Dynamic uplink control channel carrier switching

Abstract

The PUCCH carrier switching includes decoding an RRC configuration indicating a reference cell having a reference cell slot numerology. The reference cell slot is determined for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology. The determined slot is used for transmitting SR, CSI, or HARQ-ACK. A DCI indicating a candidate target PUCCH cell having a candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerology and a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell is decoded. A target PUCCH cell having a target PUCCH cell slot numerology is determined for transmitting SR, CSI, or HARQ-ACK. The determined slot is mapped to a corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell. A PUCCH resource for transmitting SR, CSI, or HARQ-ACK using the corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell is determined. The determination of the PUCCH resource is based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] TECHNICAL FIELD This application relates generally to wireless communication systems that include uplink control channel carrier switching. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technologies use various standards and protocols to transmit data between base stations and wireless communication devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols can include, for example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G), 3GPP new radio (NR) (e.g., 5G), and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), commonly known to industry groups as Wi-Fi®.

[0003] As contemplated by 3GPP, different wireless communication system standards and protocols may use various radio access networks (RANs) for communication between base stations of the RAN (sometimes commonly referred to as RAN nodes, network nodes, or simply nodes) and wireless communication devices known as user equipment (UE). 3GPP RANs may include, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and / or Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN).

[0004] Each RAN can perform communications between base stations and UEs using one or more radio access technologies (RATs). For example, a GERAN implements a GSM and / or EDGE RAT, a UTRAN implements a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, an E-UTRAN implements an LTE RAT (sometimes simply referred to as LTE), and an NG-RAN implements an NR RAT (sometimes referred to herein as a 5G RAT, a 5G NR RAT, or simply NR). In certain deployments, an E-UTRAN can also implement an NR RAT. In certain deployments, an NG-RAN can also implement an LTE RAT.

[0005] A base station used by a RAN may correspond to that RAN. An example of an E-UTRAN base station is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly referred to as an evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNode B, or eNB). An example of an NG-RAN base station is a next-generation Node B (sometimes referred to as a Node B or gNB).

[0006] The RAN provides communication services with external entities via a connection to a core network (CN). For example, the E-UTRAN can utilize the evolved packet core (EPC), and the NG-RAN can utilize the 5G core network (5GC). [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit(s) of a reference number refers to the number of the figure in which that element is first introduced.

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates a time domain pattern for a reference cell slot and a target PUCCH cell slot according to one embodiment.

[0009] [Figure 2] 1 illustrates a time domain pattern for a reference cell slot and a target PUCCH cell slot according to one embodiment.

[0010] [Figure 3] 1 illustrates a time domain pattern for a reference cell slot and a target PUCCH cell slot according to one embodiment.

[0011] [Figure 4] 10 illustrates a mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots according to one embodiment.

[0012] [Figure 5] 10 illustrates a mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots according to one embodiment.

[0013] [Figure 6] 10 illustrates a mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots according to one embodiment.

[0014] [Figure 7] 1 illustrates a flowchart of a method for uplink control channel carrier switching, according to one embodiment.

[0015] [Figure 8] 1 illustrates an example architecture of a wireless communication system according to embodiments disclosed herein.

[0016] [Figure 9] 1 illustrates a system for performing signaling between a wireless device and a network device, according to embodiments disclosed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0017] Various embodiments are described in terms of a UE. However, reference to a UE is provided merely for purposes of illustration. The illustrative embodiments may be used with any electronic component, configured with hardware, software, and / or firmware, capable of establishing a connection to a network and exchanging information and data with the network. Accordingly, a UE as described herein is used to represent any suitable electronic component.

[0018] By way of background, the 3GPP Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network (TSG RAN) WG1 (RAN1) (i.e., Radio Layer 1 or Physical Layer) agreement includes support for Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) carrier switching based on dynamic indication in Downlink Control Information (DCI) and semi-static configuration. However, details regarding such support are not yet clear. For example, the applicability of dynamic and / or semi-static measures may be further investigated. The goal of such support may include minimal impact on already deployed specifications.

[0019] In particular, dynamic indication and / or semi-static configuration may depend on distinct UE capabilities. Additionally, semi-static PUCCH carrier switching configuration operation may be based on the radio resource control (RRC)-configured PUCCH cell timing pattern of the applicable PUCCH cell, and may support PUCCH carrier switching across cells with different numerologies. Additional rules may potentially also be applied to support PUCCH carrier switching across cells with different numerologies. Furthermore, the following details may also be further considered: 1. the maximum number of PUCCH cells; 2. whether and how to support joint operation of dynamic and semi-static carrier switching for a UE; and / or 3. whether and how to support joint operation of PUCCH carrier switching and semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) deferral. Additionally, for PUCCH carrier switching based on dynamic indication in DCI scheduling PUCCH, the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may be interpreted to HARQ-ACK offset k1 based on the numerology of the dynamically indicated target PUCCH cell, as further described below.

[0020] Other RAN1 agreements include: 1. For PUCCH carrier switching, the PUCCH configuration (i.e., pucch-Config / PUCCH-ConfigurationList) may be per uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) (i.e., per candidate cell and UL BWP of that particular candidate cell). Channel state information (CSI) and its associated scheduling request (SR) may be further considered, and semi-static PUCCH carrier switching may be applicable to all uplink control information (UCI) types, including HARQ-ACK, SR, and CSI.

[0021] Additionally, the following RAN proposals may be applicable to the solution described herein: 1. In the case of PUCCH carrier switching based on a dynamic indication in a DCI, a new dedicated DCI field may be introduced for the DCI scheduling the PDSCH to indicate the target PUCCH cell, and 2. the UE may not expect overlapping PUCCH slots with dynamic PUCCH cell indications on more than one carrier. For example, in FIG. 1 (as described further herein), the UE would not expect to receive one DCI indicating PUCCH in slot 0 on cell 0 and another DCI indicating PUCCH in slot 0 on cell 1. Such a restriction may reduce the complexity associated with handling overlapping slots for dynamic PUCCH on different cells.

