Transmission power control

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for transmission power control. A method comprises: obtaining a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values; determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; and performing the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

Description

TRANSMISSION POWER CONTROLRELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to US provisional Application No. 63 / 698876 filed September 25, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.FIELD

[0002] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for transmission power control.BACKGROUND

[0003] Uplink Power control determines the transmission power for Physical (PHY)-layer uplink channels. Similarly, sidelink power control determines the transmission power for PHY-layer sidelink channels. A good power control algorithm and parameterization policy aims to meet link quality targets such as Block Error Rate (BLER) or detection probability, meet throughput or spectral efficiency targets, limit interference and save energy (e.g., battery consumption).SUMMARY

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: obtain a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determine a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values; determine, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; and perform the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus1at least to: configure a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; and provide the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: obtaining, at the first apparatus, a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values; determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; and performing the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: configuring, by the second apparatus, a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; and providing the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for obtaining a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values; determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; and performing the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for configuring a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; and providing the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.2

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

[0011] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0012] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0014] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

[0015] FIG.2 illustrates a signaling chart for a communication in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] FIG. 3 illustrates an example diagram of a link characteristic measurement in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG.4 illustrates an example diagram of a look-up table in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG.6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.3

[0022] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0024] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0025] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0026] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”…, etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0027] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list4of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0028] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0029] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0030] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause a first apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0031] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term5circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0032] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), 5.5G, the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0033] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves6like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0034] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0035] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.7

[0036] FIG.1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a first apparatus 110 which may be, for example, a terminal device. In some example embodiments, the terminal device may also be discussed as a UE.

[0037] The communication network 100 may further comprise a second apparatus 120, which may be, for example, a network device. In some example embodiments, the network device may be discussed as a BS, a gNB, or an eNB.

[0038] A serving area provided by the first apparatus 110 is called a cell 102. The second apparatus 120 may communicate with the first apparatus 110 within the cell 102. The cell currently serving the second apparatus 120 may be considered as a serving cell.

[0039] In some scenarios, the first apparatus 110 may determine a transmit power for a transmission of the first apparatus 110, such as an uplink transmission to the second apparatus 120 or other network node(s), or a sidelink transmission to other terminal device(s). The determined transmission power should not exceed a maximum transmission power allowed for a transmission the first apparatus 110.

[0040] In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first apparatus 110 to second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) apparatus (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) apparatus (or a receiver). In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX apparatus (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX apparatus (or a receiver).

[0041] It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG.1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0042] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth8generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0043] As described above, uplink power control may determine the transmission power for physical (PHY)-layer uplink channels. Similarly, sidelink power control may determine the transmission power for PHY-layer sidelink channels.

[0044] In cellular communications systems, the transmission power of the UE may be governed by a standard-specified formula that considers a target unit bandwidth receive power, pathloss estimate, transmission bandwidth, maximum output power, and static and dynamic power offsets. The power offset may be denoted as ∆^^,^,^,^^^^, which may be specified by the base station. ∆^^,^,^,^^^^may represent a power offset ^ for active UL BWP ^ of carrier ^ of serving cell ^.

[0045] The underlying principle for the ∆^^,^,^,^^^^ formulation is to provide aprogressively higher transmit power for higtion and Coding Schemes (MCSs) and higher Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO) ranks to achieve higher Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) and thus achieve roughly similar BLER across MCSs and ranks.

[0046] There are some drawbacks of the current 3GPP ∆^^,^,^,^^^^ such as (1) theShannon limit theorem assumes an Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel which is only practical under a non-fading environment; (2) the range of values is limited; (3) The power offset cannot be tailored for a target BLER and the MIMO equalizationand codeword decoding characteristics of the receiver; and (4) ∆^^,^,^,^^^^ is onlydefined for rank 1.

[0047] Enabling a bit per Resource Element (BPRE)-dependent power offset ∆^^,^,^,^^^^9would allow an operator / network to have a reduced-interference and / or higher energy-saving power control policy if coupled with a corresponding link adaptation and scheduling policy. However, partially due to the drawbacks of the 3GPP ∆^^,^,^,^^^^ formulation (which are explained above), there has been little to no interest from operators and vendors to enable it.

