User equipment and base station and methods performed by thesame and storage medium

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher datatransmission rate. The present disclosure provides a user equipment, a base station and methods performed by the same and a storage medium. A method performed by a user equipment include: receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format; wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH.

Description

USER EQUIPMENT AND BASE STATION AND METHODS PERFORMED BY THESAME AND STORAGE MEDIUM

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication field and specifically, to a user equipment, a base station, a method performed by a user equipment, a method performed by a base station, and a computer readable storage medium.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0008] Considering the development of wireless communication from generation to generation, the technologies have been developed mainly for services targeting humans, such as voice calls, multimedia services, and data services. Following the commercialization of 5th-generation (5G) communication systems, it is expected that the number of connected devices will exponentially grow. Increasingly, these will be connected to communication networks. Examples of connected things may include vehicles, robots, drones, home appliances, displays, smart sensors connected to various infrastructures, construction machines, and factory equipment. Mobile devices are expected to evolve in various form-factors, such as augmented reality glasses, virtual reality headsets, and hologram devices. In order to provide various services by connecting hundreds of billions of devices and things in the 6th-generation (6G) era, there have been ongoing efforts to develop improved 6G communication systems.

[0009] 6G communication systems, which are expected to be commercialized around 2030, have various significantly improved metrics compared to the current 5G communication systems. The peak data rate will reach at least 50 Gbit / s, and the user experienced data rate will reach at least 300 Mbit / s, the air-interface latency will be less than 1 ms, and the air-interface reliability will reach . In addition to the above basic communication metrics, the 6G communication systems will also have sensing capabilities, AI-related capabilities, better security, better interoperability and better sustainability.

[0010] In order for the 6G communication systems to fulfill the above metrics, more advanced air-interface technologies and network technologies need to be developed. The evolution of extreme Multiple Input Multiple Output (extreme MIMO) has been already under consideration, including the use of ultra-large scale antenna arrays, the development and evolution of distributed antenna systems, and the design of MIMO air-interface algorithms assisted by Artificial Intelligence (AI). This technology enables higher spectral efficiency, greater coverage, and precise localization and sensing capabilities. Additionally, for technologies that contribute to improve high-frequency band coverage, including metamaterial-based lenses and antennas, new antenna architectures, and reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), etc., they also need to be better evolved and developed.

[0011] In order to meet some of newly added functions of the 6G communication systems, new technologies need to be developed in the terms of network energy saving, air-interface security, and network security, meanwhile the feasibility of fusion technologies such as Integrated Sensing and Communication, needs to be studied.

[0012] Moreover, in order to improve the spectral efficiency and the overall network performances, the following technologies have been developed for 6G communication systems: a full-duplex technology for enabling an uplink transmission and a downlink transmission to simultaneously use the same frequency resource at the same time; a network technology for utilizing satellites, high-altitude platform stations (HAPS), and the like in an integrated manner; an improved network structure for supporting mobile base stations and the like and enabling network operation optimization and automation and the like; a dynamic spectrum sharing technology via collision avoidance based on a prediction of spectrum usage; an use of artificial intelligence (AI) in wireless communication for improvement of overall network operation by utilizing AI from a designing phase for developing 6G and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions; and a next-generation distributed computing technology for overcoming the limit of user equipment (UE) computing ability through reachable super-high-performance communication and computing resources (such as mobile edge computing (MEC), clouds, and the like) over the network. In addition, through designing new protocols to be used in 6G communication systems, developing mechanisms for implementing a hardware-based security environment and safe use of data, and developing technologies for maintaining privacy, attempts to strengthen the connectivity between devices, optimize the network, promote softwarization of network entities, and increase the openness of wireless communications are continuing.

[0013] It is expected that research and development of 6G communication systems in hyper-connectivity, including person to machine (P2M) as well as machine to machine (M2M), will allow the next hyper-connected experience. Particularly, it is expected that services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram, and digital replica could be provided through 6G communication systems. In addition, services such as remote surgery for security and reliability enhancement, industrial automation, and emergency response will be provided through the 6G communication system such that the technologies could be applied in various fields such as industry, medical care, automobiles, and home appliances.

[0014] Embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus and method for effectively providing a service in a wireless communication system.

[0015] According to a first aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a user equipment, the method includes: receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format; wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH.

[0016] Alternatively, the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH includes at least one of: a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH.

[0017] Alternatively, the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH includes: a first time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PUSCH being associated with a second time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the first time domain resource being associated with the second time domain resource includes: any one time unit in a set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource of one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource of one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the obtained set of time units contains all time units used for the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH.

[0018] Alternatively, the method further includes: obtaining the set of time units based on at least one of high-level signaling, MAC signaling and the DCI format.

[0019] Alternatively, the obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one of the high-level signaling, the MAC signaling and the DCI format includes: determining at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters, wherein the at least one set of configuration parameters includes at least one of: a location and / or an index of a time unit in the set of time units, a location and / or an index of a start time unit in the set of time units, a location and / or an index of an end time unit in the set of time units, and a number and / or a duration of time units contained in the set of time units.

[0020] Alternatively, the determining the at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters includes: determining a plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, determining one set of configuration parameters from the plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the DCI format, and obtaining the set of time units based on the one set of configuration parameters; or determining a configuration parameter related to the number of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on a scheduling start time and the configuration parameter related to the number of time units, wherein the scheduling start time is a start time of a channel to be first scheduled among the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH scheduled by the DCI format; or determining a time domain resource allocation table based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling and determining a row in the time domain resource allocation table based on the DCI, wherein all time units contained in the row and / or a time domain symbol allocated on each time unit are used as the set of time units.

[0021] Alternatively, the any one time unit in the set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource in one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource in one of the at least one PDSCH includes: at least one time unit in the set of time units being allocated for one transmission block, wherein the transmission block is transmitted via a PUSCH or is transmitted via a PDSCH, the time unit belongs to the first time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PUSCH, and the time unit belongs to the second time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PDSCH.

[0022] Alternatively, the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format includes: determining, based on the DCI format, at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block, receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined at least one time unit for each transmission block.

[0023] Alternatively, the determining, based on the DCI format, the at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block includes: determining, based on the DCI format, at least one indication information of: a number of transmission blocks being scheduled, a number of time units allocated for each transmission block, and a correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH; determining the at least one time unit based on the indication information.

[0024] Alternatively, the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format includes: obtaining association with uplink or downlink of a time unit in the set of time units; determining, based on the association, information of: a time unit allocated to each transmission block; and / or, whether each transmission block being transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH; receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined information.

[0025] Alternatively, the obtaining the association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit in the set of time units includes: determining whether each time unit in the set of time units is used for the uplink or the downlink based on configuration information related to uplink or downlink of time division duplex and / or configuration information related to a slot format; or determining whether each time unit in the set of time units is associated with the downlink or the uplink based on the DCI format and / or the high-level signaling.

[0026] Alternatively, the determining, based on the association, of the time unit allocated to each transmission block includes: determining a number of transmission blocks to be scheduled and / or indexes of the transmission blocks based on the association and a number of time units contained in the set of time units, and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks and / or the indexes of the transmission blocks, wherein each time unit in the set of time units is allocated to one transmission block; or determining the number of the transmission blocks according to at least one of a time unit contained in the set of time units, association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit contained in the set of time units, a number of continuous time units associated with the uplink in time domain, a number of continuous time units associated with the downlink in time domain; and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks and the association.

[0027] Alternatively, the determining, based on the association, whether each transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH includes: determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH in a case where a time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink; determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH in a case where the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the downlink; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or the PDSCH according to a predetermined rule in a case where the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink and is associated with the downlink.

[0028] Alternatively, the predetermined rule includes at least one of: determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the DCI format and / or a high-level signaling indication; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on association with the uplink or the downlink of a first time domain symbol in the time unit allocated to the transmission block; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on an uplink or downlink association of transmission data having a high priority on the time unit allocated to the transmission block.

[0029] Alternatively, the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH includes: the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH being located on a pre-configured uplink frequency band and a downlink frequency band related to full duplex, respectively.

[0030] Alternatively, the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format includes: obtaining the uplink frequency band and the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex; determining, based on the DCI format, total frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH; determining frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH based on the total frequency domain resources and association between the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH, wherein a first portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the uplink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PUSCH, and a second portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PDSCH.