[0022] As shown, FIG. 1 includes a first portion 102, a second portion 104, a third portion 106, and a fourth portion 108, cell 0 (e.g., a reference cell) including slot 0 110, slot 1 112, slot 2 114, and slot 3 116, and cell 1 (e.g., a target PUCCH cell) including slot 0 118 and slot 1 120, including a time domain pattern (e.g., based on a set of DCI indicating candidate target PUCCH cell slots, based on a semi-statically configured time domain pattern, etc., as described further herein). As shown, the first portion 102 of the time-domain pattern indicates the use of cell 0 (i.e., corresponding to slot 0 110), the second portion 104 indicates the use of cell 1 (i.e., corresponding to slot 0 118 and overlapping with slot 0 110), the third portion 106 indicates the use of cell 1 (i.e., corresponding to slot 1 120 and overlapping with slot 3 116), and the fourth portion 108 indicates the use of cell 0 (i.e., corresponding to slot 3 116 overlapping with slot 1 120 of the PUCCH cell). Because multiple slots of the reference cell occur within a single slot of the PUCCH cell, the time-domain pattern may cause an overlap of the indicated cell slots to be used. In other words, a target PUCCH slot on one cell (e.g., slot 0 110 of the reference cell / cell 0) may overlap with a target PUCCH slot on another cell (e.g., slot 0 118 of the PUCCH cell / cell 1). Such scenarios may create additional complex scenario cases that must involve resolving such overlaps (e.g., by multiplexing or dropping). To avoid such unnecessary complications, the time-domain pattern (i.e., consecutive candidate target PUCCH cell slots indicated by the DCI) may be restricted so that target PUCCH slots on one cell do not overlap with target PUCCH slots on another cell.

[0023] For example, Figure 2 illustrates an example of a time-domain pattern that is permissible under such restrictions (i.e., in contrast to the scenario of Figure 1, which may not be permissible under the aforementioned restrictions). As shown, Figure 2 includes a time-domain pattern (e.g., based on a set of dynamically indicated candidate target PUCCH cells via DCI) comprising a first portion 202, a second portion 204, a third portion 206, and a fourth portion 208; a reference cell (i.e., cell 0) that includes slot 0 210, slot 1 212, slot 2 214, and slot 3 216; and a PUCCH cell (i.e., cell 1) that includes slot 0 218 and slot 1 220. As shown, first portion 202 and second portion 204 of the time-domain pattern indicate use of the reference cell (i.e., corresponding to slot 0 210 and slot 1 212 of the reference cell), and third portion 206 and fourth portion 208 of the time-domain pattern indicate use of the PUCCH cell (i.e., corresponding to slot 1 220 of the PUCCH cell). Therefore, such a time domain pattern is acceptable as it does not cause any overlapping usage of slots between the reference cell and the PUCCH cell.

[0024] Figure 3 shows another example of a time-domain pattern that is allowed under such restrictions. As shown, Figure 3 includes a time-domain pattern (e.g., based on a set of dynamically indicated candidate target PUCCH cells via DCI) that includes a first portion 302, a second portion 306, a third portion 308, a fourth portion 310, a fifth portion 312, a sixth portion 314, and a seventh portion 316, a reference cell (i.e., cell 0) that includes slot 0 318, slot 1 320, slot 2 322, slot 3 324, slot 4 326, slot 5 328, slot 6 330, and slot 7 332, a first PUCCH cell (i.e., cell 1) that includes slot 0 334, slot 1 336, slot 2 338, and slot 3 340, and a PUCCH cell (i.e., cell 2) that includes slot 0 342 and slot 1 344. As shown, first portion 302 and second portion 306 of the time domain pattern indicate use of the first PUCCH cell (i.e., corresponding to slot 0 334 of the first PUCCH cell), third portion 206 and fourth portion 208 of the time domain pattern indicate use of the reference cell (i.e., corresponding to slot 2 322 and slot 3 324 of the reference cell), and fourth portion 310, fifth portion 312, sixth portion 314, and seventh portion 316 of the time domain pattern indicate use of the second PUCCH cell (i.e., corresponding to slot 1 344 of the second PUCCH cell). Thus, such a time domain pattern is allowable because it does not cause any overlapping usage of slots between the reference cell, the first PUCCH cell, and the second PUCCH cell.

[0025] Furthermore, the following RAN proposals related to PUCCH carrier switching may also be applied to the solutions further described herein, including: 1. For semi-static PUCCH carrier switching, the time-domain pattern configuration may be based on the following characteristics: a. A single time-domain pattern configuration per PUCCH cell group, b. The granularity of the time-domain pattern may be one slot of the reference cell. The determination of the reference cell may be performed in any applicable manner. The notation of the reference cell may or may not be introduced in the RAN1 specification depending on how the reference cell is ultimately determined; c. the time domain pattern may be applied periodically, but such periodicity and pattern length may be in any applicable manner (e.g., 10 ms long, RRC configured); d. the pattern may define at least an applicable PUCCH cell for each slot of the reference cell; 2. in the case of semi-static PUCCH carrier switching, the PDSCH to HARQ-ACK offset k1 (as further described herein) may be interpreted based on the numerology and PUCCH configuration of the reference cell with respect to applying the time domain PUCCH carrier switching pattern; 3. in the case of semi-static PUCCH carrier switching, the PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) may be interpreted based on the PUCCH configuration of the determined target PUCCH cell.

[0026] Currently, a PUCCH resource BearerConfig configuration is defined for each logical channel in a cell group (i.e. CellGroupConfig->RLC-SR->LogicalChannelConfig->SchedulingRequestId, where SchedulingRequestId points to an SR configuration with a corresponding PUCCH-ResourceId pointing to the PUCCH resource defined in the PUCCH-config). For example, the following can apply:

number

number

[0027] Currently, the PUCCH resource configuration for CSI is defined per serving cell, but a list of PUCCH resources corresponding to each UL BWP of the serving cell is provided (e.g., ServingCellConfig-->CSI-MeasConfig-->CSI-ReportConfig-->CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset and pucch-CSI-ResourceList, where CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset is based on the UL subcarrier spacing (SCS)). For example, the following can be applied:

number

number

[0028] Currently, with regard to PUCCH resource configuration for SPS HARQ-ACK: 1. In a single SPS configuration, the PUCCH resources are part of the SPS configuration, and 2. In a multiple SPS configuration, the PUCCH resources are provided by sps-PUCCH-AN-List-r16 in the PUCCH-config. For example, the following may apply with regard to a single SPS configuration:

number

[0029] In contrast, for example, the following may apply for multiple SPS configurations:

number

number

[0030] In particular, R1-2108547, Final moderator summary on HARQ-ACK feedback enhancements for NR Rel-17 URLLC / IIoT, Moderator (Nokia), RAN1#706-e may provide references for at least some of the above background information.