[0048] The challenge is to define a concise and customizable BPRE-dependent power offset that would be suitable to most channel conditions and target BLERs. Furthermore, a link adaptation and closed-loop power control should interwork with the customizable power offset to maximize the user throughputs and minimize energy consumption.

[0049] In accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for transmission power control, especially by considering the power offset value with link adaptation.

[0050] Link adaptation used herein may refer to the selection of modulation waveform type and code rate. In some contexts, the MIMO rank and transmission bandwidth are selected together with the modulation and code rate. In cellular communications, it is typically the base station that selects these parameters whereby they are dynamically selected to achieve link quality and spectral efficiency requirements of the channel and payload.

[0051] Especially for the uplink and sidelink, because the power control is dynamic and the received SINR depends on the transmission power and transmission power spectral density, the link adaptation needs to operate with the knowledge of the power control policy.

[0052] In the solution proposed in the present disclosure, the first apparatus obtains a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers. Moreover, in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, the first apparatus determines a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values. Additionally, the first apparatus determines, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission. perform the transmission based on the determined transmission power. Furthermore, the first apparatus performs the transmission based on the determined10transmission power.

[0053] Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0054] Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a signaling chart 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG.1 to describe the signaling chart 300. It is noted that the order of acts / steps shown in FIG. 2 is only an example not limitation.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 2, the second apparatus 120 may measure or estimate (202) link BLER characteristics. As an option, the second apparatus 120 may measure the link BLER characteristics by itself, e.g., based on certain reference signals. It is also possible that the second apparatus 120 may obtain a measurement or an estimation of the BLER characteristic of the channel from another entity.

[0056] The power offset value may apply to total output power across all transmit antennas. It is an offset derived from the relative values of the required SINR to achieve a target BLER. The power offset values depends on the precoding scheme, the transmit power imbalance across the transmit antennas, the channel characteristics, the receive circuitry characteristics, the beamforming and MIMO equalization characteristics, and the decoder properties and practical limitations. Therefore, a measurement of link characteristic may help the second apparatus 120 to configure suitable power offset values.

[0057] FIG.3 illustrates a diagram of an example of link characteristic measurement in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the table 300 of required SINR values to achieve 1% BLER for Low-Density Parity-Check codes (LDPC) encoding under AWGN channel for different codeword sizes and different code rates. Apparently, to achieve the target BLER, higher SINR is required for smaller codebook sizes and higher code rates.

[0058] Then the second apparatus 120 may generate (204) at least one look-up table of a plurality of power offset values. The power-offset values may be determined either by pre-computation or by link characteristic measurement, e.g., results of the measurement or estimation of the link characteristic.11

[0059] In some example embodiments, the look-up table may cover a wide range of spectral efficiencies^^^, sizes^^^, and ranks^^^. However, the look-up table can be collapsed to less dimensions by configuration.

[0060] For example, the plurality of power offset values in the at least one look-up table may be associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers. As an example, each look-up table may be corresponding to a spatial layer, i.e., the MIMO rank of the transmission. In some example embodiments, a spatial layer may be a transmission layer or corresponds to a transmission layer.

[0061] In some example embodiments, a quantity of the spectral efficiency mentioned hereinafter may refer to transport block bits per resource element (BPRE), BPRE per spatial layer or BPRE per MCS.

[0062] In some example embodiments, a quantity of resource usage mentioned hereinafter may refer to the number of transmission resources, such as the number of REs, the number of REs per spatial layer, the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) or resource blocks (RBs) or the number of RBs per spatial layer, or a codeword size or a codeword size per spatial layer.

[0063] FIG.4 illustrates a diagram of an example of look-up tables in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the power offset is applied for each codeword of a transmission. In case a transmission would use multiple simultaneous codewords, the total power offset is calculated from the sum of the power offsets for each codeword.

