Indications for simultaneous uplink transmissions

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to indication for simultaneous uplink transmissions In a method, a first apparatus receives, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus. The first apparatus determines combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications. The first apparatus performs the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information. In this way, simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels can be achieved.

Description

INDICATIONS FOR SIMULTANEOUS UPLINK TRANSMISSIONSFIELDS

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for indications for simultaneous uplink transmissions.BACKGROUND

[0002] In a communication system, physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is a physical uplink channel that carries user data. The time-frequency structure of reference signals depends on the type of the waveform configured for PUSCH. When transform precoding is disabled, the waveform configured is cyclic-prefix-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM). When transform precoding is enabled, the waveform configured is discrete-Fourier-transform-spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM). Two transmission schemes including codebook based transmission and non-codebook based transmission are supported for PUSCH and these schemes support explicit transmission (TX) beam indication. Meanwhile, simultaneous transmission over multi-panels (STxMP) has been proposed. Therefore, the support of indication for STxMP is desired.SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determine combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and perform the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storinginstructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determine combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and receive the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and receiving the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a pluralityof control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for receiving the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0011] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0014] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of multi- transmission and reception point (TRP) PUSCH repetition and antenna panel selection;

[0015] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of simultaneous four-panel PUSCH transmission to four TRPs;

[0016] FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling chart for simultaneous uplink transmissions according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of combined control information triggering of simultaneous 4-antenna panel uplink transmission;

[0018] FIG. 6 illustrates another signaling chart for simultaneous uplink transmissions according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0022] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0025] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0026] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or notexplicitly described.

[0027] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0028] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0029] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0030] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example 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. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0031] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0032] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0033] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB- loT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0034] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communicationnetwork via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0035] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0036] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0037] As used herein, the term “transmission reception point (TRP)” may refer to an antenna port or an antenna array (with one or more antenna elements) available to the network device located at a specific geographical location. For example, a network device may be coupled with multiple TRPs in different geographical locations to achieve better coverage. Alternatively, or in addition, multiple TRPs may be incorporated into a network device, or in other words, the network device may comprise the multiple TRPs. The term “TRP” may be also referred to as a cell, such as a macro-cell, a small cell, a pico-cell, a femto-cell, a remote radio head, a relay node, etc. It is to be understood that the term “TRP” may refer to a logical concept which may be physically implemented by various manner. For example, a TRP may refer to or correspond to a physical cell identity (PCI) or control resource set (CORESET) Pool Index (i.e., CORESETPoolIndex).Example Environment

[0038] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120 can communicate with each other. For example, the first apparatus 110 is served by the second apparatus 120.

[0039] As shown, the second apparatus 120 may be coupled with or equipped with a plurality of TRPs, including TRPs 125-1, 125-2, 125-3 and 125-4, which may be collectively referred to as “TRPs 125” or individually referred to as “TRP 125”.Alternatively, in some example embodiments, there may be two second apparatus 120 coupled with the plurality of TRPs 125.

[0040] In some example embodiments, the one or more TRPs 125 connect with each other with ideal backhaul and have a centralized scheduler, with one of the TRPs 125 acting as serving TRP that triggers PUSCH transmissions to the one or more TRPs. Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the one or more TRPs 125 connect with each other with non-ideal backhaul and have a distributed scheduler. Each TRP 125 operates independently such that each TRP 125 may trigger by itself a corresponding PUSCH transmission.

[0041] The first apparatus 110 may be equipped with a plurality of antenna panels 115- 1, 115-2, 115-3 and 115-4 for communicating with the second apparatus 120. In the following, the plurality of antenna panels 115-1, 115-2, 115-3 and 115-4 may be collectively referred to as “antenna panels 115” or individually referred to as “antenna panel 115”.

[0042] It is to be understood that the number of first apparatus, second apparatus, antenna panels and TRPs is only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The environment 100 may include any suitable number of first apparatus, second apparatus, antenna panels and TRPs adapted for implementing embodiments of this aspect of the present disclosure.

[0043] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0044] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0045] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0046] As mentioned above, PUSCH is the physical UE channel carrying user data. Taking UE as an example, in Release (Rel)-15, the UE is enabled to be configured either codebook or non-codebook based PUSCH transmission with two UL sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets. In other words, based on this configuration, the UE shall transmit, to a single TRP, PUSCH up to rank 4 with single TX antenna panel. In the following, this mode may be referred to as Rel-15 UL TX mode. The target of Rel-15 single panel precoded PUSCH with single TRP is to improve reliability and / or throughput of STxMP PUSCH transmission with single TRP.

[0047] In Rel-17, the reliability of the uplink transmission in the context of multi-TRP scenario is enhanced and single downlink control information indicator (S-DCI) is used for time-division multiplexing (TDM) multi-transmission and reception point (M-TRP) PUSCH repetition and antenna panel selection. FIG. 2 shows an example of S-DCI for TDM M-TRP PUSCH repetition and antenna panel selection. UE 210 with an antenna panel 1 and an antenna panel 2 is configured with two different UL SRS resource sets with followUnifiedTCIstateSRS information element to follow two different DL transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states or joint DL and UL / UL TCI states associated as the spatial source.

[0048] Based on the capability set index reporting from the UE 210, a network can beaware of the UE antenna panels (including information on the number of UL SRS antenna ports) specific transmission capability of UL SRS codebook-based transmission into a certain spatial UL direction. Based on this information, the network can trigger transmission of two different UL SRS resource sets with the usage of codebook to obtain TRP-specific transmit precoder matrix indicator (TPMI) hypotheses (which means to determine precoder index and rank selection) specifically for PUSCH transmissions.

[0049] Based on the obtained TRP-specific TPMI and SRS resource set indicator information, the network can trigger non-simultaneous TRP-specific PUSCH transmission by indicating via DO. The DCI may include a codepoint for an SRS resource set indicator, in which 2-bits, and thereby 4 values, are reserved, if two SRS resource sets are configured with usage codebook or non-codebook, and otherwise O-bit is reserved. The first two values out of the four possible values of the DCI codepoint may be used to indicate which of the two SRIs, the first SRI or the second SRI, is used to enable dynamic switching between a single TRP (either TRP1 or either TRP2) PUSCH transmission in time division multiplexing (TDM) manner and the other remaining two values may be used to enable multi-TRP PUSCH transmission between TRP1 and TRP2 in TDM manner with repetition either cyclical or sequential mapping configured via RRC for mapping two SRIs to PUSCH repetitions.