[0031] Alternatively, in a case where that the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH includes the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH, the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format includes: determining, based on a predetermined rule, a first PUSCH of the at least one PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information; transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information, after receiving at least one of the at least one PDSCH according to the DCI format；wherein the predetermined rule relates to at least one of: an ordering of physical channels scheduled by the DCI format, a PDSCH processing time, PUSCH duration(s), and a bandwidth allocated for the PUSCH(s).

[0032] Alternatively, transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information includes: determining a time domain symbol in the first PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information; transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol, wherein the time domain symbol is an end time domain symbol in a time domain resource allocated for the first PUSCH; or, wherein the time domain symbol is determined based on: a position of an end time domain symbol of a last PDSCH associated with the HARQ-ACK information among PDSCHs that are scheduled prior to the first PUSCH, and the PDSCH processing time.

[0033] Alternatively, the transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol includes: obtaining a mask sequence based on the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the mask sequence on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH; or generating at least one modulation symbol based on bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the at least one modulation symbol on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH.

[0034] Alternatively, the transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information includes: determining a HARQ-ACK codebook to be transmitted on the first PUSCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK information is included in the HARQ-ACK codebook; transmitting the first PUSCH including the HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0035] Alternatively, the HARQ-ACK information included in the HARQ-ACK codebook, includes: HARQ-ACK information for at least one PDSCH that is scheduled by the DCI format and is temporally prior to the first PUSCH; or HARQ-ACK information generated based on HARQ-ACK information of a plurality of PDSCHs that are scheduled by the DCI format and that are temporally prior to the first PUSCH.

[0036] According to a second aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided method performed by a base station, the method includes: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); transmitting the at least one PDSCH to the UE and receiving the at least one PUSCH from the UE, wherein the DCI format is used for the UE to receive the at least one PDSCH and to transmit the at least one PUSCH to the base station, wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associating with the at least one PDSCH.

[0037] According to a third aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment, the user equipment includes: a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform the above method performed by a user equipment.

[0038] According to a fourth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a base station, the base station includes: a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform the above method performed by a base station.

[0039] According to a fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when run by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform any of the above methods.

[0040] According to the technical solutions provided by embodiments of the present disclosure, since the at least one PDSCH and the at least one PUSCH are simultaneously scheduled via the DCI format instead of scheduling only the PDSCH or only the PUSCH via the DCI format, the system overhead required for scheduling authorization may be reduced and the scheduling latency may be guaranteed with limited system resources, meanwhile, since the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, and at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH, the load of the DCI may be reduced, thereby reducing the system overhead required for DCI transmission and in turn improving the efficiency of system resource utilization.

[0041] It should be understood that the above general description and the detailed descriptions that follow are exemplary and explanatory only and do not limit the present disclosure.

[0042] Embodiments of the present disclosure is to provide an apparatus and method for effectively providing a service in a wireless communication system.

[0043] The drawings herein incorporated into the specification form part of the specification, show example embodiments that conform to the present disclosure, and are used together with the specification to explain the principles of the present disclosure, and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present disclosure.

[0044] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0045] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0046] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a CPE.

[0048] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0049] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of determining a time unit allocated to a transmission block based on association with uplink / downlink of the time unit according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0050] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of determining a time unit allocated to a transmission block based on association with uplink / downlink of the time unit according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0051]

[0052] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating transmission of HARQ-ACK information on a PUSCH according to an embodiment.

[0053] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0054] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0056] Before undertaking the detailed description below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and / or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivatives thereof, means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, or the like. The term "controller" means any device, system or part thereof that controls at least one operation. Such a controller may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and / or firmware. The functionality associated with any particular controller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. The phrase "at least one of," when used with a list of items, means that different combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used, and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, "at least one of: A, B, and C" includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, A and B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C. Likewise, the term "set" means one or more. Accordingly, a set of items can be a single item or a collection of two or more items.

[0057] Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented or supported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed from computer readable program code and embodied in a computer readable medium. The terms "application" and "program" refer to one or more computer programs, software components, sets of instructions, procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or a portion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computer readable program code. The phrase "computer readable program code" includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code, and executable code. The phrase "computer readable medium" includes any type of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type of memory. A "non-transitory" computer readable medium excludes wired, wireless, optical, or other communication links that transport transitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computer readable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored and media where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as a rewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

[0058] Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply to prior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

[0059] The figures included herein, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Further, those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged wireless communication system.

[0060] FIGS. 1-3 below describe various embodiments of the present disclosure implemented in wireless communication systems. The descriptions of FIGS. 1-3 are not meant to imply physical or architectural limitations to the manner in which different embodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably-arranged communication system.

[0061] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0062] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network includes a base station (next generation nodeB, gNB or gNodeB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and the gNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130, such as the Internet, a proprietary Internet Protocol (IP) network, or other data network.

[0063] The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of the gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may be located in a small business; a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R1); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R2); and a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA), or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of the gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE 116, as well as subscriber stations (SS, for example, UEs) 117, 118 and 119. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 may communicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using existing wireless communication techniques, and one or more of the UE 111-119 may communicate directly with each other (e.g., UEs 117-119) using other existing or proposed wireless communication techniques.

[0064] Depending on the network type, the term "base station" or "BS" can refer to any component (or collection of components) configured to provide wireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP), transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced (or "evolved") base station (eNodeB or eNB), a 5G base station (gNB), a macrocell, a femtocell, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) access point (AP), or other wirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access in accordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced (LTE-A), high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac, etc. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a base station-type apparatus and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access to remote terminals. Also, depending on the network type, the term "user equipment" (UE) can refer to any component such as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station (SS), remote terminal, wireless terminal, receive point, or user device. For the sake of convenience, the various names for a user equipment-type device and functionality are used interchangeably in this patent document to refer to remote wireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a BS, whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normally considered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vending machine).

[0065] Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and 125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes of illustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending upon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radio environment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

[0066] As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-119 include circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103 includes circuitry, programing, or a combination thereof.

[0067] Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network, various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly with any number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband access to the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicate directly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wireless broadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and / or 103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0068] FIG. 2 illustrates an example base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2 is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

[0069] As shown in FIG 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 200a-200n, multiple radio frequency (RF) transceivers 201a-201n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry 203, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 204. The gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 205, a memory 206, and a backhaul or network interface 207.

[0070] The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive, from the antennas 200a-200n, incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network 100. The RF transceivers 201a-201n down-convert the incoming RF signals to generate intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signals are sent to the RX processing circuitry 204, which generates processed baseband signals by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 204 transmits the processed baseband signals to the controller / processor 205 for further processing.

[0071] The TX processing circuitry 203 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, web data, electronic mail, or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 205. The TX processing circuitry 203 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate processed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 201a-201n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TX processing circuitry 203 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals to RF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 201a-201n.

[0072] The controller / processor 205 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 205 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceivers 201a-201n, the RX processing circuitry 204, and the TX processing circuitry 203 in accordance with well-known principles. The controller / processor 205 could support additional functions as well, such as more advanced wireless communication functions.

[0073] For instance, the controller / processor 205 could support beam forming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals from multiple antennas 200a-200n are weighted differently to effectively steer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide variety of other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by the controller / processor 205.

[0074] The controller / processor 205 is also capable of executing programs and other processes resident in the memory 206, such as an operating system (OS). The controller / processor 205 can move data into or out of the memory 206 as required by an executing process.

[0075] The controller / processor 205 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 207. The backhaul or network interface 207 allows the gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connection or over a network. The interface 207 could support communications over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB 102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such as one supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaul connection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the interface 207 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired or wireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to a larger network (such as the Internet). The interface 207 includes any suitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

[0076] The memory 206 is coupled to the controller / processor 205. Part of the memory 206 could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of the memory 206 could include a Flash memory or other read only memory (ROM).

[0077] Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number of each component shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access point could include a number of interfaces 207, and the controller / processor 205 could support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another particular example, while shown as including a single instance of TX processing circuitry 203 and a single instance of RX processing circuitry 204, the gNB 102 could include multiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also, various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs.

[0078] FIG. 3 illustrates an example user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3 is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 and 117-119 of FIG. 1 could have the same or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety of configurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any particular implementation of a UE.

