be less than N, and may be as little as one TPC command if the UE applies the same TPC command values ​​for CG-PUSCH or PUCCH transmission on any cell in the group of cells.

[0119] In one embodiment, repetition is provided for PUSCH transmission or PUCCH transmission on multiple cells. For simplicity, the following description considers PUSCH transmission with repetition, but the same principles also apply to PUCCH transmission with repetition. Also, for simplicity, the following description considers a UE configured with a group of two or more cells to select for repetition of PUSCH transmission, but the same principles apply when the UE is configured with a group of two or more carriers of one cell or with two or more cells and a group of two or more carriers of one cell. For simplicity, PUSCH transmission with repetition is considered below, but this embodiment is also directly applicable to PUCCH transmission with repetition.

[0120] A PUSCH transmission with repetitions can be scheduled to the UE by the gNB in ​​a DCI format or can be configured by a higher layer (e.g., CG-PUSCH). When a PUSCH transmission is scheduled by a DCI format, the number of repetitions can be indicated by a field of the DCI format such as a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field or a dedicated field, or can be provided to the UE in advance by a higher layer. In the case of a CG-PUSCH transmission, the number of repetitions can be provided by a higher layer together with other parameters for the CG-PUSCH transmission.

[0121] When PUSCH transmission repetition is performed on a single cell / carrier operating in a flexible duplex frequency band, if the number of symbols for repetition indicated by the Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field of the DCI format or provided by a higher layer in the case of CG-PUSCH does not include only UL symbols (symbols with flexible transmission direction) but includes DL symbols or reserved symbols, the UE may not be able to transmit the repetition. In this case, the UE may stop the repetition, thereby reducing reception reliability for PUSCH data information or UCI, or the UE may postpone the repetition, which may increase latency and reduce the data rate.

[0122] To avoid the above issues, the gNB may configure the UE to send repetitions of a PUSCH transmission on multiple cells / carriers, where the multiple cells / carriers use complementary UL / DL configurations such that if a repeated symbol does not include only UL (or flexible) symbols for a first cell / carrier, such a repeated symbol includes only UL (or flexible) symbols for a second cell / carrier.

[0123] When the gNB schedules a PUSCH transmission on a cell / carrier to the UE via a DCI format - where the PUSCH transmission is configured / instructed to be repeated and the UE is configured to select one cell / carrier from a group of two or more cells for transmitting the repetition of the PUSCH transmission - the UE needs to determine the respective time-frequency resources for the cell it has selected.

[0124] The DCI format indicates the time-frequency resources for the numerology of the indicated cell. The indicated cell may be the same as the cell that received the PDCCH providing the DCI format in case of self-scheduling, or may be indicated by the Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) of the DCI format in case of cross-carrier scheduling. The UE may expect that the first iteration for PUSCH transmission may be performed on the cell indicated by the DCI format, or may be performed on any cell of a group of cells.

[0125] For a cell indicated by a DCI format, the bandwidth and duration for PUSCH transmission may be determined by the number of RBs and the number of symbols indicated by the DCI format for the SCS of the cell, respectively. To repeat PUSCH transmission on other cells that are not indicated by the DCI format, the determination of time-frequency resources by the UE and the gNB must be established.

[0126] In one example, the time-frequency resources for each repetition of the PUSCH transmission are the same regardless of the SCS of the cell used for the repetition of the PUSCH transmission and are indicated by the DCI format associated with the indicated cell of the PUSCH transmission.

[0127] Index dictated by DCI format

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[0128] cell

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[0129] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example UE procedure 1100 for determining time-frequency resources for repetition of PUSCH transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, the procedure 1100 may be for a UE to determine time-frequency resources for repetition of PUSCH transmission according to the present disclosure, where the PUSCH transmission is scheduled according to a DCI format indicating a first cell, and the repetition of PUSCH transmission is performed on a second cell. The embodiment of the UE procedure 1100 shown in FIG. 11 is for illustrative purposes only. One or more components shown in FIG. 11 may be embodied in specialized circuitry configured to perform the functions referred to, or one or more components may be embodied by one or more processors executing instructions to perform the functions referred to. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0130] As shown in FIG. 11, in step 1110, the UE is configured with a group of cells to select for repeating PUSCH transmission on the cells. In step 1120, the UE schedules PUSCH transmission and detects the first cell and the DCI format for PDCCH reception indicating the time-frequency resources on the first cell for PUSCH transmission. Alternatively, the UE can be configured with higher layer signaling parameters for CG-PUSCH transmission and the cell. In case of self-carrier scheduling, the cell indication is implicit and the first cell is the same as the PDCCH receiving cell. In case of cross-carrier scheduling, the cell indication is explicit and is provided by the CIF field of the DCI format. Alternatively, the first cell may be pre-configured by a higher layer and independent of the cell for PDCCH reception or the cell indicated by the CIF field in the DCI format (if any).

[0131] In step 1130, the UE determines a second cell for the repetition of the PUSCH transmission. The determination of the second cell may be based on the availability of a number of consecutive UL (or flexible) symbols on the cell, and if such availability exists in many cells, the UE may, for example, select a cell with a smaller index among the many cells. In step 1140, the UE determines a second cell for the repetition of the PUSCH transmission on the second cell.

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[0132] In one example, regardless of the SCS of a cell used for the repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the number of RBs and the number of symbols for each repetition of the PUSCH transmission are the same and are indicated by the DCI format. If a first repetition is performed on a first cell using a first SCS configuration and a second repetition is performed on a second cell using a second SCS configuration, the second repetition is performed via a different bandwidth / number of RBs and a different number of symbols than the first repetition when the SCS configuration on the first cell is different from the SCS configuration on the second cell.

