Downlink transmission control method, and relevant devices
Patent Information
- Application Number
- PCT/CN2026/070302
- Authority / Receiving Office
- WO · WO
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2025-03-25
- Filing Date
- 2026-01-05
- Publication Date
- 2026-10-01
Smart Images

Figure CN2026070302_01102026_PF_FP_ABST
Abstract
Description
DOWNLINK TRANSMISSION CONTROL METHOD, AND RELEVANT DEVICES
[0001] BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE
[0002] 1. Field of the Disclosure
[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to a downlink transmission control method, and relevant devices.2. Description of the Related Art
[0004] In cellular wireless communication systems developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) , user equipment (UE) is connected by a wireless link to a radio access network (RAN) . The RAN includes a set of base stations (BSs) which provide wireless links to UEs located in cells covered by the base station and an interface to a core network (CN) which provides overall network control. The RAN and CN each conduct respective functions in relation to the overall network. The so-called 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, namely, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Territorial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) has been developed for a mobile access network where one or more macro-cells are supported by a base station known as an eNodeB or eNB (evolved NodeB) . Evolved from LTE, the so-called 5G or new radio (NR) systems where one or more cells are supported by a base station known as a gNB. Envisioned to succeed the current 5G networks, the 6G cellular system is the forthcoming generation of wireless communication technology.
[0005] A communication system, like 5G NR system, includes a downlink (DL) that conveys signals from a transmission point such as gNB to a UE. The UE can also be commonly referred to as a terminal or a mobile station. The UE may be a fixed or mobile and may be a cellular phone, a personal computer device or an automated device, for example an autonomous driving vehicle or machine in factory. The gNB is generally a fixed station and may also be referred to as an access point and other equivalent terminology.
[0006] In 5G / NR system, DL signals can include data signals conveying information content such as PDSCH, control signals conveying DL Control Information (DCI) , and Reference Signals (RS) . A gNB transmits data information through a Physical DL Shared CHannel (PDSCH) , and transmits DCI through a Physical DL Control CHannel (PDCCH) . A gNB transmits one or more of multiple types of RS including a Channel State Information RS (CSI-RS) , or a DeModulation RS (DMRS) . A CSI-RS can be transmitted over a DL system BandWidth (BW) and can be used by UEs to obtain the channel QCL information, estimate channel state information (CSI) and / or measure beam. DMRS can be transmitted only in the BW of a respective PDSCH or PDCCH and a UE can use the DMRS to demodulate data or control information in a PDSCH or PDCCH, respectively. A transmission time interval for DL channels is referred to as a subframe, or slot. DL resource allocation is performed in a number of symbols and a group of Physical resource blocks (PRBs) . A transmission BW consists of frequency resource units referred to as Resource Blocks (RBs) . Each RB consists of sub-carriers, or Resource Elements (REs) , such as 12 REs. A unit of one RB over one subframe is referred to as a PRB. A UE can be allocated MPDSCH RBs for a total of REs for the PDSCH transmission BW.
[0007] In 5G / NR system, a PDSCH transmission can be scheduled either through a dynamic scheduling method based on DCI or through a semi-static method based on RRC configuration and DCI activation. In dynamic scheduling method, the UE upon detection of a PDCCH with a DCI decodes the corresponding PDSCH as indicated by that DCI. The DCI indicates the following information for the corresponding PDSCH: frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, the modulation and coding scheme for each transport block, the redundancy version of each transport block, HARQ process number, TPC command for PUCCH, PUCCH resource indicator for carrying the HARQ feedback, transmission configuration indication (TCI) , TCI selection, SCell dormancy indication, etc.
[0008] The drawback of DCI design for PDSCH transmission in 5G / NR is that it uses a single fixed-size DCI format (for example 0_1) to schedule all the PDSCH transmission. And the size and presence / absence of DCI field is statically configured through RRC and the system has to suffer the big payload size of DCI even when some DCI fields are not used for a PDSCH transmission. This would increase the system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and reduce the latency.SUMMARY
[0009] An object of the present application is to propose a downlink transmission control method and relevant devices, which can solve issues in the relevant art, reduce system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, improve system throughput, provide a good communication performance, and / or provide high reliability.
[0010] In a first aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a downlink transmission control method, performed by a terminal device, the method including receiving, from a network device, a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; determining, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present; in response to determining that the second part is present, receiving and decoding the second part of the DCI and detecting PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI; and in response to determining that the second part is absent, detecting the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI.