[0064] As shown in FIG.4, each of look-up tables 401-1 to 401-N may correspond to a spatial layer, i.e., a rank. For example, the look-up tables 401-1 corresponds to rank 1 and the look-up tables 401-N corresponds to rank N. The dimension for each look-up table may be associated with the quantities of the spectral efficiency (e.g., BPRE per spatial layer or per MCS) and the quantities of resource usage (e.g., the number of REs per spatial layer). It can be seen that different power offset values are set with respect to the quantities of the spectral efficiency, the quantities of resource usage and different rank.

[0065] In some other example embodiments, the look-up table may be configured per at12least one of: antenna port group (including one or more antenna ports), per antenna panel, reference signal resource or resource set, Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource, SRS resource set, or per transmission-reception point (TRP).

[0066] In some other example embodiments, a power offset may be determined for or per group of (PUSCH / UL) transmission layers or group of antenna ports. This may be the case e.g., if the (PUSCH / UL) transmission carries at least two codewords or transport blocks each of which carried through a transmission layer group or antenna port group. The UE may then determine the power for each transmission layer group or antenna port group at least based on the respective / corresponding power offset.

[0067] The plurality of power-offset values or the corresponding look-up table may be common for different transmission layer groups or antenna port groups. Alternatively, different plurality of power offset values or look-up tables may be obtained / configured / indicated for each layer group or antenna port group.

[0068] A transmission layer group may comprise one or more transmission layers. An antenna port group may comprise one or more antenna ports.

[0069] In some example embodiments, to reduce bit requirements (i.e. compression), the second apparatus 120 may encode (206) at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values. The allowed type(s) of encoding can be specified.

[0070] In some embodiments, the allowed type(s) of encoding can be specified by the standardization. For example, there are some properties useful to improve look-up table coding efficiency:

[0071] (a) Power offset is monotonically increasing with respect to code rate and

[0072] (b) Power offset is monotonically increasing with respect to rank and

[0073] (c) Power offset may be monotonically increasing with respect to size at certain ranges and

[0074] (d) Power offset is quasi-constant (i.e. nearly flat) with respect to allocation size (number of REs or PRBs) at large number of REs. I.e. very large sizes may be omitted and

[0075] (e) Power offsets may be quantized and may be restricted to be semi-positive values and13

[0076] (f) Power offset quantization of 0.1 dB or even higher may be sufficient, as PHR and PCMAX values may have a granularity of 1 dB.

[0077] In some other example embodiments, a lossless or lossy encoding function can be used.

[0078] Then the second apparatus 120 may transmit (208) the at least one look-up table to the first apparatus 110 from the second apparatus 120. For example, the at least one look-up table may be transmitted via a radio resource control (RRC) signaling, e.g., along with RRM measurement configuration. In this way, the percentage of additional overhead to the RRC Reconfiguration message by the table may be small. In addition, the table(s) can be applied for a long period, such as for the duration of the call, so the overall required overhead to signal / update the table(s) would be relatively low.

[0079] As another option, the at least one look-up table may be transmitted via a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) or via downlink control information (DCI).

[0080] Although the at least one look-up table may be configured by the second apparatus 120 and transmitted from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus, as described above, it is also possible that the at least one look-up table may be pre-configured, e.g., in the standard, which means the first apparatus 110 may obtain the at least one look-up table, e.g., one or more default look-up tables, without additional signaling(s) from the second apparatus 120.

[0081] Furthermore, the first apparatus 110 may be configured with multiple power offset tables (for a given configuration or setting) and may be provided indication indicative of index or identifier of applicable table (for that configuration or setting).

[0082] In a case that the look-up table is received, the first apparatus 110 may send (212) an acknowledge to the second apparatus 120. If the look-up table or parts of the look-up table are encoded, the first apparatus 110 may decode the look-up table to retrieve the power offset values. In some example embodiments, a method and parameters of the decoding may be included in the header of the encoded table.

[0083] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (216) scheduling request or buffer status report (BSR) to the second apparatus 120 for requesting resource allocation for the transmission of the first apparatus 110.

[0084] Optionally, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (218) power headroom and14maximum transmit power to the second apparatus 120.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may perform (220) link adaptation and resource allocation (and closed loop power control) based on the power headroom and maximum transmit power. The closed loop power control may be used to adjust to dynamic fluctuations of the interference or to the bias in the pathloss measurement to reach the target BLER. The details of the link adaptation performed by the second apparatus 120 will be further described later.

