CN111183689A

CN111183689A - Communication method, apparatus and computer program

Info

Publication number: CN111183689A
Application number: CN201780095428.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张元涛; 张延冀; 张翼
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Alcatel Lucent SAS
Current assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Alcatel Lucent SAS
Priority date: 2017-09-29
Filing date: 2017-09-29
Publication date: 2020-05-19
Anticipated expiration: 2037-09-29
Also published as: WO2019061244A1; CN111183689B

Abstract

A method is disclosed, comprising: uplink transmission configuration information is received at a user equipment. The method further includes determining, by the user equipment, a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a pool of unlicensed resources for unlicensed uplink transmissions by the user equipment using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

Description

Communication method, apparatus and computer program

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to communications, and more particularly, to methods, apparatuses, and computer programs in a wireless communication system. More particularly, the present invention relates to transmission modes in wireless communication systems.

Background

A communication system may be viewed as a facility that enables communication between two or more devices, such as user terminals, machine type terminals, base stations, and/or other nodes, by providing communication channels for carrying information between the communication devices. For example, a communication system may be provided by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. For example, the communication may comprise a data communication for carrying data of voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and/or content data communication, etc. Non-limiting examples of services provided include two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services, and access to data network systems, such as the internet.

In a wireless system, at least a portion of the communication is over a wireless interface. Examples of wireless systems include Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs), satellite-based communication systems, and different wireless local networks, e.g., Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs). Local area wireless networking technologies that allow devices to connect to data networks are known under the trade name WiFi (or Wi-Fi). WiFi is generally used synonymously with WLAN. A wireless system may be divided into cells and is therefore commonly referred to as a cellular system. The base station provides at least one cell.

The user may access the communication system by means of a suitable communication device or terminal capable of communicating with the base station. Thus, a node like a base station is often referred to as an access point. The user's communication device is often referred to as User Equipment (UE). The communication device is provided with suitable signal receiving and transmitting means for enabling communication, e.g. with a base station and/or direct communication with other user equipment. The communication device may communicate on an appropriate channel, such as a channel on which a listening station (e.g., a base station of a cell) transmits.

A communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters that should be used for the connection are also typically defined. Non-limiting examples of standardized radio access technologies include GSM (global system for mobile), EDGE (enhanced data for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). An example communication system architecture is the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio access technology. LTE is being standardized by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). LTE employs evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) access and its further developments, sometimes referred to as LTE-advanced (LTE-a).

Since the introduction of fourth generation (4G) services, there has been an increasing interest in the next or fifth generation (5G) standards. The 5G may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network. Standardization of 5G or new radio networks is an ongoing research project.

Disclosure of Invention

According to a first aspect, there is provided a method comprising: receiving, at a user equipment, uplink transmission configuration information; and determining, by the user equipment, a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a grant-free resource pool for the user equipment to use uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured grant-free uplink transmission timeslots, using the configuration information. .

According to an example, the configuration information includes: information of the configured resource pool for the first time slot, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission time slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

According to an example, the configuration information includes: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or information of a total number of unlicensed resource pools in use, and/or a number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

According to an example, the user equipment determines a camping resource pool in each configured unlicensed uplink transmission slot based on the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, a slot index and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

According to an example, the demodulation reference signal parameter comprises one of: demodulation reference signal sequence ID and demodulation reference signal pattern.

According to an example, the number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission slots is less than the total number of unlicensed resource pools used.

According to an example, the configuration information comprises information of a number of repetitions of a frequency hopping pattern to be performed by the user equipment.

According to an example, the usage configuration information includes usage rules at the user equipment.

According to an example, the method is for use in 5G ultra-reliable low latency communication.

According to a second aspect, there is provided a method comprising: determining uplink transmission configuration information, the configuration information comprising a resource pool hopping pattern for use by one or more user equipments for determining a grant-free resource pool for grant-free uplink transmission using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured grant-free uplink transmission time slots.

