Method performed by UE, method performed by base station, UE and base station

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. A method performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes receiving, from a base station, information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; identifying an orthogonal sequence for an OCC unit based on the information; transmitting, to the base station, repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit based on the orthogonal sequence; wherein, in case that an uplink control information (UCI) is multiplexed in a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the UCI is multiplexed in all repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit.

Description

METHOD PERFORMED BY UE, METHOD PERFORMED BY BASE STATION, UE AND BASE STATION

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a method performed by a user equipment (UE), a method performed by a base station, the UE and the base station.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in "Sub 6GHz" bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in "Above 6GHz" bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post-LTE systems".

[0009] In order to achieve a higher data rate, 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter, mmWave) bands, e.g., 60GHz bands. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming and large-scale antenna are discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0010] In addition, in 5G communication systems, developments of system network improvement are underway based on advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, etc.

[0011] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed.

[0012] The problem is that applying an OCC to the PUSCH while multiplexing UCI in only some slots causes symbol mismatches within an OCC unit, breaking orthogonality among multiple UEs and degrading PUSCH demodulation performance.

[0013] In order to better meet communication demands, embodiments of the present disclosure provide the following technical solutions.

[0014] In an aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0015] receiving configuration information, the configuration information including information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH);

[0016] determining a first OCC based on the configuration information; and

[0017] transmitting the PUSCH to which the first OCC is applied on each time unit for the PUSCH,

[0018] wherein, in case that uplink control information (UCI) to be transmitted is present on some time units for the PUSCH, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH, or the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit, or the UCI is multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to a time unit where the UCI is located,

[0019] wherein the one OCC unit includes each time unit associated with the PUSCH to which the same first OCC is applied.

[0020] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication system, comprising:

[0021] transmitting configuration information, the configuration information comprising information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); and

[0022] receiving the PUSCH to which a first OCC is applied on each time unit for the PUSCH, wherein the first OCC is based on the configuration information,

[0023] wherein, in case that uplink control information (UCI) to be transmitted is present on some time units for the PUSCH, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH, or the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit, or the UCI is multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to a time unit where the UCI is located,

[0024] wherein the one OCC unit includes each time unit associated with the PUSCH to which the same first OCC is applied.

[0025] Optionally, the UCI includes at least one of:

[0026] channel state information (CSI); or a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0027] Optionally, in case that the UCI includes a first UCI on the PUSCH in a first time unit of the one OCC unit, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit; and / or

[0028] in case that the UCI includes a second UCI on the PUSCH in a time unit m of the one OCC unit, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, wherein the time unit m is a time unit except the first time unit of the one OCC unit.

[0029] Optionally, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0030] Optionally, if the second UCI does not satisfy a first condition, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit; or

[0031] if the second UCI satisfies the first condition, the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in the time unit m, and / or the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in time units except the time unit m in the OCC unit.

[0032] Optionally, that the second UCI satisfies the first condition includes at least one of:

[0033] the second UCI comprising the HARQ-ACK;

[0034] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a first threshold value; or

[0035] a number of UCI types included in the second UCI being less than or equal to a second threshold value.

[0036] Optionally, if the second condition is satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit; or

[0037] if the second condition is not satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit and in the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0038] Optionally, that the second condition is satisfied includes at least one of:

[0039] the UCI to be transmitted being not present on the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit;

[0040] a number of UCI types included in a third UCI being less than or equal to a third threshold value, wherein the third UCI includes the second UCI and the UCI to be transmitted on a first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit;

[0041] a total number of bits of the third UCI being less than or equal to a fourth threshold value;

[0042] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a fifth threshold value; or

[0043] a number of bits of the UCI to be transmitted on the first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit being less than or equal to a sixth threshold value.

[0044] Optionally, if the first UCI satisfies a third condition, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit; or

[0045] if the first UCI does not satisfy the third condition, the first UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit.

[0046] Optionally, the third condition includes at least one of:

[0047] the first UCI including the HARQ-ACK;

[0048] a number of bits of the first UCI being less than or equal to a seventh threshold value; or

[0049] a number of UCI types included in the first UCI being less than or equal to an eighth threshold value.

[0050] Optionally, the configuration information further includes first information, the first information is related to a way in which the UCI is transmitted on the PUSCH in case that the OCC is applied on the PUSCH.

[0051] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE includes at least one processor, and at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one processor; wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the UE according to any optional embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0052] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a base station, wherein the base station includes at least one processor, and at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one processor; wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform the method performed by the base station according to any optional embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0053] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program, that when executed by a processor, implements the method provided by any optional embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0054] In another aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a computer program product including a computer program, that when executed by a processor, implements the method provided by any optional embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0055] The beneficial effects brought about by the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

[0056] The present disclosure proposes a method for multiplexing UCI when transmitting PUSCH associated with an OCC.

[0057] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0058] FIGS. 2a illustrates an example wireless transmission path according to the present disclosure;

[0059] FIG. 2b illustrates an example wireless reception path according to the present disclosure;

[0060] FIG. 3a illustrates an example user equipment according to the present disclosure;

[0061] FIG. 3b illustrates an example base station according to the present disclosure;

[0062] FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram of applying an OCC to PUSCH according to the present disclosure;

[0063] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0064] FIG. 6 illustrates an example diagram of multiplexing UCI on PUSCH according to the present disclosure;

[0065] FIG. 7 illustrates an example diagram of not multiplexing UCI on PUSCH according to the present disclosure; and

[0066] FIG. 8 illustrates an example diagram of a structure of an electronic device to which the present disclosure is applicable.

[0067] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0068] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0069] It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0070] The term "include" or "may include" refers to the existence of a corresponding disclosed function, operation or component which can be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure and does not limit one or more additional functions, operations, or components. The terms such as "include" and / or "have" may be construed to denote a certain characteristic, number, step, operation, constituent element, component or a combination thereof, but may not be construed to exclude the existence of or a possibility of addition of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components or combinations thereof.

[0071] The term "or" used in various embodiments of the present disclosure includes any or all of combinations of listed words. For example, the expression "A or B" may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

[0072] Unless defined differently, all terms used herein, which include technical terminologies or scientific terminologies, have the same meaning as that understood by a person skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. Such terms as those defined in a generally used dictionary are to be interpreted to have the meanings equal to the contextual meanings in the relevant field of art, and are not to be interpreted to have ideal or excessively formal meanings unless clearly defined in the present disclosure.

[0073] The various embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, code division multiple access (CDMA) system, broadband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, general packet radio service (GPRS), long term evolution (LTE) system Frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, time division duplex (TDD) systems, universal mobile telecommunications systems (UMTS), global interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication systems, fifth generation (5G) systems or new wireless (NR) systems, etc. In addition, the various embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to future oriented communication technologies.

[0074] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0075] The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a private IP network, or other data networks.

[0076] Depending on a type of the network, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" can be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. And, depending on the type of the network, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal" or "user apparatus" can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, no matter whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0077] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs include a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, etc. GNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs include a UE 115 and a UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

[0078] The dashed lines show approximate ranges of the coverage areas 120 and 125, and the ranges are shown as approximate circles merely for illustration and explanation purposes. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on configurations of the gNBs and changes in the radio environment associated with natural obstacles and man-made obstacles.

[0079] As will be described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0080] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can directly communicate with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the UEs. In addition, gNB 101, 102 and / or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0081] FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmission path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB, such as gNB 102, and the reception path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE, such as UE 116. However, it should be understood that the reception path 250 can be implemented in a gNB and the transmission path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the reception path 250 is configured to support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0082] The transmission path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The reception path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0083] In the transmission path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulation symbols. The Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) serial modulation symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is a size of the IFFT / FFT used in gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The Parallel-to-Serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) parallel time-domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the cyclic prefix addition block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at a baseband before switching to the RF frequency.

[0084] The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 arrives at UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and operations in reverse to those at gNB 102 are performed at UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The Serial-to-Parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The Size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The Parallel-to-Serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signal into a sequence of modulation data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulation symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0085] Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmission path 200 similar to that for transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path 250 similar to that for receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmission path 200 for transmitting to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path 250 for receiving from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.

[0086] Each of the components in FIGS. 2a and 2b can be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in FIGS. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, the FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, in which the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

[0087] Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is only illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer which is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0088] Although FIGS. 2a and 2b illustrate examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to FIGS. 2a and 2b. For example, various components in FIGS. 2a and 2b can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. Furthermore, FIGS. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0089] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in FIG. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a UE has various configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of the UE.

[0090] UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 303, a microphone 304, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 305. UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller / processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface 308, an input device(s) 309, a display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an operating system (OS) 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0091] The RF transceiver 302 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100 from the antenna 301. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 305, where the RX processing circuit 305 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to controller / processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0092] The TX processing circuit 303 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email or interactive video game data) from controller / processor 307. The TX processing circuit 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0093] The controller / processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, the controller / processor 307 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuit 305 and the TX processing circuit 303 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0094] The controller / processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in the memory 311, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The controller / processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an execution process. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 307 is configured to execute the application 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to an I / O interface 308, where the I / O interface 308 provides UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I / O interface 308 is a communication path between these accessories and the controller / processor 307.