[0011] In a second aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a downlink transmission control method, performed by a network device, the method including generating one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part; transmitting the first part of the DCI to a terminal device, wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present; selectively transmitting the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception; and transmitting the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted.
[0012] In a third aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a terminal device, including a receiving module, configured to receive, from a network device, a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; a determining module, configured to determine, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present; a first processing module, configured to, receive and decode, in response to determining that the second part is present, the second part of the DCI and detect PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI; and a second processing module, configured to detect, in response to determining that the second part is absent, the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI.
[0013] In a fourth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a network device, including a generating module, configured to generate one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part; a DCI transmitting module, configured to transmit the first part of the DCI to a terminal device, wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present; a DCI selectively-transmitting module, configured to selectively transmit the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception; and a PDSCH transmitting module, configured to transmit the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted.
[0014] In a fifth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a terminal device, including a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to call and run program instructions stored in the memory, to execute the method described in the first aspect.
[0015] In a sixth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a network device, including a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to call and run program instructions stored in the memory, to execute the method described in the second aspect.
[0016] In a seventh aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute any of the above methods.
[0017] In an eighth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a chip includes a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute any of the above methods.
[0018] In a ninth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, causing a computer to execute any of the above methods.
[0019] In a tenth aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a computer program product includes a computer program, and the computer program causes a computer to execute any of the above methods.
[0020] In an eleventh aspect, some embodiments of the present application provide a computer program that causes a computer to execute any of the above methods.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0021] In order to illustrate the embodiments of the present application or related art more clearly, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present application, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.
[0022] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary PDSCH operation process.
[0023] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a terminal device and a network device in a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0024] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a downlink transmission control method by a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0025] FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a downlink transmission control method by a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0026] FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary PDSCH operation process according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0027] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of two-part DCI according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0028] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a second example of two-part DCI according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0029] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another exemplary PDSCH operation process according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0030] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0031] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.
[0032] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application.DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0033] Embodiments of the present application are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present application are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure.
[0034] In this document, the symbol " / " should be interpreted to indicate "and / or. " A combination such as “at least one of A, B, or C, ” “one or more of A, B, or C, ” “at least one of A, B, and C, ” “one or more of A, B, and C, ” or “A, B, and / or C” may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, where any combination may contain one or more members of A, B, or C.
[0035] The following table includes some abbreviations or explanations that may be used in some embodiments of the present application:
[0036] Aspects, features, and advantages of the present application are readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply by illustrating a number of embodiments and implementations. The present application is also capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details can be modified in various obvious respects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. The present application is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings. In the following, for brevity, both FDD and TDD are considered as the duplex method for both DL and UL signaling. Although exemplary descriptions and embodiments to follow assume orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) , the present application can be extended to other OFDM-based transmission waveforms or multiple access schemes such as filtered OFDM (F-OFDM) . This application covers several components which can be used in conjunction or in combination with one another, or can operate as standalone schemes.
[0037] In the present application, the term ‘PDSCH’ describes an operation of downlink transmission from the network (or gNB) to a UE. A PDSCH corresponds to a downlink transmission in a frequency-time resource allocation. The PDSCH can be dynamically scheduled by the NW / gNB for example via DCI, preconfigured with a certain frequency-time resource allocation (such as the location of frequency-time resource, the MCS, the transmission scheme) , or a combination of such pre-configuration and activation / triggering.
[0038] The following embodiment is an example of PDSCH transmission triggered by DCI. The UE first receives one DCI from NW / gNB and the DCI can indicate the scheduling / configuration information of one PDSCH. Then following the configuration indicated in the DCI, the UE receives the PDSCH as indicated. In one example illustrated in FIG. 1, a PDSCH operation process 100 starts with the NW / gNB signaling to a UE an DCI triggering or scheduling a PDSCH transmission (step 101) . Upon receiving the DCI transmitted by NW / gNB, the UE decodes the DCI to obtain the configuration / indication information for PDSCH (step 102) . Example of indication information indicated by the DCI can include, but is not limited to, the frequency domain and time domain resource allocation, HARQ process ID, the MCS level, the transmission scheme and TCI selection. After decoding the DCI, the UE can be requested to detect the PDSCH according to the obtained indication information (step 103) .
