Resource element (RE) muting- discrete fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) re mapping

Abstract

A method performed by a user equipment for subcarrier muting is provided. The method comprises sending a Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT output values output by a DFT processor. The set of DFT output values is based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

Description

RESOURCE ELEMENT (RE) MUTING- DISCRETE FOURIER TRANSFORM SPREAD ORTHOGONAL FREQUENCY-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING (DFT-S- OFDM) RE MAPPING FIELD

[0001] This present disclosure relates generally to telecommunication systems and methods, and in particular to improving RE muting during duplex mode communication for base stations (BS) and user equipment (UE) for network-controlled repeaters. BACKGROUND

[0002] Unless otherwise indicated in the present disclosure, the materials described in the present disclosure are not prior art to the claims in the present application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0003] Challenges related to muting REs for DFT-s-OFDM may exist in scenarios in which Sub-Band Full Duplex (SBFD) is implemented. In particular, each discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output value that is mapped to a RE in the frequency domain may not correspond to a specific complex-valued modulated symbol (e.g. a Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbol) that is input to the DFT. Accordingly, each DFT output may be able to be rate-matched. To use RE muting, Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (CP-OFDM) and reduce transmit power of user equipment. However, using CP- OFDM may negate at least a portion of gains obtained from RE muting.

[0004] The muted REs may be punctured (e.g., map DFT output values to the muted REs such that the underlying data is not transmitted), but that would worsen throughput as well as increase the Cubic metric (CM) of a system because a resulting DFT-s-OFDM waveform would no longer have low-CM properties

[0005] The subject matter claimed in the present disclosure is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described in the present disclosure may be practiced. SUMMARY

[0006] This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended toidentify key features or essential characteristics of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0007] Various computer-implemented systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for RE muting for DFT-s-OFDM are described herein. The RE muting for DFT-s-OFDM may provide efficient use, computationally complex-wise and / or performance-wise, of RE muting for DFT-s-OFDM in scenarios in which SBFD is used. Additionally, the RE muting for DFT- s-OFDM may provide better utilization of UE transmit power capability in all orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in SBFD with RE-level muting and better uplink (UL) coverage.

[0008] In one embodiment, a method by a user equipment for subcarrier muting is disclosed. The method comprises sending a DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT output values output by a DFT processor. The set of DFT output values is based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

[0009] In one embodiment, a user equipment comprises processing circuitry configured to perform the method above.

[0010] In one embodiment, a method performed by a network node for subcarrier muting is disclosed. The method comprises receiving DFT-s-OFDM) transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT output values output by a DFT processor. The set of DFT output values is based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which is the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies. The set of subcarrier frequencies includes a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

[0011] In one embodiment, a network node comprises processing circuitry configured to perform the method above.

[0012] The object and advantages of the embodiments will be realized and achieved at least by the elements, features, and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. Both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] For a better understanding of the various described embodiments, reference should be made to the Detailed Description below, in conjunction with the following drawings in which like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the figures.

[0014] FIG.1 illustrates an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary user equipment in accordance with some embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary network node in accordance with some embodiments.

[0017] FIG.4 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0018] FIG.5 is a block diagram illustrating an example new radio (NR) slot that includes 14 OFDM symbols.

[0019] FIGs. 6A and 6B are graphical representations illustrating various duplexing schemes.

[0020] FIG. 7 is a graphical representation illustrating an example of overlapping of downlink (DL) transmissions and an UL reception.

[0021] FIG.8 is a graphical representation illustrating interference that may occur due to various signal transmissions.

[0022] FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for implementing CP- OFDM.

[0023] FIG.10 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for implementing DFT- s-OFDM.

[0024] FIG. 11 is a graphical representation illustrating an example OFDM slot with muting being performed on either full OFDM symbols or every Nth subcarrier of an OFDM symbol.

[0025] FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example system for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIGs.13-16 are flowcharts illustrating embodiments of method operations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Certain aspects of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. This concept may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the concept to those skilled in the art.

[0028] Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise:

[0029] The phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, though it may. Thus, as described below, various embodiments of the invention may be readily combined, without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0030] As used herein, the term “or” is an inclusive “or” operator and is equivalent to the term “and / or,” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0031] The term “based on” is not exclusive and allows for being based on additional factors not described unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

[0032] As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term “coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are used synonymously. Within the context of a networked environment where two or more components or devices are able to exchange data, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are also used to mean “communicatively coupled with”, possibly via one or more intermediary devices.

[0033] In addition, throughout the specification, the meaning of “a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references, and the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on”.

[0034] Although some of the various embodiments presented herein constitute a single combination of inventive elements, it should be appreciated that the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. As such, if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and another embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remainingcombinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly discussed herein. Further, the transitional term “comprising” means to have as parts or members, or to be those parts or members. As used herein, the transitional term “comprising” is inclusive or open-ended and does not exclude additional, unrecited elements or method steps.

[0035] In various embodiments, the devices, instruments, systems, and methods described herein may be used to facilitate proper timing configuration of beamforming by a repeater node.

[0036] It is noted that description herein is not intended as an extensive overview, and as such, concepts may be simplified in the interests of clarity and brevity. Any process or method or corresponding steps of any process or method described in this application may be performed in any order and may omit any of the steps in the process. Processes or methods may also be combined with other processes or steps of other processes, in part or in whole. Parts of processes or methods, or corresponding steps may be combined with other parts of processes or methods, or corresponding steps.

[0037] Figure 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0038] In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 102, including one or more network nodes 110 and / or core network nodes 108.

[0039] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time ornon-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UE, such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0040] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0041] The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.

[0042] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes(e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0043] The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and / or the telecommunication network 102. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0044] As a whole, the communication system 100 of Figure 1 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2ndgeneration (2G), 3rdgeneration (3G), 4thgeneration (4G), 5thgeneration (5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6thgeneration (6G)); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0045] In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunicationsnetwork 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

[0046] In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-radio access technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0047] In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0048] The hub 114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and / or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured toconnect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non-dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0049] Figure 2 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE 200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE 112 of Figure 1. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0050] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle- to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0051] The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input / output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communicationinterface 212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 2. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0052] The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0053] In the example, the input / output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0054] In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of thepower source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.

[0055] The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0056] The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD- DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a universal subscriber identify module (USIM) and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0057] The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and / ora receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0058] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0059] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0060] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0061] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, avoice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in Figure 2.

[0062] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0063] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0064] Figure 3 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0065] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0066] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0067] The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 300.

[0068] The processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.

[0069] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0070] The memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer- executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and / or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 are integrated.

[0071] The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processingcircuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and / or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0072] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0073] The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port.

[0074] The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0075] The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupledto, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0076] Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 3 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG.1, some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry 318 and the RF transceiver circuitry 312 may be omitted.

[0077] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 400 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0078] Applications 402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0079] Hardware 404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 408a and 408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 408), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 408.

[0080] The VMs 408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0081] In the context of NFV, a VM 408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 408, and that part of hardware 404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 408 on top of the hardware 404 and corresponds to the application 402.

[0082] Hardware 404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 402. In some embodiments, hardware 404 is coupled to one or more radio units that eachinclude one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units. 3GPP NR Standard

[0083] The NR standard in the 3GPP is being designed to provide service for multiple use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), and machine type communication (MTC). Each of these services has different technical requirements. For example, a general requirement for eMBB is high data rate with moderate latency and moderate coverage, while URLLC service requires a low latency and high reliability transmission but perhaps for moderate data rates.

[0084] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example NR slot 500 that includes 14 OFDM symbols. The NR slot 500 includes several OFDM symbols, according to current agreements either 7 or 14 symbols (OFDM subcarrier spacing ≤ 60 kHz) and 14 symbols (OFDM subcarrier spacing > 60 kHz). In Figure 5 arrow 503 denotes the slot and arrow 501 denotes an OFDM symbol duration. Different types of duplex communication modes

[0085] To support the many types of targeted use cases with varying requirements, different duplex communication modes are discussed in 3GPP standardization. Moreover, the same device may be capable of operating using different duplex modes, for e.g., to achieve different overall communication performance based on its needs.

