CN113825233A - Apparatus for use in user equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to an apparatus for use in a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a Radio Frequency (RF) interface; and processor circuitry coupled with the RF interface, wherein the processor circuitry, when the UE is operating in the licensed spectrum or the unlicensed spectrum: receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback via the RF interface.

Description

Apparatus for use in user equipment

Priority requirement

This application is based on and claims priority from U.S. patent application No.63/041,704, filed 6/19/2020 and U.S. patent application No.63/063,144, filed 8/7/2020, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to an apparatus for use in a User Equipment (UE).

Background

The fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) specification is intended to support a variety of vertical services and use cases including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services. The delay and reliability performance achievable by 5G NR communication systems is critical to support use cases with more stringent requirements. To extend the applicability of 5G NR communication systems in various vertical services, the 5G NR specification has evolved to support use cases in a variety of scenarios including the entertainment industry, factory automation, transportation industry, power distribution, and so on.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a method for use in a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case of forming two PDSCH groups.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case of providing a non-numerical (non-numerical) K1 to a UE.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case of non-numeric K1 being provided to the UE.

Fig. 5 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case of generating a HARQ-ACK codebook based on a PDSCH group.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of another method for use in a UE, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of yet another method for use in a UE, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram of PUCCH repetition variants according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of PUCCH repetition dropping according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 shows a schematic diagram of a wireless network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of the disclosure to others skilled in the art. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that many alternative embodiments may be practiced using portions of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The phrases "in an embodiment," "in one embodiment," and "in some embodiments" are used repeatedly herein. Such phrases are not generally referring to the same embodiment; however, they may also relate to the same embodiment. The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrases "A or B" and "A/B" mean "(A), (B), or (A and B)".

One major limiting factor of 5G NR communication systems in scenarios including entertainment, factory automation, transportation, power distribution, etc., is spectrum availability. To alleviate this problem, it is proposed to implement URLLC/industrial internet of things (IIoT) operation using unlicensed spectrum in a controlled environment.

It is important to identify aspects of a 5G NR communication system that can be enhanced when operating in unlicensed spectrum. One challenge is that 5G NR communication systems must comply with regulatory requirements specified for bands below 6GHz, where Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedures need to be performed to acquire the medium before transmission can take place, while still being able to guarantee reliability and latency requirements for URLLC/IIoT operation to meet the above-mentioned use cases. In fact, when implementing URLLC/IIoT operation in unlicensed spectrum, due to the LBT procedure and its contingencies, additional delays and reliability losses may be introduced due to medium contention when LBT fails.

To accommodate different scenarios and the use of LBT procedures, 5G NR communication systems require some modifications to efficiently support URLLC/IIoT operation in unlicensed and/or licensed spectrum.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a method for use in a UE, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 1, when a UE operates in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum, the method 100 includes: s102, receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI), wherein the DCI comprises a first indication field, and the first indication field is used for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback aiming at a HARQ-ACK process; and S104, sending the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

In some embodiments, the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback may include: HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions; HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur; HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

In some embodiments, the method 100 may further include: determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN AN transmitting the DCI.

In some embodiments, a plurality of PDSCH groups may be formed from previous Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCH) transmitted to the UE from the AN transmitting the DCI, wherein one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered for the plurality of PDSCH groups, and the PDSCH groups are associated with one of the following options: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

In some embodiments, the DCI may further include a second indication field for indicating one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. In one option, the second indication field may include a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a corresponding PDSCH group should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. In another option, the second indication field may include one bit for indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits for indicating one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

In some embodiments, the method 100 may further include: receiving a prior DCI including a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for the SPS PDSCH scheduled by the preceding DCI in a one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

In some embodiments, the method 100 may further include: the presence of the K1 field having a non-numeric value in the previous DCI is determined based on AN RRC message from AN transmitting the previous DCI. Alternatively, the previous DCI may further include an additional bit for indicating the presence of a K1 field having a non-numeric value in the previous DCI.

In some embodiments, when the UE operates in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI may further include a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and at least one of the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 is linearly related to the length of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP), or the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 are upper bound.

In some embodiments, when the UE is operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the method 100 may further include: the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted in a slot or symbol of an FFP in which one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) have been originally transmitted, or a slot or symbol of each Uplink (UL) burst in the FFP.

In some embodiments, when the UE operates in the unlicensed spectrum, the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback includes HARQ-ACK feedback information for PDSCHs in the same FFP or different FFPs including FFPs in which one or more of the PDSCHs have been originally transmitted.

In particular, the method 100 involves one or more of the following enhancements to the HARQ-ACK process:

enhancement of HARQ-ACK procedure

For a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) with HARQ-ACK feedback information, the UE determines a PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource indicator field in DCI format 1_0 or last DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 with a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator field value indicating the same slot for PUCCH transmission. If the PUCCH resource determined based on the last DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 overlaps any semi-statically configured Downlink (DL) symbol or Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) symbol, the transmission of the PUCCH is discarded. Alternatively, the UE may also discard transmission of PUCCH without waiting for later DCI that may update PUCCH resources in a slot each time the UE recognizes that the DCI indicates a PUCCH resource that overlaps with a semi-static DL symbol or an SSB symbol. For the latter case, the UE does not wait for PUCCH coverage and cancels transmission of the PUCCH once the overlap is recognized.

Enhancement of HARQ-ACK process in licensed spectrum: one-time HARQ-ACK feedback

In one embodiment, in order to retrieve any discarded HARQ-ACK feedback information, one-time HARQ-ACK feedback may be supported. The AN (e.g., the gNB) may trigger all HARQ-ACK feedback information for the prior DL SPS transmissions if any HARQ-ACK feedback information is discarded. In this regard, the AN may request: i) HARQ-ACK feedback information for only HARQ processes used for DL SPS transmissions, or ii) HARQ-ACK feedback information for only HARQ-ACK processes used for DL SPS transmissions where dropping occurs, or iii) HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes regardless of the HARQ-ACK process allocated to DL SPS transmissions, or iv) HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified, configured, or indicated by the AN.

The one-time HARQ-ACK feedback may be triggered by DCI format 1_1 and/or DCI format 1_2 through an explicit indication field (i.e., a first indication field, e.g., a 1-bit field). The presence of the indication field in DCI format 1_1 and/or DCI format 1_2 may be determined based on AN RRC message from the AN that semi-statically enables/disables one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

In one example of this embodiment, the UE may be configured to report only HARQ feedback information for each HARQ-ACK process, or to report HARQ-ACK feedback information and a New Data Indicator (NDI) for each HARQ-ACK process. For the first case (no NDI related to the previous SPS PDSCH is reported), the UE may report a NACK (negative acknowledgement) for the related HARQ-ACK process. If instead, an NDI related to a previous SPS PDSCH is reported, the UE may report actual HARQ-ACK feedback information related to the latest PDSCH transmission of the related HARQ-ACK process.