[0086] Still referring to FIG.2, the second apparatus 120 may send (222) a grant for a transmission to the first apparatus 110. For example, the grant for the transmission may include a grant for an uplink transmission, a grant for a sidelink transmission or a grant for a re-transmission. That is, the grant may be used by the first apparatus 110 for a transmission to the second apparatus 120 or a further network node, or for a sidelink transmission to a further terminal device. Furthermore, for a resource allocation mode in sidelink, the first apparatus 110 may also obtain, from the second apparatus 120, an indication of autonomously scheduling of the transmission, the first apparatus 110 may determine resources for the transmission autonomously, e.g., based on a certain resource pool.

[0087] When granted a transmission, the first apparatus 110 may calculate (224) the power offset and transmit power for the grant. For example, the first apparatus 110 may determine, from the grant or autonomously scheduled resources, one or more parameters such as an amount of allocated resource e.g., the number of REs or PRBs allocated for the transmission, a MCS for the transmission, or the respective number of spatial layers. In some example embodiments, the calculation of the power offset may be accomplished by interpolating or extrapolating the look-up table by using the one or more parameters obtained from the grant.

[0088] In some example embodiments, ∆^^,^,^,^^^^ may be calculated from or based on the look-up table, e.g., from interpolarapolation of the power offset look-up table using the parameters of the allocation to the UE. Uplink Grant parameters such as MCS, starting symbol, number of symbols, etc., are converted into the input parameters of the look-up table.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may select the power offset from the plurality of power offset values in the look-up table. For example, if at15least one of a quantity of the spectral efficiency, a quantity of the resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers corresponding to a candidate power offset value in the plurality of power offset values matches the one or more parameters obtained from the grant, the first apparatus 110 may select the candidate power offset value as the target power offset value.

[0090] Upon determining the power offset value to be used, the first apparatus 110 may calculate the transmit power, e.g., the first apparatus 110 follows an equation of the power control as below:^ ^PCMAX,f , c( i ), ^ PPUSCH,b ,f,c(i,j,q d, l) = min ^^ (1 P (jµPUSCH ^ )^^O_PUSCH,b,f,c )+10log10(2 ⋅MRB,b ,f,c(i))+ αb,f ,c(j)⋅PLb,f ,c(qd)+∆TF,b,f,c(i) + fb,f , c(i, l )^^^PUSCH,^,^,^^^, ^, ^^, ^^ is the transmission power of the PUSCH transmission occasion ^for active UL BWP ^ of carrier ^ of serving cell ^ using parameter set configurationwith index ^ and PUSCH power control adjustment state with index ^.For the Open-loop Power Control Terms:a. ^CMAX,^,^^^^ is the maximum output power configured for the first apparatus 110. b. ^O_PUSCH,^,^,^^^^ is the target receive power for a unit resource block bandwidth. c. 2^^$%&'(^ ,!,",#^^^ is the transmission bandwidth of the PUSCH resource assignmentexpressed in terms of number of PUSCH RBs (^) and subcarrier spacing relative tothe smallest subcarrier spacing ^i. e. smallest: 2^ = 1^.d. 4^,^,^^^^is the pathloss compensation factor.e. ^5^,^,^^^^^ is the downlink pathloss estimate in dB calculated by the first apparatus 110 using reference signal (RS) index ^^for the active DL BWP.f. ∆^^,^,^,^^^^is the power-offset determined by the first apparatus based on the at least one look-up table.For the Closed-loop Power Control Term:g. PUSCH power control adjustment state ^^,^,^^^, ^^ for active UL Bandwidth Part(BWP) ^ of carrier ^ of serving cell CH transmission occasion ^.16

[0091] The first apparatus 110 then applies the power offset to calculate the transmit power based on the equation (1). It is to be understood that the maximum (and minimum) transmit power constraints should be satisfied.