[0050] Moreover, for codebook based transmission, the DCI may include two separate codepoint fields for SRI and two fields for precoding information and number of layers. It is worth noting that the first field of the two fields for precoding information and number of layers indicates the number of transmission layers, whereas the second field of these two fields does not. For non-codebook based transmission, the DCI may comprise two codepoint fields for SRI, where the first one indicates the transmission layers and the second does not. Based on the received S-DCI, the UE may then transmit the PUSCH transmission using the multiple antenna panels (one panel at the time). In the following, this mode may be referred to as Rel-17 UL TX mode.

[0051] In Rel-17, the UE is enabled to be configured with either codebook or noncodebook based PUSCH transmission. In other words, based on this configuration, the UE may assume that upon reception of DCI with or without uplink grant, SRS resource indicators and precoding information are associated with either codebook or noncodebook based PUSCH transmission. The target of Rel-17 TDM based M-TRP PUSCHwith repetition is to enhance reliability of PUSCH transmission with M-TRPs.

[0052] In Rel-18, it is important to identify and specify necessary enhancements for uplink MIMO. Necessary enhancements on downlink MIMO that facilitate the use of a large antenna array, not only for frequency range 1 (FR1) but also for frequency range 2 (FR2), would still need to be introduced to fulfil the request for evolution of NR deployments.

[0053] Higher peak data rate for UL may play a significant role in short-range applications such as home entertainment, video surveillance / monitoring in industrial / healthcare / safety, IAB, and other applications where devices power / form- factor / cost are not as stringent as in traditional handheld devices. UL transmission with more than 4TX is useful to bridge the gap between DL spectral efficiency and UL spectral efficiency, in both FR1 and FR2. Hence, there is strong need to develop solutions to overcome this problem for Rel-18 or beyond releases.

[0054] In comparison to S-DCI based Rel-17 TDM repetition scheme, Rel-18 may specify support for both S-DCI and multi (M)-DCI based simultaneous uplink multi-panel PUSCH schemes with a spatial domain multiplexing (SDM) or a single frequency network (SFN), in order to enhance throughput and reliability with reduced latency.

[0055] In the SDM-based scheme, different layers / DMRS ports of one PUSCH transmission occasion may be separately precoded and transmitted from different UE panels simultaneously. In SFN-based scheme, all of the same layers / DMRS ports of one PUSCH transmission occasion may be transmitted from two different UE panels simultaneously.

[0056] In general, Rel-17 specifications (e.g., TS 38.214, 38.212) do not provide any support for S-DCI or M-DCI based simultaneous UL PUSCH transmission with multiple antenna panels. For S-DCI, the network may be assumed to have a centralized scheduler with an ideal backhaul between multiple TRPs, whereas for M-DCI a distributed scheduler with non-ideal backhaul is assumed.

[0057] In Rel-18, the UE can be configured to use the SFN-based scheme or the SDM- based scheme. SFN and SDM can be described as follows, where the applied precoding can be codebook or non-codebook based one. In the SDM-based scheme, different PUSCH layers and DMRS antenna ports of one codeword may be separately precodedand transmitted from different UE antenna panels simultaneously. In the SFN-based scheme, the same PUSCH layers and DMRS antenna ports may be transmitted simultaneously with two different precoders via two different UE antenna panels associated with different TCI states.

[0058] The target of Rel-18 SFN-based STxMP PUSCH with two TRPs is to enhance reliability and latency of STxMP PUSCH transmission with M-TRPs. The target of Rel- 18 SDM-based STxMP PUSCH with two TRPs is to enhance throughput of STxMP PUSCH transmission with M-TRPs.

[0059] In both the SDM-based scheme and SFN-based scheme with codebook based precoding, the UE is provided with separate precoder matrix for each transmitting panel in DCI via two TPMI entries. Rel-18 supports S-DCI based STxMP PUSCH SDM scheme, support the layer combinations of { 1+1, 1+2, 2+1 and 2+2} for single codeword (CW) case. This applies to SDM with one codeword.

[0060] For future release (for example, Rel-19) or 6G communication system, it is expected to improve UE reliability and throughput enhancement. Therefore, one of potential objectives of future release MIMO is to discuss and define how to provide support for simultaneous multi-panel UL transmission with multiple TRPs of more than 2 panels, e.g., with four (STx4P) or even larger number of panels. For example, it may target at customer premises equipment (CPE) / fixed wireless access (FWA) / vehicle / industrial devices (if applicable), where the total number of layers may be up to eight across all panels and the total number of codewords may be up to two across all panels, considering S-DCI and M-DCI based multi-TRP operation.

[0061] As described above, it is expected that different simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission modes are supported, e.g., SDM and SFN based schemes with up to four TRPs with more than two antenna panels (e.g., four).

[0062] FIG. 3 shows an example of simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission with four TRPs with four UE TX antenna panels. As shown, the UE 310 can be scheduled via S-DCI to transmit simultaneously precoded PUSCH transmission with rank 8 (with two codewords) in the case of four TRPs as well as four antenna panels 311, 312, 313, 314. The UE 310 may be configured with multiple UL SRS resource sets (e.g., two or more) with a following TCI state flag. In other words, when the PUSCH transmission is triggered via S-DCI with the assumption of an indicated TCI codepoint (via DL DCIformat), based on UL SRS resource set configuration, the UE 310 may have understanding which of the TCI states are to be applied for simultaneous PUSCH transmission for each of antenna panels 311, 312, 313, 314. Furthermore, it is assumed that a serving TRP has triggered / configured the UE to transmit four different UL SRS resource sets with corresponding resources with usage ‘codebook’ towards four different TRPs based on uplink channel state information (CSI) associated with UL SRS transmission. The uplink CSI associated with UL SRS transmission may be prior to the PDCCH transmission triggering multi-panel PUSCH transmission and corresponding precoder indication. A network can determine its precoding and layer information for each TRP specific PUSCH transmissions.