In one embodiment, for operation in licensed spectrum, to reduce feedback information overhead while making the HARQ-ACK process more reliable, when configuring HARQ-ACK retransmissions for a UE based on one-time HARQ-ACK feedback, multiple PDSCH groups may be formed, wherein a PDSCH group may be associated with one of the following options: i) a set of DL SPS configurations, which may be selected to have the same periodicity or priority, for example; ii) a set of HARQ-ACK processes; iii) specific DL SPS configuration (in this case, there may be a 1:1 relationship between PDSCH group and DL SPS configuration). In one example of this embodiment, the number of PDSCH groups may be fixed, or may be configured through higher layer signaling, or may be directly related to the number of active DL SPS configurations.

In one example of this embodiment, when triggering the one-time HARQ-ACK, the AN may further indicate, through DCI format 1_1 or DCI format 1_2, whether the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered for a single PDSCH group, a group of PDSCH groups, or all PDSCH groups. In the last case, in one example, such explicit indication may be accomplished by:

a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a corresponding PDSCH group should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. In this case, if all bits of the bitmap are "1" (or "0"), it indicates that HARQ-ACK feedback information for all PDSCH groups is triggered. In one embodiment, instead of a dedicated indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback, this information may be encoded with a bitmap: implicitly indicates that one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is not triggered if all bits of the bitmap are "0" (or "1"); if at least one bit of the bitmap is "1" (or "0"), it means that one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered.

One bit indicates whether HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided for all or only a subset of the PDSCH groups (e.g., a single PDSCH group), and a set of bits indicates one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in a one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, in case that only two PDSCH groups (e.g., group 1 and group 2) are formed, a first bit is used to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for both group 1 and group 2 should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback, and a second bit is used to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for group 1 or group 2 should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. If the first bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for both group 1 and group 2 should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in order to trigger HARQ-ACK feedback information for both groups is set, the information carried by the second bit will be ignored or the second bit will not be expected/carried.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case of forming two PDSCH groups. In fig. 2, it is assumed that three DL SPS configurations may be active and that a first PDSCH group (i.e., group 1) is associated with DL SPS configurations 1 and 2, while a second PDSCH group (i.e., group 2) is associated with DL SPS configuration 3.

Enhancement of HARQ-ACK process in unlicensed spectrum: one-time HARQ-ACK feedback

In one embodiment, the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback may be triggered by DCI format 1_2 through an explicit indication field (i.e., a first indication field, e.g., a 1-bit field). The presence of the indication field in DCI format 1_2 may be determined based on AN RRC message from the AN that semi-statically enables/disables one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

In one embodiment, DCI format 1_2 may include an additional indication field (e.g., an additional 1-bit field) indicating whether one-time HARQ-ACK feedback should be triggered for all preceding PDSCHs or a subset of these PDSCHs. The presence of the additional indication field in DCI format 1_2 may be determined based on an RRC message.

In one embodiment, if two PDSCH groups are formed from a previous PDSCH transmitted to the UE, the PDSCH may be associated with one of the two PDSCH groups, and DCI format 1_2 may include an additional 1-bit field indicating which of the two PDSCH groups HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided for in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. The presence of the 1-bit field in DCI format 1_2 may be determined based on an RRC message.

Enhancement of HARQ-ACK process in licensed or unlicensed spectrum: non-numeral K1

In one embodiment, the non-numeric K1 may be provided to the UE in a licensed spectrum. In an example of this embodiment, the non-digital value K1 may be provided to the UE only for HARQ-ACK feedback information in response to the SPS PDSCH. In this case, if a non-numerical value is signaled to the UE, the timing indicating HARQ-ACK feedback information for the relevant PDSCH will be provided by the subsequent DCI, which will indicate the numerical value of K1 and trigger one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

In one embodiment, for operation in licensed or unlicensed spectrum, an additional RRC parameter may be introduced that allows the non-numeric K1 to be semi-statically enabled/disabled. On the other hand, additional bits may be introduced in both DCI format 1_1 and DCI format 1_2, which allows the non-numeric K1 to be enabled/disabled more dynamically.

In one embodiment, to reduce feedback information overhead while making the HARQ-ACK process more reliable, multiple PDSCH groups may be formed, wherein a PDSCH group may be associated with one of the following options: i) a set of DL SPS configurations, which may be selected, for example, to have the same periodicity or priority; ii) a set of HARQ-ACK processes; iii) specific DL SPS configuration (in this case, there may be a 1:1 relationship between PDSCH group and DL SPS configuration). In one embodiment, the number of PDSCH groups may be fixed, or may be configured through higher layer signaling, or may be directly related to the number of active DL SPS configurations.

In one embodiment, once the value of K1 is provided to the UE, the AN may indicate whether the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is for a single PDSCH group, a set of PDSCH groups, or all PDSCH groups. In the last case, in one example, the explicit indication may be accomplished by a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of PDSCH groups, and each bit indicates whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for the corresponding PDSCH group should be provided in one-time HARQ-ACK feedback. In this case, if all bits of the bitmap are "1" (or "0"), it may indicate that HARQ-ACK feedback information for all PDSCH groups is triggered.

Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram of one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in case two PDSCH groups are formed and a non-numeric K1 is provided to the UE.

Currently, in the case of URLLC operation implemented in unlicensed spectrum, when using a semi-static channel access procedure, a Fixed Frame Period (FFP) is defined as the period that allows an initiating device to initiate a transmission when the LBT procedure is successful, the initiating device being authorized to grant to one or more associated responding devices a transmission on a current operating channel within the current FFP. That is, Uplink (UL) and HARQ scheduling must be performed so that UL and HARQ will need to follow and occur in the FFP (to which they are scheduled). To overcome this limitation, some specific enhancements to this type of channel access are required when using semi-static channel access procedures.

In one embodiment, if a semi-static channel access procedure is supported, one of the following options may be supported (DCI includes a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, which provides an index to a slot offset of K2, in addition to a K1 field):

1. in one embodiment, the values of K1 and/or K2 are properly configured by the AN such that cross FFP scheduling does not occur-the values of K1 and/or K2 are linearly related to the length of the FFP;

2. in one embodiment, the above enhancements to the HARQ-ACK process may be used, except that the values of K1 and/or K2 are upper bound such that cross FFP scheduling does not occur;

3. in one embodiment, the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is always sent in a specific slot or symbol of the FFP or in a specific slot or symbol of each UL burst in the active FFP (e.g., the first slot of the UL burst). Fig. 4 shows an example of the present embodiment, where the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is associated with non-digital K1 and occurs at the end of the UL burst. In this embodiment, one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is available and valid only for those slots that meet the minimum processing time.