[0092] That is, if the determined transmission power does not exceed the maximum transmission power, the first apparatus 110 may perform (226) a transmission using the calculated transmit power (uplink or sidelink). In other words, the first apparatus 110 may transmit to the second apparatus 120, or another base station or another UE or relay using the calculated output power.

[0093] In some example embodiments, if the grant obtained from the second apparatus 120 is allocated for a re-transmission, the first apparatus 110 may determine the target power offset value for the re-transmission that is same or different with an initial transmission.

[0094] For example, retransmissions may not necessarily need to follow the power-offset used by the initial transmission to customize its BLER target or resource usage. The first apparatus 110 may be configured or specified to use the power offset used by the initial transmission or to use a function of that offset to determine the transmit power for retransmission(s). In some (extreme) cases, a power offset table dedicated for retransmission(s) may be used.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the at least one look-up table configured by the second apparatus 120 or pre-configured, e.g., as one or more default look-up tables, may be dynamically updated.

[0096] For example, the first apparatus 110 may receive (228) an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values from the second apparatus 120.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may receive, from the second apparatus 120 via an RRC signaling or a medium access MAC CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers. In some example embodiments, the information may include one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.17

[0098] Then, the first apparatus 110 may calculate (230) the power offset and the transmit power using the updated table. It should be understood that one or more related radio resource management and radio resource control actions in the signaling chart 200 may be used for both uplink and sidelink transmission.

[0099] As described above, by specifying the table values for a common target BLER that can be customized for the specific channel condition of the cell, a consistent BLER can theoretically be achieved even if the transmit power were to be dynamically adjusted under varying MCSs, varying ranks, and varying number of PRBs.

[0100] The BLER consistency afforded by the power offsets can then be exploited by the link adaptation and scheduler design to increase multi-cell throughputs, decrease inter-cell interference, decrease MU-MIMO interference, and increase UE energy savings.

[0101] For example, the scheduler can choose to transmit with a large bandwidth but with low MCS and reduced transmission power, which can reduce interference and increase energy saving while still meeting the BLER requirement. In another example, the scheduler can choose to momentarily transmit with a higher MCS and higher rank to increase the number of co-scheduled UEs and so increase the cell throughput. An example of a link adaptation and resource allocation design will be further described in detail as below.

[0102] As mentioned above, a link adaptation, Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC) and a resource allocation scheme are provided. The scheme may use the proposed power offset model to reduce UE transmit power, reduce inter-cell interference, or increase cell throughput while maintaining the target BLER. The link adaptation may normalize the received SINR according to the transmission bandwidth, power headroom, maximum output power, and the proposed power control offset information. The normalized SINR is then averaged, corrected, and then rescaled to provide a list of maximum-bandwidth – maximum-MCS pairs at a given rank that satisfies the BLER requirements and UE’s power constraints. Furthermore, the link adaptation scheme can sort this list according to transmit power and provides this list to the scheduler.

[0103] In this proposed link adaptation scheme, it is assumed that the estimated received SINR at the time of future transmission is a function (typically average) of recent SINR samples that have been renormalized to the same assumption for transmit power and number of RBs. The general procedure of the link adaptation scheme is as follows:18

[0104] (1) Upon Reception of PUSCH or SRS transmissions:

[0105] (1-1) Take SINR measurements of past PUSCH or PUSCH DMRS or SRS transmissions and

[0106] (1-2) Normalize the SINR to a common transmit power and number of RB assumption. The power headroom and maximum transmit power reported by the UE may be used to calculate the normalization factor and

[0107] (1-3) Predict a future normalized SINR such as by taking a filtered average of the normalized SINRs and

[0108] (1-4) Use HARQ ACK / NACK to adjust OLLA correction factor (deltaSINR) or CLPC adjustment factor or both and

[0109] (2) At the time of scheduling for a future transmission:

[0110] (2-1) Apply corrections to the averaged normalized SINR. Correction factors may include MU-MIMO SINR correction, OLLA SINR correction (i.e. deltaSINR), slot- specific SINR correction, etc. and

