Methods, communications devices, and infrastructure equipment

Abstract

Methods, communications devices, and infrastructure equipment for: receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency offset of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated offset frequency; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

Description

[0001] METHODS, COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES, AND INFRASTRUCTURE EQUIPMENT

[0002] The present application claims the Paris Convention priority of European patent application EP24204856.9, filed 4 October 2024, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

[0003] BACKGROUND

[0004] Field of Disclosure

[0005] The present disclosure relates to communications devices and infrastructure equipment of wireless communications networks and methods of operating such communications devices and infrastructure equipment.

[0006] Description of Related Art

[0007] The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present invention.

[0008] Previous generation mobile telecommunication systems, such as those based on the 3GPP defined UMTS and Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture, are able to support a wider range of services than simple voice and messaging services offered by previous generations of mobile telecommunication systems. For example, with the improved radio interface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE systems, a user is able to enjoy high data rate applications such as mobile video streaming and mobile video conferencing that would previously only have been available via a fixed line data connection. The demand to deploy such networks is therefore strong and the coverage area of these networks, i.e. geographic locations where access to the networks is possible, is expected to continue to increase rapidly.

[0009] Current and future wireless communications networks are expected to routinely and efficiently support communications with an ever-increasing range of devices associated with a wider range of data traffic profiles and types than existing systems are optimised to support. For example, it is expected future wireless communications networks will be expected to efficiently support communications with devices including reduced complexity devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, high resolution video displays, virtual reality headsets, extended Reality (XR) and so on. Some of these different types of devices may be deployed in very large numbers, for example low complexity devices for supporting the “The Internet of Things”, and may typically be associated with the transmissions of relatively small amounts of data with relatively high latency tolerance. Other types of device, for example supporting high-definition video streaming, may be associated with transmissions of relatively large amounts of data with relatively low latency tolerance. Other types of device, for example used for autonomous vehicle communications and for other critical applications, may be characterised by data that should be transmitted through the network with low latency and high reliability. A single device type might also be associated with different traffic profiles I characteristics depending on the application(s) it is running. For example, different consideration may apply for efficiently supporting data exchange with a smartphone when it is running a video streaming application (high downlink data) as compared to when it is running an Internet browsing application (sporadic uplink and downlink data) or being used for voice communications by an emergency responder in an emergency scenario (data subject to stringent reliability and latency requirements). In view of this there is expected to be a desire for current wireless communications networks, for example those which may be referred to as 5G or new radio (NR) systems I new radio access technology (RAT) systems, or indeed future 6G wireless communications, as well as future iterations I releases of existing systems, to efficiently support connectivity for a wide range of devices associated with different applications and different characteristic data traffic profiles and requirements. The desire to support these new use-cases and scenarios gives rise to new challenges for efficiently handling communications in wireless communications systems that need to be addressed.

[0010] SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0011] The present disclosure can help address or mitigate at least some of the issues discussed above.

[0012] Respective aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims.

[0013] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, but are not restrictive, of the present technology. The described embodiments, together with further advantages, will be best understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0014] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

[0016] Figure 1 schematically represents some aspects of an LTE-type wireless telecommunication system which may be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 2 schematically represents some aspects of an NR-type wireless telecommunications system which may be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of an example infrastructure equipment and communications device which may be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 4A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of applying Orthogonal Cover Codes (OCCs) to uplink repetitions transmitted by communications devices with no Carrier Frequency Offset (CFO);

[0020] Figure 4B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of decoding uplink repetitions with OCC applied transmitted by communications devices with no CFO;

[0021] Figure 5A is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of applying OCCs to uplink repetitions transmitted by communications devices with CFO;

[0022] Figure 5B is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of decoding uplink repetitions with OCC applied transmitted by communications devices with CFO; Figure 6 illustrates an example approach for a communications device to transmit an uplink transmission according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0023] Figure 7 illustrates a repeating DMRS structure according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0024] Figure 8 illustrates an example approach for a communications device to transmit an uplink transmission according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0025] Figure 9 illustrates an example method for a communications device according to the present disclosure;

[0026] Figures 10A and 10B illustrate repeating DMRS structures according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0027] Figure 11 illustrates an example approach for a communications device to transmit an uplink transmission according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0028] Figure 12 illustrates an example approach for a communications device to transmit an uplink transmission according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0029] Figure 13 illustrates a flow chart of a method for a communications device according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0030] Figure 14 illustrates a flow chart of a method for an infrastructure equipment according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0031] Figure 15 illustrates a flow chart of a method for a communications device according to an example of the present disclosure;

[0032] Figure 16 illustrates a flow chart of a method for an infrastructure equipment according to an example of the present disclosure.

[0033] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0034] Long Term Evolution Advanced Radio Access Technology (4G)

[0035] Figure 1 provides a schematic diagram illustrating some basic functionality of a mobile telecommunications network I system 6 operating generally in accordance with LTE principles, but which may also support other radio access technologies, and which may be adapted to implement embodiments of the disclosure as described herein. Various elements of Figure 1 and certain aspects of their respective modes of operation are well-known and defined in the relevant standards administered by the 3GPP (RTM) body, and also described in many books on the subject, for example, Holma H. and Toskala A [1], It will be appreciated that operational aspects of the telecommunications networks discussed herein which are not specifically described (for example in relation to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be implemented in accordance with any known techniques, for example according to the relevant standards and known proposed modifications and additions to the relevant standards.

[0036] The network 6 includes a plurality of base stations 1 connected to a core network 2, which may be for example an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). Each base station provides a coverage area 3 (i.e., a cell) within which data can be communicated to and from communications devices 4. Although each base station 1 is shown in Figure 1 as a single entity, the skilled person will appreciate that some of the functions of the base station may be carried out by disparate, interconnected elements, such as antennas (or antennae), remote radio heads, amplifiers, etc. Collectively, one or more base stations may form a radio access network.

[0037] Data is transmitted from base stations 1 to communications devices 4 within their respective coverage areas 3 via a radio downlink (DL). Data is transmitted from communications devices 4 to the base stations 1 via a radio uplink (UL). The core network 2 routes data to and from the communications devices 4 via the respective base stations 1 and provides functions such as authentication, mobility management, charging and so on. Communications devices may also be referred to as mobile stations, user equipment (UE), user terminal, mobile radio, communications device, and so forth. Services provided by the core network 2 may include connectivity to the internet or to external telephony services. The core network 2 may further track the location of the communications devices 4 so that it can efficiently contact (i.e. , page) the communications devices 4 for transmitting downlink data towards the communications devices 4.

[0038] Base stations, which are an example of infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, may also be referred to as transceiver stations, nodeBs, eNodeBs, eNB, gNodeBs, gNB and so forth. In this regard different terminology is often associated with different generations of wireless telecommunications systems for elements providing broadly comparable functionality. However, certain embodiments of the disclosure may be equally implemented in different generations of wireless telecommunications systems, and for simplicity certain terminology may be used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is to say, the use of a specific term in relation to certain example implementations is not intended to indicate these implementations are limited to a certain generation of network that may be most associated with that particular terminology.

[0039] New Radio Access Technology (5G)

[0040] Systems incorporating NR technology are expected to support different services (or types of services), which may be characterised by different requirements for latency, data rate and / or reliability. For example, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services are characterised by high capacity with a requirement to support up to 20 Gb / s. The requirements for Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) services are for one transmission of a 32 byte packet to be transmitted from the radio protocol layer 2 / 3 SDU ingress point to the radio protocol layer 2 / 3 SDU egress point of the radio interface within 1 ms with a reliability of 1 - 10-5 (99.999 %) or higher (99.9999%) [2],

[0041] An example configuration of a wireless communications network which uses some of the terminology proposed for and used in NR and 5G is shown in Figure 2. In Figure 2 a plurality of transmission and reception points (TRPs) 10 are connected to distributed control units (DUs) 41 , 42 by a connection interface represented as a line 16. Each of the TRPs 10 is arranged to transmit and receive signals via a wireless access interface within a radio frequency bandwidth available to the wireless communications network. Thus, within a range for performing radio communications via the wireless access interface, each of the TRPs 10, has a coverage area 12 where the aggregate of the coverage areas under the control of the DU forms a cell. As such, wireless communications devices 14 which are within a radio communications range provided by the coverage areas 12 can transmit and receive signals to and from the TRPs 10 via the wireless access interface. Each of the distributed units 41 , 42 are connected to a central unit (CU) 40 (which may be referred to as a controlling node) via an interface 46. The central unit 40 is then connected to the core network 20 (which may be for example referred to as 5GC) which may contain all other functions required to transmit data for communicating to and from the wireless communications devices and the core network 20 may be connected to other networks 30.

[0042] The elements of the wireless access network shown in Figure 2 may operate in a similar way to corresponding elements of an LTE network as described with regard to the example of Figure 1 . It will be appreciated that operational aspects of the telecommunications network represented in Figure 2, and of other networks discussed herein in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, which are not specifically described (for example in relation to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be implemented in accordance with any known techniques, for example according to currently used approaches for implementing such operational aspects of wireless telecommunications systems, e.g. in accordance with the relevant standards.

[0043] The TRPs 10 of Figure 2 may in part have a corresponding functionality to a base station or eNodeB of an LTE network. Similarly, the communications devices 14 may have a functionality corresponding to the UE devices 4 known for operation with an LTE network. It will be appreciated therefore that operational aspects of a new RAT network (for example in relation to specific communication protocols and physical channels for communicating between different elements) may be different to those known from LTE or other known mobile telecommunications standards. However, it will also be appreciated that each of the core network component, base stations and communications devices of a new RAT network will be functionally similar to, respectively, the core network component, base stations and communications devices of an LTE wireless communications network.