[0079] As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 301, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 302, TX processing circuitry 303, a microphone 304, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 305. The UE 116 also includes a speaker 306, a controller or processor 307, an input / output (I / O) interface (IF) 308, an input device 309, a touchscreen display 310, and a memory 311. The memory 311 includes an OS 312 and one or more applications 313.

[0080] The RF transceiver 302 receives, from the antenna 301, an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 302 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent to the RX processing circuitry 305, which generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding, and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuitry 305 transmits the processed baseband signal to the speaker 306 (such as for voice data) or to the processor 307 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0081] The TX processing circuitry 303 receives analog or digital voice data from the microphone 304 or other outgoing baseband data (such as web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 307. The TX processing circuitry 303 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 302 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 303 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via the antenna 301.

[0082] The processor 307 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute the OS 312 stored in the memory 311 in order to control the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor 307 could control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 302, the RX processing circuitry 305, and the TX processing circuitry 303 in accordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor 307 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0083] The processor 307 is also capable of executing other processes and programs resident in the memory 311, such as processes for CSI reporting on uplink channel. The processor 307 can move data into or out of the memory 311 as required by an executing process. In some embodiments, the processor 307 is configured to execute the applications 313 based on the OS 312 or in response to signals received from gNBs or an operator. The processor 307 is also coupled to the I / O interface 308, which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices, such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I / O interface 308 is the communication path between these accessories and the processor 307.

[0084] The processor 307 is also coupled to the touchscreen display 310. The user of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen display 310 to enter data into the UE 116. The touchscreen display 310 may be a liquid crystal display, light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering text and / or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

[0085] The memory 311 is coupled to the processor 307. Part of the memory 311 could include RAM, and another part of the memory 311 could include a Flash memory or other ROM.

[0086] Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes may be made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could be combined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components could be added according to particular needs. As a particular example, the processor 307 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as a mobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate as other types of mobile or stationary devices.

[0087] With the rapid development of mobile communication technology, higher requirements have been put forward for the transmission rate of the network. During the deployment and development of 5G / 6G technology, the advantages of high-frequency communication with large bandwidth and high speed rate have played an obvious role, but the problems of close transmission distance, large power consumption, high cost, etc., have been exposed, and they are particularly prominent in the high-frequency bands such as millimeter wave, THz. To a certain extent, they limit the large-scale application, and only a few countries can provide services in the corresponding frequency bands at present.

[0088] The transmission distance of the signal is inversely proportional to the operating frequency, for the same base station transmit power and the same transmission distance, the higher the transmitted signal frequency is, the higher the transmission path loss is, and the weaker the signal strength received by the terminal is. In order to meet the complete coverage of high-frequency signals in the cell, the base station transmit power may be increased or the density of base station construction may be increased, but this resulting equipment cost and base station energy consumption rise sharply, which becomes a major obstacle to the large-scale commercialization of the high-frequency communication.

[0089] Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a technology that uses a customer premises equipment (CPE) to enable broadband connectivity at relatively fixed locations through mobile operator's infrastructure (wireless base stations). The fixed wireless access, which may support 5G technology, offers the potential for next-generation wireless connectivity with ultra-high speed, low latency and high capacity. In addition to home users, FWA can provide economical and convenient broadband access to micro and small businesses, stores and temporary locations, and is gradually starting to enter the industrial Internet space in scenarios such as factories, parks, mines and ports, and providing high-speed, low-latency 5G connection to IoT terminals within a regional area.

[0090] For example, in areas where wired cables, such as fiber optics, cannot be laid (due to costs, right-of-way, building protection, etc.), FWA can provide users with network access. It avoids construction work such as right-of-way acquisition, pipeline digging, cable laying, wall piercing, etc., which dramatically simplifies the network turn-up process, shortens the construction period, and saves costs. Therefore, for many operators, FWA is a means to rapidly develop subscriber scale and a cost-effective business model. From the perspective of social significance, FWA can help families in economically underdeveloped areas to quickly have an Internet connection, enjoy the information dividend and improve the quality of life. In addition, in the main markets for FWA, e.g., rural areas, additional spectrum capacity is usually available due to lower population density.

[0091] The CPE includes two parts of a communication module 401 that communicates with a base station and a forwarding module 402 that communicates with other terminals, as shown in FIG. 4. For example, the communication module 401, which functions as an NR UE, may communicate with a NR base station to receive data from the NR base station, or to transmit data to the NR base station. Here, NR may be replaced by wireless communication networks such as LTE, TD-SCDMA, GSM, etc., and NR is used as an example in the following. The forwarding module 402, which functions similarly to a network hotspot, provides services to one or more terminals in a designated area, transmits data obtained from the signal receiving module 401 to different terminals, or, receives information transmitted by different terminals and forwards it to the base station via the signal receiving module 401. The forwarding module 402 is connected to the communication module 401 to deliver uplink data to the communication module 401 for transmitting by the communication module 401 to the base station, or to receive downlink data obtained from the communication module 401 and forward the downlink data to other terminals. The communication module 401 and the forwarding module 402 may be two modules of the CPE, or two functions of one module. The connection between the base station and the communication module 401 is in the form of a wireless connection, and the connection between the forwarding module 402 and the terminals may be in the form of a wired connection or a wireless connection, such as a network cable, WiFi, a mobile network, an optical fiber, and the like.

[0092] It is worth noting that the number of terminals connected to the forwarding module 401 of the CPE may be extremely large, and the traffic models of different terminals are different, for example, some terminals (e.g., digital TVs, etc.) are mainly downlink traffic, while others (e.g., IoT sensor terminals, etc.) are mainly uplink traffic. The CPE may have concurrent uplink and downlink transmissions, e.g., when the number of terminals connected to the CPE is huge and the types of terminals are rich (e.g., serving unmanned factories or enterprise parks, etc.), there may be a demand for uplink and downlink data traffic for heavy loads, and furthermore, the concurrent data traffic demand is likely to last for a long period of time. To satisfy the above traffic demand, the CPE needs to be frequently scheduled with uplink transmissions as well as downlink transmissions, i.e., the base station needs to frequently transmit downlink conrtrol information (DCI) including uplink or downlink scheduling authorization information to the CPE, e.g., frequently transmit DCI over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). However, if the uplink and downlink scheduling authorization information are transmitted independently, i.e., one DCI format can carry only one of the uplink scheduling authorization information and the downlink scheduling authorization information, in other words, one DCI format can only be used for scheduling a Physical DownLink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). This scheduling method leads to significant system overhead. For example, in the aforementioned FWA scenario, even if the CPE has concurrent uplink and downlink traffic demand, it needs to receive at least two DCI formats successively to complete the scheduling authorization for both uplink and downlink. In this scenario, if the traffic demand load is heavy and of long duration, the DCI format for uplink scheduling authorization and the DCI format for downlink scheduling authorization need to be transmitted more frequently and separately, which leads to great system overhead. In addition, one DCI format that carries only one of the uplink scheduling authorization information and the downlink scheduling authorization information may also lead to an increase in scheduling delay for some UEs or CPEs. For example, due to the limitation of the system bandwidth, the system frequency domain resources are limited, and thus the number of PDCCHs that can be supported at the same time is limited, and when there are a large number of UEs in the network (e.g., including CPEs or other types of UEs, etc.), there may also be congestion of the PDCCHs, which may result in an increase of scheduling delays for some UEs or CPEs.

[0093] Therefore, in scenarios with concurrent uplink and downlink transmissions, an enhanced uplink / downlink data scheduling approach is needed.

[0094] For example, the number of required PDCCHs may be reduced by combining the uplink scheduling authorization information with the downlink scheduling authorization information into single DCI and transmitting it through a single PDCCH. However, since a first DCI format for uplink scheduling authorization (e.g., DCI format 0_0 / 0_1 / 0_2 / 0_3), and a second DCI format for downlink scheduling authorization (e.g., DCI format 1_0 / 1_1 / 1 / 1_2 / 1_3), respectively, include different indication fields, the direct combination would result in a double increase in the number of load bits of the DCI, and the increase in the DCI load would lead to two results: an increase in the overhead of the physical resources required for PDCCH transmission in order to transmit more load bits of the DCI; or, a loss of PDCCH / DCI reception performance without increasing the physical resources required for PDCCH transmission.

[0095] With respect to this, the present disclosure proposes a method performed by a user equipment (UE) and a method performed by a base station, according to the method, not only the system overhead required for scheduling authorization is reduced and the scheduling latency is guaranteed with limited system resources, but also the DCI load is reduced, and thus the system overhead required for DCI transmission is reduced, thereby improving the efficiency of system resource usage.