[0063] Since Rel-18 supports only simultaneous PUSCH transmission via two different antenna panels with two indicated TCI states, a problem arises for the network how to indicate precoding and layer information for UEs capable of simultaneous PUSCH transmission with more than two, e.g., four, antenna panels. It is worth noting that Rel- 18 DCI format (e.g., 0_l or 0_2) provides only support for two different codepoint fields associated with precoding and layer information. In other words, Rel-18 does not provide any support for simultaneous uplink multi-panel PUSCH transmission with more than two TX antenna panels.

[0064] Based on the above and previous discussions, ambiguity remains for the network and UE how to indicate and how to interpret correctly indicated precoder and layer information for simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission with more than two antenna panels. Therefore, the aforementioned problems need to be addressed and corresponding solutions are needed.Work Principle and Example Signaling for Communication

[0065] According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for indications for simultaneous uplink transmissions. In a solution, the first apparatus (such as a terminal device) receives, from a second apparatus (such as a network device) a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus. The first apparatus determines combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications.The first apparatus then performs the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0066] In this way, the first apparatus can perform the uplink transmissions via the plurality of antenna panels simultaneously based on the combined control information. Simultaneous transmissions via multiple panels can be achieved. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus determines the combined control information in a similar way. Therefore, both the first apparatus and the second apparatus know how to indicate and how to interpret correctly indicated precoder and layer information for simultaneous multi-panel uplink transmissions.

[0067] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 4 illustrates a signaling chart 400 for simultaneous uplink transmissions according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling chart 400 involves the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1. For purpose of illustration, the signaling chart 400 will be described with respect to FIG. 1.

[0068] In operation, the second apparatus 120 transmits (410), to the first apparatus 110, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions. For example, the second apparatus 120 may transmit the control information indications to the first apparatus 110 via a serving TRP 125. The first apparatus 110 receives the plurality of control information indications. As used herein, the term “control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions” may also be referred to as “scheduling control information indication” or “triggering control information indication”.

[0069] The control information indication may be a downlink control information (DCI) indication, which may also be referred to as “DCI” or “triggering DCI”. For example, the control information indication may be a single DCI (s-DCI) indication or s-DCI. The DCI may use a legacy DCI format such as DCI formats 0_l or 0_2, or a new DCI format. The simultaneous uplink transmissions may be transmitted simultaneous via a plurality of antenna panels. That is, the simultaneous uplink transmission may be simultaneous multi-panel (STxMP) transmission. An example of the simultaneous multi-panel transmissions may be simultaneous multi-panel physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions.

[0070] In some example embodiments, the control information indication may be transmitted (410) via a plurality of control channels such as physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), or any other suitable channels. In an example, the plurality of control channels shares a search space set (SSS) and a control resource set (CORESET). For example, the first apparatus 110 may receive (410) two or more PDCCHs sharing same search space identity (ID) and CORESET ID. The received two or more PDCCHs include uplink DCIs for scheduling simultaneous multi-panel physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions.

[0071] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control channels is different in search space set. Alternatively, or in addition, the plurality of control channels is different in CORESET. For example, a plurality of DCIs may be transmitted (410) on PDCCH candidates of different search space set IDs and / or different CORESETs. In such cases, the search space sets may be associated via higher layer configuration.

[0072] The first apparatus 110 determines (430) combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications. For example, the first apparatus 110 may bundle the plurality of control information indications into the combined control information. As used herein, the term “combined control information” may also be referred to as a “bundled control information”. For those embodiments wherein the control information indication is a DCI indication, the combined control information may be referred to as “combined DCI” or “bundled DCI”. Likewise, the second apparatus 120 determines (440) the combined control information in a similar way.

[0073] The first apparatus 110 performs (450) the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus 120 via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information. The second apparatus 120 receives (460) the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus 110 based on the combined control information. Further embodiments for determining the combined control information and performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions will be described below.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may determine (430) the combined control information based on configuration information from the second apparatus 120. For example, the second apparatus 120 may transmit, to the first apparatus110, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications. In some example embodiments, the configuration information may further indicate the number of the plurality of control information indications.

[0075] In some example embodiments, the configuration information may be transmitted to the first apparatus 110 in response to capability information from the first apparatus 110. For example, the first apparatus 110 may transmit, to the second apparatus 120, capability information for combining different control information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions. The second apparatus 120 may receive the capability information.

[0076] In an example, the capability information may indicate a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications. For example, the first apparatus 110 may report capability related to the support of combined DCI usage (for example, two or more DCIs) for simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission (for example, more than two transmissions) with multiple antenna panels (for example, more than two antenna panels). The simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission may be based on SDM or SFN.

[0077] In another example, the capability information may indicate the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus 110 for combination. For example, the first apparatus 110 may select one value out of possible values, and the first apparatus 110 may use up to this value of DCIs for combination. The possible values may be for example {2,4,6} or any other integers.

[0078] In some example embodiments, the capability for usage of bundled DCI information elements may be associated with simultaneous multi-panel (more than two) PUSCH transmission capability for SDM and / or SFN. For example, the capability of simultaneous PUSCH transmissions may imply the capability of combining multiple DCIs. Additionally or alternatively, as a part of the capability reporting, the first apparatus 110 reports the supported number of DCIs for DCI bundling for simultaneous multi-panel transmission. For example, the reported supported number (larger than one) of DCIs may indicate the capability of usage of combining multiple DCIs.

[0079] In a further example, the capability information may indicate a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions. That is,the first apparatus 110 may report supported time offset value, where the offset defines a time internal between the last received DCI (of multiple ones associated with bundled DO indication) and the scheduled PUSCH transmission. This value may be different with respect to normal PUSCH scheduling offset due to different processing requirements of the first apparatus 110.

[0080] Depending on the simultaneous multi-panel capability of the first apparatus 110, network indication and triggering of corresponding PUSCH transmission can be easily determined or scaled in terms of number of separate DCI transmissions.

