Beam-Specific DCI Retransmission for Reliable 5G NR Beam Alignment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
The lack of retransmission procedures for downlink control information (DCI) in 5G New Radio (5G NR) systems leads to reduced reliability due to misalignment between wireless communication nodes and devices, causing potential interruptions in beam-specific DCI transmissions, especially in high-frequency scenarios with high mobility.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) procedure is implemented to support the retransmission of DCI, including semi-static and dynamic HARQ procedures, with mechanisms for multiplexing HARQ-ACK information into normal HARQ-ACK codebooks and using group common DCI commands for beam indication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If beam-specific DCI transmissions are used in high-frequency scenarios, then communication capacity is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to misalignment between nodes and devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by implementing HARQ-ACK feedback mechanisms before potential transmission failures occur. The system pre-configures feedback channels and procedures to detect and correct beam misalignment issues before they cause complete transmission failure, thereby maintaining reliability while using beam-specific DCI for high capacity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where receiving nodes send HARQ-ACK responses back to transmitting nodes to confirm successful DCI reception. This feedback loop enables real-time detection of beam misalignment and triggers retransmission procedures, resolving the reliability issue while preserving the high-capacity beam-specific transmission capability
2Reliability
If retransmission procedures are added for DCI, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by reusing existing HARQ-ACK feedback infrastructure and procedures for DCI retransmission. The same feedback channels and processing mechanisms used for data transmissions are adapted for control information, avoiding the need for separate dedicated retransmission systems and thus limiting complexity increase
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements discarding and recovering by allowing temporary discarding of failed DCI transmissions and recovering them through retransmission based on HARQ-ACK feedback. The system discards failed transmissions to clear resources and recovers them through targeted retransmissions, improving reliability without maintaining permanently complex error correction mechanisms
3Loss of information
If HARQ-ACK information is multiplexed into normal codebooks, then overhead is reduced, but processing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies merging by combining HARQ-ACK feedback for DCI with regular data HARQ-ACK feedback into unified codebooks. This consolidation eliminates separate feedback channels and reduces overall signaling overhead, while the standardized codebook structure limits the increase in processing complexity
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
Presented are systems and methods for beam indication related downlink control information (DCI) retransmission using a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) procedure. A wireless communication device may receive a downlink control information from a wireless communication node. The wireless communication device may determine a location of hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information for a procedure associated with the DCI in a HARQ-ACK codebook. The wireless communication device may determine a first physical uplink control (PUCCH) resource. The wireless communication device may transmit a PUCCH transmission that carries the HARQ-ACK information.