[0044] In terms of broad top-level functionality, the core network 20 connected to the new RAT telecommunications system represented in Figure 2 may be broadly considered to correspond with the core network 2 represented in Figure 1 , and the respective central units 40 and their associated distributed units I TRPs 10 may be broadly considered to provide functionality corresponding to the base stations 1 of Figure 1. The term network infrastructure equipment I access node may be used to encompass these elements and more conventional base station type elements of wireless telecommunications systems. Depending on the application at hand the responsibility for scheduling transmissions which are scheduled on the radio interface between the respective distributed units and the communications devices may lie with the controlling node I central unit and I or the distributed units I TRPs. A communications device 14 is represented in Figure 2 within the coverage area 12. This communications device 14 may thus exchange signalling with the central unit 40 in the coverage area 12 via one of the distributed units I TRPs 10 associated with the coverage area 12.

[0045] It will further be appreciated that Figure 2 represents merely one example of a proposed architecture for a new RAT based telecommunications system in which approaches in accordance with the principles described herein may be adopted, and the functionality disclosed herein may also be applied in respect of wireless telecommunications systems having different architectures.

[0046] Thus, certain embodiments of the disclosure as discussed herein may be implemented in wireless telecommunication systems I networks according to various different architectures, such as the example architectures shown in Figures 1 and 2. It will thus be appreciated the specific wireless telecommunications architecture in any given implementation is not of primary significance to the principles described herein. In this regard, certain embodiments of the disclosure may be described generally in the context of communications between network infrastructure equipment I access nodes and a communications device, wherein the specific nature of the network infrastructure equipment I access node and the communications device will depend on the network infrastructure for the implementation at hand. For example, in some scenarios the network infrastructure equipment I access node may comprise a base station, such as an LTE- type base station 1 as shown in Figure 1 which is adapted to provide functionality in accordance with the principles described herein, and in other examples the network infrastructure equipment may comprise a control unit I controlling node 40 and / or a TRP 10 of the kind shown in Figure 2 which is adapted to provide functionality in accordance with the principles described herein.

[0047] A more detailed diagram of some of the components of the network shown in Figure 2 is provided by Figure 3. In Figure 3, a TRP 10 as shown in Figure 2 comprises, as a simplified representation, a wireless transmitter 30, a wireless receiver 32 and a controller or controlling processor 34 which may operate to control the transmitter 30 and the wireless receiver 32 to transmit and receive radio signals to one or more UEs 14 within a coverage area 12 formed by the TRP 10. As shown in Figure 3, an example UE 14 is shown to include a corresponding transmitter 49, a receiver 48 and a controller 44 which is configured to control the transmitter 49 and the receiver 48 to transmit signals representing uplink data to the wireless communications network via the wireless access interface formed by the TRP 10 and to receive downlink data as signals transmitted by the transmitter 30 and received by the receiver 48 in accordance with the conventional operation.

[0048] The transmitters 30, 49 and the receivers 32, 48 (as well as other transmitters, receivers and transceivers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may include radio frequency filters and amplifiers as well as signal processing components and devices in order to transmit and receive radio signals in accordance for example with the 5G / NR standard. The controllers 34, 44 (as well as other controllers described in relation to examples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU, or a dedicated chipset, etc., configured to carry out instructions which are stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory. The processing steps described herein may be carried out by, for example, a microprocessor in conjunction with a random access memory, operating according to instructions stored on a computer readable medium. The transmitters, the receivers and the controllers are schematically shown in Figure 3 as separate elements for ease of representation. However, it will be appreciated that the functionality of these elements can be provided in various different ways, for example using one or more suitably programmed programmable computer(s), or one or more suitably configured application-specific integrated circuit(s) I circuitry I chip(s) I chipset(s). As will be appreciated the infrastructure equipment I TRP I base station as well as the UE I communications device will in general comprise various other elements associated with its operating functionality.

[0049] As shown in Figure 3, the TRP 10 also includes a network interface 50 which connects to the DU 42 via a physical interface 16. The network interface 50 therefore provides a communication link for data and signalling traffic from the TRP 10 via the DU 42 and the CU 40 to the core network 20.

[0050] The interface 46 between the DU 42 and the CU 40 is known as the F1 interface which can be a physical or a logical interface. The F1 interface 46 between CU and DU may operate in accordance with 3GPP technical specifications [3] and [4], and may be formed from a fibre optic or other wired or wireless high bandwidth connection. In one example the connection 16 from the TRP 10 to the DU 42 is via fibre optic. The connection between a TRP 10 and the core network 20 can be generally referred to as a backhaul, which comprises the interface 16 from the network interface 50 of the TRP 10 to the DU 42 and the F1 interface 46 from the DU 42 to the CU 40.

[0051] As will be appreciated by those acquainted with 5G architecture, the CU 40 may be a logical node which hosts Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocols, Service Data Adaptation Protocols (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocols (PDCP) of a gNB. Alternatively, the CU 40 may be a logical node which hosts RRC and PDCP protocols of an en-gNB (which is a gNB that is able to connect with both EPC and eNBs and can be understood as being, for example, a secondary node (SgNB) used in dual connectivity scenarios). The CU 40 partly controls the operation of one or more DUs 40 and terminates the F1 interface 46 for the DUs that it controls. The DU 42 may be a logical node which hosts Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical (PHY) layers of a gNB or en-gNB. The operation of the DU 42 is partly controlled by the CU 40 for which the DU 42 terminates the F1 interface 46.

[0052] Although not shown in Figures 2 or 3, it will be familiar to those acquainted with 5G architecture that the CU 40 may be further split into a CU-CP which performs the control plane functions of the CU 40 and a CU-UP which performs the user plane functions of the CU 40 (see for example, [5]). In more detail, the CU-CP may be a logical node hosting an RRC protocol and a control plane part of a PDCP protocol of the CU 40 for the gNB or en-gNB. The CU-CP terminates an E1 interface connected with the CU-UP and an F1-C interface connected with the DU 42. As will be appreciated, the F1-C interface carries control plane signalling of the F1 interface 46. The CU-UP may be a logical node which hosts a user plane part of a PDCP protocol of the CU 40 for an en-gNB. Alternatively, the CU-UP may be a logical node which hosts a user plane part of the PDCP protocol and an SDAP protocol of the CU 40 for a gNB. The CU-UP terminates an E1 interface connected with the CU-CP and an F1-U interface connected with the DU 42. As will be appreciated, the F1-U interface carries user plane signalling of the F1 interface 46.

[0053] A constant objective in wireless communications is to increase the capacity, efficiency and reliability of communications in wireless communications networks. Increasing communications efficiency includes efficiently using physical resources (i.e. time and frequency resources) for transmitting wireless communications. One way of increasing wireless communications efficiency is to “multiplex” transmissions. As will be understood by a person skilled in the art, multiplexing means using the same physical resources for different transmissions. Furthermore, one way to increase reliability is to transmit transmissions as “repetitions” or repeated transmissions to increase the likelihood that at least one of the repetitions will be successfully received or that the sum of the repetitions will be successfully received. As will be explained in more detail below, recent proposals suggest applying orthogonal cover codes (OCCs) to uplink repetitions and then multiplexing the encoded uplink repetitions. The application of OCCs enables data transmitted by different devices in the multiplexed signal to be retrieved at the receiver end.

[0054] Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC)

[0055] The Internet of Things Non-Terrestrial Network (loT-NTN) work item description (WID) [6] describes the justification on the need for uplink capacity enhancement:

[0056] Narrowband-loT (NB-loT) NTN is already being deployed in current wireless communications networks. In these early and upcoming deployments, it is clearly emerging that loT-NTN, in particular NB-loT, will have to support massive capacity in terms of number and types of UE, some of which will have worse characteristics than others (e.g. low cost devices, wearables, etc). Multiplexing of UEs by usage of orthogonal cover codes (OCC) for narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPLISCH) format 1 and narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) should therefore be studied and, if beneficial, specified.

[0057] Furthermore, the Internet of Things Non-Terrestrial Network (loT-NTN) work item description (WID) [6] has the following objectives:

[0058] • Support of Capacity enhancements for uplink

[0059] — Study then specify, if beneficial, enhancements to enable multiplexing of uplink transmissions from multiple UEs (e.g. up to the min of 4 and the maximum allowed by the existing UL and DL signalling) in a single 3.75 kHz or 15 kHz subcarrier via orthogonal cover codes (OCC) for NPLISCH format 1 and NPRACH [RAN1 , RAN2];

[0060] — Multi-tone support for 15 kHz SCS should also be considered;

[0061] Note: The impact of impairment is expected to be taken into account.

[0062] Therefore, as mentioned above, a topic of interest in the support of capacity enhancements for uplink includes the multiplexing of uplink transmissions from multiple UEs using OCC. As will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, the use of OCCs increases uplink capacity by multiplexing uplink transmissions from multiple UEs on the same physical resources (i.e. time and frequency resources). OCC requires uplink transmissions to be “spread”. In other words, OCC requires uplink transmissions to comprise a set of uplink repetitions.

