WO2017107212A1

WO2017107212A1 - System and method for pusch resource mapping in fd-mimo system

Info

Publication number: WO2017107212A1
Application number: PCT/CN2015/099056
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yushu Zhang; Yuan Zhu; Wenting CHANG; Gang Xiong; Ralf Bendlin
Original assignee: Intel IP Corporation
Priority date: 2015-12-25
Filing date: 2015-12-25
Publication date: 2017-06-29

Abstract

Technology for PUSCH resource mapping is disclosed. One method comprise: applying a PUSCH resource mapping pattern for a PUSCH transmission， wherein the PUSCH resource mapping pattern to comprise a PUSCH associated resource element (RE) that is at the same position as that of a resource element for DMRS; and muting the PUSCH associated resource element in response to transmitting the PUSCH. A MIMO indicator to indicate a MIMO mode of a user equipment (UE) and a muting indicator to whether to mute the PUSCH associated RE for the DMRS in a corresponding antenna port may be included in an uplink grant to the UE. A bit map may be used to identify one or more RE muting groups. A relationship information between the bit map and the muting resource element group and a PUSCH muting indicator to indicate whether PUSCH muting is enabled for the UE may be used.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PUSCH

RESOURCE MAPPING IN FD-MIMO SYSTEM

BACKGROUND

[0001 ] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to

provide telecommunication services to fixed or mobile subscribers, e.g., a base station and a wireless mobile device. In the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE) systems, a base stationmay be an evolved Node Bs (eNode Bs or eNBs) that may communicatewith the wireless mobile device, known as a user equipment (UE).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] The invention described herein is illustrated by way of example and not by way of

limitation in the accompanying figures. For simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference labels have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. Aspects, features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention in reference to the appended drawing in which like numerals denote like elements and in which:

[0003] Figure 1 schematically illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless network in accordance with various embodiments;

[0004] Figure 2 illustrates a schematic block diagram relating to a structure of an uplink physical channel in accordance with various embodiments;

[0005] Figure 3 schematically illustrates a diagram of an uplink resource grid in accordance with various embodiments;

[0006] Figures 4A and 4B schematically illustrates resource mapping patterns in accordance with various embodiments;

[0007] Figure 5 schematically illustrates a resource mapping pattern in accordance with various embodiments;

[0008] Figure 6 schematically illustrates a resource mapping pattern in accordance with various embodiments;

[0009] Figure 7 schematically illustrates a resource mapping pattern in accordance with various embodiments; [0010] Figure 8 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[001 1] Figure 9 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0012] Figure 10 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0013] Figure 1 1 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0014] Figure 12 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0015] Figure 13 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0016] Figure 14 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0017J Figure 15 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0018] Figure 16 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments;

[0019] Figure 17 schematically illustrates a flow chart of one or more processes in accordance with various embodiments; and

[0020] Figure 18 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a mobile communication device in accordance with various embodiments.

[0021] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific

language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Before the present invention is disclosed and described, it is to be understood that this invention is not limited to the particular structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but is extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those ordinarily skilled in the relevant arts. It should also be understood that terminology employed herein is used for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting. The same reference numerals in different drawings represent the same element. [0023] References in the specification to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "an example embodiment", etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

[0024] Embodiments of the invention may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. Embodiments of the invention may also be implemented as instructions stored on a machine-readable medium, which may be read and executed by one or more processors. A machine-readable medium may include any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computing device, a mobile device, a smartphone, etc.). For example, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices. For another example, a transitory machine-readable medium may include electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.), and others.

[0025] The following description may include terms, such as first, second, etc. that are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as limiting. As used herein, the term "module" and/or "unit" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

[0026] Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations may not need to be performed in the order of presentation.

[0027] The following embodiments may be used in a variety of applications including transmitters and receivers of a radio system, although the present invention is not limited in this respect. Examples of radio systems may include, but are not limited to, network interface cards (NICs), network adaptors, fixed or mobile client devices, relays, base stations, femtocells, gateways, bridges, hubs, routers, access points, or other network devices. Further, the radio systems within the scope of the invention may be implemented in cellular radiotelephone systems, satellite systems, two-way radio systems as well as computing devices including such radio systems, e.g., personal computers, tablets and related peripherals, personal digital assistants, personal computing accessories, hand-held communication devices and all systems which may be related in nature and to which the principles of the inventive embodiments could be suitably applied.