[0095] The controller / processor 307 is also coupled to the input device(s) 309 and the display 310. An operator of UE 116 can input data into UE 116 using the input device(s) 309. The display 310 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and / or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). The memory 311 is coupled to the controller / processor 307. A part of the memory 311 can include a random access memory (RAM), while another part of the memory 311 can include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0096] Although FIG. 3a illustrates an example of UE 116, various changes can be made to FIG. 3a. For example, various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. As a specific example, the controller / processor 307 can be divided into a plurality of processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although FIG. 3a illustrates that the UE 116 is configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, UEs can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

[0097] FIG. 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 shown in FIG. 3b is for illustration only, and other gNBs of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a gNB has various configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of a gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

[0098] As shown in FIG. 3b, gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 374, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 376. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0099] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive an incoming RF signal from antennas 370a-370n, such as a signal transmitted by UEs or other gNBs. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 376, where the RX processing circuit 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signal to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0100] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes and / or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0101] The controller / processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376 and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed through a BIS algorithm, and decode a received signal from which an interference signal is subtracted. A controller / processor 378 may support any of a variety of other functions in gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0102] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in the memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller / processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller / processor 378 can move data into or out of the memory 380 as required by an execution process.

[0103] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when gNB 102 is implemented as a part of a cellular communication system, such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technology or NR, LTE or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs through wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network, such as the Internet, through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication through a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0104] The memory 380 is coupled to the controller / processor 378. A part of the memory 380 can include an RAM, while another part of the memory 380 can include a flash memory or other ROMs. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as the BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller / processor 378 to execute the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0105] As will be described in more detail below, the transmission and reception paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuit 374 and / or RX processing circuit 376) support aggregated communication with FDD cells and TDD cells.

[0106] Although FIG. 3b illustrates an example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 3b. For example, gNB 102 can include any number of each component shown in FIG. 3a. As a specific example, the access point can include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller / processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

[0107] As communication demands continue to increase, how to enhance the transmission performance of PUSCH is still one of the technical issues focused on in the field of communication. In order to better meet wireless communication demands, an embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a new communication method. Specifically, the present disclosure proposes a method performed by a UE, a method performed by a base station, the UE and the base station.

[0108] In the communication method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, a scheme of applying an OCC to PUSCH is proposed, which can effectively increase the transmission performance of the PUSCH. In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the coverage performance of the PUSCH can be better improved by applying an orthogonal cover code (OCC) to the PUSCH to increase user capacity in uplink. The applying an OCC to the PUSCH can also be referred to as applying block-wise spreading (also known as block spreading) to the PUSCH.

[0109] In this regard, the OCC may also be referred to as an OCC sequence. The OCC sequence includes a plurality of elements, and the elements in the OCC sequence may be referred to as code elements.

[0110] Taking an OCC W containing L code elements as an example, the OCC W can be denoted as , and the number of the code elements in the OCC is L, i.e., the code length of the OCC is L. A symbol s (which can also be called a modulation symbol, e.g., a symbol before applying the OCC, where the symbol is obtained by processing bits, which processing includes at least modulation, and also other conventional processing) becomes L OCC symbols after applying the OCC (the symbols became after applying the OCC are called OCC symbols, and can be called by other names, but are only for convenience of the following description). Then, the L OCC symbols are mapped on L resources (by either directly mapping the L symbols on the L resources, or mapping the L symbols on the L resources after performing some processing on the L symbols), i.e., the L OCC symbols in are mapped on the L resources.

[0111] The L resources can be L frequency domain resource elements (REs) of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, and this mapping method can also be called Intra-symbol discrete Fourier transformed OCC (Intra-symbol pre-DFT-s OCC).

[0112] The L resources can also be time-domain resources of L OFDM symbols in a slot, and this mapping method can also be called Inter-symbol(s) time domain OCC.

[0113] The L resources can also be time-domain resources of L OFDM symbols in L slots, and this mapping method can also be called Inter-slot time-domain OCC. Taking the Inter-symbol(s) time-domain OCC as an example, as shown in Fig. 4, the time-domain resources of the PUSCH include L slots, i.e., slot n to slot n+L-1, and the L OCC symbols can be mapped on these L slots respectively, which can be denoted as , where the OCC symbol is mapped on a PUSCH of the slot n, and the OCC symbol is mapped on a PUSCH of the slot n+1, and the OCC symbol is mapped on a PUSCH of the slot n+L-1. All symbols (modulation symbols) in the PUSCH can be mapped on different resources according to the above mapping method of the symbols.

[0114] For convenience of description, L resources of an OCC (e.g., L resources on which the L OCC symbols are mapped) may be referred to as an OCC unit or an OCC block or an OCC resource set or resource block, or may also be referred to as a PUSCH resource set or resource group or resource block, and the PUSCH to which the same OCC is applied may be referred to as a PUSCH set or a PUSCH group or a PUSCH block. For example, the OCC contains 2 code elements, the code length of the OCC is 2, the OCC unit of the OCC includes 2 resources (e.g., 2 REs, or two symbols within a slot, or 2 slots). One such OCC may be applied on 2 resources of the PUSCH, and the PUSCH to which the same OCC is applied may be referred to as a PUSCH group.

[0115] In some examples, for multi-UE resource multiplexing, in order to ensure that the different UEs' PUSCHs to which different OCCs are applied are orthogonal, the symbols (e.g., the symbol s as described above) of the UE mapped on different resources of an OCC unit should be the same, e.g., the symbols mapped on L resources occupied by the OCC in the above example should be the same. For example, the symbols of the UE1 mapped on the L code elements are all s1, e.g., the L OCC symbols in are mapped on the L resources, and the symbols of the UE2 mapped on the L code elements are all s2, e.g., the L OCC symbols in are mapped on the L resources, so that the UE1's PUSCH and the UE2's PUSCH to which the different OCCs are applied and which are mapped on the same resources are orthogonal.

[0116] In some examples, if the symbols of the UE mapped on different resources of an OCC unit are not the same, for example, the symbols mapped on L resources occupied by the L code elements contained in an OCC are not the same, for example, the symbols of the UE1 mapped on first L-a code elements are s11, and the symbols of the UE1 mapped on next a code elements are s12, then the OCC symbols of the UE1 mapped on the L resources are , and the symbols of the UE2 mapped on the L code elements are all s2. For example, the L OCC symbols in are mapped on the L resources, such that the PUSCH of the UE1 and the UE2 mapped on the same resources are not orthogonal, and the base station cannot correctly decode respective PUSCH of the UE1 and the UE2, which is one of the problems needed to be solved.

[0117] The scheme proposed by the embodiment of the present disclosure can solve at least one technical problem.

[0118] A technical solution of the present disclosure and the technical effects resulting from it are illustrated below by describing optional embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noticed that the following embodiments can be referred to, learned from or combined with each other, and the same terms, similar characteristics and similar implementation steps in different embodiments are not repeated. The description and the accompanying drawings in the optional embodiments are provided as examples only to assist the reader in understanding the present disclosure, and they are not intended to be, nor should they be construed as, limiting the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, based on what is disclosed herein, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes can be made to the illustrated embodiments and examples, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0119] It can be understood that when the scheme provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied in practice, the specific implementation contents may include, but are not limited to, the contents described in the optional embodiments of the present disclosure, and may also include some conventional information processing methods, for example, may include some conventional processing for realizing PUSCH transmission, such as obtaining resource configuration information of the PUSCH, as well as scrambling and modulating uplink data, and so on.

[0120] FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic flowchart of a method performed by a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0121] Step S510: receiving configuration information, the configuration information including information related to an OCC for a PUSCH;

[0122] Step S520: determining a first OCC based on the configuration information;

[0123] Step S530: transmitting the PUSCH to which the first OCC is applied on each time unit for the PUSCH.

[0124] Optionally, the PUSCH may be a PUSCH scheduled by downlink control information (DCI), or a PUSCH for configured grant (CG, Configuredgrant).

[0125] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, resources for PUSCH to which the same OCC (e.g., the same OCC sequence) is applied include one or more time units, with no limitation on the granularity of the time units. Optionally, a time unit may be a symbol, may be a slot, or may be other time granularities.

[0126] There is no limitation on the configuration method of PUSCH resources in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Resource configuration information for the PUSCH and the above configuration information including the information related to the OCC for the PUSCH (which is hereinafter referred to as first configuration information for convenience of description) may be the same configuration information, or they may be different configuration information. For example, the above configuration information may include information related to the resources for PUSCH in addition to the information related to the OCC for the PUSCH, or the method of the embodiment of the present disclosure may further include: receiving the configuration information including the information related to the resources for PUSCH.

[0127] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE may determine an OCC sequence, such as the first OCC, that it uses based on the information related to the OCC for the PUSCH included in the first configuration information received from the base station, and then the UE may apply the determined OCC to the PUSCH when it is required to transmit PUSCH (e.g., the uplink data) on the resources for PUSCH. Optionally, the UE may apply the first OCC to the modulation symbols, and based on the first OCC, map each modulation symbol of the PUSCH to serval time units. For example, if an OCC unit of the OCC has a length of L, each modulation symbol may be mapped to L time units, so as to increase the transmission power of the uplink data and increase the transmission performance of the PUSCH.

[0128] Specially, regarding what information is the information related to the OCC for the PUSCH, there is no limitation in the embodiment of the present disclosure, as long as it is information that can be used to determine the OCC to be used by the UE. Optionally, the information related to the OCC may be explicitly related information. For example, the information related to the OCC for the PUSCH may include, but is not limited to, at least one of:

[0129] information related to a length of the OCC; or an index or identity of the OCC.

[0130] Optionally, the UE may determine, based on the index or identity of the OCC, the first OCC by looking up a table or otherwise. The UE may also know the length of the OCC based on the information related to the length of the OCC (which may be explicit information indicating the length, or implicit indication information), and may determine the first OCC with the length based on other related information, or predefined or preset. Of course, it may also be possible that the first OCC to be used by the UE is included in the first configuration information.