[0063] Figure 4A schematically illustrates an example of applying OCCs. In Figure 4A, UEO spreads an uplink signal “A” across two time resource units (such as a subframe) to form a first set of two uplink repetitions. UEO applies an OCC of (1 ,1) to the uplink repetitions in the first set to form two encoded uplink repetitions labelled “+A” to represent the effect of applying OCC (1 , 1) as shown. In other words, a first time resource unit of the time resource units comprises an encoded uplink repetition labelled “+A” and a second time resource unit of the time resource units comprises an encoded uplink repetition labelled “+A”. UE1 spreads an uplink signal “B” across the two time resource units (such as a subframe) to form a second set of two uplink repetitions. UE1 applies an OCC of (1 ,-1) to the uplink repetitions in the second set to form two encoded uplink repetitions with the encoded uplink repetition in the first time resource unit being labelled “+B” and the encoded uplink repetition in the second time resource unit being labelled “-B” to represent the effect of applying OCC(1 ,-1) as shown. As will be appreciated, OCC(1 ,1) is orthogonal to OCC(1 ,- 1). The encoded uplink repetitions from the first set are transmitted together in the first time resource unit while the encoded uplink repetitions from the second set are transmitted together in the second time resource unit. The transmissions from UEO and UE1 are transmitted at the same time and are hence combined at the eNB receive antenna due to the superposition of the signals at the receive antenna, producing a multiplexed uplink signal. In particular, “+A” is combined with “+B” in the first time resource unit to produce “A+B” and “+A” is combined with “- B” in the second time resource unit to produce “A-B”.

[0064] Figure 4B schematically illustrates an example of decoding OCCs. In Figure 4B, infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network (such as gNB or eNB, for example) receives the multiplexed uplink signal produced according to Figure 4A. The infrastructure equipment uses the OCC applied to the set of uplink repetitions (i.e. (1 ,1)) from UEO to decode the multiplexed uplink signal to retrieve “2A” as shown. The infrastructure equipment uses the OCC applied to the set of uplink repetitions (i.e. (1 ,-1)) from UE1 to decode the multiplexed uplink signal to retrieve ‘2B” as shown.

[0065] Accordingly, the procedure described with reference to Figure 4A and Figure 4B allows signals A from UEO and B from UE1 to be retrieved perfectly while permitting the sharing of physical (i.e. time and frequency) resources. As will be appreciated, the procedure described with reference to Figures 4A and 4B assumes there are no imperfections in the transmitter or receiver. However, one significant imperfection which exists in real transmitters and receivers is carrier frequency offsets (CFO). CFO can lead to phase rotation and loss of receiver orthogonality. This negatively impacts reception performance and limits the length of an OCC that can be used in practice.

[0066] Figures 5A schematically illustrates an example of applying OCCs when CFO is present. Figure 5A is based on Figure 4A so only the differences will be explained for brevity. In Figure 5A, CFO of UE1 causes phase rotation in the second time resource unit comprising the encoded uplink repetition labelled “-B”. The term “e70” represents the effect of the phase rotation on the encoded uplink repetition so that the phase rotated encoded uplink repetition is labelled " - Bej0". As shown in Figure 5A, the encoded uplink repetitions from the first set and the encoded uplink repetitions from the second set are combined to produce a multiplexed uplink signal at the eNB receive antenna, as described above. In particular, in the combined signal at the input of the infrastructure equipment receiver, “+A” is combined with “+B” in the first time resource unit to produce “A+B” in the first time resource unit and “+A” is combined with " - Bei0” in the second resource time unit to produce “A-Bei0” in the second time resource unit.

[0067] Figure 5B schematically illustrates an example of decoding OCCs when CFO is present. In Figure 5B, infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network (such as gNB) receives the multiplexed uplink signal produced according to Figure 5A. The infrastructure equipment uses the OCC applied to the UEO uplink repetitions (i.e. (1 ,1)) to decode the multiplexed uplink signal to obtain “2A+B(1 -ei0)” as shown. The term “B(1 -ei0)”may be regarded as an interference to the reception of the UL transmission from UEO. The infrastructure equipment uses the OCC applied to the UE1 uplink repetitions (i.e. (1 ,-1)) to decode the multiplexed uplink signal to obtain “B(1+ei0)” = “B+Bei0” as shown. The term Bei0may also be regarded as interference (or an imperfection) to the reception of the UL transmission from UE1.

[0068] As will be appreciated from Figures 5A and 5B, the presence of CFO causes phase rotation which in turn makes it more difficult to successfully extract signals A and B multiplexed from the two UEs. The issue of CFO may become more problematic for low cost devices that have lower frequency accuracy, leading to greater CFO and higher phase rotation errors. Furthermore, as higher carrier frequencies are used, the CFO may become larger for a given percentage CFO. For example, for a UE operating with 0.1 ppm frequency accuracy, the CFO is 200Hz at 2GHz and 400Hz at 4GHz. Hence, OCC are harder to apply at higher carrier frequencies.

[0069] Accordingly, when OCC is applied to two or more UEs, the orthogonality of OCCs degrades as time passes due to frequency offset errors of the UEs. Sources of the frequency offset errors may include the CFO of each UE’s local oscillator and the presence of Doppler in each UE. The frequency offset error due to Doppler may be reduced using pre-compensation schemes from Release 17 of the 3GPP standards relating to NTN, for example. As will be appreciated, for a group of two UEs, a worst case scenario occurs when one UE has the maximum positive CFO and the another UE has the maximum negative CFO. The maximum length of the OCC able to be used (and hence the maximum multiplexing gain) is limited by this worst case scenario.

[0070] As explained previously, the use of OCCs increases uplink capacity by multiplexing uplink transmissions from multiple UEs on the same physical resources (i.e. time and frequency resources). This improves communications efficiency. However, the presence of frequency offset errors such as CFO means that the length of OCCs are currently limited and uplink transmissions may be received which are unable to be successfully decoded due to the presence of the frequency offset errors. This means that physical resources may be wasted.

[0071] Accordingly, there is a need for improved infrastructure equipment, communications device and methods which can provide improved communications efficiency and some resilience to frequency offset errors.

[0072] Although Figures 4A, B and Figures 5A, B have been described with reference to a set of two repetitions, this is for ease of explanation only and it will be appreciated that more than two repetitions may be used. Although Figures 4A, B and Figures 5A, B have been described with reference to length-2 Walsh codes (i.e. (1 ,1) and (1 ,-1)), this is for ease of explanation only and it will be appreciated that other lengths and types of OCCs may be used such as Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) codes.

[0073] Although the issue of CFO in OCC is currently being studied for NTN use cases, specifically for loT-NTN, this issue applies equally to terrestrial networks.

[0074] CFO Consistency Requirements

[0075] The RAN4 specification TS 36.101 [7] section 6.5.1 F contains requirements on CFO consistency for NB-loT UEs:

[0076] This requirement states that the CFO will be between limits (e.g. between -0.1 ppm and +0.1 ppm), but does not specify anything about the consistency of the CFO during the observation interval. The RAN4 specification TS 38.101-1 [8] section 6.4.2.5 contains requirements on phase continuity for NR UL transmissions when DMRS bundling is applied:

[0077] As such, there is a phase continuity requirement when UL slots are consecutive, but there is no such requirement when UL slots are not consecutive. It is unclear whether a loss of phase continuity is due to a loss of frequency continuity across the gap between non-consecutive transmissions. A loss of frequency continuity across the gap would be one factor that could lead to a loss of phase continuity across the gap.

[0078] In addition, gaps in UL transmissions for NB-loT may be required for various specific reasons, including:

[0079] UL gaps for synchronization - Gaps around NPRACH occasions

[0080] UL timing adjustment gaps for NTN

[0081] - TDM DM RS that are muted

[0082] Guard periods for 3.75kHz UL transmissions Loss of Orthogonality

[0083] As discussed above, when there is a phase difference between the transmissions of UEs within an OCC pair, the orthogonality of the OCC code is lost and there is a performance degradation. As an example, assuming that orthogonality is lost when the relative phase difference exceeds 45 degrees, we can calculate the maximum timespan before orthogonality is lost:

[0084] 2TT x f x T = p

[0085] For a combined CFO error of 400Hz (for -200Hz CFO for UEO and +200Hz for UE1 at a carrier frequency of 2GHz and 0.1 ppm error): T = 0.3125ms.

[0086] This timespan covers the time of two OFDM symbols (2 / 7 ms) at a 3.75kHz sub-carrier spacing for NPUSCH. Hence, a symbol-level OCC scheme with a 2-symbol codeword is reasonably robust to the worst case CFO (+ / - 0.1 ppm). An OCC scheme spanning 4 OFDM symbols would require a CFO of + / -0.05ppm to achieve the same level of robustness. A slot-level OCC scheme, spanning 7 OFDM symbols (1 slot) would require a CFO error of less than + / -0.028ppm. This analysis only covers the case where the CFOs of the paired UEs are both worst case (one UE has a CFO of +0.1 ppm and the other UE has a CFO of -0.1ppm). When UEs have better CFO, the timespan before the degradation due to phase rotation is likely to be longer, or over a similar timespan there would be less phase rotation and hence less degradation.

[0087] Randomization of Frequency Offsets

[0088] When OCC are applied to two UEs, the orthogonality of the OCCs will degrade as time passes due to the frequency error of the two UEs. The source of the frequency errors is the frequency offset in each UE’s local oscillator and also the presence of Doppler in each UE (although the Doppler can be minimized using pre-compensation schemes from Rel-17 of NTN). There will be a pathologically bad case where one UE has the maximum positive CFO and the other UE has the maximum negative CFO. The maximum length of the OCC (and hence the maximum multiplexing gain) will depend on this worst case.