[0031] Regarding dynamic PUCCH carrier switching, the following assumptions may apply to the solution described herein: 1. The PUCCH configuration may be configured per UL BWP per PUCCH cell, 2. In the case of dynamic HARQ-ACK, the PDSCH to HARQ-ACK offset K1 may be interpreted based on the numerology of the dynamically indicated target PUCCH cell. The PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell may then be used to interpret the PUCCH resource indication (PRI), and 3. The UE may not (or need not) expect PUCCH slots that overlap with the dynamic PUCCH cell indication on more than one carrier.

[0032] How configured PUCCHs are handled in dynamic PUCCH carrier switching scenarios has yet to be determined. There is debate as to whether to support PUCCH carrier switching for configured PUCCHs. However, since alternatives may have to utilize restrictions on dropping and / or configuration restrictions for configured PUCCHs, it may be beneficial to support such scenarios to provide better support for configured PUCCHs.

[0033] Therefore, the solutions provided herein relate to configuring dynamic PUCCH carrier switching, including: 1. how to handle PUCCH resource determination for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK; and 2. how to handle UCI multiplexing when PUCCHs overlap in time.

[0034] As further described above, a solution for determining PUCCH resources for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK is now described. First, note that the determination of PUCCH resources for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK can potentially follow legacy behavior (i.e., deriving based on the Primary Cell (PCell) / Primary Secondary Cell Group (SCG) cell (PSCell) configuration).

[0035] Nevertheless, the following issues also need to be addressed: 1. When a PUCCH is transmitted, assuming that the PUCCH must be transmitted on the target PUCCH cell based on a dynamic indication, the PUCCH resource to be used on the target PUCCH cell must be determined, and 2. The UE may also have a semi-statically configured PUCCH on the PCell / PSCell and a dynamic PUCCH on the target PUCCH cell. UCI multiplexing across different cells may also need to be defined.

[0036] Considering these issues, a general solution may include the following (described in more detail below): 1. slots for PUCCH for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK are determined based on the numerology of a reference cell, and 2. a target PUCCH cell is determined according to the following: a. if the slot for PUCCH for SR, CSI, or SPS HARQ-ACK overlaps with the PUCCH slot indicated by the DCI, the PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI may be the target PUCCH cell, or b. if there is no such overlap, i. the PCell / PSCell may be the target PUCCH cell, or ii. the target PUCCH cell is determined based on a semi-statically configured time-domain pattern. For example, the network may provide the UE with a semi-statically configured time-domain pattern indicating the target PUCCH cell to be used for each given slot during a specific period. In particular, semi-static PUCCH switching (i.e., rather than dynamic PUCCH switching as described herein) may utilize such a semi-statically configured time domain pattern, 3. slots on the reference cell are mapped to slots on the target PUCCH cell with potential pruning of PUCCH in the case of mixed numerology, and 4. PUCCH resources are determined based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

[0037] As briefly described above, the slots for PUCCH for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK are determined based on the numerology of the reference cell or the reference numerology. In special cases, the reference cell / numerology may be predefined as a PCell / PSCell or may follow a predefined rule (e.g., the minimum subcarrier spacing (SCS) among all PUCCH cells). Alternatively, the reference cell may be configured and / or the reference cell numerology may be configured. The advantage of such an alternative is that it may provide more flexibility compared to a predefined reference cell, especially in mixed numerology scenarios.

[0038] For SR, "periodicityAndOffset" can be interpreted based on the numerology of the reference cell. For CSI, "CSI-ReportPeriodicityAndOffset" may be interpreted based on the numerology of the reference cell. Finally, for SPS HARQ-ACK, K1 is indicated in the activation DCI and can be interpreted based on the numerology of the reference cell (i.e., the same as dynamic HARQ-ACK). In one example, the following may apply:

number

number

[0039] Again, as briefly described above, the reference cell slots can be mapped to the target PUCCH cell slots (with potential pruning of the PUCCH in scenarios involving mixed numerologies). Specifically, three different scenarios can arise, each involving a unique solution.

[0040] In the first scenario, the reference cell slot and the target PUCCH cell slot may contain the same numerology, which results in a simple one-to-one mapping. Such a scenario avoids PUCCH pruning.

[0041] 4 illustrates the mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots when the two cells have the same numerology. As shown, FIG. 4 includes a reference cell having slot 0 402, slot 1 404, slot 2 406, and slot 3 408, and a target PUCCH cell having slot 0 410, slot 1 412, slot 2 414, and slot 3 416. Each of these slots of the reference cell (e.g., slot 0 402, slot 1 404, etc.) may be mapped one-to-one to a corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell (e.g., slot 0 410, slot 1 412, etc.) because these two cells have slots with the same numerology.

[0042] In a second scenario, the SCS of the reference cell is smaller than the SCS of the target PUCCH cell. In such a scenario, one slot on the reference cell overlaps with multiple slots on the target PUCCH cell, so one or more rules must be defined to map the reference cell slot to one of the multiple target PUCCH slots. For example, in some embodiments, the reference cell slot may be mapped to the first overlapping slot of the target PUCCH cell. In other embodiments, the reference cell slot may be mapped to the last overlapping slot of the target PUCCH cell. In yet other embodiments, the mapping of the reference cell slot to the overlapping target PUCCH cell slot may be based on a provided configuration. Regardless of the particular mapping, PUCCH pruning may again be avoided in such a scenario.

[0043] 5 illustrates the mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots when the SCS of the reference cell is smaller than the SCS of the target PUCCH cell. As shown, FIG. 5 includes a reference cell having slot 0 502, slot 1 504, slot 2 506, and slot 3 508, and a target PUCCH cell having slot 0 510, slot 1 512, slot 2 514, slot 3 516, slot 4 518, slot 5 520, slot 6 522, and slot 7 524. Each of these slots (e.g., slot 0 502, slot 1 504, etc.) of the reference cell may be mapped to a single overlapping corresponding slot (e.g., slot 0 510, slot 1 512, etc.) of the target PUCCH cell, as further described above. While numerous options may be available for such mapping, FIG. 5 shows that each reference cell slot is mapped to the first corresponding overlapping slot of the target PUCCH cell (e.g., slot 0 502 of the reference cell to slot 0 510 of the target PUCCH cell, slot 1 504 of the reference cell to slot 2 514 of the target PUCCH cell, etc.).