[0096] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0097] Referring to FIG. 5, at step S510, a DCI format for simultaneously scheduling at least one PDSCH and at least one PUSCH is received. At step S520, the at least one PDSCH is received and the at least one PUSCH is transmitted according to the DCI format, wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH. According to embodiments, since the at least one PDSCH and the at least one PUSCH are simultaneously scheduled via the DCI format instead of scheduling only the PDSCH or only the PUSCH via the DCI format, the system overhead required for scheduling authorization may be reduced and the scheduling latency may be guaranteed with limited system resources, meanwhile, since the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH and at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH, the load of the DCI may be reduced, thereby reducing the system overhead required for DCI transmission and in turn improving the efficiency of system resource utilization.

[0098] According to embodiments, the UE performing the above method may be a CPE, or a UE having a CPE type / capability, or may also be a functional entity corresponding to a communication module of a CPE. In the above method, the DCI format is used for simultaneously scheduling at least one PDSCH and at least one PUSCH (i.e., for simultaneously authorizing at least one PUSCH transmission and at least one PDSCH transmission), and for the sake of description, the DCI format in the following may also be referred to as a joint scheduling DCI format.

[0099] In some examples, at least one of the at least one PDSCH scheduled by the DCI format may be in the same cell as at least one of the at least one PUSCH scheduled by the same the DCI format or, alternatively, in the same frequency band of the same cell as at least one of the at least one PUSCH scheduled by the same the DCI format. Here, the frequency band may be a set of frequency resources configured for the UE that may be allocated for the PUSCH and the PDSCH. For example, the set of frequency resources may include at least one of: a system bandwidth, a bandwidth portion (BWP), a segment of bandwidth resources configured for a particular UE that contain a plurality of PRBs with consecutive indexes. For example, the particular UE may be one of: a group of UEs including the UE that are configured with the same RNTI, a UE with a particular capability (e.g., CPE capability, full duplex / flexible duplex capability, etc.).

[0100] According to embodiments, the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH may include at least one of: a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; and hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH.

[0101] According to embodiments, the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH may include: a first time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PUSCH being associated with a second time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the first time domain resource being associated with the second time domain resource may include: any one time unit in a set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource of one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource of one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the obtained set of time units contains all time units used for the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH. For example, the time unit may be at least one of: a slot, a subframe, a radio frame, a mini-subframe / mini slot (slot / subframe of a smaller length), a time domain symbol (e.g., an OFDM symbol).

[0102] According to embodiments, although not shown, the method shown in FIG. 5 may further include: obtaining the set of time units based on at least one of high-level signaling, MAC signaling and the DCI format. For example, at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units may be determined based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and the set of time units may be obtained based on the at least one set of configuration parameters. For example, the at least one set of configuration parameters may include at least one of: a location and / or an index of a time unit in the set of time units, a location and / or an index of a start time unit in the set of time units, a location and / or an index of an end time unit in the set of time units, and a number and / or a duration of time units contained in the set of time units, but is not limited thereto.

[0103] According to embodiments, determining the at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters may include: determining a plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, determining one set of configuration parameters from the plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the DCI format, and obtaining the set of time units based on the one set of configuration parameters. As an example, when the time unit is a slot (wherein the slot may be replaced with any one of a subframe, a radio frame, a mini-subframe / mini slot, and a time domain symbol), the method of obtaining the set of time units may be that, when the received DCI format is a joint scheduling DCI format, the UE determines at least one set of configuration parameters (e.g., at least one of: a location and / or an index of a slot, a location and / or an index of a start slot, a location and / or an index of an end slot, and the number of slots and / or a duration of slots) related to the set of slots of the PUSCH and PDSCH to be jointly scheduled, based on the relevant high-level signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, etc.) or the MAC signaling (e.g., MAC CE, etc.). When the configuration parameters are greater than one set, the UE may determine one of the plurality of sets of configuration parameters for determining the set of slots according to the indication of the joint scheduling DCI format to enhance the flexibility of scheduling resource allocation.

[0104] Considering the business model with high load and continuous traffic of the CPE in the FWA scenario, the transmission of the CPE type UE requires continuous time unit allocation; meanwhile considering that the CPE type UE, as a high-priority user in the network, can be prioritized to satisfy its need for continuous time unit allocation, obtaining the set of time units may be further simplified by configuring only the set of time units in continuous time units to reduce signaling overhead. To this end, optionally, determining the at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters may include: determining a configuration parameter related to the number of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, obtaining the set of time units based on a scheduling start time and the configuration parameter related to the number of time units, wherein the scheduling start time is a start time of a channel to be first scheduled among the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH scheduled by the DCI format. As an example, the start time may be determined based on a time of reception of the DCI format by the UE and / or a time offset related to scheduling based on the DCI format. Still taking the time unit being a slot as an example, when the received DCI format is a joint scheduling DCI format, the UE receives a configuration of the number of slots ( the duration) included in the associated high-level signaling or MAC signaling, and the UE determines a set of continuous slots in the time domain that are scheduled by the joint scheduling DCI format based on a scheduling start time and the configured number of continuous slots for scheduling, wherein the scheduling start time is a start time of the most time-advanced one of all PUSCHs and PDSCHs being scheduled by the DCI format.

[0105] Optionally, considering compatibility with time domain resource allocation methods in existing protocols with a view to minimizing protocol changes, determining the at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters may include: determining a time domain resource allocation table based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling and determining a row in the time domain resource allocation table based on the DCI, wherein all time units contained in the row and / or a time domain symbol allocated on each time unit are used as the set of time units. For example, still taking the time unit being a slot as an example, when the received DCI format is a joint scheduling DCI format, the UE receives a relevant configuration of the time domain resource allocation table in the relevant high-level signaling and determines one row in the time domain resource allocation table based on the DCI format, wherein all slots contained in the configuration of the row and / or time domain symbols allocated on each slot are taken as the set of time units.

[0106] As mentioned above, any one time unit in a set of time units obtained by the UE is allocated to belong to the first time domain resource of one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource of one of the at least one PDSCH. Optionally, any one time unit in the set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource in one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource in one of the at least one PDSCH may include: at least one time unit in the set of time units being allocated for one transmission block, wherein the transmission block is transmitted via a PUSCH or is transmitted via a PDSCH, the time unit belongs to the first time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PUSCH, and the time unit belongs to the second time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PDSCH.

[0107] Optionally, receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format may include: determining, based on the DCI format, at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block; receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined at least one time unit for each transmission block.

[0108] Optionally, determining, based on the DCI format, the at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block may include: determining, based on the DCI format, at least one indication information of: a number of transmission blocks being scheduled, a number of time units allocated for each transmission block, and a correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH; determining the at least one time unit based on the indication information.

[0109] In some implementations, a portion of the above indication information is indicated via the joint scheduling DCI format, and the remaining portion of the above indication information is indicated or determined via the high-level signaling or in a predefined manner, thereby reducing DCI overhead, e.g., indication information that may be statically determined (e.g., the number of transmission blocks to be scheduled) is indicated via the high-level signaling or according to a predefined rule, and indication information that needs to be dynamically determined (e.g., the number of time units to be allocated to transmission blocks with different indexes) is indicated via the joint scheduling DCI format. As an example, the correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH may be determined in the following way: the UE receives the joint scheduling DCI format or high-level signaling to obtain indication information for determining the correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH, the indication information may be a bit mapping: an indication sequence of bits, , wherein the ith bit indicates that the ith transmission (the transmission block with the index i) is transmitted by the PUSCH or is transmitted by the PDSCH, and is the number of transmission blocks scheduled for the UE; or, the UE determines the correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH according to a predetermined rule, for example, determines based on an attribute of the time unit. For example, when the time unit allocated to the transmission block is a time unit for uplink, the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH; when the time unit allocated to the transmission block is a time unit for downlink, the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH.

