RU2784460C2 - Resource allocation for transmission with configured grant in unlicensed spectrum - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: communication.

SUBSTANCE: electronic device (hereinafter – ED) receives from a base station information about resource configuration of a configured grant (hereinafter – CG) to configure ED for uplink transmission of CG in an unlicensed spectrum, wherein information about resource configuration of CG contains: indication of the duration of a time domain resource of CG within a period of the time domain resource of CG; and indication of periodicity of the time domain resource of CG; and ED transmits uplink transmission of CG in the entire unlicensed spectrum in accordance with information about resource configuration of CG.

EFFECT: provision of effective mechanisms for uplink transmissions of configured grants in an unlicensed spectrum.

27 cl, 10 dwg

Description

Cross-reference to related application

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application 62/739,106, filed September 28, 2018, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The technical field to which the invention belongs

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, in particular embodiments, to configured grant (CG) transmissions on the uplink in unlicensed spectrum.

State of the art

In wireless communication systems, an electronic device (ED), such as a user equipment (UE), wirelessly communicates with a transceiver point (TRP), called a "base station", to send data to and/or receive data from the ED. The wireless communication from the ED to the base station is called uplink communication. The wireless communication from the base station to the ED is called downlink communication.

Resources are required to perform uplink and downlink communications. For example, an ED may wirelessly transmit data to a base station in an uplink transmission at a specific frequency and during a specific time slot. The used time-frequency slot is an example of a physical communication resource.

In LTE grant-based transmission, the required transmission control parameters are typically transmitted on a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and/or a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The base station knows the identity of the ED sending the uplink transmission using the allocated uplink resources because the base station has specifically allocated these uplink resources to this ED. When transmitting a configured grant, different EDs can send uplink transmissions using the uplink resources shared by the ED without a specific request for resource use and without a specific grant of resources by the base station. One of the advantages of transmitting a configured grant is the low latency that comes from not having to request and receive a grant for an allocated time or frequency resource from the base station. In addition, by transmitting a configured grant, scheduling overhead can be reduced. However, the base station does not know which ED, if any, is sending a configured grant transmission on the uplink at a particular point in time, which may require blind detection of configured grant transmissions received at the base station. In other words, the base station needs to determine which ED is transmitting. Thus, the BS may use the combination of uplink reference symbols (RS) and occupied time frequency resources to identify the grant configured ED as well as the transport block received from that grant configured ED.

Some communication modes allow communication with the ED in the unlicensed spectrum band or in different spectrum bands (eg, in the unlicensed spectrum band and/or in the licensed spectrum band) of the wireless network. Given the scarcity and high cost of bandwidth in licensed spectrum, using the vast and free unlicensed spectrum to offload at least some of the communications traffic is an approach that would be of interest to mobile broadband (MBB) network operators. For example, in some events, uplink transmissions may be transmitted in an unlicensed spectrum band. Accordingly, efficient mechanisms for uplink transmissions of configured grants in unlicensed spectrum may be desirable.

The essence of the invention

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed by an electronic device (ED) in a wireless communication network, the method including receiving, at the ED from a base station, configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink. unlicensed spectrum communications, wherein the CG resource configuration information includes: an indication of a CG time domain resource duration within a CG time domain resource period; and indicating the periodicity of the CG time domain resource; and transmitting the uplink CG transmission in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information further includes CG resource allocation information in the time domain, wherein the time domain resource allocation information specifies multiple events when an ED triggers an uplink CG transmission within the duration of the time domain resource. CG after successfully completing the Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedure.

In some embodiments, the indication of the duration of the CG time domain resource comprises an indication of the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource.

In some embodiments, the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG resource sizes, or an absolute CG time domain resource size indication.

In some embodiments, the time domain CG resource allocation information includes: an indication of the number of start positions to transmit in the time domain CG resource; one of: indicating the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain, or indicating a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each of the empty positions, one of: specifying a starting point to transmit at the empty position, or specifying the number of empty characters from the empty position.

In some embodiments, all CG resource configuration information is received in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is received partly in radio resource control (RRC) signaling and partly in downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

In some embodiments, a CG time domain resource duration indication and a CG time domain resource periodicity indication are received in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, and time domain resource allocation information is received in Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is chosen to align the empty position at the beginning of the transmission start position for the ED in order to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs.

In some embodiments, the method further includes selecting the CG resource configuration information to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of the ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, ED, an indication of a frequency domain resource comprising identifying a plurality of subbands on the wideband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in unlicensed spectrum; and the ED performs the LBT procedure on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

In some embodiments, the number of subbands in a plurality of subbands is based on one of: the type of transmission traffic or the transmission block (TB) size of the transmission.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving, ED, indications of one or more frequency interlaces per subband for a plurality of subbands for uplink CG transmission in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the one or more frequency interlaces per subband, configured for an ED are different from the one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for other EDs served by the base station.

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, the method including: transmitting, by the base station to an electronic device (ED), configuration information of a configured grant resource (CG) to configure the ED to transmit CG on uplink. unlicensed spectrum links, the CG resource configuration information including: an indication of a CG time domain resource duration within a CG time domain resource period; indicating the periodicity of the time domain resource CG; and receiving an uplink CG transmission in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information further includes time domain resource allocation information, wherein the time domain resource allocation information specifies multiple events for the UE to start CG transmission on the uplink within the duration of the CG time domain resource. after successfully completing the Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedure;

In some embodiments, indicating the duration of the CG time domain resource includes indicating the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource.

In some embodiments, the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG resource sizes, or an absolute CG time domain resource size indication.

In some embodiments, the time domain allocation information includes: an indication of the number of starting positions for data transmission in the time domain CG resource; one of: specifying the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain, or specifying a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each empty position, one of: specifying the starting point to transmit at the empty position, or specifying the number of empty characters from the empty position.

In some embodiments, all CG resource configuration information is conveyed in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is received partly in radio resource control (RRC) signaling and partly in downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

In some embodiments, a CG time domain resource duration indication and a CG time domain resource periodicity indication are transmitted in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, and time domain resource allocation information is received in Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is chosen to align the empty position at the beginning of the transmission start position for the ED in order to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs.

In some embodiments, selecting CG resource configuration information to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of the ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, by the base station, an indication of a frequency domain resource including identifying a plurality of subbands within a broadband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in unlicensed spectrum.

In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting by the base station an indication of one or more frequency interlaces per subband for a plurality of subbands for transmitting an uplink CG in the unlicensed spectrum for each ED served by the base station, the one or more frequency interlaces in per subband configured for each ED are different from other EDs.

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed by an electronic device (ED) in a wireless communication network, the method including: transmitting configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to the ED to configure a base station for uplink CG transmission in unlicensed spectrum , wherein the CG resource configuration information includes, for each transmitted physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI), which includes a PUSCH start point indication and a PUSCH end point indication.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH start point indication comprises at least one of: a PUSCH start point indication that is one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols; and specifying a PUSCH start point, which is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the subcarrier spacing pattern.

In some embodiments, the method further includes, when the preconfigured blank symbol locations overlap with symbol locations preceding the PUSCH start point, from the end of the last slot boundary or symbol locations following the PUSCH end point to the next slot boundary start point, selecting the UE a PUSCH start point as a symbol location after the preconfigured blank symbols, and a PUSCH end point as a symbol location before the start of the next slot or the next preconfigured blank symbol.

According to an aspect of the present application, there is provided a method performed in a wireless communication network, including: receiving, by a base station from an electronic device (ED), configuration information of a configured grant (CG) resource to configure the base station to transmit CG on the uplink in unlicensed spectrum, wherein CG resource configuration information comprising, for each transmitted physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI), which includes a PUSCH start point indication and a PUSCH end point indication.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH start point indication comprises at least one of: a PUSCH start point indication that is one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols; and specifying a PUSCH start point, which is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the subcarrier spacing pattern.

In some embodiments, the method further includes receiving an indication of a selected PUSCH start point and a selected PUSCH end point, wherein the PUSCH start point is a symbol location after the preconfigured null symbols, and the PUSCH end point is a symbol location before the start of the next slot or next preconfigured empty character.

When the preconfigured null symbol locations overlap with symbol locations preceding the PUSCH start point from the end of the last slot boundary or symbol locations following the PUSCH start point to the next slot boundary start point, the preconfigured null symbol deselects the UE (or may be performed by selecting the UE) start and end OUSCH positions.

Brief description of the drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a communication system.

2A and 2B show block diagrams of an exemplary ED and base station, respectively.

3 shows an exemplary schematic representation of two consecutive time domain resource periods each having a transmission resource for a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum according to an embodiment of the present application.

4 shows an exemplary schematic representation of one time domain resource period having a transmission resource for a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum, according to an embodiment of the present application.

5 shows an exemplary schematic representation of one time domain resource period for each of two user equipments (UEs) each having a transmission resource for a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum according to an embodiment of the present application.

6 shows an exemplary schematic representation of one time domain resource period having a transmission resource for a configured unlicensed spectrum grant in which uplink control information and corresponding physical uplink shared channels are transmitted according to an embodiment of the present application.