[0111] (2-2) Renormalize the averaged normalize SINR according to the applied number of RBs, open loop power offset ∆^^,^,^,^^^^, (if any) additional closed loop powercontrol adjustment for the grant ^^,^,^^^, ^^. The power headroom and predicted maximumoutput power may be used to calculate the renormalization factor. This is the evaluation SINR and

[0112] (2-3) An allocation at a given number of RBs, rank, and MCS, OLPC power offset and CLPC adjustment is feasible if the evaluation SINR is equal to or greater than the required SINR for the allocation. The table (or model) for required SINRs which meet the BLER targets are kept by the base station. The link adaptation module will search for the at least 1 combination which satisfies the required TBS to fully or partially drain thedata buffer and whose 678^9:;<^^, ^, ^ , =>^?@^^ satisfies the required SINR. If therequired TBS is too large, then the maximum (or near maximum) achievable TBS is searched. The method of search is left to implementation. The link adaptation modulewill then generate a list of these combinations A = BCD, CE, … G, where each entry containsthe ^, ^, H values for the entry as well as the corresponding transmit power for the entry:CD = I^D, ^D, ^D , ^^J,DK.9

[0113] For a re-transmission, the allocation parameters such as MCS, number of PRBs, rank, may be derived from the initial parameters rather than following the Phase 2 procedure above.

[0114] The outer-loop link adaptation typically provides offsets to the SINR using HARQ ack / nack feedback. Such offsets may also be applied to the CLPC adjustment (LA Step 2-2) for the grant in order reach the target BLER.

[0115] The scheduler (i.e., resource allocation) can select any of the listed A combinations for the UE according to the total load of the cell. For example, at a low load scheduling instance, a combination that has low transmit power (but high RB requirement) can be selected to save energy and reduce interference, while at a high load instance, a combination that has a low RB requirement (but high transmit power) can be selected to drain the data-in-buffer of more UEs and thus achieve higher cell throughput. For a scenario wherein multiple UEs are scheduled, and a small amount of data is in the buffer, the scheduler can perform a policy which selects a combination from each UE’s list to increase or maximize a metric such as transmit power minimization while still guaranteeing that the BLER targets are achieved, and the buffers are drained.

[0116] The solutions proposed in the present disclosure overcomes the limitations of the power offset ∆^^,^,^,^^^^, which is the lack of specificity to meet the target BLER across a range of allocation parameters such as MCS and number of PRBs and rank. Therefore, since the power offset is not likely used commercially (i.e. ∆^^,^,^,^^^^,=0), when the UE is non-power-limited, there is no choice for the UE but tomit power when the transmission bandwidth is increased.

[0117] Through the present disclosure, given a finite amount of data in the buffer, when the UE is power-limited, at a given RF signal condition, the link adaptation and scheduler can have greater flexibility in using different combinations of MCS, rank, and number of resources, which can reach the same target BLER. The scheduler can then choose the best combination(s) of such parameters reduce the total UE transmit powers or satisfy delay and throughput constraints or both. Because the transmit power can be reduced, the inter-cell interference and MU-MIMO co-scheduled user interference can also be reduced, and system-wide throughput can increase.

[0118] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first20apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG.1.

[0119] At block 510, the first apparatus obtains a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers.

[0120] At block 520, in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, at block 530, the first apparatus determines a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values.

[0121] At block 540, the first apparatus determines, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission.

[0122] At block 550, the first apparatus performs the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0124] In some example embodiments, the look-up table is received via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a medium access control-control element, or downlink control information, DCI.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: obtaining at least one default look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers; and wherein the at least one default look-up table is pre-configured.

[0126] In some example embodiments, a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

[0127] In some example embodiments, a quantity of resource usage comprises one of21the following: the number of resource elements, REs, per spatial layer, the number of resource elements per spatial layer; the number of resource blocks, RBs, the number of resource blocks per spatial layer, a codeword size, or a codeword size per spatial layer.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving the grant for the transmission from the second apparatus; and determining, from the grant, one or more parameters comprises at least one of: the number of REs or PRBs allocated for the transmission; a MCS for the transmission, or the respective number of spatial layers; and in accordance with a determination that at least one of a quantity of the spectral efficiency, a quantity of the resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers corresponding to a candidate power offset value in the plurality of power offset values matches the one or more parameters, select the candidate power offset value as the target power offset value; or determining the target power offset value by interpolating or extrapolating at least one power offset value in the plurality of power offset values based on the one or more parameters.

