CN110892690B - Uplink and downlink grants for narrowband operation - Google Patents

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatuses for wireless communication. In an aspect, a method is provided that may be performed by a wireless device, such as a User Equipment (UE), which may be an internet of things (IoT) device. The method generally comprises: the method includes monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant, receiving interleaved UL and DL grants, and transmitting or receiving information in response to the received interleaved UL and DL grants.

Description

Uplink and downlink grants for narrowband operation

Cross-referencing

This patent application claims priority to international patent application No. PCT/CN2017/095169, filed 2017, month 7, 31, assigned to the present assignee.

Technical Field

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications and, more particularly, to Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) grants for narrowband operation.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access techniques include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, third generation partnership project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE)/LTE-advanced (LTE-a) systems, and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems.

Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple wireless terminals. Each terminal communicates with one or more Base Stations (BSs) through transmissions on forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the BSs to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the BSs. The communication link may be established by a single-input single-output, multiple-input single-output or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system.

A wireless communication network may include multiple BSs that may support communication for multiple wireless devices. The wireless device may include a User Equipment (UE). Machine Type Communication (MTC) may refer to communication involving at least one remote device on at least one end of the communication and may include forms of data communication involving one or more entities that do not necessarily require human interaction. For example, MTC UEs may include UEs capable of MTC communications with MTC servers and/or other MTC devices through a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN). The wireless device may include an internet of things (IoT) device (e.g., a narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) device). An IoT may refer to a network of physical objects, devices, or "things". IoT devices may be embedded with, for example, electronic devices, software, or sensors, and may have network connectivity that enables the devices to collect and exchange data.

Some next generation, NR, or 5G networks may include multiple base stations, each supporting communication for multiple communication devices (e.g., UEs) simultaneously. In an LTE or LTE-a network, a set of one or more BSs may define an eNodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation or 5G network), a wireless multiple-access communication system may include a plurality of distributed units (e.g., edge Units (EUs), edge Nodes (ENs), radio Heads (RHs), intelligent radio heads (SRHs), transmission Reception Points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with a plurality of central units (e.g., CUs, central Nodes (CNs), access Node Controllers (ANCs), etc.), wherein a set of one or more Distributed Units (DUs) in communication with a CU may define AN access node (e.g., AN, a new radio base station (NR BS), NR NB, network node, gNB, 5G BS, access Point (AP), etc.). A BS or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on a downlink channel (e.g., for transmissions from the BS or to the UEs) and an uplink channel (e.g., for transmissions from the UEs to the BS or DU).

These multiple access techniques have been employed in various telecommunications standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a city, country, region, or even global level. NR (e.g., 5G radio access) is an example of an emerging telecommunications standard. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3 GPP. NR aims to better support mobile broadband internet access, and support beamforming, MIMO antenna technology, and carrier aggregation by improving spectral efficiency, reducing costs, improving services, utilizing new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDMA with Cyclic Prefix (CP) on Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL).

However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there is a demand for further improvements in LTE, MTC, ioT and NR (new radio) technologies. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multiple access techniques and telecommunication standards using these techniques.

Disclosure of Invention

The systems, methods, and devices of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for its desirable attributes. Without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed by the claims that follow, some features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled "detailed description" one will understand how the features of this disclosure provide advantages that include improved communications between access points and stations in a wireless network.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to uplink and downlink operations for narrowband operations.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a User Equipment (UE). The method generally comprises: monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant; receiving interleaved UL and DL grants; and transmitting or receiving information in response to the received interleaved UL and DL grants.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a UE. The method generally comprises: monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant; receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have the same HARQ process Identification (ID); and selecting one of the authorizations to use based at least in part on at least one of: a grant that satisfies an energy metric threshold, either a first received grant, or a second received grant, or an option to use both grants, wherein the grant is considered a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a UE. The method generally comprises: monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant; receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants; transmitting or receiving information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants; and identifying a collision in response to sending or receiving the information, the collision including at least one of: a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel, a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel, a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or a collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a Base Station (BS). The method generally comprises: transmitting interleaved Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) grants on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth; and transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted interleaved UL and DL grants.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a Base Station (BS). The method generally comprises: transmitting two consecutive Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth, the consecutive UL or DL grants having a same HARQ process Identification (ID), wherein: the authorization to use is selected by the UE based at least in part on at least one of: a grant that satisfies an energy metric threshold, the grant received first, or the grant received second, or both grants selected for use by the UE, wherein the grant is considered a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method performed by a wireless device, such as a Base Station (BS). The method generally comprises: transmitting two consecutive UL or DL grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth; transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted two consecutive UL and DL grants, wherein in response to transmitting or receiving the information, a collision is identified that includes at least one of: a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel, a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel, a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or a collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

Numerous other aspects are provided, including methods, apparatus, systems, computer program products, computer readable media, and processing systems. To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of various aspects may be employed and the description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

Drawings

So that the manner in which the above recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 illustrates a block diagram conceptually showing an example of a Base Station (BS) communicating with User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a frame structure in a wireless communication network, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating two exemplary subframe formats with a normal cyclic prefix, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example subframe configuration for enhanced/evolved machine type communication (eMTC) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example deployment of a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary logical architecture of a distributed Radio Access Network (RAN) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture of a distributed RAN in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a Downlink (DL) -centric subframe in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a subframe centered on an Uplink (UL) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example of a release 13HARQ process timing and an example of a release 14HARQ process timing, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example interleaving grant (DL followed by UL) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example interleaving grant (UL followed by DL) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 illustrates an example interleaved NPDCCH and NPUSCH in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations for receiving interleaved uplink and downlink grants in a narrow band of a system bandwidth in accordance with certain aspects of the present invention.

Fig. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations of UE behavior when receiving back-to-back UL or DL grants with the same HARQ ID, according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary operations of UE behavior related to collisions when receiving back-to-back UL grants or DL grants according to certain aspects of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one aspect may be beneficially utilized on other aspects without specific recitation.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques for uplink and downlink operation for narrowband operation. The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), time division synchronous CDMA (TD-SCDMA), and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may be implemented such as fullRadio technology of the global system for mobile communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement methods such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, and,

Etc. radio technologies. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-advanced (LTE-A) in Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) are new versions of UMTS using E-UTRA, which uses OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE-A and GSM are described in the literature for an organization named "third Generation partnership project" (3 GPP). Cdma2000 and UMB are described in a document entitled "third generation partnership project 2" (3 GPP 2) organization. NR (e.g., 5G radio access) is an example of an emerging telecommunications standard. NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by 3 GPP. The techniques described herein may be used for the above-mentioned wireless networks and radio technologies as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE/LTE-advanced, and LTE/LTE-advanced (LTE-a) terminology is used in much of the description below. LTE and LTE-A are commonly referred to as LTE.

Note that although aspects may be described herein using terms commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and higher versions.

Exemplary Wireless communication network

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. For example, the techniques presented herein may be used for UL and DL grants for narrowband operation in the wireless communication network 100, which may be a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) and/or an enhanced/evolved machine type communication (eMTC) network 100. The wireless communication network 100 may include a Base Station (BS) 110 and a User Equipment (UE) 120. In aspects, BS 110 may determine at least one narrowband region of the wideband region for communicating with UE 120. UE 120 may be a low cost device, such as an NB-IoT device or eMTC UE, and UE 120 may determine a narrowband region and receive, transmit, monitor, or decode information on the narrowband region to communicate with BS 110.

