CN116916326A

CN116916326A - Dynamic Spectrum Sharing

Info

Publication number: CN116916326A
Application number: CN202310365527.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 穆罕默德·阿瓦丁; 裵正铉; 穆罕默德·卡摩斯
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-04-15
Filing date: 2023-04-04
Publication date: 2023-10-20

Abstract

The present disclosure is for dynamic spectrum sharing. A system and method for dynamic spectrum sharing is disclosed. In some embodiments, the method comprises: processing, by a User Equipment (UE), a first transmission overlapping in Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and in Resource Blocks (RBs) with a long term evolution cell specific reference signal (LTE CR S) transmission, the first transmission comprising: a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) demodulation reference symbol (DMRS) transmission, or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS transmission, or PDCCH data transmission.

Description

Dynamic spectrum sharing

The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No.63/331,714, filed on 4 months of 2022, 15 months of 2022, U.S. provisional application Ser. No.63/343,940, filed on 5 months of 2022, U.S. provisional application Ser. No.63/356,428, filed on 6 months of 2022, U.S. provisional application Ser. No.63/393,999, filed on 1 month of 2022, and U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.18/163,863, filed on 2 months of 2023, each of which is incorporated by reference in its entirety as if fully set forth herein.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless systems. More particularly, the subject matter disclosed herein relates to improvements to dynamic spectrum sharing within wireless systems.

Background

Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) are wireless radio technologies, for example, for mobile phones. These techniques may use overlapping portions of the electromagnetic spectrum and, as such, there is a potential for interference.

To address this issue, in conventional NRs, one or two LTE cell-specific reference signal (CRS) patterns may be provided to a User Equipment (UE), which may be used by the UE to infer the presence of LTE CRS signals in the NR Bandwidth (BW). When a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) overlaps with an LTE CRS, a UE receives the PDSCH after performing rate matching around the overlapping resources. Overlap between PDSCH demodulation reference signals (DMRS) and LTE CRSs is not supported, if the PDDCH monitoring occasion overlaps with LTE CRSs, the UE does not process PDCCHs of the PDCCH candidates, and if the precoding granularity is "all consecutive RBs", it is not desirable that the UE is configured to monitor CORESET overlapping with LTE CRSs.

One problem with the above approach is that while these actions avoid interference between the NR PDSCH transmissions and the LTE CRS signals, they also prevent the use of some non-interfering NR resources (e.g., to reduce complexity in the UE).

Disclosure of Invention

To overcome these problems, systems and methods for better use of non-interfering NR resources are described herein. The above approach improves upon previous approaches because they make the use of certain NR resources unavailable in legacy systems.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for a user equipment UE, comprising: processing, by the UE, a first transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol and overlapping a long term evolution, cell specific, reference signal, LTE, CRS, transmission in a resource block, RB, the first transmission comprising: the physical downlink control channel PDCCH demodulation reference symbols DMRS transmission, or the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or the PDCCH data transmission.

In some embodiments, the OFDM symbol includes a first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in a plurality of resource elements including a resource element that does not overlap with an LTE CRS transmission, and the UE does not process any resource elements of the first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in the plurality of resource elements.

In some embodiments: the first transmission includes a first PDCCH DMRS transmission; and the method comprises: the first resource element of the first PDCCH DMRS transmission is processed by the UE, the first PDCCH DMRS transmission being among a plurality of resource elements including the first resource element, the first resource element not overlapping any resource elements of LTE CRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the method comprises: and processing, by the UE, a second resource element transmitted by the first PDCCH DMRS, the second resource element overlapping with a resource element transmitted by the LTE CRS.

In some embodiments: the first transmission includes PDCCH data transmission; PDCCH data transmission in a plurality of resource elements including a first resource element; and the first resource element overlaps with a resource element of the LTE CRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the first resource element is not processed.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the PDCCH data transmission is processed using puncturing of the first resource element.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: PDCCH data transmissions are processed using rate matching around the first resource element.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the capability to process the first portion of the DMRS transmission is reported by the UE when the second portion of the DMRS transmission includes resource elements that overlap with resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the report includes: the capability to process the first share is reported when the first portion is divided into two separate portions by the second portion.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment UE including: one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the following to be performed: processing a first transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol and overlapping a long term evolution, cell specific, reference signal, LTE, CRS, transmission in a Resource Block (RB), the first transmission comprising: the physical downlink control channel PDCCH demodulation reference symbols DMRS transmission, or the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or the PDCCH data transmission.

In some embodiments: the first transmission includes a first PDCCH DMRS transmission; and the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the following to be performed: the first resource element of the first PDCCH DMRS transmission is processed by the UE, the first PDCCH DMRS transmission being among a plurality of resource elements including the first resource element, the first resource element not overlapping any resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the following to be performed: and processing, by the UE, a second resource element transmitted by the first PDCCH DMRS, the second resource element overlapping with a resource element transmitted by the LTE CRS.

In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the following to be performed: the first resource element is not processed.

In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the following to be performed: the PDCCH data transmission is processed using puncturing of the first resource element.

In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the following to be performed: PDCCH data transmissions are processed using rate matching around the first resource element.

In some embodiments, the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the following to be performed: the capability to process the first portion of the DMRS transmission is reported by the UE when the second portion of the DMRS transmission includes resource elements that overlap with resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment UE including: means for processing; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the means for processing, cause the following to be performed: processing a first transmission overlapping a long term evolution cell specific reference signal, LTE, CRS transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol and in a resource block, RB, the first transmission comprising: the physical downlink control channel PDCCH demodulation reference symbols DMRS transmission, or the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or the PDCCH data transmission.

Drawings

In the following sections, aspects of the subject matter disclosed herein will be described with reference to exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A is an example of a span pattern according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1B is a depiction of different resource sets in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 1C illustrates an example of a control resource set (CORESET) configuration in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2A depicts a case where CORESET is configured with a REG bundle size of 6 RBs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 2B shows an example where there is partial overlap between LTE BW and NR CORESET in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

Fig. 2C shows an example where there is partial overlap between LTE BW and NR CORESET in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2D illustrates a first example of shifted CORESET in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2E illustrates a second example of a shifted CORESET according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2F illustrates a third example of a shifted CORESET according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2G illustrates a fourth example of a shifted CORESET according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 2H illustrates a fifth example of a shifted CORESET according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

fig. 3 shows an example of PDCCHs overlapping with LTE CRSs according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4A shows an example of a PDCCH codeword according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4B illustrates a number of examples of PDCCH codewords according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4C illustrates a number of examples of PDCCH codewords according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4D illustrates pseudo code for a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4E illustrates a number of examples of PDCCH codewords according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 5A is a diagram of a portion of a wireless system, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5B is a flow chart of a method according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5C is a flow chart of a method according to some embodiments; and

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic device in a network environment according to an embodiment.

Detailed Description

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the disclosed aspects may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the subject matter disclosed herein.

Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment disclosed herein. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" or "in accordance with one embodiment" (or other phrases having similar meaning) in various places throughout this specification may not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In this regard, as used herein, the word "exemplary" means "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. Furthermore, depending on the context discussed herein, singular terms may include corresponding plural forms and plural terms may include corresponding singular forms. Similarly, hyphenated terms (e.g., "two-dimensional," "pre-determined," "pixel-specific," etc.) may occasionally be used interchangeably with corresponding non-hyphenated versions (e.g., "two-dimensional," "pre-determined," "pixel-specific," etc.). Such occasional interchangeable uses should not be considered inconsistent with each other.

It should also be noted that the various figures (including component figures) shown and discussed herein are for illustrative purposes only and are not drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing some example embodiments only and is not intended to limit the claimed subject matter. As used herein, the singular is intended to include the plural unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

It will be understood that when an element or layer is referred to as being "on," "connected to" or "coupled to" another element or layer, it can be directly on, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly on," "directly connected to" or "directly coupled to" another element or layer, there are no intervening elements or layers present. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the term "or" should be interpreted as "and/or" such that, for example, "a or B" means "a" or "B" or any one of "a and B".

As used herein, the terms "first," "second," and the like are used as labels for nouns following them, and do not imply any type of order (e.g., spatial, temporal, logical, etc.), unless it is explicitly defined so. Furthermore, the same reference numbers may be used across two or more drawings to refer to parts, components, blocks, circuits, units, or modules having the same or similar functionality. However, such usage is merely for simplicity of illustration and ease of discussion; it is not intended that the constructional or architectural details of these components or units be the same in all embodiments or that these commonly referenced parts/modules be the only way to implement some of the example embodiments disclosed herein.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this subject matter belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein. As used herein, processing a transmission (e.g., a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) demodulation reference symbol (DMRS) transmission, or a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) DMRS transmission, or PDCCH data transmission) by a User Equipment (UE) means processing at least one Resource Element (RE) of the transmission. The processing of the transmission involves (i) receiving the transmitted analog radio signal by the radio of the UE, (ii) demodulating the signal according to the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) used, and (iii) decoding the signal using a suitable Forward Error Correction (FEC) decoder. In this way, the process converts the signal from an analog radio signal to a digital data stream. The digital data stream may then be further converted into an image to be displayed to the user, for example, or converted into (i) through a speaker of the UE or (ii) through BlueTooth ^TM An audio signal sent to the user is connected.