4. In one embodiment, the PDSCH in each PDSCH group is associated with a group index, and the AN may assign different values to different PDSCH groups at different times. In one embodiment, the AN may trigger HARQ-ACK feedback information for one or more PDSCH groups in the same FFP, but it may also trigger HARQ-ACK feedback information for previous PDSCH groups belonging to different FFPs and/or in the same FFP, if desired. This situation is illustrated in fig. 5. Since HARQ-ACK feedback information for three PDSCHs with group index 1 and C-DAI 1/2/3 cannot be scheduled within the FFP, the three PDSCHs with group index 1 and C-DAI 1/2/3 may be scheduled using non-digit K1. In this way, PUCCH resources for HARQ-ACK transmission in the next FFP are not scheduled, i.e. there is no cross-FFP scheduling of PUCCH resources. The PDSCH of C-DAI-4/5 in the next FFP is allocated with group index 1. The UE may then derive PUCCH resource U2 for HARQ-ACK transmission in the next FFP from the DCI for the two PDSCHs scheduled C-DAI-4/5. HARQ-ACK feedback information for all 5 PDSCHs with group index 1 and C-DAI 1/2/3/4/5 is transmitted on PUCCH resource U2. If HARQ-ACK transmission fails in PUCCH resource U1 for PDSCH with group index 0 and C-DAI 1/2, DCI scheduling PDSCH with C-DAI 4/5 may instruct the UE to report HARQ-ACK feedback information for both group 0 and group 1. That is, HARQ-ACK feedback information for 7 PDSCHs with group indexes 0 and 1 is reported on PUCCH resource U2.

Fig. 6 shows a schematic diagram of another method for use in a UE, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 6, when a UE is operating in an unlicensed spectrum, method 600 includes: s602, generating a PUCCH; and S604, repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH three times or more in the time domain.

In some embodiments, PUCCH is transmitted continuously within the same Channel Occupancy Time (COT).

In particular, the method 600 relates to enhancements to PUCCH repetition for HARQ-ACK processes in unlicensed spectrum.

In one embodiment, for operation in the unlicensed spectrum, more repetitions are introduced for the PUCCH to enhance the reliability of the HARQ-ACK process. For example, 3 and/or 4 and/or 5 and/or 6 and/or 7 and/or 8 and/or 16 repetitions of PUCCH are supported. In this case, the repetition of PUCCH may be performed continuously within the same COT to support URLLC traffic over the unlicensed spectrum and reduce any delay due to LBT procedures (if a gap greater than 16us occurs between repetitions).

In one embodiment, the PUCCH may be repeatedly transmitted more than three times only if the PUCCH is indicated to have or configured with a priority index of 1 (i.e., high priority).

Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram of yet another method for use in a UE, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, method 700 may include: s702, generating a PUCCH; s704, repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a back-to-back manner.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH is transmitted with a given number of repetitions, where the number of repetitions is provided semi-statically and is associated with the resource configuration of the PUCCH, or is provided as part of DCI scheduling the PUCCH.

In some embodiments, for repetitions other than the first repetition of the PUCCH, the starting symbol of the repetition is calculated from S0+ K × L while multiplexing the length of the first repetition, where S0 is the starting symbol of the first repetition, K is a repetition index starting from 0 and ending with K _ PUCCH-1, L is the length of the PUCCH, and K is the total number of repetitions.

In some embodiments, there is a fixed interval between any two repetitions of the PUCCH, and the fixed interval depends on the subcarrier space (SPS) in the frequency domain or is provided by an RRC message from scheduling SN of the PUCCH.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH is transmitted in the next slot when the repeated starting symbol and length result in crossing slot boundaries.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH is transmitted in a back-to-back manner when provided in a sub-slot configuration.

In some embodiments, method 700 may further include: when the repetition of the PUCCH collides with a Downlink (DL) symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping, the repetition of the PUCCH is discarded.

In some embodiments, method 700 may further include: codebook compression is applied to a set of HARQ-ACK feedback information for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmission mapped to PUCCH, wherein the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information is converted into 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback through a logical operation.

In particular, method 700 relates to enhancements to PUCCH repetition for HARQ-ACK processes in licensed spectrum.

In one embodiment, back-to-back repetition may be introduced for the PUCCH in the licensed and/or unlicensed spectrum, where the PUCCH may include only the short PUCCH (PF0 or PF2), or both the short PUCCH and the long PUCCH (PF1 or PF3), and the long PUCCH may be limited by Y symbol lengths, where Y may be, for example, another value of 7 or 4 to 14. Back-to-back repetition is achieved by:

-configuring a number of repetitions, K _ PUCCH, for a given PUCCH resource or PUCCH resource configuration. The number of repetitions may be provided semi-statically and associated with a given PUCCH resource configuration index, or as part of DCI scheduling the PUCCH, e.g., for HARQ-ACK feedback.

The first repetition may be the same as in the case of a single PUCCH format, while the repetition of PUCCH is performed in a back-to-back manner, i.e. multiplexing the length of the first repetition and calculating the starting symbol from S0+ k L, where S0 is the starting symbol of the first repetition, k is the repetition index starting from 0 and ending with k _ PUCCH-1, and L is the length of PUCCH. The upper graph of fig. 8 shows 2 repetitions.

Alternatively, the repetition of PUCCH may be performed with a gap of Z symbols, where Z may be fixed (depending on SCS) or may be provided by RRC messages. For example, Z may be 0, 1, 2 symbols for 15, 30, 60, 120kHz, respectively.

Furthermore, when the starting symbol and length of the repetition results in crossing a slot boundary, the repetition may continue in the next slot in a back-to-back manner, subject to collisions and priority order of the repeated symbols.

In one embodiment, the back-to-back repetition of the PUCCH is configured only when the PUCCH is provided with a sub-slot configuration, such that the slot is re-understood to be 2, 4, or 7 symbols in length from the PUCCH resource mapping perspective.

In one embodiment, if a repetition of the PUCCH collides with a DL symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping, the repetition of the PUCCH may be discarded, and other repetitions not colliding with a DL symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping may still be transmitted. This is shown in fig. 9.