The wireless communication network 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network or some other wireless network, such as a New Radio (NR) or 5G network. Wireless communication network 100 may include multiple BSs 110 and other network entities. The BS is an entity communicating with the UE, and may also be referred to as an NR BS, a Node B (NB), an evolved/enhanced NB (eNB), a 5G NB, a gNB, an Access Point (AP), a Transmission Reception Point (TRP), and the like. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of a BS and/or a BS subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

The BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, pico cell, femto cell, and/or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions. A pico cell may cover a small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow limited access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG)). The BS for the macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. The BS for the pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. The BS for the femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in fig. 1, BS 110a may be a macro BS for macro cell 102a, BS 110b may be a pico BS for pico cell 102b, and BS 110c may be a femto BS for femto cell 102 c. A BS may support one or more (e.g., three) cells. The terms "base station" and "cell" are used interchangeably herein.

The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that receives a data transmission from an upstream station (e.g., BS 110 or UE 120) and transmits the data transmission to a downstream station (e.g., UE 120 or BS 110). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in fig. 1, relay station 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and UE 120d to enable communication between BS 110a and UE 120 d. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, relay, etc.

The wireless communication network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs (e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, etc.). These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different effects on interference in the wireless communication network 100. For example, the macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 5 to 40 watts), while the pico BS, femto BS, and relay BS may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 0.1 to 2 watts).

Network controller 130 may couple to and provide coordination and control for a set of BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs may also communicate with each other, directly or indirectly, e.g., over a wireless or wired backhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., UE 120a, UE 120b, UE 120 c) may be dispersed throughout wireless communication network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, station, customer Premises Equipment (CPE), etc. The UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smart phone), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop, a cordless phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a drone, a robot/robotic device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device, a medical apparatus, a healthcare device, a biosensor/device, a wearable device such as a smartwatch, a smart garment, smart glasses, virtual reality glasses, a smart bracelet and/or smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a gaming device, a satellite radio, etc.), an industrial manufacturing device, a navigation/positioning device (e.g., a GNSS (global navigation satellite system) device based on, for example, GPS (global positioning system), beidou, GLONASS, galileo, ground-based devices, etc.), or any other suitable device configured to communicate over a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be implemented as IoT (internet of things) UEs. IoT UEs include, for example, robots/robotic devices, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, cameras, location tags, etc., which may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. IoT UEs may include MTC/eMTC UEs, NB-IoT UEs, and other types of UEs. The wireless nodes may provide connectivity, for example, for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the internet or a cellular network) via wired or wireless communication links.

One or more UEs 120 (e.g., an LTE network) in the wireless communication network 100 may be narrowband bandwidth UEs. As used herein, a device with limited communication resources (e.g., smaller bandwidth) may be generically referred to as a narrowband UE. Similarly, legacy devices such as legacy and/or advanced UEs (e.g., in LTE) may be referred to generically as broadband UEs. In general, a wideband UE is capable of operating on a larger amount of bandwidth than a narrowband UE.

In fig. 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates a desired transmission between a UE and a serving BS (which is a BS designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink). The dashed line with double arrows indicates a potentially interfering transmission between the UE and the BS.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular Radio Access Technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, air interface, etc. The frequencies may also be referred to as carriers, frequency channels, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., BS 110) allocates resources for communications between some or all of the devices and apparatuses within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources of one or more subordinate entities. For scheduled communications, the subordinate entity utilizes the resources allocated by the scheduling entity. BS 110 is not the only entity that can function as a scheduling entity. In some examples, the UE 120 may function as a scheduling entity that schedules resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs 120). In this example, the UE functions as a scheduling entity, and other UEs wirelessly communicate using resources scheduled by the UE. The UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and/or in a mesh network. In the mesh network example, in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity, the UEs may optionally communicate directly with each other.

Thus, in a wireless communication network having scheduled access to time-frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more subordinate entities may communicate using the scheduled resources.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a design of BS 110 and UE 120, where BS 110 and UE 120 may be one of BS 110 and one of UE 120 in fig. 1. BS 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234T and UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252R, where T ≧ 1 and R ≧ 1.

At BS 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data for one or more UEs from a data source 212, select one or more Modulation and Coding Schemes (MCSs) for each UE based on Channel Quality Indicators (CQIs) received from the UEs, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based on the MCS(s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for Static Resource Partitioning Information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Processor 220 can also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary Synchronization Signals (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS)). A Transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T Modulators (MODs) 232a through 232T. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232T may be transmitted through T antennas 234a through 234T, respectively.

At UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive downlink signals from base station 110 and/or other BSs and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) its received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254R, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols, if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor 280. The channel processor may determine Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), CQI, etc.

On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information from a controller/processor 280 (e.g., for reporting including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). The processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to BS 110. At BS 110, the uplink signals from UE 120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 (if applicable), and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain the decoded data and control information sent by UE 120. Processor 238 may provide decoded data to a data sink 239 and decoded control information to controller/processor 240.BS 110 may include a communication unit 244 and communicate with network controller 130 via communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include a communication unit 294, a controller/processor 290, and a memory 292.

Controllers/ processors 240 and 280 may direct the operation at BS 110 and UE 120, respectively, to perform the techniques presented herein. For example, processor 240 and/or other processors and modules at BS 110 and processor 280 and/or other processors and modules at UE 120 may perform or direct operations at BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. For example, controller/processor 280 and/or other controllers/processors and modules at UE 120 may perform or direct operation 1500 shown in fig. 15, operation 1600 shown in fig. 16, and operation 1700 shown in fig. 17. Memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for BS 110 and UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example frame structure 300 for Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) in a wireless communication system, such as wireless communication network 100, for example. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)) and may be divided into 10 subframes indexed 0 through 9. Each subframe may include two slots. Thus, each radio frame may include 20 slots with indices of 0 through 19. Each slot may include L symbol periods, e.g., seven symbol periods for a normal cyclic prefix (as shown in fig. 3) or six symbol periods for an extended cyclic prefix. Indexes of 0 to 2L-1 may be allocated to the 2L symbol periods in each subframe.

In some wireless communication systems (e.g., LTE), a BS (e.g., such as BS 110) may transmit PSS and SSS on the downlink at the center of the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the BS. The PSS and SSS may be transmitted in symbol periods 6 and 5, respectively, in subframes 0 and 5 of each radio frame with the normal cyclic prefix, as shown in fig. 3. A UE (e.g., such as UE 120) may use PSS and SSS for cell search and acquisition. The BS may transmit the CRS over the system bandwidth for each cell supported by the BS. The CRS may be transmitted in certain symbol periods of each subframe and may be used by the UE to perform channel estimation, channel quality measurements, and/or other functions. The BS may also transmit a Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) in symbol periods 0 to 3 in slot 1 of certain radio frames. The PBCH may carry some system information. The BS may transmit other system information such as System Information Blocks (SIBs) on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in certain subframes. The BS may transmit control information/data on a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) in the first B symbol periods of a subframe, where B may be configured for each subframe. The BS may transmit traffic data and/or other data on the PDSCH in the remaining symbol periods of each subframe.

In some systems (e.g., such as NR or 5G systems), the BS may transmit these or other signals in these or different locations of the subframe.

Fig. 4 shows two exemplary subframe formats 410 and 420 with a normal cyclic prefix. The available time-frequency resources may be divided into Resource Blocks (RBs). Each RB may cover 12 subcarriers in one slot and may include a plurality of Resource Elements (REs). Each RE may cover one subcarrier in one symbol period and may be used to transmit one modulation symbol, which may be real or complex valued.

Subframe format 410 may be for two antennas. CRS may be transmitted from antennas 0 and 1 in symbol periods 0, 4, 7, and 11. The reference signal is a signal known a priori by the transmitter and receiver and may also be referred to as a pilot. The CRS are cell-specific reference signals, e.g., generated based on a cell Identification (ID). In fig. 4, for a given RE with tag Ra, modulation symbols may be transmitted on that RE from antenna a and modulation symbols may not be transmitted on that RE from other antennas. Subframe format 420 may be used with four antennas. CRS may be transmitted from antennas 0 and 1 in symbol periods 0, 4, 7, and 11, and from antennas 2 and 3 in symbol periods 1 and 8. For subframe formats 410 and 420, crs may be transmitted on evenly spaced subcarriers, which may be determined from the cell ID. The CRS may be transmitted on the same or different subcarriers depending on the cell ID of the CRS. For subframe formats 410 and 420, REs not used for CRS may be used to transmit data (e.g., traffic data, control data, and/or other data).

