Uplink transmission using a plurality of codewords

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a UE, a network node, and a method for uplink transmission with multiple codewords, the method in a UE for uplink transmission with multiple codewords includes performing uplink transmission with multiple codewords with one or more network nodes, the method in a network node for uplink transmission with multiple codewords includes performing uplink transmission with multiple codewords with the UE.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] [Cross - Reference to Related Applications] This application claims priority to PCT International Application No. PCT / CN2021 / 114080, filed on August 23, 2021, under the title "Uplink Transmission with Multiple Codewords", which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to user equipment (UE), network nodes, and methods for uplink transmission with multiple codewords.

Background Art

[0003] With the development of electronic and communication technologies, mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and in - vehicle devices have become an important part of our daily lives. To support a large number of mobile devices, a high - efficiency radio access network (RAN) such as the 5th - generation (5G) new radio (NR) RAN is required.

[0004] To enable data to be carried across 5G NR RAN, data and information are encoded into a number of data channels. By encoding data into various channels, the 5G communication system can manage data transfer in an orderly manner, the system can understand what kind of data is arriving, and thus process the data in the required manner. There are many types of data that need to be transferred. Naturally, user data needs to be transferred, but in addition to control for managing the wireless communication link, data for providing synchronization, access, etc. is also the same. All of these functions are essential and require data transfer on the RAN. Information In addition, data for providing synchronization, access, etc. is also the same. All of these functions are essential and require data transfer on the RAN.

[0005] To group the data to be transmitted on the 5G NR RAN, the data is organized in a very logical way. For the data transmitted over the wireless communication link, since there are many different functions, they need to be clearly marked and have a defined position and format. To ensure this, several different forms of data "channels" are used. The higher-level ones are "mapped" or accommodated to others until finally reaching the physical level, and a channel accommodates the data from a higher-level channel.

[0006] In this way, there is a logical and manageable flow of data from the upper level of the protocol stack to the physical layer.

[0007] There are three main types of data channels used for 5G RAN, and the hierarchy is given as follows accordingly.

[0008] - Logical channel: A logical channel can be one of two sets, namely the control channel and the traffic channel: · Control channel: The control channel is used for the transfer of data from the control plane. · Traffic channel: The traffic logical channel is used for the transfer of user plane data.

[0009] - Transport channel: It is the multiplexing of the logical data to be transported by the physical layer and that channel on the wireless interface.

[0010] - Physical channel: The physical channel is the one closest to the actual transmission of data over the radio access network / 5G radio frequency (RF) signal. These are used to carry data on the wireless interface.

[0011] Physical channels are often mapped with higher-level channels to provide specific services. Additionally, physical channels carry payload data or details of unique data transmission characteristics such as modulation methods, multiplexing of reference signals, transmission power, RF resources, etc.

[0012] 5G physical channels are used to transport information on the actual radio interface. They are mapped with transport channels and also include various physical layer data required for maintaining and optimizing the radio communication link between the UE and the base station (BS).

[0013] For each of the uplink and downlink, there are three physical channels: for the downlink, the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), and for the uplink, the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

Summary of the Invention

[0014] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method in a UE for uplink transmission with multiple codewords is provided. The method includes performing uplink transmission with multiple codewords with one or more network nodes.

[0015] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to at least one of the one or more network nodes, a message indicating whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords is supported by the UE. In some embodiments, the message indicates at least one of whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords based on configured grant (CG) is supported by the UE, whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords based on type 1 CG is supported by the UE, whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords based on type 2 CG is supported by the UE, and whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords based on dynamic grant (DG) is supported by the UE. In some embodiments, the message indicates only whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords based on DG is supported by the UE. In some embodiments, after the step of transmitting the message, the method further includes receiving, from the at least one network node, a configuration indicating whether a single codeword or a plurality of codewords is to be used by the UE for its uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the configuration is received via UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0016] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission or a DG-based uplink transmission, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, at least one downlink control information (DCI) message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the DCI message includes at least one field for at least one of: - a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), - a new data indicator (NDI), and - a redundancy version (RV). In some embodiments, the DCI message is a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the DCI message is a message in DCI format 0_0, 0_1, or 0_2. In some embodiments, the DCI message is not a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the step of receiving a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission from at least one of the network nodes includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a plurality of DCI messages for jointly scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the plurality of DCI messages includes at least a first DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a first part of the plurality of codewords and a second DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a second part of the plurality of codewords.

[0017] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, an RRC message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the RRC message includes at least one field for at least one of: - MCS index, - MCS table, - information for precoding and number of layers, and - sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI). In some embodiments, the RRC message includes a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element, and the information element includes at least one of: - an IE named precodingAndNumberOfLayers2ndTB for configuring information for precoding and number of layers for the codeword, - an IE named srs-ResourceIndicator2ndTB for configuring the SRI for the codeword, and - an IE named mcsAndTBS2ndTB for configuring modulation order, target code rate, and / or transport block (TB) size for the codeword.

[0018] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, an RRC message indicating the maximum number of codewords for the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the RRC message includes at least one of: an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for any uplink transmission to the at least one network node; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByRRC within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by RRC signaling; and an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named ConfiguredGrantConfig that indicates the maximum number of codewords for a CG-based uplink transmission.

[0019] In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is targeted at two or more of the above network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission includes at least one or more first transmission layers targeted at a first node among the two or more network nodes, and one or more second transmission layers targeted at a second node among the two or more network nodes. In some embodiments, at least two of the above transmission layers are transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, all of the above transmission layers are transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, for at least two of the two or more network nodes, the uplink transmission includes the same or different number of transmission layers targeted at the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, for at least two of the two or more network nodes, the uplink transmission includes the same or different number of transmission layers targeted at the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is a DG-based uplink transmission or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages received by the UE for scheduling the uplink transmission include, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, at least one of -MCS, -RV, -transmission precoding matrix indicator (TPMI) and / or number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and -one or more SRIs. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages received by the UE for scheduling the uplink transmission include, for each of the plurality of codewords, at least one of -MCS, -RV, -TPMI and / or number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and -one or more SRIs.In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages either include a single SRI or do not include an SRI for at least one of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include one or more SRIs for at least one of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages either include a single SRI or do not include an SRI for each of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include one or more SRIs for each of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, a first SRI configured for a first codeword indicates an SRS resource from a first SRS resource set, and a second SRI configured for a second codeword indicates an SRS resource from a second resource set different from the first SRS resource set.

[0020] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, from a network node, a message indicating that at least one of the plurality of codewords is invalidated, and invalidating the at least one codeword together with the network node to perform another uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the message is a DCI message including a plurality of fields, and a combination of one or more specific values among the plurality of fields indicates that the corresponding codeword is invalidated.

[0021] In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message indicating a configuration for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port for the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates the configuration for the DMRS port for the plurality of codewords. Single It is a DCI message including an antenna port field. In some embodiments, the Single antenna port field is decoded by at least one of: - referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less and the conversion precoder is deactivated; - referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4 and the conversion precoder is deactivated; and - referring to one or more third antenna port tables when the conversion precoder is activated. In some embodiments, the Single antenna port field is decoded as follows: - referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less and the conversion precoder is deactivated; - referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4 and the conversion precoder is deactivated; - referring to one or more third antenna port tables when the conversion precoder is activated.

[0022] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the DCI message indicating that there is no uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) data to be transmitted in the uplink transmission, and the step of performing the uplink transmission includes performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of uplink control information (UCI) mapped to one or more codewords.

[0023] In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, a second UCI having a second UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword, and the second UCI type priority is lower than the first UCI type priority. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs has one of a plurality of UCI type priorities, a first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority lower than the first UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, at least two of the listed UCI type priorities are ordered from highest to lowest in the order of the following list, which list is: Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest - ACKnowledgment (HARQ-ACK), Scheduling Request (SR), Channel State Information (CSI) with a higher CSI priority, and CSI with a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the UCI type priorities are ordered from highest to lowest as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher CSI priority, and CSI with a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the step of performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to different codewords respectively includes constructing a bit sequence by concatenating the plurality of UCIs in descending or ascending order of their type priorities, and partitioning the bit sequence into the plurality of segments such that a plurality of segments are mapped to the plurality of codewords one-to-one. In some embodiments, one or more first transmission parameters are configured for a TB associated with the first codeword, one or more second transmission parameters are configured for a TB associated with the second codeword, and at least one of the first transmission parameters has a first value that achieves a higher reliability than that achieved by a corresponding second value of the one or more second transmission parameters. In some embodiments, the one or more transmission parameters include at least one of - Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS), and - number of transmission layers.

[0024] In some embodiments, the plurality of UCIs are mapped to one having the lowest MCS index and / or the largest number of transmission layers among the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs are repeated across at least two codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs are repeated across all codewords. In some embodiments, the portion of the bits of the plurality of UCIs that are mapped to a codeword is rate-matched according to the number of transmission layers and / or the MCS level associated with the corresponding codeword. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword, and the second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is different from the first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs has one of a plurality of UCI type priorities and one of a plurality of physical layer (PHY) transmission priorities, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority different from the first combination is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, at least two of the following list of combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from high to low in the order of the list: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from high to low as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, at least two of the following listed combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from high to low in the order of the list, and the list is: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from high to low as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.

[0025] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the message indicating that UL-SCH data should be transmitted in the uplink transmission, and determining priorities for a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) associated with the plurality of codewords, at least partially based on the received message. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs are determined based on at least one of: a priority indicator field in the received message; a codeword (CW) priority field in the received message; a relative MCS index value; a relative number of transmission layers; and a relative size of the TB. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs are determined based on at least one of: a UCI type priority of the UCI to be multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a PHY transmission priority of the UCI to be multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a relative codeword priority for the plurality of codewords; and a PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission is determined by a priority indicator field in the received message if the received message is a DCI message, or the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission is determined by a "phy-PriorityIndex" field in the received message if the received message is an RRC message.

[0026] In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a low PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with another codeword having a low codeword priority. In some embodiments, at least one of the UCIs is multiplexed with a codeword having a predetermined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, all UCIs are multiplexed with a codeword having a predetermined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high overall priority is multiplexed with a first codeword, and a second UCI having a low overall priority is multiplexed with a second codeword having a lower codeword priority than the first codeword. The overall priority for a UCI is determined based on at least one of - the PHY transmission priority for the UCI, and - the UCI type priority for the UCI. In some embodiments, it is not allowed to multiplex a UCI having an overall priority lower than the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission with the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a first codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a second PHY transmission priority lower than the first PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a second codeword having a low codeword priority.

[0027] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message indicating which type or part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword. In some embodiments, which type or part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword is predetermined. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK and SR are multiplexed with a first codeword, and / or CSI is multiplexed with a second codeword. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with repetition type A or repetition type B. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with at least one of - inter-repetition frequency hopping (FH), - in-slot FH, and - inter-slot FH. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with at least one of - inter-repetition frequency hopping (FH), - in-slot FH, and - inter-slot FH. In some embodiments, at least one of the repetitions of the uplink transmission carries the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, each repetition of the uplink transmission carries the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the first repetition of the uplink transmission carries the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and the second repetition of the uplink transmission carries a subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the first repetition of the uplink transmission carries the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and the second repetition of the uplink transmission carries a proper subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is a PUSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the network node is a transmission and reception point (TRP).

[0028] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, a UE is provided. The UE includes a processor and a memory storing a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform any of the methods of the first aspect.

[0029] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a UE is provided. The UE includes an uplink transmission module for performing uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords together with one or more network nodes.

[0030] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method in a network node for uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords from a UE is provided. The method includes performing uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords together with the UE.

[0031] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes receiving, from the UE, a message indicating whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates at least one of whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of type 1 CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of type 2 CG-based codewords, and whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates only whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, after the step of receiving the message, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, a configuration indicating whether the UE is to use a single codeword or a plurality of codewords for its uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the configuration is transmitted via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0032] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission or a DG-based uplink transmission, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, at least one DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the DCI message includes at least one field for at least one of -MCS, -NDI, and -RV. In some embodiments, the DCI message is a DCI message of a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the DCI message is a message of DCI format 0_0, 0_1, or 0_2. In some embodiments, the DCI message is not a DCI message of a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the step of transmitting a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission to the UE includes transmitting the DCI message for scheduling at least a part of the uplink transmission to the UE. In some embodiments, the plurality of DCI messages includes at least a first DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a first part of the plurality of codewords and a second DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a second part of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, an RRC message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the RRC message includes at least one field for at least one of -MCS index, -MCS table, information for precoding and number of layers, and -SRI.In some embodiments, the RRC message includes an IE called ConfiguredGrantConfig, and the IE includes at least one of: - an IE called precodingAndNumberOfLayers2ndTB that configures information for precoding and the number of layers for a codeword; - an IE called srs-ResourceIndicator2ndTB that configures the SRI for the codeword; and - an IE called mcsAndTBS2ndTB that configures the modulation order, target code rate, and / or TB size for the codeword.

[0033] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, an RRC message indicating a maximum number of codewords for the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the RRC message includes: an IE, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE, maxNrofCodeWords, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for any uplink transmission to the at least one network node; an IE, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByRRC, within a PUSCH-Config IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by RRC signaling; and an IE, maxNrofCodeWords, within a ConfiguredGrantConfig IE indicating a maximum number of codewords for a CG-based uplink transmission, including at least one of them.

[0034] In some embodiments, the uplink transmission targets a plurality of network nodes including the network node. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission includes at least one first transmission layer targeting the network node and one or more second transmission layers targeting one or more other network nodes. In some embodiments, at least two of the transmission layers are transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, all of the transmission layers are transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, for at least two of the plurality of network nodes, the uplink transmission includes the same or different numbers of transmission layers targeting the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, for at least two of the plurality of network nodes, the uplink transmission includes the same or different numbers of transmission layers targeting the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is a DG-based uplink transmission or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages transmitted by the network node to schedule the uplink transmission include, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, at least one of -MCS, -RV, -TPMI and / or the number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and -one or more SRIs. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages transmitted by the network node to schedule the uplink transmission include, for each of the plurality of codewords, at least one of -MCS, -RV, -TPMI and / or the number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and -one or more SRIs.In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include or do not include a single SRI for at least one of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include one or more SRIs for at least one of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include or do not include a single SRI for each of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages include one or more SRIs for each of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, a first SRI configured for a first codeword indicates an SRS resource from a first SRS resource set, and a second SRI configured for a second codeword indicates an SRS resource from a second resource set different from the first SRS resource set.