[0028] In third generation partnership project (3GPP) adio access network (RAN) long term

evolution (LTE) systems, a transmission station may comprisea combination of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) Node Bs (also commonly denoted as evolved Node Bs, enhanced Node Bs, eNodeBs, or eNBs), which may communicate with a wireless mobile device, known as a user equipment (UE). A downlink transmission maycomprise a communication from the transmission station (or eNodeB) to the wireless mobile device (or UE), and an uplink transmission may comprise a communication from the wireless mobile device to the transmission station.

[0029] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and/or systems, for example, a UE, a mobile device, a mobile wireless device, a mobile communication device, a wireless station, a mobile station, a personal computer, a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, a netbook computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone device, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld mobile device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumer device, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communication station, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP), a wireless node, a base station (BS), a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device, an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wireless network, a wireless area network, a cellular network, a cellular node, a cellular device, a wireless local area network (WLAN) device, an universal integrated circuit card (UICC), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a customer premise equipment (CPE), a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver or device, a device having one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, a digital video broadcast (DVB) device, a multi-standard radio device, a wired or wireless handheld device, a wireless application protocol (WAP) device, vending machines, sell terminals, a wearable device, a handset, and/or other consumer electronics such as MP3 players, digital cameras and the like, persona] computing accessories and existing and future arising wireless mobile devices which may be related in nature and to which the principles of the embodiments could be suitably applied.

[0030] Figure 1 schematically illustrates a wireless communication network 100 in accordance with various embodiments. In one embodiment, wireless communication network 100 (hereinafter "network 100") may comprise a base stationl 10, e.g., an evolved Node B (eNB), that may communicate with a mobile wireless device, e.g., UE 120.1n various embodiments, eNB 110 may be a fixed station (e.g., a fixed node) or a mobile station/node. In various embodiments, the network 100 may comprise an access network of an access network of a 3 GPP LTE network such as E-UTRAN, 3 GPP LTE-A network, 4G network, 4.5G network, a 5G network or any other future communication network, a Wi ax cellular network, HSPA, Bluetooth, WiFi or other type of wireless access networks or any other future standards.

[0031 ] In various embodiments, eNB 110 and/or UE 120may support multiple-input and

multiple-output (MIMO) communication with each other. For example, eNB 110 and/or UE 120 may comprise one or more antennas to utilize one or more radio resources of the wireless communication network 100. As shown in Figure 1, eNB 1 10 and/or UE 120 may each comprise a set of one or more antennas to implement a multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) transmission/reception system. The MIMO transmission/reception system may operate in a variety of MIMO modes, including single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), close loop MIMO, open loop MIMO, full-dimension MIMO (FD-MIMO) or variations of smart antenna processing. As showii in Figure 1 , eNB 110 may comprise one or more antennas 1 18 while UE 1 10 may comprise one or more antennas 128.

[0032] For example, a FD-MIMO system may utilize a two-dimension (2D) planar antenna array structure. The 2D planar antenna structure may place one or more antenna elements in two directions, e.g., in a vertical direction and/or a horizontal direction. The 2D planar antenna array structure may have, e.g., eight or more antennas. In some demonstrative embodiments, a total number of antennas in a 2D planar array structure may exceed, e.g., eight, and more (e.g., 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. receiving antenna ports may be used. The increased total number of receiving antennas in the 2D structure and the increased number of receiving antenna portsmay result in higher MU-MIMO dimension. In some demonstrative embodiments, higher MU-MIMO degree with a development of receiving antenna ports number may bring a higher performance, e.g., higher user spectrum efficiency. In some embodiments, UE 1 10 may communicate using orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM A) and or single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA). With a flexible design of OFDMA, symmetric downlink/uplink waveforms may be used in a 5G system with a carrier frequency above, e.g., 6 GHz, etc. In some embodiments, a single carrier waveform may be used in a 5G system with a carrier frequency below, e.g., 6 GHz, etc.