Publicly available under the term "Evolved Universal Radio Access (E-UTRA); physical Channels and Modulation "in 3GPP TS 36.211, the PSS, SSS, CRS and PBCH in LTE are described.

For FDD in LTE, an interlace may be used for each of the downlink and uplink. For example, Q interlaces may be defined with indices of 0 through Q-1, where Q may be equal to 4, 6, 8, 10, or some other value. Each interlace may include subframes separated by Q frames. Specifically, interlace Q may include subframe Q, Q + Q, Q +2Q, etc., where Q ∈ { 0., Q-1}.

The wireless network may support hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) for data transmission on the downlink and uplink. For HARQ, a transmitter (e.g., a BS) may send one or more transmissions of a packet until a receiver (e.g., a UE) correctly decodes the packet or encounters some other termination condition. For synchronous HARQ, all transmissions of a packet may be sent in a subframe of a single interlace. For asynchronous HARQ, each transmission of a packet may be sent in any subframe.

The UE may be located within the coverage area of multiple BSs. One of the BSs may be selected to serve the UE. The serving BS may be selected based on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, path loss, and the like. The received signal quality may be quantified by a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR) or RSRQ or some other metric. The UE may operate in a scenario with significant interference, where the UE may observe high interference from one or more interfering BSs.

The wireless communication network may support 180kHz deployments for narrowband operation (e.g., NB-IoT) in different deployment modes. In one example, narrowband operation may be deployed in-band, e.g., using RBs within a wider system bandwidth. In one case, the narrowband operation may use one RB within the wider system bandwidth of an existing network (e.g., an LTE network). In this case, the 180kHz bandwidth of the RB may have to be aligned with the wideband RB. In one example, narrowband operation may be deployed in unused RBs within a carrier guard band (e.g., LTE). In this deployment, the 180kHz RBs within the guard band may be aligned with the 15kHz tone grid of wideband LTE, e.g., to use the same Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and/or to reduce in-band interference of conventional LTE communications.

Exemplary narrowband communications

Conventional LTE designs (e.g., for conventional "non-MTC" devices) focus on improvements in spectral efficiency, universal coverage, and enhanced quality of service (QoS) support. Current LTE system Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) link budgets are designed to cover high-end devices, such as the most advanced smartphones and tablets, which can support relatively large DL and UL link budgets.

However, as described above, one or more UEs in a wireless communication network (e.g., wireless communication network 100) may be devices with limited communication resources, such as narrowband UEs, as compared to other (broadband) devices in the wireless communication network. For narrowband UEs, various requirements may be relaxed, as only a limited amount of information may need to be exchanged. For example, the maximum bandwidth may be reduced (relative to a wideband UE), a single receive Radio Frequency (RF) chain may be used, the peak rate may be reduced (e.g., up to 100 bits for a transport block size), the transmit power may be reduced, rank 1 transmission may be used, and half-duplex operation may be performed.

In some cases, if half-duplex operation is performed, the MTC UE may have a relaxed switching time to switch from transmitting to receiving (or from receiving to transmitting). For example, the switching time may be relaxed from 20 μ s for a regular UE to 1ms for an MTC UE. A release 12MTC UE can still monitor the Downlink (DL) control channel in the same way as a regular UE, e.g., monitoring a wideband control channel (e.g., PDCCH) in the first few symbols and a narrowband control channel (e.g., enhanced PDCCH or ePDCCH) that occupies a relatively narrow band but spans the subframe length.

Certain standards (e.g., LTE release 13) may introduce support for various additional MTC enhancements, referred to herein as enhanced MTC (or eMTC). For example, eMTC may provide up to 15dB of coverage enhancement for MTC UEs.

As shown in the subframe structure 500 of fig. 5, eMTC UEs may support narrowband operation while operating in a wider system bandwidth (e.g., 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 MHz). In the example shown in fig. 5, a conventional legacy control region 510 may span the system bandwidth of the first few symbols, while a narrowband region 530 of the system bandwidth (spanning a narrow portion of the data region 520) may be reserved for MTC physical downlink control channel (referred to herein as M-PDCCH) and MTC physical downlink shared channel (referred to herein as M-PDSCH). In some cases, MTC UEs monitoring a narrowband region may operate at 1.4MHz or 6 Resource Blocks (RBs).

However, as described above, the eMTC UE is capable of operating in a cell with a bandwidth greater than 6 RBs. Within this larger bandwidth, each eMTC UE may still operate (e.g., monitor/receive/transmit) while complying with the 6 Physical Resource Block (PRB) constraint. In some cases, different eMTC UEs may be served by different narrowband regions (e.g., each spanning a 6-PRB block). Since the system bandwidth may span 1.4 to 20MHz, or from 6 to 100 RBs, there may be multiple narrowband regions within a larger bandwidth. The eMTC UE may also switch or hop between multiple narrowband regions in order to reduce interference.

Exemplary narrowband Internet of things

The internet of things (IoT) may refer to a network of physical objects, devices, or "things". IoT devices may be embedded with, for example, electronic devices, software, or sensors, and may have network connections that enable the devices to collect and exchange data. IoT devices can be remotely sensed and controlled across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for more direct integration between the physical world and computer-based systems, thereby improving efficiency, accuracy, and economic benefits. A system including IoT devices augmented with sensors and actuators may be referred to as a cyber-physical (cyber-physical) system. The cyber-physical system may include technologies such as intelligent networks, intelligent homes, intelligent transportation, and/or intelligent cities. Each "thing" (e.g., ioT device) can be uniquely identified by its embedded computing system and can interoperate within an existing infrastructure (e.g., the internet infrastructure).

NB-IoT may refer to a narrowband radio technology specifically designed for IoT. NB-IoT may be dedicated to indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and large number of devices. To reduce the complexity of the UE, NB-IoT may allow narrowband deployment with one PRB (e.g., 180kHz +20kHz guard band). NB-IoT deployments may utilize higher layer components of certain systems (e.g., LTE) and hardware to allow for reduced fragmentation and cross-compatibility with, for example, NB-LTE/NB-IoT and/or eMTC.

Fig. 6 illustrates an exemplary deployment 600 of NB-IoT in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The three NB-IoT deployment configurations include in-band, guard band, and standalone. For in-band deployment configurations, NB-IoT may co-exist with legacy systems (e.g., GSM, WCDMA, and/or LTE systems) deployed in the same frequency band. For example, wideband LTE channels may be deployed in various bandwidths between 1.4MHz and 20 MHz. As shown in fig. 6, dedicated RBs 602 within the bandwidth may be available for NB-IoT and/or RBs 1204 may be dynamically allocated for NB-IoT. As shown in fig. 6, in an in-band deployment, one RB or 200kHz of a wideband channel (e.g., LTE) may be used for NB-IoT.

Some systems (e.g., LTE) may include unused portions of the radio spectrum between carriers to prevent interference between adjacent carriers. In some deployments, the NB-IoT may be deployed in the guard band 606 of the wideband channel.

In other deployments, the NB-IoT may be deployed independently (not shown). For example, in a standalone deployment, NB-IoT traffic may be carried with one 200MHz carrier and GSM spectrum may be reused.

The deployment of NB-IoT may include synchronization signals, such as PSS for frequency and timing synchronization and SSS for carrying system information. For NB-IoT operation, the PSS/SSS timing boundaries may be extended, e.g., from 10ms to 40ms, compared to existing PSS/SSS frame boundaries in legacy systems (e.g., LTE). Based on the timing boundary, the UE may be able to receive a PBCH transmission, which may be transmitted in subframe 0 of the radio frame.