[0035] In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating that at least one of the plurality of codewords is disabled, and disabling, with the UE, the at least one codeword to perform another uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the message is a DCI message including a plurality of fields, and a combination of one or more specific values among the plurality of fields indicates that the corresponding codeword is disabled. In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating a configuration for DMRS ports for the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates the configuration for DMRS ports for the plurality of codewords SingleA DCI message including an antenna port field. In some embodiments, the above Single The antenna port field is encoded by at least one of: - referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less when the conversion precoder is disabled; - referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of the above transmission layers is greater than 4 when the conversion precoder is disabled; and - referring to one or more third antenna port tables when the conversion precoder is enabled. In some embodiments, the above Single The antenna port field is encoded as follows: - referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less when the conversion precoder is disabled; - referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of the above transmission layers is greater than 4 when the conversion precoder is disabled; - referring to one or more third antenna port tables when the conversion precoder is enabled.

[0036] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission, where the DCI message indicates that there is no UL-SCH data to be transmitted in the uplink transmission. The step of performing the uplink transmission includes performing the uplink transmission that includes a plurality of UCIs mapped to one or more codewords. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword, and the second UCI type priority is lower than the first UCI type priority. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs has one of a plurality of UCI type priorities, a first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority lower than the first UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, at least two of the listed UCI type priorities are ordered from highest to lowest in the order of the following list, and the list includes HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI having a higher CSI priority, and CSI having a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the UCI type priorities are ordered from highest to lowest as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI having a higher CSI priority, and CSI having a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the step of performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to different codewords respectively includes receiving, from the UE, the uplink transmission, decoding the uplink transmission, determining a plurality of segments mapped one-to-one to the plurality of codewords of the uplink transmission, and determining, from the plurality of segments, the plurality of UCIs ordered in descending or ascending order of type priority.

[0037] In some embodiments, one or more first transmission parameters are configured for the TB associated with the first codeword, one or more second transmission parameters are configured for the TB associated with the second codeword, and at least one of the first transmission parameters has a first value that achieves a higher reliability than that achieved by a corresponding second value of the second transmission parameters. In some embodiments, the one or more transmission parameters configured for the TB associated with the first codeword have values for achieving a higher reliability than those achieved by the corresponding one or more transmission parameters configured for the TB associated with the second codeword. In some embodiments, the one or more transmission parameters include at least one of -MCS and -the number of transmission layers. In some embodiments, the plurality of UCIs are mapped to the one having the lowest MCS index and / or the largest number of transmission layers among the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs are repeated over at least two codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs are repeated over all codewords.

[0038] In some embodiments, the portion of the bits of the plurality of UCIs that is mapped to a codeword is rate-matched according to the number of transmission layers and / or the MCS level associated with the corresponding codeword. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword, and the second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is different from the first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs has one of a plurality of UCI type priorities and one of a plurality of PHY transmission priorities, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority different from the first combination is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, at least two of the following listed combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from highest to lowest in the order of the list: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from highest to lowest as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, at least two of the listed combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from highest to lowest in the order of the following list: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority are ordered from highest to lowest as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.

[0039] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes determining priorities for a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) associated with the plurality of codewords, and sending, to the UE, a message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the message indicating that UL-SCH data should be transmitted in the uplink transmission, at least partially based on the priorities determined for the plurality of TBs. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs are determined based on at least one of: a priority indicator field in the received message; a CW priority field in the received message; a relative MCS index value; a relative number of transmission layers; and a relative size of the TB. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs are determined based on at least one of: a UCI type priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a PHY transmission priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a relative codeword priority for the plurality of codewords; and a PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission.

[0040] In some embodiments, the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission is determined by a priority indicator field in the received message if the received message is a DCI message, or the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission is determined by the "phy-PriorityIndex" field in the received message if the received message is an RRC message. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a low PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with another codeword having a low codeword priority. In some embodiments, at least one of the UCIs is multiplexed with a codeword having a predetermined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, all UCIs are multiplexed with a codeword having a predetermined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high overall priority is multiplexed with a first codeword, and a second UCI having a low overall priority is multiplexed with a second codeword having a codeword priority lower than that of the first codeword. The overall priority for a UCI is determined based on at least one of - the PHY transmission priority for the UCI, and - the UCI type priority for the UCI. In some embodiments, it is not allowed to multiplex a UCI having an overall priority lower than the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission with the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a first codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a second PHY transmission priority lower than the first PHY transmission priority is multiplexed with a second codeword having a low codeword priority.

[0041] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, the method further includes transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating which type or portion of UCI is to be multiplexed with which codeword. In some embodiments, which type or portion of UCI is to be multiplexed with which codeword is predetermined. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK and SR are to be multiplexed with a first codeword, and / or CSI is to be multiplexed with a second codeword. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with repetition type A or repetition type B. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with at least one of -FH between repetitions, -FH within a slot, and -FH between slots. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is performed with at least one of -FH between repetitions, -FH within a slot, and -FH between slots. In some embodiments, each repetition of the uplink transmission carries the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the first repetition of the uplink transmission carries the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and the second repetition of the uplink transmission carries a subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the first repetition of the uplink transmission carries the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and the second repetition of the uplink transmission carries a proper subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission is a PUSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the network node is a TRP.

[0042] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a network node is provided. The network node includes a processor and a memory storing a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any of the fourth aspects.

[0043] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a network node is provided. The network node includes an uplink transmission module for performing uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords together with the UE.

[0044] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program including a group of instructions is provided. When the group of instructions is executed by at least one processor, the at least one processor is caused to perform the method according to either the first or the fourth aspect.

[0045] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a 7 carrier accommodating the computer program according to the aspect is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a wireless signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0046] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes at least one UE according to the second or third aspect and one or more network nodes according to the fifth or sixth aspect.

[0047] According to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords is enabled. Further, according to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, UCI can be transmitted on PUSCH when a plurality of codewords are used. Moreover, according to the above embodiments of the present disclosure, repetition of PUSCH with a plurality of codewords is also enabled. Generally, higher throughput, higher reliability, or faster response can be achieved for uplink transmission.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0049] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that those descriptions are provided for illustrative purposes only rather than limiting the present disclosure. Further, descriptions of known structures and techniques are omitted hereinafter in order not to unnecessarily obscure the concept of the present disclosure.

[0050] Those skilled in the art will understand that the term "exemplary" is used herein to mean "illustrative" or "provided as an example," and is not intended to imply that a particular embodiment is more preferred than others or that a particular feature is essential. Similarly, the terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and similar terms are used merely to distinguish one specific instance of an item from others, and do not indicate a specific order or arrangement unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Further, the term "step," as used herein, is synonymous in meaning with "operation" or "action." None of the descriptions of the sequence of steps herein suggest that those operations must be performed in a specific order, and those operations may be performed in any order whatsoever unless the context or details of the operations being described clearly indicate otherwise.

[0051] Conditional language such as "can," "could," "may," "for example," and the like, as used herein, unless specifically stated otherwise or otherwise understood in the context of use, is generally intended to convey that one embodiment includes a particular feature, element, and / or state while other embodiments do not. Thus, such conditional language is not generally intended to imply that such feature, element, and / or state is necessary for any one or more embodiments, nor does it necessarily include logic for determining whether one or more embodiments necessarily include such features, elements, and / or states, or whether they are to be performed in any particular embodiment regardless of input or instruction by the writer. Also, the term "or / alternatively" is used in an inclusive (not exclusive) sense, and when used, for example, to connect a list of elements, the term "or / alternatively" means one, some, or all of the elements in the list. Further, the term "each," as used herein, in addition to having its ordinary meaning, may also mean any subset of the set of elements to which "each" applies.

[0052] The term "based on" should be read as "at least in part based on". The terms "one embodiment" and "an embodiment" should be read as "at least one embodiment". The term "other embodiments" should be read as "at least one other embodiment". Other definitions may be included herein, whether explicit or implicit. Additionally, turns of phrase such as the phrase "at least one of X, Y, and Z" should be understood in context as being used to broadly convey that an item or term etc. may be X, Y, or Z, or a combination thereof, unless otherwise specifically described.

[0053] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the illustrated embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Further to be understood, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes" and / or "including" as used herein, while specifying the presence of the described features, elements, and / or components, do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof. Also to be understood, terms such as "connecting", "connected", "being connected", etc., as used herein, merely mean that there is an electrical or communication connection between two elements, and unless there is an express contrary description, such connections may be either direct or indirect.

[0054] Of course, the present disclosure may be implemented in a specific manner different from that described herein without departing from the scope and essential characteristics of the disclosure. One or more of the specific processes discussed below may be implemented in any electronic device including one or more appropriately configured processing circuits, and in some embodiments, it may be embodied in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). In some embodiments, those processing circuits may include one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, and / or digital signal processors programmed with appropriate software and / or firmware to perform one or more of the operations described above or derivatives thereof. In some embodiments, those processing circuits may include hardware customized to perform one or more of the functions described above. Accordingly, this embodiment should be considered illustrative and not restrictive in all respects.

[0055] Although multiple embodiments of the present disclosure are depicted in the accompanying drawings and described in the following detailed description, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. Instead, numerous rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions are also possible without departing from the present disclosure as set forth in the claims.

[0056] Furthermore, although the following description of some embodiments of the present disclosure is given in the context of 5G NR, it should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In fact, as long as it relates to uplink transmission with multiple codewords, the inventive concept of the present disclosure is applicable to any suitable communication architecture such as, for example, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) / GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), wideband CDMA, TD-SCDMA (Time Division - Synchronous CDMA), CDMA2000, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity), 4th generation LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advance), or 5G NR. Therefore, those skilled in the art should easily understand that the terms used herein can also be references to equivalents in any other base. For example, the term "user equipment" or "UE" used herein can be a reference to a terminal device, a mobile device, a mobile terminal, a mobile station, a user device, a user terminal, a wireless device, a wireless terminal, or any other equivalent. For another example, the term "network node" used herein can be a reference to a transmit-receive point (TRP), a base station, a base transceiver station, an access point, a hot spot, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a gNB, a network element, or any other equivalent. Furthermore, the term "indicator" used herein can be a reference to a parameter, a coefficient, an attribute, a characteristic, a setting, a configuration, a profile, an identifier, a field, one or more bits / octets, an information element, or any data that can directly or indirectly indicate the information of interest.

[0057] Furthermore, the following 3GPP documents are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety: - 3GPP TS 38.211 V16.6.0 (June 2021) (3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 16)) - 3GPP TS 38.212 V16.6.0 (June 2021) (3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Multiplexing and channel coding (Release 16)) - 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.6.0 (June 2021) (3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 16)) - 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.6.0 (June 2021) (3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16))

[0058] FIG. 1 shows flowcharts depicting exemplary type 1 and type 2 CG-based PUSCH transmission procedures in which UE 110 and gNB 120 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may operate. FIG. 2 shows a flowchart depicting an exemplary DG-based PUSCH transmission procedure in which UE 110 and gNB 120 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may operate.

[0059] As shown in FIG. 2, a procedure for uplink data transmission based on a dynamic UL grant (also known as dynamic scheduling) will be described. As shown in step S210, each time there is UL data to be transmitted from UE110 to gNB120, UE110 may request an uplink grant from gNB120 using a "scheduling request" message on the PUCCH channel (if UE110 is in a connected state) or on the PRACH channel (e.g., if UE110 is attempting initial access). gNB12 may respond to UE110 with an uplink grant in a message such as DCI0_0, DCI0_1, or DCI0_2 on the PDCCH channel in step S215. In response to receiving an uplink grant that may allocate uplink resources for UE110 to transmit uplink data, UE110 may start transmitting data on the allocated resources of the PUSCH channel in step S220. In response to receiving the UL data, in step S225, gNB120 may provide feedback (ACK / NACK) to UE110 so that the UL data can be retransmitted if the first transmission fails.

[0060] However, 5G networks are expected to support applications that require ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services. To support such types of applications, 5G-NR has introduced a grant-free uplink transmission function, also referred to as transmission without grant (TWG) or configured grant (CG) based PUSCH transmission, i.e., data transmission without resource requests. Grant-free transmission can avoid normal handshake delays such as the transmission of scheduling requests (e.g., step S210) and waiting for the allocation of UL grants (e.g., step S215). Another advantage is that it can relax the strict reliability requirements of the control channel.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 1, the PUSCH channel may be configured semi-statically (Type 1) or semi-permanently (Type 2) by a UL grant via RRC (Layer 3) signaling, which may also be referred to as a grant-free configuration method. In 5G NR, two types of grant-free configuration methods are supported: - CG Type 1: As shown in steps S110 and S125, RRC signaling provides uplink grant configuration, activation / deactivation - CG Type 2: As shown in steps S135 and S150, RRC signaling provides uplink grant configuration, and its activation / deactivation is provided via a PDCCH grant (via UL DCI).

[0062] According to two possible methods, the IE called ConfiguredGrantConfig may be used to configure uplink transmission without a dynamic grant. The actual uplink grant may be either configured via RRC (Type 1) or provided via PDCCH (Type 2) addressed to the CS-RNTI. A configuration called Multiple Configured Grant may be configured in a bandwidth part (BWP) of a serving cell.

[0063] CG Type 1 is very similar to LTE's semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), and UL data transmission is based on an RRC reconfiguration without any L1 signaling. gNB 120 may provide grant configuration to UE 110 through a higher layer parameter such as ConfiguredGrantConfig that includes a parameter called rrc-ConfiguredUplinkGrant without detecting a UL grant in DCI. Potentially, SPS scheduling can provide suitability for deterministic URLLC traffic patterns because its traffic characteristics can be well adapted by an appropriate resource configuration.

[0064] Specifically, in step S110, gNB 120 may provide an RRC configuration to UE 110 to activate semi-static UL resources for UL data transmission of UE 110. Whenever there is data to be transmitted from UE 110 to gNB 120, UE 110 may transmit the data using the configured UL resources in step S115. In step S120, gNB 120 may provide feedback on the data received from UE 110, implicitly or explicitly, as ACK / NACK. For example, in NR CG transmission up to NR Rel-16, there is no explicit ACK feedback from gNB 120 to UE 110 for operations in the licensed spectrum. In other words, ACK may be implicitly signaled, and NACK may be explicitly signaled. A timer T may be started at the time of TB transmission. If no explicit NACK (dynamic grant) is received before the expiration of timer T, the UE assumes ACK; otherwise, the UE will perform retransmission using the dynamic grant provided in DCI with the CRC scrambled by CS-RNTI. Further, for operations in the unlicensed spectrum, there should be a certain explicit HARQ feedback in DCI, which is called downlink feedback indication (DFI) and is used only in DCI format 0_1. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, ACK may be explicitly signaled and NACK may be implicitly signaled. In some other embodiments, both ACK and NACK may be explicitly signaled.