[0081] In response to receiving the capability information, the second apparatus 120 may transmit, to the first apparatus 110, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications. For example, the configuration information may include a higher layer parameter bundled-DCI-ULMultiTX to indicate to combine the plurality of control information indications. The configuration information may further indicate the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined. For example, the configuration information may include a higher layer parameter numb-Of-RxBundled-DCIs to indicate the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

[0082] By way of example, based on capability reporting, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with higher layer parameter bundled-DCI-ULMultiTX and numb-Of- RxBundled-DCIs . Assuming that the numb-Of-RxBundled-DCIs is N (N being an integer greater than or equal to two), the first apparatus 110 may receive N uplink DCIs (that is, multiple uplink DCIs) (e.g., DCI format 0_l or 0_2) triggering commands via PDCCH for simultaneous SDM or SFN based multi-panel PUSCH transmission. For example, the configuration information may be PUSCH-Config information element (IE). PUSCH- Config may have information element DCI-bundling-ULMultiTX and numb-Of- RxBundled-DCIs . In this way, the first apparatus 110 can be aware of how many control information indications to be combined for the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0083] In some example embodiments, an example of possible implementation of a standard or specification with PUSCH-config is defined as Table 1. The IE PUSCH- Config may be used to configure the UE specific PUSCH parameters applicable to a particular bandwidth part (BWP).Table 1

[0084] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications includes a plurality of values for a configuration parameter respectively. The plurality of control information indications may also include a plurality of values for one or more configuration parameters, respectively. A value of a configuration parameter may be indicated by a field or codepoint field in the control information indication. For example, each control information indication may include a codepoint field for a corresponding configuration parameter. The value of the corresponding parameter is indicated by the bit(s) of the field.

[0085] Examples of the configuration parameter may include but not limited to resource set indicator such as SRS resource set indicator, an SRS resource indicator (SRI), a second SRI (SRI-2), precoding information and number of layers, second precoding information, antenna port information (API) or antenna ports, phase tracking reference signal and demodulation reference signal (PTRS-DMRS) association, second PTRS-DMRS association, and / or the like. For example, the precoding information and number of layers, may be included in PRI or TPMI, second precoding information may be includedin PRI-2 or TPMI-2.

[0086] In some example embodiments, the configuration parameters of each of the plurality of control information indications may include all the relevant configuration parameters such as for example, PRI, PRI-1, SRI, SRI-2, SRS set indicator, PTRS-DMRS listed above, and / or the like.

[0087] Alternatively, in some example embodiments, some of the plurality of control information indications may include only a part of the above configuration parameters. That is, only part of the aforementioned configuration parameters is combined over reception of multiple DCI triggering commands. For example, assuming that the number of control information indication is two, the configuration parameters of a first control information indication (referred to as 1st -DCI) may include PRI, PRI-2, SRI, SRI-2, SRS set indicator, PTRS-DMRS, and the configuration parameters of a second control information indication (referred to as 2nd-DCI) may include PRI, SRI, SRS set indicator, PTRS-DMRS. That is, PRI-2, SRI-2 may not be configured in the second control information indication. In such cases, the combined DCI codepoint field values may be bundled SRI (SRI-bund)=[lst-DCI-SRI, 2nd-DCI-SRI], bundled SRI-2 (SRI-2- bund)=[lst-DCI-SRI-2], bundled PRI (PRI-bund)=[lst-DCI-PRI, 2nd-DCI-PRI], bundled PRI-2 (PRI-2-bund)=[lst-DCI-PRI-2], bundled SRS resource set indication (SRS- resource-set-Ind-bund)=[lst-DCI-SRS-resource-set-Ind, 2nd-DCI-SRS-resource-set-Ind], PTRS-DMRS (PTRS-DMRS-bund)=[ Ist-DCI-PTRS-DMRS, 2nd-DCI-PTRS-DMRS].

[0088] It is to be understood that these examples of the configuration parameter are only for purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. The configuration parameter may include any suitable communication parameter, or a combination of any of the above example parameters or a combination of the above parameters and any other parameter. Scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0089] In some example embodiments, to determine (430) the combined control information, the first apparatus 110 may combine the plurality of values for the configuration parameter in the plurality of control information indications. For example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications. The first apparatus 110 may order, for the configuration parameter, the plurality of values based on the ordered plurality of control information indications. The first apparatus 110 thus may determine (430) the combined control information based on the ordered pluralityof values for the configuration parameter.

[0090] In some example embodiments, the combined control information may include a field and related value for the configuration parameter such as a codepoint field. The first apparatus 110 may assign the ordered plurality of indicated values to bits of the field in an ascending order or in a descending order. In embodiments where each of the plurality of control information indications include a plurality of configuration parameters, the combined control information may include a plurality of fields associated with related values for the plurality of configuration parameters. For a certain configuration parameter, the first apparatus 110 may assign an ordered plurality of values to bits of the corresponding field in an ascending order or in a descending order to obtain a combined value.

[0091] Based on the combined control information with such combined value for the configuration parameter, the first apparatus 110 may performs (450) the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus 120 via the plurality of antenna panels 115. For example, the simultaneous uplink transmissions may include a plurality of uplink transmissions via a plurality of TRPs 125 to the second apparatus 120.

[0092] In such cases, the first apparatus 110 may determine, for an antenna panel 115 of the plurality of antenna panels 115, a value of the configuration parameter based on the combined control information. The first apparatus 110 may perform, based on the determined value, an uplink transmission of the plurality of uplink transmissions from the antenna panel 115 via a corresponding TRP 125 to the second apparatus 120. For example, the first apparatus 110 may determine a value of the configuration parameter for the antenna panel 115-1 in FIG. 1, and perform an uplink transmission of the plurality of uplink transmissions from the antenna panel 115-1 via a corresponding TRP 125-1 to the second apparatus 120.

[0093] As described, to determine (430) the combined control information, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications. There are various approaches to order the control information indications. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may receive, from the second apparatus 120, an order of respective indices of the plurality of control information indications for determining the combined control information. The first apparatus 110 then may order the plurality of control information indications based on the received order of respectiveindices of the plurality of control information indications.

[0094] Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on other factors or parameters. In an example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective aggregation levels of control channels on which the plurality of control information indications is detected. For example, a control information indication associated with a highest aggregation level or a lowest aggregation level may be determined as a highest ordered control information indication.

[0095] As used herein, the term “highest ordered control information indication” may also be referred to as a “first control information indication” or a “control information indication in a first location”. Similarly, the term “a second highest ordered control information indication” may refer to “second control information indication” or a control information in a second location. The term “a lowest ordered control information indication” may refer to “last control information indication”. For another example, the first and second control information indications may have the same aggregation level.

[0096] In another example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective indices of a plurality of control channel candidates for detecting the plurality of control information indications. For example, a control information indication associated with a PDCCH candidate with a highest index or lowest index may be determined as the highest ordered control information indication.