Figure 7 shows a flowchart of exemplary operations performed in an ED in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of exemplary operations performed at a base station in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 9 shows a flowchart of exemplary operations performed in an ED in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed description of the invention

For illustrative purposes, specific exemplary embodiments will now be explained in more detail below with reference to the figures.

The embodiments set forth herein provide information sufficient for the practice of the claimed subject matter and illustrate methods for practicing such subject matter. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the claimed subject matter and understand the applications of those concepts, which are not specifically discussed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims.

In addition, it will be appreciated that any module, component, or device disclosed herein that executes instructions may include or otherwise access non-volatile computer/processor-readable storage media or storage media. such as computer/processor readable instructions, data structures, program modules, and/or other data. A non-exhaustive list of examples of non-volatile storage media readable by a computer/processor includes magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk drive or other magnetic storage devices, optical discs such as compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM), digital video discs or digital versatile discs (e.g. DVD), Blu-ray Disc™ or other optical media, volatile or non-volatile, removable or non-removable media, implemented in any method or technology, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory device (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or other memory technology. Any such non-volatile computer/processor storage medium may be part of, or be accessible to, or connected to the device. Computer/processor-readable/executable instructions for implementing the application or module described herein may be stored or otherwise stored on such computer/processor-readable non-volatile storage media.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a configured grant transmission mode for uplink transmissions in unlicensed spectrum in a wireless network. In the present disclosure, configured grant transmissions refer to transmissions that are performed without grant-based signaling. The transmission of the configured grant on the uplink may be a burst transmission. The transmission may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI) on the PUSCH, or a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS).

Next, with reference to the drawings, some specific exemplary embodiments will be described.

Communication system

Figure 1 shows an exemplary communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In general, communication system 100 allows a plurality of wireless or wired elements to exchange data and other content. The task of the communication system 100 is to provide content (voice, data, video, text) via broadcast, multicast, unicast user device to the user device, and so on. Communication system 100 may operate by sharing resources such as bandwidth.

In this example, communication system 100 includes electronic devices (EDs) 110a-110c, radio access networks (RANs) 120a-120b, core network 130, public switched telephone network (PSTN) 140, Internet 150, and other networks 160. Although Figure 1 shows a number of these components or elements, any reasonable number of these components or elements can be included in the communication system 100.

The EDs 110a-110c are configured to operate, communicate, or both in the communication system 100. For example, EDs 110a-110c are configured to transmit, receive, or both via wireless or wired communication channels. Each ED 110a-110c represents any suitable end user device for wireless operation and may include (or may refer to) devices such as user equipment/device (UE), wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), mobile station , fixed or mobile subscriber unit, cellular telephone, station (STA), machine-type communication device (MTC), personal digital assistant (PDA), smartphone, laptop, computer, tablet computer, wireless sensor, or consumer electronics device.

1 shows RANs 120a-120b which include base stations 170a-170b, respectively. Each base station 170a-170b is configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more EDs 110a-110c to provide access to any other base station 170a-170b, core network 130, PSTN 140, Internet 150, and/or other networks 160. For example, base stations 170a-170b may include (or may be) one or more of several well-known devices such as base transceiver station (BTS), Node B (Node-B, NodeB), evolved NodeB (eNodeB), home eNodeB , gNodeB, transceiver point (TRP), point controller, access point (AP), or wireless router. Any ED 110a-110c may alternatively or additionally be configured to interact with, access, or communicate with any other base station 170a-170b, Internet 150, core network 130, PSTN 140, other networks 160, or any combination of the previous. As shown, communication system 100 may include RANs, such as RANs 120b, in which a corresponding base station 170b accesses core network 130 via Internet 150.

EDs 110a-110c and base stations 170a-170b are examples of communication media that can be configured to implement some or all of the features and/or embodiments described herein. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, base station 170a is an integral part of RAN 120a, which may include other base stations, base station controller(s) (BSC), radio network controller(s) (RNC), relay nodes, elements and/or devices. Any base station 170a, 170b may be a single element as shown, or more elements distributed in the respective RAN or otherwise. In addition, base station 170b is part of RAN 120b, which may include other base stations, elements, and/or devices. Each base station 170a-170b transmits and/or receives wireless communications signals within a specific geographic region or area, sometimes referred to as a "cell" or "coverage area". A cell may be further divided into cell sectors, and the base station 170a-170b may, for example, use a number of transceivers to provide service in multiple sectors. In some embodiments, pico or femtocells can be created in events where, where, they are supported by the radio access technology. In some embodiments, a number of transceivers may be used for each cell, such as using multiple input/multiple output (MIMO) technology. The RAN number 120a-120b shown is exemplary only. When designing communication system 100, any number of RANs may be envisaged.

Base stations 170a-170b communicate with one or more EDs 110a-110c via one or more radio interfaces 190 using wireless communication channels such as radio frequency (RF), microwave, infrared (IR), and so on. The radio interfaces 190 may use any suitable radio access technology. For example, communication system 100 may implement one or more orthogonal or non-orthogonal channel access methods such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) or single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) at air interfaces 190.

The base station 170a-170b may implement the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) for Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) to establish a radio interface 190 using Wideband CDMA (WCDMA). Here, the base station 170a-170b can implement protocols such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Enhanced HPSA (HSPA+) optionally including High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access ( HSUPA) or both. Alternatively, base station 170a-170b may set up UTMS evolved radio interface (E-UTRA) 190 for terrestrial radio access using LTE, LTE-A, and/or LTE-B. It is contemplated that communication system 100 may use numerous channel access functions, including the schemes described above. Other radio technologies for implementing radio interfaces include IEEE 802.11, 802.15, 802.16, CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, IS-2000, IS-95, IS-856, GSM, EDGE, and GERAN. Of course, other multiple access schemes and wireless protocols may be used.

RANs 120a-120b communicate with core network 130 to provide various services to EDs 110a-110c such as voice services, data services, and other services. RANs 120a-120b and/or core network 130 may communicate directly or indirectly with one or more other RANs (not shown) that may or may not be directly served by core network 130 and may or may not use the same radio access technology as and RAN 120a, RAN 120b, or both. Core network 130 may also serve as an access gateway between (1) RANs 120a-120b or EDs 110a-110c, or both, and (2) other networks (such as PSTN 140, Internet 150, and other networks 160). In addition, some or all of the EDs 110a-110c may include functionality for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links using different wireless technologies and/or protocols. Instead of (or in addition to) wireless communications, EDs may communicate via wired links to a service provider or switch (not shown) and to the Internet 150. PSTN 140 may include circuit switched telephone networks to provide plain old telephone service ( POTS). Internet 150 may include a network of computers and subnets (intranets), or both, and include protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and User Datagram Protocol (UDP). EDs 110a-110c may be multi-mode devices capable of operating in accordance with multiple radio access technologies and include a number of transceivers necessary to support them.

2A and 2B show exemplary devices that may implement the methods and ideas of the present disclosure. In particular, FIG. 2A shows an example ED 110, and FIG. 2B shows an example base station 170. These components may be used in communication system 100, or any other suitable system.

As shown in figa, ED 110 includes at least one block 1400 processing. The processing unit 200 implements various processing operations of the ED 110. For example, the processing unit 200 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, or any other functions that allow the ED 110 to function in the communication system 100. The processing unit 200 may also be configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments described in more detail above. Each processing unit 200 includes any suitable processing device or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 200 may, for example, include a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, field-programmable gate array, or ASIC.

ED 110 also includes at least one transceiver 202. The transceiver 1402 is configured to modulate data or other content for transmission by at least one antenna or network interface controller (NIC) 204. The transceiver 202 is also configured to demodulate data or other content received by at least one antenna 204. Each transceiver 202 includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission and/or processing signals received wirelessly or wired. Each antenna 204 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and/or receiving wireless or wired signals. One or more transceivers 202 may be used in ED 110. One or more antennas 204 may be used in ED 110. Although shown as a single functional unit, transceiver 202 may also be implemented using at least one transmitter and at least one separate receiver. .

ED 110 further includes one or more input/output devices 206 or interfaces (eg, a wired interface 150 for connecting to the Internet). I/O devices 206 provide interaction with the user or other devices on the network. Each input/output device 206 includes any suitable structure for providing information to or receiving information from a user, such as a speaker, microphone, keypad, keyboard, display, or touch screen, including network interface communication.

In addition, ED 110 includes at least one memory 208. Memory 208 stores instructions and data used, generated, or collected by ED 110. For example, memory 208 may store program instructions or modules configured to implement some or all the functions and/or embodiments described above and performed by the processing unit(s) 200 . Each memory 208 includes any suitable volatile and/or nonvolatile storage and retrieval device. Any suitable type of memory may be used, such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), hard disk, optical disk, Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, memory card, secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. .