As used herein, the term "module" refers to any combination of software, firmware, and/or hardware configured to provide the functionality described herein in connection with the module. For example, software may be implemented as a software package, code and/or instruction set or instructions, and the term "hardware" as used in any of the embodiments described herein may include, for example, an assembly, hardwired circuitry, programmable circuitry, state machine circuitry, and/or firmware that stores instructions executed by the programmable circuitry, either alone or in any combination. Modules may be implemented collectively or individually as circuitry forming part of a larger system, such as, but not limited to, an Integrated Circuit (IC), a system-on-a-chip (SoC), an assembly, and so forth.

In a cellular system, a UE monitors a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Search Space (SS) to obtain Downlink Control Information (DCI) providing control information for downlink operation of the UE. The set of resources for PDCCH is typically indicated in the form of PDCCH Monitoring Occasions (MOs), which are determined by the UE via the configuration of the core and SS sets. PDCCH monitoring occasions are a set of time and frequency resources that may carry demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resources and resources for coded bits.

The CORESET configuration provides a set of Resource Blocks (RBs) and symbol duration for PDCCH candidate monitoring, where the PDCCH candidates are composed of a set of Control Channel Elements (CCEs) based on an aggregation level. The CCE is composed of 6 Resource Element Groups (REGs), and each REG is a combination of 12 consecutive Resource Elements (REs). In addition, REGs are also grouped into REG bundles, and 6 REGs constituting a CCE may be in the form of one or more REG bundles.

The UE may be configured with a precoding granularity configuration that specifies assumptions the UE makes about precoding applied to transmissions of PDCCH and associated DMRS resources in PDCCH monitoring occasions. That is, the precoding granularity may be "the same as the REG bundle", in which case the UE assumes that the precoding is fixed for all RBs in the REG bundle. Alternatively, the precoding granularity may be "all contiguous RBs", in which case precoding is assumed to be fixed on all contiguous RBs in CORESET. When assuming precoding to be fixed over a certain set of RBs (REG bundles or consecutive sets of RBs), the UE may utilize DMRS resources in the set of RBs during channel estimation.

In the NR specifications (fifth generation mobile telephone (5G) standard promulgated by the 3 rd generation partnership project (3 GPP)), the location of the MO may be arbitrary within a slot consisting of 14 or 12 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in order to improve system delay and flexibility. However, this flexibility increases the PDCCH monitoring complexity of the UE, so there is UE capability signaling in release 15NR specifications that may limit the MO pattern within each slot. The network needs to provide PDCCH SS configuration that satisfies the declared UE capabilities. A table describing the corresponding capability signaling may be found in 3gpp TR 38.822.

The monitoring span mentioned in FG3-5b of the 5G standard is made up of consecutive symbols within a time slot, and the span pattern within a time slot is determined based on the Monitoring Occasion (MO) pattern, a set of monitoring capability tuples (X, Y) reported by the UE, and a control resource set (CORESET) configuration for the User Equipment (UE). In particular, the spans within a slot have the same duration, which is determined by max { the maximum of all CORESET durations, the minimum of Y in the candidate values reported by the UE }, possibly except for the last span in the slot with the shorter duration. The first span in the span pattern within the slot starts at the symbol of the smallest index for which the monitoring occasion is configured to the UE. The next span starts with an MO that is not included in the first span and the same procedure is applied to construct the subsequent spans. The spacing within a slot and between any two consecutive spans across a slot must satisfy the same (X, Y) constraint, where X represents the minimum time interval of OFDM symbols for both spans and Y represents the maximum number of consecutive OFDM symbols for each span. In release 15 (Rel-15) of the 5G New Radio (NR) standard, the UE may report its monitoring capabilities from three possible sets: { (7,3) },{ (4,3), (7,3) },{ (2,2), (4,3), (7,3) }. Fig. 1A shows an example where the CORESET configuration has one symbol and the UE reports { (2, 2), (4, 3), (7, 3) }. From the UE's perspective, a smaller "X" will make monitoring more frequent, i.e. more challenging. As indicated above, such nested capability signaling (i.e. UEs supporting a certain X value also support a larger X value) is reasonable considering the signaling overhead impact.

In Rel-15, a UE supporting Carrier Aggregation (CA) reports the capability to perform Blind Detection (BD) of PDCCH on a certain number of serving cells or Component Carriers (CCs). Capability signaling is called pdcch-BlindDetection, which takes integer values from 4 to 16. This capability defines the maximum number of serving cells for which the UE supports PDCCH blind decoding and non-overlapping Control Channel Elements (CCEs)

Rel-15 BD/CCE limits are defined per slot. Tables 10.1-2 and 10.1-3 of TS 38.213 show the maximum number of BDs and CCEs that a UE is expected to perform and monitor per slot for operation of a single serving cell.

The determination of BD/CCE restrictions for each scheduling cell is shown in the Table of section 10 of TS 38.213 of Rel-15, configured with a number of UEsSuch that each cell is scheduled via a serving cell with a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of configuration parameter μ, where μ e {0,1,2,3}.

In release 16 (Rel-16) of the 5G standard, increased PDCCH monitoring per slot is supported via defining per-span limits. Similar to the table defining limits per slot mentioned above, rel-16 provides a table defining BD/CCE limits per span. BD/CCE limitations are defined for single cell operation as a function of SCS configuration parameters of the active bandwidth part (BWP) of the cell.

One scenario in NR deployment is Long Term Evolution (LTE) -NR coexistence or dynamic spectrum sharing, in which a UE may be configured to use a frequency band shared with LTE UEs. In this case, the UE may be provided with the necessary configuration information to allow sharing of spectrum with LTE users without jeopardizing NR transmission or LTE transmission. Among these configurations are configurations of LTE cell-specific reference signals (CRSs) that specify resources that may be used for potential transmission on CRS resources. Thus, the UE may assume that such resources configured for LTE CRS transmission may not be used to communicate NR data. For example, the UE may (i) determine that one or more resource elements are configured for LTE CRS transmission, and in response, (ii) determine that the one or more resource elements are not to be used by the gNB to transmit NR signals.

In legacy NRs, if the precoding granularity for PDCCH transmissions using CORESET is configured to "all consecutive RBs", it is not desirable that the UE is configured to monitor CORESET overlapping LTE CRS resources. In addition, if PDCCH monitoring occasions overlap with at least one RE configured for CRS reception (assuming any precoding granularity configuration), then it is not desirable for the UE to monitor such monitoring occasions.

A potential enhancement for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) is to allow UEs to puncture or rate match PDCCH opportunities around Resource Elements (REs) that will overlap with LTE CRS resources. The present disclosure includes potential enhancements for allowing or facilitating such behavior.

In one embodiment, the configuration of PDCCH reception (e.g., search space set configuration, CORESET configuration) and the configuration of LTE CRS may overlap by the UE. This means that certain resources for PDCCH monitoring may overlap with resources for LTE CRS transmission. Those resources may be time resources (e.g., symbols), frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers), or both (e.g., resource elements or REs).

In such embodiments, the configuration for PDCCH reception may be for any particular precoding granularity configuration or all precoding granularity configurations including "all consecutive RBs".

Procedure for decoding PDCCH with resources overlapping LTE CRS resources

In this section, enhancements are disclosed that may allow a UE to decode PDCCHs transmitted in a set of resources that overlap with resources indicated by a configuration for LTE CRS.

When the set of resources for PDCCH reception (e.g., resources corresponding to PDCCH candidates) overlap with resources for LTE CRS, the UE may have a mechanism for handling PDCCH reception. There are different options: the UE may (i) skip decoding of the PDCCH in the set of resources altogether, (ii) may attempt to decode the PDCCH, assuming that overlapping resources are not used for PDCCH-related transmissions (e.g., data bits, or DMRS symbols), in which case the PDCCH may be conveyed and decoded using a different mechanism while unused REs are considered, e.g., (a) may perform PDCCH decoding by puncturing the unused REs, or (b) may perform PDCCH decoding by rate matching around the unused REs, or (iii) the UE may switch behavior between decoding the PDCCH or skipping decoding of the PDCCH based on some criterion.

Processing PDCCH decoding with resources overlapping LTE CRS may be done via rate matching or puncturing.

When it is assumed that PDCCH decoding is puncture based, the UE assumes that the PDCCH encoded bits are carried and that REs overlapping LTE CRS resources no longer carry encoded bits for the PDCCH. The UE may decode such PDCCH by: (i) The coded bits on those REs are not used in the decoding algorithm for PDCCH, or (ii) the coded bits transmitted on those REs are used, effectively treating those coded bits as contaminated PDCCH coded bits.

Procedure for determining whether and how to process PDCCHs having overlapping resources

In general, the ability of a UE to decode PDCCHs having overlapping resources may vary depending on the type of REs in the PDCCH set of overlapping resources. For example, the UE may or may not be able to decode PDCCHs having overlapping resources initially configured with PDCCH data bits, and the UE may or may not be able to decode PDCCHs having overlapping resources initially configured with PDCCH DMRS bits.