[0089] A slot-level OCC scheme is preferable to a symbol-level OCC scheme from the perspective of implementation and specification impacts (e.g., reusing the legacy resource allocation in the time domain for block-wise spreading of DFT-s-OFDM symbols with the OCC sequence, legacy Redundancy Version (RV) cycling, etc). However, a slot-level scheme suffers from the frequency offset issue described above to a greater extent since the time-span of the OCC for a slot-level scheme is longer. The issue is particularly acute when two UEs that are paired in the OCC have opposite frequency offsets (i.e. one UE has a large positive frequency offset and the other UE has a large negative frequency offset).

[0090] According to the present disclosure the frequency offsets of paired UEs during their transmissions may be randomized such that there are parts of the transmission that are not subject to the worst case frequency offsets. In particular, different portions of an uplink transmission may be transmitted at frequencies which are independent of one another.

[0091] This may be achieved in a number of different ways. In general, according to the techniques of the present disclosure, a UE may estimate the frequency of one or more reference signals received from an infrastructure equipment in order to determine a target frequency to use for an uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment. According to some examples, gaps may be inserted within an uplink transmission. Figure 6 illustrates an example of this approach. In particular, Figure 6 shows two portions of an uplink transmission (transmission portion 1 and transmission portion 2) from a UE separated by a gap. The presence of gaps in the uplink transmission causes phase discontinuity in the uplink transmission as well as potential frequency discontinuity. In particular, when a gap is present in an uplink transmission, the CFO in the two portions of the uplink transmission separated by gaps are independent of one another. As such, the actual frequencies on which the different portions of the uplink transmission are transmitted may be different to one another due to random CFO fluctuations. This is true despite the same target frequency being set for both portions of the uplink transmission in some cases. In randomizing the CFO in this manner, the frequency offset between multiple UEs in an OCC group (i.e. pair) will change during a transmission, such that any particularly unfavorable frequency offset between the UEs is not maintained for the duration of an uplink transmission.

[0092] In an example, the eNB may transmit the DL reference signals at 2GHz, where 2GHz is a known potential location for the DL reference signals since 2GHz is aligned with the channel raster in this example. The paired UL carrier frequency may be at 2.1GHz. The UE’s clock may be operating at 2.000000200GHz (i.e. 2GHz + 200Hz), but the UE may estimate that the DL reference signals are transmitted at 2.000000000GHz. The UE may then be allocated an NPUSCH transmission in the lowest subcarrier of the paired UL carrier frequency, i.e. it may be allocated an UL transmission at a frequency of 2.100000000GHz. The UE uses the estimate of the frequency of the DL reference signals (2.000000000GHz) in order to determine that it will transmit at 2.100000000GHz (i.e. set the target frequency to 2.100000000GHz). However, since the UE’s clock was actually operating at 2.000000200GHz when it made the estimate of the frequency resource used by the DL reference signals, the actual frequency that the UE uses for the UL transmission is 2.100000200GHz (i.e. 2.1GHz + 200Hz). In this example, the UE has used an actual UL frequency that has an error equivalent to a CFO of 200Hz.

[0093] Hence, the UE may calculate the target frequency for the UL transmission based on the estimate of the frequency of the DL reference signals. That is, the DL frequency of the DL reference signal may be indicative of the target UL frequency. For example, the target UL frequency may be equal to the sum of the DL frequency plus an offset. The offset may be a predetermined offset or may be based on the target frequency. For example, the offset may comprise the sum of the duplexing gap between the DL and UL (which is 0.1GHz for the example above) and the PRB (physical resource block) allocation (which starts at 0Hz in the example above).

[0094] Moreover, it should be noted that while a UE attempts to transmit its UL transmission at the target UL frequency, the actual frequency of transmission may be different due to the aforementioned error. In this regard, the actual UL frequency may be considered to be different to the target UL transmission. Alternatively, the UL transmission may be thought of as being transmitted at a particular target UL frequency, including a particular frequency error (which may be positive or negative).

[0095] As such, if the UE sets the same target frequency twice (e.g. it determines a first target frequency based on a first measurement of first DL reference signals and determines a second target frequency based on a second measurement of second DL reference signals, and it sets two target frequencies of 2.100000000GHz), the actual transmission frequency, as measured at the eNB, may be different for each target frequency, due to frequency estimation errors at the UE (for example, the actual transmission frequencies for the two target frequencies may be 2.100000200GHz and 2.099999800GHz, i.e. differ from the desired frequency by + / - a CFO of 200Hz). Each uplink transmission may be formed of a plurality of sections (i.e. time durations) to which an OCC applies. That is, an OCC may e.g. apply to a particular number of OFDM symbols or slots, and as such, each group of the particular number of OFDM symbols or slots may be referred to as an OCC section (also referred to as an OCC codeword). Each transmission portion of the uplink transmission then forms one or more OCC sections. Furthermore, each transmission portion of an uplink transmission may include one or more demodulation reference signals (DM RS) to allow the infrastructure equipment (referred to generally herein as an eNB for brevity) to decode the uplink transmission, as shown in Figure 6. The DMRS may be included in various locations within the uplink transmission and may apply to one or more OCC sections. Accordingly, each DMRS may be associated with one or more sets of OCC sections. In other words, each OCC section of the uplink transmission may be associated with a particular DMRS.

[0096] In such cases, the gaps may be inserted between sets of OCC sections relating to a common DMRS. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the first transmission portion includes two sets of OCC sections, where the first set of OCC sections is associated with DMRS1 , and the second set of OCC sections is associated with DMRS2. The first transmission portion is hence associated with both DMRS1 and DMRS2. Similarly, the second transmission portion includes two sets of OCC sections, where the first set of OCC sections is associated with DMRS3, and the second set of OCC sections is associated with DMRS4. The second transmission portion is hence associated with both DMRS3 and DMRS4. The gaps are therefore located between adjacent transmission portions of the uplink transmission, such that each transmission portion includes an integer number of sets of OCC sections.

[0097] The locations of the gaps may be signaled by the eNB to the UE. For example, the gap locations are signalled in terms of multiples of the timespan between associated DMRS. DMRS are considered to be associated when they are to be transmitted at the same transmit frequency. The eNB should be able to estimate CFO based on associated DMRS, since the UE does not change transmit frequency between associated DMRS, whereas the UE’s transmit frequency can change between DMRS that are not associated. Accordingly, gap locations may be signalled in terms of multiples of the timespan between two DRMS transmitted at the same frequency. For example, a pair of DMRS that are associated may be inserted in every two slots (i.e. a first DMRS symbol is located in the first slot and a second DMRS symbol is located in the second slot). In this case, the gap locations would be signalled in terms of multiples of 2 slots. In another example, the need for performing spreading as part of the OCC process has led to a proposal that the DMRS pattern repeats every 4 slots (after OCC spreading), as shown in Figure 7. Figure 7 shows a system operating at a 3.75kHz SCS for which the slot contains 7 OFDM symbols and the slot length is 2ms before spreading. Then, the slot length is 4ms after spreading. The slot following the righthand DMRS cluster would be followed by a slot that does not contain DMRS, as per the middle slot shown in Figure 7). In such a case, the gap locations would be signalled in terms of multiple of 4 slots (e.g. every 16ms for the example of Figure 7). It should be noted that the time taken to perform CFO estimation at the eNB can depend on the specific eNB implementation and on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions (i.e. more averaging of CFO estimates may be required at lower SNR). Hence, it is beneficial that the gap locations (and hence the period over which the UE should maintain a certain transmit frequency) can be signalled by the eNB.

[0098] As mentioned above, the presence of a gap between portions of an uplink transmission may alone lead to independence in the actual frequencies used for the uplink transmission. However, in some cases the UE may perform frequency re-synchronization during the gap between the portions of the uplink transmission. This frequency re-synchronization may include re-estimating the frequency of a downlink (DL) reference signal from the eNB to determine a new estimation of the target frequency to be used for subsequent portions of the uplink transmission. The reestimation of the target frequency within the gap is independent from an initial estimation of the target frequency (prior to the transmission of an initial portion of the uplink transmission). As such, the target frequencies for the various transmission portions are independent of one another and as such the actual frequencies used (including the CFO) are independent of one another.

[0099] Accordingly, in some cases the gap may be set to have a duration long enough to overlap with one or more DL reference signals to allow the UE to resynchronise to those DL reference signals. This would allow the UE to make a new frequency estimate during the gap, hence randomising the CFO from the UE. For example, the gap could be long enough to contain various reference signals, such as: NB-loT Reference Signal (NRS), NB-loT Secondary Synchronisation Signal (NSSS), NB-loT Primary Synchronisation Signal (NPSS). In another example, if the data is typically static and / or rarely changed (e.g., NB-loT Physical Broadcast Channel (NPBCH)) such a signal can also be used as the reference signal. In some cases, the gap may be long enough to contain two sets of a particular reference signal. Alternatively, the gap could overlap only a single set of DL reference signals and the UE could update its frequency estimate based on DL reference signal measurements that are made between DL reference signals that are located in different gaps. i.e. combine DL reference signals in multiple gaps. It should be noted that the eNB may align the UL transmissions and UL gaps with the DL reference signals such that the DL reference signals align with the UL gaps in the presence of significant propagation delay, also taking into account the half-duplex nature of the loT-NTN UE. In some cases, the UE’s performance of frequency re-synchronisation (i.e. performing a new estimate of the target frequency for the uplink transmission) within one or more (or all) time gap(s) may be mandated by UE specifications. Alternatively, the eNB may in some cases signal to the UE that frequency re-synchronisation should be performed within one or more (or all) time gap(s).