As shown in FIG. 2B, base station 170 includes at least one processor 250, at least one transmitter 252, at least one receiver 254, one or more antennas 256, at least one memory 258, and one or more multiple input/output devices or interfaces 266. A transceiver, which is not shown, may be used in place of transmitter 252 and receiver 254, and scheduler 253 may be coupled to processing unit 250. Scheduler 253 may be included in or operate separately from base station 170. Processing unit 250 performs various processing operations of base station 170 such as signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, or any other functions. Processing unit 250 may also be configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments described in more detail above. Each processing unit 250 includes any suitable processing device or computing device configured to perform one or more operations. Each processing unit 250 may, for example, include a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor, field-programmable gate array, or ASIC.

Each transmitter 252 includes any suitable structure for generating signals for wireless or wired transmission to one or more EDs or other devices. Each receiver 254 includes any suitable structure for processing signals received wirelessly or wired from one or more EDs or other devices. Although transmitter 252 and receiver 254 are shown as separate components, at least one transmitter 252 and at least one receiver 254 may be combined into a transceiver. Each antenna 256 includes any suitable structure for transmitting and/or receiving wireless or wired signals. Although a common antenna 256 is shown here as connected to both transmitter 252 and receiver 254, one or more antennas 256 may be connected to transmitter(s) 252 and one or more individual antennas 256 may be connected to receiver(s) 254. Each memory 258 includes any suitable volatile and/or nonvolatile storage and retrieval device(s), such as those described above in connection with ED 110. Memory 258 stores used, generated, or collected instructions and data by base station 170. For example, memory 258 may store program instructions or modules configured to implement some or all of the functionality and/or embodiments described above and which are executed by the processing unit(s) 250.

Each I/O device 266 provides interaction with the user or other devices on the network. Each input/output device 266 includes any suitable structure for providing information or receiving/providing information from a user, including communications over a network interface.

Transfers of configured grants

Base stations 170 are configured to communicate wirelessly with EDs 110, each of which can send configured uplink grant transmissions. Uplink transmissions from ED 110 are performed on a set of time-frequency resources. An uplink configured grant transmission is an uplink transmission that is sent using uplink resources without dynamic resource allocation by base stations 170 to grant request/grant mechanisms. By performing configured grant transfers, you can save overall network overhead. In addition, time savings can be achieved by bypassing the grant request/grant procedure. An ED sending a configured grant transmission on the uplink or configured to send a configured grant transmission on the uplink may be referred to as operating in a configured grant mode. Uplink configured grant transmissions are sometimes referred to as "no grant (grant)", "no grant", "no scheduling", or "no scheduling" transmissions. Uplink configured grant transmissions from different EDs may be transmitted using shared assigned resource blocks, in which case the uplink configured grant transmissions are contention-based transmissions. One or more base stations 170 may perform blind detection of configured grant transmissions on the uplink.

According to an embodiment in a wireless network, any ED may be configured for grant-based or configured grant-based transmissions, depending on, for example, application and device types and requirements. Typically, a configured grant transfer may require a (pre-)configuration of a resource when an ED connection is established, and may have a resource reconfiguration or update during operation. In some embodiments, configured grant resources may be configured for the ED via UE-specific signaling, or in some broadcast or multicast signaling scenarios. Two or more configured grant transmissions may share the same configured resources. Furthermore, in some embodiments, a grant-based transmission may use dedicated resources or may share resources (in whole or in part) with configured grant resources in a timeslot.

Any of the grant-based and configured grant transmissions may be used for any application traffic or service type, depending on the associated application requirements and Quality of Service (QoS). As a non-limiting example, a configured grant transmission may be used for: Low Latency Ultra Reliable Link (URLLC) traffic to meet the low latency requirement; Evolved Mobile Broadband (eMBB) traffic with short bursts to save overhead; and eMBB traffic to dynamically take advantage of channel adaptation and improve resource utilization and spectrum efficiency. In particular, the present application relates to the use of a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum to reduce the overhead of a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure and potential LBT failure for a scheduled uplink procedure. Aspects of the present application can reduce excessive delay and improve spectrum efficiency.

A single ED or a group of EDs may have a Group ID or Radio Network Temporary ID (RNTI; eg, Configured Grant (CG)-RNTI or Grant Based RNTI (GB)) to share the same parameter or resource configuration. The group ID may be pre-configured or dynamically configured for each ED. The parameter or resource configuration for an ED with a group ID can be done by semi-static or dynamic signaling. In some embodiments, the group ID may be used to, for example, deactivate or activate resources for the ED in the group. In some embodiments, activation and deactivation of autonomous uplink (AUL) with configured new radio grant (CG NR) and additional enhanced access supported by licensed frequencies (FeLAA) can be performed by UE-specific downlink control information (DCI). As a non-limiting example, activated or deactivated resources may include the frequency, time, and reference signal (RS) associated with each ED in the group.

The configured grant transmission eliminates the latency and control overhead associated with the grant request/grant procedure of grant-based transmission scheduling, and may allow more repetitions of transmissions to increase the probability of successful discovery or achieve the desired reliability.

For reasons such as those described above, it is agreed that the 3GPP Study Point for the 5G New Radio (NR) air interface will support uplink configured grant transmission.

However, EDs experiencing poor channel conditions and/or persistent resource contention often require a transport block (TB) switch to a grant-based contention-free transmission to ensure successful decoding and/or use link adaptation for baseline uplink scheduling. station compared to the preconfigured transport formats used in the transmission of the configured grant.

Resource structure of configured grants

To support transmissions of configured grants in the licensed NR band, the associated resources configured for an ED or group of EDs may include any or all of the following:

1) Frequency resources in a transmission time interval (TTI), such as symbol, mini-slot, or slot. In one example, a physical resource block (PRB) scheme is provided. The PRB scheme indicates the physical starting frequency resource block (RB) and the size of the allocated RBs.

2) Temporal resources, including the start/end position of one transmission time interval, for example, TTI can be one symbol, mini-slot or slot.

3) Reference signal (RS) or RS configuration, where each ED can be configured with one or more reference signals (RS), such as demodulation reference signals (DMRS), depending on the scenarios involved. For an ED group, each ED may or may not have different RSs or different sets of RSs. It should be noted that different RSs may be orthogonal or non-orthogonal with respect to each other depending on the application, such as, for example, a URLLC application or a Machine Type Mass Communication (mMTC) application.

4) ED/ED group specific hopping parameters, which may include one of the following two parameters. One parameter may include a hop pattern cycle period. In one embodiment, an absolute reference duration is determined (eg, 20 TTI just before repetition). During the absolute reference duration, the number of hop steps (eg, 10 times) to be performed before repeating the hop pattern again may be determined based on the periodicity of the slot resource available for configured grant transmissions (eg, 2 TTI). In another embodiment, an absolute number of hop times can be determined, such as 20 hops before repeating. The other parameter(s) may include a hop pattern index or indices, where one ED may have one or more hop pattern indices.

5) One or more hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process IDs for each ED.

6) One or more MCSs per ED, where the grant configured ED may explicitly or implicitly specify which MCS to use for transmission.

7) The number K of repetitions of configured grant transmissions, where one or more values of K may be configured per ED, where which value of K to use depends on a specific rule considering ED channel conditions, service types, etc.

8) Power control parameters, including power ramp step size (eg for ED).

9) Other parameters, including information associated with general grant-based data and control transmissions. It should be noted that sometimes a subset of configured grant resources may be referred to as "fixed" or "reserved" resources; while a subset of grant-based resources may be referred to as "flexible" resources, which may be dynamically scheduled by the base station.

Hybrid automatic retransmission request

As discussed above, ED 110 may be configured to use a specific set of resources to transmit a configured grant. A collision may occur when two or more EDs 110 attempt to transmit data on the same uplink resource set. To reduce the number of possible collisions, ED 110 may use retransmissions. The retransmission, without a grant, of the original uplink configured grant transmission is referred to herein as "configured grant retransmission". Any discussion of configured grant retransmission in this document should be understood to refer to either the first or subsequent retransmission. In this document, the term "retransmission" includes both simple repetitions of transmitted data and retransmissions using asynchronous hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ), i.e. a combination of high-speed forward error correction coding and automatic retransmission error control. transmission (ARQ) of the physical layer.

In the licensed NR band, a series of automatically configured grant retransmissions may be preconfigured to improve reliability and eliminate the delay associated with waiting for a positive acknowledgment (ACK) or negative acknowledgment (NACK) message. ED 110 may perform retransmissions until at least one of the following conditions is met:

(1) An ACK message is received from the base station 170 indicating that the base station 170 has successfully received and decoded the TB. The ACK may be sent on a dedicated downlink acknowledgment channel, sent as separate downlink control information (DCI), sent on a data link, sent as part of an ACK/NACK group, and so on.

(2) The number of repetitions reaches K. In other words, if ED 110 has performed K retransmissions and an ACK is still not received from base station 170, then ED 110 gives up trying to send data to base station 170. In some embodiments, K is semi-statically configured base station 170 so that base station 170 or the network can adjust K over time.

(3) A grant is received from the base station 170 performing the configured grant switch to the main grant.