The impact of overlap between PDCCH resources and LTE CRS resources may depend on the nature of REs in the overlapping PDCCH resources. That is, if REs are initially configured to carry PDCCH encoded bits, they may be processed in some manner (e.g., via rate matching or puncturing). Alternatively, when overlapping with PDCCH resources carrying DMRS data, UE channel estimation operations may be affected regardless of the PDCCH decoding method (rate matching or puncturing).

Handling PDCCH decoding in both cases may be based on UE capabilities.

When overlapping with LTE CRS resources, certain PDCCH resources (those resources naturally include overlapping PDCCH resources) may be excluded or omitted, but they may be more. The discussion in this section is directed to identifying the granularity of these resources that are excluded or omitted.

The concept of excluding or omitting certain PDCCH resources discussed herein depends on how PDCCH encoding and decoding is performed. For example, if the PDCCH is encoded and decoded via rate matching around unavailable resources, excluding or omitting resources would mean that those resources are not used in mapping PDCCH bits to resources. Alternatively, if the PDCCH is encoded and decoded via puncturing, the UE may assume that there is no transmission of PDCCH bits on those resources.

When overlap occurs between LTE CRS and PDCCH resources, which resources to exclude or omit may depend on the type of PDCCH resources that overlap with LTE CRS, and also on the decoding scheme used by the UE. The following are some examples of how and when resources overlapping LTE CRSs (i.e., not available) are excluded or omitted.

One factor that may affect the complexity of PDCCH decoding with resources overlapping LTE CRS is the granularity of the resources that are considered overlapping, excluded, or omitted. That is, when overlap occurs between LTE CRS resources and PDCCH resources, some resources may be declared unavailable for PDCCH. Naturally, REs belonging to the LTE CRS resource set are among those unavailable. However, to reduce UE complexity and adhere to legacy PDCCH processing, more resources may be declared as unavailable. This is especially useful if the UE is to perform PDCCH decoding using rate matching on the available resources after omitting some resources due to overlap. For example, any one of the following resources or resource sets may be declared as unavailable: (i) a set of overlapping REs belonging to LTE CRS resources, (ii) REGs containing REs belonging to LTE CRS resources, (iii) a set of REG bundles containing REGs as described above, (iv) a set of REG bundles constituting a complete CCE, wherein at least one of those REG bundles is as described above, or (v) a set of REGs with overlapping resources constituting a set of contiguous RBs in CORESET.

Fig. 1B shows a description of different resource sets that may be omitted from PDCCH decoding attempts due to overlapping LTE CRS resources.

The granularity of channel estimation and precoding plays an important role in the choice of granularity for resource exclusion. If the UE is configured with narrowband precoding for PDCCH decoding, i.e., the precoding granularity is set to "REG bundling," overlapping with DMRS resources may affect the channel estimation procedure performed on all resources in the bundling that share the same precoding as the overlapping resources. Thus, the overlap may affect any PDCCH decoding attempts that include the affected REG bundles. Thus, resources in any resource in a REG bundle with overlapping REs may be considered as unavailable.

In contrast, if the UE is configured with wideband precoding for PDCCH decoding, i.e., the precoding granularity is set to "all consecutive RBs", overlapping with the DMRS resources may affect the channel estimation procedure performed on all consecutive RBs sharing the same precoding as the RBs having overlapping resources. Thus, such overlap may affect any PDCCH decoding attempts in those consecutive RBs. Thus, resources in any consecutive RBs sharing the same precoding as RBs with overlapping REs are considered to be unavailable. Fig. 1C illustrates an example of a CORESET configuration with "all consecutive RBs" precoding granularity and the impact of LTE CRS resources with overlap on PDCCH monitoring behavior.

In another aspect of some embodiments, the granularity of the excluded resources may be based on UE capabilities. That is, the UE basic capability may be, for example, a capability of excluding resources in units of REG bundles in the case of narrowband precoding and a capability of excluding resources in units of consecutive RB sets in the case of wideband precoding. In addition, UEs with higher capabilities may exclude resources at a finer granularity.

The following are some examples of how precoding granularity affects overlapping, excluded, or omitted resource sets. Fig. 2A depicts a case where CORESET is configured with REG bundle sizes of 6 RBs. The overlap between RBs belonging to NR CORESET and LTE with CRS symbols results in only 3 RBs in CORESET overlapping with LTE CRS. To reduce the complexity of UE embodiments, all remaining RBs in a REG bundle may also be considered as if they overlap with LTE CRS.

A similar situation may occur if wideband precoding is used, as shown in fig. 2B, fig. 2B shows a situation where there is a partial overlap between LTE BW and NR CORESET. In this case, all consecutive RBs sharing the same precoding as RBs overlapping with the LTE CRS may be considered as if they overlap with the LTE CRS.

Another potential case is where the overlap between LTE BW and NR CORESET occurs on the middle of NR CORESET rather than on the edges, as shown in fig. 2C, fig. 2C shows a partial overlap between LTE BW and NR CORESET such that LTE BW overlaps with the RB in the middle of NR CORESET. This situation may be more difficult to handle from a UE implementation point of view if RBs belonging to the same precoding unit are not treated similarly.

In another alternative, the set of RBs belonging to the same precoding granularity but not overlapping with LTE CRS is not affected by the exclusion or omission of DMRS resources. In this case, the UE needs to perform channel estimation using the remaining DMRS resources within the precoding granularity. Regardless of the precoding granularity (e.g., the precoding granularity is one REG bundle when the precoding is based on REG bundle granularity, or one contiguous set of RBs in the case of wideband precoding), the units of granularity may be partitioned with respect to overlap with LTE CRSs. In one case, the overlap between LTE BW and NR core results in dividing one precoding granularity into a portion that overlaps with LTE CRS and another portion that does not overlap with LTE CRS (similar to the case in fig. 2A and 2B); this case is called one-sided partitioning. In another case, the overlap may result in dividing the precoding granularity into three parts, with the middle part overlapping with LTE CRS and the other two parts not overlapping (similar to the case in fig. 2C); this is called double sided partitioning. In these cases, the processing of the channel estimation may be different.

For one-sided partitioning, the UE may or may not be able to perform channel estimation. Several factors may enable a UE to perform channel estimation. For example, the size of the resulting portion (e.g., non-overlapping portion or whether overlapping portion is less than a threshold) may affect whether the UE is capable of performing channel estimation. For example, if the UE is configured to treat the portion as an edge of precoding granularity and thus does not utilize DMRS resources in the portion, channel estimation may not be possible if the portion that will not be utilized is too large. As another example, comparing the sizes of the resulting parts with each other may affect whether the UE is able to perform channel estimation. If the non-overlapping portion is less than or greater than the overlapping portion in an unacceptable manner, the UE may not be able to perform channel estimation. If the UE is configured to use the DMRS resources in only one portion, the UE may not be able to perform channel estimation using the resources in one portion in case of a relative size inappropriateness. Here, "unacceptable manner" may mean, for example, one portion being larger or smaller than another portion; one part is larger or smaller than the other part by a specific amount; or one portion may be a specific percentage greater or lesser than another portion. As another example, the precoding granularity (e.g., REG bundling or a set of consecutive RBs) may affect whether the UE is able to perform channel estimation, because the channel estimation techniques may be different in these two cases, and some techniques may be negatively affected due to the one-sided partitioning, while other techniques may not be affected by this.

For double-sided partitioning, the UE may or may not be able to perform channel estimation. In addition to the factors mentioned above, additional factors may affect UE capabilities, as described below. For example, the total size of the resulting outer portion may affect whether the UE is able to perform channel estimation. For example, if the total size is less than a threshold or less than the rest in an unacceptable manner, the UE may not be able to perform channel estimation for reasons similar to those given for the similar cases discussed above.

The UE may have any combination of the above capabilities; for example, the UE may support single-sided division and double-sided division, or the UE may support single-sided division but not double-sided division, or the UE may support double-sided division but not single-sided division, or the UE may support neither single-sided division nor double-sided division. The UE may indicate a capability to inform the gNB of which scenarios the UE is able to support. When the above-described capabilities are dependent on a threshold (e.g., supporting a portion size or portion sizes that are greater or less than the threshold), the threshold may be pre-specified or may be part of a capability indication.

In another alternative, a limit may be imposed on the number of resulting blocks (contiguous sets) of RBs after overlapping with LTE CRS. In conventional NR, PDCCH CORESET may be configured with wideband precoding, in which case CORESET may be configured with frequency allocations resulting in up to four non-contiguous frequency blocks. This is driven by the fact that: in wideband precoding, the UE assumes the same precoding in all RBs belonging to the same contiguous set, so the number of contiguous sets (and thus the number of different wideband precoders) is limited to four.

When LTE CRS overlaps PDCCH, this may result in the establishment of different frequency parts as described above. In order to limit UE complexity, a limit may be established on the total number of resulting "parts" in addition to the limit on the number of frequency blocks. The limit may be that the total number of resulting portions does not exceed four portions. Alternatively, the limit may be that the total number is not greater than a particular value. The value may be a pre-specified value other than four, or it may be part of the UE capability.