[0110] As an example, the UE may determine the time unit allocated to the transmission block by the following method. Taking the time unit as a slot as an example, it is assumed that the slots contained in the set of time units obtained by the UE are sorted in an ascending or descending order by index as , wherein is an index of the kth slot contained in the set of time units, is the number of slots contained in the set of time units. The UE may determine a combination of the numbers of slots allocated for the scheduled transmission blocks according to the joint scheduling DCI format indication as , wherein is the number of transmission blocks scheduled by the joint scheduling DCI format, which may be determined e.g., by the high-level signaling or the joint scheduling DCI format, and is the number of slots allocated for the nth transmission block. Subsequently, the UE determines an index of a slot allocated for each transmission block based on the combination of the numbers of slots allocated for the transmission blocks, for example according to the order of the indexes of the transmission blocks: the slots in the set of time units are sequentially allocated to each transmission block according to the order of the indexes, i.e. the slots used for the nth transmission block are , where . This determination method is suitable for scenarios where the time domain resources in the network are not configured for uplink or downlink (e.g., the slots / time domain symbols are configured to be flexible, i.e., they may be used for either uplink or downlink). Since the total number of slots allocated for transmission blocks is equal to the number of slots contained in the set of time units, which forms association of the time resources of different transmission blocks (i.e., the aforementioned association of the time domain resources of the PDSCH and the PUSCH that are jointly scheduled), in this case, when allocating the time units to the transmission blocks, the required bits of the indication field are only (a combinatorial number ) which denotes the number of all combinations of m different elements taken from n different elements at a time), this method may significantly reduce the DCI overhead of dynamic temporal resource allocation for multiple transmission blocks compared to the number of bits required to independently indicate the time domain resource allocation for each transmission block. Since a transmission block may be uniquely determined to be associated with a PUSCH or associated with a PDSCH, in this example, the index of the transmission block and the index of the PUSCH / PDSCH are equivalent in meaning and may be replaced.

[0111] Optionally, receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format may include: obtaining association with uplink or downlink of a time unit in the set of time units; determining, based on the association, information of: a time unit allocated to each transmission block; and / or, whether each transmission block being transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH; receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined information. The time unit associated with the downlink means a time unit that may be allocated to a PDSCH transmission, and the time unit associated with the uplink means a time unit that may be allocated to a PUSCH transmission. The DCI signaling overhead for determining the time resource for each transmission block may be reduced in the above manner, and it is particularly suitable for scenarios where the association with the uplink or the downlink of a time unit in the set of time units may be predetermined by the RRC signaling, a system message, and the like.

[0112] Optionally, obtaining the association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit in the set of time units includes: determining whether each time unit in the set of time units is used for the uplink or the downlink based on configuration information related to uplink or downlink of time division duplex and / or configuration information related to a slot format; or determining whether each time unit in the set of time units is associated with the downlink or the uplink based on the DCI format and / or the high-level signaling. For example, the DCI format and / or high-level signaling may obtain indication information which may be a bit mapping containing an indication sequence of bits, wherein the ith bit indicates that the ith slot contained in the set of time units is associated with the downlink or associated with the uplink, and wherein is the number of the time unit contained in the set of time units; for another example, the indication information may be an indication that the first of the slots contained in the set of time units are associated with the downlink (the remaining slots are associated with the uplink) or an indication that the first of the slots are associated with the uplink (the remaining slots are associated with the uplink).

[0113] According to embodiments, after obtaining the association with the uplink or the downlink of the time units in the set of time units, the association may be used to determine a time unit that is allocated to each transmission block. Optionally, determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the association may include: determining a number of transmission blocks to be scheduled and / or indexes of the transmission blocks based on the association and a number of time units contained in the set of time units, and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks and / or the indexes of the transmission blocks, wherein each time unit in the set of time units is allocated to one transmission block. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, it is assumed that the set of time units contains slots #0~#3, where the slots {#0, #1, #3} are associated with the downlink and the slot #2 is associated with the uplink, the number of transmission blocks being scheduled by a same joint scheduling DCI format is 4, which are transmitted on the slots #0~#3, respectively, and according to the association with the uplink / downlink of the slots, the transmission blocks at the slots {#0, #1, #3} are transmitted by the PDSCH and the transmission block on the slot #2 is transmitted by the PUSCH. Optionally, determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the association may include: determining the number of the transmission blocks according to at least one of a time unit contained in the set of time units, association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit contained in the set of time units, a number of continuous time units associated with the uplink in time domain, a number of continuous time units associated with the downlink in time domain; and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks and the association. Taking uplink as an example, the continuous slots associated with the uplink in the time domain are allocated to the same PUSCH transmission block: when the number of the continuous slots associated with the uplink in the time domain is greater than 1, the transmission method of the PUSCH transmission block may be performed in such a way that different slots map the same information of the transmission block (PUSCH duplicate transmission) or in such a way that different slots map partial information of the same transmission block (transmission of transmission blocks across slots). As shown in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the set of time units contains slots #0 to #3, where the slots {#0, #1, #3} are associated with the downlink and the slot #2 is associated with the uplink, the slot #0 and the slot #1 are continuous slots associated with the downlink in the time domain, and are allocated to the same PDSCH transmission block (transmission block #0). Similarly, the slot #2 is allocated to a PUSCH transmission block (transmission block #1) and the slot #3 is allocated to another PDSCH transmission block (transmission block #2). This method implicitly realizes the transmission of transmission blocks across slots without additional DCI overhead to improve the detection performance of the PDSCH / PUSCH. Note that the downlink implementation may be obtained by replacing the uplink with the downlink and the PUSCH with the PDSCH in this example.

[0114] In some examples, when a PUSCH is transmitted immediately after any PDSCH among PUSCHs and PDSCHs scheduled by the DCI format, a position of an end time domain symbol of a preorder PDSCH (i.e., the PDSCH before the PUSCH) may be spaced at an interval greater than or equal to a predetermined interval from a position of a start symbol of a postorder PUSCH. For example, the predetermined interval may be 1 time domain symbol. This design takes into account the uplink timing advancement, in order to avoid a temporal overlap between the PUSCH transmission after the timing advancement and the PDSCH reception before it, thus a protection interval between the preorder PDSCH and the postorder PUSCH is reserved. In some specific implementations, if the interval between the position of the end time domain symbol in the time domain resource allocated to the preorder PDSCH and the position of the start time domain symbol in the time domain resource allocated to the postorder PUSCH is less than the predetermined interval, and if the interval differs from the predetermined interval by N time domain symbols, the last N time domain symbols in the time domain resource of the preorder PDSCH may be not used for PDSCH transmission, or the first N time domain symbols in the time domain resource of the PUSCH may not be used for PUSCH transmission.

[0115] Optionally, after the association is obtained, it may also be determined whether each transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the association. For example, determining whether each transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the association includes: determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH in a case where a time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink; determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH in a case where the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the downlink; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or the PDSCH according to a predetermined rule in a case where the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink and is associated with the downlink. According to embodiments, the predetermined rule may include at least one of: determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the DCI format and / or a high-level signaling indication; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on association with the uplink or the downlink of a first time domain symbol in the time unit allocated to the transmission block; determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on an uplink or downlink association of transmission data having a high priority on the time unit allocated to the transmission block. In the above manner, it is possible to enable the UE to implicitly determine the physical resources that are actually available for transmission in the allocated time domain resources based on the predetermined rule, thereby reducing the DCI overhead required for the indication.

[0116] For example, in a case where the time unit is a slot, when a slot allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink, then the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH; when the slot allocated for the transmission block is associated with the downlink, then the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH. In other specific implementations of the example, the slot allocated for the transmission block may include both a time domain symbol associated with the downlink and a time domain symbol associated with the uplink, in this case, the UE determines, based on the predetermined rule, the physical channel (PDSCH or PUSCH) associated with the transmission block, and determines, based on the association of the transmission block with the physical channel, that one of a first time domain symbol and a second time domain symbol is allocated to the physical channel associated with the transmission block, wherein the first time domain symbol is a time domain symbol associated with the downlink in the slot allocated to the transmission block, and the second time domain symbol is a time domain symbol associated with the uplink in the slot allocated to the transmission block. For example, the predetermined rule may be at least one of: determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the joint scheduling DCI format / high-level signaling indication, determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the association with the uplink or the downlink of the first time domain symbol in the slot allocated to the transmission block (e.g., the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH when the first time domain symbol is indicated as an uplink time domain symbol, and the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH when the first time domain symbol is indicated as a downlink time domain symbol), determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the uplink or downlink association of transmission data having a high priority on the slot allocated to the transmission block (e.g., the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH when a system message / SSB with a high priority is transmitted within the slot).