According to an example, the configuration information includes: information of a resource pool for the first slot configuration, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

According to an example, the configuration information comprises information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or a total number of unlicensed resource pools used, and/or a number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

According to an example, the method comprises: providing information of the unlicensed resource pool configured in the first time slot, a time slot index, and demodulation reference signal parameters to one or more user equipments.

According to an example, the configuration information comprises information of a number of repetitions of a frequency hopping pattern to be performed by the one or more user devices.

According to a third aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of the first aspect when the program is run on data processing apparatus.

According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the steps of the second aspect when the program is run on data processing apparatus.

According to a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor: receiving, at an apparatus, uplink transmission configuration information; and using the configuration information to determine a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a pool of unlicensed resources for unlicensed uplink transmissions by the device using uplink resources shared with at least one other device in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

According to an example, the configuration information includes: information of a resource pool for a first slot configuration, a periodicity of an unlicensed uplink transmission slot, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

According to an example, the apparatus is configured to determine a camping resource pool in each configured unlicensed uplink transmission slot based on a configured unlicensed resource pool in a first slot, a slot index, and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

According to an example, the configuration information includes information of a number of repetitions of a frequency hopping pattern to be performed by the apparatus.

According to an example, the usage configuration information includes usage rules at the apparatus.

According to an example, the apparatus is configured for 5G ultra-reliable low latency communication.

According to an example, the apparatus comprises a user equipment.

According to a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor: determining uplink transmission configuration information, the configuration information comprising a resource pool hopping pattern for use by one or more user equipments for determining an unlicensed resource pool for unlicensed uplink transmissions using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots; and sending the configuration information to one or more user devices.

According to an example, the configuration information includes: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or a total number of unlicensed resource pools used, and/or information of a number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

According to an example, the apparatus is configured to: providing information of the unlicensed resource pool configured in the first time slot, a time slot index, and demodulation reference signal parameters to one or more user equipments.

According to an example, the apparatus includes a network entity.

According to an example, the apparatus includes a base station.

Drawings

The invention will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, with reference to the following examples and the accompanying drawings, in which:

fig. 1 shows a schematic example of a wireless communication system in which the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a communication device;

fig. 3 shows an example of a control device;

4A-4C illustrate example resource pool patterns;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example resource pool pattern;

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method according to an example;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of a method according to an example.

Detailed Description

Before explaining the examples in detail, certain general principles of wireless communication systems and mobile communication systems are briefly explained with reference to fig. 1 to 2 to help understand the underlying technologies of the described examples.

In a wireless communication system 100 such as that shown in fig. 1, wireless communication devices (e.g., User Equipment (UE) or

MTC devices

102, 104, 105) provide wireless access via at least one base station or similar wireless transmission and/or reception wireless infrastructure node or point. Such a node may be, for example, a base station or eNodeB (eNB), or in a 5G system, a next generation NodeB (gNB) or other wireless infrastructure node. These nodes are often referred to as base stations. The base stations are typically controlled by at least one suitable controller means to enable operation and management of the mobile communications devices in communication with the base stations. The controller device may be located in a radio access network (e.g., the wireless communication system 100) or in a Core Network (CN) (not shown), and may be implemented as one central device or its functionality may be distributed over multiple devices. The controller device may be part of the base station and/or provided by a separate entity such as a radio network controller. In fig. 1, control means 108 and 109 are shown to control the respective

macro base stations

106 and 107. In some systems, the control means may additionally or alternatively be provided in a radio network controller. Other examples of radio access systems include those provided by base stations of systems based on technologies such as 5G or new radio, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and/or WiMax (worldwide interoperability for microwave access). A base station may provide coverage for an entire cell or similar radio service area.

In fig. 1,

base stations

106 and 107 are shown connected to a wider communications network 113 via a gateway 112. Further gateway functionality may be provided to connect to another network.

Smaller base stations

116, 118 and 120 may also be connected to the network 113, for example, through separate gateway functions and/or via controllers of macro-scale stations.