[0065] After data transmission, gNB 120 may deactivate the semi-statically allocated resources by transmitting RRC configuration release or deactivation in step S125.

[0066] CG type 2 is related to additional L1 signaling (DCI). In step S135, the uplink is semi - persistently scheduled by a UL grant in a valid activation DCI. The grant is activated (step S135) and deactivated (step S150) through DCI scrambled with a CS - RNTI. RRC only provides a higher - layer parameter ConfiguredGrantConfig that does not include rrc - ConfiguredUplinkGrant. DCI signaling can enable fast modification of semi - persistently allocated resources. In this way, flexibility of UL grant - free transmission is enabled from the perspective of URLLC traffic characteristics, such as packet arrival rate, the number of UEs sharing the same resource pool and / or packet size.

[0067] Note: Both type 1 and type 2 are configured by RRC per serving cell and per BWP. For the same serving cell, the NR MAC entity can be configured with either type 1 or type 2.

[0068] No dedicated activation / release procedure is provided for CG type 1. RRC signaling with the parameter ConfiguredGrantConfig that includes the parameter rrc - ConfiguredUplinkGrant implicitly means that CG type 1 is activated. Also, for release, no dedicated IE is sent by gNB120. To release the CG scheduling configuration, gNB120 can simply send an RRC re - configuration release to UE110.

[0069] The activation or release of scheduling for CG type 2 is done via DCI decoded on the PDCCH when the CRC of the corresponding DCI format is scrambled with CS-RNTI and the new data indicator field is set to "0" for the transport block to be activated. The verification of the DCI format can be achieved when all fields of the DCI format are set according to a special field for the activation or release of scheduling of UL grant type 2. When the verification is achieved, UE 110 may consider the information in that DCI format as a valid activation or a valid release of the configured UL grant type 2.

[0070] NR can use CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency A few minutes Division Multiplexing) for both the downlink (DL) (i.e., from the network node, gNB or base station to the user equipment or UE) and the uplink (UL) (i.e., from the UE to the gNB). In the uplink, DFT-spread OFDM may also be supported. In the time domain, the downlink and uplink of NR can be organized into subframes of equal size, each being 1 ms. A subframe can be further divided into a plurality of slots of equal time duration. The slot length may depend on the subcarrier spacing. For example, for a subcarrier spacing of Δf = 15 kHz, there is only one slot per subframe, and each slot can consist of 14 OFDM symbols.

[0071] Data scheduling in NR is typically done on a slot basis, and an example in a 14-symbol slot is shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 depicts an exemplary time domain structure of NR with a 15 kHz subcarrier spacing in which a UE and a gNB according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can operate. As shown in Figure 3, the first two symbols accommodate the PDCCH, and the rest can accommodate the physical shared data channel, which can be either the PDSCH or the PUSCH.

[0072] In NR, various subcarrier spacing values can be supported. The supported subcarrier spacing values (also referred to as various numerologies) are given by Δf = (15 × 2 μ ) kHz, where μ ∈ {0, 1, 2, 3, 4}. Δf = 15 kHz is the basic subcarrier spacing. The slot time lengths at various subcarrier spacings are given by 1 / 2μ [ms].

[0073] In the frequency domain, the system bandwidth can be divided into a plurality of resource blocks (RBs), each corresponding to 12 consecutive subcarriers. The RBs are numbered starting from 0 at one end of the system bandwidth. The basic NR physical time - frequency resource grid is shown in FIG. 4.

[0074] FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting an exemplary NR physical resource grid in which a UE and a gNB according to an embodiment of the present disclosure can operate. As shown in FIG. 4, only one RB within a 14 - symbol slot is shown. One OFDM subcarrier during the period of one OFDM symbol interval forms one resource element (RE).

[0075] In NR Rel - 15, uplink data transmission can be dynamically scheduled using PDCCH. The UE first decodes the uplink grant in the PDCCH, and then transmits data on the PUSCH based on the control information decoded in the uplink grant, such as modulation order, coding rate, uplink resource allocation, etc. In the dynamic scheduling of PUSCH, as described with reference to FIG. 1, there is also a possibility of configuring semi - persistent transmission of PUSCH using CG. In NR Rel - 15, two types of CG - based PUSCH are defined. In CG type 1, the periodicity of PUSCH transmission and the time - domain offset are configured by RRC. In CG type 2, the periodicity of PUSCH transmission is configured by RRC, and the activation and release of its transmission are controlled by DCI, i.e., by PDCCH.

[0076] Furthermore, in NR, PUSCH can be scheduled with time repetitions by the RRC parameters pusch-AggregationFactor (for dynamically scheduled PUSCH) and repK (for PUSCH in UL configured grants). In this case, the PUSCH is scheduled but transmitted in multiple consecutive slots (if the slot is available for UL) until it reaches the number of repetitions as determined by the configured RRC parameters.

[0077] In the case of PUSCH in UL configured grants, when repetitions are used, the repK-RV field can configure the redundancy version (RV) sequence to be used. When repetitions are not used for PUSCH in UL configured grants, the repK-RV field is absent.

[0078] In NR Release 15, two mapping types, type A and type B, are supported and applicable to PDSCH and PUSCH transmissions. Type A is usually referred to as slot-based, and type B transmissions can be referred to as non-slot-based or mini-slot-based.

[0079] Mini-slot transmissions are dynamically schedulable, and in NR Rel-15: - It can be 7, 4, or 2 symbols in length for the downlink and of any length for the uplink - It can start and end at any symbol within a slot

[0080] Note that mini-slot transmissions in NR Rel-15 cannot cross slot boundaries.

[0081] Furthermore, for PUSCH transmission in NR Rel-15, one of two frequency hopping modes, namely inter-slot and intra-slot frequency hopping, can be configured via a higher layer using the IE PUSCH-Config for dynamic transmission or the IE configuredGrantConfig for type 1 and type 2 CGs.

[0082] In NR, two transmission schemes are defined for PUSCH, namely codebook-based and non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission.

[0083] Codebook-based UL transmission can be used in both NR and LTE, and its motivation was to be used for non-calibrated UEs and / or UL FDD (Frequency Division Duplex). Codebook-based PUSCH in NR is enabled when the higher layer parameter txConfig = codebook. For dynamically scheduled PUSCH and configured grant PUSCH type 2, the codebook-based PUSCH transmission scheme can be summarized as follows: · The UE may transmit one or two SRS resources (i.e., one or two SRS resources configured in an SRS resource set associated with the usage of the higher layer parameter with the value "CodeBook"). Note that in NR Rel-15 / 16, the number of SRS resource sets for which the usage of the higher layer parameter is set to the value "CodeBook" is limited to one (i.e., only one SRS resource set can be configured for the purpose of codebook-based PUSCH transmission). · The gNB may determine a suitable MIMO transmission precoder (i.e., a transmission precoding matrix indicator or TPMI) for the PUSCH from the codebook and determine the associated number of layers corresponding to one or two SRS resources. · When two SRS resources are configured in an SRS resource set, the gNB may indicate the selected SRS resource via a 1-bit "SRS resource indicator" field. When only one SRS resource is configured in the SRS resource set, the "SRS resource indicator" field is not indicated in the DCI. · The gNB may indicate the TPMI and the number of associated layers corresponding to the indicated SRS resource (when two SRS resources are used) or the configured SRS resource (when one SRS resource is used). The TPMI and the PUSCH layer number may be indicated by the "Precoding information and number of layers" field in DCI formats 0_1 and 0_2. The number of bits in "Precoding information and number of layers" for codebook-based PUSCH may be determined as follows:

[0084] - When 1 antenna port is used for PUSCH transmission, 0 bits

[0085] - For 4 antenna ports, according to Table 1, it is 4, 5, or 6 bits, depending on whether the transform precoder is enabled or disabled and the values of the upper layer parameters maxRank and codebookSubset. That is, the size of the "Precoding information and number of layers" field takes values of 6, 5, and 4 bits respectively when codebookSubset is set to "fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent", "PartialAndNonCoherent", and "NonCoherent". Table 1: Precoding information and number of layers for 4 antenna ports when the transform precoder is disabled, maxRank is equal to 2, 3, or 4, and ul - FullPowerTransmission is not configured, configured in fullpowerMode2, or configured in fullpower [Table 1]

[0086] - For 4 antenna ports, according to Table 2, it is 2, 4, or 5 bits, depending on whether the transform precoder is enabled or disabled and the values of the upper layer parameters maxRank and codebookSubset. That is, the size of the "Precoding information and number of layers" field takes on values of 5, 4, and 2 bits respectively when codebookSubset is set to "fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent", "PartialAndNonCoherent", and "NonCoherent". Table 2: Precoding information and number of layers for 4 antenna ports when the transform precoder is enabled, or when either the transform precoder is disabled and ul - FullPowerTransmission is not configured or configured in fullpowerMode2, or when the transform precoder is disabled, maxRank is equal to 1, and ul - FullPowerTransmission is not configured, configured in fullpowerMode2, or configured in fullpower [Table 2]

[0087] For the 2-antenna port, according to Table 3, it is 2 or 4 bits, and depends on whether the transform precoder is enabled or disabled, and the values of the upper layer parameters maxRank and codebookSubset. That is, the size of the "Precoding information and number of layers" field takes on values of 4 and 2 bits respectively when codebookSubset is set to "fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent" and "NonCoherent". Table 3: Precoding information and number of layers for the 2-antenna port when the transform precoder is disabled, maxRank is equal to 2, and ul-FullPowerTransmission is not configured, configured in fullpowerMode2, or configured in fullpower [Table 3]

[0088] When -txConfig = codebook, for the 2-antenna port, according to Table 4, it is 1 or 3 bits, and depends on whether the transform precoder is enabled or disabled, and the values of the upper layer parameters maxRank and codebookSubset. That is, the size of the "Precoding information and number of layers" field takes on values of 3 and 1 bits respectively when codebookSubset is set to "fullyAndPartialAndNonCoherent" and "NonCoherent". Table 4: Precoding information and number of layers for two antenna ports when the conversion precoder is enabled and ul-FullPowerTransmission is not configured, configured in fullpowerMode2, or configured in fullpower, or when the conversion precoder is disabled, maxRank is equal to 1, and ul-FullPowerTransmission is not configured, configured in fullpowerMode2, or configured in fullpower [Table 4]

[0089] · The UE may perform PUSCH transmission using the indicated TPMI and number of layers. When one SRS resource is configured in the SRS resource set associated with the usage of the higher layer parameter "CodeBook", the PUSCH DMRS may be spatially related to the most recent SRS transmission in that SRS resource. When two SRS resources are configured in the SRS resource set associated with the usage of the higher layer parameter "CodeBook", the PUSCH DMRS is spatially related to the most recent SRS transmission in the SRS resource indicated by the "SRS resource indicator" field.

[0090] When multiple SRS resources are configured, the TPMI is used to indicate the precoder corresponding to the SRS resource selected by the SRI, which should be applied across layers {0,..., v-1} It may be When a single SRS resource is configured, the TPMI is used to indicate the precoder corresponding to that SRS resource, which should be applied across layers {0,..., v-1}. The transmission precoder may be selected from an uplink codebook having the same number of antenna ports as the higher layer parameter nrofSRS-Ports in SRS-Configure.

[0091] Non-codebook-based UL transmission is available in NR and enables interoperability-based UL transmission. By allocating DL CSI-RS to the UE, the UE can measure and infer precoder weights suitable for PUSCH transmission on up to 4 spatial layers. Candidate precoder weights may be used to precode up to 4 single-port SRSs, and each precoded single-port SRS may be transmitted in an SRS resource. Each single-port SRS corresponds to a single PUSCH layer. Subsequently, the gNB may indicate the transmission rank and a plurality of SRS resource indicators, which are jointly encoded using the following bit groups:

Number

[0092] Table 5: L max = 4, SRI indication for non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission

Table 5

[0093] Note that in NR Rel-15 / 16, the number of SRS resource sets for which the usage of upper layer parameters is set to the value "nonCodeBook" may be limited to 1 (i.e., only 1 SRS resource set is allowed to be configured for the purpose of non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission). The maximum number of SRS resources configurable for non-codebook-based uplink transmission is 4.

[0094] In NR, for non-codebook-based PUSCH, the UE may perform a one-to-one mapping in ascending order from the indicated DM-RS ports in the indicated SRI to the corresponding PUSCH layers {0, ..., v-1}. The UE may transmit the PUSCH using the same antenna port as the SRS port within the SRS resource indicated by the SRI, where the SRS port in the (i+1)-th SRS resource within the SRS resource set is indexed as p i = 1000 + i.

[0095] For non-codebook-based PUSCH, the following is specified in 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.6.0: For non-codebook-based transmission, the UE can calculate the precoder used for SRS transmission based on the measurement of the associated NZP CSI-RS resource. The UE can be configured with only one NZP CSI-RS resource for an SRS resource set where the usage of the higher layer parameters within the SRS-ResourceSet is set to the value "nonCodeBook".

[0096] Thus, for non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission, only one NZP CSI-RS resource is configured in the SRS resource set, and the UE can calculate the precoder used for SRS transmission using this associated NZP CSI-RS resource. The single NZP CSI-RS resource configured for each SRS resource set may be part of the SRS-Config information element, as shown below. The condition "NonCodebook" may mean that the associated NZP CSI-RS is optional if the associated SRS resource set is configured with the usage set to "nonCodeBook", and the field is absent otherwise.

Table 6

[0097] In 3GPP TS 38.214, it is further specified that when a UE is configured with an SRS resource set with associated NZP CSI-RS resources, the UE is not expected to be configured with spatial correlation information in any of the SRS resources within the SRS resource set.