In one embodiment, if each PUCCH collides with a separate PUSCH, the PUCCH collision with the PUSCH may be resolved in a per-repetition manner. If K _ c repetitions of PUCCH collide with one actual repetition of PUSCH, PUCCH may be multiplexed on PUSCH and the coding rate used for Uplink Control Information (UCI) calculation may be scaled by K _ c times with respect to one repetition of multiplexing PUCCH on PUSCH.

In one embodiment, a set of HARQ-ACK feedback information for DL SPS transmissions mapped to PUCCH may be configured to enable codebook compression, where the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information mapped to PUCCH is converted to 1-bit HARQ-ACK by applying logic or, i.e., if at least one ACK is multiplexed, an ACK (positive acknowledgement) is sent, otherwise a NACK is sent. Alternatively, a logical and may be applied, i.e. if all feedback information in the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information is ACK, then ACK is sent, otherwise NACK is sent. Whether compression is applied, whether logical AND is applied, and whether logical OR is applied are configurable.

System and implementation

Fig. 10-11 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that can implement aspects of the disclosed embodiments.

Fig. 10 shows a schematic diagram of a network 1000 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Network 1000 may operate in a manner consistent with the 3GPP technical specifications for Long Term Evolution (LTE) or 5G/NR systems. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this respect and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks, such as future 3GPP systems and the like, which benefit from the principles described herein.

Network 1000 may include a UE1002, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN)1004 via an over-the-air connection. The UE1002 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-vehicle entertainment device, a dashboard, a heads-up display device, an in-vehicle diagnostic device, a dashboard mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic/engine control unit, an electronic/engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a network device, a machine-type communication device, a machine-to-machine (M2M) or device-to-device (D2D) device, an internet of things device, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, network 1000 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other through sidelink interfaces. The UE may be an M2M/D2D device that communicates using a physical secondary link channel (e.g., without limitation, a physical secondary link broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical secondary link discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical secondary link shared channel (PSSCH), a physical secondary link control channel (PSCCH), a physical secondary link fundamental channel (PSFCH), etc.).

In some embodiments, the UE1002 may also communicate with an Access Point (AP)1006 over an over-the-air connection. The AP 1006 may manage Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) connections that may be used to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 1004. The connection between the UE1002 and the AP 1006 may be in accordance with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 1006 may be wireless fidelity

A router. In some embodiments, the UE1002, RAN1004, and AP 1006 may utilize cellular WLAN aggregation (e.g., LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA)/lightweight ip (lwip)). Cellular WLAN aggregation may involve configuration by the RAN1004 of the UE1002 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

RAN1004 may include one or more access nodes, e.g., Access Node (AN) 1008. The AN1008 may terminate the air interface protocols of the UE1002 by providing access stratum protocols including radio resource control protocol (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN1008 may enable a data/voice connection between the Core Network (CN)1020 and the UE 1002. In some embodiments, AN1008 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on a server computer (a virtual network may be referred to as a distributed ran (cran) or virtual baseband unit pool, as part of a virtual network, for example). AN1008 may be referred to as a Base Station (BS), next generation base station (gNB), RAN node, evolved node b (enb), next generation enb (ng enb), node b (nodeb), roadside unit (RSU), TRxP, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), and so on. The AN1008 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station that provides a microcell, picocell, or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

In embodiments where the RAN1004 includes multiple ANs, they may be coupled to each other through AN X2 interface (if the RAN1004 is AN LTE RAN) or AN Xn interface (if the RAN1004 is a 5G RAN). In some embodiments, the X2/Xn interface, which may be separated into a control/user plane interface, may allow the AN to communicate information related to handover, data/context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, and the like.

The ANs of RAN1004 may each manage one or more cells, groups of cells, component carriers, etc., to provide UE1002 with AN air interface for network access. The UE1002 may be simultaneously connected with multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 1004. For example, UE1002 and RAN1004 may use carrier aggregation to allow UE1002 to connect with multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a primary cell (Pcell) or a secondary cell (Scell). In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN may be a primary network node providing a Master Cell Group (MCG) and the second AN may be a secondary network node providing a Secondary Cell Group (SCG). The first/second AN may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng eNB, etc.

The RAN1004 may provide an air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in unlicensed spectrum, the node may use a License Assisted Access (LAA), enhanced LAA (elaa), and/or further enhanced LAA (felaa) mechanism based on the Carrier Aggregation (CA) technique of PCell/Scell. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the node may perform a media/carrier sensing operation based on, for example, a Listen Before Talk (LBT) protocol.

In a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenario, the UE1002 or AN1008 may be or act as a roadside unit (RSU), which may refer to any transport infrastructure entity for V2X communications. The RSU may be implemented in or by AN appropriate AN or stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU"; an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU"; RSUs implemented in the next generation nodeb (gNB) or implemented by the gNB may be referred to as "gNB-type RSUs" or the like. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located at the curb side that provides connection support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications/software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events (e.g., collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU may be enclosed in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN1004 may be an LTE RAN 1010 including an evolved node b (eNB), e.g., eNB 1012. The LTE RAN 1010 may provide an LTE air interface with the following features: subcarrier spacing (SCS) of 15 kHz; a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) waveform for Uplink (UL) and a cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform for Downlink (DL); turbo codes for data and TBCC for control, etc. The LTE air interface may rely on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) for CSI acquisition and beam management; performing Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)/Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) demodulation by relying on a DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and relying on Cell Reference Signals (CRS) for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation, and on channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate on the sub-6 GHz band.

In some embodiments, RAN1004 may be a Next Generation (NG) -RAN 1014 with a gNB (e.g., gNB 1016) or a gn-eNB (e.g., NG-eNB 1018). The gNB 1016 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 1016 may be connected with the 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The NG-eNB 1018 may also be connected with the 5G core over the NG interface, but may be connected with the UE over the LTE air interface. The gNB 1016 and ng-eNB 1018 may be connected to each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be divided into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between nodes of the UPF1048 and NG-RAN 1014 (e.g., the N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between nodes of the access and mobility management function (AMF)1044 and NG-RAN 1014 (e.g., the N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 1014 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following features: variable subcarrier spacing (SCS); cyclic prefix-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) for Downlink (DL), CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polarity, repetition, simplex, and reed-muller codes for control, and low density parity check codes (LDPC) for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on channel state reference signals (CSI-RS), PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation reference signals (DMRS) similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use Cell Reference Signals (CRS), but may use Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) demodulation reference signals (DMRS) for PBCH demodulation; performing phase tracking of the PDSCH using a Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS); and time tracking using the tracking reference signal. The 5G-NR air interface may operate over the FR1 frequency band, which includes a sub-6 GHz frequency band, or the FR2 frequency band, which includes a 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz frequency band. The 5G-NR air interface may include synchronization signals and PBCH blocks (SSBs), which are regions of a downlink resource grid including Primary Synchronization Signals (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS)/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may use a bandwidth portion (BWP) for various purposes. For example, BWP may be used for dynamic adaptation of SCS. For example, the UE1002 may be configured with multiple BWPs, where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When the BWP change is indicated to the UE1002, the SCS of the transmission also changes. Another use case for BWP is related to power saving. In particular, the UE1002 may be configured with multiple BWPs with different numbers of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission in different traffic load scenarios. BWPs containing a smaller number of PRBs may be used for data transmission with smaller traffic load while allowing power savings at the UE1002 and, in some cases, at the gNB 1016. BWPs containing a large number of PRBs may be used in scenarios with higher traffic loads.