Base stations

116, 118, and 120 may be pico or femto base stations, and the like. In an example,

stations

116 and 118 are connected via gateway 111, while station 120 is connected via controller device 108. In some embodiments, smaller stations may not be provided.

A possible wireless communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to fig. 2, which shows a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a communication device 200. Such communication devices are often referred to as User Equipment (UE) or terminals. Suitable mobile communication devices may be provided by any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples include a Mobile Station (MS) or a mobile device such as a mobile phone or a so-called 'smart phone', a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., a USB dongle), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or tablet computer provided with wireless communication capabilities, or any combination of these, etc. For example, mobile communication devices may provide for communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia and so on. Many services can be offered and provided to the user via their communication device. Non-limiting examples of such services include two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services or simply access to a data communication network system, such as the internet. The user may also provide broadcast or multicast data. Non-limiting examples of content include downloads, television and radio programs, videos, advertisements, various alerts, and other information.

The wireless communication device may be, for example, a mobile device, i.e., a device that is not fixed in a particular location, or may be a stationary device. Wireless devices may or may not require human interaction to communicate. In the present teachings, the term UE or "user" is used to refer to any type of wireless communication device.

The wireless device 200 may receive signals over an air or radio interface 207 via appropriate means for receiving and may transmit signals via appropriate means for transmitting radio signals. In fig. 2, a transceiver device is schematically designated by block 206. For example, the transceiver device 206 may be provided by means of a radio and an associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be provided inside or outside the wireless device.

The wireless device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201, at least one memory 202 and possibly other components 203 for software and hardware assistance in performing tasks designed to be performed, including controlling access to and communication with access systems and other communication devices. Data processing, storage and other related control means may be provided on suitable circuit boards and/or in chipsets. This feature is denoted by reference numeral 204. The user may control the operation of the wireless device by means of a suitable user interface, such as a keypad 205, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof, and the like. A display 208, a speaker, and a microphone may also be provided. Further, the wireless communication device may include appropriate connectors (wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories (e.g., hands-free devices) thereto. The

communication devices

102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access technologies.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a control arrangement for a communication system, e.g. a station coupled to and/or for controlling an access system such as a RAN node, e.g. a base station, a gNB, a central unit of a cloud architecture or a node of a core network such as an MME or an S-GW, a scheduling entity such as a spectrum management entity or a server or host. The control means may be integrated with or external to the nodes or modules of the core network or RAN. In some embodiments, the base station comprises a separate control device unit or module. In other embodiments, the control device may be another network element, such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such control means as well as control means provided in the radio network controller. The control means 300 may be arranged to provide control of communications in the service area of the system. The control device 300 comprises at least one memory 301, at least one

data processing unit

302, 303 and an input/output interface 304. Via the interface, the control device may be coupled to a receiver and a transmitter of the base station. The receiver and/or transmitter may be implemented as a radio front end or a remote radio head. For example, the control device 300 or the processor 201 may be configured to execute suitable software code to provide the control functionality.

As will now be explained in more detail, the present disclosure relates to 5G (NR) transmission. More specifically, the present disclosure is associated with Uplink (UL) grant-less transmission for 5G ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Generally, grant-free transmission may enable lower latency and lower signaling overhead than grant-based transmission, since the UE does not need to send a scheduling request and wait for an UL grant before data transmission. NR has accepted it to meet the strict delay requirements in URLLC. NR discussion also discusses implementing frequency hopping in repeated transmissions to achieve diversity gain and improve reliability.

The inventors have identified that there may be problems to overcome in introducing frequency hopping associated with unlicensed UL transmissions. These identified problems include: ● the Base Station (BS) should control the amount of resources reserved for unlicensed frequency hopping transmissions. However, the same diversity order may be required regardless of whether there are a limited number or a large number of unlicensed UEs.

Support should be provided so that different UEs sharing the same resource can be configured with different repetition times.

Support should be provided so that different UEs sharing the same resource can be configured with different transmission periodicities.