In an embodiment, a retransmission of a configured grant may be triggered by the reception of a negative acknowledgment (NACK) message, or by a failure to receive a positive acknowledgment (ACK) message. In an alternative embodiment, K retransmissions of configured grants are performed regardless of the response from base station 170.

The resources by which one or more configured grant retransmissions are performed may be preconfigured, in which case the base station determines the resources based on a priori information. Alternatively, the resources by which the initial transmission of the configured grant or one or more retransmissions are performed may be determined, for example, according to an identifier in the pilot of the original transmission of the configured grant on the uplink. This allows the base station to predict or otherwise determine which uplink resources will carry one or more retransmissions after detecting the identifier in the pilot symbol.

Transmitting a configured grant reduces latency and management overhead associated with grant-based procedures, and can allow more retransmissions/retries to improve reliability. However, due to the lack of uplink scheduling and grant signaling, EDs with configured grants may be preconfigured to use a fixed level of modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for at least the initial transmission of the configured grant. In one embodiment, grant configured EDs are configured to use the most reliable MCS for a given resource block for configured grant transmissions on the uplink.

Unlicensed Spectrum Access

As noted above, given the limited and costly bandwidth in the licensed spectrum, as well as the growing demand for data capacity, there is a growing interest in offloading at least some communication traffic, such as uplink communication traffic, in the unlicensed spectrum. For example, there is considerable interest in the unlicensed 5 GHz spectrum on which many wireless local area networks (WLANs) operate. Accordingly, operation on this spectrum may require effective coexistence with WLANs, along with compliance with regional unlicensed spectrum rules.

Licensed Frequency Assisted Access (LAA) and Enhanced LAA (eLAA) of 3GPP Release 13 and Release 14, respectively, aim to move the spectrally efficient MBB air interface (AI) into a large and free unlicensed spectrum by aggregating unlicensed component carriers (CCs) into small operator cells using licensed anchor carriers.

However, the UL transmission in eLAA is based on the GB scheme only. To provide a global solution for unlicensed frequencies, regulatory requirements such as listen before talking (LBT) must be imposed on the media access construct. Thus, the transfer of UL to eLAA has disadvantages in terms of delay and the possibility of successful access to the medium due to several levels of contention for:

• an ED that transmits a scheduling request (SR), eg in a standalone (SA) deployment, ie without a licensed anchor cell;

• a base station that schedules an ED among other EDs;

• the base station that transmits the scheduled grant (especially for self-scheduled carrier);

• An ED that continues to transmit the GB.

Aspects of the present disclosure address the problems of uplink transmission in unlicensed spectrum by providing a CG transmission scheme as part of the unified NR-U radio interface.

Before the ED can access the unlicensed spectrum for transmission on the unlicensed subband of the spectrum, the ED performs a listen-before-talk (LBT) operation (e.g., including initial channel idle assessment (ICCA) and extended channel idle assessment (ECCA)) to by transmission to check that the channel is free. An unlicensed spectrum band sub-band may include a frequency resource group that contains one or more unlicensed channels as defined by the IEEE 802.11 standard in a geographic region of operation, or one or more portions of a bandwidth (BWP) as defined by, for example, wireless communication standards.

In regions such as Europe and Japan, devices attempting to access unlicensed spectrum must comply with either the Load Based Equipment (LBE) LBT procedure or the Frame Based Equipment (FBE) LBT procedure.

In the LBT LBE procedure, a device attempting to access unlicensed spectrum may start transmission after a successful CCA. The CCA mechanism used in such LBT LBE procedures may be the same CCA mechanism used in the WLAN, i.e. Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA), or it may be based on Energy Detection-based CCA. . For example, an energy detection-based CCA may use a random backoff to determine the size of the contention window and the corresponding Maximum Channel Occupancy Time (MCOT), which defines the maximum amount of time a device can transmit on the unlicensed spectrum after a successful contention for a transmission resource.

In LBT FBE procedures, a device attempting to access unlicensed spectrum may only start transmission at periodic times after a short successful CCA based on energy detection.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) specification version 13 provides a framework for licensed frequency supported access (LAA) in the unlicensed spectrum. The framework includes a Category 4 (CAT4) LBT (Random Fallback LBT or ECCA) procedure that every device attempting to access unlicensed spectrum must comply with. Similar to the LBT mechanism in CSMA/CA for WIFI/WLAN in the 3GPP release 13 CAT4 LBT mechanism, each device independently generates a random backoff counter or contention window (CW), and if the CCA terminates due to a busy estimate, the backoff counter is "frozen" to keep the priority on the next access attempt. However, synchronous multicasting of small cell neighbor evolved Node Bs (eNBs) is supported in 3GPP Release 13 via backhaul connections by setting the common start time of downlink (DL) transmissions from neighboring small cell eNBs. An eNB that completes a successful CCA before a predetermined subframe start point shall delay its transmission until that point. However, an eNB that has delayed its transmission cannot prevent WiFi or other LAA access during the grace period by transmitting an empty block/reserve signal, as this will likely cause the current CCAs of the intragroup eNBs to fail.

Transfer of configured UL grant in unlicensed spectrum

Methods and apparatuses are provided that solve the above problems associated with supporting uplink transmission of a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, EDs in the same group are configured to align the transmission start time after successful execution of the respective LBT CCA procedures to simultaneously access the unlicensed spectrum and share time and frequency resources of the unlicensed spectrum subband for uplink configured grant transmission. connections.

Configuration or reconfiguration may be performed by RRC DL signaling and a combination of RRC signaling and downlink control information (DCI) activation.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the ED group is configured to align their transmission start time with an overall configured grant transmission cycle characterized by a configured grant transmission cycle reference time and a configured grant transmission cycle period. EDs configured with the same configured grant transmission cycle may be grouped into the same unlicensed spectrum subband. The unlicensed spectrum sub-band may include one or more BWPs or one or more unlicensed spectrum channels, for example, with a bandwidth of 20/40/80/100/160 MHz.

The time-frequency resources of the subband are shared by the ED groups for their respective non-grant uplink transmissions within the subband, but since the transmission start points are time aligned, the ED groups do not block each other during the CCA procedure.

Numerology is defined as a set of radio interface physical layer parameters that are used to transmit a particular signal. For OFDM-based communication, the numerology is described in terms of at least subcarrier spacing (SCS) and OFDM symbol duration, and may also be defined by other parameters such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)/Inverse FFT (IFFT) length, transmission time slot length, and the length or duration of the cyclic prefix (CP). As will be discussed in more detail later, the numerologies used for configured UL grant transmissions in the unlicensed spectrum in accordance with the present disclosure may be chosen to support certain functionality.

Numerology of transmission cycles of configured grants

The aligned configured grant transmission cycle used by the configured grant ED group for a given sub-band of the unlicensed spectrum may be asynchronous with respect to the aligned transmission cycles of the configured grants used for another sub-band of the unlicensed spectrum. The corresponding numerologies and temporary equalization units (ATUs) used in different sub-bands of the unlicensed spectrum may also be different. Examples of ATUs include, but are not limited to, slot, mini-slot, and symbol.

Frame structures have been proposed that are flexible in terms of the use of different numerologies. As noted earlier, numerology is defined as a set of radio interface physical layer parameters that are used to transmit a specific signal. The numerology is described in terms of at least subcarrier spacing (SCS) and OFDM symbol duration, and may also be defined by other parameters such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT)/Inverse FFT (IFFT) length, transmission timeslot length, and cyclic length or duration. prefix (CP). In some implementations, the numerology definition may also include which of several possible waveforms is used to transmit the signal. Possible waveform candidates may include, but are not limited to, one or more orthogonal or non-orthogonal waveforms selected from the following: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Filtered OFDM (f-OFDM), Filter Bank Multiple Carriers (FBMC) , Universally Filtered Multiple Carriers (UFMC), Generalized Frequency Division Multiplexing (GFDM), Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA), Multi-Carrier Low-Density Code Division Multiple Access (LDS) -MC-CDMA), Wavelet Packet Modulation (WPM), Above-Nyquist Waveform (FTN), Low Peak-to-Average Power Waveform (Low PAPR WF), Division Multiple Access pattern division multiple access (PDMA), mesh division multiple access (LPMA), resource allocation multiple access (RSMA), and multiple d sparse code access (SCMA).

These numerologies can be scalable in the sense that the subcarrier spacings of different numerologies are integer multiples of each other, and the slot lengths of different numerologies are also integer multiples of each other. Such a scalable design across multiple numerologies provides implementation benefits, such as a scalable total OFDM symbol duration in the context of time division duplexing (TDD).

When multiple EDs share a frequency resource, each ED may use one or more frequency interlaces when transmitting its respective UL configured grant packets. Therefore, in some embodiments, each of the different EDs uses a respective set of orthogonal frequency interlaces to transmit their respective configured grant UL packets on the unlicensed subband.

One type of configured grant (TCG) transmission that is assumed for NR and referred to as Type 1 NR TCG involves the use of Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling to provide configuration information to the ED. Examples of configuration information include, but are not limited to, periodicity, offset, time-frequency allocation, ED-specific demodulation reference signal (DMRS) configuration, modulation coding scheme/transmission block size (MCS/TBS), number of repetitions ( K) and power control.