Exemplary NR/5G RAN architecture

A New Radio (NR) may refer to a radio technology configured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., in addition to an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) -based air interface) or a fixed transport layer (e.g., in addition to the Internet Protocol (IP)). NR may utilize OFDM with CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. NR may include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services for wide bandwidths (e.g., over 80 MHz), millimeter waves (mmW) for high carrier frequencies (e.g., 60 GHz), massive MTC (MTC) for non-backward compatible MTC technologies, and/or mission critical for ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services.

A single Component Carrier (CC) bandwidth of 100MHz may be supported. The NR RB may span 12 subcarriers having a subcarrier bandwidth of 75kHz with a duration of 0.1ms. Each radio frame may consist of 50 subframes, 10ms in length. Thus, each subframe may have a length of 0.2 ms. Each subframe may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL or UL) for data transmission, and the link direction of each subframe may be dynamically switched. Each subframe may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data. The UL and DL subframes for NR are described in more detail as follows with respect to fig. 9 and 10.

Beamforming may be supported and beam directions may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configuration in DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas, and have multi-layer DL transmission of up to 8 streams, and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmission with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells. Alternatively, the NR may support a different air interface than the OFDM based interface. The NR network may comprise entities such as Central Units (CUs) or Distributed Units (DUs).

The NR RAN may include CUs and DUs. An NR BS (e.g., NB, eNB, gNB, 5G NB, TRP, AP, etc.) may correspond to one or more BSs. The NR cell may be configured as an access cell (ACell) or a data only cell (DCell). For example, the RAN (e.g., CU or DU) may configure a cell. The DCell may be a cell used for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, but not for initial access, cell selection/reselection, or handover. In some cases, the DCell may not transmit the synchronization signal-in some cases, the DCell may transmit the synchronization signal.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example logical architecture 700 of a distributed RAN in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. 5G access node 706 may include an Access Node Controller (ANC) 702.ANC 702 may be a CU of a distributed RAN. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 704 may terminate at ANC 702. The backhaul interface to the neighboring next generation access node (NG-AN) 710 may terminate at ANC 702.ANC 702 may include one or more TRPs 708. As described above, TRP may be used interchangeably with "cell", BS, NR BS, NB, eNB, 5G NB, gNB, AP, and the like.

TRP 708 may comprise DU. The TRP 708 may be connected to one ANC (e.g., ANC 702) or more than one ANC (not shown). For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (RaaS), AND service AND specific deployments, the TRP 708 may be connected to more than one ANC. TRP 708 may include one or more antenna ports. TRP 708 may be configured to provide services to UEs individually (e.g., dynamic selection) or jointly (e.g., joint transmission).

Logic architecture 700 may be used to illustrate the fronthaul definition. The architecture may be defined to support a fronthaul solution across different deployment types. For example, logic architecture 700 may be based on transmit network capabilities (e.g., bandwidth, delay, and/or jitter). The logic architecture 700 may share features and/or components with LTE. According to various aspects, the NG-AN 710 can support dual connectivity with NRs. The NG-AN 710 may share a common fronthaul for LTE and NR. The logic architecture 700 may enable collaboration between TRPs 708. For example, cooperation may be preset within the TRP and/or across the TRP via ANC 702. In some cases, the inter-TRP interface may not be needed/present.

There may be a dynamic configuration of split logic functions within logic architecture 700. Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), radio Link Control (RLC), and Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols may be placed at ANC 702 or TRP 708 as appropriate.

Fig. 8 illustrates an exemplary physical architecture 800 of a distributed RAN in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. A centralized core network unit (C-CU) 802 may house core network functions. The C-CUs 802 may be deployed centrally. The C-CU 802 functionality may be offloaded (e.g., to Advanced Wireless Services (AWS)) in an effort to handle peak capacity.

A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 804 may house one or more ANC functions. Optionally, the C-RU 804 may locally accommodate core network functions. The C-RU 804 may have a distributed deployment. The C-RU 804 may be closer to the network edge.

DU 806 may accommodate one or more TRPs. DU 806 may be located at the edge of the network with Radio Frequency (RF) functionality.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a subframe 900 centered on DL. DL-centric sub-frame 900 may include a control portion 902. The control portion 902 may be present in an initial or beginning portion of the subframe 900 centered on the DL. Control portion 902 may include various scheduling information and/or control information corresponding to various portions of DL-centric sub-frame 900. In some configurations, the control portion 902 may be a Physical DL Control Channel (PDCCH), as shown in fig. 9. DL-centric sub-frame 900 may also include a DL data portion 904. The DL data portion 904 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the DL-centric sub-frame 900. The DL data portion 904 may include communication resources for transmitting DL data from a scheduling entity (e.g., a UE or BS) to a subordinate entity (e.g., a UE). In some configurations, the DL data portion 904 may be a Physical DL Shared Channel (PDSCH).

The DL-centric sub-frame 900 may also include a common UL portion 906. Common UL portion 906 may sometimes be referred to as a UL burst, a common UL burst, and/or various other suitable terms. Common UL portion 906 may include feedback information corresponding to various other portions of subframe 900 centered on the DL. For example, common UL portion 906 may include feedback information corresponding to control portion 902. Non-limiting examples of feedback information may include Acknowledgement (ACK) signals, negative Acknowledgement (NACK) signals, HARQ indicators, and/or various other suitable types of information. The common UL portion 906 may include additional or alternative information such as information related to Random Access Channel (RACH) procedures, scheduling Requests (SRs), and various other suitable types of information. As shown in fig. 9, the end of the DL data portion 904 may be separated in time from the beginning of the common UL portion 906. The time interval may sometimes be referred to as a gap, a guard period, a guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. The interval provides time for switching from DL communications (e.g., reception operations by the subordinate entity) to UL communications (e.g., transmissions by the subordinate entity). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the above is merely one example of a DL-centric subframe, and that alternative structures having similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the aspects described herein.

Fig. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a UL-centric subframe 1000. UL centric sub-frame 1000 may include a control portion 1002. The control portion 1002 may be present in an initial or beginning portion of the UL-centric sub-frame 1000. The control section 1002 in fig. 10 may be similar to the control section 902 described above with reference to fig. 9. UL-centric sub-frame 1000 may also include UL data portion 1004. The UL data portion 1004 may sometimes be referred to as the payload of the UL-centric sub-frame 1000. The UL data portion may refer to communication resources used to transmit UL data from a subordinate entity (e.g., a UE) to a scheduling entity (e.g., a UE or a BS). In some configurations, control portion 1002 may be a PDCCH. In some configurations, the data portion may be a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH).

As shown in fig. 10, the end of the control portion 1002 may be separated in time from the beginning of the UL data portion 1004. This time interval may sometimes be referred to as a gap, guard period, guard interval, and/or various other suitable terms. The interval provides time for switching from DL communication (e.g., a receive operation by the scheduling entity) to UL communication (e.g., a transmission by the scheduling entity). UL-centric sub-frame 1000 may also include a common UL portion 1006. Common UL section 1006 in fig. 10 may be similar to common UL section 906 described above with reference to fig. 9. Common UL portion 1006 may additionally or alternatively include information related to CQI, sounding Reference Signal (SRS), and various other suitable types of information. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the above is merely one example of a UL-centric subframe, and that alternative structures having similar features may exist without necessarily departing from the aspects described herein.

In some cases, two or more subordinate entities (e.g., UEs) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals. Practical applications for such sidelink communications may include public safety, proximity services, UE-to-network relays, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, internet of everything (IoE) communications, ioT communications, mission critical grids, and/or various other suitable applications. In general, sidelink signals may refer to signals transmitted from one subordinate entity (e.g., UE 1) to another subordinate entity (e.g., UE 2) without relaying the communication through a scheduling entity (e.g., UE or BS), even though the scheduling entity may be used for scheduling and/or control purposes. In some examples, sidelink signals may be transmitted using licensed spectrum (as opposed to wireless local area networks that typically use unlicensed spectrum).