[0097] In a further example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective control channel element indices of the plurality of control information indications. For example, a control information indication associated with a highest control channel element index or lowest control channel element index may be determined as the highest ordered control information indication.

[0098] In a still further example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective time locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications. For example, the first control information indication may be the one that is detected first in time domain if the plurality of control information indications is detected in a same slot in the same or different CORESET(s). For another example, the first control information indication may be configured to belocated at the first symbol of the CORESET and second control information indication on the second symbol (or second symbol and the third symbol, or first symbol and the third symbol). Alternatively, the second control information indication is transmitted on the following symbol of the symbol where the first control information indication is detected.

[0099] In a still further example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective frequency locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications. For example, the control information indication mapped to a lowest or a highest CCE index value within a CORESET symbol may be determined as the first control information indication.

[0100] In a still further example, the first apparatus 110 may order the plurality of control information indications based on respective SRS resource sets associated with the plurality of control information indications. For example, the first control information indication may be associated with a first and a second SRS resources sets, and the second control information indication may be associated with a third and a fourth SRS resources sets.

[0101] It is to be understood that the above example factors for determining the order of plurality of control information indications are only for purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. Any suitable factor or rule can be applied to determine the order. In some example embodiments, these factors and additional factors may be combined to determine the order. Now several rules or conditions for determine the order based on one or more factors will be described.

[0102] A first rule may be that the first control information indication is detected on a control channel candidate with the lowest index and of the lowest aggregation level among control channel candidates for the plurality of control information indications detected on a same control resource set. For example, the first control information indication is the one that is detected on lower PDCCH candidate index of the lower aggregation level if the control information indications are detected on the same CORESET.

[0103] A second rule may be that the first control information indication is detected before other control information indications sharing a same time slot with the first control information indication.

[0104] A third rule may be that the first control information indication is associated with the lowest control channel element index within a control resource set. For example, the control information indication mapped to a lowest CCE index value within a CORESET symbol may be determined as the first control information indication. For another example, the first control information indication is the control information indication that is detected with highest aggregation level at the lowest CCE index on the control resource set.

[0105] A fourth rule may be that the first control information indication is associated with a first SRS resource set, or a certain SRS resource set.

[0106] Several factors and conditions for determining the order of the plurality of control information indications have been described. These factors, rules and / or any other suitable factors or rules can be used separately or in any combination to order the plurality of control information indications. Scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0107] Based on the order of the plurality of control information indications, the first apparatus 110 may order, for the configuration parameter, the plurality of values based on the ordered plurality of control information indications. The first apparatus 110 then may determine the combined control information based on the ordered plurality of values for the configuration parameter. In other words, the first apparatus 110 may determine combined codepoint field(s) by using a combining rule (also referred to as a bundling rule) over the indicated codepoint field(s) associated with the plurality of control information indications.

[0108] The combining rule may be based on an ascending order or in a descending order of the plurality of control information indications. That is, the first apparatus 110 may assign the ordered plurality of values to bits of the field in an ascending order or in a descending order. For example, the first apparatus 110 may order different received codepoint fields such that indicated codepoint value of the first control information indication is assigned as the most significant bits (MSB s) for the bundled codepoint value, and the indicated codepoint value of the second control information indication is assigned as MBSs-1 of the bundled codepoint value and the indicated codepoint value of the N-th control information indication is assigned as MBSs-N of the bundled codepoint value, N being the number of control information indications, and N being an integer greater than1.

[0109] For another example, the first apparatus 110 may order the different received codepoint fields such that indicated codepoint value of the first control information indication is assigned as the least significant bits (LSBs) for the bundled codepoint value, and the indicated codepoint value of second control information indication is assigned as LSBs+1 of the bundled codepoint value and the indicated codepoint value of the N-th control information indication is assigned as / LSBs+ N of the bundled codepoint value.

[0110] In this way, how the first apparatus 110 may interpret properly the values of bundled codepoint fields such as PRI / TMPI, 2nd PRI / TPMI, SRI, and 2nd SRI, PTRS- DMRS, 2nd PTRS-DMRS and corresponding transmission procedure can be defined.

[0111] It is to be understood these example combining rules are only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. Any suitable combining rule can be applied. Scope of the present disclosure is not limited here.

[0112] Taking the SRS resource set indicator as an example codepoint field for the associated configuration parameter, the indicated SRS resource set indicator value of the first control information indication may be assigned as MSBs of the bundled SRS resource set indicator in the combined control information and the indicated SRS resource set indicator value of the N-th control information indication may be assigned as LSBs. The codepoint field for the SRS resource set indicator in the combined control information such as the combined DCI may be denoted as below: [1st DCI-SRS Resource Set Indicator, ..., N-th DCI- SRS Resource Set Indicator], where Nth DCI-SRS resource Set Indicator is SRS Resource Set Indicator indicated by the N-th DCI, N=1...N. For other configuration parameter or other codepoint field, the first apparatus 110 may determine the combined value for the corresponding configuration parameter in a similar way. Accordingly, the combined control information can be determined.

[0113] Example embodiments for determining (430) the combined control information by the first apparatus 110 have been described. It is to be understood that the second apparatus 120 may determine (440) the combined control information in a similar way or based on similar factors or conditions. For purpose of simplicity, detail determination processes by the second apparatus 110 will not be repeated here.

[0114] In some example embodiments, a control information indication of the pluralityof control information indications may include an indication that a transmission scheduled by the control information indication is to be performed based on the combined control information. The indication may indicate whether the scheduled transmission is considered by the first apparatus 110 as a transmission scheduled by the combined control information such as the bundled DO. As an example, the first control information indication may have a field indicating whether the first apparatus 110 assumes other control information indications that is decoded to be bundled with the first control information indication (and other control information indications that are found and configured for bundling). In one example, if the indication indicates no bundling, the control information indications are processed as independent ones. In another example, if the indication indicates no bundling, the first apparatus 110 may not expect other control information indications to be present in the candidate locations for the second control information indication.

[0115] Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, a control information indication of the plurality of control information indications may include an index of the control information indication in the plurality of control information indications. For example, the triggering control information indication may also include a codepoint field that indicates the index of combined control information indication.