In another alternative to limiting the complexity of the UE, the UE may require that the resulting frequency portions after overlapping will not be severely segmented. Thus, a limitation may be introduced that the size of the resulting frequency portion may not be less than the threshold. The threshold may be a pre-specified value or it may be part of the UE capability.

This limitation on UE complexity may also affect UE behavior with respect to legacy NR PDCCH. That is, the inability of the UE to process frequency portions below a certain threshold may indicate that the UE is unable to process a conventional CORESET configuration having a resulting frequency portion less than the threshold. This may be more relevant in the case of wideband precoding. In this case, a UE supporting this feature may not support the legacy NR feature supporting the legacy NR CORESET configuration (which may result in the frequency portion being less than the supported threshold), and the UE may indicate that other NR CORESET configurations are supported (which results in the frequency portion being greater than or equal to the supported threshold).

The conventional NR core configuration is set with frequency allocation in units of 6 consecutive RBs. Thus, any restriction on the resulting segments of frequency portions having a threshold value greater than or equal to 6 may not result in a conflict with conventional NR core configurations.

In another approach for omitting resources when overlap occurs, it may also be contemplated that the UE skips decoding certain PDCCH candidates when overlap occurs with LTE CRSs. Examples of skipped PDCCH candidates may be those candidates that have been allocated the following resources: (i) Overlapping with LTE CRS, (ii) a portion of larger granularity resource elements overlapping with LTE CRS, such as allocated resources belonging to one or more resource elements (e.g., elements such as REGs, REG bundles, CCEs, or consecutive sets of RBs sharing the same precoding or the entire monitoring occasion), and those elements have resources overlapping with LTE CRS.

Various mechanisms may be used to limit decoding complexity due to overlapping with LTE CRSs. Decoding PDCCHs with overlapping resources can impact the UE complexity of decoding PDCCHs. That is, depending on the pattern of configured LTE CRS resources and PDCCH configurations (e.g., search space set configuration or CORESET configuration), the resulting allocation for PDCCH data bits and/or PDCCH DMRS resources may have a different pattern than the conventional pattern for PDCCH allocation without overlap. Processing PDCCH decoding with an irregular PDCCH pattern may affect UE decoding complexity. In fact, decoding a PDCCH with an irregular data bit pattern can impact the complexity of puncturing and/or rate matching PDCCH operations. In addition, performing channel estimation tasks using these irregular PDCCH DMRS patterns can increase the complexity of UE decoding operations. Thus, when overlapping with PDCCH resources, it may be useful to impose restrictions on PDCCH decoding operations. Applying such restrictions may be based on the concept of a "resource pattern", where the resource pattern may be an "LTE CRS" pattern or a "DMRS pattern. Keeping track of many different such patterns can have an impact on the resulting UE complexity.

The following example is a way to limit this complexity. When overlap occurs between LTE CRS resources and PDCCH resources, the UE may be ensured that a maximum number of different resource patterns may occur. Alternatively, the UE may be instructed or configured to: if the number of different resource patterns exceeds a certain maximum value, the UE may ignore certain PDCCHs having irregular resource patterns so that the number of resource patterns considered by the UE does not exceed the maximum value. When overlap occurs between LTE CRS resources and PDCCH resources, the UE may be ensured that the maximum number of PDCCH decoding attempts with an irregular resource pattern may occur. Alternatively, the UE may be instructed or configured to: if the number of PDCCH decoding attempts having an irregular resource pattern exceeds a certain maximum value, the UE may ignore certain PDCCHs having the irregular resource pattern such that the number of PDCCH decoding attempts having the irregular resource pattern does not exceed the maximum value. The maximum value mentioned above may be specified in the 5G standard or indicated from the UE to the gNB as UE capability.

To illustrate the fact that PDCCH decoding with irregular resource patterns may result in higher UE complexity, such decoding attempts may contribute more to blind decoding and/or CCE restriction budgets for PDCCH decoding than conventional PDCCH decoding.

The concept of "different resource patterns" can be defined as follows. A resource pattern may be defined as a specific arrangement of DMRS or LTE CRS resources in a certain range of time (e.g., OFDM symbols) and frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers). Examples of time and frequency range definitions are (i) REGs, REG bundles, or a combination of 6 REGs (size of one CCE), (ii) the amount of time and frequency resources that will constitute one PDCCH monitoring occasion, or (iii) the amount of time or frequency resources that constitute a set of consecutive RBs within a CORESET. This last example (iii)) may be particularly useful for DMRS patterns when CORESET is configured with a precoding granularity of "all consecutive RBs", in which case precoding is assumed to be the same on consecutive RBs within CORESET.

It may also be useful to use the simultaneous concept of "different resource patterns" defined with different scopes. That is, some restrictions may be imposed on the number of different resource patterns that use one definition, and other restrictions may be imposed on the number of different resource patterns that use another definition. For example, a maximum value may be set for the number of different DMRS resource patterns defined using REG bundles, and another maximum value may be set for the number of different DMRS resource patterns defined using PDCCH monitoring occasions. This particular example may result in the following UE restrictions:

(1) The UE is not expected to decode a PDCCH with resources overlapping with LTE CRS, where the PDCCH has a different DMRS pattern defined per REG bundle that is more than X. This may help the UE limit the number of DMRS patterns that the UE needs to store in memory when performing channel estimation.

(2) The UE is not expected to decode PDCCHs having resources overlapping with LTE CRSs, where the PDCCHs have different resource patterns defined per PDCCH monitoring occasion that are more than Y. This may help the UE limit the complexity of decoding one PDCCH.

As explained above, the restriction of UE complexity based on different resource pattern definitions may also depend on PDCCH encoding and decoding schemes. That is, the UE may have different restrictions depending on whether PDCCH encoding and decoding is done via rate matching or puncturing. This may be due to the following reasons. If rate matching is used, the UE may need to adapt the PDCCH processing chain and mapping procedure to different resource patterns. If puncturing is used, the UE may only need to adapt the PDCCH mapping procedure, which may be less burdensome to the UE than in the case of rate matching. If the resource pattern is actually a DMRS pattern, the resulting UE complexity may not be significantly affected by the coding and decoding scheme.

As another alternative for limiting the complexity of the UE, the UE may skip decoding of the PDCCH depending on the likelihood of successful decoding of the PDCCH. For example, the UE may decide to decode the PDCCH or skip decoding the PDCCH based on (i) a remaining density of DMRS (which may indicate that the channel estimation step may produce a low quality estimate if the remaining DMRS density is less than a threshold) or (ii) a remaining coding rate of the PDCCH (an effective coding rate may be below a threshold for an acceptable coding rate if the remaining number of REs available for PDCCH transmission is low compared to the number of data bits to be communicated in the PDCCH; which may indicate that a PDCCH decoding attempt may fail).

To avoid overlap between PDCCH resources and LTE CRS resources, a mechanism may be established to modify the location of CORESET to pass PDCCH to a set of resources that do not overlap with LTE CRS. For example, the initial configuration for the CORESET and the set of search spaces may locate CORESET in time and frequency resources that overlap with LTE CRS resources. The following mechanism may be used to relocate CORESET in resources that do not overlap with LTE CRS.

In the first mechanism, CORESET may be shifted to have no LTE CRS resources present The next available set of symbols. An example of this behavior is shown in fig. 2D. In a second mechanism, CORESET may be shifted to the next available symbol without overlap while following the UE capabilities of PDCCH monitoring (e.g., UE capabilities of PDCCH per span). For example, if the UE reports its ability to perform PDCCH monitoring according to (X, Y), the CORESET overlapping with LTE CRS may be shifted to the next available symbol that will adhere to the UE's reported ability. Fig. 2E shows an example of the UE reporting capability (4, 3) affecting the next available CORESET location, which is compatible with the reported capability.

It may also be required that the shifted CORESET must meet UE capability requirements in view of the initial CORESET position. For example, for PDCCH monitoring capability according to (X, Y), both the new CORESET position and the initial CORESET position must be allowed according to the reported combination. Fig. 2F shows an example of this situation, where CORESET complies with the reported UE capabilities, also taking into account the initial CORESET position, while being shifted to the next available symbol. While shifting CORESET forward by one symbol would avoid overlapping with LTE CRS resources, it would be incompatible with reported UE capabilities with PDCCH monitoring of (X, Y) = (2, 2).

In a third mechanism, CORESET may be shifted to the beginning of the next available slot where there is no overlap with LTE CRS. The mechanism may operate if there is a next available time slot after a reasonable time, e.g., if there is an available time slot before the period of searching the set of spaces, or if there is an available time slot in time that is not longer than an acceptable duration that would not result in excessive delay in receiving the PDCCH. This behavior is shown in fig. 2G.

The configuration of LTE CRS typically spans a large duration of consecutive slots. However, the presence of a multimedia broadcast multicast service single frequency network (MBSFN) provides certain time slots where LTE CRS may not be present. If NR UE acknowledges the presence of MBSFN in LTE CRS configuration, these slots may be used to shift CORESET.