[0086] Transmission and reception from a wireless communication device, e.g., a BS or a UE in a cellular system, can be multiplexed in the frequency domain or in the time domain (or combinations thereof). The most relevant duplex modes are discussed below.

[0087] FIGs.6A and 6B are graphical representations 600-d illustrating various duplexing schemes. Definitions of different duplex modes

[0088] Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), as illustrated in graphical representation 600a in Figure 6A, implies that transmission (TX) and reception (RX) take place in different, sufficiently separated carriers. Thus, FDD requires paired spectrum. In the case of FDD operation, there are two carrier frequencies, one for UL transmission and one for DL transmission. At least with respect to the UE in a cellular communication system, FDD can beeither full duplex (FD-FDD) or half duplex (HD-FDD). In the FD-FDD case, a UE can transmit and receive simultaneously, while in HD-FDD operation, the UE does not currently transmit and receive simultaneously (the BS may perform simultaneous RX / TX though, e.g. receiving from one UE while simultaneously transmitting to another UE). In LTE, a HD-FDD terminal is monitoring / receiving in the DL except when explicitly being instructed to transmit in a certain subframe.

[0089] Time Division Duplex (TDD), as illustrated in graphical representations 600b in Figure 6A, implies that TX and RX take place within the same carrier in different, non- overlapping time slots. Thus, TDD can operate in unpaired spectrum. In the case of TDD operation, there may be a single carrier frequency and UL and DL transmissions are separated in time also on a cell basis. As the same carrier frequency is used for UL and DL transmission, both the BS and the UEs switch from TX to RX and vice versa. An important aspect of any TDD system is to provide the possibility for a sufficiently large guard time where neither DL nor UL transmissions occur. This is to help avoid interference between UL and DL transmissions. For NR, this guard time is provided by special slots, which are split into three parts: symbols for DL, a guard period (GP), and symbols for UL. The remaining slots are either allocated to UL or DL transmission.

[0090] Sub-Band Full Duplex (SBFD), as illustrated in graphical representation 600c in Figure 6B, is being studied in 3GPP Release 18 as a part of the 5G-Advanced standardization. In case of SBFD operation, a portion of a wide bandwidth carrier, termed sub-band(s), may be used for a different communication direction than that of the rest of the carrier. This is unlike the conventional TDD operation wherein the entire bandwidth of the carrier is used either for DL or UL. SBFD operation can also be performed across different carriers within the same frequency band, wherein one or more carriers within a frequency band may be used for a different communication direction than that of the other carriers, which is again unlike conventional TDD operation wherein all carriers within a frequency band are used for the same communication direction. In the 3GPP Release 18 study, the scope has been limited such that during SBFD operation, only BSs transmit DL and receive UL simultaneously using corresponding non-overlapping sub-bands. An individual UE is scheduled in only one direction (DL or UL) at a time, following conventional HD TDD operation, referred to as HD-SBFD. However, for future releases such as Release 19, SBFD operation at UEs is also being discussed as a potential study topic, referred to as SBFD.

[0091] Single frequency full duplex (SFFD), as illustrated in graphical representation 600d in Figure 6B, has also been proposed to be studied in 3GPP standardization. It wasdiscussed but excluded from the scope of Release 18, and it is now again being discussed during scoping discussions for Release 19. In the case of SFFD operation, the entire bandwidth of the same carrier in a single carrier system or all carriers in a multi-carrier system can be simultaneously used for DL and UL operations. In other words, the same time and frequency resources can be used for both TX and RX at the same device. Similar to SBFD operation, SFFD operation is also being discussed as a potential study topic for both BSs and UEs.

[0092] In the present disclosure, the embodiments discussed in further detail are in the context of the SBFD case, however it should not be limited to such. For example, the embodiments may also be applicable to dynamic TDD. The SBFD discussion is for simplicity focused on the case with an UL subband between two DL subbands, but the disclosed methods are equally applicable to other use cases such as other SBFD arrangements. SBFD self-interference

[0093] Figure 7 is a graphical representation 700 illustrating example overlapping of DL transmissions 705 and an UL reception 707.

[0094] Since some network nodes (e.g., the gNB) may transmit on the DL while at the same time receiving on the UL (e.g., as shown in Figure 7, a period of time corresponding to curve 707 representing the UL overlaps periods of time for curves 705 representing different instances of the DL), there is the risk of strong self-interference. In an ideal situation with no RF / analog imperfections in transmitter or receiver, the fact that DL and UL are transmitted on different subbands, combined with the orthogonality between OFDM subcarriers effectively leads to no self-interference between Tx and Rx, (this is assuming that the OFDM subcarrier grids in the Tx and Rx side are perfectly aligned). However, in real equipment with imperfections, self-interference may occur through two mechanisms, which are illustrated in Figures 7 and 8:

[0095] Figure 8 is a graphical representation 800 illustrating interference that may occur due to various signal transmissions. As shown in Figure 8, curve 809 may represent an output signal using only a power amplifier (PA) and no DPD. In addition, as shown in Figure 8, curve 811 represents an output signal using separate DPD and PA. Further, as shown in Figure 8, curve 813 represents an output signal using DPD plus PA net effect model. Additionally, as shown in Figure 8, curve 815 represents an input signal to DPD or DPDE plus PA or only PA. 1. As shown in Figure 8, the Tx signal is distorted due to transmitter-side imperfections, in particular non-linearities in the PA. This may lead to power being transmitted also in the UL subband, and hence cause interference to the desired UL signal.2. The receiver analog components, e.g. the low-noise amplifier (LNA), have non- linearities. This may cause the receiver to capture power also from the DL subband. Cubic metric (CM) and peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR)

[0096] In a practical implementation, the transmitted signal may become heavily distorted if its peak power becomes larger than the power amplifier can handle. For maximum power efficiency, one should therefore strive to have a transmitted signal with as little variation of power around its average power as possible. Two important measures of such power variations (also referred to as power variation metrics) are peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and cubic metric (CM):

[0097] The peak-to-average power of a signal s(t) in continuous time t is defined as:where T is the duration of the signal.

[0098] In some cases, especially for UL transmission, CM [R1-060023, “Cubic metric in 3GPP-LTE”, Motorola, RAN WG1 LTE Adhoc, Helsinki, Finland, January 23–26, 2006] is usually considered a more appropriate measure than PAPR. The CM accounts not only for the maximum peak of the signal, but also for the number of large peaks. The CM is in the present disclosure may be calculated based on R1-060023 as follows: 10 log �1^^^^ |^^ ( )|6[ 10 ^^^^∫0 ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^�−1.52^^^^^^^^ dB] =1.56 , here the signal s(t) is assumed to be normalized, such as follows:

[0099] In the above CM expression, the numerical constraints of 1.52 and 1.56 yield a CM of 1.2 dB for QPSK modulation. However, there are other possible choices for the values of such constraints. There are also other possible measures of variation than PAPR and CM. The methods and technical benefits presented in the present disclosure are generally applicable irrespective of exact variation measure used. DFT-s-OFDM and CP-OFDM

[0100] A primary target for SBFD is increased coverage, which is achieved through longer UE transmission time (up to 5 slots per 5-slot group instead of just 1 as in legacy TDD pattern DDDDU).

[0101] In coverage-limited situations, it is also important to maximize the Tx power that the UE can use. Maximum Tx power is achieved if DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) ratherthan non-DFT-spread OFDM (henceforth referred to a CP-OFDM for brevity) is used, the reason being that DFT-s-OFDM has a lower cubic metric (CM) than CP-OFDM, and therefore a higher average transmission power is possible to help avoid experiencing significant distortion in the UE power amplifier (PA).

[0102] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 900 for implementing CP-OFDM. Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 1000 for implementing DFT-s-OFDM. The system 900 in Figure 9 includes a bit symbol mapping module 917, a serial to parallel (S / P) module 919, a padding and mapping module 921, a parallel to serial (P / S) module 925, and a +CP module 927 collectively referred to herein as “the modules.”