During frequency hopping, it should be avoided as much as possible that two (or more) UEs collide during repeated transmissions.

Even if collision occurs in one transmission (or repetition), the demodulation reference signals (DMRS) should be different for the camped UE so that the BS can estimate the channel for each UE and decode the data signal using the advanced receiver.

Support should be provided to enable reconfiguration of L1 frequency hopping transmissions with less signaling overhead.

In an attempt to meet these requirements, and as discussed in more detail below, an alternative to configuring frequency hopping patterns is proposed in which a base station configures a Resource Pool (RP) frequency hopping pattern to one or more UEs. It should be noted that other terms may be used instead of "resource pools", such as "resource units" or "resources". Thus, the uplink transmission configuration information is sent to and received at the UE. From this received configuration information, the UE will know or can determine the available (unlicensed) RPs that can be selected in each timeslot. In other words, the user equipment may use the configuration information to determine a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a grant-free resource pool for a grant-free uplink transmission by the user equipment using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured grant-free uplink transmission time slots. In an example, the RP mode starts from slot0 (i.e., the first slot) in System Frame Number (SFN) 0. In the example, the RP mode is the same in each set of X slots. In the example, the RP mode has a total of N RPs, and there are M RPs every other (P1-1) slot. P1 represents the periodicity of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission slots or occasions. In the example, for each RP, the periodicity is P2.

By way of example, when data is ready to be transmitted in slot m, the UE selects one RP (from the available RPs) to start the license-free transmission. Thus, the unlicensed transmission may be based on the RP configured in slot0 (the first slot). The unlicensed transmission may be further based on a slot index and a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence ID. Accordingly, it can be considered that the user equipment can determine the camping resource pool in each configured unlicensed uplink transmission slot based on the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, the slot index and the demodulation reference signal parameter. The demodulation reference signal parameter may include one of a demodulation reference signal sequence ID and a demodulation reference signal pattern. Thus, frequency hopping may be made possible efficiently by camping on different RPs at different unlicensed transmission occasions.

The configuration of the RP mode may include:

x (number of slots) and slot defined by the resource pool

Frequency Bandwidth (BW) and frequency offset of the first RP;

p1 (periodicity of unlicensed transmission time slots or occasions)

P2 (periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool)

From this configuration, the UE may be informed or may determine:

n, the total number of unlicensed RPs in RP mode. In some examples, N ═ X/P1. RP may be indexed from 0 to N-1, in no increasing order of frequency.

M, the number of RPs in each slot with an RP. In some examples, M ═ X/P2.

In another embodiment, the value N may be predefined.

Due to the above-described relationship of the parameters, in another embodiment, the base station configures the value N instead of X, and derives X from X — NxP 1.

Therefore, the configuration information may be considered to include: information of the configured resource pool for the first slot (i.e., slot 0), the periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission slots (or "opportunities"), and the periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool. The configuration information may include information of the time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or the total number of unlicensed resource pools used, and/or the number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

To meet these requirements, a group of UEs may be configured to have the same RP mode regardless of whether they are configured with the same or different number of repetitions and/or the same or different transmission periodicity. In an example, a single rule is defined (specified) for all UEs. The rule determines the RP in each configured unlicensed transmission opportunity. The rule may be based on the RP, the slot index, and the DMRS sequence ID and/or DMRS pattern configured in slot 0.

In an example, if layer L1 (physical layer or PHY layer) modification to unlicensed configuration is enabled (i.e., type 3 unlicensed transmission), the RP mode may be modified by reconfiguring P1 and P2 (downlink control information) in DCI. DCI may also reconfigure the camping RP in slot 0. Based on this, the UE can decide to camp on the RP and the frequency hopping pattern following the same rules as described above.