In a fourth mechanism, CORESET may be shifted to the next available slot in which the same symbol as that configured for the initial CORESET configuration is available, as shown in fig. 2H.

In another embodiment, when overlap occurs between CORESET resources and LTE CRS resources, the UE may use the remaining resources to determine a new set of resources and candidates for PDCCH decoding. More specifically, in determining overlapping resources, the UE determines a remaining set of resources for PDCCH decoding after omitting unavailable resources (which may be determined based on the mechanisms provided in the present disclosure, e.g., overlapping REs, REGs containing overlapping REs, REG bundles containing overlapping REs, or CCEs containing overlapping REs). After determining available resources, the UE determines new PDCCH candidates based on those available resources; the procedure for making this determination may be a conventional procedure for determining PDCCH candidates or another procedure.

In some embodiments, the UE may decode PDCCH candidates when resources overlap with LTE CRS resources in certain Radio Resource Control (RRC) modes (e.g., in rrc_connected mode, in rrc_idle mode, or in both modes). In rrc_idle mode, the UE is expected to monitor PDCCH using the common set of search spaces and associated CORESET (such as CORESET # 0). In addition, the UE in rrc_idle mode may be provided with LTE CRS configuration that may overlap with resources for monitoring PDCCH. When overlap occurs between PDCCH resources and LTE CRS resources, the UE may not be able to handle PDCCH reception. However, the gNB may not know the UE capability to handle this in rrc_idle mode. Thus, to handle this, in some embodiments, (i) the UE may not desire to provide the core configuration and common search space set configuration to the UE in rrc_idle mode with LTE CRS resources, (ii) the UE may not desire to decode PDCCH candidates received in the core configuration and common search space set configuration provided in rrc_idle mode with LTE CRS resources, (iii) the UE may be desired to ignore any LTE CRS information provided in rrc_idle configuration, (iv) the UE may not be desired to receive LTE CRS information in rrc_idle mode, or (v) the UE may be provided with a mechanism to indicate its ability to process PDCCH decoding with resources overlapping with LTE CRS resources in rrc_idle mode; such a mechanism may be configured, for example, during an initial access procedure (e.g., via a preamble packet or using Random Access Channel (RACH) occasions).

In conventional operation, a UE performing initial access via a 4-or 2-step RACH will start a Random Access Response (RAR) monitoring window for msg2 or msgB at the first symbol of the earliest CORESET that the UE is configured to receive PDCCH with RAR message. If PDCCH decoding with resources overlapping LTE CRS is allowed, the resources of CORESET may overlap LTE CRS such that the first symbol in the configured CORESET may not be used. In this case, the phrase "first symbol" mentioned above may mean (i) a first symbol in CORESET configured before determining overlapping resources, or (ii) a first actual symbol of CORESET used to decode PDCCH candidates.

The above-mentioned enhancements may require that the gNB be aware of the UE capability for handling LTE CRS in rrc_idle mode, which may require an early indication of the UE capability.

In some embodiments, DMRS resources available in PDCCHs with overlapping resources may be used. In one embodiment, a PDCCH with resources overlapping LTE CRSs may have some DMRS resources affected by the overlap. With this overlap, a distinction can be made between the three resources; as shown in fig. 3, a single PDCCH may carry DMRS resources from all kinds.

The first resource (of the three resources) referred to as case 1 corresponds to a DMRS resource in an OFDM symbol that does not overlap with an LTE CRS symbol. In OFDM symbols overlapping LTE CRS symbols, there are two other resources. The second resource (of the three resources) referred to as case 2 corresponds to the DMRS resource overlapping with the LTE CRS resource. The third resource (of the three resources) referred to as case 3 corresponds to a DMRS resource that does not overlap with an LTE CRS resource.

There are different methods, referred to herein as method 1, method 2 and method 3, for typical UE behavior and possible gNB behavior with respect to utilizing DMRS resources in OFDM symbols overlapping with LTE CRS. In method 1, the UE is not expected to use DMRS resources in the overlapping OFDM symbols. In this method, baseline behavior of the UE is clearly specified to avoid overlapping OFDM symbols, thereby preserving a conventional DMRS pattern in non-overlapping OFDM symbols. As used herein, "baseline" refers to the behavior of a UE with only minimal standard enforcement capabilities. This reduces UE complexity, however potentially suffering performance loss. The baseline operation assumes that the UE uses the legacy DMRS pattern in the non-overlapping OFDM symbols, i.e., does not use case 2 or case 3 as DMRS resources. The gNB does not transmit DMRS signals in the DMRS resources in the overlapping OFDM symbols, i.e., the gNB does not use case 2 or case 3 as DMRS resources, and for the baseline UE, there are no other alternative embodiments.

In method 2, the UE does not need to use DMRS resources in overlapping OFDM symbols. The method is a more relaxed version of method 1 in which alternative UE implementations (other DMRS pattern implementations may be assumed) may be supported. Baseline operation is still maintained as operation based on using a legacy DMRS pattern in non-overlapping OFDM symbols. The baseline operation assumes that the UE uses the legacy DMRS pattern in the non-overlapping OFDM symbols, i.e., does not use case 2 or case 3 as DMRS resources. The gNB has a choice to use DMRS resources in the overlapping OFDM symbols, i.e. use only the resources in case 3 or use the resources in case 2 and case 3; other UE embodiments may use an irregular DMRS pattern (resources in case 1 and case 3) or a legacy PDCCH pattern in two OFDM symbols.

In method 3, the UE is expected to use DMRS resources in non-overlapping REs in overlapping OFDM symbols. In this method, the baseline behavior of the UE is to use DMRS resources in non-overlapping OFDM symbols, and DMRS resources that do not overlap with LTE CRS REs. This may provide good decoding performance but with high cost in terms of UE implementation complexity. Baseline operation assumes that the UE uses an irregular DMRS pattern (resources in case 1 and case 3). The gNB does not transmit DMRS signals in DMRS resources that overlap with LTE CRSs (i.e., no overlap); for baseline UEs, there are no other alternative UE embodiments.

In method 4, the UE does not need to use only DMRS resources in non-overlapping REs (which may result in irregular DMRS patterns). In contrast to method 3, the use of an irregular DMRS pattern in PDCCH decoding is optional, so baseline UE operation does not assume such a pattern. The main benefit of this approach is to allow for the existence of alternative embodiments that support this operation while alleviating the need for costly UE embodiments that process irregular DMRS patterns. The baseline UE is not explicitly specified, but it may be just a UE (in one OFDM symbol or two OFDM symbols) with a conventional DMRS pattern. The gNB behavior may be to transmit DMRS signals in non-overlapping OFDM symbols or two OFDM symbols, where legacy patterns are reserved in either case.

In method 5, the UE is expected to use the legacy DMRS resource pattern in the original PDCCH configuration. In this method, the baseline operation assumes that the legacy DMRS pattern is similar to the original pattern configured in the PDCCH. This may be a more friendly alternative to the UE implementation in all methods. However, using DMRS REs that overlap with LTE CRSs in the channel estimation process (i.e., using superposition) can potentially reduce performance. Baseline operation assumes that the UE uses a legacy DMRS pattern in two OFDM symbols. The gNB transmits the DMRS signal (i.e., using superposition) in all the DMRS resources configured in the legacy PDCCH configuration; for baseline UEs, there are no other alternative UE embodiments.

In method 6, the UE does not need to use DMRS resources in REs overlapping with LTE CRSs. In contrast to method 5, the use of DMRS signals via superposition in overlapping REs is optional. In this method, the legacy UE processes the legacy DMRS pattern in two OFDM symbols as an optional operation. The baseline UE is not explicitly specified, but it does not include using the legacy DMRS pattern in two OFDM symbols. The baseline may be to use a conventional DMRS pattern in non-overlapping OFDM symbols, or to use an irregular DMRS pattern corresponding to cases 1 and 3. The gNB behavior may be (i) to transmit DMRS signals only in non-overlapping OFDM symbols, or (ii) to transmit DMRS signals in an irregular DMRS pattern.

The following observations can be made from the above discussion. It is clear that method 3 and method 6 do not default to a UE implementation using traditional operations and thus may be difficult from a UE implementation perspective. Although method 4 does not force the use of an irregular DMRS pattern, it opens the door for other embodiments where there is processing of such a pattern. This may introduce an unfair advantage because channel estimation is an important component in the decoding process, but is difficult in implementing the proposed behavior of handling irregular patterns. Between method 1 and method 2, method 2 is disadvantageous for reasons similar to those of method 4. Comparing method 1 and method 5, both depend on the use of conventional DMRS patterns, and thus there is no problem in UE implementations. However, the use of superposition may have a negative impact on decoding performance. The baseline operation associated with each of the foregoing methods may affect the conformance test associated with PDCCH decoding behavior.

The UE may be configured via the 5G standard to always use any of the above decoding techniques. Alternatively, the UE may switch operation from one technology to another according to RRC configuration, dynamic indication from the gNB, etc. Further, the UE may indicate UE capabilities indicating which of the above-described embodiments may be supported.