[0103] The modules may include code and routines configured to enable a computing device to perform one or more operations with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting and subcarrier mapping. Additionally or alternatively, the module may be implemented using hardware including a processor, a microprocessor (e.g., to perform or control performance of one or more operations), a FPGA, or an ASIC, or any other suitable processing hardware (e.g., such as the processing circuitry 202 of Figure 2. In some other instances, the modules may be implemented using a combination of hardware and software. In the present disclosure, operations described as being performed by the modules may include operations that the modules may direct a corresponding system to perform.

[0104] The principle of CP-OFDM is illustrated in Figure 9. The principle of DFT-s- OFDM is illustrated in Figure 10. In both, a bit-symbol mapping module 917 may map data in a serial format, which is then provided to a serial to parallel (S / P) module 919. The S / P module 919 may convert the data from serial to parallel with modulated symbols (e.g. Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) symbols). The difference of DFT-s-OFDM compared to CP- OFDM is that DFT-s-OFDM has a DFT processor 1029 for converting the modulated symbols to the frequency domain before being mapped to subcarriers by a padding and mapping module 921, while in CP-OFDM, the parallel data with the modulated symbols from the S / P module 9191 are directly mapped to subcarriers in the frequency domain by the padding and mapping module 921. In both, an N-IDFT processor 923 may take an inverse Fourier transform of the mapped data and a parallel to serial (P / S) module 925 may convert that from parallel to serial. Finally, a +CP module 927 may upconvert the serial data from the P / S module 925.

[0105] For reference, the waveform generation in the case of DFT-s-OFDM is discussed in the same notation and terminology that will later be used to describe embodiments of the present disclosure. The typical generation of frequency-domain Resource Element (REs)(which also may be referred to in the present disclosure as subcarriers) in a legacy system without RE muting (or also referred to as “subcarrier muting”) is that first a DFT is taken of Mmodulated symbols ^̅^^^, forming ^̂^^^ = DFT(^̅^^^), which, as mentioned above, may each be basedon each of the M modulated symbols. The ^̂^^^ = DFT(^̅^^^) are then mapped to subcarriers (e.g., inconsecutive order), possibly after first performing a “DFT shift”. “DFT shift” is here meant exchanging the first and second halves of ^̂^^^ , e.g., for a length-M DFT. For example, the shifting may include: ^̂^^^DFT−shifted(^^^^) =0,1,(^^^^), for ^^^^ = 0,1,

[0106] Furthermore, similar to DFT shift, there may be an “IDFT shift” before or after the IDFT operation. For even-length, an IDFT shift is mathematically equivalent to an DFT shift. DFT-shift (or IDFT shift) may sometimes be seen as an integral part of the DFT (IDFT) operation and is then not explicitly indicated. RE muting (proposal for standardization in 3GPP)

[0107] It has been proposed in 3GPP TR 38.858 that some resource elements of an OFDM symbol in transmissions (e.g., UL transmissions from the UE to the gNB) could be muted in order to allow the receiving device (e.g., the gNB) to more accurately estimate interference (e.g., DL interference by measuring DL interference on the muted RE where it is not influenced by UL signals). Muting can be either a (or multiple) full OFDM symbols or a subset of the subcarriers, e.g. every Nth subcarrier, as illustrated in Figure 11. Data is supposed to be rate- matched around the muted RE, i.e. muting in principle does not change code rate, but does reduce the number of transmitted bits and hence decreases throughput.

[0108] There currently exist certain challenge(s) corresponding to muting REs for DFT-s- OFDM. For example, as explained above, it may be important or useful to be able to use DFT- s-OFDM in scenarios where SBFD is used. However, RE muting as proposed in 3GPP would not work or would be limited for DFT-s-OFDM. The reason is that, as discussed above, each DFT output value that is mapped to REs in the frequency domain does not correspond to a specific complex-valued modulated symbol (e.g. a QPSK symbol) that is input to the DFT, and hence cannot be rate-matched around. In order to use RE muting, one would hence have to use CP-OFDM and reduce UE Tx power, which would negate all or much of the gains from RE muting. In other words, RE muting is not favorable for use in the situation (SBFD for coverage extension) that is its primary use case.

[0109] It may be remarked that in theory, one could just puncture the muted REs (e.g., map DFT output values to the muted REs such that the underlying data is not transmitted), but that would give worse throughput performance as well as increase the CM significantly since the result no longer has the low-CM properties of the DFT-s-OFDM waveform. For example, puncturing every 3rdsubcarrier increases the CM from the 1.2 dB of regular DFT-s-OFDM (QPSK modulation) to about 2.7 dB.

[0110] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, the present disclosure discusses several ideas related to efficient use of RE muting for DFT-s-OFDM, with some of the ideas being applicable also to RE muting for CP-OFDM.

[0111] In particular, the present disclosure proposes ways to rate-match around muted REs in DFT-s-OFDM with only small impact on cubic metric (CM). Note that doing such rate- matching (subcarrier mapping) without substantially increased CM is non-trivial in the case of DFT-s-OFDM.

[0112] FIG.12 is a block diagram illustrating an example system 1200 for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0113] Some embodiments regarding rate-matching around muted REs in DFT-s-OFDM are as follows below. For example, several novel frequency domain and time domain methods to map an input of ^^^^’ modulated input data symbols (e.g., QAM symbols, QPSK symbols, Binary Phase-shift keying (BPSK) symbols, pi / 2 BPSK symbols, etc.) to an DFT-S-OFDM waveform with M assigned subcarriers are contemplated in the present disclosure, where ^^^^ > ^^^^’, such that at least one out of every group of ^^^^ assigned subcarriers (REs) are muted. For example, some embodiments are summarized below and discussed in further detail later in the present disclosure, however this list is not necessarily comprehensive of all the embodiments that may be discussed herein: a. In a first frequency domain (FD) embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, a ^^^^’ DFT processor 1231 may receive the modulated symbols and convert the modulated symbols to the frequency domain to obtain M’ number of FD values corresponding to the modulated symbols. The M’ number of FD values are respectively mapped to M’ number of unmuted subcarriers of the ^^^^ assigned subcarriers via novel mappingfunctions controlled by configurable parameters. The remaining assigned subcarriers (e.g., M – M’) may be muted.i. In one non-limiting embodiment, the FD values are mapped in consecutive order to the unmuted subcarriers in consecutive order. b. In a second frequency domain (FD) embodiment, the ^^^^’ DFT processor 1231 may split the modulated symbols into ^^^^ − 1 groups, where dummy padding symbols(represented by ∅ in FIG.12) may be introduced to the groups by padding modules 1271. A single instance of the padding modules 1271 is numbered in Figure 12 for ease of illustration. The ^^^^’ DFT processor 1231 may convert each of the split groups to the frequency domain via a size-^^^^ DFT, where ^^^^ = ^^^^^^^^. The frequency domain groups are mapped to the unmuted subcarriers of the ^^^^ assigned subcarriers via novel mapping functions controlled by configurable parameters. c. In a third time domain (TD) embodiment, the ^^^^’ DFT processor 1231 may split modulated symbols into ^^^^ − 1 groups, where the dummy padding symbols may beintroduced to the groups. The ^^^^’ DFT processor 1231 may form multiple combined vectors of the ^^^^– 1 groups by applying different sets of combining weights to the ^^^^– 1groups of modulated symbols, where a combining weight for a group may be of a scalar or a weight sequence of equal length and can be determined via novel parameterization of configurable variables. The ^^^^ combined vectors are concatenated to form a length-^^^^ sequence, which is converted to the frequency domain via a size- ^^^^ DFT. The frequency domain values are mapped directly to the ^^^^ assigned subcarriers.

[0114] In some instances, a choice may be made with respect to choosing which rate matching with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting as disclosed in the present disclosure to use and / or choosing rate matching as discussed in the present disclosure as compared to other techniques, such as puncturing. For example, the choice may be made between at least two methods, where at least one of the methods described in the present disclosure, and the choiceis based on the value of L. (For example, one may use method (c) for ^^^^ ≤ 4 and puncturingfor ^^^^ > 4.)