[0129] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the determined transmission power does not exceed the maximum transmission power, using the determined transmission power for the transmission.

[0130] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: receiving, from the second apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values; and using the update for calculating a further transmission power for a further transmission.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the grant for the transmission comprises one of the following: a grant for an uplink transmission, a grant for a sidelink transmission or a22grant for a re-transmission.

[0134] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the grant is allocated for a re-transmission, determining the target power offset value for the re-transmission that is same or different with an initial transmission.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0136] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG.1.

[0137] At block 610, the second apparatus configures a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers.

[0138] At block 620, the second apparatus provides the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0140] In some example embodiments, the association is transmitted via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a medium access control-control element, or downlink control information, DCI.

[0141] In some example embodiments, a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

[0142] In some example embodiments, the quantity of resource usage comprises one of the following: the number of resource elements, REs, the number of resource elements per spatial layer; the number of resource blocks, RBs, the number of resource blocks per spatial layer, a codeword size, or a codeword size per spatial layer.23

[0143] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values.

[0145] In some example embodiments, the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0147] In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG.1.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for obtaining a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; means for in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values; means for determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; and means for performing the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

[0149] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.24

[0150] In some example embodiments, the look-up table is received via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a medium access control-control element, or downlink control information, DCI.

[0151] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining at least one default look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers; and wherein the at least one default look-up table is pre-configured.

[0152] In some example embodiments, a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

[0153] In some example embodiments, a quantity of resource usage comprises one of the following: the number of resource elements, REs, the number of resource elements per spatial layer; the number of resource blocks, RBs, the number of resource blocks per spatial layer, a codeword size, or a codeword size per spatial layer.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the grant for the transmission from the second apparatus; and means for determining, from the grant, one or more parameters comprises at least one of: means for the number of REs or PRBs allocated for the transmission; means for a MCS for the transmission, or means for the respective number of spatial layers; and means for in accordance with a determination that at least one of a quantity of the spectral efficiency, a quantity of the resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers corresponding to a candidate power offset value in the plurality of power offset values matches the one or more parameters, select the candidate power offset value as the target power offset value; or means for determining the target power offset value by interpolating or extrapolating at least one power offset value in the plurality of power offset values based on the one or more parameters.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the determined transmission power does not exceed the maximum transmission power, using the determined transmission power for the transmission.25

[0156] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0157] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values; and means for using the update for calculating a further transmission power for a further transmission.

[0158] In some example embodiments, the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the grant for the transmission comprises one of the following: a grant for an uplink transmission, a grant for a sidelink transmission or a grant for a re-transmission.

[0160] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the grant is allocated for a re-transmission, determining the target power offset value for the re-transmission that is same or different with an initial transmission.

[0161] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0162] In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG.1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120.

[0163] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for configuring a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; and means for providing the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.26

[0164] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0165] In some example embodiments, the association is transmitted via at least one of the following: a radio resource control, RRC, signaling, a medium access control-control element, or downlink control information, DCI.

[0166] In some example embodiments, a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the quantity of resource usage comprises one of the following: the number of resource elements, REs, per spatial layer, the number of resource elements per spatial layer; the number of resource blocks, RBs, the number of resource blocks per spatial layer, a codeword size, or a codeword size per spatial layer.

[0168] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values.

[0170] In some example embodiments, the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

[0171] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0172] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG.1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one27or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

[0173] The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

[0174] The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0175] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0176] A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for performing operations / acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.

[0177] The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG.2 to FIG.6. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.28

[0178] In some example embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0179] FIG.8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 stored thereon.

[0180] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0181] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed29within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0182] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0183] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0184] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0185] Further, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular30embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0186] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.31

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A first apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to:obtain a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers;in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determine a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values;determine, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; andperform the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

2. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the plurality of power-offset values comprises:receiving, from a second apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

3. The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the look-up table is received via at least one of the following:a radio resource control, RRC, signaling,a medium access control-control element, ordownlink control information, DCI.