[0098] UCI on PUSCH can be ACK / NACK or CSI in the following form. Various types of HARQ codebooks are defined in Section 9.1 of 38.213 V16.6.0, and DAI (Downlink Assignment Index) is defined in the DCI formats within 38.212 V16.6.0: - ACK / NACK and other UCI with more than 2 bits are rate-matched, and ACK / NACK with 1 - 2 bits are mapped via puncturing PUSCH data or CSI bits. - Due to codeblock group - based HARQ feedback, the ACK / NACK size can become very large in NR → Aggressive puncturing of large ACK / NACK for PUSCH will result in severe degradation of PUSCH performance. - A DAI mechanism similar to LTE is used to indicate the number of ACK / NACK bits for UCI on PUSCH. - DCI format 0_1 includes 1 - bit UL DAI for a fixed HARQ codebook, 2 - bit UL DAI for a dynamic HARQ codebook, and 2 - bit UL DAI (1 DAI for each sub - codebook) for a dynamic HARQ codebook with CBG configuration. - DCI format 0_0 does not include DAI. - CSI can be divided into two parts. - Beta values that are semi - statically configured and dynamically indicated are supported. - Individual beta values can be set for ACK / NACK and CSI. - For the dynamically indicated beta value, 2 bits within DCI format 0_1 select one value for ACK / NACK and CSI (n-th row in the ACK / NACK and CSI table).

[0099] Principle of UCI mapping on PUSCH - CSI part 1 - For rate-matched ACK / NACK, CSI part 1 is mapped from the first available non-DM-RS symbol, bypassing the ACK / NACK REs for mapping. - For thinned ACK / NACK, CSI part 1 is mapped from the first available non-DM-RS symbol, and the mapping bypasses the REs reserved for thinning by ACK / NACK (PUSCH and CSI part 2 can be mapped to the reserved resources but will ultimately be thinned). - CSI part 2 is mapped from the first available non-DM-RS symbol and follows CSI part 1. - For thinned ACK / NACK, CSI part 2 can be mapped onto the resources reserved for ACK / NACK (and will be thinned by ACK / NACK). - UCI is not frequency-division multiplexed (FDM) with DM-RS. - Generally, the following frequency-domain mapping procedure for all UCI types is used: (if sufficient UCI modulation symbols are available) the symbols are completely filled with a group of modulation symbols of one UCI type; followed by one symbol, and the remaining UCI modulation symbols of that type are mapped in a scattered manner across the PUSCH bandwidth.

[0100] Figure 5 is a diagram depicting an exemplary multiplexing of UCI on PUSCH applicable to a UE and a gNB according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 5, an example where ACK / NACK is rate-matched is shown in (a), and another example where ACK / NACK is mapped via thinning of PUSCH data or CSI bits is shown in (b).

[0101] From 3GPP TS 38.213 v16.6.0: When the UE transmits PUSCH over multiple slots, if the PUSCH transmission in one or more of those multiple slots satisfies the conditions in Section 9.2.5 for multiplexing HARQ-ACK and / or CSI information when the UE is to transmit PUCCH together with HARQ-ACK and / or CSI information on a single slot that overlaps with the PUSCH transmission in one or more of those multiple slots, the UE multiplexes HARQ-ACK and / or CSI information in the PUSCH transmission in one or more of those multiple slots. If the UE is not to transmit PUCCH of a single slot with HARQ-ACK and / or CSI information within a certain slot among the multiple slots, the UE does not multiplex HARQ-ACK and / or CSI information in the PUSCH transmission in that slot, which is for the case when the PUSCH transmission is absent.

[0102] The following is a citation from 3GPP TS 38.212 v16.6.0 regarding rate matching. A plurality of beta offset values are defined for the UE to determine the number of resources for multiplexing HARQ-ACK information and for multiplexing CSI reports in PUSCH, and the details are defined in Section 9.3 of 38.213 v16.6.0:

[0103]

Table 7

Table 8

[0104] Furthermore, in NR R16, to address resource competition between DG PUSCH and CG PUSCH and competition involving multiple CGs, and also to address UL data / control and control / control resource collisions, PHY priority control between multiple UL transmissions with different PHY priority indices has been incorporated by 3GPP.

[0105] Rel-16 supports the following two-level PHY priority index indication: - Scheduling Request (SR): The SR configuration may have a PHY priority index indication as an RRC field within the SR resource configuration. - Note: The PHY priority index is only used to inform the PHY of the priority. MAC will perform priority control based on the LCH priority. - HARQ-ACK: For dynamic allocation, the PHY priority index is indicated in the DL DCI (format 1_1 and 1_2), and for CG PUSCH, the PHY priority index may be indicated by the RRC configuration. - PUSCH: For DG PUSCH, the PHY priority index is indicated in the UL DCI (format 0_1 and 0_2), and for CG PUSCH, the PHY priority index may be indicated by the CG PUSCH configuration. - Aperiodic and semi-persistent CSI on PUSCH: The PHY priority index may be indicated in the UL DCI (format 0_1 and 0_2). - Periodic and semi-persistent CSI on PUCCH, periodic and semi-persistent SRS, and when the PHY priority index is not indicated, a low PHY priority index is assumed. - The priority of aperiodic SRS is always low.

[0106] PHY priority index 0 may be defined as the low priority, and PHY priority index 1 may be defined as the high priority.

[0107] In Rel-16, UCI can be multiplexed on PUCCH or PUSCH only when the UCI's PHY priority index is the same as that of PUCCH or PUSCH. A combination with multiplexing of UCI and PUSCH with different characteristics is expected to be supported in Rel-17, for example, multiplexing high-priority HARQ-ACK and low-priority HARQ-ACK on PUCCH, or multiplexing low-priority HARQ-ACK on high-priority PUSCH, etc.

[0108] The intra-UE PHY priority control in Rel-16 first resolves temporal overlaps for PUCCH and / or PUSCH transmissions with the same PHY priority, and then resolves temporal overlaps between priorities. Lower-priority PUCCH / PUSCH will not be transmitted in case of temporal overlap with higher-priority PUCCH / PUSCH transmissions. It should be emphasized here that the UE does not resolve temporal overlaps for higher-priority PUCCH / PUSCH transmissions before resolving temporal overlaps between priorities. This means that even if a higher-priority PUCCH is not transmitted because UCI will be multiplexed on a higher-priority PUSCH, the UE will cancel lower-priority PUCCH / PUSCH transmissions that temporally overlap with the higher-priority PUCCH, except for higher-priority PUSCH that temporally overlaps with the higher-priority PUCCH.

[0109] Rel-16 also supports two HARQ codebooks, which may both be slot / sub-slot based or different (each codebook is configured separately). - Two HARQ-ACK codebooks (CBs) can be configured - The first HARQ-ACK CB ⇔ PHY priority index 0 - The second HARQ-ACK CB ⇔ PHY priority index 1 - Two PUCCH configurations - The first PUCCH ⇔ the first HARQ-ACK CB - Second PUCCH ⇔ Second HARQ-ACK CB - Each PUCCH can be composed of a slot or a sub-slot - Two UCI-OnPUSCH (one for each HARQ-ACK codebook) - That is, a beta factor for HARQ-ACK (and CSI) for each PHY priority index

[0110] Furthermore, in NR, up to Release 17, two codewords are supported for PDSCH transmission, and only a single codeword is supported for PUSCH transmission. Up to four transmission layers are supported in the uplink, and up to eight transmission layers are supported in the downlink. When two codewords are used in the downlink, the number of transmission layers is assumed to be greater than 4. When the number of transmission layers is 4 or less, up to Rel-17 in NR, a single codeword can be used in the downlink. Table 6 shows the mapping from codewords to layers assumed in NR.

[0111]

Table 9

[0112] Furthermore, in Release 16 of NR, for the purpose of further latency reduction (i.e., the URLLC function of Rel-16), PUSCH repetitions were extended for both PUSCH Type A and Type B.

[0113] In NR Rel-15, for both dynamic grants and configured grant type 2, the number of integrated slots can be configured in RRC. In NR Rel-16, this is extended so that the number of repetitions can be dynamically indicated, i.e., the number of repetitions can be changed from one scheduling opportunity of a PUSCH to the next via DCI indication. That is, in addition to the start symbol S and the length L of the PUSCH, the nominal number of repetitions K is signaled as part of the time domain resource allocation (TDRA). Furthermore, considering the TDD pattern with emphasis on DL, the maximum number of integrated slots is increased to K = 16. For PUSCH repetition type A, hopping between and within slots can be applied. Some of the slots may be DL slots, in which case the DL slots are skipped for PUSCH transmission, so the number of repetitions K is nominal. Therefore, K is the maximum number of possible repetitions.

[0114] PUSCH repetition type B is applicable to both dynamic grants and configured grants. PUSCH repetitions of type B can span slot boundaries in NR Rel-16. When scheduling transmissions with PUSCH repetition type B, in NR Rel-16, in addition to the start symbol S and the length L of the PUSCH, the nominal number of repetitions K is signaled as part of the time domain resource allocation (TDRA). For type B repetitions, inter-slot and inter-repetition frequency hopping can be configured. To determine the actual time domain allocation of type B PUSCH repetitions, a two-step process is used: - Ignoring the slot boundaries and the TDD pattern, allocate K nominal repetitions of length L adjacent (temporally close). - If the nominal repetition crosses the slot boundary or occupies symbols that are not available for UL transmission (e.g., UL / DL switching points due to the TDD pattern), the problematic nominal repetition can be split into two or more shorter actual repetitions. If the number of potentially valid symbols for the transmission of PUSCH repetition type B is greater than zero for the nominal repetition, the nominal repetition consists of one or more actual repetitions, and each actual repetition consists of a consecutive set of potentially valid symbols available for the transmission of PUSCH repetition type B within the slot.

[0115] Although the term "PUSCH repetition" is used in this document, it can be used interchangeably with other terms such as "PUSCH transmission opportunity".

[0116] In NR Rel-15 / 16, when PUSCH is repeated according to PUSCH repetition type A, the PUSCH is restricted to a single transmission layer.

[0117] In Rel-15, slot aggregation, also known as PUSCH repetition type A in Rel-16, is supported, and the number of slot-based PUSCH repetitions is configured semi-statically. In Rel-16, the number of PUSCH repetitions can be dynamically indicated by DCI.

[0118] In NR Rel-15 / 16, PUSCH repetition type A allows a single repetition per slot, and each repetition occupies the same symbol. In some TDD UL / DL configurations, the number of consecutive UL slots within a radio frame is small. In this scenario, it is not necessary for multiple PUSCH repetitions to be in consecutive slots. However, DL slots are counted as slots for PUSCH repetitions.

[0119] Two extensions of PUSCH repetition type A were agreed upon as part of the work item (WI) on coverage enhancements for NR in Rel-17 in 3GPP. The agreement is given as follows: - PUSCH repetition type A - Option 1: Increase the maximum number of iterations up to the number that should be determined in the process of this operation. - Option 2: The number of iterations is counted based on the available UL slots.

[0120] Regarding Option 2 (Opt2), the definition of available slots was discussed in 3GPP. The determination of available slots is still being discussed in 3GPP RAN1.

[0121] In NR, up to 4 layers can use only one codeword (or one transport block) for transmission on the PUSCH scheduled by a dynamic grant or a configured grant. If the UE has more than 4 transmission antennas and the base station has more than 4 reception antennas, in some scenarios, more than 4 layers can exist. To support more than 4 layers in those scenarios, more than one codeword is required.

[0122] Furthermore, in some other scenarios, the UE may be equipped with two or more antenna panels that each transmit data towards a different reception point (RP). In this case, separate codewords can be used for PUSCH transmission from each antenna panel towards the RP so that the codewords can be decoded at each RP. Therefore, more than one codeword is required. The problem is how to support multiple codewords in uplink PUSCH transmission.

[0123] Furthermore, in the case of UCI only on PUSCH where two codewords are assumed, and in the case where UCI is multiplexed on PUSCH together with data from multiple codewords, it is necessary to consider how to transmit UCI on multiple layers with different codewords. In addition to the above points, when multiple codewords are transmitted on PUSCH, some of the codewords with higher priority may need to be repeated, or they may need to be repeated more times compared to the codewords with lower priority, and various types of PUSCH repetitions should also be considered.

[0124] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods regarding how to support the transmission of multiple codewords on PUSCH in NR and how to transmit UCI on PUSCH when multiple codewords are transmitted, from the following aspects: - Configuration and signaling of PUSCH transmission with two codewords in NR - Multiplexing of UCI on PUSCH with multiple codewords without UL-SH data - Multiplexing of UCI on PUSCH with data from multiple codewords with UL-SH data - Transmission of multiple codewords on PUSCH with repetitions

[0125] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods regarding the following points: - How to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH in NR - UE capability reporting, and in that case multiple codewords are assumed to be supported - Mechanisms to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH for DG or CG type 2 PUSCH - Mechanisms to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH for CG type 2 PUSCH - Mechanisms to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH for multiple TRPs - Control of the maximum number of codewords for PUSCH transmission - How to transmit UCI on PUSCH with multiple codewords - UCI multiplexing on PUSCH for multiple codewords without UL-SH data - UCI multiplexing on PUSCH for multiple codewords with UL-SH data - How to support various types of repetitions of PUSCH with multiple codewords, and whether different codewords can be repeated different numbers of times depending on the priority of the codewords

[0126] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "multiple codewords" may refer to the transmission of two or more codewords on one PUSCH channel. Since one codeword corresponds to one TB, this can also be regarded as multiple TBs. Multiple codewords may be transmitted simultaneously in the spatial domain while sharing the same time-frequency resource. For example, when two codewords are transmitted on one PUSCH, one codeword may be mapped to the first set of one or more MIMO layers, and the other codeword may be mapped to the second set of one or more MIMO layers, where the first set and the second set do not overlap (i.e., do not share the same MIMO layer).

[0127] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "DG PUSCH" may refer to a PUSCH scheduled by a dynamic grant, and the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by the corresponding DCI for UL scheduling. The term "CG PUSCH" may refer to a PUSCH scheduled by a configured grant, and the PUSCH transmission is transmitted without the corresponding DCI for UL scheduling after the configuration of the configured grant is activated.

[0128] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "HP" may refer to high physical layer priority, and the term "LP" may refer to low physical layer priority. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the terms "codeword (CW)" and "TB" are interchangeable, and TB may refer to raw information bits that are not encoded, and CW may refer to the corresponding encoded bits.

[0129] Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods regarding how to report the capability of multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH and how to define the mechanism of multi-codeword transmission.