[0044] In the third scenario, the SCS of the reference cell is larger than the SCS of the target PUCCH cell. Therefore, multiple slots of the reference cell overlap (or map) to a single slot of the target PUCCH cell. Therefore, in this third scenario, some PUCCHs may be pruned.

[0045] Based on the complexity of the third scenario, several options may be utilized, including: 1. The UE does not expect PUCCH in multiple slots of the reference cell to map to the same slot of the target PUCCH cell; 2. Only the PUCCH in one of the overlapping slots of the reference cell is mapped to the corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell, and the PUCCH in the other slots is dropped. For example, the mapped slot may be the first overlapping slot, the last overlapping slot, or according to a configuration. Utilizing this option may enable simple multiplexing behavior (i.e., reusing 3GPP Release 15 (Rel-15) behavior); 3. As an extension to option 2, pruning may be applied to SR and CSI, but not to SPS HARQ-ACK. In other words, in such an embodiment, an SPS HARQ-ACK can still be mapped from multiple slots of the reference cell to a single slot of the target PUCCH cell; 4. If the same SR / CSI configuration has PUCCH in multiple overlapping slots on the reference cell, only one of such slots is retained and mapped to the target PUCCH cell. Such pruning must be done if such slots are mapped to the same PUCCH resource on the target PUCCH cell, as described further below. In particular, the UE does not need to send multiple SRs or multiple CSI reports for the same configuration. Additionally, for SR, if at least one of the SR opportunities is positive, the SR may be positive on the target PUCCH cell.

[0046] 6 illustrates the mapping of reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots when the SCS of the reference cell is greater than the SCS of the target PUCCH cell. As shown, FIG. 6 includes a reference cell having slot 0 602, slot 1 604, slot 2 606, and slot 3 608, and a target PUCCH cell having slot 0 610 and slot 1 612. As explained further above, only one of the overlapping slots of the reference cell (i.e., slot 0 610 and slot 1 604 for slot 0 602, and slot 2 606 and slot 3 608 for slot 1 612) may be mapped to a single overlapping corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell (e.g., slot 0 610 and slot 1 612). While numerous options may be available for such mapping, FIG. 6 shows the first overlapping reference cell slots being mapped to corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell (e.g., slot 0 602 of the reference cell to slot 0 610 of the target PUCCH cell, and slot 2 606 of the reference cell to slot 1 612 of the target PUCCH cell).

[0047] The PUCCH resource may then be determined based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell. For example, in the first option, the existing parameter for the PUCCH resource ID may be interpreted based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell. One drawback of this approach is that for the same configuration, the target PUCCH cell may be different for different occasions. Having only a single PUCCH resource ID may limit the configuration flexibility in the base station (e.g., gNB) for PUCCH resources configured for multiple cells.

[0048] In a second option, the UE may be configured with a list of PUCCH resource IDs, each corresponding to one of several candidate PUCCH cells. Thus, for each target PUCCH cell, a corresponding PUCCH resource ID may be used. For example, for the SR, instead of PUCCH-ResourceID, "SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxNrOfPucchCells))OF PUCCH-ResourceID" or the like may be used. Also, assuming there are two PUCCH cells and the SR is configured with two PUCCH resource IDs (e.g., (5, 8)), the UE may use PUCCH resource #5 according to the PUCCH-config for the first PUCCH cell if the target PUCCH cell is the first PUCCH cell, and PUCCH resource #8 according to the PUCCH-config for the second PUCCH cell if the target PUCCH cell is the second PUCCH cell.

[0049] CSI can be treated similarly. In particular, for CSI, a "pucch-CSI-ResourceList" may be included in the CSI configuration and may contain a sequence of resource configurations, where each such resource corresponds to one of the PUCCH cells.

[0050] In the case of SPS HARQ-ACK, the existing "n1PUCCH-AN", "sps-PUCCH-AN-List-r16", or "sps-PUCCH-AN-ResourceID-r16" can be extended to include a list of such configurations for multiple PUCCH cells.

[0051] Finally, after the above procedures / solutions are performed, UCI multiplexing may be applicable. In particular, once all PUCCH resources (i.e., HARQ-ACK, SR, CSI) are determined for a given slot on the target PUCCH cell (according to the above-described procedures / solutions, including determining slots for PUCCH for SR, CSI, and SPS HARQ-ACK and mapping reference cell slots to target PUCCH cell slots), such PUCCH may overlap in time or may overlap in time with PUSCH. In such cases, UCI multiplexing on PUCCH / PUSCH may be applicable.

[0052] In particular, in the first and second scenarios relating to the slot mapping described above, the Rel-15 UCI multiplexing procedure can be directly reused, since the maximum number of PUCCHs for each UCI type can be exactly the same as in Rel-15.

[0053] However, in the third scenario related to slot mapping described above, various procedures / solutions can be utilized. For example, with regard to processing dynamic HARQ-ACK, the offset K1 from the PDSCH to the HARQ-ACK can be interpreted based on the numerology of the dynamically indicated target PUCCH cell. According to existing principles, there should be at most one PUCCH for dynamic HARQ-ACK in one slot on the target PUCCH cell.

[0054] In a third scenario, when processing an SPS HARQ-ACK in the case of having multiple PUCCHs for SPS HARQ-ACK mapped to the same slot on the target PUCCH cell (i.e., options 3 and 4 of the third scenario described above with respect to slot mapping): 1. The SPS HARQ-ACK payloads may be concatenated in a predefined order (e.g., based on a configuration) and the PUCCH resources may be determined based on the SPS PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell, or 2. When a dynamic HARQ-ACK is also present, the dynamic HARQ-ACK payloads and the SPS HARQ-ACK payloads may be concatenated in a predefined order.

[0055] Once the HARQ-ACK processing is complete, the Rel-15 multiplexing procedure can be reused to multiplex UCI onto the PUCCH / PUSCH. In addition, the Rel-15 multiplexing process can also be used for SR and CSI.