In the second type, called Type 2 TCG NR, RRC signaling can be used to provide some configuration information to the ED, and other configuration information is provided to the ED in activation downlink control information (DCI). Examples of configuration information that may be provided in RRC signaling include, but are not limited to, periodicity, power control, number of repetitions (K), and MCS/TBS. Examples of configuration information that may be provided in a DCI activation include, but are not limited to, offset, time-frequency allocation, MCS/TBS, and ED-specific DMRS configuration information.

Regarding time domain resource allocation for configured grant transmission in unlicensed spectrum, the following two parameters are configured by RRC signaling for both type 1 and type 2 as above.

-repetitions: K = {1, 2, 4, 8} consecutive transmissions of the same PUSCH.

Periodicity: The following periodicities are supported depending on the configured subcarrier spacing:

15 kHz: 2, 7, n*14, where n = {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 320, 640}

30 kHz: 2, 7, n*14, where n = {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 640, 1280 }

60 kHz with normal CP: 2, 7, n*14, where n = {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 512, 640, 1280, 2560}

60 kHz with ECP: 2, 6, n*12, where n = {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 128, 160, 256, 320, 512 , 640, 1280, 2560}.

The following two parameters are configured via RRC for type 1 and via DCI activation for type 2:

timeDomainAllocation: configured time domain uplink grant allocation that specifies a table entry containing startSymbolAndLength; and

timeDomainOffset: Resource offset relative to SFN = 0 in the time domain for type 1 and relative to activation DCI transmission time for type 2. Thus, for both Type 1 and Type 2, timeDomainOffset together with Periodicity determines the start of each period in which the configured time resource starts.

There are several potential problems with the existing Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for a configured transmission grant if they are to be applied to unlicensed spectrum operation.

In the case of Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for an ED with a configured grant capability that has a transmission ready to transmit, the ED may not be able to access the preconfigured resources as a result of an LBT failure. The transmission may be a burst transmission. The transmission may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical uplink shared channels (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI) on the PUSCH, or a demodulation reference signal (DM-RS). In the event that such an LBT failure occurs, the ED will have to defer channel access until the next configured grant period. The K-repeats configuration is then useless. If the first transmission misses the first slot, the retransmission may not start in the subsequent slot for which the remainder of the K repetitions are configured. Existing Type 1 and Type 2 procedures include configuring the initial location and length of a preconfigured grant opportunity that is applied to each slot without granting a grant. Such a procedure may be too restrictive if bursting interruptions are to be avoided. The procedure may be too restrictive as any configuration that has a start symbol other than the first Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiplexed (OFDM) symbol (OS#0 when there are 14 OFDM symbols in a slot) and/or a PUSCH length that does not end on the last OFDM symbol (OS#13), may result in gaps between CG temporary resource slots. Depending on the subcarrier spacing, such gaps may be sufficient to allow other nodes to receive the channel.

Embodiments of the present application allow a selected set of EDs to be configured to be assigned the same time domain resources and either orthogonal or the same frequency interlaces on the same unlicensed channel. Configuring a selected set of EDs to align transmission start points on the unlicensed channel and, in some embodiments, use lock characters for at least some of the transmission start points can reduce deadlock during LBT procedures.

Embodiments of the present application allow the ED to be configured with a preconfigured CG time resource, including multiple transmission events. A transmission event within the preconfigured CG time resource may occur after one or more slots, mini-slots, or symbols since the start of the preconfigured CG time resource or a previous transmission event.

When the preconfigured time resource has multiple transmission events, this allows the ED to start transmission at one of the multiple locations within the preconfigured time resource. The term "transmission event" is intended to define the starting point of the transmission, and not a specific duration of time within the CG's time resource. Before the start of the first transfer event within the time resource of the preconfigured CG, the ED performs the first LBT procedure for channel access in the transfer event. If the first LBT procedure is successful, the ED may start transmission on the PUSCH in the first transmission. However, if the LBT procedure fails, the ED does not delay channel access for the remainder of the preconfigured period, as would be the case in existing procedures. Instead of moving to the next preconfigured temporary resource, the ED tries to perform another LBT procedure before the second transfer event on the preconfigured temporary resource CG. If the LBT procedure fails in the second transfer event, the ED attempts to perform LBT before the third transfer event. The ED continues to attempt LBT until the LBT is successful, or until the ED has exhausted all transmission events in the current preconfigured CG time resource. If the ED fails to start transmission at any of the transmission events in the current CG preconfigured time resource, the ED may delay the transmission events in the next GC preconfigured time resource within a subsequent period.

NR-U supports operations in the wideband frequency domain. A broadband carrier may be divided into multiple subbands, and groups of subbands may be grouped together as parts of a bandwidth (BWP). Thus, an ED with configured grant capability can be configured with a broadband carrier that includes a broadband uplink (UL) bandwidth portion (BWP) that spans multiple subbands of the broadband carrier. In some embodiments, each subband may be a 20 MHz unlicensed channel.

In order to improve LBT failure tolerance in NR-U and/or provide flexibility in resource allocation for different types of uplink traffic with different quality of service (QoS) requirements, a configured grant capable ED may be configured with a frequency domain resource. In some embodiments, the frequency domain resource may be one or more frequency interlaces spanning one or more subbands, such as within a UL wideband BWP.

Before an ED with configured grant capability can transmit over the temporary configured grant resource, the ED must perform LBT in the bandwidth of the configured grant frequency resources. The ED performs LBT procedures for multiple subbands. This may include the following Type 1 eLAA or Type 2 multi-channel access.

Based on the results of the subband LBT procedures, the configured grant capability ED may transmit on one or more subbands for which the LBT procedure was successful. In some embodiments, the configured grant capability of the ED selects the number of subbands for which the LBT procedure was successful based on the type of UL traffic, eg, TB size.

In some embodiments, this method allows a group of configured grant capable EDs configured with the same time-frequency resources and full channel bandwidth (all interlaces) to transmit during the same configured grant period in a manner that reduces blocking. each other by transmitting on different subbands.

The base station may transmit configuration information to configure each ED to provide a configured grant in a group with a different primary subband when hierarchical multi-channel access is used in the entire broadband BWP. A time offset configured by the base station or randomly selected by the ED with a configured grant capability may be applied to a potential transmission start position on the secondary subbands in order to provide flexible wideband CG transmissions.

In some embodiments, since the power of the ED is divided over the transmission bandwidth, an ED with the ability to provide a configured grant that is capable of transmitting on all multiple subband frequency resources may make its choice to limit the transmission of the configured grant to one subband, for of which the LBT procedure was successful within the broadband BWP for coverage extension. Such an event may occur, for example, when an ED with a configured grant capability receives a series of sequential commands to step up the transmit power (TPC) from the base station. The ED may receive such TPC commands in a downlink feedback indicator (DFI).

3 shows an example of two consecutive preconfigured time resources for a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum. A first preconfigured period 310 is shown that includes a preconfigured CG time resource 320 including six resource blocks 321-326. An example of a resource block is a slot or mini-slot. Three transfer events are preconfigured at the start of resource blocks 321, 322, and 324. The LBT procedure is indicated as successful at the first transfer event 321A that occurs at the start of resource block 321, and the ED transmits from transfer event 321A and occupies three resource blocks. A time domain resource outside of the preconfigured time resource 320 but within the first preconfigured period 310 does not use the ED. A portion of a second preconfigured period 340 is shown that includes a preconfigured CG time resource 330 having six resource blocks 331-336. The LBT procedure is indicated as failed at the beginning of the first two resource blocks 331 and 332 that correspond to the first and second transmission events 333A and 332A. The LBT procedure is indicated as successful at the beginning of the transfer event 334A, and then the ED transmits in the transfer events 334A and occupies the remainder of the preconfigured time resource. The time domain resource outside of the preconfigured time resource 330 but within the second preconfigured period 340 does not use the ED. Each of the resource blocks 321-326 and 331-336 may be one or more of: slots, mini-slots, or symbols.

As noted above for Type 1 and Type 2 CG NR procedures, the K-repeats and periodicity parameters are used to determine the time domain resource allocation for the configured grant in the licensed spectrum to provide a consistent approach to existing CG NR 1st procedures. type and type 2 and provide a more efficient and effective result for the NR-U CG, while variants of the present application provide an alternative set of parameters in order to use the configured grant in unlicensed spectrum.

4 shows an example of one transmission resource period 410 in the unlicensed spectrum, which may be configured to include a temporary CG resource 420 with multiple resource blocks 421, 422, 423, and 424 and transmission events indicated at 421A, 422A and 423A. Each of the transmission resource blocks 421-424 may be one or more of: slots, mini-slots, or symbols. The start of each of the transfer events 421A, 422A, and 423A is defined as a potential transfer starting position. The transmission may be a burst transmission. 4, the potential transmission start positions of the first and second resource blocks 421 and 422 show that the LBT procedures have failed and thus there is no transmission in the first and second transmission events 421A and 422A. At the beginning of the third resource block 423, it is indicated that the LBT procedure was successful. The ED then transmits in resource blocks 423 and 424. If the ED still has most of the resource to transmit, the ED waits for the first transmission event in the next period. The remainder of the transmission resource period 400 is not used by the ED.