[0100] According to some examples, the gaps between transmission portions may be at different times for different UEs in an OCC group (i.e. OCC pair). During the gaps, the UEs may determine a new frequency estimate, as discussed above. By having offset gaps for the two UEs, there will be times when a UE transmitting an OCC section is not interfered with by the other UE also transmitting an OCC section. By having periods in which the OCC section is not interfered with (i.e. during the gaps), the decoding performance of the uplink transmissions is improved.

[0101] In such cases, the locations of the gaps (in time) may, for example, depend on the OCC (i.e. OCC codeword) that is assigned to the UE. For example, if the UE is assigned OCC [1 ,1], the gap is inserted every 2*n sets of DMRS pairs, whereas if the UE is assigned OCC [1 ,-1], the gap is inserted every 2*n+1 sets of DMRS pairs. Accordingly, UEs in an OCC group (i.e. pair) will each be assigned different (and orthogonal) OCCs and as such will have gaps in their uplink transmissions as different times.

[0102] Alternatively, the locations of the gaps (in time) may be different for different UEs due to an offset in the start time for the uplink transmissions for the UEs. In such cases, the gap location relative to the uplink transmission start time may be the same for the two UEs. The offsetting of the start times will mean that the actual gap locations are different, leading to the benefit discussed above, that by having some times at which the OCC codeword is not interfered with (i.e. during the gaps), the decoding performance by the eNB of the UEs’ transmissions is improved. The start time of the uplink transmission (e.g., a NPUSCH) may in some cases be set relative to a time of a downlink transmission (e.g. a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH)) scheduling the uplink transmission, or may be set in substantially any other way. Furthermore, the start time may in some cases depend on the OCC that is assigned to the UE. For example, if UE1 is assigned with OCC (1 ,1), the NPLISCH may starts 8 subframes after the NPDCCH, and if UE2 assigned with OCC (1 ,-1), the NPLISCH starts 8 subframes + OCC_offset after the NPDCCH. The value of OCC_offset can be fixed in the specifications or can be signalled in broadcast signalling (e.g. SIB).

[0103] Moreover, it should be noted that the use of different OCCs to indicate different start times for an uplink transmission may be applied to general implementations. In other words, this example is not limited to cases where gaps are inserted between portions of a transmission or more generally to examples addressing CFO from multiple UEs. Instead, the use of different OCCs to indicate different start times for an uplink transmission may be used generally for addressing scheduling challenges for OCC groups (i.e. pairs).

[0104] That is, to transmit an NPLISCH (or other UL transmission) at subframe n, an NPDCCH (or other downlink transmission scheduling the uplink transmission) is generally scheduled in subframe n- k. For OCC groups, it is desired to have two UEs each transmitting an NPUSCH at the same time. Accordingly, conventional techniques would require transmission of two NPDCCH at the same time (both ending in subframe n-k). However, this can lead to DL resource conflicts at the eNB. However, by setting the start time of the NPUSCH to be based on the particular OCC assigned to the UE, the NPDCCHs for the different UEs may be transmitted at different times, but may each schedule respective NPUSCHs that start at the same time. For example, this may allow the NPDCCH for UE1 to be transmitted such that it ends at subframe n-k and the NPDCCH for UE2 to be transmitted at subframe n-k-OCC_offset. This would avoid having to send two NPDCCH at the same time, which would cause resource conflict in the downlink.

[0105] While the use of gaps between different portions of an uplink transmission, as discussed above, is one way of randomizing the frequency offsets of paired UEs, other techniques may be used in addition or alternatively to the use of gaps between portions of a transmission. For example, a UE may perform multiple estimates of a target frequency for an uplink transmission, and may alternate between these multiple target frequency estimates when transmitting the uplink transmission accordingly. Figure 8 illustrates this example. In particular, a UE performs two (or more) separate frequency estimation processes (i.e. as discussed above, estimating the frequency of one or more downlink reference signals in order to determine a target frequency of an uplink transmission). These frequency estimation processes may both be performed after receipt of a DL transmission scheduling an uplink transmission or may both be performed prior to a performance of a random access (i.e. PRACH / NPRACH) procedure with the eNB, or the estimation processes may be distributed between these two time periods. The frequency estimates are made based on DL reference signals that are transmitted by the eNB according to known procedures. Example reference signals include NRS, NPSS and NSSS.

[0106] The frequency estimates are stored at the UE prior to the UL transmission. As shown in Figure 8, during the UL transmission, the UE transmits OCC sections of the UL transmission (or multiples of OCC sections) using the different frequency estimates that were determined. As the different frequency estimates are different from one another, the target frequencies for each portion of the UL transmission are different to one another, meaning that the actual frequency used for the different portions of the UL transmission (including CFO) are independent of one another. This introduces a degree of randomness to the offset between the actual frequency used and the frequency allocated by the eNB. Accordingly, the offset between the actual frequency used by different UEs is randomised, such that any particularly unfavorable frequency offset between the UEs is not maintained for the duration of an uplink transmission. While the example of Figure 8 and the present disclosure in general discuss the performance of two frequency estimations, it should be appreciated that other implementations are feasible. For example the UE may perform an estimate spanning the entire time between the DL transmission (e.g. NPDCCH) and the UL transmission (e.g. NPLISCH), i.e. using the first DL RS and the last DL RS, and another one using the 2ndDL RS and the 3rdDL RS.

[0107] Figure 9 illustrates a flowchart for an example process. The flow chart shows that at an initial stage, the UE performs measurements 901 , 903 on DL reference signals and determines 902, 904 two frequency estimates, FE1 and FE2. Once the UE starts transmission of the NPUSCH, OCC sections are prepared for transmission. Some OCC sections (OCC_A) are associated 905 with frequency estimate 1 and the oscillator is set to transmit 906 at FE1. The OCC sections are then transmitted at that frequency. Other OCC sections (OCC_B) are associated 907 with frequency estimate 2 and the oscillator is set to transmit 908 at FE2. The OCC sections are then transmitted at that frequency. It will be appreciated that other assignments of frequency estimate to OCC sections can be applied. For example, according to Figure 9, FE2 is determined immediately preceding OCC_A. It may hence be preferable to transmit OCC_A using FE2 as there is likely to be little frequency drift between determination of FE2 and transmission of OCC_A.

[0108] Some UE implementations can change the transmit oscillator frequency very quickly (e.g. within the cyclic prefix of an OFDM symbol). For these UE implementations, OCC sections transmitted with FE2 can follow OCC sections transmitted with FE1 immediately. However, for UE implementations that require a longer oscillator switching time between FE1 and FE2, a guard time can be inserted between OCC sections transmitted with FE1 and OCC sections transmitted with FE2. For such a UE implementation, it may be preferable to apply a transmission format where multiple OCC sections are transmitted with FE1 and then multiple OCC sections are transmitted with FE2 since this will minimise the number of guard times that need to be inserted.

[0109] According to some examples, the frequency estimates may be applied to OCC sections according to a known pattern. As such, the eNB may attempt decoding the UL transmission according to different hypotheses about the frequency offset applied by the UE. For example, if the UE determines two frequency estimates and transmits a transport block consisting of 16 OCC sections, the UE can apply the first frequency estimate to odd-numbered OCC sections and the second frequency estimate to even-numbered OCC sections. Some of the OCC sections will be transmitted with CFO1 and other OCC sections will be transmitted with CFO2. The likelihood that all of the OCC sections that are transmitted by the UE have a pathologically bad CFO compared to the OCC sections that are transmitted by the other UE is hence reduced. The diversity in CFO that this example causes should improve decoding resilience. In such cases a specification indicates that the frequency of a UE transmission is consistent for those OCC sections that are transmitted with the same frequency estimate.

[0110] In some cases, an eNB may measure the CFO of a UE as part of its demodulation process. This measurement may be performed based on DMRS that are transmitted by the UE. Once the CFO is estimated by the eNB, it can apply a CFO correction term to the channel that is estimated between the UE and eNB. Hence, consistency between the CFO that is applied to the OCC sections and the CFO that is applied to the DMRS may be required. The CFO estimation process used may be a known process, such as that described below in relation to Figures 10A and 10B, where Figure 10A illustrates an example DMRS pattern used for an NPUSCH with 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing. A potential DMRS pattern used in NPUSCH with 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing is then shown in Figure 10B. The eNB is able to calculate the CFO by measuring the phase difference between the DMRS and then dividing by the time between the DMRS. This algorithm works on the assumption that there is a constant frequency offset applied between the two sets of DMRS.