In another embodiment, a PDCCH mapping procedure is introduced that maps coded bits in codewords generated for PDCCHs onto available resources for PDCCH transmission after overlapping. In discussing the mapping, two resource elements are identified that occur due to overlapping with LTE CRS (see fig. 3): (i) The resource elements that initially carry PDCCH encoded bits and are now overlapping with LTE CRS and are no longer available (labeled "overlapping PDCCH" in fig. 3), and (ii) the resource elements that were initially used for PDCCH DMRS transmission and are not overlapping with LTE CRS but are present in OFDM symbols with LTE CRS (labeled "PDCCH DMRS in discussion (case 3)").

These two resource elements are important for determining the mapping procedure of the PDCCH. The legacy PDCCH mapping procedure is a rate matching procedure around DMRS resource elements; the result of mapping PDCCH coding bits onto resource elements according to conventional operation is shown in fig. 4A. Fig. 4A shows PDCCH codewords generated from a Polar (Polar) coding process. Each box represents a set of coded bits, and the shaded (e.g., cross-hatched) boxes represent a set of coded bits that consider the resource mapping. The numbers written on each shaded box represent the index of the resource element onto which the corresponding coded bit is mapped. In case of PDCCH, the modulation technique used is QPSK and the number of transmission layers is 1, so each resource element carries 2 bits. In this case, each small box corresponds to 2 bits. In general, if the PDCCH uses a modulation order Q and carries multiple layers v, each resource element carries q×v bits.

If the resources in case 3 are used for DMRS transmission, the PDCCH mapping may exclude resources overlapping with LTE CRSs (labeled "overlapping PDCCH" in fig. 3) based on the original PDCCH resources used for PDCCH coded bit transmission. The mapping may be based on rate matching around the excluded resources or puncturing at the excluded resources. Two behaviors are captured in fig. 4B, which shows different PDCCH mappings assuming that the resources in case 3 are used for DMRS transmission.

If the resources in case 3 are used for transmission of PDCCH coding bits, the PDCCH mapping procedure may include coding bits for transmission in the resources corresponding to case 3. In one mapping operation, PDCCH mappings in resources overlapping LTE CRSs (labeled "overlapping PDCCHs" in fig. 3) may be rate matched. Optionally, PDCCH mappings in resources overlapping with LTE CRSs may be punctured. This may be more simply implemented in the UE, assuming a legacy PDCCH mapping operation.

In both cases described above, the resources corresponding to case 3 may be included in the map consistent with the other resources, i.e., the index of the coded bits mapped to the resources in case 3 is relatively at the same location as the relative locations of the previous and subsequent resources corresponding to the resources in case 3, corresponding to the coded bits in the previous and subsequent resources. This is a simple mapping operation that can provide good decoding performance.

Alternatively, the coded bits mapped to the resources corresponding to case 3 may be selected after the coded bits are mapped to all other resources; this mapping may be referred to as "map-end". This may also be helpful from a UE implementation perspective. That is, similar to the legacy mapping (where case 3 resources are used for DMRS transmission), mapping the later coded bits to those resources allows the legacy UE to attempt to decode the PDCCH by not using the resources corresponding to case 3 in PDCCH decoding. In addition, more capable UEs may use the encoded bits in those resources in PDCCH decoding operations, which may provide better decoding performance.

This creates a set of four different mapping procedures depicted in fig. 4C, which shows different PDCCH mappings assuming that the resources in case 3 are used for transmission of PDCCH coding bits.

The map-end implementation may be different from the conventional operation of PDCCH mapping. That is, the 5G standard in TS 38.212 describes a bit selection operation for PDCCH in section 5.4.1.2.

Furthermore, the 5G standard in TS 38.211 mentions how selected coded bits are mapped to resource elements in section 7.3.2.4 and section 7.3.2.5.

In the following, implementation aspects are described with respect to a UE implementing a mapping-ending, referred to as a "new UE", and a UE implementing a legacy mapping procedure, referred to as a "legacy UE".

The determination of the bit selection operation for the legacy UE and the new UE may be performed as follows. In the mapping process, the variable E represents the rate matching length. In the case of legacy operation, E considers REs used for PDCCH coding bit mapping, rather than REs used for PDCCH DMRS transmission. Then, bit selection operations are performed differently according to the E value, three different operations being available: repeating, punching or shortening.

In the map-end, E may additionally consider REs corresponding to case 3. This may make the E value different for conventional operations and for map-end. This may effectively cause the legacy UE and the new UE to perform bit selection operations according to different mechanisms, and this may hamper decoding operations of either.

To solve this problem, different mechanisms may be employed, including the following three mechanisms. In the first mechanism, the configuration of the PDCCH may be structured in a way that ensures that the two E values do not result in different bit selection operations.

In a second mechanism, the new UE may be configured to determine the mapping operation according to a value E ', where E' is equal to the legacy value of E, thus ensuring that both legacy and new UEs perform bit selection according to the same operation. By using a smaller value E' in determining the bit selection operation, the new UE will be able to retain the bit selection operation as used in legacy operation. However, this is at the cost of potentially resulting in undesirable operation of the new UE. For example, using a smaller value E' may result in the UE selecting a shortened operation, while the actual effective code rate may be high enough to better benefit from a puncturing operation.

In a third mechanism, the new UE may be configured to determine the mapping operation from E, while the legacy UE may be configured to use the E value for its bit selection operation determination step. This again maintains the same operation for both UEs. Furthermore, this results in the new UE operating with a bit selection operation more suitable for resource allocation. This may be in contrast to legacy UEs, which may be forced to use puncturing as a bit selection operation, while the actual effective coding rate may be low enough to better benefit from shortening operations. Furthermore, legacy UEs may be required to consider DMRS REs in case 2, which may require a change in their mapping operations.

If both UEs are ensured to perform bit selection according to the same operation, the bit selection and mapping procedure may be performed as follows for both the new UE and the legacy UE. The legacy UE may perform bit selection according to the above-described legacy procedure, where E considers the amount of resources used to map PDCCH bits and excludes both REs used for DMRS and resources corresponding to case 3.

The new UE may use the bit selection and mapping procedure specified in the two methods referred to herein as "method 1" and "method 2".

In method 1, ordering of bits to be mapped onto available REs is done in the bit selection process in TS 38.212. That is, the bit selection operation may be performed in a mapping-ending manner in which the coded bits to be mapped at the resources of case 3 are selected after the coded bits mapped in all other REs.

Thus, the bit selection mechanism for map-end may be performed as follows. The legacy bit mapping operation may be used for mapping-ending while ensuring invariance of the bit mapping operation between the legacy mapping and the new mapping by one of the mechanisms described above, i.e. by ensuring invariance via PDCCH configuration or by using the legacy E value when determining the bit selection operation. If the PDCCH mapping is done via rate matching around overlapping resources, the E value may consider PDCCH REs as well as case 2 REs. If the PDCCH mapping is done via puncturing of overlapping resources, the E value may consider PDCCH REs and overlapping REs as well as case 2 REs. By the end of this step, vector e may consist of a bit sequence to be mapped to the available resource elements. However, a set of elements at the end of vector e may be moved to a position that will correspond to a bit position that will be mapped to a resource corresponding to case 3.

Let e _k Is the kth element in vector E, where k E {0, …, E-1}, where E is the vector length. The goal is to construct a vectorThe vector->Is a reorganized version of vector e and may then be mapped sequentially to available resource elements. Then, set- >Is defined as vector +.>To be mapped to the set of bits of the resource element in case 3; the size of which is |S| and the S-th element of the set is S _s . Then, after the conventional bit mapping operation, a bit reordering step is performed on the vector e to generate a vector +_, using the method shown in the table of fig. 4D>After the bit is selectedAfter the pass, the mapping process in TS 38.211 may operate as usual, with the statement "do not use the ascending order of k then l first for the associated PDCCH DMRS" not exclude DMRS resources in case 3 from the mapping process.

In method 2, ordering of bits to be mapped onto available REs is done in the mapping process in TS 38.211. That is, the bit selection operation may be performed in the map-end in such a manner that the coded bits to be mapped at the resources in case 3 in their respective positions are selected with respect to the coded bits mapped in all other REs. Thus, the bit selection mechanism for map-end may be performed as follows. The legacy bit mapping operation for mapping-ending may be used while ensuring invariance of the bit mapping operation between the legacy mapping and the new mapping by one of the mechanisms described above, i.e., by ensuring invariance via PDCCH configuration or by using the legacy E value in determining the bit selection operation. If the PDCCH mapping is done via rate matching around overlapping resources, the E value may consider PDCCH REs as well as case 2 REs. If the PDCCH mapping is done via puncturing of overlapping resources, the E value may consider PDCCH REs and overlapping REs, as well as case 2 REs.

By the end of this step, vector e may consist of a bit sequence to be mapped to the available resource elements. The vector is passed on to the later stages of operation until the mapping stage in TS 38.211.