[0131] Optionally, the information related to the OCC may also be implicitly related information. For example, the first configuration information described above may include the configuration information related to the resources for PUSCH, and the OCC for the PUSCH is related to the amount of the resources for PUSCH. For example, if the number of time units (e.g., the number of slots) of the PUSCH configured to the UE is related to the length of the OCC, then the UE may know the length of the OCC based on a configuration related to the resources, and may determine the first OCC based on other related information, or predefined or preset.

[0132] In some examples, the PUSCH may be a PUSCH scheduled by DCI, and the DCI for scheduling the PUSCH includes the first configuration information described above. For example, the DCI includes a field for indicating the OCC, which may be a newly added field or a pre-existing field in the DCI, which may indicate the OCC explicitly or implicitly. For example, a value of the field is an index or indication value of the OCC. Alternatively, the field is a pre-existing field, which also implicitly indicates the OCC while having its pre-existing role.

[0133] In some examples, the UE, after determining the first OCC for the PUSCH based on the first configuration information, applies the first OCC on each time unit of the PUSCH, and transmit the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied. On each time unit, one first OCC or two or more first OCCs may be applied to the PUSCH. For example, the first OCC is applied multiple times. Optionally, the UE may apply the OCC to the respective modulation symbols after performing a processing such as scrambling, modulation, or the like on bit blocks to be transmitted. Optionally afterwards, the UE may transmit the symbols to which the OCC is applied after performing some conventional signaling processing on them. For example, the symbols to which the OCC is applied may be transmitted after performing a processing including, but not limited to, precoding, resource mapping, or the like on them. The transmitting the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied on each time unit of the PUSCH may also be described as applying the block-wise spreading for the PUSCH, or applying the block-wise spreading to the PUSCH, or the like.

[0134] Optionally, the scheme proposed in the present disclosure may also be applied to a specific type of PUSCH. For example, the OCC may be applied only for PUSCH triggered by DCI, but may not be applied to configured grant-based PUSCH. Optionally, the UE may also determine whether to apply the OCC to the PUSCH based on a configuration or an indication from the base station. The UE may also determine whether to apply the OCC based on a priority of the uplink data to be transmitted, such as applying the OCC for high priority data but not applying the OCC for low priority data.

[0135] As an option, for the above information related to the OCC for the PUSCH, it may include information for indicating whether the UE applies the OCC to the PUSCH or not. Optionally, in the case of indicating to use the OCC, the information may also include information for determining the OCC (e.g., an index of the OCC, whereby the first OCC may be determined by looking up a table or otherwise), or is which OCC in use is predefined or preset.

[0136] In some communication scenarios, UCI may be required to be transmitted on a PUSCH. For example, the UCI is required to be multiplexed in the PUSCH, and at this time, the information transmitted on the PUSCH resources may have the UCI in addition to the uplink data. Optionally, the UCI may include, but is not limited to, at least one of:

[0137] channel state information (CSI); or a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0138] The CSI may include, but is not limited to, one or more of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), a layer indicator (LI), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and a reference signal resource indicator. The CSI may be a periodic CSI, an aperiodic CSI, or a semi-persistent CSI. It can be appreciated that the UCI may also have a priority. For example, the HARQ-ACK may be a high priority HARQ-ACK or a low priority HARQ-ACK, wherein a level of the priority may be identified by an index of the priority.

[0139] As an alternative, in the scheme of applying the OCC to the PUSCH, in case that there is UCI to be transmitted on at least one time unit (e.g., slot) for the PUSCH, e.g., in case that the UCI is to be transmitted on the PUSCH, it is possible to refrain from multiplexing the UCI on each time unit of the PUSCH, e.g., by not transmitting the UCI on each time unit of the PUSCH. Alternatively, the UCI is multiplexed on at least one of the PUSCH of each time unit, e.g., the UCI is multiplexed on at least one time unit of the PUSCH resources, or it is also described that the PUSCH transmitted on at least one of time units of the PUSCH is a PUSCH that multiplexes the UCI.

[0140] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, in case that there is UCI to be transmitted on some time units for the PUSCH, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH, or the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH of each time unit, or the UCI is multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to a time unit where the UCI is located, wherein the one OCC unit includes each time unit associated with the PUSCH to which the same first OCC is applied.

[0141] With this optional scheme provided in the present disclosure, in a scenario where the OCC is applied to the PUSCH, the symbols of the UE mapped on different resources of an OCC unit may be the same, in order to ensure the orthogonality of PUSCH of different UEs that are assigned the same time-domain resources, and to improve the decoding performance of the PUSCH.

[0142] As an option, when applying the OCC to the PUSCH, if there is UCI to be multiplexed on the PUSCH for transmission, the transmission of the UCI may be discarded. For example, the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied may not carry the UCI and the UCI may not be multiplexed on the PUSCH. This is the problem as follows: in consideration of the fact that when applying the OCC, it is possible that multiple UEs may be configured with the same time-domain resources, if the UCI is transmitted on one or more time units of the PUSCH, it is very likely that the symbols of different resources mapped to one OCC unit are not the same, resulting in the different UEs' PUSCH applying the same time-domain resources being not orthogonal, such that the base station is not able to correctly decode the different UEs' PUSCH. Therefore, in order to avoid this problem, the UCI may not be multiplexed in any time unit of the PUSCH when applying the OCC to the PUSCH.

[0143] As another option, the UCI may be multiplexed on at least one OCC unit for the PUSCH, e.g., the UCI may be multiplexed on each time unit of the PUSCH or on at least one OCC unit. The time unit on which the UCI is multiplexed may include at least one time unit where there is UCI to be transmitted, and it is possible that it does not include at least one time unit where there is UCI to be transmitted. With this alternative, the UCI multiplexing is not adversely affected when applying the OCC to the PUSCH. The UE may multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH, apply the determined OCC to the PUSCH on which the UCI is multiplexed, and transmit the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied. The modulation symbols to which the OCC is applied in this scheme include symbols after modulation of bits of the uplink data, and also include symbols after adjustment of bits of the UCI. There is no limitation on the specific process of multiplexing the UCI on the PUSCH in the embodiment of the present disclosure, and an existing manner in which the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH for transmission may be used. The manner of determining whether or not there is UCI to be transmitted on which time unit(s) of the PUSCH may be determined, or may also be determined based on the existing manner.

[0144] In the case of applying the OCC to the PUSCH, whether or not the transmission of the UCI is discarded, or which way to transmit the UCI, may be agreed upon by a protocol, or may be determined by the UE based on a configuration or an indication from the base station.

[0145] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, in case that the UCI includes a first UCI on the PUSCH in a first time unit of the one OCC unit, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit; and / or

[0146] in case that the UCI includes a second UCI on the PUSCH in a time unit m of the one OCC unit, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, wherein the time unit m is a time unit except the first time unit of the one OCC unit.

[0147] It can be appreciated that there may be no UCI to be transmitted on the one OCC unit, or there may be one or more UCIs to be transmitted.

[0148] In case that the UCI to be transmitted on the PUSCH includes the first UCI (e.g., UCI to be transmitted that is present on the PUSCH of the first time unit of the one OCC unit), the first UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit. Optionally, the first UCI may be multiplexed only on the PUSCH of the OCC unit, or may be multiplexed on the PUSCH of that OCC unit and of at least one OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0149] In case that the UCI to be transmitted on the PUSCH includes the second UCI (UCI on a non-first time unit of the one OCC unit), the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in that OCC unit. With this scheme, the problem of PUSCH of different UEs that may result from different symbols mapped on different time units of that OCC being not orthogonal when the OCC is applied to the PUSCH can be avoided.

[0150] As an alternative, in case that the UCI includes a second UCI on the PUSCH in a time unit m of the one OCC unit, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0151] With this alternative, it is possible to avoid that the symbols mapped on different time units of the same OCC unit are different, while also ensuring the transmission of the UCI. The second UCI may be multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0152] The first UCI described above may be a CSI or a HARQ-ACK. The second UCI may be a CSI or a HARQ-ACK. The CSI may be a periodic CSI or an aperiodic CSI.

[0153] Various optional embodiments provided by the present disclosure are described below by taking the aperiodic CSI, the periodic CSI, and the HARQ-ACK as examples. Optionally, the following options 1 to 6 may be used.

[0154] Option 1: When UCI to be transmitted that is present on a PUSCH includes an aperiodic CSI, in case that the PUSCH scheduled by DCI that triggers the aperiodic CSI are associated with an OCC unit, the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit (multiplexing the aperiodic CSI on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC).

[0155] Option 2: When UCI to be transmitted on a PUSCH includes an aperiodic CSI, in case that the PUSCH scheduled by DCI that triggers the aperiodic CSI are associated with at least two OCCs, the aperiodic CSI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit at a specified location of the at least two OCC units (e.g., multiplexing the aperiodic CSI on the PUSCH in each time unit of the first one of the at least two OCC units), and the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH of OCC units except the OCC unit at the specified location. Optionally, the OCC unit at the specified location may include the first OCC unit.

[0156] Taking the periodic CSI and the HARQ-ACK as examples, the following options 3 to 6 may be used.