[0133] In one example, a reference SCS configuration for repetition of PUSCH transmission

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[0134] In one example, a combination of the above examples and / or embodiments can be applied. For example, for a repetition of PUSCH transmission on a cell, the UE can determine the number of RBs as in the above examples and / or embodiments and can determine the number of symbols as in the above examples and / or embodiments.

[0135] The above examples and / or embodiments may also be applied to CG-PUSCH transmission, where instead of the number of RBs, number of symbols and indication for the cell for PUSCH transmission being provided to the UE by the DCI format, the indication is provided to the UE by a higher layer.

[0136] Although the present disclosure has been described in exemplary embodiments, various changes and modifications may be suggested to those skilled in the art. The present disclosure is intended to include such changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Nothing in this application should be construed as indicating that a particular element, step or function is an essential element that must be included in the claims. The scope of patentable subject matter is defined by the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0137] 102 gNB 205 Antenna 210 RF Transceiver 215 Transmit (TX) processing circuit 220 Receive (RX) processing circuit 225 processor 230 Memory 235 Network Interface

Claims

1. 1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for transmitting a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), comprising: confirming a PUCCH configuration for a primary cell and a PUCCH configuration for a secondary cell, and PUCCH power information for the primary cell and PUCCH resource information for the primary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the primary cell, and PUCCH power information for the secondary cell and PUCCH resource information for the secondary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the secondary cell; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format including first information for a slot associated with transmission of the PUCCH and second information indicating whether the PUCCH is transmitted on a primary cell or a secondary cell, the second information being configured with 1 bit; transmitting the PUCCH from one of the primary cell or the secondary cell indicated by the second information.

2. The method described in claim 1, wherein the DCI format further includes third information for resources associated with transmitting the PUCCH.

3. The method described in claim 1, wherein the DCI format is DCI format 1_1 for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

4. transmitting the PUCCH with multiple repetitions; The first repetition of the PUCCH is transmitted in one of the primary cell or the secondary cell indicated by the second information; The method of claim 1 , wherein the second repetition of the PUCCH is transmitted on another cell determined by the UE. receiving a transmit power control (TPC) command value associated with the primary cell and a DCI format for the TPC command value associated with the secondary cell; 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a power adjustment for transmission of the PUCCH based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell and a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing power adjustment comprises determining a power for the PUCCH. If the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the primary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell, and the PUCCH is transmitted at the power on the primary cell; 6. The method of claim 5, wherein if the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the secondary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell, and the PUCCH is transmitted at the power on the secondary cell.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a value of 0 of the second information indicates the primary cell, and a value of 1 of the second information indicates the secondary cell.

8. A user equipment (UE), a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; a processor operatively connected to the transceiver; The processor, A PUCCH (physical uplink control channel) configuration for a primary cell and a PUCCH configuration for a secondary cell are confirmed, and PUCCH power information for the primary cell and PUCCH resource information for the primary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the primary cell, and PUCCH power information for the secondary cell and PUCCH resource information for the secondary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the secondary cell; A downlink control information (DCI) format including first information for a slot associated with the transmission of a PUCCH and second information indicating whether the PUCCH is transmitted on a primary cell or a secondary cell is received, the second information being configured as 1 bit; A user terminal configured to transmit the PUCCH from one of the primary cell or the secondary cell indicated by the second information.

9. A user terminal (UE) as described in claim 8, wherein a value of 0 of the second information indicates the primary cell, and a value of 1 of the second information indicates the secondary cell.

10. The DCI format is DCI format 1_1 for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), The user equipment (UE) of claim 8 , wherein the DCI format further includes third information regarding resources associated with transmission of the PUCCH.

11. The transceiver is further configured to transmit the PUCCH with multiple repetitions; The first repetition of the PUCCH is transmitted in one of the primary cell or the secondary cell indicated by the second information; The user equipment (UE) of claim 8 , wherein the second repetition of the PUCCH is transmitted on another cell determined by the UE.

12. The processor receives a transmit power control (TPC) command value associated with the primary cell and a DCI format for the TPC command value associated with the secondary cell; and performing power adjustment for transmission of the PUCCH based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell and a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell. The processor is configured to determine a power for the PUCCH to perform the power adjustment; If the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the primary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell, and the PUCCH is transmitted at the power on the primary cell; 9. The user equipment (UE) of claim 8, wherein if the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the secondary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell, and the PUCCH is transmitted at the power on the secondary cell.

13. A base station, a transceiver configured to transmit and receive signals; a processor operatively connected to the transceiver; The processor, A PUCCH (physical uplink control channel) configuration for a primary cell and a PUCCH configuration for a secondary cell are configured, PUCCH power information for the primary cell and PUCCH resource information for the primary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the primary cell, and PUCCH power information for the secondary cell and PUCCH resource information for the secondary cell are configured based on the PUCCH configuration for the secondary cell; Transmit a downlink control information (DCI) format including first information for a slot associated with the transmission of a PUCCH and second information indicating whether the PUCCH is transmitted on a primary cell or a secondary cell, the second information being configured of 1 bit; A base station configured to receive the PUCCH from one of the primary cell or the secondary cell indicated by the second information.

14. The transceiver is further configured to transmit a DCI format for a transmit power control (TPC) command value associated with the primary cell and a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell; determining a power for the PUCCH based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell and a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell; If the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the primary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the primary cell, and the PUCCH is received at the power on the primary cell; 14. The base station of claim 13, wherein if the second information indicates that the PUCCH is transmitted on the secondary cell, the power is determined based on a TPC command value associated with the secondary cell, and the PUCCH is received with the power on the secondary cell.

15. A value of 0 of the second information indicates the primary cell, and a value of 1 of the second information indicates the secondary cell; The base station of claim 13, wherein the DCI format is DCI format 1_1 for scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

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