[0117] As mentioned above, the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH may optionally include, in addition to the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH, a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH.

[0118] In some examples, the CPE type UE has a full duplex capability, for example, supporting simultaneous downlink reception and uplink transmission in different frequency bands respectively. In the FWA scenario, when the uplink and downlink business are concurrent, in order to reduce the delay in the business, it is preferred to schedule, for the UE, a PDSCH for carrying downlink data and a PUSCH for carrying uplink data　to be received and transmitted in a full duplex manner. At this time, scheduling the PUSCH and the PDSCH for full duplex transmission by using the joint scheduling DCI can reduce the number of required PDCCH resources, thereby achieving the purpose of reducing the DCI overhead. Meanwhile, in order to reduce the complexity of the resource allocation indication in the DCI, as well as after considering the actual business requirements, the number of PUSCHs and the number of PDSCHs transmitted in the full duplex manner may be taken to be 1, respectively. Corresponding to the above purpose, according to the embodiment, the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH may include: the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH being located on a preconfigured uplink frequency band and a downlink frequency band related to full duplex, respectively. For example, a first portion of the total frequency domain resources allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH that is located in the uplink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the PUSCH, and a second portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the PDSCH. For example, the uplink frequency band / downlink frequency band related to the full duplex may be : a contiguous segment of frequency domain resources located within the same carrier / system bandwidth / bandwidth portion, wherein, depending on the full duplex capability of the UE, the uplink band and the downlink band may be configured to be either overlapped (e.g., the full duplex capability of the UE is full-band full duplex) or non-overlapped (e.g., the full duplex capability of the UE is non-overlapped sub-band full duplex). Considering that different users have different full duplex capabilities and / or different abilities to handle full duplex related interference, the uplink band and downlink band configurations related to the full duplex may be configured through user-specific high-level signaling (e.g., user-specific RRC signaling). By the above design, the system bandwidth is preconfigured as the uplink and downlink frequency bands related to the full duplex, and the frequency domain resources allocated for the PUSCH and the PDSCH for full duplex transmission are located in the preconfigured uplink and downlink frequency bands, respectively, constituting the association of the frequency domain resources allocated for the PUSCH and the PDSCH. Based on the association of the frequency domain resources, the total frequency domain resources of the PUSCH and the PDSCH may be jointly indicated by the DCI format, and then the respective frequency domain resource allocation of the PUSCH and the PDSCH may be implicitly determined based on the association, thereby greatly reducing the DCI overhead used for the frequency domain resource allocation.

[0119] For example, in a case where the association of the frequency domain resources allocated for the PUSCH and the PDSCH is that the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH are located in the preconfigured uplink frequency band and the downlink frequency band related to the full-duplex, respectively, receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the DCI format based on the DCI format includes: obtaining the uplink frequency band and the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex; determining, based on the DCI format, total frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH; determining frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH based on the total frequency domain resources and association between the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH, wherein a first portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the uplink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PUSCH, and a second portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PDSCH.

[0120] Optionally, as mentioned above, the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH may include: hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH. In this case, receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format includes: determining, based on a predetermined rule, a first PUSCH of the at least one PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information; transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information, after receiving at least one of the at least one PDSCH according to the DCI forma. Transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information may also be referred to as transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the first PUSCH in a multiplexing manner. According to embodiments, the predetermined rules herein may be related to at least one of: an ordering of physical channels scheduled by the DCI format, a PDSCH processing time, PUSCH duration(s), and a bandwidth allocated for the PUSCH(s). Here, the PDSCH processing time is a processing time for each PDSCH, and at least includes a time required for determining the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to each PDSCH after the UE receives the PDSCH. The PUSCH duration is a time that transmission of each PUSCH lasts.

[0121] As described above, the predetermined rule may be related to the ordering of physical channels scheduled by the joint scheduling DCI format, e.g., the first PUSCH satisfies that at least one of physical channels that are ranked　ahead　(or, earlier in time, ahead in index, etc.) than it among the physical channels scheduled by the DCI format is a PDSCH. Optionally, the predetermined rule may also be related to the PDSCH processing time, wherein for example, the first PUSCH satisfies that a time difference between a start time domain symbol of the first PUSCH and an end time domain symbol of a preorder PDSCH associated with the first PUSCH is greater than the PDSCH processing time, wherein the preorder PDSCH associated with the first PUSCH is a PDSCH with a time prior to that of the first PUSCH and the HARQ-ACK information associated with it is transmitted on the first PUSCH. This design ensures that valid HARQ-ACK information is transmitted on the first PUSCH. Optionally, the predetermined rules may also be related to the PUSCH duration(s) and / or the bandwidth allocated for the PUSCH(s), e.g. the first PUSCH satisfies that the number of allocated time domain symbols (duration) is greater than or equal to a first threshold, and / or the first PUSCH satisfies that the allocated bandwidth is greater than or equal to a second threshold, wherein the first threshold and the second threshold may be configured by high-level signaling, or predetermined by a protocol. This design takes into account the impact of multiplexing the HARQ-ACK information on the reception performance of the PUSCH: when the PUSCH is allocated fewer physical resources, transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the multiplexing manner will have a greater impact on the amount of data carried by the PUSCH or the demodulation performance, and at this time, transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the PUSCH in the multiplexing manner should be avoided.

[0122] Optionally, transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information may include: determining a time domain symbol in the first PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information; transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol, wherein the time domain symbol is an end time domain symbol in a time domain resource allocated for the first PUSCH; or, wherein the time domain symbol is determined based on: a position of an end time domain symbol of a last PDSCH associated with the HARQ-ACK information among PDSCHs that are scheduled prior to the first PUSCH, and the PDSCH processing time. A PDSCH that is scheduled prior to the first PUSCH is also referred to as a preorder PDSCH.

[0123] For example, determining the time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH based on the position (denoted as ) of the end time domain symbol of the last one of the preorder PDSCHs associated with the HARQ-ACK information and the PDSCH processing time (denoted as ) may be carried out in a manner of determining at least one preorder PDSCH that is associated with the HARQ-ACK information (e.g., determining based on configuration information, or being all preceding PDSCHs of the first PUSCH); calculating a processing end time of the last one of the preorder PDSCHs , wherein the determined time domain symbol used for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH are not earlier than , e.g., the determined time domain symbol may be the first time domain symbol of the time domain symbols allocated for the first PUSCH that is not earlier than , or the first time domain symbol of the time domain symbols allocated for the first PUSCH that is not earlier than and that is located after the time domain symbol for transmitting the demodulation reference signal. Optionally, when the time domain symbols of the time domain symbols allocated for the first PUSCH that are not earlier than include the first time domain symbol that is located after the time domain symbol for transmitting the demodulation reference signal, the UE transmit the HARQ-ACK information on the first time domain symbol; otherwise the UE terminates the transmission of the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain within the time domain resources allocated for the first PUSCH. The basic idea of this design is as follows: when transmitting the HARQ-ACK information of the preorder PDSCH on the first PUSCH in the multiplexing manner, it is necessary to consider the processing time of the preorder PDSCH. Therefore, the end time domain symbol of the first PUSCH is considered for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information may reserve sufficient time for the preorder PDSCH processing; or based on the end time of the preorder PDSCH processing, it tries to transmit the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol after the demodulation reference signal to improve the detection performance of the HARQ-ACK information.

[0124] It is considered that when the HARQ-ACK information is not transmitted on a time domain symbol after a demodulation reference signal of the first PUSCH, there may be a degradation in the accuracy of the channel estimation results due to channel time variation, which may result in a degradation in the reception performance of the HARQ-ACK information. To further address this issue, transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol may include: obtaining a mask sequence based on the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the mask sequence on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH. In some examples, bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information may be generated based on the HARQ-ACK information, a mask sequence may be obtained based on the bit(s)of the HARQ-ACK information, and the mask sequence may be transmitted on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH. For example, in some examples, when the bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information are ACK, i.e., , a first mask sequence of a length is transmitted; and when the bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information is NACK, i.e., a second mask sequence of a length is transmitted, where the first mask sequence is orthogonal to the second mask sequence, i.e., . Transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in an orthogonal mask sequence may improve the reception performance of the HARQ-ACK information. Optionally, transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol may include: generating at least one modulation symbol based on bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the at least one modulation symbol on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH. For example, the modulation symbol is modulated in a configured or predetermined modulation mode of a low order modulation order (lower than that of the modulation mode of the first PUSCH, e.g., using QPSK, etc.), or each of the at least one modulation symbol is repeatedly transmitted on a different subcarrier of the same time domain symbol. This approach may also improve the reception performance of the HARQ-ACK information.