[0157] Option 3: in case that UCI to be transmitted on a PUSCH includes a first UCI (e.g., CSI, HARQ-ACK), the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit where the first UCI is located;

[0158] Option 4: in case that UCI to be transmitted on a PUSCH includes a second UCI (e.g., periodic CSI, HARQ-ACK), the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit where the second UCI is located;

[0159] Option 5: in case that UCI to be transmitted on a PUSCH includes a second UCI, the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH of a time unit m (a time unit where the second UCI is located), and the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH of time units except the time unit m;

[0160] Option 6: in case that UCI to be transmitted on a PUSCH includes a second UCI, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH of a first unit (which may also be referred to as a first OCC unit, e.g., an OCC unit where the second UCI is located), and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH of a second unit (which may also be referred to as a second OCC unit), wherein the first unit includes a respective time unit that applies the same OCC as the time unit m, and the second unit is a respective time unit applying another OCC after the first unit.

[0161] For the option 1, if the PUSCH scheduled by DCI that triggers the aperiodic CSI apply the same OCC, the PUSCH with the aperiodic CSI may be transmitted on each time unit of the PUSCH, for example, the CSI may be multiplexed on each time unit of the PUSCH. The respective PUSCH scheduled by the DCI may be a single PUSCH, such as multiple repetitions of the single PUSCH, or may be a plurality of different PUSCHs. The application of the same OCC to the respective PUSCH can be understood as the time units of the respective PUSCH being associated with or belonging to the same OCC unit. For example, the code elements in the same OCC are applied on the time units of the respective PUSCH.

[0162] As an example of the option 1, assuming that the code length of the OCC to be used by the UE is 2, and that the DCI triggering the aperiodic CSI schedules 2 PUSCHs, where the first scheduled PUSCH is in slot n, the second scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+1, and the two PUSCH apply the same OCC, e.g., applying the first element of the OCC for the first PUSCH, and applying the second element of the OCC for the second PUSCH. If the aperiodic CSI triggered by the DCI needs to be transmitted on the slot n or the slot n+1, the CSI may be multiplexed on the slot n and the slot n+1. For example, the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed are transmitted on the slot n and the slot n+1, respectively.

[0163] For the above-described option 2, in the case of applying at least two OCCs on the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI that triggers the aperiodic CSI (e.g., the PUSCH are associated with at least two OCC units), the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed are transmitted on each time unit of the PUSCH that apply a specific OCC (e.g., the first OCC) of the at least two OCCs, and the aperiodic CSI is not transmitted on each time unit of the PUSCH that apply a non-specific OCC (the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH applying the non-specific OCC). For example, if one OCC is applied on some of the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI and another OCC is applied on some of the PUSCH, then the CSI is transmitted only on the time units of the PUSCH applying certain or some specific OCC(s), and the CSI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH on other time units. The above specific OCC may be any of the set or predetermined OCCs. Optionally, the specific OCC includes the first OCC of the at least two OCCs. In this time, the aperiodic CSI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the first OCC unit, but not multiplexed on a PUSCH on other OCC units.

[0164] As an example of the option 2, assuming that the OCC used by the UE has a length of 2, and that the DCI driving the aperiodic CSI schedules 4 PUSCH, where the first scheduled PUSCH is in slot n, the second scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+1, the third scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+2, and the fourth scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+3. If one OCC is to be multiplexed on 2 slots, then two OCCs need to be applied to these 4 PUSCH (e.g., the resources for the PUSCH include 2 OCC units), such that the first OCC is applied to the first PUSCH in the slot n and the second PUSCH in the slot n+1, and the second OCC is applied to the third PUSCH in the slot n+2 and the fourth PUSCH in the slot n+3. For example, the first OCC unit is time units of two PUSCH thereof, and the second OCC unit is time units of other two PUSCH. In this example, the respective PUSCH scheduled by the DCI do not apply a single OCC, the aperiodic CSI may be multiplexed on the first PUSCH of the slot n and the second PUSCH of the slot n+1 which belong to the first OCC unit, the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed on the third PUSCH of the slot n+2 and the fourth PUSCH of the slot n+3 which belong to the second OCC unit, the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed are transmitted in the slot n and the slot n+1, respectively, and the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed are transmitted in the slot n+2 and the slot n+3, respectively.

[0165] For an alternative of the above options 1 and 2, it may be possible that the symbols multiplexed on each time unit to which the same OCC is applied are the same, and if the different UEs multiplex these time units, the PUSCH of the different UEs may also be orthogonal. Optionally, the PUSCH transmitted on each time unit to which the same OCC is applied are the same, such as multiple transmissions of the same PUSCH.

[0166] For the option 3, if the UCI to be transmitted includes a first UCI, the first UCI is UCI which is determined to be transmitted on the first one of time units of PUSCH to which an OCC is applied, and it is possible to multiplex the first UCI to each time unit of the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied. For example, what are transmitted on each time unit of the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied are all PUSCHs on which the UCI is multiplexed. With this approach, it is possible to enable the PUSCH transmitted by the UE to be correctly decoded by the base station even if the UE uses the same time-domain resources as other UEs, without adversely affecting the UCI. Optionally, in addition to multiplexing the first UCI to the PUSCH of each time unit to which the OCC is applied, the UCI may be multiplexed to PUSCH to which other OCCs are applied, and the time units of the PUSCH to which the other OCCs are applied are located behind the time units to which the OCC is applied. For example, assuming that an OCC unit includes 2 slots, each time unit of the PUSCH of the UE includes 4 slots, and two OCCs need to be applied, thus the first UCI is determined to be on the first one of these 4 slots. At this time, the UCI may be multiplexed on the first two PUSCH applying the same OCC, and the UCI may also be multiplexed on a PUSCH of the first two slots applying the same OCC, as well as on PUSCH of the last two slots applying the same OCC.

[0167] In some examples, if the UCI is not taken into account and it is only considered that the PUSCH transmitted by each UE in the case of multi-UE multiplexing are able to be correctly decoded, the first UCI may not be transmitted whether or not it is determined to be transmitted on the first time unit. For example, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH of each time unit applying the OCC.

[0168] The above options 4 to 6 are for a case where the UCI to be transmitted includes a second UCI, and the second UCI is UCI that is determined to be on a PUSCH of a non-first time unit (time unit m) of an OCC unit. One option is that if it is determined that, based on a transmission timing relationship of the UCI, there is UCI to be transmitted on the time unit m, the second UCI may be not multiplexed on all time units of the PUSCH, e.g., by discarding the second UCI. Another option is to multiplex the second UCI on the time unit m for transmission and not to multiplex the UCI on other time units.

[0169] A further option is to multiplex the second UCI on each time unit applying another OCC (the second unit described above, for example, an OCC unit subsequent to the OCC unit where the second UCI is located) and not to multiplex the UCI on each time unit applying the same OCC as the time unit m. Optionally, the second unit includes each time unit located behind the time unit m that apply the same OCC, and the number of time units included in the second unit may be equal to the length of the OCC or a multiple of that length. It can be understood that in this option, the PUSCH resources of the UE should include, in addition to the OCC unit to which the time unit m belongs, at least one more OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit, for example, the second unit is present. Of course, if the resources of the PUSCH do not include the second unit, optionally, the second UCI is not multiplexed on all time units of the PUSCH, or the second UCI is only multiplexed on the PUSCH of the time unit m where the second UCI is located.

[0170] As an alternative, in case that the second UCI satisfies a first condition, the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in the time unit m, and / or the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in time units except the time unit m in the OCC unit (an OCC unit to which the time unit m belongs); or

[0171] in case that the second UCI does not satisfy the first condition, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC.

[0172] In the alternative, there is a limitation on how the second UCI is transmitted on the PUSCH. Optionally, the processing method of the option 5 may be used if the second UCI satisfies the first condition, and the processing method of the option 4 or 6 may be used if the second UCI does not satisfy the first condition.

[0173] There is no limitation on the specific content of the first condition in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The first condition may be predefined or preset, or may be configured or indicated to the UE by the base station. Optionally, the first condition may be related to the type and / or number of bits of the UCI. As an alternative, that the second UCI satisfies the first condition includes at least one of:

[0174] the second UCI including the HARQ-ACK;

[0175] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a first threshold value; or

[0176] a number of UCI types included in the second UCI being less than or equal to a second threshold value.

[0177] That the second UCI including the HARQ-ACK may be that the second UCI includes only a HARQ-ACK, or may be that the second UCI includes at least a HARQ-ACK. Optionally, that the second UCI including the HARQ-ACK may also be that the second UCI includes a HARQ-ACK that satisfies a predetermined condition, such as a high priority HARQ-ACK.

[0178] In some examples, the first threshold value / second threshold value described above may be a predefined value or a value configured or indicated by the base station, and the first threshold value / second threshold value corresponding to different UCIs may be the same or different. For example, the first threshold value may be 2 bits and the second threshold value may be 3 types. The embodiments of the present disclosure have no limitation on the specific division method of UCI types, which may be divided according to the type of information of the UCIs, or according to the type of information of the UCIs and priorities of the UCIs.

[0179] In an optional scheme provided by the present disclosure, the UCI types may be divided by coarse granularities. For example, the CSI may be considered as one type, the HARQ-ACK may be considered as one type, or the periodic CSI may be considered as one type, and the aperiodic CSI may be considered as one type. The UCI types may also be divided by fine granularities. For example, the HARQ-ACKs of different priorities are considered as different types, and the CSI and HARQ-ACK of the same priority are also different types.

[0180] Optionally, in case that the number of bits of the second UCI is greater than or equal to the first threshold value, and / or the number of UCI types included in the second UCI is greater than or equal to the second threshold value, it is possible to discard a portion of the second UCI and transmit only a high priority portion of the second UCI, in an order of priorities from highest to lowest.