Thus, in an example, frequency hopping is achieved by selecting different RPs in different time slots in a configured RP mode. The RP mode has a total of N RPs. There are M RPs in each slot with RP(s), M < ═ N. A lower value of M may be associated with a situation where there are a limited number of unlicensed URLLC UEs in a cell, so a smaller amount of resources may be reserved for the unlicensed UL. A higher or higher value of M may be beneficial when the number of unlicensed UEs becomes higher, in which case the BS may allocate more resources to accommodate those UEs with low collision rates.

Fig. 4A-4C illustrate example resource pool patterns. Each of fig. 4A-4C represents a message frame 402. In this example, frame 402 includes eight slots or subframes, as shown at 404 through 418. In these figures, the first RP (RP0) is represented by a hatched box with a right-hand slant. The second RP (RP1) is represented by a hatched box with a left tilt. The third RP (RP2) is represented by a box with vertical hatching. The fourth RP (RP3) is represented by a cross-hatched box. Each RP has a different frequency. In the example of fig. 4A to 4C, the frequency increases down the graph such that f (RP3) > f (RP2) > f (RP1) > f (RP 0). There is also a frequency offset between each RP, represented by the double headed

arrows

420, 422 and 424.

In the example of fig. 4A, there is one RP per slot. That is, RP0 is in the first slot 404, RP1 is in the second slot 406, RP2 is in the third slot 408, and RP3 is in the fourth slot 410. This operation is then repeated such that RP0 is in the fifth slot 412, RP1 is in the sixth slot 414, RP2 is in the seventh slot 416, and RP3 is in the eighth slot 418. In fig. 4A, P1 is 1 (i.e., the periodicity indicating the unlicensed transmission slot/opportunity is 1). In fig. 4A, P2 ═ 4 (i.e., the periodicity representing each unlicensed resource is 4). X is 4 (i.e., the period representing the RP mode is 4, so in this example, there are four slots available for the RP mode).

In the example of fig. 4B, there are two RPs per slot. That is, the first slot 404 includes RP0 and RP1, and the second slot 406 includes RP2 and RP 3. The pattern is then repeated across frames 402. Thus, in the example of fig. 4B, P1 is 1, P2 is 2 and X is 4.

In the example of fig. 4C, there are four RPs per slot. That is, the time slot 1404 includes RP0, RP1, RP2, and RP 3. The pattern is then repeated in every other slot. Thus, in this example, P1 ═ 1, P2 ═ 1, and X ═ 4.

The following table summarizes the example RP modes in fig. 4A through 4C.

Table 1: RP mode configuration

As described above, in this table, "N" represents the number of RPs, "M" represents the number of RPs in each slot, "X" represents the number of available slots for containing the RP mode, "P1" indicates the periodicity of grant transmission opportunities, and "P2" represents the periodicity of each grant-free resource pool. That is, "P" defines periodicity.

In some examples, a group of UEs may be configured with the same RP mode. This may be independent of whether they are configured with the same/different number of repetitions and/or the same/different transmission periodicity. This enables BS-controlled frequency hopping. It may also implement orthogonal DMRS (demodulation reference signals) distribution in each RP in each unlicensed transmission occasion or slot between camped UEs.

For example, a particular UE is configured with an RP in slot 0. All UEs follow a single rule (i.e., each UE follows the same rule) to determine the RP for the unlicensed transmission.

As an example of this, it is possible to provide,

the UE is configured with RP # k in slot0, then RP # k in each slot {0, 0+ X, 0+2X, … … } is available for unlicensed transmission;

RP (0< b < X) in the slot { b, b + X, b +2X, … … } is defined as

If Mod (b,4) <2,

then

(DMRS_ID+b*M+RP_slot0)mod N

Otherwise

(DMRS_ID+b*M+RP_slot0)mod N+1

Wherein

DMRS _ ID is configured DMRS sequence ID;

b is the slot index;

RP _ slot0 is the resident RP in slot 0;

m is the number of RPs in each slot.

N is the total number of RPs.

In some examples, the number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission slots is less than the total number of unlicensed resource pools used (i.e., M < N).