[0111] In some cases, a particular frequency estimate may be maintained for all OCC sections to which the DMRS apply. That is, the frequency estimate that is applied to the OCC sections is consistent with the frequency estimate that is applied to the DMRS surrounding those OCC sections, where in this example DMRS with different frequency estimates are transmitted sequentially (however other implementations are possible). This example is illustrated in Figure 11. Figure 11 shows that a first set of OCC sections are transmitted using frequency estimate 1 and the DMRS (DMRS1 , DMRS2) surrounding this first set of OCC sections also have frequency estimate 1 applied. In other words, frequency estimate 1 is applied to transmission portion 1 comprising the sets of OCC sections that are associated with DMRS1 and DMRS2. The eNB is hence able to channel estimate and perform CFO correction (to determine frequency estimate 1) based on these DMRS. A subsequent set of OCC sections have frequency estimate 2 applied and the DMRS (DMRS3, DMRS4) associated with these OCC sections also have frequency estimate 2 applied. In other words, frequency estimate 2 is applied to transmission portion 2 comprising the sets of OCC sections that are associated with DMRS3 and DMRS4. The eNB can decode these OCC sections based on channel estimates and CFO estimation based on these DMRS. Note that the whole pattern shown is repeated and that individual OCC sections are not shown in the figure due to space limitations. Instead, Figure 11 shows sets of OCC sections to which a particular DMRS applies (i.e. sets of OCC sections associated with a particular DMRS). In some cases, the eNB may average CFO estimates on consistent sets of DMRS associated with the same frequency estimate at the UE. For example, CFO can be averaged based on measurements of DMRS1 , DMRS2 and DMRS5, DMRS6 (not shown). These DMRS are part of the next repeating pattern of DMRS following DMRS3, DMRS4 and have frequency estimate 1 applied).

[0112] Furthermore, in some examples different frequency estimates may be applied to sets of DMRS and the frequency estimates also applied to OCC sections that are associated with that DMRS. In particular, each DMRS may be indexed and each DMRS associated with a frequency estimate based on said indexing. For example, even-indexed DMRS may be associated with frequency estimate 1 and odd-indexed DMRS may be associated with frequency estimate 2. Even-indexed OCC sections may then be associated with the even-indexed DMRS and odd-indexed OCC sections may be associated with frequency estimate 2. When the eNB decodes the NPLISCH, it may therefore estimate two sets of CFO: CFO associated with even-indexed DMRS, and CFO associated with odd-indexed DMRS. The channel estimates (including CFO correction) applied during the demodulation of the OCC sections may be based on the channel and CFO measured on the associated DMRS.

[0113] Accordingly, DMRS with different frequency estimates may be transmitted sequentially, or in an interleaved fashion. The interleaving example is illustrated in Figure 12. Figure 12 shows an NPLISCH transmission that is transmitted with two frequency estimates applied by the UE. A first frequency estimate is applied to DMRS1 and DMRS3 by the UE and a second frequency estimate is applied to DMRS2 and DMRS4 by the UE. The application of the frequency estimates is interleaved. The OCC sections are transmitted between the DMRS. The “zoomed” part of Figure 12 shows that even-indexed OCC sections are associated with frequency estimate 1 and odd- indexed OCC sections are associated with frequency estimate 2. The use of frequency estimate 1 and frequency estimate 2 is hence interleaved. In this example, transmission portion 1 is considered to comprise the OCC sections transmitted according to frequency estimate 1 , and transmission portion 2 is considered to comprise the OCC sections transmitted according to frequency estimate 2, as the actual transmission frequencies of the OCC sections in these different transmission portions are independent of one another.

[0114] The operation of the proposed methods may require signalling or exchange information between eNB and UE. In some examples, the eNB may provide an indication of the supported gaps mechanism in the network, indicating the times at which the UE should update transmission frequency, and indicating the position in the signalling flow at which the UE determines frequency estimates. In some examples, the UE may provide the UE capability related to the proposed method, such as

[0115] UE indicates capability of inserting gaps for frequency estimation. Some UE may require a gap, and some UE may have a shorter gap or not require a gap. This is particularly for a UE with an advanced I accurate local oscillator.

[0116] UE indicates capability of frequency estimation. The UE indicates when it is capable of frequency estimation. For example, the UE can indicate that it is capable of performing frequency estimation in gaps between sets of OCC codewords. In another example, the UE can indicate that it is capable of performing frequency estimation over a period of a certain number of DMRS (for example, UE1 could indicate that it will update its frequency estimation every 2 DMRS whereas UE2 could indicate that it will update its frequency estimation every 4 DMRS).

[0117] UE need for guard time before transmitting with a new frequency, the UE can signal its capability of whether it needs a guard time to allow its oscillator to transmit with a different frequency. The UE could additionally signal the length of this required guard time.

[0118] The above signalling can be provided via RRC messages. The RRC message signalling between eNB to UE that can take the form of system information (SI) or UE-specific signalling.

[0119] Those skilled in the art would further appreciate that such infrastructure equipment and / or communications devices as herein defined may be further defined in accordance with the various arrangements and embodiments discussed in the preceding paragraphs. It would be further appreciated by those skilled in the art that such infrastructure equipment and communications devices as herein defined and described may form part of communications systems other than those defined by the present disclosure.

[0120] Figure 13 illustrates a flow chart of a method 1300 for a communications device according to an example of the present disclosure. The method 1300 is as follows: receiving 1310, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determining 1320 , based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmitting 1330, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

[0121] Figure 14 illustrates a flow chart of a method 1400 for an infrastructure equipment according to an example of the present disclosure. The method 1400 is as follows: transmitting 1410, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmitting 1420, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmitting 1430 one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving 1440, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

[0122] Figure 15 illustrates a flow chart of a method 1500 for a communications device according to an example of the present disclosure. The method 1500 is as follows: receiving 1510, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determining 1520, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmitting 1530, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

[0123] Figure 16 illustrates a flow chart of a method 1600 for an infrastructure equipment according to an example of the present disclosure. The method 1600 is as follows: transmitting 1610, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmitting 1620, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmitting 1630 one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

[0124] The methods described herein may also be embodied or encoded in a computer-readable medium, such as a computer-readable storage medium, containing instructions. Instructions embedded or encoded in a computer-readable medium may cause a programmable processor, or other processor, to perform the method, e.g., when the instructions are executed. Computer- readable media may include non-transitory computer-readable storage media and transient communication media. Computer readable storage media, which is tangible and non-transitory, may include random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable read only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), electronically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a cassette, magnetic media, optical media, or other computer-readable storage media. The term “computer-readable storage media” refers to physical storage media, and not signals, carrier waves, or other transient media. As noted above, computer readable media may include transient communication media. Such communication media may occur within a single computer system or between multiple computer systems, and may take the form of transient signal-conveying media such as carrier waves and transmission signals.

[0125] It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity has described embodiments with reference to different functional units, circuitry and / or processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, circuitry and / or processors may be used without detracting from the embodiments.

[0126] Described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Described embodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computer software running on one or more data processors and / or digital signal processors. The elements and components of any embodiment may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed, the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units, circuitry and / or processors.

[0127] Although the present disclosure has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognise that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in any manner suitable to implement the technique.

[0128] Various examples of the present disclosure are set out in the following numbered clauses:

[0129] 1. A method of operating a communications device, the method comprising receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

[0130] 2. The method according to clause 1 , wherein setting the target frequency based on the estimated downlink frequency comprises: setting the target frequency to a sum of the estimated downlink frequency plus an offset.

[0131] 3. The method according to clause 1 or clause 2, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are separated by a time gap.

[0132] 4. The method according to clause 3, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission include two or more demodulation reference signals (DMRS).

[0133] 5. The method according to clause 4, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission.

[0134] 6. The method according to clause 5, wherein the indication of the timing of the time gaps comprises an indication of the timing and a number of associated DMRS.

[0135] 7. The method according to any of clauses 3-6, wherein the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission at least partially overlap with one or more downlink (DL) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

[0136] 8. The method according to clause 7, further comprising: performing, during the one or more DL OFDM symbols, frequency re-synchronisation, wherein performing frequency re-synchronisation comprises determining, based on one or more further signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the one or more DL OFDM symbols, a new target frequency for the communications device to transmit subsequent transmission portions of the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment.

[0137] 9. The method according to clause 8, comprising: determining, based on two or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the one or more DL OFDM symbols and during a single time gap, the new target frequency.

[0138] 10. The method according to clause 8, comprising: determining, based on two or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the DL OFDM symbols across a plurality of time gaps, the new target frequency.

[0139] 11. The method according to any of clauses 7-10, wherein the communications device performs the frequency re-synchronisation according to specifications.

[0140] 12. The method according to any of clauses 7-11 , further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication of the communication device’s capability to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the DL OFDM symbols overlapping with the time gap.

[0141] 13. The method according to any of clauses 3-12, wherein locations of time gaps between transmission periods for the communications device are different to locations of time gaps between transmission periods of another communications device of an OCC group to which the communications device and other communications device belong.

[0142] 14. The method according to clause 13, wherein the locations of the time gaps between transmission periods for the communications device are determined according to the indicated OCC for the communications device.

[0143] 15. The method according to clause 13, wherein a start timing of the first uplink transmission is determined according to the indicated OCC for the communications device.

[0144] 16. The method according to any of clauses 3-15, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication that the communications device is capable of transmitting the uplink transmission with the time gap between the first and second transmission portions.

[0145] 17. The method according to any of clauses 3-16, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the time gap.

[0146] 18. The method according to any preceding clause, wherein estimating a frequency of one or more signals comprises: estimating a first frequency of a first signal received from the infrastructure equipment; and estimating a second frequency of a second signal received from the infrastructure equipment; wherein setting the target frequency comprises: setting a first target frequency based on the estimated first frequency; and setting a second target frequency based on to the estimated second frequency; and wherein transmitting the plurality of transmission portions comprises: transmitting the first transmission portion according to the first target frequency; and transmitting the second transmission portion according to the second target frequency. 19. The method according to clause 18, wherein the second transmission portion is transmitted after a guard time period located between the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion.

[0147] 20. The method according to clause 19, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication that the communication device is capable of transmitting the uplink transmission with the guard time period between the first and second transmission portions.

[0148] 21. The method according to any of clauses 18-20, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions are transmitted according to either the first target frequency or the second target frequency according to a predetermined pattern.