[0116] For example, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with higher layer parameter bundled-DCI-ULMultiTX with the number of control information indications N=2 and simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmission is triggered with two DCIs, N being the number of the control information indications. Then, each DCI includes codepoint field that defines its index number as follows: the first DCI has codepoint field ULMultiTx-DCI-index with value set to 1 and the second DCI has codepoint field ULMultiTx-DCI-index with value set to 2.

[0117] Additionally, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with bundling list of indicated DCI indices, e.g., higher layer parameter bundling-DCI-list = [2,1]. It defines that the codepoint field of the combined DCI (also referred to as bundled DCI codepoint) is determined as follows = [value associated with the second indicated DCI codepoint, value associated with the first indicated DCI codepoint].

[0118] With the determined combined control information, the first apparatus 110 may perform the simultaneous uplink transmissions. For example, the simultaneous uplinktransmissions may be performed further based on at least one of SDM or SFN.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the combined control information (e.g., the codepoint field in the combined control information) may be used for simultaneous multipanel PUSCH transmission with codebook and non-codebook based precoding with larger or equal number of transmission configuration indication (TCI) states (UL or joint TCI) than two.

[0120] By performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions based on the combined control information, it enables utilization of first apparatuses having capability for simultaneous SFN or SDM based multi-panel PUSCH transmission with two or more antenna panels.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may assume that a plurality of different UL SRS resources sets is configured for the first apparatus 110. The number of UL SRS resources sets M (M being an integer greater than 1) may be equal to 2*N, where N is the number of control information indications such as the number of DCIs used for triggering of the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0122] FIG. 5 illustrates an example diagram 500 of combined control information triggering of simultaneous multi-antenna panel uplink transmission. The combined information may be combined by using approaches described with respect to FIG. 4. For purpose of illustration, in the description of FIG. 5, it is assumed that uplink DCI triggered PUSCH transmissions are transmitted via four antenna panels.

[0123] As illustrates, UL SRS resource set(s) 510 may be transmitted by the first apparatus 110 by using a plurality of symbols in a first slot such as slot n-1. For the first apparatus 110 with four antenna panels, the UL SRS resources set(s) 510 may be referred as UL SRS resource set #1, #2, #3 and #4. If the first apparatus 110 is not capable to transmit the UL SRS resources sets simultaneously, the first apparatus 110 may transmits the UL SRS resources sets sequentially in time. Otherwise, if the first apparatus 110 is capable to transmit the UL SRS resources sets simultaneously, the first apparatus 110 may transmits the UL SRS resources sets simultaneously.

[0124] In a second slot such as slot n, a plurality of DCIs such as two DCIs 522 and 524 are transmitted to the first apparatus 110 by using symbols in a set of symbols 520. The CORESET ID may be the same for the two DCIs 522 and 524. The DCI 522 andDO 524 may be in DCI format 0_l or any other suitable format. The first apparatus 110 may determine combined DCI (also referred as bundled DCI) based on the DCI 522 and DCI 524.

[0125] With the combined DCI, the first apparatus 110 may perform simultaneous PUSCH transmissions using a set of symbols 530 via the multiple antenna panels such as four antenna panels. If the total number of non-overlapping sub-groups is greater than or equal to a TDM factor, the first apparatus 110 may continue UL SRS transmission of remaining sub-groups.

[0126] It is to be understood that the example symbol index or slot index in FIG. 5 are only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. In addition, the number of symbols or resources for different transmissions are also for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation.

[0127] FIG. 6 illustrates another signaling chart 600 for simultaneous uplink transmissions according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The signaling chart 600 involves the first apparatus 110 and a plurality of TRPs 125-1, 125- 2, 125-5 and 125-4 of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1. For purpose of illustration, the signaling chart 600 will be described with respect to FIG. 1. In the following description, it is assumed that the TRP 125-1 is a serving TRP, and the number of antenna panels 115 is four.

[0128] In operation, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (604) capability information to the second apparatus 120 via the TRP 125-1. The second apparatus 120 may receive (608) the capability information via the TRP 125-1. In some example embodiments, the capability information may be related to the usage of combined control information such as combined DCI for simultaneous uplink transmissions via multiple antenna panels. The capability information may also include the number of control information indications to be combined.

[0129] Alternatively, or in addition, in some example embodiments, the capability information may be related to the number of TX antenna panels of the first apparatus 110 for the simultaneous uplink transmissions and UL SRS transmissions. The capability information may further indicate the support of more than two UL SRS resource sets configuration. It is to be understood that in some example embodiments, different configuration information may be transmitted in combination, or separately.

[0130] Depending on the simultaneous multi-panel capability of the first apparatus 110, network indication and triggering of corresponding PUSCH transmission can be easily scaled in terms of number of separate DCI transmissions.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (612) configuration information to the first apparatus 110 via the TRP 125-1. The first apparatus 110 may receive (616) the configuration information. For example, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with the higher layer parameter DCI-bundling- ULMultiTX.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may transmit (620) a configuration of UL SRS resource sets to the first apparatus 110 via the TRP 125-1. The first apparatus 110 may receive (624) the configuration of UL SRS resource sets. For example, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with a plurality of UL SRS resource sets such as four UL SRS resource sets, with one or more resources with same or different number of antenna ports where UL SRS resources sets are configured with for example unifiedFollowTCIStateSRS information element and usage being equal to “codebook”.

[0133] In some example embodiments, depending on simultaneous transmission capability of the first apparatus 110, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (628 / 636 / 644 / 652) UL SRS resource sets #1, #2, #3 and $4 transmissions to the second apparatus 120 via the TRPs 125-1, 125-2, 125-3 and 125-4, respectively. The second apparatus 120 may receive (632 / 640 / 648 / 656) the UL SRS resource sets #1, #2, #3 and $4 transmissions via the TRPs 125-1, 125-2, 125-3 and 125-4, respectively. For example, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (628) UL SRS resource set #1 transmissions via antenna panel #1 such as the antenna panel 115-1 to the second apparatus 120 via the TRP 125-1. The second apparatus 120 may receive (632) the UL SRS resource set #1 transmissions via the TRP 125-1.

[0134] If the first apparatus 110 have capability of simultaneous SRS transmissions, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (628 / 636 / 644 / 652) UL SRS resource sets #1, #2, #3 and $4 transmissions simultaneously. Otherwise, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (628 / 636 / 644 / 652) UL SRS resource sets #1, #2, #3 and $4 transmissions sequential in time.