In the mapping phase, the modulation symbol set is mapped according to a conventional mapping operation, wherein the declaration also excludes DMRS resources in case 3. Then, an additional step of continuously mapping the remaining modulation symbols to DMRS resources in case 3 is added. The following may be the UE behavior for this operation:

"UE shall assume complex-valued symbol d (0), …, d (M) _symb -1) block factorization beta _PDCCH Scaled and mapped first to the PDCCH for monitoring in ascending order of k then l without for the associated PDCCH DMRS resource elements (k, l) _p，μ Then mapped successively to resource elements (k, l) corresponding to skipped or punctured PDCCH DMRS in ascending order of k and then l first _p，μ . Antenna port p=2000。”

If the resources in case 3 are not used for transmission, the PDCCH map may not include the resources corresponding to case 3, nor the resources overlapping LTE CRSs (labeled "overlapping PDCCH" in fig. 3). In one mapping, rate matching can be applied to resources in both cases; this provides a simple extension of the rate matching behaviour to include those resources as well.

Rate matching around resources in case 3 is a conventional behavior. However, rate matching around the resources in case 3 may be different from conventional operation and thus may become challenging from a UE implementation perspective. In this case, another mapping operation may be to consider rate matching around the resources in case 3 while puncturing the resources overlapping with LTE CRSs. Since puncturing may be used for some resources (overlapping LTE CRSs), it may be beneficial to use generic operations to handle unavailable resources. In this case, puncturing may be used to handle the resources in case 3 as well as the resources overlapping LTE CRSs. Finally, a final mapping operation may be considered in which puncturing is applied to the resources in case 3, while rate matching is applied to the resources overlapping LTE CRSs. Four cases are shown in fig. 4E, which illustrate different PDCCH mappings assuming that the resources in case 3 are not used for transmission of PDCCH coding bits.

In some embodiments, the size of the CORESET portion for Channel Estimation (CE) may be limited. In conventional NR, the frequency allocation of the CORESET configuration is specified in terms of a string of bits, where each bit corresponds to a unit of 6 RBs. This effectively means that the smallest set of consecutive RBs in CORESET has a size of 6 RBs. This implicit minimum block size may be too small for the UE to handle in terms of Channel Estimation (CE), e.g., in the context of wideband precoding, where the precoding granularity is assumed to be a set of consecutive RBs in CORESET.

In one embodiment, the new UE may signal the capability to indicate the minimum size of the contiguous set of RBs of CORESET that the UE may support. It can be appreciated that legacy UEs that indicate support for wideband precoding (e.g., indicate a pre-coding granularity coreset legacy capability) can implicitly support 6 RBs as the smallest size of a contiguous block. The new UE may then signal a minimum for capability of greater than 6 RBs. This effectively means that the new UE cannot support the legacy pre-coding granularity coreset capability. In this case, (i) the new UE may be instructed not to report both the pre-coding granularity CORESET and the new capability because the two capabilities are contradictory in some sense, (ii) the new UE may report both capabilities, in which case the gNB may be required to adhere to the new capability in the CORESET configuration. The new UE may also not know what type of gNB it is communicating with, e.g., whether it is a legacy gNB or a new gNB that understands new capabilities. In this case, the gNB may inform the new UE of what type the gNB is, and the UE may report its capabilities accordingly, either in a legacy manner or in a new manner.

Fig. 5A illustrates a portion of a wireless system. User Equipment (UE) 505 sends transmissions to network node (gNB) 510 and receives transmissions from gNB 510. The UE includes a radio 515 and processing circuitry (or "processor") 520. In operation, processing circuitry may perform the various methods described herein, e.g., it may receive information from the gNB 510 (via radio as part of a transmission received from the gNB 510), and it may send information to the gNB 510 (via radio as part of a transmission sent to the gNB 510).

Fig. 5B is a flow chart of a method in some embodiments. The method comprises the following steps: at 530, a first transmission in an OFDM symbol and overlapping with an LTE CRS transmission in an RB is processed by the UE, the first transmission including a PDCCH DMRS transmission, or PDSCH DMRS transmission, or PDCCH data transmission. In some embodiments, the OFDM symbol includes a first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission (which may be a second transmission) in resource elements that do not overlap with LTE CRS transmissions, and the ue does not process the first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission at 532.

Fig. 5C is a flow chart of a method in some embodiments. The method comprises the following steps: at 530, a first transmission in an OFDM symbol and overlapping with an LTE CRS transmission in an RB is processed by the UE, the first transmission including a PDCCH DMRS transmission, or PDSCH DMRS transmission, or PDCCH data transmission. The method may further comprise: at 534, a first PDCCH DMRS transmission in a first resource element is processed by the UE, the first resource element overlapping with the LTE CRS transmission in an OFDM symbol and in an RB, the resource of the first resource element not overlapping with the resource of the LTE CRS transmission. In some embodiments, the first transmission comprises a PDCCH data transmission. In some embodiments, a first resource element within an OFDM symbol is scheduled for PDCCH data transmission, and the resource of the first resource element overlaps with the resource of LTE CRS transmission. The method may further comprise: at 536, the first resource element is not processed. The method may further comprise: at 538, PDCCH data transmissions are processed using puncturing or rate matching. The method may further comprise: at 540, the capability of the first portion for handling the DMRS transmission is reported by the UE when the second portion (portion) of the DMRS transmission is in an OFDM symbol and overlaps with the LTE CRS transmission in the RB. In some embodiments, the report includes: the capability to process the first share is reported when an OFDM symbol follows a first portion of the first share and a second portion of the first share follows an OFDM symbol.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram of an electronic device in a network environment 600 according to an embodiment.

Referring to fig. 6, an electronic device 601 in a network environment 600 may communicate with an electronic device 602 via a first network 698 (e.g., a short-range wireless communication network) or with an electronic device 604 or server 608 via a second network 699 (e.g., a long-range wireless communication network). The electronic device 601 may communicate with the electronic device 604 via a server 608. The electronic device 601 may include a processor 620, a memory 630, an input device 650, a sound output device 655, a display device 660, an audio module 670, a sensor module 676, an interface 677, a haptic module 679, a camera module 680, a power management module 688, a battery 689, a communication module 690, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card 696, or an antenna module 697. In one embodiment, at least one of the components (e.g., display device 660 or camera module 680) may be omitted from electronic device 601, or one or more other components may be added to electronic device 601. Some of the components may be implemented as a single Integrated Circuit (IC). For example, the sensor module 676 (e.g., a fingerprint sensor, iris sensor, or illuminance sensor) may be embedded in the display device 660 (e.g., a display).

The processor 620 may run software (e.g., program 640) to control at least one other component (e.g., a hardware component or a software component) of the electronic device 601 coupled to the processor 620 and may perform various data processing or calculations.

As at least part of the data processing or calculation, the processor 620 may load commands or data received from another component (e.g., the sensor module 676 or the communication module 690) into the volatile memory 632, process the commands or data stored in the volatile memory 632, and store the resulting data in the non-volatile memory 634. The processor 620 may include a main processor 621 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or an Application Processor (AP)) and an auxiliary processor 623 (e.g., a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), an Image Signal Processor (ISP), a sensor hub processor, or a Communication Processor (CP)) that is operatively independent of or combined with the main processor 621. Additionally or alternatively, the auxiliary processor 623 may be adapted to consume less power than the main processor 621 or to perform certain functions. The auxiliary processor 623 may be implemented separately from the main processor 621 or as part of the main processor 621.

The auxiliary processor 623 (rather than the main processor 621) may control at least some of the functions or states associated with at least one of the components of the electronic device 601 (e.g., the display device 660, the sensor module 676, or the communication module 690) when the main processor 621 is in an inactive (e.g., sleep) state, or the auxiliary processor 623 may control at least some of the functions or states associated with at least one of the components of the electronic device 601 (e.g., the display device 660, the sensor module 676, or the communication module 690) with the main processor 621 when the main processor 621 is in an active state (e.g., running an application). The auxiliary processor 623 (e.g., an image signal processor or a communication processor) may be implemented as part of another component (e.g., a camera module 680 or a communication module 690) functionally associated with the auxiliary processor 623.

The memory 630 may store various data used by at least one component of the electronic device 601 (e.g., the processor 620 or the sensor module 676). The various data may include, for example, software (e.g., program 640) and input data or output data for commands associated therewith. Memory 630 may include volatile memory 632 or nonvolatile memory 634. The non-volatile memory 634 may include an internal memory 636 and an external memory 638.

Program 640 may be stored as software in memory 630 and program 640 may include, for example, an Operating System (OS) 642, middleware 644, or applications 646.

The input device 650 may receive commands or data from outside the electronic device 601 (e.g., a user) to be used by another component of the electronic device 601 (e.g., the processor 620). The input device 650 may include, for example, a microphone, a mouse, or a keyboard.

The sound output device 655 may output sound signals to the outside of the electronic device 601. The sound output device 655 may include, for example, a speaker or a receiver. The speaker may be used for general purposes such as playing multimedia or album and the receiver may be used to receive incoming calls. The receiver may be implemented separately from the speaker or as part of the speaker.