[0130] In some embodiments, multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH should be an optional feature for the UE, and the network node should be notified of UE capability signaling regarding whether the UE supports multiple codewords on PUSCH. Thereby, based on the reported UE capabilities, the network can know whether it is possible to enable multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH for the UE.

[0131] In some embodiments, the UE should report its capability to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH to the gNB after RRC configuration. After receiving the capability report from a given UE, the gNB can select, for example, using UE-specific DL signaling, whether to configure the PUSCH transmission of the UE with only a single codeword or with transmission using multiple (e.g., up to two) codewords. In some embodiments, the UE-specific signaling may be an RRC configuration.

[0132] In some embodiments, the capabilities to support multi-codeword transmission on CG PUSCH and DG PUSCH may be reported separately from the UE to the gNB.

[0133] In some embodiments, multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH scheduled by CG (type 1 and / or type 2) is not supported by the standard, i.e., not supported regardless of UE capabilities. In this case, the UE only needs to report the capability to support multi-codeword transmission on PUSCH scheduled by DG.

[0134] In some embodiments, for DG PUSCH or type 2 CG PUSCH, at least one of the following configurations of single-codeword transmission may be provided in DCI format 0_1 or 0_2: - Modulation and coding scheme (MCS) - New data indicator (NDI) - Redundancy version (RV)

[0135] In some embodiments, for DG PUSCH, parameters within the UL DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1 or 0_2) are provided for one transmission of the corresponding PUSCH. For type 2 CG PUSCH, the UL DCI providing the transmission parameters may be the activation DCI, and the CG configuration is activated for recurring (periodic) PUSCH transmissions until the CG configuration is deactivated by another DCI. For CG PUSCH, the parameters within the activation UL DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1 or 0_2) may be used for each of the recurring PUSCHs.

[0136] In some embodiments, it may be determined whether separate configurations should be provided for different codewords, and / or the network may indicate whether multiple codewords are supported by the network.

[0137] In some embodiments, for DG PUSCH and / or type 2 CG PUSCH, when multiple codewords are enabled or configured, for each one or each subset of the multiple TBs, one or more of the following parameters may be configured in uplink DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1 or 0_2) to support the transmission of multiple codewords: - Modulation and coding scheme - New data indicator - Redundancy version

[0138] In some embodiments, a legacy DCI format (e.g., DCI format 0_1 or DCI format 0_2) may be used in a form that includes additional DCI fields for additional codewords. In other words, for each codeword to be transmitted on PUSCH, a set of "Modulation and coding scheme", "New data indicator" and "Redundancy version" fields may be configured within the uplink DCI.

[0139] In some embodiments, a new DCI format may be used together with additional DCI fields included for the transmission of additional codewords. That is, the new DCI format may accommodate a set of fields for signaling transmission parameters for two or more codewords.

[0140] In some embodiments, multiple PDCCH transmissions may be used to schedule the transmission of multiple TBs. For example, when 4 codewords are supported on PUSCH, a first PDCCH may be used to schedule some parameters of the first two codewords in the first half, and a second PDCCH may be used to schedule the last two codewords.

[0141] In some embodiments, for PUSCH scheduled by CG type 1, in order to support the transmission of multiple codewords, one or more of the following parameters may be configured by RRC for the second and subsequent TBs: - MCS index - MCS table - Precoding information and number of layers - SRS resource indicator (SRI)

[0142] In some embodiments, for the transmission of the second codeword (i.e., the codeword carrying the second TB) on PUSCH scheduled by CG type 1, three parameters may be defined in ConfiguredGrantConfig.

[0143] precodingAndNumberOfLayers2ndTB provides precoding information and number of layers for the second codeword (i.e., the codeword carrying the second TB) on PUSCH.

[0144] srs-ResourceIndicator2ndTB indicates the SRS resource to be used for the second codeword (i.e., the codeword carrying the second TB).

[0145] mcsAndTBS2ndTB is the MCS index, target code rate, and TB size for determining the modulation order for the transmission of the second codeword (i.e., the codeword carrying the second TB).

[0146] [Table 10]

[0147] In some embodiments, the maximum number of codewords transmitted on a PUSCH supported by a network may be indicated by RRC signaling. For example, to indicate the maximum number of codeword support for PUSCH transmissions scheduled by a dynamic grant, the maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 field (for DCI format 0_1) and / or the maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 field (for DCI format 0_2) may be defined in the IE called PUSCH-Config. In the examples provided in this document, the values "n1" and "n2" represent 1 and 2, respectively, which are the maximum numbers of codewords for PUSCH.

[0148]

Table 11

[0149] As another example, to indicate the maximum number of codeword support for any PUSCH transmission within a cell, i.e., a PUSCH transmission scheduled by either a dynamic grant or a configured grant, the maxNrofCodeWords field may be defined within the IE called PUSCH-Config.

[0150]

Table 12

[0151] As another example, in order to indicate the maximum number of supported codewords for PUSCH transmissions scheduled by a dynamic grant or configured grant type 2, the maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 field (for DCI format 0_1) and / or the maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 field (for DCI format 0_2) may be defined in the IE called PUSCH-Config. Further, in order to indicate the maximum number of supported codewords for PUSCH transmissions scheduled by configured grant type 1, another field called maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByRRC may be defined within the IE called PUSCH-Config.

[0152]

Table 13

[0153] As another example, in order to indicate the maximum number of supported codewords for PUSCH transmissions scheduled by a configured grant, the maxNrofCodeWords field may be defined within the IE called ConfiguredGrantConfig.

[0154]

Table 14

[0155] In some embodiments, the multi-codeword PUSCH transmission may be targeted at multiple transmit-receive points (TRPs). A first example is depicted in FIG. 6(a), where each PUSCH codeword to be transmitted includes a transmission layer targeted at a different TRP. As shown in FIG. 6(a), two PUSCH layers targeted at the first TRP are mapped to the first PUSCH codeword, and two other PUSCH layers targeted at the second TRP are mapped to the second PUSCH codeword. All PUSCH layers may be transmitted in the same time-frequency resource (e.g., the same resource element). This embodiment may be applicable to both DG PUSCH and type 2 CG PUSCH. The multi-codeword PUSCH transmission targeted at multiple TRPs may be scheduled by one DCI from one TRP or one DCI from multiple TRPs. For example, different TRPs may be associated with different SRS resource sets, and in this case, different TRPs may also correspond to the transmission of different codewords.

[0156] In some embodiments, in an uplink DCI (e.g., DCI having format 0_1 or 0_2), at least one of the following parameters may be signaled for the first codeword: - The modulation and coding scheme (MCS1) for the first codeword or the first TB may be indicated to the UE via the first "Modulation and coding scheme" field in the uplink DCI. - The redundancy version (RV1) for the first codeword or the first TB may be indicated to the UE via the first "Redundancy version" field in the uplink DCI. - The TPMI corresponding to the first codeword or the first TB and the number of PUSCH layers are indicated to the UE via the first "Precoding information and number of layers" field in the uplink DCI. Note that this field is indicated to the UE when the UE is scheduled to transmit a codebook-based PUSCH transmission signal (i.e., this field appears in the uplink DCI). This field is not indicated to the UE when the UE is scheduled to transmit a non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission signal (i.e., this field does not appear in the uplink DCI). - The SRS resource corresponding to the PUSCH layer mapped to the first codeword may be indicated to the UE via the first "SRS resource indicator" field. - In codebook-based PUSCH transmission, a single SRS resource may be indicated by the first "SRS resource indicator" field. The PUSCH layer mapped to the first codeword may be spatially related to the most recent SRS transmission in the SRS resource indicated by the first "SRS resource indicator" field. - In non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission, one or more SRS resources may be indicated by the first "SRS resource indicator" field. The PUSCH layer mapped to the first codeword may be transmitted using the same antenna port as the SRS port in the SRS resource indicated by the first "SRS resource indicator" field. Assuming non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission in the example of (a) in Figure 6, two SRS resources should be indicated by the first "SRS resource indicator" field, and their SRS ports are used to transmit the two PUSCH layers mapped to codeword 1.

[0157] Regarding the second codeword, in the uplink DCI (e.g., DCI having DCI format 0_1 or 0_2), at least one of the following parameters may be signaled: - The modulation and coding scheme (MCS2) for the second codeword or the second TB may be indicated to the UE via the second "Modulation and coding scheme" field in the uplink DCI. - The redundancy version (RV2) for the second codeword or the second TB may be indicated to the UE via the second "Redundancy version" field in the uplink DCI. - The TPMI and the number of PUSCH layers corresponding to the second codeword or the second TB may be indicated to the UE via the second "Precoding information and number of layers" field in the uplink DCI. Note that this field is indicated to the UE when the UE is scheduled to transmit a codebook-based PUSCH transmission signal (i.e., this field appears in the uplink DCI). This field does not need to be indicated to the UE when the UE is scheduled to transmit a non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission signal (i.e., this field does not appear in the uplink DCI). Obtain - The SRS resource corresponding to the PUSCH layer mapped to the second codeword may be indicated to the UE via the second "SRS resource indicator" field. - In codebook-based PUSCH transmission, a single SRS resource may be indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. The PUSCH layer mapped to the second codeword may be spatially related to the most recent SRS transmission in the SRS resource indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. - In codebook-based PUSCH transmission, a single SRS resource may be indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. The PUSCH layer mapped to the second codeword may be spatially related to the most recent SRS transmission in the SRS resource indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. - In non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission, one or more SRS resources may be indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. The PUSCH layer mapped to the second codeword may be transmitted using the same antenna port as the SRS port in the SRS resource indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field. - Assuming non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission in the example of FIG. 6(a), two SRS resources should be indicated by the second "SRS resource indicator" field, and their SRS ports may be used to transmit two PUSCH layers mapped to codeword 1.

[0158] In some embodiments, the number of PUSCH layers mapped to two or more codewords may be the same or different. For example, FIG. 6(b) shows a case where the number of PUSCH layers mapped to two codewords is different. In FIG. 6(b), two PUSCH layers targeted at the first TRP are mapped to the first PUSCH codeword, and one PUSCH layer targeted at the second TRP is mapped to the second PUSCH codeword.

[0159] In some embodiments, for the case where two codewords are supported, the two SRS resource indicator fields may indicate the SRS resources configured in two different SRS resource sets configured for the UE. That is, the first SRS resource indicator field may indicate the SRS resource from the first SRS resource set in which it is configured, and the second SRS resource indicator field may indicate the SRS resource from the second SRS resource set in which it is configured.

[0160] Furthermore, the term "TRP" may not be adopted in the 3GPP standard. Instead, the TRP may be represented by any one of the SRS resource set configuration (e.g., SRS resource set 1 represents TRP1), "SRS resource indicator" field (e.g., the first "SRS resource indicator" field represents TRP1), and "Precoding information and number of layers" field (e.g., the first "Precoding information and number of layers" field indicates TRP1).

[0161] For example, in DCI format 0_1, the following parameters may be configured separately for the second TB transmission on the PUSCH. In the following example, the RRC parameter maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 indicates whether the transmission parameters for the second TB exist within DCI format 0_1. If maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 is absent or has the value "1", the transmission parameters are provided only for the first TB. Otherwise (e.g., maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 has the value "2"), the transmission parameters are provided separately for both the first and second TBs. The new parameters provided for the second TB are highlighted in underline in the following text:

[0162] [Table 15] [Table 16] [Table 17] [Table 18]

[0163] Similar to the above example, a set of transmission parameters for the second TB transmission on the PUSCH may be separately provided by the DCI field group within DCI format 0_2. Further, in a similar form to maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1, an RRC parameter, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2, configures whether the transmission parameters for the second TB exist within DCI format 0_2.

[0164] In some embodiments, when one or more SRS sets are configured and codewords directed to two or more different TRPs are transmitted, two or more transmission power control (TPC) fields may be present in the DCI. Each of the two or more TPC fields may be used to provide a closed-loop power control command associated with each respective codeword or closed-loop index.

[0165] In some embodiments, one of the codewords may be dynamically disabled and it can be indicated in the DCI. For example, one of the transport blocks may be disabled when I MCS = 26 and rv id = 1, which is indicated in the DCI for the corresponding transport block.

[0166] In some embodiments, when the total number of layers is greater than 4, a new antenna port table may be required to signal one associated DMRS port for each layer. A single antenna port field in the DCI may be used to indicate the DMRS ports associated with two codewords.

[0167] For example, when two codewords are supported, a single antenna port field in the DCI may be used to indicate the DMRS ports associated with those two codewords. When the maximum total rank = 8, it is necessary to signal up to 8 DMRS ports. For a total rank of up to 4, the existing antenna port tables defined in 3GPP TS 38.212 v16.6.0 (i.e., Tables 7.3.1.1.2-9 to 7.3.1.1.2-23) can be reused when the transform precoder is disabled. For a total rank greater than 4, the following tables can be used to signal 5 to 8 DMRS ports. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

[0168] Table 7: Antenna Port, Transform Precoder Disabled, dmrs-Type = 2, maxLength = 2, Both Codewords Enabled, Total Number of Layers Greater than 4 [Table 19]

[0169] Table 8: Antenna Port, Transform Precoder Disabled, dmrs-Type = 2, maxLength = 1, Both Codewords Enabled, Total Number of Layers Greater than 4 [Table 20]

[0170] Table 9: Antenna Port, Transform Precoder Disabled, dmrs-Type = 2, maxLength = 2, Both Codewords Enabled, Total Number of Layers Greater than 4 [Table 21]

[0171] When the transform precoder is enabled, two codewords are enabled for PUSCH transmission to two TRPs, one for each TRP. While the existing tables in 3GPP TS 38.212 v16.6.0 (i.e., from Table 7.3.1.1.2-6 to Table 7.3.1.1.2-7A) may indicate only one DMRS port, it is necessary to indicate two DMRS ports, one for each codeword. Therefore, a new antenna port table is required to signal the associated DMRS ports. The following are two new tables that can be used to achieve that purpose, with the first DMRS port for the first codeword and the second DMRS port for the second codeword.