[0181] As an optional scheme of the present disclosure, in case that the second condition is satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit; or

[0182] in case that the second condition is not satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit and in the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0183] Likewise, there is no limitation on the specific content of the second condition in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The second condition may be predefined or preset, or may be configured or indicated to the UE by the base station. Optionally, the second condition may be related to the type and / or number of bits of the UCI. As an alternative, that the second condition is satisfied includes at least one of:

[0184] the UCI to be transmitted being not present on the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit (e.g., an OCC unit where the second UCI is located);

[0185] a number of UCI types included in a third UCI being less than or equal to a third threshold value, wherein the third UCI includes the second UCI and the UCI to be transmitted on a first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit;

[0186] a total number of bits of the third UCI being less than or equal to a fourth threshold value;

[0187] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a fifth threshold value; or

[0188] a number of bits of the UCI to be transmitted on the first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit being less than or equal to a sixth threshold value.

[0189] The values of each of the threshold values described in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be the same or different. The threshold values may be defined or preset, or may be configured or indicated by the base station.

[0190] Optionally, for each OCC unit of the PUSCH, in case that there is UCI to be transmitted on the time unit m on the OCC unit, if the number of bits of the third UCI (this UCI and the UCI present on a first time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit) is less than or equal to the fourth threshold value and the number of UCI types included in the third UCI is less than or equal to the third threshold value, the UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC, and if the above conditions are not satisfied, a low priority portion of the third UCI can be discarded according to the corresponding threshold value based on the priority level and a higher priority portion of the UCI can be multiplexed on a PUSCH after that OCC unit for transmission. For example, if the number of bits of the third UCI is greater than the fourth threshold value, the low priority portion of the third UCI is discarded according to the fourth threshold value, and the high priority portion of the third UCI that is not greater than the fourth threshold value is multiplexed on a PUSCH of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit. Likewise, if the number of UCI types included in the third UCI is greater than the third threshold value, the low priority portion of the third UCI is discarded according to the third threshold value, and the high priority portion of the third UCI in which the number of types is not greater than the third threshold value is multiplexed on a PUSCH of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0191] It should be noted that the multiple optional options provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented independently or in combination in case of conflicting. For example, as an implementation, in case that the first UCI to be transmitted is present on the first time unit of the PUSCH, the UCI may be multiplexed on each time unit of the PUSCH, or the UCI may be multiplexed on each time unit applying the same OCC as the first time unit, but may not be multiplexed on other time units; and in case that the second UCI to be transmitted is present on the time unit m, the second UCI may be multiplexed on the time unit m if the first condition is satisfied, and the second UCI is not transmitted on the other time units. If the first condition is not satisfied but the second condition is satisfied, the second UCI may be multiplexed on the second unit, and if the first condition is not satisfied and the second condition is not satisfied, the second UCI is not transmitted on all the time units.

[0192] As another option, the first UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the PUSCH if the first UCI to be transmitted is present on the first time unit of the PUSCH, and the second UCI is not multiplexed on any time unit of the PUSCH if the second UCI to be transmitted is present on the time unit m.

[0193] In another optional embodiment of the present disclosure, in case that the first UCI satisfies a third condition, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC.

[0194] Optionally, in case that the first UCI does not satisfies the third condition, the first UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC.

[0195] Optionally, satisfying third condition may include at least one of:

[0196] the first UCI including the HARQ-ACK;

[0197] a number of bits of the first UCI being less than or equal to a seventh threshold value; or

[0198] a number of UCI types included in the first UCI being less than or equal to an eighth threshold value.

[0199] That the first UCI including the HARQ-ACK may be that the first UCI includes only a HARQ-ACK, or may be that the first UCI includes at least a HARQ-ACK.

[0200] As an alternative, for any OCC unit, if there is UCI to be transmitted on the first time unit of the OCC unit, if the number of bits of the UCI is less than or equal to the seventh threshold value and the number of UCI types included in the UCI is less than or equal to the eighth threshold value, the UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit, and if the number of bits of the UCI is greater than the seventh threshold value or the number of UCI types included in the UCI is greater than the eighth threshold value, a lower priority portion of the UCI may be discarded according to the priority of the UCI until the number of the remaining UCI types is less than or equal to the eighth threshold value and the number of bits of the remaining UCI is less than or equal to the seventh threshold value.

[0201] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, whether the UCI is not multiplexed on the UCI, the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH of each time unit, or the UCI is multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to a time unit where the UCI is located may be based on first information received by the UE, and the first information is related to a way of transmitting the UCI on the PUSCH. For example, in a scenario where the OCC is applied on the PUSCH, whether and / or how to multiplex, on the PUSCH, the UCI that need to be transmitted on the PUSCH may be determined based on the first information. As an alternative, the configuration information (the first configuration information described above) further includes the first information, wherein the first information is related to a way in which the UCI is to be transmitted on the PUSCH in case that the OCC is applied on the PUSCH.

[0202] The first information may be received by the UE from the base station. For communication scenarios where the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH, the UE may exactly determine, based on a configuration or indication from the base station, which processing method (e.g., any of the above options 1 to 6 or a combination thereof) is to be used for the UCI that needs to be transmitted on the PUSCH. For example, the UE may determine how the UCI is to be multiplexed on the PUSCH, such as whether it is transmitted on the PUSCH or how to transmit it, based on a signaling indication received from the base station. The indication information from the base station may be an explicit indication or an implicit indication. When a signaling is used for the indication, the signaling may be a higher layer signaling, a media access layer signaling, or a physical layer signaling.

[0203] The first information may be information included in the first configuration information, or may be other information independent of the first configuration information.

[0204] An embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a scheme for applying an OCC on PUSCH, which can improve the transmission performance of PUSCH. Optionally, for a scenario in which the UCI needs to be transmitted on a PUSCH, an embodiment of the present disclosure also proposes a scheme for multiplexing the UCI in the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied. Further, an embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a scheme in which the UCI can be timely multiplexed in the PUSCH as far as possible on the premise of ensuring that the different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal, in order to avoid, as far as possible, any unfavorable impact on the transmission of the UCI.

[0205] Based on the same principles as the method performed by the UE provided by the present disclosure, an embodiment of the present disclosure also provides a method performed by a base station, which may include the following steps.

[0206] Step S610: Transmit configuration information, the configuration information including information related to an OCC for a PUSCH;

[0207] Step S620: Receive the PUSCH to which a first OCC is applied on each time unit of the PUSCH, wherein the first OCC is based on the configuration information,

[0208] wherein, in case that uplink control information (UCI) to be transmitted is present on some time units for the PUSCH, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH, or the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit, or the UCI is multiplexed on a PUSCH in at least one OCC unit subsequent to a time unit where the UCI is located,

[0209] wherein the one OCC unit includes each time unit associated with the PUSCH to which the same first OCC is applied.

[0210] The base station, after receiving the PUSCH transmitted by the UE to which the first OCC is applied, may de-spread the PUSCH based on the first OCC described above, and by de-spreading, the base station may decode data transmitted by the UE, or the data transmitted by the UE and the UCI, from the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied.

[0211] Optionally, the UCI includes at least one of:

[0212] channel state information (CSI); or a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0213] Optionally, in case that the UCI includes a first UCI on the PUSCH in a first time unit of the one OCC unit, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit; and / or

[0214] in case that the UCI includes a second UCI on the PUSCH in a time unit m of the one OCC unit, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, wherein the time unit m is a time unit except the first time unit of the one OCC unit.

[0215] Optionally, the second UCI is not multiplexed on a PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0216] Optionally, if the second UCI does not satisfy a first condition, the UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit; or

[0217] if the second UCI satisfies the first condition, the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in the time unit m, and / or the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in time units except the time unit m in the OCC unit.

[0218] Optionally, that the second UCI satisfies the first condition includes at least one of:

[0219] the second UCI including the HARQ-ACK;

[0220] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a first threshold value; or

[0221] a number of UCI types included in the second UCI being less than or equal to a second threshold value.

[0222] Optionally, if the second condition is satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit, and the second UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of an OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit; or

[0223] if the second condition is not satisfied, the second UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit and in the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit.

[0224] Optionally, that the second condition is satisfied includes at least one of:

[0225] the UCI to be transmitted being not present on the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit;

[0226] a number of UCI types included in a third UCI being less than or equal to a third threshold value, wherein the third UCI includes the second UCI and the UCI to be transmitted on a first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit;

[0227] a total number of bits of the third UCI being less than or equal to a fourth threshold value;

[0228] a number of bits of the second UCI being less than or equal to a fifth threshold value; or

[0229] a number of bits of the UCI to be transmitted on the first time unit of the OCC unit subsequent to that OCC unit being less than or equal to a sixth threshold value.

[0230] Optionally, if the first UCI satisfies a third condition, the first UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in each time unit of the OCC unit; or

[0231] if the first UCI does not satisfy the third condition, the first UCI is not multiplexed on the PUSCH in the OCC unit.

[0232] Optionally, the third condition includes at least one of:

[0233] the first UCI including the HARQ-ACK;

[0234] a number of bits of the first UCI being less than or equal to a seventh threshold value; or

[0235] a number of UCI types included in the first UCI being less than or equal to an eighth threshold value.

[0236] Optionally, the configuration information further includes first information, the first information is related to a way in which the UCI is transmitted on the PUSCH in case that the OCC is applied on the PUSCH.

[0237] It can be understood that the behaviors on the base station side correspond to the behaviors on the UE side, and the base station side may also implement base station side behaviors corresponding to the method performed by the UE, such as including, but not limited to, the base station may transmit relevant signaling or configuration information to the UE, receive the PUSCH transmitted by the UE on which the UCI is multiplexed, and the like. The relevant contents in various other optional embodiments of the method performed by the UE proposed hereinabove in the present disclosure are equally applicable to the method performed by the base station, and will not be repeated herein.