[0135] The second apparatus 120 transmits (660 / 668) control information indications to the first apparatus 110 via the TRP 125-1. The first apparatus 110 receives (664 / 672)the control information indications for example via the antenna panel 115-1. For example, the control information indication(s) may be DCI on PDCCH, which may include codepoints fields for PRI, PRI-2, SRI, SRI-2, SRS-set Indicator, etc.

[0136] The first apparatus 110 determines (676) combined control information. For example, the fist apparatus 110 may determine combined DCI codepoints over the plurality of different DCIs, for example, PRI, PRI-2, SRI, SRI-2, SRS-set Indicator, etc.

[0137] Based on the combined control information, the first apparatus 110 performs (680) simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus 120 via the plurality of TRPs 125-1, 125-2, 125-3 and 125-4. For example, the simultaneous uplink transmissions may be via the plurality of antenna panels 115-1, 115-2, 115-3 and 115-4. The second apparatus 120 receives (684 / 688 / 692 / 696) the simultaneous uplink transmissions via the plurality of TRPs 125-1, 125-2, 125-3 and 125-4, respectively. For example, based on the combined DCI codepoints over the plurality of different DCIs, simultaneous multi-panel PUSCH transmissions over multiple antenna panels may be performed. The number of antenna panels may be larger than or equal to two.

[0138] By performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions based on the combined control information, it enables utilization of first apparatuses having capability for simultaneous SFN or SDM based multi-panel PUSCH transmission with two or more antenna panels.

[0139] Several example embodiments regarding the indications for simultaneous uplink transmissions have been described. It is to be understood that the signaling charts 400 and 600 are only for purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. The signaling charts 400 and 600 can be used in any suitable combination or used separately. By using these signaling charts, simultaneous uplink transmissions such as multi-panel simultaneous uplink transmissions can be achieved.Example Methods

[0140] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0141] At block 710, the first apparatus 110 receives, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus.

[0142] At block 720, the first apparatus 110 determines combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications.

[0143] At block 730, the first apparatus 110 performs the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: transmitting, to the second apparatus, capability information for combining different control information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and receiving, from the second apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

[0147] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is received via a plurality of control channels, wherein the plurality of control channels shares a search space set and a control resource set, or wherein the plurality of control channels is different in at least one of: a search space set or a control resource set.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: ordering the plurality of control information indications; ordering, for a configuration parameter, a plurality of values based on the ordered plurality of control information indications; and determining the combined control information based on the ordered plurality of values for the configuration parameter.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is ordered based on at least one of: respective aggregation levels of control channels on which the plurality of control information indications is detected, respective indices of a plurality of control channel candidates for detecting the plurality of control information indications, respective control channel element indices of the plurality of control information indications, respective time locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, respective frequency locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, or respective sounding reference signal resource sets associated with the plurality of control information indications.

[0150] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is ordered by: determining a first control information indication of the plurality of control information indications in a first location based on at least one of : a first rule that the first control information indication is detected on a control channel candidate with the lowest index and of the lowest aggregation level among control channel candidates for the plurality of control information indications detected on a same control resource set, a second rule that the first control information indication is detected before other control information indications sharing a same time slot with the first control information indication, a rule condition that the first control information indication is associated with the lowest control channel element index within a control resource set, or a fourth rule that the first control information indication is associated with a first sounding reference signal resource set.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: assigning the ordered plurality of values to bits of the field of the configuration parameter in an ascending order or in a descending order.

[0152] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: determining, for an antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels, a value of the configuration parameter based on the combined control information; and performing, based on the determined value, an uplink transmission of the plurality of uplink transmissions from the antenna panel via a corresponding transmission and reception point to the second apparatus.

[0153] In some example embodiments, the configuration parameter comprises at least one of: a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource set indicator, an SRI, a second SRI,precoding information and number of layers, second precoding information, antenna ports, phase tracking reference signal and demodulation reference signal, PTRS-DMRS, association, second PTRS-DMRS association.

[0154] In some example embodiments, a control information indication of the plurality of control information indications comprises at least one of: an indication that a transmission scheduled by the control information indication is to be performed based on the combined control information, or an index of the control information indication in the plurality of control information indications.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, an order of respective indices of the plurality of control information indications for determining the combined control information.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the simultaneous uplink transmissions are performed further based on at least one of: a spatial domain multiplexing, or a single frequency network.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0158] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0159] At block 810, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus.

[0160] At block 820, the second apparatus 120 determines combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications.

[0161] At block 830, the second apparatus 120 receives the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the method 800 further comprises: receiving,from the first apparatus, capability information for combining different control information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and transmitting, to the first apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.Example Apparatus, Device and Medium

[0166] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, capability information for combining differentcontrol information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and means for receiving, from the second apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0170] In some example embodiments, the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is received via a plurality of control channels, wherein the plurality of control channels shares a search space set and a control resource set, or wherein the plurality of control channels is different in at least one of: a search space set or a control resource set.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications comprises a plurality of values for a configuration parameter respectively, the first apparatus further comprises: means for ordering the plurality of control information indications; means for ordering, for the configuration parameter, the plurality of values based on the ordered plurality of control information indications; and means for determining the combined control information based on the ordered plurality of values for the configuration parameter.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is ordered based on at least one of: respective aggregation levels of control channels on which the plurality of control information indications is detected, respective indices of a plurality of control channel candidates for detecting the plurality of control information indications, respective control channel element indices of the plurality of control information indications, respective time locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, respective frequency locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, or respective sounding reference signal resource sets associated with the plurality of control information indications.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the plurality of control information indications is ordered by: determining a first control information indication of the plurality of control information indications in a first location based on at least one of : a first rule that the first control information indication is detected on a control channel candidate with the lowest index and of the lowest aggregation level among control channel candidates for the plurality of control information indications detected on a same control resource set, a second rule that the first control information indication is detected before other control information indications sharing a same time slot with the first control information indication, a third rule that the first control information indication is associated with the lowest control channel element index within a control resource set, or a fourth rule that the first control information indication is associated with a first sounding reference signal resource set.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the combined control information comprises a field for the configuration parameter, the first apparatus further comprises: means for assigning the ordered plurality of values to bits of the field of the configuration parameter in an ascending order or in a descending order.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the simultaneous uplink transmissions comprise a plurality of uplink transmissions via a plurality of transmission and reception points to the second apparatus, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining, for an antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels, a value of the configuration parameter based on the combined control information; and means for performing, based on the determined value, an uplink transmission of the plurality of uplink transmissions from the antenna panel via a corresponding transmission and reception point to the second apparatus.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the configuration parameter comprises at least one of: a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource set indicator, an SRI, a second SRI, precoding information and number of layers, second precoding information, antenna ports, phase tracking reference signal and demodulation reference signal, PTRS-DMRS, association, second PTRS-DMRS association.