[0172] Table 10: Antenna Ports, Transform Precoder Enabled, dmrs-Type=1, maxLength=1, Both Codewords Enabled [Table 22]

[0173] Table 11: Antenna Ports, Transform Precoder Enabled, dmrs-Type=1, maxLength=2, Both Codewords Enabled [Table 23]

[0174] As discussed above, the physical layer priority can be indicated by UL DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1, 0_2). The PUSCH may carry UL-SCH data, and the UCI may or may not be multiplexed. The PUSCH may also be instructed to carry only UCI (i.e., without UL-SCH data). In NR Rel-16, UCI and / or PUSCH with low PHY priority are discarded if they overlap in time with UCI and / or PUSCH with high PHY priority. In Rel-17, for example, certain combinations of UCI / PUSCH with high PHY priority and UCI / PUSCH with low PHY priority will be supported. - Multiplexing low-priority HARQ-ACK in high-priority PUSCH (carrying only UL-SCH) - Multiplexing high-priority HARQ-ACK in low-priority PUSCH (carrying only UL-SCH) - Multiplexing low-priority HARQ-ACK, high-priority PUSCH carrying UL-SCH, high-priority HARQ-ACK and / or CSI - Multiplexing high-priority HARQ-ACK, low-priority PUSCH carrying UL-SCH, low-priority HARQ-ACK and / or CSI

[0175] In some embodiments, the UL DCI may indicate that UL-SCH data should not be transmitted on the PUSCH, i.e., only UCI can be transmitted. In this case, the UCI can be divided into multiple different parts, and the different parts are transmitted with different codewords. In some embodiments, when multiple UCI types with the same PHY priority are transmitted on the PUSCH, among the UCI to be multiplexed, first, ranking is performed from the highest to the lowest in terms of UCI priority as follows: HARQ-ACK > SR > CSI with higher CSI priority > CSI with lower CSI priority

[0176] Therefore, if there are no different PHY priority levels (i.e., all the multiplexed UCIs have the same PHY), the overall priority ranking is the same as the UCI type priority ranking. And as a basic principle, the UCI with a higher UCI priority may be mapped to TB1 (i.e., the TB mapped to codeword 1), and the UCI with a lower UCI priority may be mapped to TB2 (i.e., the TB mapped to codeword 2), where TB1 may be assigned transmission parameters to achieve a higher reliability than TB2.

[0177] In some embodiments, a bit sequence U may be constructed in a form where various UCIs to be multiplexed are concatenated in order from the higher UCI type priority to the lower one, or in order from the lower UCI type priority to the higher one. For example, when HARQ-ACK and CSI are transmitted, the bit sequence may be formulated as U = [HARQ-ACK bits; CSI bits]. The bit sequence U may be segmented into TB1 and TB2, and each TB may experience transmission processes such as channel coding and / or modulation symbol determination separately. The symbol sequence of TB1 may be mapped to codeword 1, and the symbol sequence of TB2 may be mapped to codeword 2.

[0178] TB1 and TB2 may be assigned transmission parameters to achieve different levels of reliability. For example, TB1 targets a lower BLER = 1e-3, and TB2 targets a higher BLER = 1e-1. Transmission parameters that can be used for this purpose include: - MCS - For example, in UL DCI, TB1 may be given a lower MCS index (e.g., I MCS = 4), and TB2 may be given a higher MCS index (e.g., I MCS=6). Alternatively, TB1 may be mapped to a codeword indicated by a lower MCS index, and TB2 may be mapped to another codeword having a higher MCS index. - Number of layers - For example, TB1 may be given a larger number of MIMO layers (e.g., 2 layers), and TB2 may be given a smaller number of MIMO layers (e.g., 1 layer).

[0179] In some embodiments, all UCI bits may be mapped only to those having the lowest MCS index indicated in the DCI among the plurality of codewords, or may be mapped to a codeword having the largest number of layers.

[0180] The reason for multiplexing the UCI to a codeword having a larger number of layers is that when the UCI is to receive a fixed number of time-frequency resources, the codeword with more resources (i.e., more layers) is least affected by the multiplexing of the UCI to the PUSCH.

[0181] The reason for multiplexing the UCI to a codeword having a lower MCS is that when the UCI is to receive a fixed number of time-frequency resources, the codeword with a lower MCS has better tolerance to the impact caused by the multiplexing of the UCI to the PUSCH.

[0182] In some embodiments, the same UCI bits may be repeated in all codewords. The UCI bits transmitted in a certain codeword may be rate-matched according to the number of layers and modulation level associated with the codeword.

[0183] In some embodiments, when multiple PHY transmission characteristics are provided for UL transmission, in the ranking among UCIs, the PHY priority may be combined with the UCI type priority. For example, two PHY priorities may be provided. For example, a high PHY priority (HP) may be associated with a priority index = 0, and a low PHY priority (LP) may be associated with a priority index = 1. Then, an exemplary ranking of some UCIs may be, from the highest overall priority to the lowest, as follows: (HP) HARQ-ACK > (HP) SR > CSI with higher priority than (HP) > CSI with lower priority than (HP) > (LP) HARQ-ACK > (LP) SR > CSI with higher priority than (LP) > CSI with lower priority than (LP)

[0184] Another exemplary ranking of some UCIs may be, from the highest overall priority to the lowest, as follows: (HP) HARQ-ACK > (HP) SR > (LP) HARQ-ACK > (LP) SR > CSI with higher priority than (HP) > CSI with lower priority than (HP) > (LP) SR > CSI with higher priority than (LP) > CSI with lower priority than (LP)

[0185] However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Other ranking orders of UCIs may be possible. For the sake of brevity of discussion, even if not explicitly listed here, they are also included.

[0186] In some embodiments, when multiple codewords are transmitted on the PUSCH, the priority of each TB may be determined based on one or more of the following ways: - The priority of the TB is signaled in the DCI or CG grant. - In one example, the "priority indicator" field in the UL DCI (e.g., DCI format 0_1, 0_2) may provide the PHY priority index of multiple TBs carried by the PUSCH. - In other examples, for each TB, a "CW priority" field (i.e., a field indicating codeword priority) may be incorporated into the UL DCI. For example, if a "CW priority" of value 0 is indicated for a certain TB, the TB may have a lower codeword priority, while if a "CW priority" of value 1 is indicated for a certain TB, the TB may have a higher codeword priority, or vice versa. - The TB priority may be implicitly determined by one or more of the following transmission parameters: - Relative MCS index value. For example, a TB given a higher MCS index may be regarded as having a lower codeword priority, while a TB given a lower MCS index may be regarded as having a higher codeword priority, or vice versa. - Relative number of MIMO layers. For example, a TB given a smaller number of MIMO layers may be regarded as having a lower codeword priority, while a TB given a larger number of MIMO layers may be regarded as having a higher codeword priority, or vice versa. - Relative size of the TB to be carried. For example, a larger-sized TB may be regarded as having a lower codeword priority, while a smaller-sized TB may be regarded as having a higher codeword priority, or vice versa.

[0187] In some embodiments, one or more of the following characteristics may be considered when determining whether to multiplex the UCI with the PUSCH or with which codeword of the PUSCH: - UCI type priority of the UCI to be multiplexed - PHY priority of the UCI to be multiplexed - Relative codeword priorities of TB1 and TB2 - PHY priority of the entire PUSCH

[0188] For DG PUSCH, the PHY priority may be provided by the "priority indicator" in the scheduling DCI, where priority indicator = 0 indicates a low PHY priority and priority indicator = 1 indicates a high PHY priority. For configured grants, the RRC parameter "phy - PriorityIndex" may provide the PHY priority, where the value p0 may indicate a low PHY priority and the value p1 may indicate a high PHY priority.

[0189] In one example, when UCI with different PHY priorities, such as HP UCI (e.g., HP HARQ - ACK) and LP UCI (e.g., LP HARQ - ACK), are multiplexed onto the same PUSCH, the HP UCI may be multiplexed onto a codeword with a high codeword priority, or the LP UCI may be multiplexed onto a codeword with a high codeword priority.

[0190] In other examples, all UCIs may be multiplexed onto a codeword with a given codeword priority. For example, all UCIs may be multiplexed onto a codeword with a lower codeword priority so that UL - SCH data on a codeword with a higher codeword priority can be protected. In another example, all UCIs may be multiplexed onto a codeword with a higher codeword priority so that the UCI can be transmitted with high reliability.

[0191] In other examples, all UCIs to be multiplexed may be ranked by an overall priority. In that case, a UCI with a higher overall priority may be multiplexed onto a certain codeword (e.g., a CW with a higher CW priority), while a UCI with a lower overall priority may be multiplexed onto another codeword (e.g., a CW with a lower CW priority). In some embodiments, the overall UCI priority may be a function of both the PHY priority of the UCI and the UCI type priority of the UCI.

[0192] In other examples, the PHY priority of the entire PUSCH may be used to determine whether to allow multiplexing of UCI. For example, a PUSCH with a high PHY priority may only allow multiplexing of HP UCI and LP HARQ-ACK (i.e., other LP UCI such as LP SR or LP CSI cannot be multiplexed with the HP PUSCH). In that case, among the allowed UCI, those with a higher PHY priority may be multiplexed into codewords with a higher CW priority, while those with a lower PHY priority may be multiplexed into codewords with a lower CW priority.

[0193] In some embodiments, the UE may be configured at a higher layer (e.g., via RRC) regarding which UCI type or which part should be multiplexed for different codewords, or it may be pre-determined. For example, the UE may be configured to multiplex HARQ-ACK and SR into the first codeword, and CSI may be configured to be multiplexed into the second codeword.

[0194] For a PUSCH configured with transmission of multiple codewords, similar to the case of a non-repeated PUSCH, PUSCH repetition can be applied.

[0195] In some embodiments, for a PUSCH configured with the transmission of multiple codewords, PUSCH repetition type A may be applied, the PUSCH transmission may be repeated across multiple slots, and each PUSCH repetition may occupy the same time resource in each slot (i.e., each slot uses the same start and length indicator value (SLIV)). In some embodiments, frequency hopping (FH) may be additionally applied to the PUSCH repetition in the form of FH between repetitions, FH within a slot, or frequency hopping between slots. Note that up to Rel-17 in NR, the PUSCH repetition type A may be restricted to a single PUSCH layer. Therefore, this restriction may be removed to enable multi-codeword transmission on the PUSCH, and the UE may be configured to support more than one layer for the PUSCH repetition type A (e.g., one layer corresponds to codeword 1 and another layer corresponds to codeword 2). In some embodiments, each PUSCH repetition may carry the same two codewords (i.e., carry the same two transport blocks).

[0196] In some embodiments, for a PUSCH configured with the transmission of multiple codewords, PUSCH repetition type B may be applied. The PUSCH transmission may be repeated across multiple sub-slots or slots, each PUSCH repetition may occupy different time resources in each slot, and / or two or more PUSCH repetitions may be present within the same slot. In some embodiments, frequency hopping may be additionally applied to the PUSCH repetition in the form of FH between repetitions, FH within a slot, or frequency hopping between slots. In some embodiments, each PUSCH repetition may carry the same two codewords (i.e., carry the same two transport blocks).

[0197] In some embodiments, a subset of PUSCH repetitions may carry the entire set of multiple codewords (e.g., two codewords), while another subset of PUSCH repetitions may carry a reduced set of multiple codewords (e.g., carry only the first codeword).

[0198] For example, PUSCH may be provided with 8 repetitions. In N repetitions, two codewords (e.g., TB1 and TB2) may be carried. In the remaining (8 - N) repetitions, only one codeword (e.g., TB1) may be carried. Due to a lack of resources for the full set of codewords, the (8 - N) repetitions may carry a reduced set of codewords. For example, the number of OFDM symbols available for each of the (8 - N) repetitions may be less than a threshold (e.g., ≤ 2 OFDM symbols). Typically, a codeword (e.g., TB1) transmitted in more repetitions may be received with higher reliability than a codeword (e.g., TB2) transmitted in fewer repetitions. Thus, this can be taken into account to assign higher-priority TBs to TB1 and lower-priority TBs to TB2.

[0199] The above embodiments may be applicable to PUSCH repetition types A and B, or any other type of PUSCH repetition, such as type A PUSCH repetitions extended in, for example, NR Rel-17.

[0200] With the above embodiments, uplink transmission with multiple codewords can be achieved between a UE and one or more gNBs / TRPs, thereby achieving higher throughput, higher reliability, and faster response for uplink transmission.

[0201] FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 700 in a UE for uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Method 700 may be executed in a user equipment (e.g., UE 110). Method 700 may include step S710, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, method 700 may include more steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. Further, the steps of method 700 may be executed in an order different from that described herein if multiple steps are involved. Further, in some embodiments, a step in method 700 may be divided into multiple sub-steps and executed by different entities, and / or multiple steps in method 700 may be combined into a single step.

[0202] Method 700 may begin at step S710, and uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords may be performed with one or more network nodes.

[0203] In some embodiments, before step S710, method 700 may further include transmitting, by the UE, a message to at least one of the one or more network nodes indicating whether uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords is supported. In some embodiments, the message may indicate at least one of whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of type 1 CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of type 2 CG-based codewords, and whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, the message may indicate only whether the UE supports uplink transmission with a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, after the step of transmitting the message, method 700 may further include receiving, from the at least one network node, a configuration indicating whether a single codeword or a plurality of codewords is to be used by the UE for its uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the configuration may be received via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0204] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission or a DG-based uplink transmission, before step S710, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the DCI message may include at least one field for at least one of -MCS, -NDI, and -RV. In some embodiments, the DCI message may be a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the DCI message may be a message in DCI format 0_0, 0_1, or 0_2. In some embodiments, the DCI message may not be a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the step of receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission may include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a plurality of DCI messages for jointly scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the plurality of DCI messages may at least include a first DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a first part of the plurality of codewords, and a second DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a second part of the plurality of codewords.

[0205] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission, before step S710, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, an RRC message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the RRC message may include at least one field for at least one of: - MCS index, - MCS table, - information for precoding and number of layers, and - SRI. In some embodiments, the RRC message may include an IE named ConfiguredGrantConfig, and the IE includes at least one of: - an IE named precodingAndNumberOfLayers2ndTB for configuring information for precoding and number of layers for the codeword, - an IE named srs-ResourceIndicator2ndTB for configuring the SRI for the codeword, and - an IE named mcsAndTBS2ndTB for configuring modulation order, target code rate, and / or TB size for the codeword.

[0206] In some embodiments, before the step of performing the uplink transmission, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, an RRC message indicating a maximum number of codewords for the uplink transmission.In some embodiments, the RRC message may include at least one of: - an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for DG-based uplink transmissions scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; - an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for DG-based uplink transmissions scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; - an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for any uplink transmission to the at least one network node; - an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for DG-based uplink transmissions and / or type 2 CG-based uplink transmissions scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; - an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for DG-based uplink transmissions and / or type 2 CG-based uplink transmissions scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; - an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByRRC within an IE named PUSCH-Config that indicates the maximum number of codewords for type 1 CG-based uplink transmissions scheduled by RRC signaling; and - an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named ConfiguredGrantConfig that indicates the maximum number of codewords for CG-based uplink transmissions.