Yet another example is shown in fig. 5. In this example, RP mode 2 from table 1 above is used. That is, N is 4, M is 2, X is 4, P1 is 1 and P2 is 2. A first UE (UE1) is configured with RP0 in slot0 with a DMRS sequence ID of 0. Accordingly, following the above rules, the determined hopping pattern for the UE1 is { RP0, RP2, RP1, RP3 }. The second UE (UE2) is configured with RP1 in slot0 and DMRS sequence ID is 0. Accordingly, the determined frequency hopping pattern for the UE2 is { RP1, RP3, RP0, RP2 }. Thus, following this rule, UEs that are assigned the same DMRS sequence ID and are in different RPs will always camp on different RPs in each slot, so there is no DMRS collision. Referring to fig. 5, as shown at 530, the UE1 starts TB transmission in RP1 in slot 6. As shown at 532, the UE1 ends the TB transmission in RP3 in slot 7. The UE2 starts TB transmission in RP3 of slot 9 as shown at 534. UE2 ends the TB transmission in RP1 in slot 12 as shown by 536.

In the example of the preceding paragraph, UE1 and UE2 are configured with 2 and 4 repetitions, respectively. That is, the configuration information may include information of the number of repetitions of the RP hopping pattern to be performed by the user equipment. When the UE1 starts unlicensed transmission from slot 6, it starts transmission using RP1, and then UE1 repeats the TB in slot 7 in RP 3. The UE2 begins transmitting from RP3 in slot 9 and ends at RP1 in slot 12. Thus, different UEs may be configured with different transmission periodicities, but with the same RP mode, and UEs with the same DMRS will always camp on different RPs in each slot.

Thus, it can be seen that the UE(s) can use rules to determine the RP to be used for unlicensed 5G URLLC transmissions, rather than pre-configuring or assigning a frequency hopping pattern to the UE. This overcomes or at least alleviates the potential drawback of explicitly configuring the frequency hopping pattern, i.e. since the UE can start unlicensed transmission at any time and different UEs may start from different RPs, all N RPs will be present in each time slot, which may waste resources when the number of UEs is low.

Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method from the perspective of a user equipment.

At S1, the method includes receiving uplink transmission configuration information at the user equipment.

In S2, the method includes: the method further includes determining, by the user equipment, a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting the unlicensed resource pool for use by the user equipment for unlicensed uplink transmissions using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a method from the perspective of a network node, such as a base station.

At S1, the method includes determining uplink transmission configuration information. The configuration information includes an unlicensed resource pool hopping pattern for use by one or more user devices to determine an unlicensed resource pool for unlicensed uplink transmission using uplink resources shared with at least one other user device in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

At S2, the method includes sending the configuration information to one or more user devices.

In an example, the disclosed frequency hopping configurations are scalable to achieve efficient resource utilization in the presence of a limited number of UEs with sporadic traffic and in the presence of a large number of unlicensed UEs. In an example, the disclosed frequency hopping configuration satisfies a balance between the amount of license-free resources that typically cannot be used for reservation of a license-based transmission (and thus wasted if not used), and archived diversity gain and low collision rates. This proposed example avoids as much as possible two (or more) UEs colliding during repeated transmissions. According to the disclosed configuration, DMRSs are different for the camped UEs even in the case where there is collision in one transmission (repetition), so that the BS can estimate a channel of each UE and decode a data signal using an advanced receiver. Furthermore, this configuration supports the following cases: different UEs sharing the same resource are configured to have different repetition times.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Embodiments of the invention may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of a mobile device, such as in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or programs (also referred to as program code, including software routines, applets, and/or macros) can be stored in any device-readable data storage medium, and they include program instructions to perform particular tasks. The computer program product may comprise one or more computer-executable components which, when the program is run, are configured to perform an embodiment. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or portion thereof.

Further in this regard it should be noted that any block of the logic flow as in the figures may represent a program step or an interconnected logic circuit, block or function or a combination of a program step and a logic circuit, block or function. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic storage such as hard or floppy disks, and optical storage such as, for example, DVDs and their data variants CDs. The physical medium is a non-transitory medium.