[0115] It should be noted that all the above-mentioned rate-matching methods can be done with or without “DFT shift” after the DFT operation(s) (see detailed description for explanation of “DFT shift”).

[0116] Additionally or alternatively, the muting pattern may be selected differently depending on whether DFT-s-OFDM is used or not, and / or (optionally) what fraction of REs should be muted. For example, the following muting patterns may be used:a. Muting every Nth PRB (Physical Resource Block) may be performed if CP-OFDM is used, since this may be easier from a scheduling perspective. b. Muting every Nth subcarrier if DFT-s-OFDM is used, since this enables lower CM. c. (Optionally:) Muting every Nth PRB even if DFT-s-OFDM is used, if N is larger or smaller than a certain threshold (in which case the CM degradation from PRB-level muting may be small enough to be neglected).

[0117] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, certain embodiments may provide for better utilization of Tx UE power capability in all OFDM symbols in SBFD with RE-level muting, and hence better UL coverage. Additionally or alternatively, the teachings of certain embodiments may improve the ability to use RE muting for interference determinations to improve the ability to compensate for such interference.

[0118] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0119] Further details regarding one or more of the embodiments listed above and / or one or more additional embodiments are now given. As a quick summary of some traditional forms of generating DFT-S-OFDM waveforms discussed above, given a time domain sequence of ^^^^ modulated symbols, 1. A size-^^^^ DFT transform is applied to the sequence, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values. 2. The frequency domain values are mapped to the ^^^^ assigned (usually consecutive) subcarriers. 3. The values of the other ^^^^ − ^^^^ unassigned subcarriers are set to zero.4. A size-^^^^ inverse DFT (IDFT) is applied to the sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ time domain waveform values for transmission. By contrast, in the embodiments of the present disclosure: • ^^^^ may be the number of assigned subcarriers and assume that • every ^^^^-th of those subcarriers (REs) may be muted. The present disclosure includes a set of methods for:• generating the signal on the remaining (that is, non-muted) ^^^^’ subcarriers based on ^^^^’ modulated symbols^^^^ ^^^^. The term “modulated symbols” is here meant e.g., QAM symbols, QPSK symbols, BPSK symbols, pi / 2 BPSK symbols, etc. Denote •the vector of modulated symbols as ^̅^^^ = [^^^^(0), ^^^^(1), … ^− 1)]^^^,where [… ]^^^^ denotes vector transpose.

[0120] Note: For both the reference legacy method and all methods proposed in the following, the generated REs are subject to further processing, including e.g. an inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) before transmission. First example embodiment (Frequency Domain (FD))

[0121] An example illustration of this embodiment is included in Figure 12 and mentioned as embodiment (a) above. This embodiment may include the following elements: 1. The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 applies DFT transform to the vector of time domain modulated symbols ^̅^^^, which produces the frequency domain value vector of length ^^^^′: ^�^^^ = DFT^^^^′(^̅^^^)2. The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may map the frequency domain values to ^^^^′subcarriers within the ^^^^ available assigned subcarriers. a. In one nonlimiting example embodiment, the frequency domain values are mapped to the first ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every group of ^^^^ subcarriersaccording to ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^) = ^̂^^^(^^^^ ⋅ (^^^^ − 1) + ^^^^)where ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^is the subcarrier index of the first assigned subcarrier, and ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 2 and ^^^^ = 0,1, … ,^^^^ − 1.With this embodiment, subcarriers with index given by ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^ − 1, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +2^^^^ − 1, …, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ − 1 are muted.a. In another nonlimiting example embodiment, the frequency domain values (e.g., those that are output by the ^^^^′ DFT processor 1231) are mapped to ^^^^ −1 subcarriers for every group of ^^^^ subcarriers according tomod ^^^^) = ^̂^^^(^^^^ ⋅ (^^^^ − 1) + ^^^^)where Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, and mod is a modulo operation (i.e., ^^^^ mod ^^^^ yields the remainder of is divided by ^^^^). For instance, when Δ = 1, subcarriers with index given by ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^,…, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ are muted.b. In a further nonlimiting example embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 maps the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every group of ^^^^subcarriers according tomod ^^^^′)where Π is a parameter to adjust the ordering of the REs mapping. c. In yet another nonlimiting example embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 maps the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every group of ^^^^subcarriers according to ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^^^^^ + Δ + ^^^^ mod ^^^^) = ^̂^^^(^^^^ ⋅ (^^^^ − 1) + ^^^^ + Π mod ^^^^′)where Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, and Π is a parameter to adjust the ordering of the REs mapping. d. In another further nonlimiting example embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 maps the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every groupof ^^^^ subcarriers according to: ^^^^�^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^^^^^ + Δ(^^^^)� = ^̂^^^^^^^�^^^^ ⋅ (^^^^ − 1) + Π(^^^^)�where Δ(^^^^)is an injective mapping function from a set of integers{0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2} to a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 1}, andΠ(^^^^) is a one-to-one mapping function from a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2} to a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2}.As a nonlimiting example, Π(^^^^) = Δ + ^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^ mod (^^^^ − 1) is a linear mapping,where ^^^^ is relative prime to ^^^^ − 1. An another nonlimiting example, Π(^^^^) =Δ + ^^^1^ ⋅ ^^^^ + ^^^2^ ⋅ ^^^^2 mod (^^^^ − 1) is a quadratic polynomial mapping.For the ^^^^ assigned subcarriers, ^^^^ − ^^^^′ subcarriers are not assigned values in theabove step and are set to zero.The values of the other ^^^^ − ^^^^ unassigned subcarriers are set to zero.4. Additionally or alternatively, a size-^^^^ IDFT is applied to the sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ time domain waveform values for transmission. a. Alternatively, some other method for converting frequency-domain signal to transmitted waveform

[0122] In some embodiments, the vector ^^^^ may be DFT-shifted before mapping tosubcarriers as described for the legacy method without muting. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, multiple REs are muted in each group of ^^^^ subcarriers. The frequencydomain values are mapped to ^^^^ − Χ subcarriers for every group of ^^^^ subcarriers, where Χ isthe number of muted subcarriers per group. The muted subcarriers can be consecutive or non- consecutive within each group. In these and other embodiments, ^^^^ is selected to be a multipleof 12 and the number of consecutively muted subcarriers are ^^^^ = 12. The groups of ^^^^subcarriers and the subcarrier mapping are selected such that each group contains a whole number of PRBs of which one is muted. Second example embodiment (Frequency Domain (FD))

[0123] This embodiment may include the following elements and may provide further details regarding embodiment (b) discussed above: 1. The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may split the vector of time domain modulated symbols ^̅^^^ into ^^^^– 1 groups, each including ^^^^ modulated symbols.Denote the groups of symbols as ^̅^^^0, ^̅^^^1, … , ^̅^^^^^^^−2 , where in one non-limitingembodiment ^̅^^^0contains the first ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, where ^̅^^^0contains the next ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, etc. In other embodiments, different ordering of groups could be used. 2. The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may apply a size-^^^^ DFT to each group, which produces the frequency domain value vector ^�^^^^^^^ = DFT^^^^(^̅^^^^^^^)for ^^^^ = 0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2.3. The ^^^^′ DFT processor 1231 may map the ^^^^– 1 groups of frequency domain values to^^^^′subcarriers within the ^^^^ available assigned subcarriers. a. In one nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may map the frequency domain values to the first ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every groupof ^^^^ subcarriers according towhere^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^is the subcarrier index of the first assigned subcarrier, and ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 2 and ^^^^ = 0,1, … ,^^^^ − 1.With this embodiment, subcarriers with index given by ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^ − 1, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ +2^^^^ − 1, …, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ − 1 may be muted.b. In another nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may map the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every group of^^^^ subcarriers according to ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^^^^^ + [Δ + ^^^^ modwhere Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, and mod is a modulo operation (i.e., ^^^^ mod ^^^^ yields the remainder of is divided by ^^^^). For instance, when Δ = 1, subcarriers with index given by ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^,…, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ are muted.c. In yet another nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may map the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for everygroup of ^^^^ subcarriers according to ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^^^^^ + Δ + ^^^^ mod ^^^^) = ^̂^^^^^^^(^^^^)where Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted. d. In a further nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may map the frequency domain values to ^^^^ − 1 subcarriers for every group of^^^^ subcarriers according towhere Δ(^^^^)is an injective mapping function from a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2} to a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 1}.As a nonlimiting example, Δ(^^^^) = Δ + ^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^ mod ^^^^ is a linear mapping, where^^^^ is relative prime to ^^^^. An another nonlimiting example, Δ(^^^^) = Δ + ^^^1^ ⋅ ^^^^ +^^^^ ⋅ ^^ 22 ^^ mod ^^^^ is a quadratic polynomial mapping.For the ^^^^ assigned subcarriers, ^^^^ − ^^^^′ subcarriers may not be assigned values in theabove step and are set to zero.The values of the other ^^^^ − ^^^^ unassigned subcarriers may be set to zero.5. In these and other embodiments, a size-^^^^ IDFT is applied to the sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ time domain waveform values for transmission. a. Alternatively, some other method for converting frequency-domain signal to transmitted waveform.