[0238] In order to better understand and illustrate the schemes proposed in the present disclosure and the corresponding beneficial effects, the schemes proposed in the present disclosure are described below in conjunction with some specific embodiments.

[0239] For the configuration information (first configuration information) in step S510, its functions include at least one of:

[0240] enabling the UE to determine whether to apply an OCC to PUSCH, e.g., whether to perform a block-wise spreading on the PUSCH; enabling the UE to determine a first OCC to be used by the UE; and whether and / or how to multiplex UCI on the PUSCH, e.g., whether and how the UCI is multiplexed on the PUSCH in case that the OCC is applied on the PUSCH.

[0241] Several optional implementations of the UE provided by the present disclosure for determining whether to apply an OCC to the PUSCH, and which OCC to be applied, are described below.

[0242] As an option, the base station may configure the PUSCH to support OCC processing. For example, the OCC may be applied to the PUSCH. The configuration may be configured by the first configuration information described above, or may be configured by other configuration information. For example, the base station configures whether the UE applies the OCC to the PUSCH by second configuration information, and in case of configuring the application of OCC, the base station configures which OCC is to be used by the UE through the first configuration information. Alternatively, the base station configures the UE to apply the OCC to the PUSCH and which OCC to be used by the first configuration information. Optionally, at least one OCC code length and / or at least one set of OCCs is determined by a protocol (or is to be determined based on predefined information, or is predefined), wherein the set of OCCs includes one or more OCCs.

[0243] For example, in an optional implementation of the first configuration information the base station may configure the UE to support the OCC processing for the PUSCH via a signaling (higher layer signaling, physical layer signaling, or media access layer signaling), the UE may determine the OCC code length to be 2 based on a protocol agreement, and the set of OCCs includes two OCCs: and . That configuring in this way makes it simple for the UE to implement, because there is only a length of OCC.

[0244] For another example, the base station is configured to support the OCC processing for the PUSCH through a signaling, and the protocol determines the OCC code length to be 2 and 4. When the OCC code length is 2, the set of OCCs includes OCC codes and , and when the OCC code length is 4, the set of OCCs includes four OCCs , , and . The UE determines at least one OCC code length based on the received configuration. For example, the UE determines the OCC code length to be 2 based on the received configuration, or the UE determines the OCC code length to be 4 based on the received configuration, or the UE determines the OCC code length to be 2 and 4 based on the received configuration. That configuring in this way may configure an OCC with a suitable code length based on the needs of the UE, or, at the same time, configure an OCC with a different code length, and the UE can dynamically select the OCC with the suitable code length to satisfy different coverage demands.

[0245] In case that the UE is configured to support the OCC processing for the PUSCH, the base station may configure information for the UE as to which OCC in the set of OCCs is specifically adopted. For example, the set of OCCs determined by the UE according to the protocol agreement or according to the configuration from the base station only contains OCCs of one length, and the base station may configure the UE with an index or indication value of the OCCs. For example, the index or indication value of the OCCs is included in the first configuration information, and the indication value may be 1 bit, where the bit value of 0 indicates the adoption of , and the bit value of 1 indicates the adoption of . For another example, the set of OCCs determined by the UE includes two sets of OCCs of two lengths, and the indication value may be 3 bits, with a high-order 1-bit value being used to indicate a set of OCCs of what length is adopted, and a low-order 2-bit value being used to indicate which OCC in the set of OCCs is adopted. For example, the indication value of 000 indicates the adoption of in the set of OCCs with a length of 2, the indication value of 001 indicates the adoption of in the set of OCCs with a length of 2, and the indication values of 100, 101, 110, 111 correspond to individual OCCs in the set of OCCs with a length of 4, respectively.

[0246] As another optional scheme, a corresponding configuration approach may also be used depending on the type of PUSCH. Optionally, whether or not the OCC processing is supported and / or which OCC is used for a configured grant (CG, Configuredgrant) PUSCH and a PUSCH scheduled by DCI may be independently configured by different signaling. For example, the base station may configure the CG PUSCH to support or not to support the OCC processing via signaling-1, and the base station may configure the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI to support or not to support the OCC processing via signaling-2. For example, the UE determines, based on the received signaling-1, that the CG PUSCH does not support the OCC processing, and the UE determines, based on the received signaling-2, that the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI supports the OCC processing. The above signaling-1 and signaling-2 may be optional implementations of the first configuration information or may be different from the first configuration information. For example, the base station configures the PUSCH to support the OCC processing via the signaling-1 or the signaling-2, and the base station may configure, via the first configuration information, which OCC the UE should specifically adopt, such as configuring which set of OCCs and / or which OCC in the set of OCCs the UE should adopt.

[0247] Optionally, whether or not the CG PUSCH and the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI support the OCC processing and / or which OCC to be adopted may be independently determined by a protocol and signaling. For example, the protocol specifies that the CG PUSCH does not support the OCC processing, and the UE determines, based on the received signaling, whether the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI supports or does not support the OCC processing, and vice versa.

[0248] Optionally, for the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI, the configuration related to the OCC may also be related to the format of the DCI. For example, whether or not the OCC processing is supported and / or which OCC is to be used for PUSCH scheduled by different DCI formats (e.g., DCI formats 0-0, 0-1, 0-2) may be independently determined by the protocol and / or signaling. For example, the protocol predetermines that the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI format 0-0 does not support the OCC processing, the base station uses the signaling-1 to configure the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI format 0-1 to support the OCC processing, and the base station uses the signaling-2 to configure the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI format 0-2 to not support the OCC processing.

[0249] In one implementation, the base station may indicate an OCC via DCI, for example, the first configuration information includes indication information for the OCC. Optionally, a mapping between field indications in the DCI and OCC codes of the PUSCH may also include a correspondence with no OCC processing. For example, as shown in Table 1, the UE may determine the OCC to be used by the UE based on values of OCC indication information in the DCI, or determine that the OCC is not applied to the PUSCH.

[0250] Table 1: Mapping between field indications in the DCI and OCC for the PUSCH

[0251]

[0252] An optional implementation of multiplexing UCI in PUSCH provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below. The UCI may include at least one of a HARQ-ACK, a CSI, or other UCIs (e.g., a scheduling request (SR)). The following description is described by taking the HARQ-ACK and the CSI as examples, and the same method may be applied to multiplexing of the other UCIs.

[0253] The CSI may include at least one of a periodic CSI, an aperiodic CSI, and a semi-persistent CSI. The semi-persistent CSI can also act as a special, periodic CSI that needs to be triggered, or the semi-persistent CSI can also act as a special, aperiodic CSI because the semi-persistent CSI needs to be triggered as well.

[0254] In some examples, for the aperiodic CSI, the aperiodic CSI is driven / triggered by the DCI that schedules the PUSCH. Continuously, if the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI driving the aperiodic CSI belongs to / is associated with an OCC unit (e.g., the PUSCH applies the same OCC sequence), the aperiodic CSI may be multiplexed in all PUSCHs of the OCC unit. For example, an OCC applied to the PUSCH contains 2 code elements, the code length of the OCC is 2, the DCI scheduling the PUSCH schedules 2 PUSCHs, where the first scheduled PUSCH is in slot n and the second scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+1, and the aperiodic CSI triggered by the DCI is multiplexed on these 2 PUSCHs, and the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed are transmitted in the slot n and the slot n+1, respectively.

[0255] Optionally, if the PUSCH scheduled by the DCI driving the aperiodic CSI does not belong to an OCC unit exclusively (the PUSCH is associated with at least two OCC units), the aperiodic CSI may be multiplexed in all PUSCHs of the first OCC unit that the DCI scheduled, and the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed in all PUSCHs except those of the first OCC unit that the DCI scheduled. For example, the OCC contains 2 code elements, the OCC has a code length of 2, and the DCI scheduling the PUSCH schedules 4 PUSCH, where the first scheduled PUSCH is in slot n, the second scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+1, the third scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+2, and the fourth scheduled PUSCH is in slot n+3. The first PUSCH in the slot n and the second PUSCH in the slot n+1 belong to a first OCC unit, and the third PUSCH in the slot n+2 and the fourth PUSCH in the slot n+3 belong to a second OCC unit. The aperiodic CSI triggered by the DCI is multiplexed in the first PUSCH of the slot n and the second PUSCH of the slot n+1 which belong to the first OCC unit, the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed in the third PUSCH of the slot n+2 and the fourth PUSCH of the slot n+3 which belong to the second OCC unit, the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is multiplexed are transmitted in the slot n and the slot n+1, respectively, and the PUSCH on which the aperiodic CSI is not multiplexed are transmitted in the slot n+2 and the slot n+3, respectively.

[0256] It should be noted that it may be consecutive or non-consecutive between each time unit (e.g., slot) of the PUSCH.

[0257] An optional approach of multiplexing a HARQ-ACK and / or a periodic CSI in PUSCH as provided in the present disclosure is descripted below.

[0258] The multiplexing of the UCI on the PUSCH is multiplexed in time units, wherein the time units may be N (where N is a positive integer, e.g., N is equal to 1, N may also be greater than 1) slots, or M (where M is a positive integer, e.g., M is equal to 1, M may also be greater than 1) OFDM symbols, or other time units. For convenience of description, the following description is made by taking one time unit being one slot as an example.