The K-repeats parameter field used in CG NR Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for licensed spectrum may be replaced for CG NR-U with a parameter field that indicates the size of the configured grant time resource within the transmission resource period.

It should be appreciated that replacing the K-repeats parameter field can be an efficient way to introduce a new parameter field that indicates the size of the configured grant time resource within a period. However, if it is desired to use the K-repeats parameter field, for example to improve reliability for some applications in the unlicensed spectrum, a new parameter field may be added independently to the CG resource configuration parameters.

There are several ways in which the size of the configured grant time resource information can be provided. In a scenario where there is a set of predefined sizes of configured grant resources that can be used, an example of one way to provide the ED with information about a configured grant resource is to provide an index of one of the predefined sizes. The resource size may be expressed in terms of one or more slots, one or more mini-slots, or one or more symbols. The specified resource sizes of configured grants may depend on numerology. In some embodiments, sets may be grouped based on sizes using the same numerological value. In some embodiments, this may result in set grouping based on subcarrier spacing.

An example of a second way to convey configured grant resource information to the ED is to indicate the absolute size of the configured grant resource. It may be expressed in units of milliseconds, that is, in subframes, or in some other suitable time scale such as slots or symbols.

The periodicity parameter field used in the CG NR Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for licensed spectrum may be reused in the same form for CG NR-U. In some embodiments, one or both of the first two choices that currently define a parameter for licensed NR, ie 2 OFDM symbols and 7 OFDM symbols, cannot be defined as specific choices for NR-U CG periodicity.

5 shows an example of one transmission resource period 500 in the unlicensed spectrum that can be configured to include a CG temporary resource 510 with multiple resource blocks 511, 512, 513 and 514 for the first ED and a CG temporary resource 520 with multiple resource blocks 521 , 522, 523 and 524 for the second ED. Each resource block 511-514 may be one or more of: slots, mini-slots, or symbols. The beginning of each of the resource blocks is defined as a potential transmission starting position. 5, at the beginning of the first resource block 511, that is, in the transmission event 511A, it is shown that the LBT procedure was successfully completed for the first ED. Then, the ED transmits the first to fourth resource blocks 511, 512, 513, and 514. The first ED transmits using the first frequency domain interlace. The transfer does not occur in the fourth transfer event 514. The remainder of the transmission resource period 500 for the first ED is not used.

The second ED does not transmit in the first resource block 521 because there is no packet to transmit at the beginning of the resource block. After the later arrival of the packet, the second ED executes the first LBT procedure at the beginning of the second resource block 522, ie, at the transmission event 522A. The first LBT procedure is successful and therefore the second ED then transmits on the second, third and fourth resource blocks 522, 523 and 524. The second ED transmits using the second frequency domain interlace. The example of FIG. 5 shows that the first and second frequency domain interlaces do not match. In some embodiments, the interlaces may be orthogonal to each other.

5, the number of potential starting positions may be equal to the number of resource blocks. Figure 5 shows four resource blocks. However, it should be understood that this is just an example, and that the number of transmission start positions resulting in a corresponding number of transmission events should not be limited to four.

The timeDomainAllocation parameter field used in CG NR Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for licensed spectrum may be replaced for CG NR-U with a parameter field that specifies several characteristics of the allocated CG time domain resource. The parameter field may include an indication of the number of starting positions to transmit in the CG resource in the time domain. The parameter field may also include 1) an indication of the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain, or 2) an indication of the time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource. Each transmission start position may not have an empty position. In a specific example, when there are four transmission events in the CG resource in the time domain, empty positions may be scheduled at the start of the first and third transmission events, or at the beginning of the second and fourth transmission events. When the number of empty positions is specified, the parameter field may also include, for each empty position, one of: 1) specifying the starting point to transmit at the empty position, or 2) specifying the number of empty characters from the empty position.

Regarding the identification of the starting point for each of the transmission start positions, in some embodiments, the base station may configure each ED in the ED group with the same time domain resource configuration but with frequency interlaces that are orthogonal to each other. In some embodiments, the base station may configure the ED to apply an offset at the beginning of a transmission to allow coexistence with the downlink or the scheduled uplink, or both. This offset may be an empty duration that offsets the start position at the beginning of the CG resource to make room for LBT, after the end of the downlink or scheduled uplink transmission, before the first CG temporary resource transfer event.

The timeDomainOffset parameter field used in the CG NR Type 1 and Type 2 procedures for licensed spectrum may be reused in the same form for CG NR-U.

AUL-UCI in NR-U design

In order to support asynchronous HARQ in NR in licensed spectrum, procedures are considered in which uplink control information (UCI) is transmitted on each physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in an autonomous uplink (AUL) that carries HARQ parameters selected by ED. The content of the UCI may also inform the base station of the PUSCH start point, PUSCH end point, and possibly whether MCOT sharing between UL and DL is possible. A slot in NR/NR-U contains 14 OFDM symbols (Oss). This number is the same as the number of OS per subframe in AUL FeLAA, in which UCI was first introduced. PUSCH typically covers all or part of the 14 OCs in a slot. In AUL, the UE indicates the start position and end position of the PUSCH. The PUSCH starting point may indicate that the starting position is OFDM symbol #0 or #1. The PUSCH endpoint may indicate that the end position is OFDM symbol #12 or #13. In NR-U, it may be supported that the PUSCH spans multiple slots, with start and end positions still selected by the UE, and more than one symbol may be used if necessary.

Embodiments of the present application provide for the use of the UCI for a configured grant in unlicensed spectrum. The UCI can be modified according to the design based on Type 1 and Type 2 CG NR-U, which has a scalable numerology.

For example, in some embodiments, the PUSCH start point parameter may be extended to define a start point that includes one or more OFDM symbols. In other embodiments, the PUSCH start point parameter may indicate an OFDM start symbol that is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the numerology (or subcarrier spacing) assigned by the ED.

The PUSCH end point may be defined similarly to the PUSCH start point. In some embodiments, the PUSCH end point may be extended to define a start point that includes one or more OFDM symbols. In other embodiments, the PUSCH endpoint parameter may indicate an end OFDM symbol that is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the numerology (or subcarrier spacing) assigned by the ED.

The UCI may also include a parameter field for indicating the number of time domain resource blocks within the preconfigured time domain resource to be used by the PUSCH. The UCI may include a parameter field to support PUSCH operation that occurs across multiple time domain resource events.

In some embodiments, the ED selects a PUSCH start point and a PUSCH end point. The ED indicates these base station start and end points in the UCI. When a preconfigured null location is scheduled at the start of a transmission resource event, in order to avoid PUSCH overlap with nulls, the start of the PUSCH should be scheduled after the null locations. Thus, the ED must know the null locations and avoid notifying the base station of a PUSCH start point or a PUSCH end point that could potentially overlap with the null location.

FIG. 6 shows an example of one transmission resource period 600 in the unlicensed spectrum, which can be configured to include a CG time resource 610 with multiple transmission events 611, 612, 613, and 614. The resource interval after transmission events 611, 612, and 613 is three slots, and the resource interval after transmission event 614 is four slots. The start of each of the transfer events is defined as a potential transfer starting position. 6, the first and second transmission events 611 and 612 show that the LBT procedure failed. The third transmission event 613 indicates that the LBT procedure was successful. Upon successful completion of the procedure, the LBT ED sends a UCI 620 which indicates the start and end points for the first PUSCH 621. The UCI 620 also indicates that the PUSCH 621 occupies two slots. The first PUSCH 621 occupies slots 613A and 613B.

After the completion of the first PUSCH 621, the ED sends another UCI 630 for the second PUSCH 631. The UCI 630 indicates the start and end points for the second PUSCH 631. The UCI 630 also indicates that the PUSCH 631 occupies two slots. UCI 630 also indicates that the number of slots occupied by PUSCH 631 is two slots. The second PUSCH 631 occupies slots 613C and 614A.

Upon completion of the second PUSCH 631, the ED sends another UCI 640 for the third PUSCH 641. The UCI 640 indicates the start and end points for the third PUSCH 641. The third PUSCH 641 occupies slots 614B and 614C.

Upon completion of the third PUSCH 641, the ED sends another UCI 650 for the fourth PUSCH 651. The UCI 650 indicates the start and end points for the fourth PUSCH 651. The UCI 640 also indicates that the PUSCH 641 occupies the remainder of this last slot.