[0124] In some embodiments, each vector ^̂^^^^^^^may be DFT-shifted before mapping to subcarriers described for the legacy method without muting Third example embodiment (Time Domain (TD))

[0125] This embodiment may include the following elements and may provide further details regarding embodiment (c) discussed above: 1. The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may split the vector of time domain modulated symbols ^̅^^^ into ^^^^– 1 groups, each including ^^^^ modulated symbols.Denote the groups of symbols as ^̅^^^0, ^̅^^^1, … , ^̅^^^^^^^−2 , where in one non-limitingembodiment ^̅^^^0contains the first ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, where ^̅^^^0contains the next ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, etc. In other embodiments, different ordering of groups could be used. 2. The ^^^^′ DFT processor 1231 may form multiple combined vectors of the ^^^^– 1 groupsby applying different sets of combining weights to the ^^^^– 1 groups of modulatedsymbols:where ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 1.a. In one nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according towhere ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 1, and ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 2.b. In another nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according to ^^^^^^^^,^^^^ = exp�^^^^2^^^^^^^^ ^^^^(Δ + ^^^^ mod ^^^^)�where Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, and mod is a modulo operation. c. In a further nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according to^where Δ(^^^^) is an injective mapping function from a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2} to a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 1}.As a nonlimiting example, Δ(^^^^) = Δ + ^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^ mod ^^^^ is a linear mapping, where^^^^ is relative prime to ^^^^. An another nonlimiting example, Δ(^^^^) =⋅ ^^^^ +^^^2^ ⋅ ^^^^2 mod ^^^^ is a quadratic polynomial mapping.3. The ^^^^ combined vectors (^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 1) are concatenated to form a length ^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^ =^^^^ time domain vector ^̿^^^ ≜ [^�^^^0 ^�^^^1 ⋯ ^�^^^^^^^−1]^^^^which is then transformed by size-^^^^ DFT into a length ^^^^ frequency domain vector ^�^^^ = DFT^^^^(^̿^^^)Optionally, the vector ^�^^^ may then be DFT-shifted.4. The frequency domain values are mapped to ^^^^ assigned subcarriers: ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^) = ^̂^^^(^^^^)where ^^^^ = 0,1, … ,^^^^ − 1.After mapping, certain subcarriers will be automatically muted according to the above exemplary embodiment. For example: For exemplary embodiment 2a, subcarriers with index given by ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^ − 1,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + 2^^^^ − 1, …, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ − 1 will be muted.For exemplary embodiment 2b, when Δ = 1, subcarriers with index given by^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^, …, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + (^^^^ − 1)^^^^ will be muted.5. In these and other embodiments, a size-^^^^ IDFT is applied to the sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ time domain waveform values for transmission.

[0126] Additionally or alternatively, some other methods for converting frequency- domain signals to the transmitted waveform may be used. Fourth example embodiment (Time Domain (TD))

[0127] This embodiment may include the following elements and may provide further details regarding embodiment (c) discussed above:

[0128] In this set of embodiments, vector coefficients ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^are used, instead of the scalar ^^^^^^^^,^^^^in the third example embodiment, to combine the vectors ^̅^^^^^^^.The ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may spring the vector of time domain modulatedsymbols ^̅^^^ into ^^^^– 1 groups, each consisting of ^^^^ modulated symbols.Denote the groups of symbols as ^̅^^^0, ^̅^^^1, … , ^̅^^^^^^^−2, where in one non-limitingembodiment ^̅^^^0contains the first ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, where ^̅^^^0contains the next ^^^^ elements of ^̅^^^, etc. In other embodiments, different ordering of groups could be used.The ^^^^′ DFT processor 1231 may form multiple combined vectors of the ^^^^– 1 groupsby applying different sets of combining weights to the ^^^^– 1 groups of modulatedsymbols:where ^^^^ = 0,1, … , ^^^^ − 1, and ^ denotes element-wise multiplication of vectors(Hadamard product). The combining weighs ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^can be determined according to several methods. In some embodiments, the ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^are selected to have the following orthogonality properties: if ^^^^ = ^^^^′otherwisewhere ∙ denotes scalar (dot) product and ^^^^ is a constant. In the following we give some nonlimiting examples where ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^are selected to effectively encode the different ^̅^^^^^^^using different (orthogonal) functions from a Fourier basis, and therefore result in different ^̅^^^^^^^being mapped to different subcarrier. a. In one nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according towhere ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^(^^^^)denotes the ^^^^th element of ^^^^^̅^^^,^^^^(with indexing starting from 0). b. In one nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according to^ mod ^^^^)�where Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, and mod is a modulo operation. c. In one nonlimiting exemplary embodiment, the combining weights are according towhere Δ(^^^^)is an injective mapping function from a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 2} to a set of integers {0, 1, … , ^^^^ − 1}.3. The ^^^^ combined vectors are concatenated to form a length ^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^ = ^^^^ time domainvector ^̿^^^ ≜ [^�^^^0 ^�^^^1 ⋯ ^�^^^^^^^−1]^^^^which is then transformed by size-^^^^ DFT into a length ^^^^ frequency domain vector ^�^^^ = DFT^^^^(^̿^^^)Optionally, the vector ^�^^^ may then be DFT-shifted.4. The frequency domain values are mapped to ^^^^ assigned subcarriers: ^^^^(^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + ^^^^) = ^̂^^^(^^^^)where ^^^^ = 0,1, … ,^^^^ − 1.5. In these and other embodiments, a size-^^^^ IDFT is applied to the sequence of ^^^^ frequency domain values, which produces a sequence of ^^^^ time domain waveform values for transmission.

[0129] Additionally or alternatively, some other method for converting frequency-domain signals to transmitted waveform may be used. Comparison of CM for the four above example embodiments

[0130] In Table 1, the cubic metric (CM) for various muting methods are compared for QPSK modulation. For reference, CM without muting is 1.2 dB for QPSK. As can be seen, the legacy method (puncturing) gives quite high CM, while especially the method of the second example embodiment yields a substantially lower CM. Although not shown in the table, it maybe further remarked that for ^^^^ / 2 BPSK modulation (which is intended to keep CM to aminimum), the first exemplary embodiment performs particularly well. For example, the CM for L = 3 is only about 0.75 dB, which is only about 0.5 dB higher than without muting.Table 1: Cubic metric (CM) for RE-level muting and QPSK modulation Muting method CM [dB] for muting of every Lth RE L = 2 L = 3 L = 4 Puncturing (prior art) 2.5 2.8 2.4 First exemplary embodiment (FD) 1.2 2.0 2.1 Second exemplary embodiment (FD) 1.2 2.6 3.7 Third exemplary embodiment (TD) 1.2 2.7 3.0 Handling of different input lengths

[0131] In one or more embodiments, if the number of modulated symbols, ^^^^′, is notevenly divisible by ^^^^ − 1, the set of symbols may be first padded with dummy symbols suchthat the padded length is evenly divisible by ^^^^. (Instead of dummy symbols, the ^^^^′DFT processor 1231 may add redundancy symbols, or increase the payload to fill some or all of the padding symbols.) • Said padding of dummy symbols can be appending dummy symbols to the end of the ^^^^′symbols. • Said padding of dummy symbols can be prepending dummy symbols to the end of the ^^^^′symbols. • Said dummy symbols can be zeros. • Said dummy symbols can be symbols from the same modulation constellation. • The number of said dummy symbols can be set to ^^^^ = ^^^^ ⋅ (^^^^ − 1) − ^^^^′• Said dummy symbols are a subset of the ^^^^′modulated symbols. o Said a subset of the ^^^^′modulated symbols are the last ^^^^ modulated symbols of the ^^^^′modulated symbols. ^ Said last ^^^^ modulated symbols of the ^^^^′modulated symbols are prepended to the ^^^^′modulated symbols. o Said a subset of the ^^^^′modulated symbols are the first ^^^^ modulated symbols of the ^^^^′modulated symbols. ^ Said first ^^^^ modulated symbols of the ^^^^′modulated symbols are appended to the ^^^^′modulated symbols.