[0056] In particular, when subslot-based HARQ-ACK feedback is configured for a PUCCH cell, the "slot" used herein may be replaced by a "subslot" for such a cell in the proposed solution. Additionally, if there are two physical layer (PHY) priorities, the described procedure may be followed for each priority. However, in such a case, a single time-domain pattern may be applied to both PHY priorities. Furthermore, although the examples provided herein are generally described with respect to a case with PUCCH switching between two cells, the solutions described herein apply equally to cases with more than two cells.

[0057] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method 700 for PUCCH carrier switching in a UE. At block 702, the method 700 decodes a radio resource control (RRC) configuration. The RRC configuration may indicate a reference cell having a reference cell slot numerology. For example, the reference cell may have a numerology as further illustrated by cell 0 (i.e., slot 0 110, slot 1 112, etc.) and cell 1 (i.e., slot 0 118 and slot 1 120) in FIG. 1 . At block 704, the method 700 determines a slot of the reference cell for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology. The determined slot of the reference cell may be used for transmission of at least one of a scheduling request (SR), channel state information (CSI), and a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0058] At block 706, method 700 decodes downlink control information (DCI) indicating candidate target PUCCH cells and slots of the candidate target PUCCH cells. The candidate target PUCCH cells may have candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerologies. For example, cell 0 and cell 1 in FIG. 1 each indicate different slot numerologies. At block 708, method 700 determines a target PUCCH cell for transmitting at least one of SR, CSI, and HARQ-ACK based on the candidate target PUCCH cells and slots of the candidate target PUCCH cells indicated by the DCI, where the target PUCCH cells have target PUCCH cell slot numerologies. For example, such determination may be based on whether the indicated candidate target PUCCH cell slot overlaps with a slot for SR, CSI, or HARQ-ACK.

[0059] At block 710, method 700 maps the determined slots of the reference cell to corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell. For example, Figures 4, 5, and 6 each show slot mapping from the reference cell to the target PUCCH cell. At block 712, method 700 determines PUCCH resources for transmitting at least one of SR, CSI, and HARQ-ACK using the corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell. The determination of the PUCCH resources may be based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

[0060] The method 700 may also include determining the target PUCCH cell, which may further include determining that a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI overlaps with the determined slot of the reference cell and determining that the candidate target PUCCH cell is the target PUCCH cell. The method 700 may also include determining that a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI does not overlap with the determined PUCCH cell of the reference cell and determining that a primary cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell (PSCell) is the target PUCCH cell.

[0061] Method 700 may also include mapping, which may further include identifying that the reference cell slot numerology and the target PUCCH cell slot numerology have the same numerology, and generating a one-to-one mapping between the slots of the reference cell and the slots of the target PUCCH cell.

[0062] The method 700 may also include identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell as being smaller than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, and generating a mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell, wherein each given reference cell slot is mapped to a single target PUCCH cell slot that overlaps with the given reference cell slot.

[0063] The method 700 may also include mapping, further including identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell as being greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, and generating a mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell. The mapping may include each given reference cell slot being mapped to a single target PUCCH cell slot that overlaps with the given reference cell slot, and other reference cell slots that overlap with the given target PUCCH cell slot being dropped.

[0064] The method 700 may also include mapping, further including identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, and generating a first mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell. The first mapping may include a single reference cell slot that overlaps with and is mapped to the first target PUCCH cell slot, and other reference cell slots that overlap with the first target PUCCH cell slot are dropped. The first mapping may be applied to SR transmissions and CSI transmissions. The mapping may further include generating a second mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell. The second mapping may include each reference cell slot that overlaps with and is mapped to the second target PUCCH cell slot. The second mapping is applied to SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions. In particular, the first and second target PUCCH cell slots may comprise the same slot or different slots.

[0065] The method 700 may further include identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, where the determined slots of the reference cell include multiple slots of the reference cell that overlap with corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell. The method 700 may further include determining that an SR configuration or a CSI configuration includes multiple PUCCH transmissions scheduled to occur in the multiple slots of the reference cell, and dropping the SR transmission associated with the SR configuration or dropping the CSI transmission associated with the CSI configuration based on the determining.

[0066] The method 700 may also include determining a PUCCH resource, which may further include decoding a resource configuration including a plurality of PUCCH resource identifications (IDs), each of the plurality of PUCCH resource IDs corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate target PUCCH cells.

[0067] The method 700 may also include determining the PUCCH resources based on a PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell, further including interpreting existing parameters associated with PUCCH resource identities (IDs). The method 700 may also include determining the PUCCH resources, further including decoding a resource configuration including a list of PUCCH resource identities (IDs), each PUCCH resource ID corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate PUCCH cells included in the RRC configuration.

[0068] The method 700 may further include identifying that the HARQ-ACK includes a dynamic HARQ-ACK and interpreting a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to a HARQ-ACK offset K1 based on the candidate target PUCCH cell numerology of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI.

[0069] The method 700 may further include identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determined slots of the reference cell include multiple slots of the reference cell that overlap with corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell. The method 700 may further include identifying that one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and one or more semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) HARQ-ACK transmissions are scheduled to occur in multiple slots of the reference cell. The method 700 may further include concatenating dynamic HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and SPS HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions in a predefined order in the multiple slots of the reference cell. The concatenation may include multiplexing the dynamic HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and the SPS HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions. The method 700 may further include encoding a single PUCCH HARQ-ACK transmission using a multiplexed payload of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions.

[0070] The method 700 may further include identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, where the determined slots of the reference cell include multiple slots of the reference cell that overlap with corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell. The method 700 may further include identifying that multiple semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) HARQ-ACK transmissions are scheduled to occur in multiple slots of the reference cell and concatenating payloads of each of the multiple SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions in the multiple slots of the reference cell in a predefined order. The concatenation may include multiplexing the payloads of each of the multiple SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions. The method 700 may further include encoding a single PUCCH HARQ-ACK transmission using the multiplexed payloads of each of the multiple SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions.