[0039] The present application provides solutions for physical control signaling (e.g., DCI) design for PDSCH transmission. The DCI is a multi-part design: the first part contains the least part which provides the basic information for basic transmission scheme and extra part of the DCI contains the indication information for more advanced transmission schemes: for example, frequency-selective precoding, multiple-panel transmission, some frequency-domain or time-domain repetition and beam sweeping transmission.
[0040] The procedure of 2-part DCI scheduling PDSCH
[0041] FIG. 2 illustrates that, in some embodiments, one or more terminal device (e.g., user equipments (UEs)) 10 and one or more network devices (e.g., base stations or gNBs) 20 in a wireless communication system 30 according to an embodiment of the present application are provided. The wireless communication system 30 includes the one or more terminal devices 10 and one or more network devices 20. The one or more terminal devices 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The one or more network devices 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and / or methods described in this description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21, and the transceiver 13 or 23 transmits and / or receives a radio signal. When the wireless communication system 30 complies with the New Radio (NR) standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) , the next generation core network is a backend serving network system and may include an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) , User Plane Function (UPF) , and a Session Management Function (SMF) . In one aspect, the terminal device 10 can include almost any consumer electronic device or appliance that can connect to a radio access network and a core network for the releases of 3GPP and further, such as, but not limited to NR networks.
[0042] The processor 11 or 21 may include application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , other chipset, logic circuit and / or data processing device. The memory 12 or 22 may include read-only memory (ROM) , random access memory (RAM) , flash memory, memory card, storage medium and / or other storage device. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 can be implemented within the processor 11 or 21 or external to the processor 11 or 21 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.
[0043] In some embodiments, the processor 11 of the terminal device 10 is utilized to receive, from a network device, a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission; determine, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present; in response to determining that the second part is present, receive and decode the second part of the DCI and detect PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI; and in response to determining that the second part is absent, detect the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI. This facilitates in reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, and improving system throughput.
[0044] In some embodiments, the processor 21 of the network device 20 is utilized to generate one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part; transmit the first part of the DCI to a terminal device, wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present; selectively transmit the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception; and transmit the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted. This facilitates in reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, and improving system throughput.
[0045] FIG. 3 illustrates a downlink transmission control method 300 by a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present application. Referring to FIG. 3, the downlink transmission control method 300 is described for a terminal device (e.g., a UE) operating in a 5G / NR system, for example. In certain conventional implementations, a PDSCH transmission is scheduled using a single fixed-size DCI (e.g., with DCI format 0_1) . In such implementations, the presence / absence and size of DCI fields are statically configured via RRC signaling, such that a comparatively large DCI payload is transmitted even when some fields are not applicable to a given PDSCH transmission. This increases system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and affects the latency associated with control signaling and scheduling for the PDSCH transmission. Accordingly, the embodiments described herein provide a flexible control signaling and scheduling mechanism for PDSCH transmission, in which one DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part, thereby reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency. For purposes of illustration, the downlink transmission control method 300 is described below with reference to the following steps.
[0046] In the embodiment of FIG. 3, a DCI signaling with two parts is used to indicate a PDSCH transmission. Each DCI has two parts: a first part and a second part. Such a DCI can be also called two-stage DCI. Each DCI can have two parts: a first stage and a second stage. The first part of the DCI can indicate the presence / absence of the second part.
[0047] At step 302, the terminal device receives, from a network device (e.g., a gNB) , the first part of one DCI that configures or schedules a PDSCH transmission. The first part of the DCI may be transmitted on a PDCCH and may include at least a baseline set of scheduling parameters for scheduling the PDSCH reception.
[0048] At step 304, the terminal device determines, based on the first part of the DCI, whether the second part of the DCI is present. The first part of the DCI may include a presence indicator indicating presence / absence of the second part of the DCI. In some implementations, if the second part is presented, the first part may additionally indicate a size of the second part and / or indicate which information elements are included in the second part, for example, via a field descriptor, an index, or a bitmap identifying optional fields. In some embodiments, the first part of the DCI is subjected to its cyclic redundancy check (CRC) checking using a CRC associated with the first part, and the second part of the DCI is subjected to its CRC checking using a CRC associated with the second part. When the CRC check fails, the DCI may be discarded.