The UE may operate in various radio resource configurations, including configurations associated with transmitting pilots using a dedicated set of resources (e.g., RRC dedicated state, etc.) or configurations associated with transmitting pilots using a common set of resources (e.g., RRC common state, etc.). When operating in the RRC dedicated state, the UE may select a dedicated set of resources for transmitting pilot signals to the network. When operating in the RRC common state, the UE may select a common set of resources for transmitting pilot signals to the network. In either case, the pilot signal transmitted by the UE may be received by one or more network access devices (such as AN or DU) or portions thereof. Each receiving network access device may be configured to receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on a set of common resources, and also to receive and measure pilot signals transmitted on a set of dedicated resources allocated to a UE for which the network access device is a member of the UE's network access device monitoring group. A CU to which one or more receiving network access devices or measurements of pilot signals transmitted by the receiving network access devices may use the measurements to identify a serving cell for the UE or initiate a change to the serving cell of one or more UEs.

Exemplary uplink and downlink grants for narrowband

As described above, some systems (e.g., release 13 or higher eMTC systems) may support narrowband operation. For example, narrowband operation may include support for communication on the 6RB band and half-duplex operation (e.g., the ability to transmit and receive but not both simultaneously) for up to, for example, 15dB coverage enhancement. These systems may reserve a portion of the system bandwidth for control, which may be an MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH). The MPDCCH may be transmitted in a narrowband, may use at least one subframe, and may rely on demodulation reference signal (DMRS) demodulation to decode the control channel. The coverage can be increased by performing repetition/bundling of the signals.

Some systems (e.g., release 13 or higher NB-IoT systems) may support narrowband internet of things operation (NB-IoT). The NB-IoT may use a 180kHz bandwidth. NB-IoT may provide standalone, in-band, or guard-band deployment schemes. The stand-alone deployment may use new bandwidth, while the guard band deployment may be done using bandwidth typically reserved in guard bands of existing networks, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). In another aspect, in-band deployment may use the same resource blocks in an LTE carrier of an existing LTE network. NB-IoT may provide increased coverage. The NB-IoT may define a new narrowband control channel (e.g., narrowband PDCCH (NPDCCH)), data, and reference signals that fit into 1 RB. For clarity, certain aspects of these techniques are described below for NB-IoT, and NB-IoT terminology is used in much of the description below.

Currently, in some systems, such as NB-IoT, only half-duplex (HD) FDD (frequency division duplex) operation is supported. The UE cannot monitor UL and DL simultaneously and does not need to support parallel UL and DL transmissions. Defining timing constraintsSuch that the gap between NPDCCH for UL grant and associated NPUSCH (narrowband PUSCH) transmission is at least 8ms (e.g., the exact delay is determined by a field in the UL grant) and the gap between NPDCCH for DL grant and associated NPDSCH (narrowband PDSCH) is at least 5ms (e.g., the exact delay is determined by a field in the DL grant). NPUSCH and NPDSCH are examples of shared channels or data channels. Depending on the context, a "channel" may refer to a channel over which signaling/data/information is transmitted or received, or to signaling/data/information transmitted or received over a channel. In Rel-13, only a single HARQ process is supported in NB-IoT. After receiving one NPDCCH for DL grant or UL grant, the UE stops monitoring the NPDCCH until the data transmission is completed. In Rel-14, for NB-IoT, there may be two DL grants back-to-back or two UL grants back-to-back for two HARQ processes, e.g., after receiving one DL or UL grant, the UE may be required to continue monitoring any NPDCCH search space containing candidates, at least 2ms (x) before the first NPDSCH or NPUSCH begins (x) ₁ > 2 ms) end.

Fig. 11 shows an example of a release 13HARQ process timing and an example of a release 14HARQ process timing. As shown for release 13, the time gap between NPDCCH for DL grant and the associated NPDSCH is 5ms or longer. After receiving the NPDCCH, the UE stops monitoring of the NPDCCH, and after 5ms or more, the UE starts receiving downlink transmissions (e.g., data transmissions, such as repeated data transmissions, to improve coverage) on the NPDSCH. After receiving the data transmission, the UE transmits ACK information after 12ms or more. For the uplink example, the UE receives the NPDCCH for the UL grant, stops monitoring of the NPDCCH, and transmits (e.g., data transmission) on the uplink on the associated NPUSCH after 8ms or longer. As shown for release 14, the UE needs to continue monitoring the second NPDCCH (NPDCCH 2) after receiving the first NPDCCH (NPDCCH 1). The UE monitors the second NPDCCH until 2ms or more before the NPDSCH (NPDSCH 1) transmission associated with the first NPDCCH begins. As shown for release 14, the two back-to-back NPDCCHs may both be used for DL grants and may both be used for UL grants. That is, the UE receives two consecutive UL grants or two consecutive DL grants. Receiving consecutive UL grants includes receiving one UL grant after one UL grant as a next grant, and receiving consecutive DL grants includes receiving one DL grant after one DL grant as a next grant.

Unlike HD-FDD, for TDD, DL and UL subframes may be interleaved during NPUSCH/NPDSCH transmission. To support NB-IoT TDD DL and UL transmissions, a UE may receive some DL subframes for DL packets (e.g., associated with NPDCCH for DL grant), followed by UL transmissions for UL packets (e.g., associated with NPDCCH for UL grant), then repetitions of the same DL packet, then followed by some repetitions of the same UL packet, and so on.

According to the Rel-14 specification, for NB-IoT, a UE may receive only two DL grants back to back or two UL grants back to back, and not support the UE to receive interleaved UL and DL grants. For Rel-15, the extension of NB-IoT to TDD mode may be discussed. For TDD, parallel uplink and downlink transmissions mean, for example, that the UE receives a DL transmission of a DL packet, followed by a UL transmission of a UL packet, followed by a repetition of the same DL packet, followed by a repetition of the same UL packet. To support such interleaved DL/UL transmissions, the DL/UL grants also require interleaving, and current standard specifications do not support this feature. Receiving interleaved UL and DL grants includes: one DL grant is received as a next grant after one UL grant, or one UL grant is received as a next grant after one DL grant. Interleaving UL and DL grants is needed to support interleaved UL and DL transmissions, especially for TDD. Interleaving UL and DL grants may also be beneficial for FDD, for example, to improve UL/DL transmission efficiency (e.g., for some current TDM-based applications, DL data transmission may need to be completed first for UL data transmission).

Interleaved UL and DL grants may be supported so that the UE may receive two grants, one for UL and one for DL, before the start of the corresponding NPUSCH or NPDSCH transmission. The timing constraint irregularity between NPDCCH and NPDSCH/NPUSCH may remain unchanged. For example, the gap between the second NPDCCH and the beginning of NPDSCH or NPUSCH may be ≧ 2ms. In addition, for HD-FDD, the UE is not required to monitor NPDCCH (e.g., for a third grant) between the NPDSCH start to HARQ-ACK. This simplifies the UE implementation and saves UE power since otherwise the UE needs to receive DL control information in addition to data. In an aspect, there is no limitation on the order of the interleaved UL and DL grants, e.g., the first grant may be a UL or DL grant.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example interleaving grant (DL followed by UL) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In one example, the first grant is a UL grant and the second grant is a DL grant. The time delay from grant to associated data transmission may be the same as described above (e.g., 8ms or more between a UL grant and an associated NPUSCH transmission and 5ms or more between a DL grant and an associated NPDSCH transmission). In this example, the UL data transmission (e.g., on NPUSCH) occurs between the DL data transmission (e.g., on NPDSCH) and the HARQ-ACK associated with the DL data transmission. In a second example, the order of data transmission is different. Here, UL data transmission (e.g., on NPUSCH) occurs before DL data transmission (e.g., on NPDSCH). In a third example, UL data transmission (e.g., on NPUSCH) occurs after HARQ-ACK associated with DL data transmission (e.g., on NPDSCH). Thus, the order of data transmission is determined by, for example, the delay between NPDCCH and the associated data transmission (e.g., determined by a field in NPDCCH).