[0132] Additionally or alternatively, in one or more embodiments, the mapping from modulated symbols to REs is different depending on the fraction of REs that are muted, and / or their pattern, and / or the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For example, with every 3rdRE muted, the mapping from modulated symbols to REs may be mapped according to one of the methods above, while if only every ^^^^-th RE is muted, with ^^^^ significantly larger than 3, and the SNR is low, then it may be more efficient (computationally complex-wise, and / or performance-wise) to just puncture the REs to be muted, since the puncturing will by the receiver just be seen as a slight (negligible) increase of the thermal noise level and have little impact on performance. Padding in frequency domain for better DFT size

[0133] In some of the example embodiments, the DFT size depends on the number of assigned subcarriers, ^^^^′. It may then happen that the DFT size is not a good DFT size from computational complexity point of view, especially considering what hardware accelerators are available. This may happen even if the DFT size one would have had without muting (^^^^) is good. For example, if every 12thsubcarrier is muted, the remaining number of subcarriers is 11 times number of allocated physical resource blocks (PRBs), meaning that if the number of allocated PRBs is a fairly large prime number, the DFT size may not be attractive from a computational point of view.

[0134] In some embodiments, the DFT size may therefore be slightly reduced to a numberthat is a good DFT size, say ^^^^′′ = ^^^^′ − ^^^^, where ^^^^ is a positive integer that is preferablychosen rather small. After the DFT has been taken, the ^^^^′′value are then padded, either with zeros, or with dummy values, to reach size ^^^^′, before proceeding with mapping to subcarriers (or during the mapping procedure). (An alternative, but ultimately mathematically equivalent, way of stating this is that some extra subcarriers are muted at one or both ends of the assignedrange of subcarriers, making ^^^^’ = (^^^^ − 1) ∗ ^^^^ − ^^^^, and then proceeding with the methods ofthe invention, with suitably adapted mathematical expressions.)

[0135] In the above-discussed embodiment, a subcarrier that carries a dummy value may be considered as being “muted” even if it is transmitted. Embodiments on muting parameter determinations

[0136] As described in the above, the exact locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs may be controlled by at least the following parameters: • ^^^^ is a parameter to determine the periodicity of RE muting, • Δ is a parameter to adjust which set of REs is muted, • Χ is a parameter to control the number of muted REs per group of ^^^^ subcarriers,• Π is a parameter to adjust the ordering of the REs mapping.

[0137] In one or more embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs are provided to a UE via higher layer a configuration from the network. Additionally or alternatively, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is provided to the UE in the scheduling DCI (downlink control information). In these and other embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is determined by the UE based on at least the slot number of the slot in which the generated waveform is to be transmitted. Additionally or alternatively, in one or more embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is determined by the UE based on at least the MCS (modulation and coding scheme) index of the scheduled transmission. In these and other embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is determined by the UE based on the allocated transmission bandwidth (for example, the number of allocated RBs or the number of assigned REs). Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is determined by the UE based on at least the UE identity (e.g., the RNTI (radio network temporary identifier)). In these and other embodiments, at least one parameter to control the locations, ordering and numbers of muted REs is determined by the UE based on at least the Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) port number of the scheduled Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

[0138] Figure 11 is a graphical representation illustrating an example OFDM slot 1100 with muting being performed on either full OFDM symbols or every Nth subcarrier of an OFDM symbol. NR power control

[0139] Some excerpts from 3GPP NR specifications regarding power control are provided in the following tables. From excerpt 1, it can see that the targeted total Tx power is based on the allocated bandwidth (BW) in terms of scheduled physical resource blocks (PRBs) (rather than e.g. number of allocated subcarriers), unless it exceeds ^^^^CMAX,^^^^,^^^^(^^^^), in which case the total Tx power is instead ^^^^CMAX,^^^^,^^^^(^^^^). As can be seen from the excerpt 2, the power scalingfactor β PUSCH is common to all complex-valued symbols in a transmission, i.e. does not dependon subcarrier or OFDM symbol index. Furthermore, based on excerpts 3 and 4, the power is defined as an average over the slot, so if some REs are muted, the Tx power on all non-muted REs (in the same and other OFDM symbols within the slot) will go up somewhat tocompensate. For an OFDM symbol with muting, the net effect on the total TX power will, however, typically be a decrease due to the smaller number of used REs in the OFDM symbol.Excerpt 1: 3GPP TS 38.213, v18.0.0 7.1.1 UE behaviour If a UE transmits a PUSCH on active UL BWP ^^^^ of carrier ^^^^ of serving cell ^^^^ using parameter set configuration with index ^^^^ and PUSCH power control adjustment statewith index ^^^^, the UE determines the PUSCH transmission power ^^^^PUSCH,^^^^,^^^^,^^^^(^^^^, ^^^^, ^^^^^^^^ , ^^^^)in PUSCH transmission occasion ^^^^ as ^ ^PCMAX,f , c( i ), ^P (i, j,q , l) = ^ PUSCH,b , f,c dmin^ ^ PUSCH ^ ^PO_PUSCH,b,f,c(j)+10log10(2µ⋅MRB,b , f,c(i))+ αb,f ,c(j)⋅PLb,f ,c(qd)+∆TF,b,f,c(i) + fb,f , c(i, l )^^[dBm] where, …. - ^^^^RPBU,S^^^^C,^^H^^,^^^^(^^^^) is the bandwidth of the PUSCH resource assignment expressed in number of resource blocks for PUSCH transmission occasion ^^^^ on active UL BWP ^^^^ of carrier ^^^^ of serving cell ^^^^ and ^^^^ is a SCS configuration defined in [4, TS 38.211] Excerpt 1: 3GPP TS 38.211, v18.1.0 6.3.1.6 Mapping to virtual resource blocks For each of the antenna ports used for transmission of the PUSCH, the block ofcomplex-valued symbols z(p)(0),...,z( p )(M apsymb −1 ) shall be multiplied with theamplitude scaling factor β PUSCH in order to conform to the transmit power specified in[5, TS 38.213] and mapped in sequence starting with z( p)(0 ) to resource elements(^^^^′, ^^^^)^^^^,^^^^ in the virtual resource blocks assigned for transmission which meet all of thefollowing criteria: - they are in the virtual resource blocks assigned for transmission, and - the corresponding resource elements in the corresponding physical resource blocks are not used for transmission of the associated DM-RS, PT-RS, or DM- RS intended for other co-scheduled UEs as described in clause 6.4.1.1.3Excerpt 2: 3GPP TS 38.101-1, v18.3.0 6.2 Transmitter power 6.2.1 UE maximum output power The following UE Power Classes define the maximum output power for any transmission bandwidth within the channel bandwidth of NR carrier unless otherwise stated. The period of measurement shall be at least one sub frame (1ms). Excerpt 3: 3GPP TS 38.521-1, v16.7.0 6.2.1.4.2 Test procedure 1. Synchronization signal (SS) sends uplink scheduling information for each UL Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process via Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) DCI format 0_1 for C_RNTI to schedule the UL RMC according to Table 6.2.1.4.1-1. Since the UE has no payload and no loopback data to send the UE sends uplink MAC padding bits on the UL RMC. 2. Send continuously uplink power control "up" commands in every uplink scheduling information to the UE; allow at least 200ms starting from the first TPC command in this step for the UE to reach PUMAX level. 3. Measure the mean power of the UE in the channel bandwidth of the radio access mode. The period of measurement shall be at least the continuous duration of one active sub-frame (1ms) and in the uplink symbols. For TDD symbols with transient periods are not under test. 4. For UEs supporting Power Class 2 or Power Class 1, repeat steps 1~3 on the applicable bands with message exception of P-Max defined in Table 6.2.1.4.3- 2.