The RAN1004 is communicatively coupled to a CN1020, which includes network elements, to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of the UE 1002). The components of CN1020 may be implemented in one physical node or in different physical nodes. In some embodiments, Network Function Virtualization (NFV) may be used to virtualize any or all functions provided by network elements of CN1020 onto physical computing/storage resources in servers, switches, and the like. The logical instances of CN1020 may be referred to as network slices and the logical instances of a portion of CN1020 may be referred to as network subslices.

In some embodiments, CN1020 may be LTE CN 1022, which may also be referred to as EPC. LTE CN 1022 may include a Mobility Management Entity (MME)1024, a Serving Gateway (SGW)1026, a serving general radio packet service (GPRS) support node (SGSN)1028, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS)1030, a Proxy Gateway (PGW)1032, and a policy control and charging rules function (PCRF)1034, which are coupled to each other by an interface (or "reference point") as shown. The functions of the elements of LTE CN 1022 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME1024 may implement mobility management functions to track the current location of the UE1002 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 1026 may terminate the S1 interface towards the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 1022. SGW 1026 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3 GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, billing, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 1028 can track the location of the UE1002 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 1028 may perform EPC inter-node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection designated by MME 1024; MME selection for handover, etc. An S3 reference point between the MME1024 and SGSN 1028 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3 GPP access network mobility in idle/active state.

The HSS 1030 may comprise a database for network users that includes subscription related information that supports network entities handling communication sessions. The HSS 1030 may provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependency, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 1030 and the MME1024 may enable the transmission of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 1020.

PGW1032 may terminate the SGi interface towards a Data Network (DN)1036 that may include an application/content server 1038. PGW1032 may route data packets between LTE CN 1022 and data network 1036. PGW1032 may be coupled with SGW 1026 via an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. PGW1032 may also include a node (e.g., PCEF) for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Additionally, the SGi reference point between PGW1032 and data network 1036 may be, for example, an operator external public, private PDN, or operator internal packet data network used to provide IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) services. PGW1032 may be coupled with PCRF 1034 via the Gx reference point.

The PCRF 1034 is a policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 1022. The PCRF 1034 can be communicatively coupled to the application/content server 1038 to determine appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters for the service flow. The PCRF 1032 may provide the relevant rules to the PCEF (via the Gx reference point) with the appropriate Traffic Flow Template (TFT) and QoS Class Identifier (QCI).

In some embodiments, CN1020 may be a 5G core network (5GC) 1040. The 5GC1040 may include an authentication server function (AUSF)1042, an access and mobility management function (AMF)1044, a Session Management Function (SMF)1046, a User Plane Function (UPF)1048, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)1050, a network open function (NEF)1052, an NF storage function (NRF)1054, a Policy Control Function (PCF)1056, a Unified Data Management (UDM)1058, and an Application Function (AF)1060, which are coupled to one another by interfaces (or "reference points") as shown. The functions of the elements of the 5GC1040 may be briefly described as follows.

The AUSF 1042 may store data for authentication of the UE1002 and process authentication related functions. AUSF 1042 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 1042 may also exhibit a Nausf service based interface in addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC1040 through reference points as shown.

The AMF1044 may allow other functions of the 5GC1040 to communicate with the UE1002 and the RAN1004 and subscribe to notifications regarding mobility events of the UE 1002. The AMF1044 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., registering the UE 1002), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF1044 may provide for the transmission of Session Management (SM) messages between UE1002 and SMF 1046 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF1044 may also provide for the transmission of SMS messages between the UE1002 and the SMSF. The AMF1044 may interact with the AUSF 1042 and the UE1002 to perform various security anchoring and context management functions. Further, the AMF1044 may be a termination point of the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN1004 and the AMF 1044; the AMF1044 may act as a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. The AMF1044 may also support NAS signaling with the UE1002 over the N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 1046 may be responsible for SM (e.g., tunnel management between UPF1048 and AN1008, session establishment); UE IP address assignment and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of the UP function; configuring flow control at UPF1048 to route the flow to the appropriate destination; termination of the interface to the policy control function; controlling a portion of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface to the LI system); terminate the SM portion of the NAS message; a downlink data notification; start AN specific SM message (sent to AN1008 on N2 through AMF 1044); and determining an SSC pattern for the session. SM may refer to the management of PDU sessions, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connection service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE1002 and the data network 1036.

The UPF1048 may serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with the data network 1036, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF1048 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform user plane part of policy rules, lawful intercepted packets (IP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF1048 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network.

The NSSF 1050 may select a set of network slice instances that serve the UE 1002. NSSF 1050 may also determine allowed Network Slice Selection Assistance Information (NSSAI) and mapping to a single NSSAI (S-NSSAI) of the subscription, if desired. The NSSF 1050 may also determine a set of AMFs to use for serving UE1002, or determine a list of candidate AMFs, based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying NRF 1054. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE1002 may be triggered by the AMF1044 (with which the UE1002 registers by interacting with the NSSF 1050), which may result in a change in the AMF. NSSF 1050 may interact with AMF1044 via the N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Further, NSSF 1050 may expose an interface based on NSSF services.

The NEF 1052 may securely disclose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure/re-exposure, AF (e.g., AF1060), edge computing or fog computing systems, and the like. In these embodiments, NEF 1052 may authenticate, authorize, or restrict AF. NEF 1052 may also convert information exchanged with AF1060 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 1052 may translate between the AF service identifier and the internal 5GC information. NEF 1052 may also receive information from other NFs based on their public capabilities. This information may be stored as structured data at the NEF 1052 or at the data storage NF using a standardized interface. The NEF 1052 may then re-expose the stored information to other NFs and AFs, or for other purposes such as analysis. Additionally, NEF 1052 may expose an interface based on the Nnef service.