[0071] Method 700 may also include determining a slot of the reference cell for the PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology, further including interpreting one or more existing parameters for time-domain resource allocation based on the reference cell slot numerology. Method 700 may also include determining a target PUCCH cell, further including decoding a time-domain pattern communication associated with the duration. The time-domain pattern may indicate a target PUCCH cell for one or more PUCCH transmissions at each time point within the duration.

[0072] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of method 700. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 902, which is a UE as described herein).

[0073] Embodiments contemplated herein may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of the electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the method 700. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a UE (such as memory 906 of a wireless device 902 that is a UE, as described herein).

[0074] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry that performs one or more elements of method 700. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 902, which is a UE as described herein).

[0075] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media containing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of method 700. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 902, which is a UE as described herein).

[0076] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals described in or associated with one or more elements of method 700.

[0077] Embodiments contemplated herein include computer programs or computer program products including instructions, where execution of the program by a processor causes the processor to perform one or more elements of method 700. The processor may be a processor of a UE (such as processor(s) 904 of a wireless device 902 that is a UE as described herein). These instructions may be located, for example, within the processor and / or on a memory of the UE (such as memory 906 of a wireless device 902 that is a UE as described herein).

[0078] 8 illustrates an example architecture of a wireless communication system 800 according to embodiments disclosed herein. The following description is provided for the example wireless communication system 800 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and / or 5G or NR system standards, as provided by the 3GPP technical specifications.

[0079] 8, the wireless communication system 800 includes a UE 802 and a UE 804 (although any number of UEs may be used). In this example, the UEs 802 and 804 are shown as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing devices configured for wireless communication.

[0080] The UEs 802 and 804 may be configured to be communicatively coupled to a RAN 806. In an embodiment, the RAN 806 may be an NG-RAN, an E-UTRAN, or the like. The UEs 802 and 804 utilize connections (or channels) with the RAN 806 (shown as connection 808 and connection 810, respectively), each of which comprises a physical communication interface. The RAN 806 may include one or more base stations, such as base station 812 and base station 814, that facilitate the connections 808 and 810.

[0081] In this example, connection 808 and connection 810 are air interfaces for enabling such communication coupling and may correspond to the RAT(s) used by RAN 806, such as, for example, LTE and / or NR.

[0082] In some embodiments, the UE 802 and the UE 804 can also directly exchange communication data via the sidelink interface 816. The UE 804 is configured to access an access point (shown as AP 818) via a connection 820, as shown. By way of example, the connection 820 can include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 902.11 protocol, and the AP 818 can include a Wi-Fi router. In this example, the AP 818 can be connected to other networks (e.g., the Internet) without going through the CN 824.

[0083] In embodiments, the UEs 802 and 804 may be configured to communicate with each other or with the base station 812 and / or the base station 814 using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals over multi-carrier communication channels according to various communication technologies, such as, but not limited to, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication technology (e.g., for downlink communication) or a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication technology (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), and the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. An OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0084] In some embodiments, all or a portion of the base station 812 or the base station 814 may be implemented as one or more software entities executing on a server computer as part of a virtual network. Additionally, or in other embodiments, the base station 812 or the base station 814 may be configured to communicate with each other via the interface 822. In embodiments where the wireless communication system 800 is an LTE system (e.g., where the CN 824 is the EPC), the interface 822 may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more eNBs) that connect to the EPC and / or between two eNBs that connect to the EPC. In embodiments where the wireless communication system 800 is an NR system (e.g., where the CN 824 is the 5GC), the interface 822 may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface may be defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more gNBs) that connect to 5GC, between the base station 812 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB that connect to 5GC, and / or between two eNBs that connect to 5GC (e.g., the CN 824).

[0085] The RAN 806 is shown communicatively coupled to the CN 824. The CN 824 may comprise one or more network elements 826 configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UEs 802 and 804) connected to the CN 824 via the RAN 806. The components of the CN 824 may be implemented in a single physical device or separate physical devices, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium).

[0086] In an embodiment, the CN 824 may be an EPC, and the RAN 806 may be connected to the CN 824 via an S1 interface 828. In an embodiment, the S1 interface 828 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface that carries traffic data between the base station 812 or 814 and a serving gateway (S-GW), and an S1-MME interface that is a signaling interface between the base station 812 or 814 and a mobility management entity (MME).

[0087] In an embodiment, the CN 824 may be a 5GC, and the RAN 806 may be connected to the CN 824 via an NG interface 828. In an embodiment, the NG interface 828 may be divided into two parts: an NG-User Plane (NG-U) interface that carries traffic data between the base station 812 or 814 and a User Plane Function (UPF), and an S1 Control Plane (NG-C) interface that is a signaling interface between the base station 812 or 814 and an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

[0088] In general, the application server 830 may be an element that provides applications that use Internet Protocol (IP) bearer resources (e.g., packet-switched data services) with the CN 824. The application server 830 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, group communication sessions, etc.) for the UE 802 and the UE 804 via the CN 824. The application server 830 may communicate with the CN 824 via an IP communication interface 832.

[0089] 9 illustrates a system 900 for performing signaling 934 between a wireless device 902 and a network device 918 according to embodiments disclosed herein. The system 900 may be part of a wireless communication system as described herein. The wireless device 902 may be, for example, a UE of the wireless communication system. The network device 918 may be, for example, a base station (e.g., an eNB or a gNB) of the wireless communication system.

[0090] The wireless device 902 may include one or more processor(s) 904. The processor(s) 904 may execute instructions to perform various operations of the wireless device 902, as described herein. The processor(s) 904 may include, for example, one or more baseband processors implemented using a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

[0091] The wireless device 902 may include a memory 906. The memory 906 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions 908 (e.g., may include instructions being executed by the processor(s) 904). The instructions 908 may also be referred to as program code or computer programs. The memory 906 may also store data used by the processor(s) 904 and results computed by the processor(s) 904.

[0092] The wireless device 902 may include one or more transceiver(s) 910, which may include radio frequency (RF) transmitter and / or receiver circuitry using an antenna 912 of the wireless device 902, to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 934) to and / or from the wireless device 902 with other devices (e.g., network devices 918) according to a corresponding RAT.