The example in FIG. 6 shows that there are four transmission events 611, 612, 613, and 614. This example is not a limiting example. In some embodiments, the interval between each transmission event can be considered as one slot. In some embodiments, the interval between each transmission event can be viewed as a slot with multiple mini-slots. In some embodiments, the interval between each transmission event can be considered as one mini-slot. In some embodiments, the interval between each transmission event can be viewed as a mini-slot with multiple symbols.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of exemplary operations 700 performed on an electronic device (ED) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In step 710, the ED receives, from the base station, configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum. The CG resource configuration information includes an indication of the CG time domain resource duration within a transmission resource period. The CG resource configuration information includes an indication of the periodicity of the CG time domain resource. The CG resource configuration information may include resource allocation information in the time domain. The time domain resource allocation information identifies a plurality of events when the ED triggers an uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after a successful listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure.

In some embodiments, the CG time domain resource duration indication is an indication of the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource.

In some embodiments, the CG time domain resource size indication is an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG resource sizes. In some embodiments, the indication of the size of the CG time domain resource is the indication of the absolute size of the CG time domain resource.

In some embodiments, the time domain resource allocation information includes an indication of the number of starting positions to transmit in the CG resource in the time domain. In some embodiments, the time domain resource allocation information includes one of: 1) an indication of the number of empty positions in the time domain CG resource, or 2) an indication of the time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource. For each empty position, the time domain resource allocation information may include one of: 1) specifying a starting point to transmit at the empty position, or 2) indicating the number of empty symbols from the empty position.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is selected such that the transmission start position of the ED and the transmission start position of other EDs are aligned to allow frequency multiplexing of the ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces.

In some embodiments, the CG resource configuration information is chosen to align the empty position at the beginning of the transmission start position for the ED in order to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs.

In step 720, the ED transmits an uplink CG transmission in all unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

In some embodiments, all CG resource configuration information is received in RRC signaling.

In some embodiments, a CG time domain resource duration indication and a CG time domain resource periodicity indication are received in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, and time domain resource allocation information is received in Downlink Control Information (DCI) signaling.

Exemplary operations 700 illustrate an exemplary embodiment. This document describes various ways to perform the illustrated operations, as well as examples of other operations that can be performed. Further variations may or may become apparent.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of exemplary operations 800 performed at a base station in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

In step 810, the base station sends configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to the electronic device (ED) to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum. The CG resource configuration information includes an indication of the CG time domain resource duration within a transmission resource period. The CG resource configuration information includes an indication of the periodicity of the CG time domain resource. The CG resource configuration information may include resource allocation information in the time domain. The time domain resource allocation information identifies a plurality of events when the ED triggers an uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after a successful listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure. In step 820, the base station receives an uplink CG transmission in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

Exemplary operations 800 illustrate an exemplary embodiment. This document describes various ways to perform the illustrated operations, as well as examples of other operations that can be performed. Further variations may or may become apparent.

Figure 9 shows a flowchart of exemplary operations 900 performed in an ED, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Step 910 is an optional step that includes determining whether preconfigured null symbol locations are scheduled at the start of a slot boundary. In a further optional step, when preconfigured null symbol locations are determined for scheduling at the start of a slot boundary, step 913 includes selecting, ED, a PUSCH start point as a symbol location after the preconfigured null symbols and a PUSCH end point as a symbol location before the start next slot or next preconfigured null character. In a further optional step, when it is determined that preconfigured null symbol locations should not be scheduled at the beginning of a slot boundary, step 916 includes selecting, ED, a PUSCH start point that is the location of the first symbol after the slot boundary and the PUSCH end point as the location character until the start of the next slot or the next preconfigured null character.

Step 920 includes transmitting, ED, configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the base station to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum. The CG resource configuration information includes, for each transmitted physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI), which includes a PUSCH start point indication, a PUSCH end point indication, and a PUSCH duration indication, for example, the number of slots in PUSCH.

In some embodiments, the PUSCH start point indication comprises at least one of: 1) a PUSCH start point indication, which is one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols, and 2) a PUSCH start point indication, which is a fixed mapping to a series of OFDM symbols based on the subcarrier spacing configuration.

Exemplary operations 900 illustrate an exemplary embodiment. This document describes various ways to perform the illustrated operations, as well as examples of other operations that can be performed. In addition, variations may be or may become apparent.

It should be understood that one or more of the steps in the implementation methods presented herein may be performed by respective blocks or modules. For example, the signal may be transmitted by a transmission unit or a transmission module. The signal may be received by the receiving unit or by the receiving module. The signal may be processed by a processing unit or a processing module. The respective blocks/modules may be hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more units/modules may be an integrated circuit, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). It should be understood that if the modules are software, they may be retrieved by the processor, as needed, in whole or in part, individually or together for processing, as needed in one or more instances, and that the modules themselves may include instructions for further deployment and creating an instance.

Additional details regarding EDs and base stations are known to those skilled in the art. In this document, these details are essentially omitted for the sake of clarity.

In the foregoing description, numerous details have been set forth for purposes of explanation in order to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. However, one skilled in the art will appreciate that these specific details are not required. In other cases, well-known electrical structures and circuits are shown in block diagram form in order not to obscure understanding. For example, specific details are not provided as to whether the embodiments described herein are implemented as a software routine, hardware circuit, firmware, or a combination thereof.

Embodiments of the disclosure may be in the form of a computer program product stored on a computer-readable storage medium (also referred to as a computer-readable storage medium, a processor-readable storage medium, or a computer-usable storage medium having a computer-readable program code embodied thereon). The computer-readable storage medium can be any suitable tangible non-volatile storage medium, including magnetic, optical, or electrical storage media, including a floppy disk, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), storage device (volatile or non-volatile), or similar mechanism. storage. The computer-readable storage medium may contain various sets of instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or other data that, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform the steps of a method according to an embodiment of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other instructions and operations necessary to implement the described implementations may also be stored on a computer-readable storage medium. The instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium may be executed by a processor or other suitable processing device and may interact with circuitry to perform the tasks described.

The contents of the drawings are for illustrative purposes only, and the present invention is in no way limited to the specific exemplary embodiments expressly shown in the drawings and described herein. For example, FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a communication system in which embodiments may be implemented. Other embodiments may be implemented in communication systems that include more network elements than shown or that have a different topology than the example shown. Likewise, the examples in the other figures are also for illustrative purposes only.

Other implementation details may also vary depending on the various embodiments. For example, some of the examples above refer to NR and LTE terminology. However, the embodiments disclosed herein are in no way limited to NR or LTE systems.

In addition, while embodiments are described primarily in the context of methods and systems, other implementations are also contemplated, for example, as instructions stored on a non-volatile, processor-readable storage medium. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to execute the method.

According to a first example, there is provided a method performed by an electronic device (ED) in a wireless communication network, the method including: receiving, at the ED from a base station, configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink unlicensed spectrum communications, the CG resource configuration information including: an indication of a CG time domain resource duration within a transmission resource period; indicating the periodicity of the time domain resource CG; and time domain resource allocation information, wherein the time domain resource allocation information specifies multiple events for the ED to start uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after successful execution of the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure; and transmitting the uplink CG transmission in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

According to the first embodiment of the first example, the indication of the duration of the CG time domain resource comprises an indication of the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource.

According to a second embodiment of the first example, the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG sizes, or an absolute CG time domain resource size indication.

According to the third embodiment of the first example, the time domain resource allocation information includes: an indication of the number of starting positions to transmit in the CG resource in the time domain; one of: indicating the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain, or indicating a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each empty position, one of: specifying the starting point to transmit at the empty position, or specifying the number of empty characters from the empty position.

According to the fourth embodiment of the first example, all CG resource configuration information is received in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

According to the fifth embodiment of the first example, the CG time domain resource duration indication and the CG time domain resource periodicity indication are received in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, and time domain resource allocation information is received in downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

According to the sixth embodiment of the first example, the CG resource configuration information is selected to align the empty position at the beginning of the transmission start position for the ED in order to reduce the deadlock between the ED and other EDs during execution of LBT procedures by other EDs.

According to the seventh embodiment of the first example, the method further includes selecting the CG resource configuration information to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of this ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces.

According to an eighth embodiment of the first example, the method further includes receiving, ED, an indication of a frequency domain resource comprising identifying a plurality of subbands within a wideband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum; and the ED performs the LBT procedure on at least one of the plurality of subbands.

According to the ninth embodiment of the first example, the number of subbands in the plurality of subbands is based on one of a transmission traffic type or a transmission block (TB) size.

According to a tenth embodiment of the first example, the method further includes receiving, ED, indications of one or more frequency interlaces per subband for a plurality of subbands for uplink CG transmission in unlicensed spectrum, wherein the one or more frequency interlaces per subband a subband configured for an ED is different from one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for other EDs served by the base station.

According to a second example, there is provided a method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, the method including: transmitting, by the base station to an electronic device (ED), configuration information of a configured grant (CG) resource to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink unlicensed spectrum communications, the CG resource configuration information including: an indication of a CG time domain resource duration within a transmission resource period; indicating the periodicity of the time domain resource CG; and time domain resource allocation information, wherein the time domain resource allocation information determines multiple events for the UE to start uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after successful execution of the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure; and receiving an uplink CG transmission in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information.

According to the first embodiment of the second example, indicating the duration of the CG time domain resource includes indicating the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the CG time domain resource.