[0125] Optionally, transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information includes: determining a HARQ-ACK codebook to be transmitted on the first PUSCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK information is included in the HARQ-ACK codebook;

[0126] transmitting the first PUSCH including the HARQ-ACK codebook. According to embodiments, the HARQ-ACK information included in the HARQ-ACK codebook may include: HARQ-ACK information of at least one PDSCH that is scheduled by the DCI format and that is prior in time compared to the first PUSCH; or, HARQ-ACK information generated based on HARQ-ACK information for a plurality of PDSCHs that are scheduled by the DCI format and that are prior in time compared to the first PUSCH.

[0127] In some examples, the HARQ-ACK information included in the HARQ-ACK codebook may include HARQ-ACK information of at least one PDSCH transmission block that is scheduled by the same joint scheduling DCI format and that is prior in time compared to the first PUSCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK information includes ACK / NACK information. The at least one PDSCH transmission block that is scheduled by the same joint scheduling DCI format and is prior in time compared to the first PUSCH may be all PDSCHs that are scheduled by the same joint scheduling DCI format and satisfy that the end time domain symbol of the PDSCH is advanced by compared to the time domain symbol that is used by the first PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the multiplexing manner, wherein is the PDSCH processing time. As shown in FIG. 8, it is assumed that the number of transmission blocks scheduled by the same joint scheduling DCI format is 4, they are transmitted on slots #0~#3 and are a PDSCH, a PDSCH, a PUSCH, and a PDSCH based on a time order, respectively. When the PUSCH of the slot #2 is the first PUSCH, and its last time domain symbol (which is not the last time domain symbol of the slot #2) is used for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the multiplexing manner, since only the end time domain symbol of the PDSCH of the slot #0 is advanced by (PDSCH processing time) compared to the time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK in the multiplexing manner, the HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the PDSCH of the slot #0 (i.e., transmission block #0) is transmitted on the PUSCH of the slot #2 in the multiplexing manner, while neither the PDSCH of the slot #1 nor the PDSCH of the slot #3 satisfies this condition, so the corresponding HARQ-ACK information is not transmitted on the PUSCH of slot #2 in the multiplexing manner.

[0128] In other examples, the HARQ-ACK information included in the HARQ-ACK codebook may include HARQ-ACK information generated based on HARQ-ACK information of a plurality of PDSCHs that are scheduled by the DCI format and that are ahead in time compared to the first PUSCH. For example, the HARQ-ACK information generated based on the HARQ-ACK information of the plurality of PDSCHs may be bundled ACK / NACK information of a plurality of PDSCH transmission blocks. That is, what is included in the HARQ-ACK codebook may be the bundled ACK / NACK information of the plurality of PDSCH transmission blocks. For example, it is assumed that the number of PDSCH transmission blocks associated with the HARQ-ACK codebook is , they are divided into groups of PDSCH transmission blocks, wherein each group of PDSCH transmission blocks contains a plurality of PDSCH transmission blocks and one HARQ-ACK information bit in the HARQ-ACK codebook is generated based on ACK / NACK information of the plurality of PDSCH transmission blocks in a bundled manner (e.g., only if the plurality of PDSCH transmission blocks are all ACK, the information of the HARQ-ACK information bit is ACK; otherwise, the information of the HARQ-ACK information bit is NACK). As a special case, one group of PDSCH transmission blocks contains all PDSCH transmission blocks related to the HARQ-ACK codebook, i.e., HARQ-ACK information bits for this group of the PDSCH transmission blocks are generated based on the ACK / NACK information of all the PDSCH transmission blocks. In some examples, the UE obtains a configured size of a group of PDSCH transmission blocks and / or the number of groups of PDSCH transmission blocks by means of the user-specific RRC signaling or the joint scheduling DCI format, and determines HARQ-ACK information corresponding to each group of PDSCH transmission blocks included in the HARQ-ACK codebook. In other examples, different information bits in the HARQ-ACK codebook are mapped on the first PUSCH in different ways, wherein HARQ-ACK information bits related to the group of PDSCH transmission blocks are punched (punctured) on the first PUSCH, and, wherein the HARQ information bit related to a single PDSCH transmission block is transmitted on the first PUSCH in a rate-matching mode. For example, bundled HARQ-ACK information bits of the group of PDSCH transmission blocks are mapped on the first PUSCH in a punching manner: due to the high importance of these information bits, transmission in the punching manner ensures their transmission performance, while at the same time, due to the small number of these information bits, the punching manner also avoids an excessive impact on the transmission performance of the PUSCH. HARQ information related to a single PDSCH transmission block (e.g., HARQ-ACK information of a single PDSCH transmission block, or HARQ-ACK information of one or more coded blocks / groups of coded blocks within a single PDSCH transmission block) is transmitted in the rate-matching manner on the first PUSCH, as compared to the HARQ-ACK information related to the group of PDSCH transmission blocks, these information bits are larger in number and lower in importance, and may be transmitted in the rate-matching manner considering the impact on the performance of the PUSCH transmission.

[0129] Above, the method performed by the user equipment in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in connection with examples.

[0130] A method performed by a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure is also provided. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0131] Referring to FIG. 9, at step S910, a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is transmitted to a user equipment (UE). At step S920, the at least one PDSCH is transmitted to the UE and the at least one PUSCH is received from the UE, wherein the DCI format is used for the UE to receive the at least one PDSCH and to transmit the at least one PUSCH to the base station, wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein the at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH. The relevant contents included in the method performed by the base station have been described above in the description of the method performed by the user equipment, and will not be repeated herein, and the relevant details may be found above.

[0132] The methods provided according to embodiments of the present disclosure not only reduce the system overhead required for scheduling authorization as well as guarantee the scheduling latency with limited system resources, but also reduces the load of the DCI, thereby reducing the system overhead required for DCI transmission, and thus improves the efficiency of using system resources.

[0133] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, a user equipment and a base station are also provided.

[0134] FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a user equipment according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 10, the user equipment 1000 may include a transceiver 1010, and a processor 1020, wherein the processor 1020 is coupled to the transceiver 1010 and configured to perform the communication method performed by the user equipment as described above. For example, the user equipment may be a CPE, or a UE with a CPE capability, or a UE of the same type as a CPE, or may also be a functional entity corresponding to a communication module of a CPE, but is not limited thereto.

[0135] FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a base station according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 11, the base station 1100 may include a transceiver 1110 and a processor 1120, wherein the processor 1120 is coupled to the transceiver 1110 and configured to perform the method described above that is performed by the base station.

[0136] In addition, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium storing instructions is also provided. The instructions, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to perform any of the methods as described above. Examples of computer-readable storage media herein include: Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Programmable Read Only Memory (RAPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), flash memory, non-volatile memory, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD+R, CD-RW, CD+RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-R LTH, BD-RE, Blue-ray or optical disk storage, Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD), card storage (such as multimedia cards, secure digital (SD) cards or extremely fast digital (XD) cards), magnetic tapes, floppy disks, magneto-optical data storage devices, optical data storage devices, hard disks, solid state disks, and any other devices that are configured to store computer programs and any associated data, data files and data structures in a non-transitory manner and provide the computer programs and any associated data, data files and data structures to a processor or computer so that the processor or computer can execute the computer programs. The instructions or computer programs in the computer-readable storage medium described above may be executed in an environment deployed in a computer device, such as client, host, proxy device, server, etc. In addition, in one example, the computer programs and any associated data, data files, and data structures are distributed on a networked computer system, so that the computer programs and any associated data, data files, and data structures are stored, accessed and executed through one or more processors or computers in a distributed manner.