[0093] The wireless device 902 may include one or more antennas 912 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). In embodiments with multiple antenna(s) 912, the wireless device 902 may exploit the spatial diversity of such multiple antennas 912 to transmit and / or receive multiple different data streams over the same time and frequency resources. This behavior is sometimes referred to, for example, as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) behavior (referring to the multiple antennas used at each of the transmitting and receiving devices that enable this aspect). MIMO transmission by the wireless device 902 may be achieved in accordance with precoding (or digital beamforming) applied at the wireless device 902 that multiplexes data streams across the antennas 912 according to known or assumed channel characteristics such that each data stream is received at a desired location in the spatial domain (e.g., the location of a receiver associated with that data stream) with an appropriate signal strength relative to the other streams. Some embodiments may use Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO) methods (in which data streams are all directed to a single receiver) and / or Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) methods (in which individual data streams may be directed to individual (different) receivers in different locations in the spatial domain).

[0094] In some embodiments having multiple antennas, the wireless device 902 may implement analog beamforming techniques whereby the phases of the signals sent by the antennas 912 are adjusted relatively so that the (joint) transmissions of the antennas 912 may be directed (this may be referred to as beam steering).

[0095] The wireless device 902 may include one or more interfaces 914. The interface(s) 914 may be used to provide input to or output from the wireless device 902. For example, a wireless device 902 that is a UE may include an interface 914 such as a microphone, speaker, touchscreen, buttons, etc. to enable a user of the UE to provide input and / or output to the UE. Other interfaces of such a UE may consist of transmitters, receivers, and other circuitry (e.g., other than the transceiver 910 / antenna 912 already described) that enable communication between the UE and other devices and may operate according to known protocols (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.).

[0096] The wireless device 902 may include a PUCCH carrier switching module 916. The PUCCH carrier switching module 916 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the PUCCH carrier switching module 916 may be implemented as a processor, circuitry, and / or instructions 908 stored in the memory 906 and executed by the processor 904. In some examples, the PUCCH carrier switching module 916 may be integrated within the processor(s) 904 and / or transceiver(s) 910. For example, the PUCCH carrier switching module 916 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general-purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 904 or transceiver 910.

[0097] The PUCCH carrier switching module 916 may be used for various aspects of the present disclosure, such as the aspects of Figures 1-7. The PUCCH carrier switching module 916 is configured to determine a reference cell numerology, determine a target PUCCH cell, map reference cell slots to the target PUCCH cell slots, determine PUCCH resources, perform UCI multiplexing, etc.

[0098] The network device 918 may include one or more processors 920. The processor(s) 920 may execute instructions to perform various operations of the network device 918, as described herein. The processor(s) 904 may include, for example, one or more baseband processors implemented using a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a controller, an FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

[0099] The network device 918 may include a memory 922. The memory 922 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions 924 (e.g., may include instructions being executed by the processor(s) 920). The instructions 924 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 922 may also store data used by the processor(s) 920 and results computed by the processor(s) 920.

[0100] The network device 918 may include one or more transceiver(s) 926, which may include RF transmitter and / or receiver circuitry using an antenna 928 of the network device 918, to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 934) to and / or from the network device 918 with other devices (e.g., the wireless device 902) according to a corresponding RAT.

[0101] The network device 918 may include one or more antenna(s) 928 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). In embodiments with multiple antennas 928, the network device 918 may perform MIMO, digital beamforming, analog beamforming, beamsteering, etc., as described.

[0102] The network device 918 may include one or more interface(s) 930. The interface(s) 930 may be used to provide input to or output from the network device 918. For example, a network device 918 that is a base station may include an interface 930 consisting of a transmitter, a receiver, and other circuitry (e.g., other than the transceiver 926 / antenna 928 already described) that enables the base station to communicate with other equipment in the core network and / or to communicate with external networks, computers, databases, etc., for purposes of operation, management, and maintenance of the base station or other equipment operatively connected thereto.

[0103] The network device 918 may include a PUCCH carrier switching module 932. The PUCCH carrier switching module 932 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the PUCCH carrier switching module 932 may be implemented as a processor, circuitry, and / or instructions 924 stored in memory 922 and executed by the processor 920. In some examples, the PUCCH carrier switching module 932 may be integrated within the processor(s) 920 and / or transceiver(s) 926. For example, the PUCCH carrier switching module 932 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general-purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 920 or transceiver 926.

[0104] The PUCCH carrier switching module 932 may be used for various aspects of the present disclosure, such as the aspects of Figures 1 to 7. The PUCCH carrier switching module 932 is configured to assist the UE in performing PUCCH carrier switching.

[0105] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components depicted in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described herein. For example, a baseband processor described above in connection with one or more of the figures herein may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described herein. As another example, circuitry associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc., as described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described herein.

[0106] Any of the above embodiments can be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments) unless otherwise stated. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0107] Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that may be embodied in machine-executable instructions executed by a computer system. The computer system may include one or more general-purpose or special-purpose computers (or other electronic devices). The computer system may include hardware components that contain specific logic for performing the operations, or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0108] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially combined into other systems, divided into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. Additionally, it is contemplated that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. It is recognized that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described in one or more embodiments for clarity only, and that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, etc. of other embodiments, unless specifically disclaimed herein.

[0109] It is well understood that the use of personal information should comply with generally recognized privacy policies and practices that meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personal information data should be managed and handled in a manner that minimizes the risk of unintended or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized uses should be clearly indicated to users.

[0110] While the foregoing has been described in some detail for clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications can be made without departing from the principles thereof. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both the processes and apparatus described herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the description is not to be limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), a processor; a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, Decoding a radio resource control (RRC) configuration indicating a reference cell having a reference cell slot numerology; determining a slot of the reference cell for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology, wherein the determined slot of the reference cell is used for transmitting at least one of a scheduling request (SR), a channel state information (CSI), and a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK); decoding downlink control information (DCI) indicating a candidate target PUCCH cell and a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell, the candidate target PUCCH cell having a candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerology; determine the target PUCCH cell for transmitting the at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK based on the candidate target PUCCH cell and the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI by determining that the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI does not overlap with the determined slot of the reference cell and determining that a primary cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell (PSCell) is a target PUCCH cell, wherein the target PUCCH cell has a target PUCCH cell slot numerology; Mapping the determined slots of the reference cell to corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; configures the UE to determine a PUCCH resource for transmitting the at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK using the corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determination of the PUCCH resource is based on a PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

2. Mapping is a Identifying that the reference cell slot numerology and the target PUCCH cell slot numerology have the same numerology; generating a one-to-one mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell.