NRF 1054 may support a service discovery function, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 1054 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instance," and the like may refer to creating an instance, "instance" may refer to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Further, NRF 1054 may expose an interface based on an nrrf service.

The PCF 1056 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to perform them and may also support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior. PCF 1056 may also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 1058. In addition to communicating with functions through reference points as shown, PCF 1056 also exhibits an Npcf service-based interface.

UDM1058 may process subscription-related information to support network entities handling communication sessions and may store subscription data for UE 1002. For example, subscription data may be communicated via the N8 reference point between UDM1058 and AMF 1044. UDM1058 may include two parts: application front end and User Data Record (UDR). The UDR may store policy data and subscription data for UDM1058 and PCF 1056, and/or structured data and application data for exposure for NEF 1052 (including PFD for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 1002). UDR 221 may expose an Nudr service-based interface to allow UDMs 1058, PCFs 1056, and NEFs 1052 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM-FE (UDM front end) that is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, and the like. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs through reference points as shown, UDM1058 may also expose a numm service based interface.

AF1060 can provide application impact on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC1040 may enable edge computing by selecting an operator/third party service geographically close to the point where the UE1002 connects to the network. This may reduce delay and load on the network. To provide an edge computing implementation, the 5GC1040 may select a UPF1048 near the UE1002 and perform traffic steering from the UPF1048 to the data network 1036 through an N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by AF 1060. Thus, AF1060 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, the network operator may allow AF1060 to interact directly with the relevant NFs when AF1060 is considered a trusted entity. In addition, AF1060 can expose interfaces based on Naf services.

Data network 1036 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 1038.

Fig. 11 schematically illustrates a wireless network 1100 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 1100 may include a UE1102 in wireless communication with AN 1104. The UE1102 and AN 1104 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components described elsewhere herein.

The UE1102 can be communicatively coupled with AN 1104 via a connection 1106. Connection 1106 is shown as an air interface to enable communication coupling and may operate at millimeter wave or below 6GHz frequencies according to a cellular communication protocol, such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol.

UE1102 can include a host platform 1108 coupled to a modem platform 1110. Host platform 1108 may include application processing circuitry 1112, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 1114 of modem platform 1110. The application processing circuitry 1112 may run various applications of source/receiver application data for the UE 1102. The application processing circuitry 1112 may also implement one or more layers of operations to send/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

The protocol processing circuitry 1114 may implement one or more layers of operations to facilitate the transmission or reception of data over the connection 1106. Layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuit 1114 may include, for example, Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), RRC, and non-access stratum (NAS) operations.

The modem platform 1110 may further include digital baseband circuitry 1116, which digital baseband circuitry 1116 may implement one or more layer operations "below" the layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 1114 in the network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, wherein these functions may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency, or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

Modem platform 1110 may further include transmit circuitry 1118, receive circuitry 1120, RF circuitry 1122, and RF front end (RFFE) circuitry 1124, which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 1126. Briefly, the transmit circuit 1118 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, Intermediate Frequency (IF) components, and the like; the receive circuit 1120 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF components, and the like; RF circuitry 1122 may include low noise amplifiers, power tracking components, and the like; RFFE circuitry 1124 can include filters (e.g., surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beam forming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), and so forth. The selection and arrangement of components of transmit circuitry 1118, receive circuitry 1120, RF circuitry 1122, RFFE circuitry 1124, and antenna panel 1126 (collectively, "transmit/receive components") may be specific to details of a particular implementation, e.g., whether the communication is Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) or Frequency Division Multiplexed (FDM), at mmWave or below 6GHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in a plurality of parallel transmit/receive chains, and may be arranged in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuit 1114 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for the transmit/receive components.

UE reception may be established by and via antenna panel 1126, RFFE circuitry 1124, RF circuitry 1122, receive circuitry 1120, digital baseband circuitry 1116, and protocol processing circuitry 1114. In some embodiments, the antenna panel 1126 may receive transmissions from the AN 1104 by receiving beamformed signals received by multiple antennas/antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 1126.

UE transmissions may be established via and through protocol processing circuitry 1114, digital baseband circuitry 1116, transmit circuitry 1118, RF circuitry 1122, RFFE circuitry 1124, and antenna panel 1126. In some embodiments, a transmit component of UE1102 may apply spatial filtering to data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam transmitted by an antenna element of antenna panel 1126.

Similar to UE1102, AN 1104 may include a host platform 1128 coupled to a modem platform 1130. Host platform 1128 may include application processing circuitry 1132 coupled to protocol processing circuitry 1134 of modem platform 1130. The modem platform may also include digital baseband circuitry 1136, transmit circuitry 1138, receive circuitry 1140, RF circuitry 1142, RFFE circuitry 1144, and antenna panel 1146. The components of AN 1104 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, the synonymous components of UE 1102. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of AN 1104 may also perform various logical functions including, for example, Radio Network Controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

Fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. In particular, fig. 12 shows a schematic diagram of hardware resources 1200, hardware resources 1200 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memory/storage devices 1220, and one or more communication resources 1230, where each of these processors, memory/storage devices, and communication resources may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., Network Function Virtualization (NFV)), hypervisor 1202 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/subslices to utilize hardware resources 1200.

Processor 1210 may include, for example, processor 1212 and processor 1214. Processor 1210 may be, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

Memory/storage device 1220 may include a main memory, a disk storage device, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage 1220 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory, such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, and the like.

The communication resources 1230 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1204 or one or more databases 1206 or other network elements via a network 1208. For example, communication resources 1230 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, wireless communication components, and/or the like,

(or

Low energy) assembly,

Components, and other communication components.

The instructions 1250 may include software, programs, applications, applets, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1210 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 1250 may reside, in whole or in part, within at least one of the processor 1210 (e.g., in a cache of the processor), the memory/storage 1220, or any suitable combination thereof. Further, any portion of instructions 1250 may be communicated to hardware resource 1200 from any combination of peripheral devices 1204 or databases 1206. Thus, the memory of processor 1210, memory/storage 1220, peripherals 1204, and database 1206 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.

Example 1 includes an apparatus for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising: a Radio Frequency (RF) interface; and processor circuitry coupled with the RF interface, wherein the processor circuitry, when the UE is operating in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum: receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback via the RF interface.

Example 2 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises: HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions; HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur; HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) that transmitted the DCI.

Example 3 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the processor circuit is further to: determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

Example 4 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein prior Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) transmitted to the UE from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI form a plurality of PDSCH groups for which the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered.