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processor may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, Data Signal Processors (DSPs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FPGAs, gate level circuits and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Embodiments of the invention may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The foregoing description provides by way of non-limiting example a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiments of this invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention, as defined in the appended claims. Indeed, there is yet another embodiment that includes a combination of one or more embodiments with any other embodiments previously discussed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, at a user equipment, uplink transmission configuration information; and

determining, by the user equipment, a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a grant-free resource pool for grant-free uplink transmission by the user equipment using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured grant-free uplink transmission timeslots using the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of the configured resource pool for the first time slot, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission time slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or information of a total number of the unlicensed resource pools in use, and/or a number of the unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the user equipment determines the camping resource pool in each configured unlicensed uplink transmission slot based on the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, a slot index and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the demodulation reference signal parameter comprises one of: demodulation reference signal sequence ID and demodulation reference signal pattern.

6. The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein a number of unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots is less than a total number of unlicensed resource pools in use.

7. The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a number of repetitions of the frequency hopping pattern to be performed by the user equipment.

8. The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein using the configuration information comprises using rules at the user equipment.

9. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, for use in 5G ultra-reliable low latency communication.

10. A method, comprising:

determining uplink transmission configuration information, the configuration information comprising a resource pool hopping pattern for use by one or more user equipments in order to determine an unlicensed resource pool for unlicensed uplink transmission using uplink resources shared with at least one other user equipment in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots; and

and sending the configuration information to the one or more user equipment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of the configured resource pool for the first time slot, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission time slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

12. The method of claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or information of a total number of the unlicensed resource pools in use, and/or a number of the unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

13. The method of any of claims 10 to 12, comprising: providing to the one or more user devices: information of the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, a slot index and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the demodulation reference signal parameter comprises one of: demodulation reference signal sequence ID and demodulation reference signal pattern.

15. The method of any of claims 10-14, wherein a number of the unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots is less than a total number of unlicensed resource pools in use.

16. The method of any of claims 10 to 15, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a number of repetitions of the frequency hopping pattern to be performed by the one or more user devices.

17. The method of any of claims 10 to 16, for use in 5G ultra-reliable low latency communication.

18. A computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 9 when said program is run on data processing apparatus.

19. A computer program comprising program code means adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 10 to 17 when said program is run on data processing apparatus.

20. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor:

receiving, at the apparatus, uplink transmission configuration information; and

determining, using the configuration information, a resource pool hopping pattern for selecting a pool of unlicensed resources for unlicensed uplink transmissions by the apparatus using uplink resources shared with at least one other apparatus in one or more configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the configuration information comprises information of a configured resource pool for a first time slot, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission time slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 or claim 21, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or a total number of the unlicensed resource pools in use, and/or information of a number of the unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

23. The apparatus according to any of claims 20 to 22, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine the camping resource pool in each configured unlicensed uplink transmission slot based on the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, a slot index and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the demodulation reference signal parameter comprises one of: demodulation reference signal sequence ID and demodulation reference signal pattern.

25. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor:

and sending the configuration information to the one or more user equipment.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of the configured resource pool for the first time slot, a periodicity of the unlicensed uplink transmission time slots, and a periodicity of each unlicensed resource pool.

27. The apparatus of claim 25 or claim 26, wherein the configuration information comprises: information of a time period of the resource pool hopping pattern, and/or information of a total number of the unlicensed resource pools in use, and/or a number of the unlicensed resource pools available in each of the configured unlicensed uplink transmission timeslots.

28. The apparatus according to any of claims 25 to 27, the apparatus being configured to provide to the one or more user equipments: information of the configured unlicensed resource pool in the first slot, a slot index and a demodulation reference signal parameter.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the demodulation reference signal parameter comprises one of: demodulation reference signal sequence ID and demodulation reference signal pattern.