Fig. 13 illustrates an exemplary interleaving grant (UL followed by DL) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 13 shows a similar concept as fig. 12.

For NB-IoT in TDD mode, NPUSCH and NPDCCH interleaving may be supported, e.g., the UE may continue to monitor NPDCCH search space while making NPUSCH transmissions. Due to TDD UL-DL configuration, there may be some DL Subframes (SFs) between UL transmissions, and the UE may switch from UL transmissions (e.g., NPUSCH transmissions) to monitoring NPDCCH search space during the DL SF. In an aspect, if a subframe is indicated as DL according to the TDD UL-DL configuration, the UE is required to continue monitoring the search space unless the DL subframe is used for NPDSCH. In the case of interleaved DL and UL data transmissions, if a protected subframe is needed to switch from UL to DL or from DL to UL, the DL or UL communications (e.g., communications scheduled to occur during the protected subframe) associated with the protected subframe may be deferred to the next available SF. In the case of interleaved DL and UL data transmission, if several OFDM symbols are needed to switch from UL to DL or DL to UL, the associated DL or UL communications in a subframe may be punctured, for example. For example, when switching from UL to DL, the first two symbols in the second subframe (DL) may then be punctured, and when switching from DL to UL, the last symbol in the first subframe (DL) and the first symbol in the second subframe (UL) may then be punctured.

Fig. 14 illustrates an example interleaved NPDCCH and NPUSCH in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. In this example, TDD UL-DL configuration 1 is shown. First, the UE receives NPDCCH for UL grant (NPDCCH 1). Based on the UL grant, a set of repetitions of the uplink data transmission may be sent on the NPUSCH (e.g., for enhanced coverage). As shown, the number of repetitions is 8 (e.g., 8 subframes). Due to the TDD frame structure, there may be some DL subframes between repetitions of uplink data on NPUSCH. Typically, the UE does not utilize these DL subframes between NPUSCH transmissions because it is not efficient. In one aspect of the disclosure, these DL SFs may be used to monitor NPDCCH. In this example, guard subframes are used to switch from UL to DL such that a first DL subframe may be used as a guard subframe (denoted by "G" in fig. 14) and a second, adjacent DL subframe may be used for NPDCCH (e.g., NPDCCH 2). If several OFDM symbols are used to switch from UL to DL, the guard subframe is not needed and a second NPDCCH (NPDCCH 2) may be transmitted in the DL subframe immediately after the UL subframe.

Interleaved UL/DL grants may be supported with or without support of two HARQ processes. Up to 4 NPDCCHs may be received if interleaved UL and DL grants are supported with two HARQ processes, e.g., two for DL grants and two for UL grants. In the case of back-to-back DL or UL grants, the two grants may have the same or different HARQ IDs. The same HARQ ID may represent a duplicate transmission (e.g., retransmission of the first NPDCCH). For different HARQ IDs, the two HARQ IDs may occur in any order, or the first grant may always have HARQ ID 0 and the second grant has HARQ ID 1 (e.g., a fixed order). If the UE detects two grants with the same HARQ ID (e.g., two NPDCCHs associated with the same data), the UE may discard one; for example, A) discard the lowest energy one; b) Always discarding the first or second; or C) a combination of both, e.g. always discarding the first one if both energies are above a certain threshold. In another aspect, the UE honors both grants, treating them as HARQ retransmissions. The UE's support for interleaved UL and DL grants may be independent, or independent of its support for two HARQ processes (e.g., the UE may support interleaved UL and DL grants, or two HARQ processes, or both). Support for interleaved UL and DL grants may be indicated by the UE in a manner independent of support for the two HARQ processes. For example, the UE may indicate support for interleaved UL and DL grants using capability signaling and independently indicate support for two HARQ processes when it is attached to the network (e.g., using different capability signaling).

As an aspect of the present disclosure, an exemplary timeline for two HARQ processes is shown below.

Time line 1: NPDCCH1 NPDCCH2 NPDSCHA ACKA NPDSCHB ACKB

Time line 2: NPDCCH1 NPDCCH2 NPDSCHA NPDSCHB ACKA ACKB

In an aspect, only one of these timelines is allowed (e.g., fixed timing). In another aspect, two timelines are allowed. For NPDCCH to NPDSCH mapping, in an aspect NPDSCH a may always map to NPDCCH1 and NPDSCH B may always map to NPDCCH2, and the other mappings may be considered as error cases and the UE may discard one of the grants. In another aspect, two mappings are allowed (e.g., NPDSCHA to NPDCCH1 or NPDCCH 2).

Thus, techniques for uplink and downlink grants in narrowband operation are desired. Thus, the techniques presented herein may be used for uplink and downlink grants in narrowband operation (e.g., NB-IoT).

Fig. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 1500 for receiving interleaved UL and DL grants in accordance with various aspects described herein. The operations 1500 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., UE 120), which may be a low cost IoT device, such as an NB-IoT device. Operations 1500 may begin at 1502 where a control channel in a narrow band of system bandwidth is monitored for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant at 1502. At 1504, the UE receives interleaved UL and DL grants. At 1506, the UE transmits or receives information in response to the received interleaved UL and DL grants. In an aspect, a UE may monitor a control channel search space and receive a DL grant as a next grant after an UL grant and after starting to transmit information on an uplink data channel in response to the UL grant. In an aspect, the uplink data channel may be on a different carrier than the control channel search space. In an aspect, the uplink data channel may be an uplink shared channel. For example, the uplink shared channel may be a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH).

Fig. 16 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 1600 of UE behavior when receiving back-to-back UL or DL grants with the same HARQ ID, according to aspects described herein. Operation 1600 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., UE 120), which may be a low-cost IoT device, such as an NB-IoT device. The operations 1600 may begin at 1602 with monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant at 1602. At 1604, the UE receives two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have the same HARQ process Identification (ID). At 1606, the UE selects one of the grants to use based at least in part on at least one of: authorizations to satisfy energy metric thresholds; authorization received first; or a second received authorization. At 1608, the UE may alternatively choose to use two grants, wherein the grants are treated as hybrid HARQ retransmissions.

Exemplary UL and/or DL Conflict handling

In case two HARQ processes are configured, it is possible that the eNB may schedule the UE such that there is a collision across channels, e.g. by incorrect scheduling. For example, a collision may occur when two or more sets of information are transmitted or received simultaneously on the same resource (e.g., subframe). For example, a UE may have two back-to-back NPDSCH, with the ACKs of the two NPDSCH colliding or the ACK of the second NPDSCH colliding with the first NPDSCH, etc. For back-to-back NPUSCH, there may be similar types of conflicts. There may also be NPUSCH to NPDSCH collisions, NPUSCH to ACK collisions, etc. if interleaved UL and DL grants are implemented. Exemplary UE behavior in the case of such collisions is shown herein and may be applicable to TDD and/or FDD.