[0140] There currently exist certain challenges corresponding to power control with respect to RE muting. Some challenges are related only to transmission with DFT-s-OFDM, while some are relevant also for CP-OFDM transmission. Note again that it may be useful to be able to use DFT-s-OFDM in SBFD scenarios to help ensure that the coverage benefits from SBFD are reaped.Issues related to CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM 1) As explained above, OFDM symbols with muting may cause the power on the OFDM symbols without muting to increase, meaning they may potentially exceed the PA maximum power. 2) The power on the OFDM symbols may be substantially decreased, leading to i. fairly large power variations from OFDM symbol to OFDM symbol in a slot, which may be undesirable, and ii. in general underutilization of the power capability of the UE in the OFDM symbol with muted REs, and hence lower throughput. Issues specific to DFT-s-OFDM 3) Muting of every Nth RE (or essentially any subcarrier set) of a DTF-s-OFDM signal may, in the general case, ruin the DFT-s-OFDM waveform and increase the cubic metric (CM). For example, if muting of every 3rd subcarrier is accomplished by puncturing every 3rd subcarrier, the CM increases from the 1.2 dB of regular DFT-s- OFDM (assuming QPSK modulation) to about 2.7 dB. The larger power variations that the higher CM reflects mean that the power may temporarily exceed the PA maximum power in the OFDM symbol with muted REs. (Whether this actually happens or not may depend on muting method and / or fraction and pattern of REs that are muted).

[0141] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, as detailed further below, one or more embodiments may include: (1) [Power (de)boosting of OFDM symbol with muting for maximum PA utilization] An OFDM symbol with muted REs is power-boosted relative to the OFDM symbols without muting according to one or more of the following methods: a. The power boost (in linear scale) is the ratio between the fraction of non-muted REs and the CM increase (as a factor in linear scale) due to the muting. Or, the power boost (in dB scale) is the difference between 10*log10(f), where f is the fraction of non-muted REs, and the CM increase (in dB) due to the muting. (This may results in the maximum UE Tx power that is possible without unacceptable distortion of the output signal)i. Alternative: Use other measures than CM for signal deviation from its average, e.g. peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). ii. In the case of CP-OFDM, the CM increase can be approximated as 0 when deriving the power boost. (2) [Power (de)boosting of OFDM symbols without muting] a. The OFDM symbols without muted REs are deboosted so that the power becomes the one it would have been if there were no muted REs in any OFDM symbol. (3) [Power (de)boosting of OFDM symbols with muting to align power with OFDM symbols without muting] a. The power OFDM symbol(s) with muted REs is adjusted so that the power per non-muted RE is the same as it would have been if there were no muting. b. The power of the OFDM symbols with muted REs is adjusted so that the power becomes 10*log10(f) dB lower what it would have been if there had not been any muting in any OFDM symbol, where f is the fraction of muted REs in the respective symbol. c. In one on-limiting embodiment, the methods a) or b) are only applied if it does not result in a power that exceeds the maximum PA capability.

[0142] Note: Instead of “maximum PA capability”, one may consider some other power limitation that may affect a power threshold, either due to specifications or due to hardware limitations of the UE.

[0143] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). For example, according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure, one or more techniques are provided to adjust the Tx power on the OFDM symbol with muted REs, in particular taking into account power variation metrics (e.g., its increased cubic metric) and / or transmission power thresholds (e.g., PA capabilities) to set a power that uses the UE PA to the maximum without distorting the signal beyond what is acceptable. This can increase the throughput or reduce PA distortions / avoid spurious emissions.

[0144] One or more techniques are also disclosed to decrease the Tx power on the OFDM symbols without muting. This can help reduce PA distortions and avoid spurious emissions.Additionally or alternatively, certain embodiments may provide for better utilization of Tx UE power capability in all OFDM symbols in SBFD with RE-level muting, and hence better UL coverage. Additionally or alternatively, the teachings of certain embodiments may improve the ability to use RE muting for interference determinations to improve the ability to compensate for such interference.

[0145] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0146] For example, in some embodiments, a power scaling factor in TS 38.211, β PUSCH ,corresponding to OFDM symbols may be adjusted such that the corresponding OFDM symbols may be adjusted. In the present disclosure, reference to a power adjustment of an OFDM symbol may include power adjustment of individual subcarriers corresponding to such OFDM symbol. Further, reference to “unmuted OFDM symbols” may refer to OFDM symbols that do not include any muted subcarrier frequencies (also referred to as “subcarriers” or “RE’s”). Additionally or alternatively, reference to “muted OFDM symbols” may refer to OFDM symbols that include at least one muted subcarrier.

[0147] In one or more embodiments, the power scaling factor in TS 38.211, β PUSCH , maybe determined with no dependency on the presence or absence of RE muting. As a nonlimiting example, the muted REs may be considered as being non-muted for the sake of calculation ofβ PUSCH . This has the advantage that the power on non-muted OFDM symbols may remain thesame as if there were no muting. • It may also have the result that the Tx power on the non-muted OFDM symbols does not vary from one slot to another if different number of OFDM symbols are allocated in different slots (which would otherwise be the case). In particular, it may help prevent the power in the non-muted OFDM symbols from exceeding the maximum transmit power that the UE PA can handle within allowed signal distortion limits.

[0148] Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, β PUSCH may be allowed tovary between OFDM symbols. For example, the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^), may vary for OFDM symbols where ^^^^ is a OFDM symbol index, or other quantity derived based on OFDM symbol index. • In one non-limiting example, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) may be selected so that: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^muted) = ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^non−muted),where ^^^^mutedis an OFDM symbol with muting, ^^^^non−mutedis an OFDM symbol without muting, ^^^^CM,dBis the CM difference in dB between ^^^^mutedand ^^^^non−muted,and ^^^n^on−mutedis the fraction of muted REs in ^^^^muted. • Additionally or alternatively, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) may be selected so that the total Tx power (sum over all REs) of an OFDM symbol with muted REs is ^^^^CM,dBlower (in dB scale) than the total Tx power of an OFDM symbol without muting, where ^^^^CM,dBis defined as above. In other non-limiting embodiments, a different measure of power variation than CM is instead used. • In these and other embodiments, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^muted) may be selected such at maximum UE Tx power configuration, the power on the OFDM symbol with muted REs will be as high as it can with respect to the allowed UE PA non-linearities (measured e.g. in terms of EVM or out-of-band emissions), and hence maximum coverage is achieved. o This also has the potential advantage of reducing the Tx power variation between OFDM symbols compared to the case of non-varying β PUSCH (sincethen the OFDM-symbol with muted REs would have substantially lower Tx power than the other OFDM symbols). • Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, ^^^^CM,dBmay be approximated as 0 in case of CP-OFDM. • In these and other embodiments, the power scaling for the OFDM symbol with muting, ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^muted), depends on how close the target ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(e.g., based on TS 38.213) is to the maximum allowed / supported Tx power. o For example, the symbol ^^^^mutedmay be scaled: ^ according to any previous embodiment (e.g. be boosted to have same total Tx power as OFDM symbols without muting), ^ except if ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^is high enough with relation to the maximum / supported power that such scaling would lead to a Tx power that exceeds a power ^^^m^ax, in which case the power scaling may instead such that the Tx power is equal to ^^^m^ax, where ^^^m^axis the maximum allowed / supported power when taking the CM of ^^^^mutedinto account.