Example 5 includes the apparatus of example 4, wherein the PDSCH groups of the PDSCH groups are associated with one of: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

Example 6 includes the apparatus of example 4, wherein the DCI further includes a second indication field to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 7 includes the apparatus of example 6, wherein the second indication field comprises a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of the PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a respective PDSCH group should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 8 includes the apparatus of example 6, wherein the second indication field includes one bit to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 9 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the processor circuit is further to: receiving a prior DCI including a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH scheduled by the preceding DCI in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

Example 10 includes the apparatus of example 9, wherein the processor circuit is further to: determining a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the prior DCI.

Example 11 includes the apparatus of example 9, wherein the prior DCI further includes an additional bit to indicate a presence of a K1 field having the non-numerical value in the prior DCI.

Example 12 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and at least one of the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 is linearly related to a length of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP).

Example 13 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 are upper bound.

Example 14 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the processor circuitry is further to, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum: transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot or symbol of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a slot or symbol of each Uplink (UL) burst in the FFP in which one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) have been initially transmitted.

Example 15 includes the apparatus of example 1, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback includes HARQ-ACK feedback information for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in a same Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a different FFP when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the different FFP including FFPs in which one or more of the PDSCH has been originally transmitted.

Example 16 includes an apparatus for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising: a Radio Frequency (RF) interface; and processor circuitry coupled with the RF interface, wherein the processor circuitry, when the UE is operating in unlicensed spectrum: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a time domain more than three times via the RF interface.

Example 17 includes the apparatus of example 16, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted consecutively in a same Channel Occupancy Time (COT).

Example 18 includes an apparatus for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising: a Radio Frequency (RF) interface; and a processor circuit coupled with the RF interface, wherein the processor circuit: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a back-to-back manner via the RF interface.

Example 19 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted a given number of repetitions, wherein the number of repetitions is provided semi-statically and is associated with a resource configuration of the PUCCH or is provided as part of Downlink Control Information (DCI) scheduling the PUCCH.

Example 20 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein for repetitions other than the first repetition of the PUCCH, a length of the first repetition is multiplexed while a starting symbol of the repetition is calculated from S0+ K × L, wherein S0 is the starting symbol of the first repetition, K is a repetition index starting from 0 and ending with K _ PUCCH-1, L is a length of the PUCCH, and K _ PUCCH is the total number of repetitions.

Example 21 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein there is a fixed gap between any two repetitions of the PUCCH, the fixed gap depending on a subcarrier spacing (SPS) in a frequency domain or provided by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) scheduling the PUCCH.

Example 22 includes the apparatus of example 20, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a next slot when a starting symbol and length of the repetition results in a slot boundary being crossed.

Example 23 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a back-to-back manner when provided in a sub-slot configuration.

Example 24 includes the apparatus of any one of examples 18 to 23, wherein the processor circuit is further to: discarding a repetition of the PUCCH when the repetition of the PUCCH collides with a Downlink (DL) symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping.

Example 25 includes the apparatus of example 18, wherein the processor circuit is further to: applying codebook compression to a set of HARQ-ACK feedback information for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmission mapped to the PUCCH, wherein the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information is converted into 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback using a logical operation.

Example 26 includes a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to, when a User Equipment (UE) is operating in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum: receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback via the RF interface.

Example 27 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises: HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions; HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur; HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) that transmitted the DCI.

Example 28 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

Example 29 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein prior Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) transmitted to the UE from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI form a plurality of PDSCH groups, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered for the plurality of PDSCH groups.

Example 30 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 29, wherein the PDSCH groups of the PDSCH groups are associated with one of: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

Example 31 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 29, wherein the DCI further includes a second indication field to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 32 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 31, wherein the second indication field comprises a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of the PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a respective PDSCH group should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 33 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 31, wherein the second indication field includes one bit to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 34 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: receiving a prior DCI including a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH scheduled by the preceding DCI in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

Example 35 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 34, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: determining a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the prior DCI.

Example 36 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 34, wherein the prior DCI further includes an additional bit to indicate a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI.

Example 37 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and at least one of the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 is linearly related to a length of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP).

Example 38 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 are upper bound.

Example 39 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum: transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot or symbol of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a slot or symbol of each Uplink (UL) burst in the FFP in which one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) have been initially transmitted.

Example 40 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 26, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback includes HARQ-ACK feedback information for Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) in a same Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or different FFPs including FFPs in which one or more of the PDSCHs have been originally transmitted when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum.

Example 41 includes a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to, when a User Equipment (UE) is operating in an unlicensed spectrum: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a time domain more than three times via a Radio Frequency (RF) interface.

Example 42 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 41, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted consecutively in a same Channel Occupancy Time (COT).

Example 43 includes a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a back-to-back manner via a Radio Frequency (RF) interface.

Example 44 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 43, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted a given number of repetitions, wherein the number of repetitions is provided semi-statically and is associated with a resource configuration of the PUCCH, or is provided as part of Downlink Control Information (DCI) scheduling the PUCCH.

Example 45 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 43, wherein for repetitions other than the first repetition of the PUCCH, a length of the first repetition is multiplexed while a starting symbol of the repetition is calculated according to S0+ K × L, wherein S0 is the starting symbol of the first repetition, K is a repetition index starting from 0 and ending with K _ PUCCH-1, L is a length of the PUCCH, and K _ PUCCH is the total number of repetitions.

Example 46 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 43, wherein there is a fixed gap between any two repetitions of the PUCCH, the fixed gap depending on a subcarrier spacing (SPS) in a frequency domain or provided by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) that schedules the PUCCH.

Example 47 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 45, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a next slot when a starting symbol and length of the repetition results in a slot boundary being crossed.

Example 48 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 43, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a back-to-back manner when the PUCCH is provided in a sub-slot configuration.

Example 49 includes the computer-readable storage medium of any one of examples 43 to 48, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: discarding a repetition of the PUCCH when the repetition of the PUCCH collides with a Downlink (DL) symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping.

Example 50 includes the computer-readable storage medium of example 43, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to: applying codebook compression to a set of HARQ-ACK feedback information for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmission mapped to the PUCCH, wherein the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information is converted into 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback using a logical operation.

Example 51 includes a method for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising, when the UE is operating in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum: receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 52 includes the method of example 51, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises: HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions; HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur; HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) that transmitted the DCI.

Example 53 includes the method of example 51, further comprising: determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

Example 54 includes the method of example 51, wherein prior Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) transmitted to the UE from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI form a plurality of PDSCH groups for which the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered.