[0049] At step 306, in response to determining that the second part is present, the terminal device receives and decodes the second part of the DCI and detects the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part. That is, when the second part of the DCI is identified as existing, the terminal device decodes the second part of the DCI and derives PDSCH configuration information jointly from the first part and the second part. Then the terminal device detects the PDSCH based on the derived PDSCH configuration information. The second part may carry optional scheduling information to support one or more transmission schemes. The terminal device derives the PDSCH configuration information by combining scheduling parameters obtained from the first part with scheduling parameters obtained from the second part and performs PDSCH detection based on the combined configuration information.
[0050] At step 308, in response to determining that the second part is absent, the terminal device detects the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI. In this case, when the second part of the DCI is identified as not existing, the terminal device derives the PDSCH configuration information from the first part of the DCI alone. The terminal device performs PDSCH detection using the baseline scheduling parameters carried in the first part of the DCI.
[0051] By selectively including the second part of the DCI, the present application enables a flexible control of DCI payload size. Accordingly, control signaling overhead associated with unused DCI fields can be reduced, while maintaining scheduling flexibility for various transmission schemes when the second part is present. As a result, system configuration / reconfiguration overhead can be reduced as well as the latency associated with control signaling and scheduling can be reduced.
[0052] FIG. 4 illustrates a downlink transmission control method 400 by a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. In some embodiments, the method 400 includes the following. In step 402, the network device (e.g., base station or gNB) generates one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part. In step 404, the network device transmits the first part of the DCI to a terminal device (e.g., a UE) , wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present. In step 406, the network device selectively transmits the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception. In step 408, the network device transmits the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted. This facilitates in reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, and improving system throughput. Other details of the method 400 may be referred to the method 300 described above and are not repeated herein.
[0053] An example of using 2-part DCI to indicate PDSCH transmission is given in a PDSCH operation process 500 as shown in FIG. 5. The NW / gNB first signals the first part of one DCI to the UE (501) . Then the NW / gNB can signal the second part of the DCI to the UE (502) , which is optional. If the PDSCH transmission only uses the first part of one DCI, the NW / gNB can skip the step 502. Then the UE receives and decodes the first part of the DCI (503) . The UE determines if the second part of the DCI is present or not according to the indication in the decoded first part of the DCI (504) . As shown in the process 500, if the second part of the DCI is not present, the UE then detects the PDSCH according to the configuration information indicated in the first part of the DCI (505) . If the second part of the DCI is present, the UE receives and decodes the second part of the DCI (506) . Then after that, the UE detects the PDSCH according to the configuration information indicated in both the first and the second part of the DCI (507) .
[0054] Medium to transmit the two parts of DCI indicating PDSCH
[0055] The DCI scheduling a PDSCH can be transmitted in downlink control channel, which can be called PDCCH. The terminal device (e.g., UE) can be configured with one or more search spaces and each search space defines a set of resources in frequency domain and time domain. The terminal device (e.g., UE) can be requested to detect DCI in one search space.
[0056] In one embodiment, the first part of the DCI can be transmitted in PDCCH and the second part of the DCI can be transmitted in the indicated PDSCH. The first part of the DCI indicates the frequency domain and time domain resource allocation for the PDSCH. If the first part of the DCI indicates there exists the second part of the DCI, the UE can be requested to detect the second part of the DCI from the samples in the location in the frequency domain and time domain resource allocation for the corresponding PDSCH. For example, the second part of the DCI can be mapped starting from the 1st RE on the 1st symbols in the scheduled PDSCH. The UE can be requested to detect the indicated PDSCH according to the configuration indicated in the first part of the DCI or the configuration information indicated in both the first part and the second part of the DCI.
[0057] An example of the design is shown in FIG. 6. The 1st part of the DCI is transmitted in PDCCH. The UE can be requested to first detect the 1st part of the DCI in PDCCH. The 1st part of the DCI indicates the frequency domain and time domain resource allocation of the PDSCH. If the 1st part of the DCI indicates the 2nd part of the DCI is present, the UE can be requested to decode the 2nd part of DCI in the corresponding PDSCH. Then according to the configuration information indicated in both the first part and the second part of the DCI, the UE detects the PDSCH.
[0058] In one embodiment, the UE can be configured with two PDCCH search spaces: a first search space (SS) and a second search space. The first search space and the second search space are configured to be associated for the transmission of the first part and the second part of the DCI. The UE can be requested to expect to decode the first part of one DCI in the first search space. If the UE decodes the first part of one DCI and the first part of the DCI indicates there exists the second part, the UE can be requested to decode the second part of the DCI. Then the UE can be requested to detect the scheduled PDSCH according to the configuration indicated in the first part of the DCI or the configuration information indicated in both the first and the second part of the DCI.