4. The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the obtaining of the plurality of power-offset values comprises:obtaining at least one default look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers; and wherein the at least one default look-up table is pre-configured.

325. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-4, wherein a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

6. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-5, wherein a quantity of resource usage comprises one of the following:the number of resource elements, REs,the number of resource elements per spatial layer,the number of resource blocks, RBs,the number of resource blocks per spatial layer,a codeword size,a codeword size per spatial layer.

7. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-6, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive the grant for the transmission from the second apparatus; anddetermine, from the grant, one or more parameters comprises at least one of:the number of REs or PRBs allocated for the transmission;a MCS for the transmission, orthe respective number of spatial layers; andin accordance with a determination that at least one of a quantity of the spectral efficiency, a quantity of the resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers corresponding to a candidate power offset value in the plurality of power offset values matches the one or more parameters, select the candidate power offset value as the target power offset value; ordetermine the target power offset value by interpolating or extrapolating at least one power offset value in the plurality of power offset values based on the one or more parameters.

8. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that the determined transmission power does not exceed the maximum transmission power, use the determined transmission power for the transmission.

9. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:33receive, from the second apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

10. The first apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: receive, from the second apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values; anduse the update for calculating a further transmission power for a further transmission.

11. The first apparatus of claim 10, wherein the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

12. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-12, wherein the grant for the transmission comprises one of the following:a grant for an uplink transmission,a grant for a sidelink transmission ora grant for a re-transmission.

13. The first apparatus of any of claims 1-12, wherein the first apparatus is caused to: in accordance with a determination that the grant is allocated for a re-transmission, determine the target power offset value for the re-transmission that is same or different with an initial transmission.

14. The first apparatus of any of claim 1-12, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

15. A second apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to:configure a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; and34provide the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

16. The second apparatus of claim 15, wherein the second apparatus is caused to: transmit, to the first apparatus, at least one look-up table of the plurality of power offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

17. The second apparatus of claim 15 or 16, wherein the association is transmitted via at least one of the following:a radio resource control, RRC, signaling,a medium access control-control element, ordownlink control information, DCI.

18. The second apparatus of any of claims 15-17, wherein a quantity of the spectral efficiency comprises at least one of the following: transport block bits per resource element, BPRE or BPRE per spatial layer or modulation and coding scheme, MCS.

19. The second apparatus of any of claims 15-18, wherein the quantity of resource usage comprises one of the following:the number of resource elements, REs,the number of resource elements per spatial layer,the number of resource blocks, RBs,the number of resource blocks per spatial layer,a codeword size,a codeword size per spatial layer.

20. The second apparatus of any of claims 15-19, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:transmit, to the first apparatus via an RRC signaling or a MAC-CE or DCI, information of at least partially update of the plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of the respective quantities of spectral efficiency, the respective quantities of resource usage or the respective number of spatial layers.

21. The second apparatus of claim 20, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:35transmit, to the first apparatus, an update for at least partially updating at least one look-up table of the plurality of power-offset values.

22. The second apparatus of claim 21, wherein the information comprises one or more indices related to one or more look-up tables to be updated.

23. The second apparatus of any of claims 15-22, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

24. A method comprising:obtaining a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers;in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values;determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; andperforming the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

25. A method comprising:configuring a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; andproviding the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

26. A first apparatus comprising:means for obtaining a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers;means for in accordance with a determination that a grant for a transmission is obtained or a transmission is autonomously scheduled, determining a target power offset value based on one or more parameters of the transmission and the plurality of power-offset values;36means for determining, at least based on the target power offset value, a transmission power of the transmission; andmeans for performing the transmission based on the determined transmission power.

27. A second apparatus comprising:means for configuring a plurality of power-offset values associated with at least two of respective quantities of spectral efficiency, respective quantities of resource usage or a respective number of spatial layers; andmeans for providing the plurality of power-offset values to a first apparatus.

28. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 23 or the method of claim 24.37

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