[0137] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily be conceived by those skill in the art after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. The present disclosure is intended to cover any variation, use, or adaptation of the present disclosure that follows the general principle of the present disclosure and includes commonly known or customary technical means in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and embodiments are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of the disclosure is limited by the claims.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) comprising:receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); andreceiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format;wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH comprises at least one of:a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH;a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; orhybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH,wherein the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH comprises: a first time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PUSCH being associated with a second time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PDSCH,wherein the first time domain resource being associated with the second time domain resource comprises:any one time unit in a set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource of one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource of one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the obtained set of time units contains all time units used for the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH.3.The method of claim 2, further comprising:obtaining the set of time units based on at least one of high-level signaling, medium access control (MAC) signaling and the DCI format,wherein the obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one of the high-level signaling, the MAC signaling and the DCI format comprises:determining at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters,wherein the at least one set of configuration parameters comprises at least one of: a location or an index of a time unit in the set of time units, a location or an index of a start time unit in the set of time units, a location or an index of an end time unit in the set of time units, and a number or a duration of time units contained in the set of time units,wherein the determining the at least one set of configuration parameters related to the set of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on the at least one set of configuration parameters comprises:determining a plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, determining one set of configuration parameters from the plurality of sets of configuration parameters based on the DCI format, and obtaining the set of time units based on the one set of configuration parameters;determining a configuration parameter related to the number of time units based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling, and obtaining the set of time units based on a scheduling start time and the configuration parameter related to the number of time units, wherein the scheduling start time is a start time of a channel to be first scheduled among the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH scheduled by the DCI format; ordetermining a time domain resource allocation table based on the high-level signaling or the MAC signaling and determining a row in the time domain resource allocation table based on the DCI, wherein all time units contained in the row or a time domain symbol allocated on each time unit are used as the set of time units.4.The method of claim 2, wherein the any one time unit in the set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource in one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource in one of the at least one PDSCH comprises:at least one time unit in the set of time units being allocated for one transmission block, wherein the transmission block is transmitted via a PUSCH or is transmitted via a PDSCH, the time unit belongs to the first time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PUSCH, and the time unit belongs to the second time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PDSCH,wherein the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format comprises:determining, based on the DCI format, at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block; andreceiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined at least one time unit for each transmission block,wherein the determining, based on the DCI format, the at least one time unit in the set of time units that is used for each transmission block comprises:determining, based on the DCI format, at least one indication information of: a number of transmission blocks being scheduled, a number of time units allocated for each transmission block, and a correspondence of each transmission block with the PUSCH or the PDSCH; anddetermining the at least one time unit based on the indication information.5.The method of claim 4, wherein the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format comprises:obtaining association with uplink or downlink of a time unit in the set of time units;determining, based on the association, information of: a time unit allocated to each transmission block; or whether each transmission block being transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH; andreceiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH based on the determined information,wherein the obtaining the association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit in the set of time units comprises:determining whether each time unit in the set of time units is used for the uplink or the downlink based on configuration information related to uplink or downlink of time division duplex or configuration information related to a slot format; ordetermining whether each time unit in the set of time units is associated with the downlink or the uplink based on the DCI format or the high-level signaling.6.The method of claim 5, wherein the determining, based on the association, of the time unit allocated to each transmission block comprises:determining a number of transmission blocks to be scheduled or indexes of the transmission blocks based on the association and a number of time units contained in the set of time units, and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks or the indexes of the transmission blocks, wherein each time unit in the set of time units is allocated to one transmission block; ordetermining the number of the transmission blocks according to at least one of a time unit contained in the set of time units, association with the uplink or the downlink of the time unit contained in the set of time units, a number of continuous time units associated with the uplink in time domain, a number of continuous time units associated with the downlink in time domain; and determining the time unit allocated to each transmission block based on the number of the transmission blocks and the association,wherein the determining, based on the association, whether each transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH comprises:determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PDSCH in case that a time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink;determining that the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH in case that the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the downlink; anddetermining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or the PDSCH according to a predetermined rule in case that the time unit allocated for the transmission block is associated with the uplink and is associated with the downlink.wherein the predetermined rule comprises at least one of:determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on the DCI format or a high-level signaling indication;determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on association with the uplink or the downlink of a first time domain symbol in the time unit allocated to the transmission block;determining whether the transmission block is transmitted by the PUSCH or by the PDSCH based on an uplink or downlink association of transmission data having a high priority on the time unit allocated to the transmission block.7.The method of claim 2, wherein the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH comprises:the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH being located on a pre-configured uplink frequency band and a downlink frequency band related to full duplex, respectively,wherein the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format comprises:obtaining the uplink frequency band and the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex;determining, based on the DCI format, total frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH;determining frequency domain resources allocated to the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH based on the total frequency domain resources and association between the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH and the frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH, wherein a first portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the uplink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PUSCH, and a second portion of the total frequency domain resources that is located in the downlink frequency band related to the full duplex is allocated to the at least one PDSCH.8.The method of claim 2, wherein in case that the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH comprises the hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH,the receiving the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format comprises:determining, based on a predetermined rule, a first PUSCH of the at least one PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information;transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information, after receiving at least one of the at least one PDSCH according to the DCI format；wherein the predetermined rule relates to at least one of: an ordering of physical channels scheduled by the DCI format, a PDSCH processing time, PUSCH duration(s), and bandwidth allocated for the PUSCH(s),wherein transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information comprises:determining a time domain symbol in the first PUSCH for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information;transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol,wherein the time domain symbol is an end time domain symbol in a time domain resource allocated for the first PUSCH; or, wherein the time domain symbol is determined based on: a position of an end time domain symbol of a last PDSCH associated with the HARQ-ACK information among PDSCHs that are scheduled prior to the first PUSCH, and the PDSCH processing time,wherein the transmitting the HARQ-ACK information on the time domain symbol comprises:obtaining a mask sequence based on the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the mask sequence on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH; orgenerating at least one modulation symbol based on bit(s) of the HARQ-ACK information and transmitting the at least one modulation symbol on the determined time domain symbol for transmitting the HARQ-ACK information in the first PUSCH.9.The method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting the first PUSCH containing the HARQ-ACK information comprises:determining a HARQ-ACK codebook to be transmitted on the first PUSCH, wherein the HARQ-ACK information is included in the HARQ-ACK codebook;transmitting the first PUSCH including the HARQ-ACK codebook,wherein the HARQ-ACK information included in the HARQ-ACK codebook, comprises:HARQ-ACK information for at least one PDSCH that is scheduled by the DCI format and is temporally prior to the first PUSCH; orHARQ-ACK information generated based on HARQ-ACK information of a plurality of PDSCHs that are scheduled by the DCI format and that are temporally prior to the first PUSCH.10.A method performed by a base station comprising.transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH);transmitting the at least one PDSCH to the UE and receiving the at least one PUSCH from the UE,wherein the DCI format is used for the UE to receive the at least one PDSCH and to transmit the at least one PUSCH to the base station, wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associating with the at least one PDSCH.11.The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH comprises at least one of:a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH;a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with a frequency domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH; orhybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information associated with at least one of the at least one PDSCH being transmitted on at least one of the at least one PUSCH.12.The method according to claim 11, wherein the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PUSCH being associated with the time domain resource allocated for the at least one PDSCH comprises: a first time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PUSCH being associated with a second time domain resource allocated to at least one of the at least one PDSCH,wherein the first time domain resource being associated with the second time domain resource comprises:any one time unit in a set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource of one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource of one of the at least one PDSCH, wherein the obtained set of time units contains all time units used for the at least one PUSCH and the at least one PDSCH.13.The method according to claim 12, wherein the any one time unit in the set of time units obtained by the UE being allocated to belong to the first time domain resource in one of the at least one PUSCH or the second time domain resource in one of the at least one PDSCH comprises:at least one time unit in the set of time units being allocated for one transmission block, wherein the transmission block is transmitted via a PUSCH or is transmitted via a PDSCH, the time unit belongs to the first time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PUSCH, and the time unit belongs to the second time domain resource when the transmission block is transmitted via the PDSCH.14.A user equipment comprising:a transceiver, anda processor, coupled to the transceiver and configured to:receive a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH); andreceive the at least one PDSCH and transmitting the at least one PUSCH according to the DCI format;wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associated with the at least one PDSCH.15.A base station comprising:a transceiver, anda processor, coupled to the transceiver and configured to:transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a downlink control information (DCI) format for simultaneously scheduling at least one physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) and at least one physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH);transmit the at least one PDSCH to the UE and receiving the at least one PUSCH from the UE,wherein the DCI format is used for the UE to receive the at least one PDSCH and to transmit the at least one PUSCH to the base station, wherein the at least one PUSCH is associated with the at least one PDSCH, wherein at least one indication field in the DCI format is configured based on the at least one PUSCH being associating with the at least one PDSCH.

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