[0059] An example of the design is shown in FIG. 7. The UE is configured with 1st SS and the 2nd SS. The 1st SS and 2nd SS are associated for decoding the two parts of two-part DCI. The UE can first detect and decode the 1st part of one DCI. If the 1st part of the DCI indicates there is the 2nd part of the DCI, the UE can be requested to decode the 2nd part of DCI in the associated 2nd SS occasion. Then according to the configuration information indicated in both the first part and the second part of the DCI, the UE detects the PDSCH.
[0060] The contents in 1st part and 2nd part of one DCI indicating PDSCH
[0061] To indicate a PDSCH transmission, the NW / gNB provides indication information in through the 1st part of the DCI or the 1st part and the 2nd part of the DCI. Examples of the indication information included in the 1st part or the 2nd part of the DCI can be:
[0062] - Frequency domain resource assignment, which indicates PRBs in frequency domain allocated to the indicated PDSCH;
[0063] - Time domain resource assignment, which indicates the symbols in time domain allocated to the indicated PDSCH;
[0064] - Modulation and coding scheme which indicates which modulation and coding rate is used for the indicated PDSCH;
[0065] - The redundancy version of transmission or retransmission of the PDSCH;
[0066] - The HARQ process number;
[0067] - The indication of retransmission or new transmission of the PDSCH;
[0068] - The indication information of the UL control channel carrying the HARQ feedback for the PDSCH: the resource of the UL control channel, the power control command for the UL control channel and the timing indicator;
[0069] - The antenna port (s) indication for the DMRS of PDSCH;
[0070] - The sequence initialization for DMRS;
[0071] - The number of layers in the PDSCH;
[0072] - The transmission scheme applied on the PDSCH transmission: e.g., SDM scheme, FDM scheme, TDM scheme;
[0073] - TCI state indication, which indicates one or more TCI states for the system;
[0074] - TCI selection indication which indicates which one of indicated TCI states is applied on the indicated TCI state.
[0075] Among the above information, some information are necessary for any PDSCH indication, for example the frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment. But some information is not used for every PDSCH allocation, for example the TCI state indication. Given that, the information fields can be divided into two parts: the necessary information elements are placed in the 1st part of the DCI, which is signaled for all the PDSCH allocation and the optional information elements are placed in the 2nd part of the DCI, which is only signaled for some PDSCH when it is used.
[0076] In one embodiment, the 1st part of the DCI indicates the frequency domain resource assignment and the time domain resource assignment for the PDSCH. The 1st part of the DCI also indicates a first DCI field to indicate whether the 2nd part of the DCI exist or not for this transmission.
[0077] In one sub-embodiment, the 1st part of the DCI can indicate a first DCI field with 1 bit to indicate whether the 2nd part of the DCI exists or not for this transmission. The first DCI field can indicate value 0 or 1. For example, the first DCI field being 0 can indicate that the 2nd part of the DCI for this transmission does not exist. With that, the UE decodes the 1st part of the DCI and then detect the PDSCH based on indication information included in the 1st part of the DCI. The first DCI field being 1 can indicate that the 2nd part of the DCI for this transmission exists. The payload size and the presence of each DCI field in the 2nd part of the DCI can be configured through RRC signaling. When the UE detects the first DCI field in the 1st part of the DCI being 1, the UE can detect the 2nd part of the DCI in the corresponding location in the corresponding PDSCH according to the RRC configuration. With that, the UE can detect the PDSCH based on the indication included in both 1st part and 2nd part of the DCI.
[0078] In one sub-embodiment, the 1st part of the DCI can indicate a first DCI field with N bits to indicate (1) whether the 2nd part of the DCI exists or not for this transmission and (2) what DCI fields are included in the 2nd part of the DCI. Examples of N can be 1, 2, 3, or 4. One special value of the first DCI field, for example all 0s, can be defined as no 2nd part of the DCI. The UE can be provided with a mapping between the codepoints of the first DCI field and a configuration of DCI fields of the 2nd part of the DCI. For example, a configuration of DCI fields of the 2nd part of the DCI can include which DCI field (s) is / are present in the 2nd part of the DCI and what is the bit-width of each presented DCI field in the 2nd part of the DCI.