[0149] Figure 13 illustrates an example method 1302 that may be performed by a UE with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting and subcarrier mapping associated therewith, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0150] One or more operations of the method 1300 may be implemented by a user equipment such as the UE 112A-112B of Figure 1 or the UE 200 of Figure 2. Although illustrated as discrete steps, various steps of the method 1300 may be divided into additionalsteps, combined into fewer steps, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Additionally, the order of performance of the different steps may vary depending on the desired implementation.

[0151] In some embodiments, the method 1300 may start at block 1302. At block 1302, a DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information may be sent. In some embodiments, the set of subcarrier frequencies may include a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT values Output by a DFT processor. In some embodiments, the set of DFT output values may be based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies. In some embodiments, the set of subcarrier frequencies may include a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

[0152] Figure 14 illustrates an example method 1400 that may be performed by a network node with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting and subcarrier mapping associated therewith, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0153] One or more operations of the method 1400 may be implemented by a network node such as the network node 110A-110B of Figure 1 or the network node 300 of Figure 3. Although illustrated as discrete steps, various steps of the method 1400 may be divided into additional steps, combined into fewer steps, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Additionally, the order of performance of the different steps may vary depending on the desired implementation.

[0154] In some embodiments, the method 1400 may start at block 1402. At block 1402, a DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information may be received. In some embodiments, the set of subcarrier frequencies may include a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT values Output by a DFT processor. In some embodiments, the set of DFT output values may be based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies. In some embodiments, the set of subcarrier frequencies may include a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

[0155] Figure 15 illustrates an example method 1500 that may be performed by a UE with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting and power adjustment associated therewith, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0156] One or more operations of the method 1500 may be implemented by a UE such as the UE 112A-112B of Figure 1 or the UE 200 of Figure 2. Although illustrated as discrete steps, various steps of the method 1400 may be divided into additional steps, combined into fewer steps, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Additionally, the order of performance of the different steps may vary depending on the desired implementation.

[0157] In some embodiments, the method 1500 may start at block 1502. At block 1502, a first OFDM symbol having a first subset of one or more unmuted subcarrier frequencies and a second subset of one or more muted subcarrier frequencies may be sent.

[0158] At block 1504, a second OFDM symbol having all unmuted subcarrier frequencies may be sent. One or more of a first transmission power corresponding to the first OFDM symbol or a second transmission power corresponding to the second OFDM symbol may be adjusted based on a power adjustment function corresponding to which subset of subcarrier frequencies are included in the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies. The power adjustment function may be such that the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies of the first OFDM symbol are power adjusted as compared to the unmuted subcarrier frequencies of the second OFDM symbol.

[0159] Figure 16 illustrates an example method 1600 that may be performed by a network node with respect to subcarrier (or RE) muting and power adjustment associated therewith, in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0160] One or more operations of the method 1600 may be implemented by a network node such as the network node 110A-110B of Figure 1 or the network node 300 of Figure 3. Although illustrated as discrete steps, various steps of the method 1600 may be divided into additional steps, combined into fewer steps, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Additionally, the order of performance of the different steps may vary depending on the desired implementation.

[0161] In some embodiments, the method 1600 may start at block 1602. At block 1602, a first OFDM symbol having a first subset of one or more unmuted subcarrier frequencies and a second subset of one or more muted subcarrier frequencies may be received.

[0162] At block 1604, a second OFDM symbol having all unmuted subcarrier frequencies may be received. One or more of a first transmission power corresponding to the first OFDM symbol or a second transmission power corresponding to the second OFDM symbol may beadjusted based on a power adjustment function corresponding to which subset of subcarrier frequencies are included in the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies. The power adjustment function may be such that the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies of the first OFDM symbol are power adjusted as compared to the unmuted subcarrier frequencies of the second OFDM symbol.

[0163] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0164] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to theprocessing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method performed by a user equipment for subcarrier muting, the method comprising: sending (1302) a Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT output values output by a DFT processor (1231); the set of DFT output values is based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies; and the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the DFT processor (1231) is sized to receive a number of inputs equal to the first number of modulated data symbols.

3. The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the individual DFT output values are mapped in consecutive order to the individual unmuted subcarrier frequencies in consecutive order.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a third number of subcarrier frequencies that is greater than the first number and the second number; the set of modulated data symbols is split into a fourth number of subsets of modulated data symbols; and the DFT output values are determined using the DFT processor (1231), which is sized to receive a fifth number of inputs that is based on a ratio corresponding to the third number and the fourth number.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the DFT processor (1231) includes one or moreDFT processors configured to perform DFT processing in parallel or series on at least one subset of modulated data symbols.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein one or more of a number or a pattern of muted subcarrier frequencies included in the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies is based on one or more of: a cubic metric (CM) value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; an average power value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; a peak-to-average power value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; or an interference measurement target corresponding to measuring interference over subcarrier frequencies.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a third number of subcarrier frequencies that is greater than the first number and the second number; one or more operations are performed on the set of modulated data symbols to generate a set of input values that has a fourth number of input values equal to the third number; and the set of DFT output values is determined based on the set of input values using a DFT processor sized to receive a number of inputs equal to the fourth number of input values.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the set of input values are configured such that the set of DFT output values includes a subset of dummy output values that are mapped to the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

9. The method of any of claims 7-8, wherein the one or more operations include: splitting the set of modulated data symbols into a fifth number of subsets of modulated data symbols; generating a plurality of vectors that respectively include two or more of the subsets of modulated data symbols; and concatenating the vectors of the plurality of vectors to form the set of input values.

10. The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein the method is performed based on a target number of muted subcarrier frequencies for the second subset of muted subcarrierfrequencies.

11. A method performed by a network node for subcarrier muting, the method comprising: receiving (1402) a Discrete Fourier Transform Spread Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) transmission symbol having a set of subcarrier frequencies that is assigned for communication of information, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies respectively having modulated thereon individual DFT output values of a set of DFT output values output by a DFT processor; the set of DFT output values is based on a set of modulated data symbols that has a first number of modulated data symbols included therein in which is the first number is the same as a second number of unmuted subcarrier frequencies included in the first subset of unmuted subcarrier frequencies; and the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the DFT processor (1231) is sized to receive a number of inputs equal to the first number of modulated data symbols.

13. The method of any of claims 11-12, wherein the individual DFT output values are mapped in consecutive order to the individual unmuted subcarrier frequencies in consecutive order.

14. The method of any of claims 11-13, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a third number of subcarrier frequencies that is greater than the first number and the second number; the set of modulated data symbols is split into a fourth number of subsets of modulated data symbols; and the DFT output values are determined using a DFT processor sized to receive a fifth number of inputs that is based on a ratio corresponding to the third number and the fourth number.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the DFT processor includes one or more DFTprocessors configured to perform DFT processing in parallel or series on at least one subset of modulated data symbols.

16. The method of any of claims 11-15, wherein one or more of a number or a pattern of muted subcarrier frequencies included in the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies is based on one or more of: a cubic metric (CM) value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; an average power value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; a peak-to-average power value corresponding to the DFT-s-OFDM transmission symbol; or an interference measurement target corresponding to measuring interference over subcarrier frequencies.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein: the set of subcarrier frequencies includes a third number of subcarrier frequencies that is greater than the first number and the second number; one or more operations are performed on the set of modulated data symbols to generate a set of input values that has a fourth number of input values equal to the third number; and the set of DFT output values is determined based on the set of input values using a DFT processor sized to receive a number of inputs equal to the fourth number of input values.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the set of input values are configured such that the set of DFT output values includes a subset of dummy output values that are mapped to the second subset of muted subcarrier frequencies.

19. The method of any of claims 17-18, wherein the one or more operations include: splitting the set of modulated data symbols into a fifth number of subsets of modulated data symbols; generating a plurality of vectors that respectively include two or more of the subsets of modulated data symbols; and concatenating the vectors of the plurality of vectors to form the set of input values.

20. The method of any of claims 11-19, wherein the method is performed based on a target number of muted subcarrier frequencies for the second subset of muted subcarrierfrequencies.

21. A user equipment for subcarrier muting, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 1-10; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

22. A base station for subcarrier muting, the base station comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of claims 11-20; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

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