[0178] In some example embodiments, a control information indication of the plurality of control information indications comprises at least one of: an indication that a transmission scheduled by the control information indication is to be performed based onthe combined control information, or an index of the control information indication in the plurality of control information indications.

[0179] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, an order of respective indices of the plurality of control information indications for determining the combined control information.

[0180] In some example embodiments, the simultaneous uplink transmissions are performed further based on at least one of: a spatial domain multiplexing, or a single frequency network.

[0181] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 700 or the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

[0183] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 800 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for receiving the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

[0185] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, capability information for combining differentcontrol information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

[0186] In some example embodiments, the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

[0187] In some example embodiments, the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

[0188] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0189] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 800 or the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

[0190] FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 920 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more communication modules 940 coupled to the processor 910.

[0191] The communication module 940 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 940 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 940 may include at least one antenna.

[0192] The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical networkand may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0193] The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 924, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 922 and other volatile memories that will not last in the powerdown duration.

[0194] A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The instructions of the program 930 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 930 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 924. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 922.

[0195] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 4 to FIG. 8. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation ondata storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0197] FIG. 10 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1000 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1000 has the program 930 stored thereon.

[0198] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0199] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0200] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may executeentirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0201] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0202] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable readonly memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0203] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0204] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specificfeatures or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A first apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to: receive, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determine combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and perform the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to: transmit, to the second apparatus, capability information for combining different control information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and receive, from the second apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

4. The first apparatus of claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

5. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein the plurality of control information indications is received via a plurality of control channels,wherein the plurality of control channels shares a search space set and a control resource set, or wherein the plurality of control channels is different in at least one of: a search space set or a control resource set.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-5, wherein the plurality of control information indications comprises a plurality of values for a configuration parameter respectively, and the first apparatus is further caused to: order the plurality of control information indications; order, for the configuration parameter, the plurality of values based on the ordered plurality of control information indications; and determine the combined control information based on the ordered plurality of values for the configuration parameter.

7. The first apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plurality of control information indications is ordered based on at least one of: respective aggregation levels of control channels on which the plurality of control information indications is detected, respective indices of a plurality of control channel candidates for detecting the plurality of control information indications, respective control channel element indices of the plurality of control information indications, respective time locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, respective frequency locations for receiving the plurality of control information indications, or respective sounding reference signal resource sets associated with the plurality of control information indications.

8. The first apparatus of claim 7, wherein the plurality of control information indications is ordered by: determining a first control information indication of the plurality of control information indications in a first location based on at least one of: a first rule that the first control information indication is detected on a control channel candidate with the lowest index and of the lowest aggregation level among control channelcandidates for the plurality of control information indications detected on a same control resource set, a second rule that the first control information indication is detected before other control information indications sharing a same time slot with the first control information indication, a third rule that the first control information indication is associated with the lowest control channel element index within a control resource set, or a fourth rule that the first control information indication is associated with a first sounding reference signal resource set.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 6-8, wherein the combined control information comprises a field for the configuration parameter, and the first apparatus is further caused to: assign the ordered plurality of values to bits of the field in an ascending order or in a descending order.

10. The first apparatus of any of claims 6-9, wherein the simultaneous uplink transmissions comprise a plurality of uplink transmissions via a plurality of transmission and reception points to the second apparatus, and the first apparatus is further caused to: determine, for an antenna panel of the plurality of antenna panels, a value of the configuration parameter based on the combined control information; and perform, based on the determined value, an uplink transmission of the plurality of uplink transmissions from the antenna panel via a corresponding transmission and reception point to the second apparatus.

11. The first apparatus of any of claims 6-10, wherein the configuration parameter comprises at least one of: a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource set indicator, an SRS resource indicator, a second SRS resource indicator, precoding information and number of layers, second precoding information, antenna ports, phase tracking reference signal and demodulation reference signal, PTRS-DMRS, association, second PTRS-DMRS association.

12. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-11, wherein a control information indication of the plurality of control information indications comprises at least one of: an indication that a transmission scheduled by the control information indication is to be performed based on the combined control information, or an index of the control information indication in the plurality of control information indications.

13. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-12, wherein the first apparatus is further caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, an order of respective indices of the plurality of control information indications for determining the combined control information.

14. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-13, wherein the simultaneous uplink transmissions are performed further based on at least one of: a spatial domain multiplexing, or a single frequency network.

15. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-14, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

16. A second apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to: transmit, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determine combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and receive the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

17. The second apparatus of claim 16, wherein the second apparatus is further caused to: receive, from the first apparatus, capability information for combining different control information indications for the simultaneous uplink transmissions; and transmit, to the first apparatus, configuration information at least indicating to combine the plurality of control information indications.

18. The second apparatus of claim 17, wherein the capability information indicates at least one of: a capability in supporting combination of different control information indications, the number of different control information indications supported by the first apparatus for combination, or a time offset between a first time point for receiving the plurality of control information indications and a second time point for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions.

19. The second apparatus of claim 17 or claim 18, wherein the configuration information further indicates the number of the plurality of control information indications to be combined.

20. The second apparatus of any of claims 16-19, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

21. A method comprising: receiving, at a first apparatus from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

22. A method comprising: transmitting, at a second apparatus to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus;determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and receiving the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

23. A first apparatus comprising: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for performing the simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus via the plurality of antenna panels based on the combined control information.

24. A second apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, a plurality of control information indications for scheduling simultaneous uplink transmissions to the second apparatus; means for determining combined control information for the simultaneous uplink transmissions via a plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus by combining the plurality of control information indications; and means for receiving the simultaneous uplink transmissions from the plurality of antenna panels of the first apparatus based on the combined control information.

25. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 21 or the method of claim 22.

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