[0149] 22. The method according to any of clauses 18-21 , wherein the first transmission portion comprises one or more first DM RS associated with the first target frequency, and the second transmission portion comprises one or more second DMRS associated with the second target frequency.

[0150] 23. The method according to any of clauses 18-22, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, timing information for the transmission of the first and second transmission portions.

[0151] 24. The method according to clause 22 or 23, wherein each of the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are contiguous with one another, wherein the one or more first DMRS are located within the first transmission portion of the respective uplink transmission, and wherein each of the OCC sections of the second transmission are contiguous with one another, wherein the one or more second DMRS are located within the second transmission portion of the respective uplink transmission.

[0152] 25. The method according to any of clauses 22-24, wherein each OCC section of the first transmission portion is associated with the one or more first DMRS and each OCC section of the second transmission portion is associated with the one or more second DMRS, and wherein the OCC sections of the first uplink transmission are transmitted according to either the first or second target frequencies according to the DMRS with which the OCC section is associated.

[0153] 26. The method according to clause 25, wherein the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are interleaved with the OCC sections of the second transmission portion according to a predetermined indexing of the OCC sections.

[0154] 27. The method according to any of clauses 18-26, wherein determining the first target frequency and / or determining the second target frequency are performed prior to performing an initial access procedure with the infrastructure equipment.

[0155] 28. The method according to any of clauses 18-26, wherein determining the first target frequency and / or determining the second target frequency are performed after receiving a downlink transmission scheduling the first uplink transmission.

[0156] 29. The method according to any of clauses 18-28, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of timing information for determining the first and second frequencies.

[0157] 30. The method according to any preceding clause, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication of when the communication device is capable of determining the target frequency.

[0158] 31. A communication device comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

[0159] 32. Circuitry for a communication device, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

[0160] 33. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: transmitting, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmitting, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmitting one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

[0161] 34. The method according to clause 33, wherein the target frequency is equal to a sum of a downlink frequency plus an offset.

[0162] 35. The method according to clause 33 or 34, further comprising: attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions according to the respective OCCs and a respective estimated carrier frequency offset (CFO) between the respective actual frequency and the target frequency. 36. The method according to clause 35, wherein attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: attempting to decode the first and second transmission portions of a respective uplink transmission according to different CFO estimates.

[0163] 37. The method according to clause 36, comprising: attempting to decode the plurality of transmission portions of a respective uplink transmission according to a predetermined pattern of the different CFO estimates.

[0164] 38. The method according to clause 37, further comprising: transmitting, to the respective communications device which transmits the respective uplink transmission, an indication of the predetermined pattern.

[0165] 39. The method according to any of clauses 35-38, wherein attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions further comprises: estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions based on two or more DMRS included within each of the plurality of transmission portions of the respective uplink transmissions.

[0166] 40. The method according to clause 39, wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions is based on estimating a phase difference between two DMRS included within the respective uplink transmission and a time between the two DMRS.

[0167] 41. The method according to clause 40, wherein the CFO is estimated based on an average phase difference between a plurality of DMRS.

[0168] 42. The method according to any of clauses 40-41 , wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: estimating a first CFO for the first transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the first transmission portion comprises a first DMRS and contiguous OCC sections; and estimating a second CFO for the second transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the second transmission portion comprises a second DMRS and contiguous OCC sections.

[0169] 43. The method according to any of clauses 40-41 , wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: estimating a first CFO for the first transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the first transmission portion comprises OCC sections associated with a first DMRS according to a predetermined indexing; and estimating a second CFO for the second transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the second transmission portion comprises OCC sections associated with a second DMRS according to a predetermined indexing. 44. The method according to clause 43, wherein the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are interleaved with the OCC sections of the second transmission portion according to the predetermined indexing of the OCC sections.

[0170] 45. The method according to any of clauses 33-44, wherein the one or more signals transmitted for receipt by the first and second communications devices are transmitted prior to performance of an initial access procedure performed with the first and / or second communications device.

[0171] 46. The method according to any of clauses 33-45, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and / or second communications devices, a downlink transmission scheduling the first and / or second uplink transmission respectively; and wherein the one or more signals transmitted for receipt by the first and second communications devices are transmitted after transmission of the downlink transmission.

[0172] 47. The method according to any of clauses 33-46, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions are separated by a time gap.

[0173] 48. The method according to clause 47, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions include two or more demodulation reference signals (DM RS).

[0174] 49. The method according to clause 48, further comprising: transmitting, to the first communication device, a first indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission; and transmitting, to the second communication device, a second indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the second uplink transmission.

[0175] 50. The method according to clause 49, wherein the first and second indications comprise an indication of the timing and a number of associated DMRS.

[0176] 51. The method according to any of clauses 47-50, wherein the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap with one or more downlink (DL) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

[0177] 52. The method according to clause 51 , further comprising: transmitting, for receipt by the first and second communications devices, one or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols, wherein the one or more reference signals indicate a new target frequency for subsequent transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions.

[0178] 53. The method according to clause 52, comprising transmitting two or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols and during a single time gap.

[0179] 54. The method according to clause 52, comprising transmitting two or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols across a plurality of time gaps. 55. The method according to any of clauses 52-54, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and second communications devices, an instruction to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the time gaps.

[0180] 56. The method according to any of clauses 51-55, further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications devices, an indication of the respect communication device’s capability to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the DL OFDM symbols overlapping with the time gap.

[0181] 57. The method according to any of clauses 47-56, wherein locations of time gaps in the first uplink transmission are different to locations of time gaps in the second uplink transmission.

[0182] 58. The method according to clause 57, wherein the first OCC is indicative of the locations of the time gaps in the first uplink transmission, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of the locations of the time gaps in the second uplink transmission.

[0183] 59. The method according to clause 57, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a start timing of the first uplink transmission, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a start timing of the second uplink transmission.

[0184] 60. The method according to any of clauses 47-59, further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications device, an indication that the first and / or second communications device is capable of transmitting respective uplink transmission with the time gap between the respective first and second transmission portions.

[0185] 61. The method according to any of clauses 47-60, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and second communications devices, an indication of a timing of the time gap.

[0186] 62. The method according to any of clauses 33-61 , wherein the second transmission portion of the first and / or second uplink transmission is received after a guard time period located between the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion.

[0187] 63. The method according to clause 62, further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications devices, an indication that the communication device is capable of transmitting the respective uplink transmission with the guard time period between the respective first and second transmission portions.

[0188] 64. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

[0189] 65. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error. 66. A method of operating a communications device, the method comprising receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

[0190] 67. A communication device comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

[0191] 68. Circuitry for a communication device, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC. 69. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: transmitting, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmitting, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmitting one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

[0192] 70. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

[0193] 71. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

[0194] Accordingly, from one perspective there has been described methods, communications devices, and infrastructure equipment for: receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency offset of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated offset frequency; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

[0195] References

[0196] [1] Holma H. and Toskala A, “LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA based radio access”, John Wiley and Sons, 2009.

[0197] [2] TR 38.913, “Study on Scenarios and Requirements for Next Generation Access Technologies (Release 14)”, 3rd Generation Partnership Project, v14.3.0, August 2017.

[0198] [3] TS 38.470, “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NG-RAN; F1 general aspects and principles (Release 17)”, 3GPP, V17.4.0, March 2023. [4] TS 38.473, “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NG-RAN; F1 application protocol (F1AP) (Release 17)”, 3GPP, V17.4.1 , April 2023.

[0199] [5] TS 38.401 , “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NG-RAN; Architecture description (Release 17)”, 3GPP, V17.4.0, March

[0200] 2023.

[0201] [6] RP-241624, New WID: Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) for Internet of Things (loT) Phase 3, June 2024.

[0202] [7] TS 36.101 , “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment

[0203] (UE) radio transmission and reception (Release 18)”, 3GPP, V18.7.0, September 2024.

[0204] [8] TS 38.101-1 , “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; User Equipment (UE) radio transmission and reception; Part 1 : Range 1 Standalone (Release 18)”, 3GPP, V18.6.0

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method of operating a communications device, the method comprising receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein setting the target frequency based on the estimated downlink frequency comprises: setting the target frequency to a sum of the estimated downlink frequency plus an offset.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are separated by a time gap.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission include two or more demodulation reference signals (DMRS).

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the indication of the timing of the time gaps comprises an indication of the timing and a number of associated DMRS.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission at least partially overlap with one or more downlink (DL) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: performing, during the one or more DL OFDM symbols, frequency re-synchronisation, wherein performing frequency re-synchronisation comprises determining, based on one or more further signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the one or more DL OFDM symbols, a new target frequency for the communications device to transmit subsequent transmission portions of the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment.

9. The method according to claim 8, comprising: determining, based on two or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the one or more DL OFDM symbols and during a single time gap, the new target frequency.

10. The method according to claim 8, comprising: determining, based on two or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment during the DL OFDM symbols across a plurality of time gaps, the new target frequency.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the communications device performs the frequency re-synchronisation according to specifications.

12. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication of the communication device’s capability to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the DL OFDM symbols overlapping with the time gap.

13. The method according to claim 3, wherein locations of time gaps between transmission periods for the communications device are different to locations of time gaps between transmission periods of another communications device of an OCC group to which the communications device and other communications device belong.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the locations of the time gaps between transmission periods for the communications device are determined according to the indicated OCC for the communications device.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein a start timing of the first uplink transmission is determined according to the indicated OCC for the communications device.

16. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication that the communications device is capable of transmitting the uplink transmission with the time gap between the first and second transmission portions.

17. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of a timing of the time gap.

18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein estimating a frequency of one or more signals comprises: estimating a first frequency of a first signal received from the infrastructure equipment; and estimating a second frequency of a second signal received from the infrastructure equipment; wherein setting the target frequency comprises: setting a first target frequency based on the estimated first frequency; and setting a second target frequency based on to the estimated second frequency; and wherein transmitting the plurality of transmission portions comprises: transmitting the first transmission portion according to the first target frequency; and transmitting the second transmission portion according to the second target frequency.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the second transmission portion is transmitted after a guard time period located between the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion.

20. The method according to claim 19, further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication that the communication device is capable of transmitting the uplink transmission with the guard time period between the first and second transmission portions.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions are transmitted according to either the first target frequency or the second target frequency according to a predetermined pattern.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein the first transmission portion comprises one or more first DMRS associated with the first target frequency, and the second transmission portion comprises one or more second DMRS associated with the second target frequency.

23. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, timing information for the transmission of the first and second transmission portions.

24. The method according to claim 22, wherein each of the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are contiguous with one another, wherein the one or more first DMRS are located within the first transmission portion of the respective uplink transmission, and wherein each of the OCC sections of the second transmission are contiguous with one another, wherein the one or more second DMRS are located within the second transmission portion of the respective uplink transmission.

25. The method according to claim 22, wherein each OCC section of the first transmission portion is associated with the one or more first DMRS and each OCC section of the second transmission portion is associated with the one or more second DMRS, and wherein the OCC sections of the first uplink transmission are transmitted according to either the first or second target frequencies according to the DMRS with which the OCC section is associated.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are interleaved with the OCC sections of the second transmission portion according to a predetermined indexing of the OCC sections.

27. The method according to claim 18, wherein determining the first target frequency and / or determining the second target frequency are performed prior to performing an initial access procedure with the infrastructure equipment.

28. The method according to claim 18, wherein determining the first target frequency and / or determining the second target frequency are performed after receiving a downlink transmission scheduling the first uplink transmission.

29. The method according to claim 18, further comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of timing information for determining the first and second frequencies.

30. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment, an indication of when the communication device is capable of determining the target frequency.

31. A communication device comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; andtransmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

32. Circuitry for a communication device, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first uplink transmission comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the indicated OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, one or more target frequencies for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment, wherein determining the one of the target frequencies comprises: estimating a frequency of the one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, and setting the one or more target frequencies based on the estimated frequency; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined one or more target frequencies, a plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission includes one or more OCC sections; and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the first uplink transmission are transmitted at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to a respective target frequency plus an error.

33. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: transmitting, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment;transmitting, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmitting one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the target frequency is equal to a sum of a downlink frequency plus an offset.

35. The method according to claim 33, further comprising: attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions according to the respective OCCs and a respective estimated carrier frequency offset (CFO) between the respective actual frequency and the target frequency.

36. The method according to claim 35, wherein attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: attempting to decode the first and second transmission portions of a respective uplink transmission according to different CFO estimates.

37. The method according to claim 36, comprising: attempting to decode the plurality of transmission portions of a respective uplink transmission according to a predetermined pattern of the different CFO estimates.

38. The method according to claim 37, further comprising:transmitting, to the respective communications device which transmits the respective uplink transmission, an indication of the predetermined pattern.

39. The method according to claim 35, wherein attempting to decode the first and second uplink transmissions further comprises: estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions based on two or more DMRS included within each of the plurality of transmission portions of the respective uplink transmissions.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions is based on estimating a phase difference between two DMRS included within the respective uplink transmission and a time between the two DMRS.

41. The method according to claim 40, wherein the CFO is estimated based on an average phase difference between a plurality of DMRS.

42. The method according to claim 40, wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: estimating a first CFO for the first transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the first transmission portion comprises a first DMRS and contiguous OCC sections; and estimating a second CFO for the second transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the second transmission portion comprises a second DMRS and contiguous OCC sections.

43. The method according to claim 40, wherein estimating the respective CFO for the first and second uplink transmissions comprises: estimating a first CFO for the first transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the first transmission portion comprises OCC sections associated with a first DMRS according to a predetermined indexing; and estimating a second CFO for the second transmission portion of a respective uplink transmission, wherein the second transmission portion comprises OCC sections associated with a second DMRS according to a predetermined indexing.

44. The method according to claim 43, wherein the OCC sections of the first transmission portion are interleaved with the OCC sections of the second transmission portion according to the predetermined indexing of the OCC sections.

45. The method according to claim 33, wherein the one or more signals transmitted for receipt by the first and second communications devices are transmitted prior to performance of an initial access procedure performed with the first and / or second communications device.

46. The method according to claim 33, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and / or second communications devices, a downlink transmission scheduling the first and / or second uplink transmission respectively; and wherein the one or more signals transmitted for receipt by the first and second communications devices are transmitted after transmission of the downlink transmission.

47. The method according to claim 33, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions are separated by a time gap.

48. The method according to claim 47, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions include two or more demodulation reference signals (DM RS).

49. The method according to claim 48, further comprising: transmitting, to the first communication device, a first indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first uplink transmission; and transmitting, to the second communication device, a second indication of a timing of the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the second uplink transmission.

50. The method according to claim 49, wherein the first and second indications comprise an indication of the timing and a number of associated DMRS.

51. The method according to claim 47, wherein the time gaps between the plurality of transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap with one or more downlink (DL) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

52. The method according to claim 51 , further comprising: transmitting, for receipt by the first and second communications devices, one or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols, wherein the one or more reference signalsindicate a new target frequency for subsequent transmission portions of the first and second uplink transmissions.

53. The method according to claim 52, comprising transmitting two or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols and during a single time gap.

54. The method according to claim 52, comprising transmitting two or more reference signals during the DL OFDM symbols across a plurality of time gaps.

55. The method according to claim 52, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and second communications devices, an instruction to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the time gaps.

56. The method according to claim 51 , further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications devices, an indication of the respect communication device’s capability to perform frequency re-synchronisation during the DL OFDM symbols overlapping with the time gap.

57. The method according to claim 47, wherein locations of time gaps in the first uplink transmission are different to locations of time gaps in the second uplink transmission.

58. The method according to claim 57, wherein the first OCC is indicative of the locations of the time gaps in the first uplink transmission, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of the locations of the time gaps in the second uplink transmission.

59. The method according to claim 57, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a start timing of the first uplink transmission, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a start timing of the second uplink transmission.

60. The method according to claim 47, further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications device, an indication that the first and / or second communications device is capable of transmitting respective uplink transmission with the time gap between the respective first and second transmission portions.

61. The method according to claim 47, further comprising: transmitting, to the first and second communications devices, an indication of a timing of the time gap.

62. The method according to claim 33, wherein the second transmission portion of the first and / or second uplink transmission is received after a guard time period located between the first transmission portion and the second transmission portion.

63. The method according to claim 62, further comprising: receiving, from the first and / or second communications devices, an indication that the communication device is capable of transmitting the respective uplink transmission with the guard time period between the respective first and second transmission portions.

64. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

65. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein each of the first and second uplink transmissions comprises a plurality of OCC sections to which the respective OCC is to be applied, wherein each of the plurality of OCC sections comprises two or more repetitions of respective data; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are transmitted at a frequency indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions each comprise a plurality of transmission portions including a first transmission portion and a second transmission portion, wherein each of the plurality of transmission portions include one or more OCC sections, and wherein the first and second transmission portions of the each of the first and second uplink transmissions are received at respective actual frequencies which are independent of one another, wherein the actual frequencies are equal to the respective target frequency plus an error.

66. A method of operating a communications device, the method comprising receiving, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determining, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmitting, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

67. A communication device comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

68. Circuitry for a communication device, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to send and / or receive signals to and / or from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network; and controller circuitry configured with the transceiver circuitry to: receive, from an infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, an indication of an Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment; determine, based on one or more signals received from the infrastructure equipment, a target frequency for the communications device to transmit the first uplink transmission to the infrastructure equipment; and transmit, to the infrastructure equipment and according to the determined target frequency, the first uplink transmission according to the OCC, wherein a transmission start time of the first uplink transmission is set according to the indicated OCC.

69. A method of operating infrastructure equipment of a wireless communications network, the method comprising: transmitting, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmitting, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partiallyoverlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmitting one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receiving, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

70. An infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission; transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

71. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment for a wireless communications network, the circuitry comprising: transceiver circuitry configured to transmit and / or receive signals to and / or from a plurality of communications devices; and a controller configured with the transceiver circuitry to: transmit, to a first communications device, an indication of a first Orthogonal Cover Code (OCC) for the communications device to apply to a first uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first OCC is indicative of a first start time for transmission of the first uplink transmission;transmit, to a second communications device, an indication of a second OCC for the communications device to apply to a second uplink transmission to be transmitted to the infrastructure equipment, wherein the first and second uplink transmissions at least partially overlap in time, and wherein the second OCC is indicative of a second start time for transmission of the second uplink transmission; transmit one or more signals for receipt by the first and second communications devices, wherein the one or more signals are indicative of a target frequency at which the first and second uplink transmissions are to be transmitted; and receive, from the first and second communications devices respectively, the first and second uplink transmissions according to the first and second start times respectively.

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