[0259] Taking the code length of one OCC being L as an example, when L resources of one OCC applied to the PUSCH are distributed among L OFDM symbols in L slots and L is greater than 1, it may also happen that some slots of the PUSCH of these L slots will multiplex the UCI and some slots will not multiplex the UCI. As shown in FIG. 6, the L slots are slot n to slot n+L-1, where the slot n does not multiplex the UCI, a symbol on the slot n is s, the slot n+1 multiplexes the UCI, a symbol on the slot n+1 is s1, and the symbols on the slot n and the slot n+1 are different, then the UE's PUSCH to which the OCC is applied would be non-orthogonal to other UEs' PUSCH to which the OCC is applied. The L PUSCH in the one OCC unit may be L repetitions of one PUSCH.

[0260] To address this problem, the following method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure may be used to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal, without adversely affecting the transmission of UCI as little as possible.

[0261] Method 1:

[0262] Through the scheduling of PUSCH and the management of UCI transmission, it is guaranteed that the same UCI is multiplexed among L (L > 1) PUSCH resources in L slots of one OCC unit, or it is guaranteed that the UCI is not multiplexed among L (L > 1) PUSCH resources in L slots of one OCC unit. An advantage of doing so is to ensure that the different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0263] Optionally, when the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of the first one of L slots of one OCC unit (e.g., the UCI to be transmitted is determined to be in the first slot of the PUSCH resources), for example, when the UCI to be transmitted on the PUSCH includes a first UCI, the first UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH on each of the L slots of that OCC unit. The UCI to be transmitted is determined to be multiplexed on which PUSCH is based on the transmission timing relationship of the UCI. For example, the UE determines whether the UCI is to be transmitted on the PUSCH and on which PUSCH the UCI is to be transmitted, based on the information convention configured by the base station to the UE in relation to the UCI transmission.

[0264] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of the first one of L slots of one OCC unit i (which may be any OCC unit), the UE does not multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC. Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit, for example, when the UCI to be transmitted on the PUSCH includes a second UCI, it is not possible for the UE to multiplex the second UCI on PUSCH of slots before the slot m, and optionally, the second UCI will not be multiplexed on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. As shown in FIG. 7, the slot n is the first slot of the PUSCH, there is no UCI that needs to be transmitted on the slot, the slot m is not the first slot, and there is UCI that needs to be transmitted on the slot m. At this time, the UCI will not be transmitted on any of the slots of the PUSCH, e.g., the UCI will not be multiplexed on the PUSCH of any slot. An advantage of doing so is that the orthogonality of different UEs' PUSCH to which the OCC is applied would not be destroyed due to the multiplexing of the UCI, thereby ensuring that the different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0265] Method 2:

[0266] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of the first one of L slots of one OCC unit, the UE multiplexes the UCI on PUSCH on the L slots of that OCC unit.

[0267] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit, it is not possible for the UE to multiplex the UCI on PUSCH of slots before the slot m. At this time, the UCI is to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit, and the UCI is not to be multiplexed on a PUSCH after the slot m in that OCC unit. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of the UCI.

[0268] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit, the UE determines, based on the type of the UCI, to multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit or not to multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. For example, when the UCI to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of the slot m is a HARQ-ACK, the UE multiplexes the HARQ-ACK on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit, and when the UCI to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of the slot m is a CSI, the UE does not multiplex the CSI on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of important UCIs and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0269] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit, the UE determines, based on the number of bits of the UCI, that the UCI is to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit or not to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. For example, when the number of bits of the UCI is less than or equal to K1 (e.g., K1 is equal to 2), the UE multiplexes the UCI on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit, otherwise, the UE does not multiplex the CSI on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. An advantage of doing so is to adversely affect the multiplexing of the UCI as little as possible, and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0270] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit, the UE determines, based on the type of the UCI and the number of bits of the UCI, whether the UCI is to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit or not to be multiplexed on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. For example, when the UCI is a HARQ-ACK and the number of bits of the HARQ-ACK is less than or equal to K2 (e.g., K2 is equal to 2), the UE multiplexes the HARQ-ACK on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit, otherwise, the UE does not multiplex the CSI and the HARQ-ACK with the number of bits greater than K on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. For another example, when the UCI includes a HARQ-ACK and the number of bits of the UCI is less than or equal to K3 (e.g., K3=2), the UE multiplexes the UCI on the PUSCH of the slot m of that OCC unit, otherwise, the UE does not multiplex the CSI on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of important UCIs and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0271] Method 3:

[0272] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of the first one of L slots of one OCC unit i, the UE multiplexes the UCI on PUSCH on the L slots of the OCC.

[0273] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit i (the first OCC unit), the UCI will not be multiplexed on the PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit i. Optionally, if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying an OCC unit i+1 (the second OCC unit), the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i. If the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are not followed by other PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1, the UCI will not be transmitted. The OCC unit i+1 is an OCC unit that follows the OCC unit i in time, the PUSCH of the OCC unit i and the PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1 may be multiple repetitions of a single PUSCH. Alternatively, the PUSCH of the OCC unit i and the PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1 may not be multiple repetitions of a single PUSCH. For example, the OCC unit i includes PUSCH of slot n to slot n+L-1 and the OCC unit i+1 includes PUSCH of slot n+L to slot n+2L-1. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of UCIs as little as possible, and to ensure that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0274] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit i, the UE determines the transmission method of the UCI based on the type of the UCI and whether there are other PUSCH applying an OCC unit i+1 behind the PUSCH of the OCC unit i. For example, if the UCI is a specific type of UCI and there are other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1 behind the PUSCH of that OCC unit i, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i. If there are no other PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1 behind the PUSCH of that OCC unit i or the UCI is not a specific type of UCI, the UCI will not be transmitted or the UCI multiplexing will be canceled. For example, when the UCI on the PUSCH of the slot m of the OCC unit i is a HARQ-ACK, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on the L slots of the next OCC unit i+1 of the OCC unit i if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1, and the UCI will not be transmitted if the PUSCH of the OCC unit i are not followed by other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1 or the UCI is not a HARQ-ACK. When the UCI is a CSI, the UE cancels the CSI multiplexing. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of important UCIs and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0275] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of a slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit i, the UE determines the transmission method of the UCI based on the number of bits of the UCI and whether the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying an OCC unit i+1. For example, if the number of bits of the UCI is less than or equal to K4 (e.g., K4 is equal to 2) and the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i, otherwise, the UCI will not be transmitted or the UCI multiplexing will be canceled. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the UCI multiplexing as little as possible, and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0276] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit i, the UE determines, based on the type of the UCI and the number of bits of the UCI, that if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying an OCC unit i+1, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i. If there are no other PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1 behind the PUSCH of that OCC unit i or the type of the UCI and the number of bits of the UCI do not satisfy the conditions, the UCI will not be transmitted or the UCI multiplexing will be canceled. For example, when the UCI is a HARQ-ACK (a specific type of UCI) and the number of bits of the HARQ-ACK is less than or equal to K5 (e.g., K5 is equal to 2), if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i, and the UCI will not be transmitted if there are no other PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1 behind the PUSCH of that OCC unit i and the UCI is not a HARQ-ACK. For example, when the UCI is a CSI, the UE de-multiplexes the CSI. An advantage of doing so is not to adversely affect the multiplexing of important UCIs and to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC is applied are orthogonal.

[0277] Optionally, when, according to the transmission timing relationship of the UCI, the UCI is to be multiplexed on a PUSCH of other slot m except the PUSCH of the first slot in L slots of one OCC unit i, the UCI will not be multiplexed on a PUSCH of any of the L slots of that OCC unit i. Optionally, if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH of an OCC unit i+1, the UCI will determine whether or not to multiplex the UCI on PUSCH on L slots of a next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i based on whether the specific conditions are satisfied or not.

[0278] Optionally, the specific conditions may include, but are limited to, if the PUSCH of that OCC unit i are followed by other PUSCH applying the OCC unit i+1, and the total number of types of UCIs to be multiplexed on that OCC unit i and types of UCIs to be multiplexed on the next OCC unit i+1 (e.g., a sum of the number of types of UCIs on the slot m of that OCC unit i and the number of types of UCIs on the 1st slot m of that OCC unit i) does not exceed Q, the UCI will be multiplexed on a PUSCH on L slots of the next OCC unit i+1 of that OCC unit i. Otherwise, the UE does not multiplex the UCI multiplexed on the OCC unit i on PUSCH on the L slots of the next OCC unit i+1, or, according to the priority of the UCI, it discards a low priority portion of the UCI, and multiplexes the remaining UCIs with the number of types not exceeding Q to the PUSCH of each slot of the OCC unit i+1. For example, if the total number of types of UCIs to be multiplexed on the slot m of that OCC unit i and types of UCIs to be multiplexed on the 1st slot of the next OCC unit i+1 does not exceed 2, the UCIs to be multiplexed on that OCC unit i are multiplexed on a PUSCH on the L slots of the next OCC unit i+1. For another example, if a sum of the number of bits of the UCI on the slot m of that OCC unit i and the number of bits of the UCI on the 1st slot of the OCC unit i+1 exceeds a threshold value (e.g., n bits, n 2), the UCI on the slot m of the OCC unit i is not multiplexed on the PUSCH of the OCC unit i+1. Alternatively, low priority portions of the UCI on the slot m and the UCI on the 1st slot of the OCC unit i+1 are discarded, and only the portion of the UCIs with higher priority that do not exceed a threshold value is multiplexed on each time unit of the OCC unit i+1 for transmission.