[0207] In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be targeted at two or more of the above network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may at least include one or more first transmission layers targeted at a first node among the two or more network nodes, and one or more second transmission layers targeted at a second node among the two or more network nodes. In some embodiments, all of the above transmission layers may be transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, for at least two of the two or more network nodes, the uplink transmission may include the same or different numbers of transmission layers targeted at the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be a DG-based uplink transmission or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages for scheduling the uplink transmission received by the UE may include, for each of the plurality of codewords, at least one of -MCS, -RV, -TPMI and / or the number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and -one or more SRIs. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages may or may not include a single SRI for each of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is a non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages may include one or more SRIs for each of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, a first SRI configured for a first codeword may indicate an SRS resource from a first SRS resource set, and a second SRI configured for a second codeword may indicate an SRS resource from a second resource set different from the first SRS resource set.

[0208] In some embodiments, method 700 may further include receiving, from a network node, a message indicating that at least one of the plurality of codewords is invalidated, and invalidating, together with the network node, the at least one codeword to perform other uplink transmissions. In some embodiments, the message may be a DCI message including a plurality of fields, and a combination of one or more specific values among the plurality of fields indicates that the corresponding codeword is invalidated.

[0209] In some embodiments, the method may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message indicating a configuration for a DMRS port for the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates the configuration for the DMRS port for the plurality of codewords Single and may be a DCI message including an antenna port field. In some embodiments, the Single antenna port field is decoded as follows: - when the transform precoder is invalidated, referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less; - when the transform precoder is invalidated, referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4; and - when the transform precoder is validated, referring to one or more third antenna port tables.

[0210] In some embodiments, before step S710, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the DCI message indicating that there is no uplink shared channel (UL-SCH) data to be transmitted in the uplink transmission. Step S710 may further include performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to one or more codewords.

[0211] In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs may have one of a plurality of UCI type priorities. A first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority lower than the first UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, the UCI type priorities may be ordered from highest to lowest as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI having a higher CSI priority, and CSI having a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the step of performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to different codewords respectively may include constructing a bit sequence by concatenating the plurality of UCIs in descending or ascending order of their type priorities, and partitioning the bit sequence into the plurality of segments such that a plurality of segments are mapped to the plurality of codewords one-to-one. In some embodiments, one or more transmission parameters configured for a transport block (TB) associated with the first codeword may have values for achieving a higher reliability than those achieved by one or more corresponding transmission parameters configured for a TB associated with the second codeword. In some embodiments, the one or more transmission parameters may include at least one of -MCS and -the number of transmission layers.

[0212] In some embodiments, the plurality of UCIs may be mapped to one having the lowest MCS index and / or the most transmission layers among the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs may be repeated across all codewords. In some embodiments, the portion of the bits of the plurality of UCIs that is mapped to a codeword may be rate-matched according to the number of transmission layers and / or the MCS level associated with the corresponding codeword. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs may have one of a plurality of UCI type priorities and one of a plurality of PHY transmission priorities, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority different from the first combination is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority may be ordered from high to low as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priorities and PHY transmission priorities may be ordered from highest to lowest as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.

[0213] In some embodiments, before step S710, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the message indicating that UL-SCH data should be transmitted in the uplink transmission; and determining priorities for a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) associated with the plurality of codewords, at least partially based on the received message. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs may be determined based on at least one of: a priority indicator field in the received message; a codeword (CW) priority field in the received message; a relative MCS index value; a relative number of transmission layers; and a relative size of the TB. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs may be determined based on at least one of: a UCI type priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a PHY transmission priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a relative codeword priority for the plurality of codewords; and a PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission may be determined by a priority indicator field in the received message when the received message is a DCI message, and the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission may be determined by a "phy-PriorityIndex" field in the received message when the received message is an RRC message.

[0214] In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a low PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with another codeword having a low codeword priority. In some embodiments, all UCIs may be multiplexed with codewords having a pre-determined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high overall priority may be multiplexed with a first codeword, and a second UCI having a low overall priority may be multiplexed with a second codeword having a lower codeword priority than the first codeword. The overall priority for a UCI may be determined based on at least one of - the PHY transmission priority for the UCI, and - the UCI type priority for the UCI. In some embodiments, it may not be allowed to multiplex a UCI having an overall priority lower than the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission with the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a first codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a second PHY transmission priority lower than the first PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a second codeword having a low codeword priority.

[0215] In some embodiments, before step S710, method 700 may further include receiving, from at least one of the network nodes, a message indicating which type or which part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword. In some embodiments, which type or which part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword may be predetermined. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK and SR may be multiplexed with a first codeword, and CSI may be multiplexed with a second codeword. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be performed with repetition type A or repetition type B. The uplink transmission may be performed with at least one of - inter-repetition frequency hopping (FH), - in-slot FH, and - inter-slot FH. In some embodiments, each repetition of the uplink transmission may carry the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, a first repetition of the uplink transmission may carry the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and a second repetition of the uplink transmission may carry a subset that is a proper subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be a PUSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the network node may be a TRP.

[0216] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an exemplary method 800 in a network node for uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 800 may be executed in a network node (e.g., gNB 120). The method 800 may include step S810, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto. In some other embodiments, the method 800 may include more steps, different steps, or any combination thereof. Further, the steps of the method 800 may be executed in an order different from that described herein if a plurality of steps are involved. Further, in some embodiments, a certain step in the method 800 may be divided into a plurality of sub-steps and executed by different entities, and / or a plurality of steps in the method 800 may be combined into a single step.

[0217] The method 800 may start at step S810, and with the UE, uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords may be executed.

[0218] In some embodiments, before step S810, method 800 may further include receiving, from the UE, a message indicating whether uplink transmission using a plurality of codewords is supported by the UE. In some embodiments, the message may indicate at least one of whether the UE supports uplink transmission using a plurality of CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission using a plurality of type-1 CG-based codewords, whether the UE supports uplink transmission using a plurality of type-2 CG-based codewords, and whether the UE supports uplink transmission using a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, the message may indicate only whether the UE supports uplink transmission using a plurality of DG-based codewords. In some embodiments, after the step of receiving the message, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a configuration indicating whether a single codeword or a plurality of codewords is to be used by the UE for its uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the configuration may be transmitted via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0219] In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission or a DG-based uplink transmission, before step S810, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the DCI message may include at least one field for at least one of -MCS, -NDI, and -RV. In some embodiments, the DCI message may be a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the DCI message may be a message in DCI format 0_0, 0_1, or 0_2. In some embodiments, the DCI message may not be a DCI message in a legacy DCI format. In some embodiments, the step of transmitting a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission to the UE may include transmitting the DCI message for scheduling at least a part of the uplink transmission to the UE. In some embodiments, the plurality of DCI messages may at least include a first DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a first part of the plurality of codewords, and a second DCI message for scheduling one or more parameters for a second part of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission, before step S810, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, an RRC message for scheduling the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the RRC message may include at least one field for at least one of -MCS index, -MCS table, information for precoding and number of layers, and -SRI.In some embodiments, the RRC message may include an IE called ConfiguredGrantConfig, and the IE includes at least one of: - an IE called precodingAndNumberOfLayers2ndTB for configuring information for precoding and the number of layers for codewords, - an IE called srs-ResourceIndicator2ndTB for configuring the SRI for the codewords, and - an IE called mcsAndTBS2ndTB for configuring the modulation order, target code rate, and / or TB size for the codewords.

[0220] In some embodiments, before step S810, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, an RRC message indicating the maximum number of codewords for the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the RRC message includes at least one of: an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for any uplink transmission to the at least one network node; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-1 within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_1 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI-0-2 within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for a DG-based uplink transmission and / or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_2 message; an IE named maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByRRC within an IE named PUSCH-Config indicating the maximum number of codewords for a type 1 CG-based uplink transmission scheduled by RRC signaling; and an IE named maxNrofCodeWords within an IE named ConfiguredGrantConfig indicating the maximum number of codewords for a CG-based uplink transmission.

[0221] In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be targeted at a plurality of network nodes including the network node. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may at least include one or more first transmission layers targeted at the network node and one or more second transmission layers targeted at one or more other network nodes. In some embodiments, all the above-mentioned transmission layers may be transmitted on the same time-frequency resource. In some embodiments, for at least two of the plurality of network nodes, the uplink transmission may include the same or different numbers of transmission layers targeted at the corresponding network nodes. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be a DG-based uplink transmission or a type 2 CG-based uplink transmission. In some embodiments, one or more DCI messages transmitted by the network node to schedule the uplink transmission may include, for each of the plurality of codewords, at least one of - MCS, - RV, - TPMI and / or the number of transmission layers when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, and - one or more SRIs. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is a codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages may or may not include a single SRI for each of the plurality of codewords, and when the uplink transmission is a non-codebook-based uplink transmission, the one or more DCI messages may include one or more SRIs for each of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, a first SRI configured for a first codeword may indicate an SRS resource from a first SRS resource set, and a second SRI configured for a second codeword may indicate an SRS resource from a second resource set different from the first SRS resource set.

[0222] In some embodiments, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating that at least one of the plurality of codewords is invalidated, and, with the UE, invalidating the at least one codeword and performing other uplink transmissions. In some embodiments, the message may be a DCI message including a plurality of fields, and a combination of one or more specific values of the plurality of fields may indicate that the corresponding codeword is invalidated. In some embodiments, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating a configuration for DMRS ports for the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the message indicates the configuration for DMRS ports for the plurality of codewords Single and may be a DCI message including an antenna port field. In some embodiments, the Single antenna port field may be encoded as follows: - when the transform precoder is invalidated, referring to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less, - when the transform precoder is invalidated, referring to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4, and, - when the transform precoder is validated, referring to one or more third antenna port tables.

[0223] In some embodiments, before step S810, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a DCI message for scheduling the uplink transmission, the DCI message indicating that there is no UL-SCH data to be transmitted in the uplink transmission. The step of performing the uplink transmission may include performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to one or more codewords. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs may have one of a plurality of UCI type priorities. A first UCI having a first UCI type priority may be mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority lower than the first UCI type priority may be mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, the UCI type priorities may be ordered from highest to lowest as follows: HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI with a higher CSI priority, and CSI with a lower CSI priority. In some embodiments, the step of performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of UCIs mapped to different codewords respectively may include receiving, from the UE, the uplink transmission, decoding the uplink transmission to determine a plurality of segments mapped one-to-one to the plurality of codewords of the uplink transmission, and determining, from the plurality of segments, the plurality of UCIs ordered in descending or ascending order of type priority.

[0224] In some embodiments, one or more transmission parameters configured for the TB associated with the first codeword may have values for achieving higher reliability than those achieved by one or more corresponding transmission parameters configured for the TB associated with the second codeword. In some embodiments, the one or more transmission parameters may include at least one of - MCS and - number of transmission layers. In some embodiments, the plurality of UCIs may be mapped to one having the lowest MCS index and / or the largest number of transmission layers among the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the bits of the plurality of UCIs may be repeated across all codewords.

[0225] In some embodiments, the portion of the bits of the plurality of UCIs that are mapped to a codeword may be rate-matched according to the number of transmission layers and / or the MCS level associated with the corresponding codeword. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of UCIs may have one of a plurality of UCI type priorities and one of a plurality of PHY transmission priorities, a first UCI having a first combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second combination of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority different from the first combination is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword. In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority may be ordered from high to low as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority. In some embodiments, the combinations of UCI type priority and PHY transmission priority may be ordered from high to low as follows: - HARQ-ACK with high PHY transmission priority, - SR with high PHY transmission priority, - HARQ-ACK with low PHY transmission priority, - SR with low PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with lower CSI priority and high PHY transmission priority, - CSI with higher CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority, and - CSI with lower CSI priority and low PHY transmission priority.

[0226] In some embodiments, before step S810, method 800 may further include determining priorities for a plurality of transport blocks (TBs) associated with the plurality of codewords, and transmitting, to the UE, a message for scheduling the uplink transmission based at least in part on the priorities determined for the plurality of TBs, the message indicating that UL-SCH data should be transmitted in the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs may be determined based on at least one of: a priority indicator field in the received message; a CW priority field in the received message; a relative MCS index value; a relative number of transmission layers; and a relative size of the TB. In some embodiments, the priorities for the plurality of TBs may be determined based on at least one of: a UCI type priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a PHY transmission priority of UCI multiplexed with the uplink transmission; a relative codeword priority for the plurality of codewords; and a PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission.

[0227] In some embodiments, the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission may be determined by a priority indicator field in the received message when the received message is a DCI message, and the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission may be determined by the "phy-PriorityIndex" field in the received message when the received message is an RRC message. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a low PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with another codeword having a low codeword priority. In some embodiments, all UCIs may be multiplexed with codewords having a pre-determined or configured codeword priority. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a high overall priority may be multiplexed with a first codeword, and a second UCI having a low overall priority may be multiplexed with a second codeword having a lower codeword priority than the first codeword. The overall priority for a UCI may be determined based on at least one of - the PHY transmission priority for the UCI, and - the UCI type priority for the UCI. In some embodiments, it may not be allowed to multiplex a UCI having an overall priority lower than the PHY transmission priority of the uplink transmission with the uplink transmission. In some embodiments, a first UCI having a first PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a first codeword having a high codeword priority, and a second UCI having a second PHY transmission priority lower than the first PHY transmission priority may be multiplexed with a second codeword having a low codeword priority.

[0228] In some embodiments, before step S810, method 800 may further include transmitting, to the UE, a message indicating which type or which part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword. In some embodiments, which type or which part of the UCI should be multiplexed with which codeword may be pre-determined. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK and SR may be multiplexed with a first codeword, and CSI may be multiplexed with a second codeword. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be performed with repetition type A or repetition type B. The uplink transmission may be performed with at least one of - FH between repetitions, - FH within a slot, and - FH between slots. In some embodiments, each repetition of the uplink transmission may carry the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the first repetition of the uplink transmission may carry the entire set of the plurality of codewords, and the second repetition of the uplink transmission may carry a subset that is a proper subset of the plurality of codewords. In some embodiments, the uplink transmission may be a PUSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the network node may be a TRP.