Conflict handling for back-to-back DL or UL grants

Fig. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 1700 of UE behavior relating to collisions when receiving back-to-back UL or DL grants, according to aspects described herein. Operation 1700 may be performed, for example, by a UE (e.g., UE 120), which may be a low-cost IoT device, such as an NB-IoT device. Operations 1700 may begin, at 1702, with monitoring a control channel in a narrowband of system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant. At 1704, the UE receives two consecutive UL or DL grants. At 1706, the UE transmits or receives information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants. At 1708, in response to transmitting or receiving the information, the UE identifies a collision, the collision comprising at least one of: a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel, a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel, a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or a collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

In the event of NPDSCH and NPDSCH collisions, in an aspect, both NPDSCH may be considered valid even if there is a collision, and may attempt to decode using 1) non-colliding subframes in both NPDSCH (e.g., the UE decodes both) or using 2) colliding SFs for only one of the NPDSCH (e.g., the UE decodes only one of the two, the first, the second, or based on an associated control channel energy metric). In another aspect, only one of the NPDSCH's, e.g., the first NPDSCH or the second NPDSCH, may be monitored or based on a corresponding NPDCCH energy metric (e.g., associated control channel energy detection). The first NPDSCH may refer to the NPDSCH starting first or whose NPDCCH starts first, and the second NPDSCH may refer to the NPDSCH starting second or whose NPDCCH starts second.

In the event that the NPDSCH collides with an ACK (e.g., an ACK for the first NPDSCH collides with the second NPDSCH), in an aspect, it is considered an incorrect grant and one of the NPDSCH and the corresponding ACK is discarded (similar to the NPDSCH colliding with the NPDSCH). In another aspect, the ACK may be discarded. (in whole or in part, e.g., on a collision subframe). In another aspect, NPDSCH may be dropped (in whole or in part, e.g., on a colliding subframe). The collision SF may include an SF including ACK/NPDSCH, a guard SF for switching from UL to DL, and the like.

In the case of an ACK colliding with an ACK, in an aspect, it is treated as an incorrect grant and one of NPDSCH (similar to NPDSCH collision) or ACK is discarded. In another aspect, only the first or second ACK is sent. In another aspect, the first ACK is sent in its entirety and the second ACK is punctured, or vice versa. If only one NPDSCH decodes successfully, an ACK corresponding to the NPDSCH may be sent and for the failing NPDSCH, the ACK transmission corresponding to the failing NPDSCH may be punctured.

In the event that NPUSCH collides with NPUSCH, in an aspect, one of NPUSCH may be dropped. In another aspect, one of the NPUSCHs may be punctured and the other NPUSCH may be fully transmitted. For example, the NPUSCH that is dropped or punctured may always be the first, always the second, or based on the NPDCCH energy metric.

Collision handling of interleaved UL and DL grants

In the event that NPUSCH collides with NPDSCH, in an aspect, it is treated as an incorrect grant and either NPUSCH or NPDSCH is discarded (e.g., first or second, or based on NPDCCH energy metric, etc.). On the other hand, it is considered a valid grant, but only one of them is reserved in the colliding SF by prioritizing one channel over the other. For example, one of NPUSCH or NPDSCH may be dropped or punctured. For example, the dropped or punctured channel may be always first, always second, or based on NPDCCH energy metrics.

In the case where NPUSCH collides with HARQ-ACK, in an aspect, only one of the colliding SFs is reserved by prioritizing one channel over the other (e.g., HARQ-ACK over NPUSCH). In another aspect, HARQ-ACKs may be multiplexed on NPUSCHs (e.g., HARQ-ACKs are used to modulate DMRSs of NPUSCHs in colliding SFs).

As used herein, the term "identify" includes a wide variety of operations. For example, "identifying" can include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, a database or another data structure), ascertaining and the like. Further, "identifying" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. Further, "identifying" may include solving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

Furthermore, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise indicated or clearly indicated by context, for example, a phrase "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, for example, the phrase "X employs A or B" is satisfied by any of the following: x is A; b is used as X; or X uses A and B simultaneously. As used herein, reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more. For example, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. The term "some" means one or more unless specifically stated otherwise. A phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a. b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination of a plurality of the same elements (e.g., a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c, or any other ordering of a, b, and c). As used herein, including in the claims, the term "and/or" when used in a list of two or more items means that any one of the listed items can be used alone or any combination of two or more of the listed items can be used. For example, if a composition is described as containing components A, B and/or C, the composition may comprise a alone; b alone; c alone; a and B in combination; a and C in combination; b and C in combination; or A, B in combination with C.

In some cases, a device may have an interface for transmitting frames for transmission or reception rather than actually transmitting frames. For example, the processor may output the frame to the RF front end for transmission via the bus interface. Similarly, a device may have an interface for obtaining a frame received from another device instead of actually receiving the frame. For example, the processor may obtain (or receive) the transmitted frame from the RF front end via the bus interface.

The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or operations for carrying out the methods. The method steps and/or operations may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. That is, unless a specific order of steps or operations is specified, the order and/or use of specific steps and/or operations may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

The various operations of the methods described above may be performed by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. The unit may include various hardware and/or software components and/or modules, including but not limited to a circuit, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a processor. In general, in the case of the operations shown in the figures, these operations may be performed by any suitable corresponding functional unit components.

For example, the means for monitoring, the means for identifying, the means for selecting, the means for determining, the means for performing, the means for transmitting, the means for receiving, the means for sending, the means for signaling, the means for requesting, and/or the means for deriving may include one or more processors, transmitters, receivers, antennas, and/or other elements of the user equipment 120 and/or the base station 110 shown in fig. 2.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as hardware, software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. One or more of the above devices or processors may execute software. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the disclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, phase change memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD/DVD or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or can be used to carry or store desired program code means in the form of instructions or data structures and can be used by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer or a computerAny other medium that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose processor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and

a disk, wherein the magnetic disk usually reproduces data magnetically, and the optical disk reproduces data optically with a laser. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of computer-readable media.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims (63)

1. A method for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving interleaved UL and DL grants in respective subframes; and

information is transmitted or received in response to the received UL grant and DL grant in respective subframes of the interlace.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the UL grant and DL grant in respective subframes of the interlace comprises at least one of: a DL grant is received as a next grant after a UL grant, or a UL grant is received as a next grant after a DL grant.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the interleaved UL and DL grants in the respective subframes are received before a start of the transmitting or receiving information in response to the interleaved UL and DL grants in the respective subframes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE monitors a control channel search space and receives a DL grant as a next grant after a UL grant and after a start of the transmission of information on a UL data channel in response to the UL grant.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the UL data channel is on a different carrier than the control channel search space.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a subframe after a subframe in which the UE transmits information on the UL data channel and before a subframe for DL communication is used as a guard subframe.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein communications associated with the protected subframe are deferred to a next available subframe.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes supports one or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes supports two HARQ processes.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the UE indicates support for at least one of:

two HARQ processes for each UL grant or DL grant, or an interleaving of UL grants and DL grants.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a collision in response to the transmitting or receiving information in response to the UL grant and the DL grant in the respective subframes of the received interlace, the collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the UL data channel and the DL data channel, or

Collision between UL data channel and hybrid ARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the HARQ-ACK signaling comprises an acknowledgement or Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), and wherein the HARQ-ACK signaling is for the DL data channel.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the collision comprises the collision between the UL data channel and the DL data channel, the method further comprising at least one of:

determining to use one of the UL data channel and the DL data channel, or

For a subframe that collides between the UL data channel and the DL data channel, determining the subframe that uses one of the UL data channel and the DL data channel.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the determining to use is based at least in part on an energy metric threshold.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the collision comprises a collision between the UL data channel and the HARQ-ACK signaling, the method further comprising at least one of:

determining to transmit the HARQ-ACK signaling or to multiplex the HARQ-ACK signaling with the UL data channel for subframes that collide between the UL data channel and the HARQ-ACK signaling.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the multiplexing the HARQ-ACK signaling with the UL data channel comprises: modulating a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) of the UL data channel with the HARQ-ACK signaling for subframes that collide between the UL data channel and the HARQ-ACK signaling.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is configured for narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT).

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is configured for Time Division Duplex (TDD) operation.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is configured for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) operation.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the control channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH).

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending information comprises: transmitting information in a UL data channel in response to the received UL grant; and wherein said receiving information comprises receiving information in a DL data channel in response to said DL grant.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the UL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH), and wherein the DL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel (NPDSCH).