[0079] An example of using 2-part DCI to indicate PDSCH transmission according to the embodiment is given in the process 800 as shown in FIG. 8. The NW / gNB first signals the mapping between codepoints of the first DCI field in the 1st part of the DCI and the configuration of DCI fields in the 2nd part of DCI (801) . Then the NW / gNB first signals the first part of one DCI to the UE (802) . The NW / gNB can signal the second part of the DCI to the UE (803) , which is optional. If the PDSCH transmission only uses the first part of one DCI, the NW / gNB can skip the step 803. Then the UE receives and decodes the first part of the DCI (804) . The UE determines if the second part of the DCI is present or not, and also the configuration of the 2nd part according to the indication in the decoded first part of the DCI (805) . As shown in process 800, if the second part of the DCI is not present, the UE then detects PDSCH according to the configuration information indicated in the first part of the DCI (806) . If the second part of the DCI is present, the UE determines the configuration of DCI fields in the 2nd part of the DCI according to the codepoint of the first DCI field and the RRC configuration (807) . Then the UE receives and decodes the second part of the DCI (808) . After that, the UE detects the PDSCH according to the configuration information indicated in both the first and the second part of the DCI (809) .
[0080] FIG. 9 illustrates a terminal device 900 according to an embodiment of the present application. The terminal device (e.g., user equipment (UE) ) 900 includes a receiving module 901, a determining module 902, a first processing module 903 and a second processing module 904. The receiving module 901 is configured to receive, from a network device (e.g., base station or gNB) , a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission. The determining module 902 is configured to determine, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present. The first processing module 903 is configured to receive and decode, in response to determining that the second part is present, the second part of the DCI and detect PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI. The second processing module 904 is configured to detect, in response to determining that the second part is absent, the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI. This facilitates in reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, and improving system throughput. The details of the terminal device 900 may be referred to the methods described above and are not repeated herein.
[0081] FIG. 10 illustrates a network device 1000 according to an embodiment of the present application. The network device (e.g., base station or gNB) 1000 includes a generating module 1001, a DCI transmitting module 1002, a DCI selectively-transmitting module 1003 and a PDSCH transmitting module 1004. The generating module 1001 is configured to generate one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI includes a first part and, selectively, a second part. The DCI transmitting module 1002 is configured to transmit the first part of the DCI to a terminal device (e.g., user equipment (UE) ) , wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present. The DCI selectively-transmitting module 1003 is configured to selectively transmit the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception. The PDSCH transmitting module 1004 is configured to transmit the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted. This facilitates in reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead and latency, and improving system throughput. Other details of the network device 1000 may be referred to the methods described above and are not repeated herein.
[0082] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer readable storage medium for storing a computer program. The computer readable storage medium enables a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented in each of the methods of the embodiments of the present application. For brevity, details will not be described herein again.
[0083] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including computer program instructions. The computer program product enables a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented in each of the methods of the embodiments of the present application. For brevity, details will not be described herein again.
[0084] The embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program. The computer program enables a computer to execute corresponding processes implemented in each of the methods of the embodiments of the present application. For brevity, details will not be described herein again.
[0085] The description of above device embodiments is similar to the description of above method embodiments, having beneficial effects similar to the method embodiments. For technical details not disclosed in the device embodiments of the present application, please refer to the description of the method embodiments of the present application for the purpose of understanding.
[0086] Commercial interests for some embodiments are as follows. 1. Solving issues in the prior art. 2. Reducing system configuration / reconfiguration overhead. 3. Reducing latency. 4. Improving system throughput. 5. Providing a good communication performance. 6. Providing high reliability. Some embodiments of the present application are used by 5G-NR chipset vendors, V2X communication system development vendors, automakers including cars, trains, trucks, buses, bicycles, moto-bikes, helmets, and etc., drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) , smartphone makers, communication devices for public safety use, AR / VR device maker for example gaming, conference / seminar, education purposes. The deployment scenarios include, but not limited to, indoor hotspot, dense urban, urban micro, urban macro, rural, factor hall, and indoor D2D scenarios. Some embodiments of the present application are a combination of “techniques / processes” that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product. Some embodiments of the present application could be adopted in 5G NR licensed and non-licensed or shared spectrum communications. Some embodiments of the present application propose technical mechanisms. The present example embodiment is applicable to NR in unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) . The present application can be applied to other mobile networks, in particular to mobile network of any further generation cellular network technology (6G, etc. ) .