[0229] FIG. 9 schematically shows an embodiment of a configuration 900 that may be used in a user equipment (e.g., UE 110) or a network node (e.g., gNB 120) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Included in configuration 900 is a processing unit 906, for example, with a digital signal processor (DSP) or a central processing unit (CPU). The processing unit 906 may be a single unit or multiple units for performing the various actions or procedures described herein. Also, configuration 900 may include an input unit 902 for receiving signals from other entities and an output unit 904 for providing signals to other entities. The input unit 902 and the output unit 904 may be configured as an integrated entity or as separate entities.

[0230] Furthermore, configuration 900 may include at least one computer program product 908 in the form of a non-volatile or volatile memory, such as, for example, an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), a flash memory, and / or a hard drive. The computer program product 908 includes a computer program 910 that, when executed by the processing unit 906 within configuration 900, causes the configuration 900 and / or the UE / network node comprising it to perform, for example, the procedures described above in connection with FIGS. 6 - 8 or some derivative action group thereof, including a group of codes / computer-readable instructions.

[0231] The computer program 910 may be configured as computer program code structured as a group of computer program modules 910A. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment where configuration 900 is used in a UE, the code within the computer program of configuration 900 includes a module 910A for performing an uplink transmission in a plurality of codewords with one or more network nodes.

[0232] Furthermore, the computer program 910 may be further configured as computer program code structured as a group of computer program modules 910B. Thus, in an exemplary embodiment where configuration 900 is used in a network node, the code within the computer program of configuration 900 includes a module 910B for performing an uplink transmission in a plurality of codewords with a UE.

[0233] The computer program modules should essentially be able to perform the action groups of the flows shown in FIGS. 6 - 8 so as to emulate a UE or a network node. In other words, when different computer program modules are executed in the processing unit 906, they may correspond to different modules within the UE or the network node.

[0234] The code means in the embodiments described above in connection with FIG. 9 are implemented as a computer program module that, when executed in a processing unit, causes the action groups described above in connection with the drawings mentioned above in the above configuration to be executed. However, at least one of those code means may be implemented, at least partially, as a hardware circuit in an alternative embodiment.

[0235] The processor may be a single central processing unit (CPU), but may also include two or more processing units. For example, the processor may include a general-purpose microprocessor, an instruction set processor, and / or an associated chipset, and / or a special-purpose microprocessor such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor may also include a base memory for caching purposes. The computer program may be carried by a computer program product connected to the processor. The computer program product may include a computer-readable medium in which the computer program is stored. For example, the computer program product may be a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), or an EEPROM, and the computer program modules described above may be distributed in different computer program products in the form of memories within the UE and / or network node in an alternative embodiment.

[0236] An exemplary user equipment is provided in a form corresponding to method 700 as described above. FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a UE 1000 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The UE 1000 may be, for example, the UE 110 in some embodiments.

[0237] The UE 1000 may be configured to execute method 700 as described above in connection with FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 10, the UE 1000 may include an uplink transmission module 1010 for performing uplink transmission with one or more network nodes in multiple codewords.

[0238] The above module 1010 may be implemented as a purely hardware solution or as a combination of software and hardware. For example, it may be implemented by a processor or microprocessor configured to execute the action groups described above and shown in FIG. 7 for example, appropriate software, a memory for storing the software, a programmable logic device (PLD), or other electronic components or processing circuits. Further, the UE 1000 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute any of the groups of steps of method 700 described with reference to FIG. 7.

[0239] A network node is provided in a form corresponding to method 800 as described above. FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an exemplary network node 1100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The network node 1100 may be, for example, a gNB 120 in some embodiments.

[0240] The network node 1100 may be configured to execute method 800 as described above in connection with FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 11, the network node 1100 may include an uplink transmission module 1110 for performing uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords with a UE.

[0241] The above module 1110 may be implemented as a purely hardware solution or as a combination of software and hardware. For example, it may be implemented by a processor or microprocessor configured to execute the action groups described above and shown in FIG. 8 for example, appropriate software, a memory for storing the software, a programmable logic device (PLD), or other electronic components or processing circuits. Further, the network node 1100 may include one or more additional modules, each of which may execute any of the groups of steps of method 800 described with reference to FIG. 8.

[0242] Referring to FIG. 12, according to one embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunications network 3210 such as a 3GPP - type cellular network. The telecommunications network 3210 includes an access network 3211 such as a radio access network and a core network 3214. The access network 3211 includes a plurality of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c such as NB, eNB, gNB, or other types of radio access points, each of which defines a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to the core network 3214 over a wired or wireless connection 3215. A first UE 3291 located in the coverage area 3213c is configured to be wirelessly connected to or paged by the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE 3292 within the coverage area 3213a is connectable wirelessly to the corresponding base station 3212a. In this example, although a plurality of UEs 3291, 3292 are illustrated, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where there is a single UE within the coverage area or where a single UE is connected to the corresponding base station 3212.

[0243] The telecommunications network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, which may be embodied as the hardware and / or software of a stand-alone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources within a server farm, and may be under the ownership or control of, or operated by or for, a service provider. The connections 3221, 3222 between the telecommunications network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may be connected via an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220 may be one or a combination of a public, private, or hosted network, and if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet, specifically, the intermediate network 3220 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0244] The communication system of FIG. 12 enables connectivity between one of the connected UEs 3291, 3292 and the host computer 3230 as a whole. That connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3250. The host computer 3230 and the connected UEs 3291, 3292 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 3250 using the access network 3211, the core network 3214, any intermediate network 3220, and a possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediate steps. The OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the sense that participating communication devices along the path of the OTT connection 3250 are not aware of the routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 3212 need not be notified of or need not require notification of the past routing of incoming downlink communications with data to be transferred (e.g., handed over) from the host computer 3230 to the connected UE 3291. Similarly, the base station 3212 does not need to recognize the future routing of outgoing uplink communications from the UE 3291 towards the host computer 3230.

[0245] An exemplary implementation according to one embodiment of the UE, base station, and host computer discussed in the previous paragraph will now be described with reference to FIG. 13. In communication system 3300, host computer 3310 comprises hardware 3315 including a communication interface 3316 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of different communication devices of communication system 3300. Host computer 3310 further comprises a processing circuit 3318 that may have storage and / or processing capabilities. Specifically, processing circuit 3318 may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute a set of instructions. Host computer 3310 further comprises software 3311 stored within host computer 3310 or accessible by host computer 3310, the software 3311 being executable by processing circuit 3318. Software 3311 includes a host application 3312. Host application 3312 may be operable to provide services to remote users such as UE 3330 that is connected via an OTT connection 3350 terminating at UE 3330 and host computer 3310. During the provision of services to the remote user, host application 3312 may provide user data transmitted using OTT connection 3350.

[0246] The communication system 3300 further includes a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system, and the base station 3320 comprises hardware 3325 that enables communication with a host computer 3310 and a UE 3330. The hardware 3325 includes a communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with interfaces of different communication devices of the communication system 3300, and may include a wireless interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located within a coverage area (not shown in FIG. 13) served by the base station 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate a connection 3360 to the host computer 3310. The connection 3360 may be direct or may pass through a core network of the telecommunication system (not shown in FIG. 13) and / or one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 further includes a processing circuit 3328 that may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown) adapted to execute instruction sets. The base station 3320 further has software 3321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0247] The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 already mentioned. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a radio connection 3370 with a base station that serves the coverage area where the UE 3330 is located at that time. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 may further include a processing circuit 3338 that is adapted to execute a set of instructions, which may be one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations thereof (not shown). The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331 stored within or accessible by the UE 3330, which software 3331 is executable by the processing circuit 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330 with the support of the host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, the host application 3312 to be executed may communicate with the client application 3332 to be executed via an OTT connection 3350 that terminates at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. During the provision of services to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data as a response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data it provides.

[0248] Note that the host computer 3310, the base station 3320, and the UE 3330 shown in FIG. 13 may be the same as one of the host computer 3230, the base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c in FIG. 12, and one of the UEs 3291, 3292, respectively. That is to say, the internal operations of these entities may be as shown in FIG. 13, and independently, the surrounding network topology may be the same as that in FIG. 12.

[0249] In FIG. 13, an OTT connection 3350 is abstractly depicted to illustrate communication between a host computer 3310 and a user equipment 3330 via a base station 3320 without any explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages through those devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, which may be configured to hide the routing from a service provider operating the UE 3330 or the host computer 3310 or both. While the OTT connection 3350 is active, the network infrastructure may further make decisions to dynamically change the routing (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or network reconfiguration).

[0250] The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 complies with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT services provided to the UE 3330 using the OTT connection 3350, and the wireless connection 3370 forms its last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may provide benefits such as improved latency and power consumption, thereby reduced user wait time, better responsiveness, and longer battery life.

[0251] For the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided. There may further exist network functionality as an option for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host computer 3310 and the UE 3330 according to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310, the software 3331 of the UE 3330, or both. In multiple embodiments, sensors (not shown) through which the OTT connection 3350 passes may be deployed within or associated with the communication device, and those sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying the quantitative values of the monitoring results exemplified above or supplying the values of other physical quantities, and the quantities to be monitored may be calculated or estimated from them by the software 3311, 3331. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, suitable routing, etc., and the reconfiguration may not affect the base station 3320 and may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 3320. Such procedures and functionality may be known or in use in the art. In one embodiment, the measurement may include unique UE signaling that facilitates measurements such as throughput, propagation time, and latency by the host computer 3310. The measurement may be implemented in such a way that the software 3311, 3331 monitors propagation time, errors, etc. while transmitting messages that are specifically empty or "dummy" messages using the OTT connection 3350.

[0252] FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE as described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. For the sake of brevity of the present disclosure, only references to the figures of FIG. 14 will be included in this section. In a first step 3410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step 3411 of the first step 3410, the host computer provides user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3420, the host computer starts transmitting the user data to a UE that carries the user data. As an optional third step 3430, the base station transmits the user data carried in the above transmission started by the host computer to the UE according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure. As an optional fourth step 3440, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0253] FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE as described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. For the sake of brevity of the present disclosure, only references to the figures of FIG. 15 will be included in this section. In a first step 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3520, the host computer starts transmitting the user data to a UE that carries the user data. The transmission may pass through the base station according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure. As an optional third step 3530, the UE receives the user data carried in the above transmission.

[0254] FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE as described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. For the sake of brevity of the present disclosure, only references to the figures of FIG. 16 will be included in this section. In a first optional step 3610 of the method, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in a second optional step 3620, the UE provides user data. In a sub-step 3621, which is an option of the second step 3620, the UE provides user data by executing a client application. In a further option sub-step 3611 of the first step 3610, the UE executes a client application that provides user data in reaction to receiving the input data provided by the host computer. During the provision of the user data, the client application being executed may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific way in which the user data is provided, in an optional third step 3630, the UE starts transmitting the user data to the host computer. In a fourth step 3640 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure.

[0255] FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to one embodiment. The communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE as described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. For the sake of brevity of the present disclosure, only the reference to the figure of FIG. 17 will be included in this section. In an optional first step 3710 of the method, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In an optional second step 3720, the base station starts transmitting the received user data to the host computer. In a third step 3730, the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission started by the base station.

[0256] The present disclosure has been described above with reference to its embodiments. However, those embodiments are provided only for illustrative purposes rather than limiting the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications and variations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, and all of them fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0257] Abbreviation Explanation BS Base Station CB Code Block CBG Code Block Group CBGTI Code Block Group Transmission Information CG Configuration Grant CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check CRM Collision Resolution Message CSI Channel State Information DCI Downlink Control Information DG Dynamic Grant DL Downlink DM-RS Demodulation Reference Signal eMTC Enhanced Machine Type Communication FH Frequency Hopping FR1 Frequency Range 1 FR2 Frequency Range 2 Network Node in gNB NR HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request MAC Media Access Control Msg3 Message 3 NB-IoT Narrowband Internet of Things NR New Radio PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Data Channel PRB Physical Resource Block, i.e., 12 consecutive subcarriers RE Resource Element RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier RSRP Reference Signal Received Power RV Redundancy Version SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling TB Transport Block TBS TB Size TxD Transmit Diversity UE User Equipment UL Uplink

Claims

1. A method in a user equipment (UE) for uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords, the method comprising: receiving, from at least one of one or more network nodes, a message comprising a single antenna port field indicating a configuration for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port for the plurality of codewords; performing uplink transmission with the plurality of codewords to the one or more network nodes, wherein the antenna port field refers to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less, and refers to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of the transmission layers is greater than 4; A method.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, when the uplink transmission is type 2 CG-based uplink transmission or DG-based uplink transmission, before performing the uplink transmission, the message, which is a downlink control information (DCI) message for scheduling the uplink transmission, is received.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, for at least one of the plurality of codewords, the DCI message comprises: a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a new data indicator (NDI), and at least one field for at least one of redundancy versions (RV).

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the DCI message is a message of DCI format 0_0, 0_1 or 0_2.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a network node, a second message indicating that at least one of the plurality of codewords is invalidated.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the second message is a DCI message comprising a plurality of fields, and a combination of one or more specific values of the plurality of fields indicates that the corresponding codeword is invalidated.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the message is a DCI message comprising the antenna port field.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the antenna port field refers to the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less when the conversion precoder is disabled; refers to the one or more second antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4 when the conversion precoder is disabled; and is decoded by at least one of referring to one or more third antenna port tables when the conversion precoder is enabled.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the uplink transmission includes performing the uplink transmission including a plurality of uplink control information (UCI) mapped to one or more codewords.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein a first UCI having a first UCI type priority is mapped to a first codeword, and a second UCI having a second UCI type priority is mapped to a second codeword different from the first codeword, wherein the second UCI type priority is lower than the first UCI type priority.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the uplink transmission is a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission.

12. A user equipment, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. A method in a network node for uplink transmission with a plurality of codewords from a UE, the method comprising: transmitting to the UE a message including a single antenna port field indicating a configuration for demodulation reference signal (DMRS) ports for the plurality of codewords; receiving from the UE an uplink transmission signal with the plurality of codewords; wherein the antenna port field refers to one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is 4 or less, and refers to one or more second antenna port tables different from the one or more first antenna port tables when the number of transmission layers is greater than 4. Method.

14. A network node, a processor, and a memory storing a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to claim 13, the network node comprising the memory and the processor.

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