According to a second embodiment of the second example, the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG sizes; or an indication of the absolute size of the CG time domain resource.

According to the third embodiment of the second example, the allocation information in the time domain includes: an indication of the number of starting positions for data transmission in the CG resource in the time domain; one of: indicating the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain, or indicating a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each empty position, one of: specifying the starting point to transmit at the empty position, or specifying the number of empty characters from the empty position.

According to the fourth embodiment of the second example, all CG resource configuration information is transmitted in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

According to the fifth embodiment of the second example, the CG time domain resource duration indication and the CG time domain resource periodicity indication are transmitted in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, and time domain resource allocation information is received in downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

According to the sixth embodiment of the second example, the CG resource configuration information is selected to align the empty position at the beginning of the transmission start position for the ED in order to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs.

According to the seventh embodiment of the second example, selection of the CG resource configuration information is performed to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of EDs and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces.

According to an eighth embodiment of the second example, the method further includes transmitting, by the base station, an indication of a frequency domain resource including identifying a plurality of subbands within a wideband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum.

According to a ninth embodiment of the second example, the method further includes transmitting, by the base station, indicating one or more frequency interlaces per subband for the plurality of subbands for uplink CG transmission in the unlicensed spectrum for each ED served by the base station, wherein one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for each ED are different from other EDs.

According to a third example, there is provided a method performed by an electronic device (ED) in a wireless communication network, the method including: transmitting, ED, configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure a base station to transmit CG on an uplink in an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the CG resource configuration information includes, for each transmitted physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), uplink control information (UCI), which includes a PUSCH start point indication, a PUSCH end point indication, and a the duration of the PUSCH, for example, the number of slots in the PUSCH.

According to the first embodiment of the third example, the PUSCH start point indication comprises at least one of: a PUSCH start point indication that is one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols; and specifying a PUSCH start point, which is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the subcarrier spacing pattern.

According to the second embodiment of the third example, the method further includes, when the preconfigured blank symbol locations overlap with the symbol locations preceding the PUSCH start point from the end of the last slot boundary or the symbol locations following the PUSCH end point to the next slot boundary start point, selecting by the UE a PUSCH start point as a symbol location after the preconfigured blank symbols and a PUSCH end point as a symbol location before the start of the next slot or the next preconfigured blank symbol.

According to a fourth example, a method is provided in a wireless communication network, including: receiving, by a base station from an electronic device (ED), configuration information of a configured grant (CG) resource to configure the base station to transmit CG on the uplink in an unlicensed spectrum, wherein the CG resource configuration information contains, for each physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmitted, uplink control information (UCI), which includes a PUSCH start point indication, a PUSCH end point indication, and a PUSCH duration indication. , for example, the number of slots in PUSCH.

According to the first embodiment of the fourth example, the PUSCH start point indication comprises at least one of: a PUSCH start point indication that is one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) symbols; and specifying a PUSCH start point, which is a fixed mapping to a set of OFDM symbols based on the subcarrier spacing pattern.

According to the second embodiment of the fourth example, the method further includes receiving an indication of the selected PUSCH start point and the selected PUSCH end point, wherein the PUSCH start point is a symbol location after the preconfigured blank symbols, and the PUSCH end point is a symbol location before the start of the next slot or the next preconfigured configured null character.

According to a fifth example, an apparatus is provided including a processor and a processor-readable memory. Processor-readable storage stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute the method according to any of the embodiments of the first example described above.

According to the first embodiment of the fifth example, the device is an electronic device (ED).

According to a sixth example, an apparatus including a processor and a processor-readable memory is provided. Processor-readable storage stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute a method according to any of the embodiments of the second example described above.

According to the first embodiment of the sixth example, the device is an electronic device (ED).

According to a seventh example, an apparatus is provided including a processor and a processor-readable memory. Processor-readable storage stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute a method according to any of the embodiments of the third example described above.

According to the first embodiment of the seventh example, the device is a base station.

According to an eighth example, an apparatus including a processor and a processor-readable memory is provided. The processor-readable storage device stores processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute the method according to any of the embodiments of the fourth example described above.

According to the first embodiment of the eighth example, the device is a base station. The above described embodiments are for exemplary purposes only. Those skilled in the art may make changes, modifications, and variations to specific embodiments. The scope of the claims should not be limited to the specific embodiments set forth herein, but should be construed in accordance with the description as a whole.

Claims (65)

1. A wireless communication method performed by an electronic device (ED) in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: receiving, by the ED from the base station, the configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the ED to transmit the CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum, the CG resource configuration information comprising: indicating the duration of the CG time domain resource within the CG time domain resource period; and indicating the periodicity of the time domain resource CG; and transmission, ED, uplink CG transmissions in all unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the CG resource configuration information further comprises CG resource allocation information in a time domain, wherein the time domain resource allocation information specifies multiple events for an ED to start an uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after the successful execution of the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the indication of the duration of the CG time domain resource comprises an indication of the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG resource sizes; or specifying the absolute size of the CG time domain resource. 5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein the time domain CG resource allocation information comprises: indicating the number of starting positions for transmission in the CG resource in the time domain; one of: specifying the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain; or specifying a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each empty position one of: specifying a starting point for transmission in an empty position; or specifying the number of empty characters from an empty position. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein all of the CG resource configuration information is received in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. 7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the CG resource configuration information is received partly in radio resource control (RRC) signaling and partly in downlink control information (DCI) signaling. 8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the CG resource configuration information is selected to align an empty position at the beginning of a transmission start position for the ED to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs. 9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising selecting, ED, the CG resource configuration information to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of the ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency alternations. 10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising: receiving, ED, an indication of a frequency domain resource comprising an identification of a plurality of subbands within a broadband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum; performing, ED, an LBT procedure for at least one of the plurality of subbands. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the number of subbands in the plurality of subbands is based on one of: a transmission traffic type or a transmission block (TB) size. 12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: receive, ED, indicating one or more frequency interlaces per subband for multiple subbands for uplink CG transmission in unlicensed spectrum, wherein one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for ED are different from one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for other EDs served by the base station. 13. A wireless communication method performed by a base station in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: transmitting, by the base station to the electronic device (ED), the configured grant (CG) resource configuration information to configure the ED to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum, the CG resource configuration information comprising: indicating the duration of the CG time domain resource within the CG time domain resource period; and indicating the periodicity of the time domain resource CG; and receiving, by the base station, CG uplink transmissions in the entire unlicensed spectrum according to the CG resource configuration information. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the CG resource configuration information further comprises time domain CG resource allocation information, wherein the time domain resource allocation information specifies multiple events for the UE to start uplink CG transmission within the duration of the CG time domain resource after the successful execution of the listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure. 15. The method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the indication of the duration of the CG time domain resource comprises an indication of the size of the CG time domain resource within a period containing the time domain CG resource. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the CG time domain resource size indication is one of: an index associated with a CG time domain resource size selected from a set of time domain CG resource sizes; or specifying the absolute size of the CG time domain resource. 17. The method according to any one of claims 13-16, wherein the CG release information in the time domain comprises: indicating the number of starting positions for data transmission in the CG resource in the time domain; one of: indicating the number of empty positions in the CG resource in the time domain; or specifying a time interval between empty positions from the start of the CG time domain resource; and for each empty position one of: specifying the starting point of the transfer in an empty position; or specifying the number of empty characters from an empty position. 18. The method according to any one of claims 13-17, wherein all of the CG resource configuration information is transmitted in Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. 19. The method according to any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the CG resource configuration information is received partly in radio resource control (RRC) signaling and partly in downlink control information (DCI) signaling. 20. The method of any one of claims 13-19, wherein the CG resource configuration information is selected to align an empty position at the beginning of a transmission start position for the ED to reduce deadlock between the ED and other EDs during LBT procedures performed by other EDs. 21. The method according to any one of claims 13-20, further comprising: selecting, by the base station, CG resource configuration information to align the transmission start position of the ED with the transmission start position of other EDs to enable frequency multiplexing of the ED and other EDs capable of using orthogonal frequency interlaces. 22. The method according to any one of claims 12-21, further comprising: transmitting, by the base station, a frequency domain resource indication containing the identification of a plurality of subbands within the broadband carrier and one or more frequency interlaces that are configured to transmit CG on the uplink in the unlicensed spectrum. 23. The method of claim 22, further comprising: transmission, by the base station, indicating one or more frequency interlaces per subband for multiple subbands for uplink CG transmission in the unlicensed spectrum for each ED served by the base station, with one or more frequency interlaces per subband configured for each ED are different from other EDs. 24. A wireless communication device, comprising: CPU; and processor-readable storage that stores instructions executable by the processor that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: perform the method according to any one of claims 1-12. 25. The device of claim 24, wherein the device is an electronic device (ED). 26. A wireless communication device, comprising: CPU; and processor-readable storage that stores instructions executable by the processor that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: perform the method according to any of claims 13–23. 27. The device of claim 26, wherein the device is a base station.

Images