[0087] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example system 1100 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and / or software. FIG. 11 illustrates the system 1100 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1110, a baseband circuitry 1120, an application circuitry 1130, a memory / storage 1140, a display 1150, a camera 1160, a sensor 1170, and an input / output (I / O) interface 1180, coupled with each other at least as illustrated. The application circuitry 1130 may include a circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors, application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory / storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable various applications and / or operating systems running on the system.
[0088] The baseband circuitry 1120 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enables communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) , 5G NR (New Radio) network, and / or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN) , a wireless local area network (WLAN) , a wireless personal area network (WPAN) . Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.
[0089] In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1120 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency. The RF circuitry 1110 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1110 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.
[0090] In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, the baseband circuitry, and / or the application circuitry. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) , and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and / or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the application circuitry, and / or the memory / storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC) . The memory / storage 1140 may be used to load and store data and / or instructions, for example, for system. The memory / storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) , and / or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory.
[0091] In various embodiments, the I / O interface 1180 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and / or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface. In various embodiments, the sensor 1170 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and / or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and / or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.
[0092] In various embodiments, the display 1150 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 1100 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, an AR / VR glasses, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and / or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.
[0093] A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present application are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan. A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present application. It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he / she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.
[0094] It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present application can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms.
[0095] The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units.
[0096] If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present application can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present application. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.
[0097] While the present application has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present application is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.
Claims
1.A downlink transmission control method, performed by a terminal device, the method comprising:receiving, from a network device, a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission;determining, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present;in response to determining that the second part is present, receiving and decoding the second part of the DCI and detecting PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI; andin response to determining that the second part is absent, detecting the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI.2.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates a size of the second part of the DCI.3.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates what is presented in the second part of the DCI.4.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI is transmitted in physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , and the first part of the DCI indicates frequency domain resource allocation and time domain resource allocation for the PDSCH.5.The method of claim 4, wherein in response to determining that the first part of the DCI indicates that the second part is present, the second part of the DCI is detected based on the frequency domain resource allocation and the time domain resource allocation for the PDSCH.6.The method of claim 5, wherein the second part of the DCI is mapped starting from the first resource element (RE) on the first symbol in the PDSCH.7.The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is configured with a first search space (SS) and a second search space, which are associated for decoding the first part and the second part of the DCI, respectively.8.The method of claim 7, wherein in response to decoding the first part of the DCI in the first search space and determining that the first part indicates presence of the second part, the terminal device decodes the second part of the DCI in the second search space.9.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part or the second part of the DCI comprises indication information including at least one of the following: frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, modulation and coding scheme, redundancy version of transmission or retransmission of the PDSCH, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, an indication of retransmission or new transmission of the PDSCH, indication information of uplink (UL) control channel carrying HARQ feedback for the PDSCH, antenna port (s) indication for demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of PDSCH, sequence initialization for the DMRS, the number of layers in the PDSCH, transmission scheme applied on the PDSCH transmission, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state indication, and TCI selection indication.10.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI comprises necessary information elements for allocation of the PDSCH, the second part of the DCI comprises optional information elements and is only signaled on demands.11.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment for the PDSCH and comprises a DCI field used to indicate whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission.12.The method of claim 11, wherein the DCI field of the first part of the DCI used for indicating whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission is a one-bit field having either a first value or a second value, and wherein the one-bit field having the first value indicates that the second part of the DCI for the PDSCH transmission is absent, and the one-bit field having the second value indicates that the second part of the DCI for the PDSCH transmission is presented.13.The method of claim 1, wherein the first part of the DCI comprises a N-bit DCI field used to indicate whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission and what DCI fields are included in the second part of the DCI, where N is a positive integer.14.The method of claim 13, wherein the terminal device is configured with a mapping between codepoints of the N-bit DCI field of the first part of the DCI and a configuration of DCI fields of the second part of the DCI.15.The method of claim 14, further comprising:in response to determining that the second part is present, determining a configuration of the DCI fields in the second part of the DCI according to the codepoints of the N-bit DCI field of the first part of the DCI; andreceiving and decoding the second part of the DCI according to the determined configuration.16.A downlink transmission control method, performed by a network device, the method comprising:generating one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI comprises a first part and, selectively, a second part;transmitting the first part of the DCI to a terminal device, wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present;selectively transmitting the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception; andtransmitting the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted.17.