3. Mapping is a Identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is smaller than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell; 2. The UE of claim 1, further comprising: generating a mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell, wherein each given reference cell slot is mapped to a single target PUCCH cell slot that overlaps with the given reference cell slot.

4. Mapping is a Identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell that is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell; 2. The UE of claim 1, further comprising: generating a mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell, the mapping including a single reference cell slot that overlaps with a given target PUCCH cell slot and is mapped to the given target PUCCH cell slot, and other reference cell slots that overlap with the given target PUCCH cell slot are dropped.

5. Mapping is a Identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell that is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell; generating a first mapping between slots of the reference cell and slots of the target PUCCH cell, the first mapping including a single reference cell slot that overlaps with a first target PUCCH cell slot and is mapped to the first target PUCCH cell slot, other reference cell slots that overlap with the first target PUCCH cell slot are dropped, and the first mapping is applied to SR transmission and CSI transmission; 2. The UE of claim 1, further comprising: generating a second mapping between the slots of the reference cell and the slots of the target PUCCH cell, the second mapping including each reference cell slot that overlaps with and is mapped to a second target PUCCH cell slot, the second mapping being applied to SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions.

6. The memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, Identifying that a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determined slots of the reference cell include a plurality of slots of the reference cell that overlap with the corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; determining that an SR configuration or a CSI configuration includes a plurality of PUCCH transmissions scheduled to occur within the plurality of slots of the reference cell; The UE of claim 1 , further comprising: configuring the UE to drop an SR transmission associated with the SR configuration or to drop a CSI transmission associated with the CSI configuration based on the determination.

7. 2. The UE of claim 1, wherein determining the PUCCH resource further comprises decoding a resource configuration including a plurality of PUCCH resource identifications (IDs), each of the plurality of PUCCH resource IDs corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate target PUCCH cells.

8. 1. A method for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) carrier switching in a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: decoding a radio resource control (RRC) configuration indicating a reference cell having a reference cell slot numerology; determining a slot of the reference cell for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology, wherein the determined slot of the reference cell is used for transmitting at least one of a scheduling request (SR), a channel state information (CSI), and a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK); and decoding downlink control information (DCI) indicating a candidate target PUCCH cell and a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell, where the candidate target PUCCH cell has a candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerology; determining the target PUCCH cell for transmitting the at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK based on the candidate target PUCCH cell and the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI by determining that the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI does not overlap with the determined slot of the reference cell and determining that a primary cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell (PSCell) is a target PUCCH cell, wherein the target PUCCH cell has a target PUCCH cell slot numerology; mapping the determined slots of the reference cell to corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; determining a PUCCH resource for transmitting the at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK using the corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determination of the PUCCH resource is based on a PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell; A method comprising:

9. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the PUCCH resource further comprises interpreting existing parameters associated with a PUCCH resource identification (ID) based on the PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

10. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the PUCCH resource further comprises decoding a resource configuration including a list of PUCCH resource identifications (IDs), each PUCCH resource ID corresponding to one of a plurality of candidate PUCCH cells included in the RRC configuration.

11. Identifying that the HARQ-ACK includes a dynamic HARQ-ACK; interpreting a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) to a HARQ-ACK offset K1 based on the candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerology of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI; The method of claim 8 further comprising:

12. Identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determined slots of the reference cell comprise a plurality of slots of the reference cell that overlap with the corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; Identifying one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and one or more semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) HARQ-ACK transmissions scheduled to occur in the plurality of slots of the reference cell; concatenating dynamic HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and SPS HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions in a predefined order in the plurality of slots of the reference cell, wherein concatenating includes multiplexing the dynamic HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and the SPS HARQ-ACK payloads of the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions; encoding a single PUCCH HARQ-ACK transmission using the multiplexed payload of the one or more dynamic HARQ-ACK transmissions and the one or more SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions; The method of claim 8 further comprising:

13. Identifying a reference cell subcarrier spacing (SCS) associated with the reference cell is greater than a target PUCCH SCS associated with the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determined slots of the reference cell comprise a plurality of slots of the reference cell that overlap with the corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; Identifying that a plurality of semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) HARQ-ACK transmissions are scheduled to occur in the plurality of slots of the reference cell; Concatenating payloads of each of the plurality of SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions in a predefined order in the plurality of slots of the reference cell, wherein concatenating includes multiplexing the payloads of each of the plurality of SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions; encoding a single PUCCH HARQ-ACK transmission using the multiplexed payload of each of the plurality of SPS HARQ-ACK transmissions; The method of claim 8 further comprising:

14. A computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: decoding a radio resource control (RRC) configuration indicating a reference cell having a reference cell slot numerology; determining a slot of the reference cell for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology, wherein the determined slot of the reference cell is used for transmitting at least one of a scheduling request (SR), a channel state information (CSI), and a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK); decoding downlink control information (DCI) indicating a candidate target PUCCH cell and a slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell, the candidate target PUCCH cell having a candidate target PUCCH cell slot numerology; determining the target PUCCH cell for transmitting the at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK based on the candidate target PUCCH cell and the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI by determining that the slot of the candidate target PUCCH cell indicated by the DCI does not overlap with the determined slot of the reference cell and determining that a primary cell (PCell) or a primary secondary cell group (SCG) cell (PSCell) is a target PUCCH cell, wherein the target PUCCH cell has a target PUCCH cell slot numerology; Mapping the determined slots of the reference cell to corresponding slots of the target PUCCH cell; determining a PUCCH resource for transmitting at least one of the SR, the CSI, and the HARQ-ACK using the corresponding slot of the target PUCCH cell, wherein the determination of the PUCCH resource is based on a PUCCH configuration of the target PUCCH cell.

15. 15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein determining the slot of the reference cell for PUCCH transmission based on the reference cell slot numerology further comprises interpreting one or more existing parameters for time domain resource allocation based on the reference cell slot numerology.

16. 15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein determining the target PUCCH cell further comprises decoding a time-domain pattern signal associated with a duration, the time-domain pattern signal indicating a target PUCCH cell for one or more PUCCH transmissions at each time point within the duration.

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