[0279] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the OCC to be used by a plurality of OCC units of the UE may be the same OCC or different OCCs. For example, it may be agreed that one UE applies the same OCC on the plurality of OCC units.

[0280] Method 4:

[0281] Optionally, whether and / or how the UE multiplexes UCI on the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied may be determined based on the received signaling indications and / or protocol pre-settings. The signaling may include an explicit signaling and / or an implicit signaling, and the explicit signaling includes at least one of a higher layer signaling (also known as RRC signaling), a media access layer signaling (also known as MAC CE signaling), and a physical layer signaling (which may also be a DCI indication). Different types of UCIs may be configured or indicated in a same way, different types of UCIs may be configured or indicated in different ways, and the protocol-agreed ways of handling different types of UCIs may be the same or different. For example, a HARQ-ACK, a periodic CSI, and an aperiodic CSI may be determined by the UE receiving the signaling indications and / or protocol pre-settings, respectively, to determine whether the HARQ-ACK, the periodic CSI, and the aperiodic CSI are multiplexed on the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied.

[0282] Optionally, the UE may receive the signaling indications and / or protocol pre-settings to multiplex the UCI on the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied using any of the methods (e.g., at least one or a combination of approaches in one method) (e.g., one or a combination of the methods 1 to 3 described above) provided in the forementioned embodiments.

[0283] Optionally, for different types of UCIs (e.g., the HARQ-ACK, the periodic CSI, and the aperiodic CSI are three different types of UCIs), the UE may receive independent signaling indications and / or protocol pre-settings to multiplex different types of UCIs in the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied in any one of the ways provided in the forementioned embodiments.

[0284] Optionally, the physical layer signaling in the explicit signaling may use a field in DCI scheduling a PUSCH to indicate whether or not the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied can multiplex the UCI. For example, when the value of the field is "0", it indicates that the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied cannot multiplex the UCI, and when the value of the field is "1", it indicates that the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied can multiplex the UCI.

[0285] Optionally, the physical layer signaling in the implicit signaling may use an OCC indication field (which may be a pre-existing field, a newly added field, or a new definition of a reserved field) in DCI scheduling a PUSCH to indicate the OCC applied by the PUSCH, and optionally, the field may also indicate whether the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied is able to multiplex the UCI. For example, if the value of the OCC indication field is "a" or "0", the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied may not multiplex the UCI, and if the value of the OCC indication field is "b" or "1", the PUSCH to which the OCC is applied may multiplex the UCI.

[0286] With the methods of the optional embodiments of the present disclosure, the OCC can be applied on the PUSCH, and the transmission power of the PUSCH can be increased to improve the transmission performance. The methods of the embodiments of the present disclosure also propose a method of effectively multiplexing UCI in PUSCH to which the OCC is applied, it is possible to ensure, as far as possible, that different UEs' PUSCHs to which the OCC code is applied are orthogonal, and it is possible to timely multiplex the UCI in the PUSCH as far as possible.

[0287] It should be noted that in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the various information received by the UE from the base station may be transmitted to the UE by the base station through one piece of configuration information, or may be transmitted to the UE through at least two pieces of configuration information. The information configured by the base station for the UE in relation to one piece of information may be explicit information or implicit information.

[0288] An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an electronic device, including at least one controller / processor, and optionally at least one transceiver coupled to the at least one controller / processor. The processor is configured to implement the method provided in any one of optional embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0289] Wherein the electronic device may be realized as a UE or as a base station.

[0290] FIG. 8 shows a schematic structure diagram of an electronic device to which the solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure is applied. As shown in FIG. 8, the electronic device 4000 shown in FIG. 8 may include a processor 4001 and a memory 4003. The processor 4001 is connected to the memory 4003, for example, through a bus 4002. Optionally, the electronic device 4000 may further include a transceiver 4004 that can be used for data exchange, for example, transmission and reception of data, between the electronic device and other electronic device. It should be noted that, in practical applications, the number of transceiver 4004 is not limited to one, and the structure of the electronic device 4000 does not constitute any limitations to the embodiments of the present disclosure. Optionally, the electronic device may be gNB, UE or other entities or node in communication networks.

[0291] The processor 4001 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the present disclosure. The processor 4001 may also be a combination for realizing computing functions, for example, a combination of one or more microprocessors, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, etc.

[0292] The bus 4002 may include a path to transfer information between the components described above. The bus 4002 may be a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, or an extended industry standard architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The bus 4002 may be an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of presentation, the bus is represented by only one thick line in FIG. 8. However, it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of buses.

[0293] The memory 4003 may be, but not limited to, read only memories (ROMs) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, random access memories (RAMs) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, may be electrically erasable programmable read only memories (EEPROMs), compact disc read only memories (CD-ROMs) or other optical disk storages, optical disc storages (including compact discs, laser discs, discs, digital versatile discs, blue-ray discs, etc.), magnetic storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by computers.

[0294] The memory 4003 is used to store computer program for executing the solutions of the present disclosure, and is controlled by the processor 4001. The processor 4001 is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory 4003 to implement the solution provided in any method embodiment described above.

[0295] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored on the computer-readable storage medium, the computer program, when executed by a processor, implements the steps and corresponding contents of the foregoing method embodiments.

[0296] Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a computer program product including a computer program, the computer program when executed by a processor realizing the steps and corresponding contents of the preceding method embodiments.

[0297] The terms "first", "second", "third", "fourth", "1", "2", etc. (if present) in the specification and claims of this application and the accompanying drawings above are used to distinguish similar objects and need not be used to describe a particular order or sequence. It should be understood that the data so used is interchangeable where appropriate so that embodiments of the present disclosure described herein can be implemented in an order except that illustrated or described in the text.

[0298] It should be understood that while the flow diagrams of embodiments of the present disclosure indicate the individual operational steps by arrows, the order in which these steps are performed is not limited to the order indicated by the arrows. Unless explicitly stated herein, in some implementation scenarios of embodiments of the present disclosure, the implementation steps in the respective flowcharts may be performed in other orders as desired. In addition, some, or all of the steps in each flowchart may include multiple sub-steps or multiple phases based on the actual implementation scenario. Some or all of these sub-steps or stages can be executed at the same moment, and each of these sub-steps or stages can also be executed at different moments separately. The order of execution of these sub-steps or stages can be flexibly configured according to requirements in different scenarios of execution time, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0299] The above-mentioned description and the drawings are provided merely as examples to help readers to understand the present disclosure, and they should not be interpreted or aim to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although some embodiments are provided, it is apparent for those skilled in the art to adopt other similar implementation means based on the technical idea of the present disclosure without departing from the technical concept of the solution of the present disclosure. Other similar implementation means based on the technical idea of the present application are adopted, and likewise belong to the protection scope of the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:receiving, from a base station, information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission;identifying an orthogonal sequence for an OCC unit based on the information;transmitting, to the base station, repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit based on the orthogonal sequence;wherein, in case that an uplink control information (UCI) is multiplexed in a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the UCI is multiplexed in all repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit.2.The method of claim 1,wherein the OCC unit includesLrepetitions of the PUSCH transmission, andwherein a value ofLcorresponds to an OCC length indicated based on downlink control information (DCI).3.The method of claim 1, wherein the information is downlink control information (DCI),wherein the DCI includes a field indicating an index of the orthogonal sequence.4.The method of claim 1, wherein the UCI includes at least one of:channel state information (CSI); ora hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).5.A method performed by a base station (BS), the method comprising:transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; andreceiving, from the UE, repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with an OCC unit based on an orthogonal sequence;wherein the orthogonal sequence for the OCC unit is based on the information,wherein, in case that an uplink control information (UCI) is multiplexed in a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the UCI is multiplexed in all repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit.6.The method of claim 5,wherein the OCC unit includesLrepetitions of the PUSCH transmission, andwherein a value ofLcorresponds to an OCC length indicated based on downlink control information (DCI).7.The method of claim 5, wherein the information is downlink control information (DCI),wherein the DCI includes a field indicating an index of the orthogonal sequence.8.The method of claim 5, wherein the UCI includes at least one of:channel state information (CSI); ora hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).9.A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, comprising:a transceiver; anda controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to:receive, from a base station, information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission,identify an orthogonal sequence for an OCC unit based on the information,transmit, to the base station, repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit based on the orthogonal sequence,wherein, in case that an uplink control information (UCI) is multiplexed in a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the UCI is multiplexed in all repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit.10.The UE of claim 9,wherein the OCC unit includesLrepetitions of the PUSCH transmission, andwherein a value ofLcorresponds to an OCC length indicated based on downlink control information (DCI).11.The UE of claim 9, wherein the information is downlink control information (DCI),wherein the DCI includes a field indicating an index of the orthogonal sequence.12.The UE of claim 9, wherein the UCI includes at least one of:channel state information (CSI); ora hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).13.A base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, comprising:a transceiver; anda controller coupled with the transceiver and configured to:transmit, to a user equipment (UE), information related to an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission; andreceive, from the UE, repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with an OCC unit based on an orthogonal sequence;wherein the orthogonal sequence for the OCC unit is based on the information,wherein, in case that an uplink control information (UCI) is multiplexed in a first repetition of the PUSCH transmission, the UCI is multiplexed in all repetitions of the PUSCH transmission associated with the OCC unit.14.The BS of claim 13,wherein the OCC unit includesLrepetitions of the PUSCH transmission, andwherein a value ofLcorresponds to an OCC length indicated based on downlink control information (DCI).15.The BS of claim 13, wherein the information is downlink control information (DCI),wherein the DCI includes a field indicating an index of the orthogonal sequence.

Images