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates a size of the second part of the DCI.18.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates what is presented in the second part of the DCI.19.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI is transmitted in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , and the first part of the DCI indicates frequency domain resource allocation and time domain resource allocation for the PDSCH.20.The method of claim 19, wherein in response to the indication in the first part of the DCI indicating that the second part is present, the network device transmits the second part of the DCI based on the frequency domain resource allocation and the time domain resource allocation for the PDSCH.21.The method of claim 20, wherein the second part of the DCI is mapped starting from a first resource element (RE) on a first symbol in the PDSCH.22.The method of claim 16, wherein the network device configures the terminal device with a first search space (SS) and a second search space, which are associated for decoding the first part and the second part of the DCI, respectively.23.The method of claim 22, wherein the network device provides the first part of the DCI in the first search space and, in response to the indication in the first part of the DCI indicating that the second part is present, the network device provides the second part of the DCI in the second search space.24.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part or the second part of the DCI comprises indication information including at least one of the following: frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, modulation and coding scheme, redundancy version of transmission or retransmission of the PDSCH, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process number, an indication of retransmission or new transmission of the PDSCH, indication information of uplink (UL) control channel carrying HARQ feedback for the PDSCH, antenna port (s) indication for demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of PDSCH, sequence initialization for the DMRS, the number of layers in the PDSCH, transmission scheme applied on the PDSCH transmission, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state indication, and TCI selection indication.25.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI comprises necessary information elements for allocation of the PDSCH, and the second part of the DCI comprises optional information elements and is transmitted on demand.26.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI indicates frequency domain resource assignment and time domain resource assignment for the PDSCH and comprises a DCI field used to indicate whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission.27.The method of claim 26, wherein the DCI field of the first part of the DCI used for indicating whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission is a one-bit field having either a first value or a second value, and wherein the one-bit field having the first value indicates that the second part of the DCI for the PDSCH transmission is absent, and the one-bit field having the second value indicates that the second part of the DCI for the PDSCH transmission is presented.28.The method of claim 16, wherein the first part of the DCI comprises an N-bit DCI field used to indicate whether the second part of the DCI is presented or not for the PDSCH transmission and what DCI fields are included in the second part of the DCI, where N is a positive integer.29.The method of claim 28, wherein the network device configures the terminal device with a mapping between codepoints of the N-bit DCI field of the first part of the DCI and a configuration of DCI fields of the second part of the DCI.30.The method of claim 29, further comprising:in response to the N-bit DCI field indicating that the second part is present, transmitting the second part of the DCI and expecting the terminal device to determine a configuration of the DCI fields in the second part of the DCI according to the codepoints of the N-bit DCI field of the first part of the DCI.31.A terminal device, comprising:a receiving module, configured to receive, from a network device, a first part of one downlink control information (DCI) that configures or schedules a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission;a determining module, configured to determine, based on the first part of the DCI, whether a second part of the DCI is present;a first processing module, configured to receive and decode, in response to determining that the second part is present, the second part of the DCI and detect PDSCH according to configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI; anda second processing module, configured to detect, in response to determining that the second part is absent, the PDSCH according to configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI.32.A network device, comprising:a generating module, configured to generate one downlink control information (DCI) for configuring or scheduling a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission, wherein the DCI comprises a first part and, selectively, a second part;a DCI transmitting module, configured to transmit the first part of the DCI to a terminal device, wherein the first part includes an indication indicating whether the second part of the DCI is present;a DCI selectively-transmitting module, configured to selectively transmit the second part of the DCI to the terminal device, wherein the second part includes configuration information to be jointly used with configuration information in the first part for PDSCH reception; anda PDSCH transmitting module, configured to transmit the PDSCH according to (i) configuration information indicated by both the first part and the second part of the DCI when the second part is transmitted, or (ii) configuration information indicated only by the first part of the DCI when the second part is not transmitted.33.A terminal device, comprising:a memory; anda processor coupled to the memory,wherein the processor is configured to call and run program instructions stored in the memory, to execute the method of any of claims 1 to 15.34.A network device, comprising:a memory; anda processor coupled to the memory,wherein the processor is configured to call and run program instructions stored in the memory, to execute the method of any of claims 16 to 30.35.A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 15 or the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.36.A chip, comprising:a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 15 or the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.37.A computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 15 or the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.38.A computer program product, comprising a computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 15 or the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.39.A computer program, wherein the computer program causes a computer to execute the method of any one of claims 1 to 15 or the method of any one of claims 16 to 30.