The display device 660 may visually provide information to the outside (e.g., user) of the electronic device 601. The display device 660 may include, for example, a display, a hologram device, or a projector, and a control circuit for controlling a corresponding one of the display, the hologram device, and the projector. The display device 660 may include touch circuitry adapted to detect touches or sensor circuitry (e.g., pressure sensors) adapted to measure the strength of forces caused by touches.

The audio module 670 may convert sound into an electrical signal and vice versa. The audio module 670 may obtain sound via the input device 650, or output sound via the sound output device 655 or headphones of the external electronic device 602 that is directly (e.g., wired) coupled or wirelessly coupled with the electronic device 601.

The sensor module 676 may detect an operational state (e.g., power or temperature) of the electronic device 601 or an environmental state (e.g., a state of a user) external to the electronic device 601 and then generate an electrical signal or data value corresponding to the detected state. The sensor module 676 may include, for example, a gesture sensor, a gyroscope sensor, an atmospheric pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an acceleration sensor, a grip sensor, a proximity sensor, a color sensor, an Infrared (IR) sensor, a biometric sensor, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or an illuminance sensor.

The interface 677 may support one or more specific protocols that will be used to couple the electronic device 601 with the external electronic device 602 directly (e.g., wired) or wirelessly. The interface 677 may include, for example, a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Secure Digital (SD) card interface, or an audio interface.

The connection end 678 may include a connector via which the electronic device 601 may be physically connected with the external electronic device 602. The connection end 678 may include, for example, an HDMI connector, a USB connector, an SD card connector, or an audio connector (e.g., a headphone connector).

The haptic module 679 may convert the electrical signal into a mechanical stimulus (e.g., vibration or motion) or an electrical stimulus that may be recognized by a user via touch or kinesthetic sense. The haptic module 679 may include, for example, a motor, a piezoelectric element, or an electro-stimulator.

The camera module 680 may capture still images or moving images. The camera module 680 may include one or more lenses, image sensors, image signal processors, or flash lamps. The power management module 688 may manage power to the electronic device 601. The power management module 688 may be implemented as at least part of, for example, a Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC).

The battery 689 may power at least one component of the electronic device 601. The battery 689 may include, for example, a primary non-rechargeable battery, a rechargeable battery, or a fuel cell.

The communication module 690 may support establishing a direct (e.g., wired) communication channel or a wireless communication channel between the electronic device 601 and an external electronic device (e.g., the electronic device 602, the electronic device 604, or the server 608) and performing communication via the established communication channel. The communication module 690 may include one or more communication processors capable of operating independently of the processor 620 (e.g., an AP) and support direct (e.g., wired) or wireless communication. The communication module 690 may include a wireless communication module 692 (e.g., a cellular communication module, a short-range wireless communication module, or a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) communication module) or a wired communication module 694 (e.g., a Local Area Network (LAN) communication module or a Power Line Communication (PLC) module). A respective one of these communication modules may communicate with external electronic devices via a first network 698 (e.g., a short-range communication network such as bluetooth, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) direct, or infrared data association standard (IrDA)) or a second network 699 (e.g., a long-range communication network such as a cellular network, the internet, or a computer network (e.g., a LAN or Wide Area Network (WAN)). These various types of communication modules may be implemented as a single component (e.g., a single IC), or may be implemented as multiple components (e.g., multiple ICs) separate from one another. The wireless communication module 692 may identify and authenticate the electronic device 601 in a communication network, such as the first network 698 or the second network 699, using user information (e.g., an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)) stored in the user identification module 696.

The antenna module 697 may transmit signals or power to the outside of the electronic device 601 (e.g., an external electronic device) or receive signals or power from the outside of the electronic device 601 (e.g., an external electronic device). The antenna module 697 may include one or more antennas. And thus, at least one antenna suitable for a communication scheme used in a communication network, such as the first network 698 or the second network 699, may be selected by, for example, the communication module 690 (e.g., the wireless communication module 692). Signals or power may then be transmitted or received between the communication module 690 and the external electronic device via the selected at least one antenna.

Commands or data may be sent or received between the electronic device 601 and the external electronic device 604 via a server 608 coupled to the second network 699. Each of the electronic device 602 and the electronic device 604 may be the same type of device as the electronic device 601, or a different type of device from the electronic device 601. All or some of the operations to be performed at the electronic device 601 may be performed at one or more of the external electronic device 602, the external electronic device 604, or the server 608. For example, if the electronic device 601 should automatically perform a function or service or should perform a function or service in response to a request from a user or another device, the electronic device 601 may request the one or more external electronic devices to perform at least part of the function or service instead of or in addition to the function or service, the electronic device 601 may request the one or more external electronic devices to perform at least part of the function or service. The one or more external electronic devices that received the request may perform the requested at least part of the function or service or perform another function or another service related to the request and transmit the result of the performing to the electronic device 601. The electronic device 601 may provide the results as at least a partial reply to the request with or without further processing of the results. For this purpose, cloud computing technology, distributed computing technology, or client-server computing technology, for example, may be used.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in this specification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can be implemented as one or more computer programs (i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions) encoded on a computer storage medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus. Alternatively or additionally, the program instructions may be encoded on a manually generated propagated signal (e.g., a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal) that is generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus for execution by data processing apparatus. The computer storage medium may be or be included in a computer readable storage device, a computer readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memory array or device, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, while the computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, the computer storage medium may be a source or destination of computer program instructions encoded in an artificially generated propagated signal. Computer storage media may also be in or included in one or more separate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, or other storage devices). Additionally, the operations described in this specification may be implemented as operations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored on one or more computer readable storage devices or received from other sources.

Although this description may contain many specific implementation details, the implementation details should not be construed as limiting the scope of any claimed subject matter, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, although operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the embodiments described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described herein. Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processes depicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. In some embodiments, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous.

As will be recognized by those skilled in the art, the innovative concepts described herein can be modified and varied over a wide range of applications. Accordingly, the scope of the claimed subject matter should not be limited to any of the specific exemplary teachings discussed above, but is instead defined by the claims.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment, UE, comprising:

processing, by the UE, a first transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol and overlapping a long term evolution, cell specific, reference signal, LTE, CRS, transmission in a resource block, RB, the first transmission comprising:

physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, demodulation reference symbol, DMRS, transmission, or

Physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or

And transmitting PDCCH data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the OFDM symbol comprises a first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in a plurality of resource elements including resource elements that do not overlap with LTE CRS transmissions, and the UE does not process any resource elements of the first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in the plurality of resource elements.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first transmission includes a first PDCCH DMRS transmission; and is also provided with

The method comprises the following steps: the first resource element of the first PDCCH DMRS transmission is processed by the UE, the first PDCCH DMRS transmission being among a plurality of resource elements including the first resource element, the first resource element not overlapping any resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the method comprises: and processing, by the UE, a second resource element transmitted by the first PDCCH DMRS, the second resource element overlapping with a resource element transmitted by the LTE CRS.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the first transmission includes PDCCH data transmission;

PDCCH data transmission in a plurality of resource elements including a first resource element; and is also provided with

The first resource element overlaps with a resource element of LTE CRS transmission.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: the first resource element is not processed.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising: the PDCCH data transmission is processed using puncturing of the first resource element.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising: PDCCH data transmissions are processed using rate matching around the first resource element.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the capability to process the first portion of the DMRS transmission is reported by the UE when the second portion of the DMRS transmission includes resource elements that overlap with resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reporting comprises: the ability to process the first share is reported when the first share is divided into two separate portions by the second share.

11. A user equipment, UE, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause performance of the following operations:

processing a first transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbol and overlapping a long term evolution, cell specific, reference signal, LTE, CRS, transmission in a resource block, RB, the first transmission comprising:

Physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or

And transmitting PDCCH data.

12. The UE of claim 11, wherein the OFDM symbol comprises a first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in a plurality of resource elements including resource elements that do not overlap with LTE CRS transmissions, and the UE does not process any resource elements of the first scheduled PDCCH DMRS transmission in the plurality of resource elements.

13. The UE of claim 11, wherein:

The instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the following to be performed: the first resource element of the first PDCCH DMRS transmission is processed by the UE, the first PDCCH DMRS transmission being among a plurality of resource elements including the first resource element, the first resource element not overlapping any resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

14. The UE of claim 13, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of the following: and processing, by the UE, a second resource element transmitted by the first PDCCH DMRS, the second resource element overlapping with a resource element transmitted by the LTE CRS.

15. The UE of claim 11, wherein:

the first transmission includes PDCCH data transmission;

16. The UE of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause performance of:

the first resource element is not processed.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause performance of:

the PDCCH data transmission is processed using puncturing of the first resource element.

18. The UE of claim 16, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause performance of:

PDCCH data transmissions are processed using rate matching around the first resource element.

19. The UE of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause performance of:

the capability to process the first portion of the DMRS transmission is reported by the UE when the second portion of the DMRS transmission includes resource elements that overlap with resource elements of the LTE CRS transmission.

20. A user equipment, UE, comprising:

means for processing; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the means for processing, cause the following to be performed:

Physical downlink shared channel PDSCH DMRS transmission, or

And transmitting PDCCH data.