Example 55 includes the method of example 54, wherein the PDSCH groups of the PDSCH groups are associated with one of: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

Example 56 includes the method of example 54, wherein the DCI further includes a second indication field to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 57 includes the method of example 56, wherein the second indication field comprises a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is the total number of PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a respective PDSCH group should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 58 includes the method of example 56, wherein the second indication field includes one bit to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

Example 59 includes the method of example 51, further comprising: receiving a prior DCI including a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH scheduled by the preceding DCI in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

Example 60 includes the method of example 59, further comprising: determining a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the prior DCI.

Example 61 includes the method of example 59, wherein the prior DCI further includes an additional bit to indicate a presence of the K1 field having a non-numeric value in the prior DCI.

Example 62 includes the method of example 51, wherein, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and at least one of the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 is linearly related to a length of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP).

Example 63 includes the method of example 51, wherein, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further includes a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 are upper bound.

Example 64 includes the method of example 51, further comprising, while the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum: transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot or symbol of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a slot or symbol of each Uplink (UL) burst in the FFP in which one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) have been initially transmitted.

Example 65 includes the method of example 51, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback includes HARQ-ACK feedback information for a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) in a same Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a different FFP when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the different FFP including FFPs in which one or more of the PDSCH has been originally transmitted.

Example 66 includes a method for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising, when the UE is operating in an unlicensed spectrum: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH three times or more in a time domain.

Example 67 includes the method of example 66, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted consecutively in a same Channel Occupancy Time (COT).

Example 68 includes a method for use in a User Equipment (UE), comprising: generating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH); and repeatedly transmitting the PUCCH in a back-to-back manner.

Example 69 includes the method of example 68, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted a given number of repetitions, wherein the number of repetitions is provided semi-statically and is associated with a resource configuration of the PUCCH, or is provided as part of Downlink Control Information (DCI) scheduling the PUCCH.

Example 70 includes the apparatus of example 68, wherein for repetitions other than the first repetition of the PUCCH, a length of the first repetition is multiplexed while a starting symbol of the repetition is calculated from S0+ K × L, wherein S0 is the starting symbol of the first repetition, K is a repetition index starting from 0 and ending with K _ PUCCH-1, L is a length of the PUCCH, and K _ PUCCH is the total number of repetitions.

Example 71 includes the method of example 68, wherein there is a fixed gap between any two repetitions of the PUCCH, the fixed gap depending on a subcarrier spacing (SPS) in a frequency domain or provided by a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) scheduling the PUCCH.

Example 72 includes the method of example 70, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a next slot when a starting symbol and length of the repetition results in a slot boundary being crossed.

Example 73 includes the method of example 68, wherein the PUCCH is transmitted in a back-to-back manner when provided in a sub-slot configuration.

Example 74 includes the method of any one of examples 68 to 73, further comprising: discarding a repetition of the PUCCH when the repetition of the PUCCH collides with a Downlink (DL) symbol or other symbols not allowed for PUCCH mapping.

Example 75 includes the method of example 68, further comprising: applying codebook compression to a set of HARQ-ACK feedback information for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmission mapped to the PUCCH, wherein the set of HARQ-ACK feedback information is converted into 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback using a logical operation.

Example 76 includes a User Equipment (UE), comprising: apparatus for implementing the method of any one of examples 51 to 75.

Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description, a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that the embodiments described herein be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.

Claims (25)

1. An apparatus to be used in a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) interface; and

processor circuitry coupled with the RF interface, wherein the processor circuitry, when the UE is operating in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum, is to:

receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and

transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback via the RF interface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises:

HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions;

HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur;

HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or

HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) that transmitted the DCI.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further to:

determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein prior Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) transmitted to the UE from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI form a plurality of PDSCH groups, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered for the plurality of PDSCH groups.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the PDSCH group of the PDSCH groups is associated with one of: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the DCI further comprises a second indication field to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second indication field comprises a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is a total number of the PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a respective PDSCH group should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second indication field comprises one bit to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further to:

receiving a prior DCI comprising a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and

providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH scheduled by the prior DCI in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processor circuit is further to:

determining a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the prior DCI.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the prior DCI further comprises an additional bit to indicate a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the DCI further comprises a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and at least one of the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 is linearly related to a length of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP).

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DCI further comprises a PDSCH-to-HARQ feedback timing indicator (K1) field and a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) field, the TDRA field providing an index to a slot offset K2, and the values of the K1 field and the slot offset K2 are upper bound when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum, to:

transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in a slot or symbol of a Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or a slot or symbol of each Uplink (UL) burst in the FFP in which one or more Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) have been initially transmitted.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises HARQ-ACK feedback information for Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) in a same Fixed Frame Period (FFP) or in different FFPs, the different FFPs comprising FFPs in which one or more of the PDSCHs have been originally transmitted, when the UE is operating in the unlicensed spectrum.

16. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to, when a User Equipment (UE) operates in a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum:

receiving Downlink Control Information (DCI) including a first indication field for triggering one-time HARQ-ACK feedback for a HARQ-ACK process; and

transmitting the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback via a Radio Frequency (RF) interface.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback comprises:

HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for downlink semi-persistent scheduling (DL SPS) transmissions;

HARQ-ACK feedback information only for HARQ-ACK processes for which dropped DL SPS transmissions occur;

HARQ-ACK feedback information for all HARQ-ACK processes independently of HARQ-ACK processes allocated to DL SPS transmissions; or

HARQ-ACK feedback information for a set of HARQ-ACK processes specified by AN Access Node (AN) that transmitted the DCI.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

determining a presence of the first indication field in the DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein prior Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) transmitted to the UE from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the DCI form a plurality of PDSCH groups, wherein the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback is triggered for the plurality of PDSCH groups.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein a PDSCH group of the PDSCH groups is associated with one of: a set of DL SPS configurations, a set of HARQ-ACK processes, and DL SPS configurations.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the DCI further comprises a second indication field to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the second indication field comprises a bitmap consisting of N bits, where N is a total number of the PDSCH groups, each bit indicating whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for a respective PDSCH group should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the second indication field includes one bit to indicate whether HARQ-ACK feedback information for all or a subset of PDSCH groups should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback and a set of bits to indicate one or more PDSCH groups for which HARQ-ACK feedback information should be provided in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

receiving a prior DCI comprising a PDSCH-to-HARQ _ feedback timing indicator (K1) field having a non-digital value; and

providing HARQ-ACK feedback information for a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH scheduled by the prior DCI in the one-time HARQ-ACK feedback in response to the K1 field having the non-numeric value.

25. The computer-readable device of claim 24, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:

determining a presence of a K1 field having the non-numeric value in the prior DCI based on a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from AN Access Node (AN) transmitting the prior DCI.

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