23. The method of claim 11, wherein the DL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel (NPDSCH), the HARQ-ACK comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement, and the UL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH).

24. A method for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have a same HARQ process Identification (ID); and

selecting one of the authorizations to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or choose to use two grants, wherein the grants are considered as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants comprises at least one of:

receiving one UL grant after one UL grant as a next grant; or

One DL grant is received as a next grant after one DL grant.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the UE is configured for narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT).

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the control channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH).

28. A method for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants;

transmitting or receiving information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

in response to the sending or receiving information, identifying a conflict, the conflict comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants comprises at least one of:

receiving one UL grant after one UL grant as a next grant; or

One DL grant is received as a next grant after the one DL grant.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the collision comprises a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel, the method further comprising at least one of:

selecting only one of the first DL data channel or the second DL data channel for monitoring; or

Selecting only one of the first DL data channel or the second DL data channel for monitoring for subframes that collide between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the selecting comprises:

selecting the first DL data channel signaling;

selecting the second DL data channel signaling; or

Selecting the first or second DL data channel signaling based at least in part on an energy metric threshold.

32. The method of claim 28, wherein the collision comprises a collision between the second DL data channel and the first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel, the method further comprising at least one of: determining not to use the first HARQ-ACK signaling; or determining not to use the second DL data channel.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the determining not to use the first HARQ-ACK signaling comprises: determining not to use all subframes for the first HARQ-ACK signaling or only subframes for the first HARQ-ACK signaling that collide with the second DL data channel.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the determining not to use the second DL data channel comprises: determining not to use all subframes for the second DL data channel or only subframes for the second DL data channel that collide with the first HARQ-ACK signaling.

35. The method of claim 28, wherein colliding subframes comprise at least one of: a subframe for ACK, a subframe for DL data channel, or a guard subframe.

36. The method of claim 28, wherein the collision comprises a collision between the first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and the second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, the method further comprising at least one of:

transmitting one of the first HARQ-ACK signaling or the second HARQ-ACK signaling, or

Transmitting one of the first HARQ-ACK signaling or the second HARQ-ACK signaling and puncturing the other of the first HARQ-ACK signaling or the second HARQ-ACK signaling.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein only one of the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel is successfully decoded, the method further comprising: transmitting a HARQ-ACK for the one of the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel that was successfully decoded; and puncturing the HARQ-ACK for the other of the first DL data channel signaling and the second DL data channel signaling.

38. The method of claim 28, wherein the collision comprises a collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel, the method further comprising at least one of:

determining to transmit one of the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel, or

Determining to transmit one of the first and second UL data channels and puncturing the other of the first and second UL data channels.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of determining a transmission or puncturing is based at least in part on an energy metric threshold.

40. The method of claim 28, wherein the DL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel (NPDSCH), the HARQ-ACK comprises a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement or negative acknowledgement, and the UL data channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH).

41. The method of claim 28, wherein the UE is configured for narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT).

42. The method of claim 28, wherein the control channel comprises a Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel (NPDCCH), the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel comprise NPDSCH, and the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel comprise NPUSCH.

43. A method of wireless communication by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

transmitting, to a User Equipment (UE), an interleaved Uplink (UL) grant and Downlink (DL) grant in respective subframes on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth; and

receiving or transmitting information from or to the UE in response to the transmitted UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes.

44. A method of wireless communication by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

transmitting two consecutive Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth, the consecutive UL or DL grants having a same HARQ process Identification (ID), wherein:

selecting, by the UE, one of the grants to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or two grants are selected for use by the UE, wherein the grants are considered hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

45. A method of wireless communication by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

transmitting two consecutive UL or DL grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth;

transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

in response to the sending or receiving information, identifying a conflict comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

46. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

means for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

means for receiving interleaved UL and DL grants in respective subframes; and

means for transmitting or receiving information in response to the received UL grant and DL grant in respective subframes of the interlace.

47. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

means for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

means for receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have a same HARQ process Identification (ID); and

a unit for:

selecting one of the authorizations to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or choose to use two grants, wherein the grants are considered as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

48. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

means for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

means for receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants;

means for transmitting or receiving information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

means for identifying a collision in response to the sending or receiving information, the collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

49. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

means for transmitting interleaved Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) grants in respective subframes to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrowband of a system bandwidth; and

means for receiving information from or transmitting information to the UE in response to the transmitted UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes.

50. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

means for transmitting two consecutive Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth, the consecutive UL or DL grants having a same HARQ process Identification (ID), wherein:

selecting, by the UE, one of the grants to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the authorization to meet the energy metric threshold is met,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or two grants are selected for use by the UE, wherein the grants are considered hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

51. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

means for transmitting two consecutive UL or DL grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth;

means for transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

means for identifying, in response to the sending or receiving information, a collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel

A collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

52. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving interleaved UL and DL grants in respective subframes; and

transmitting or receiving information in response to the received UL grant and DL grant in respective subframes of the interlace; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

53. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have a same HARQ process Identification (ID); and

selecting one of the authorizations to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received signals,

or choose to use two grants, wherein the grants are considered as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

54. An apparatus for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants;

transmitting or receiving information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

identifying a collision in response to the sending or receiving information, the collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

55. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

transmitting, to a User Equipment (UE), an interleaved Uplink (UL) grant and Downlink (DL) grant in respective subframes on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth; and

receiving or transmitting information from or to the UE in response to the transmitted UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

56. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

transmitting two consecutive Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth, the consecutive UL or DL grants having a same HARQ process Identification (ID), wherein:

selecting, by the UE, one of the grants to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or selecting two grants for use by the UE, wherein the grants are considered hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

57. An apparatus for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

transmitting two consecutive UL or DL grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth;

transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

in response to the sending or receiving information, identifying a conflict comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

58. A computer-readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), the executable code comprising:

code for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

code for receiving interleaved UL and DL grants in respective subframes; and

code for transmitting or receiving information in response to the received UL grant and DL grant in respective subframes of the interlace.

59. A computer-readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), the executable code comprising:

code for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

code for receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants, wherein the consecutive UL or DL grants have a same HARQ process Identification (ID); and

code for:

selecting one of the authorizations to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received,

or choose to use two grants, wherein the grants are considered as hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

60. A computer-readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a User Equipment (UE), the executable code comprising:

code for monitoring a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth for an Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grant;

code for receiving two consecutive UL or DL grants;

code for transmitting or receiving information in response to the received two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

code for identifying a collision in response to the sending or receiving information, the collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

61. A computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), the executable code comprising:

code for transmitting interleaved Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) grants in respective subframes to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrowband of a system bandwidth; and

code for receiving information from or transmitting information to the UE in response to the transmitted UL and DL grants of the interlace in respective subframes.

62. A computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), the executable code comprising:

code for transmitting two consecutive Uplink (UL) or Downlink (DL) grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth, the consecutive UL or DL grants having a same HARQ process Identification (ID), wherein:

selecting, by the UE, one of the grants to use based at least in part on at least one of:

the grant to satisfy the energy metric threshold is,

authorization received first, or

The authorization of the second one of the received signals,

or two grants are selected for use by the UE, wherein the grants are considered hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions.

63. A computer readable medium having executable code stored thereon for wireless communications by a Base Station (BS), the executable code comprising:

code for transmitting two consecutive UL or DL grants to a User Equipment (UE) on a control channel in a narrow band of a system bandwidth;

code for transmitting or receiving information in response to the transmitted two consecutive UL and DL grants; and

code for identifying, in response to the sending or receiving information, a collision comprising at least one of:

a collision between the first DL data channel and the second DL data channel,

a collision between the second DL data channel and first HARQ acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) signaling for the first DL data channel,

a collision between first HARQ-ACK signaling for the first DL data channel and second HARQ-ACK signaling for the second DL data channel, or

A collision between the first UL data channel and the second UL data channel.

Images