[0033] In some demonstrative embodiments, eNB 110 may include a controller 114. The

controller 1 14 may be coupled with a transmitter 1 12 and a receiver 1 16 and/or one or more communications modules or units in eNB 110. In some embodiments, the transmitter 112 and/or the receiver 116may be elements or modules of a transceiver. The transmitter 112 and/or the receiver 1 16 may be coupled with the one or more antennas 118 to communicate with UE 120. IJE 120 may comprise a transmitter 122 and a receiver 126 and/or one or more communications modules or units. The transmitter 122 anoVor the receiver 126 may communicate with a base station (BS), e.g., eNB 1 10 or other type of wireless access point such as wide area network (WWAN) via one or more antennas 128 of the UE 120.

[0034] In some embodiments, eNB 110 may comprise other hardware, software and/orfirmware components, e.g., a memory, a storage, an input module, an output module, one or more radio modules and/or one or more digital modules, and/or other components. Transmitter 1 12 may be configured to transmit signals to UE 120 via one or more antennas 1 18. Receiver 116 may be configured to receive signals from UE 120 via one or more antennas 1 18. In some embodiments, the transmitter 1 12 and/or the receiver 1 16may be elements or modules of a transceiver circuitry.

[0035] In some embodiments, controller 1 14 may control one or more functionalities of eNB 1 10 and/or control one or more communications performed by eNB 110. In some demonstrative embodiments, controller 114 may execute instructions of software and/or firmware, e.g., of an operating system (OS) of eNB 110 and/or of one tir more applications. Controller 114may comprise or may be implemented using suitable circuitry, e.g., controller circuitry, configuration circuitry, baseband circuitry, scheduler circuitry, processor circuitry, memory circuitry, and/or any other circuitry, which may be configured to perform at least part of the functionality of controller 114. In some embodiments, one or more functionalities of controller 1 14 may be implemented by logic, which may be executed by a machine and/or one or more processors.

[0036] In various embodiments, UE 120 may communicate using one or more wireless

communication standards including 3GPP LTE, worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), high speed packet access (HSPA), Bluetooth, WiFi, 5G standard and/or other wireless standards or future wireless standards. UE 120 may communicate via separate antenna(s) for each wireless communication standard or shared antenna(s) for multiple wireless communication standards. In some embodiments, UE 120 may communicate in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and/or a wireless wide area network (WW AN) or other network.

[0037] In some embodiments, UE 120 may comprise a controller 124, a transmitter 122, areceiver 124 and one or more antennas 128. In some embodiments, UE 120 may comprise other hardware components, software components and/or firmware components, e.g., a memory, a storage, an input unit, an output unit and/or any other components. Transmitter 122 may transmit signals to eNB 1 10 via one or more antennas 128. Receiver 124 may receive signals from eNB 1 10 via one or more antennas 128. In some embodiments, the transmitter 122 and/or the receiver 126may be elements or modules of a transceiver.

[0038] In some embodiments, controller 124 may be coupled to receiver 124 and transmitter 122.

In some embodiments, controller 124 may control¹ one or more functionalities of UE 120 and/or control one or more communications performed by UE 120. In some demonstrative embodiments, controller 124 may execute instructions of software and/or firmware, e.g., of an operating system (OS) of UE 120 and or of one or more applications. Controller 124may comprise or may be implemented using suitable circuitry, e.g., controller circuitry, scheduler circuitry, processor circuitry, memory circuitry, and/or any other circuitry, which may be configured to perform at least part of the functionality of controller 12. In some embodiments, one or more functionalities of controller 124 may be implemented by logic, which may be executed by a machine and/or one or more processors.

[0039] For example, controller 124may comprise a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), a graphic processing unit (GPU), one or more processor cores, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a multiple-core processor, a microprocessor, a host processor, a controller, a plurality of processors or controllers, a chip, a microchip, one or more circuits, circuitry, a baseband circuitry, a configuration circuitry, a radio frequency (RF) circuitry, a logic unit, an integrated circuit (IC), an application-specific IC (ASIC), or any other suitable multi-purpose or specific processor or controller arid/or any combination thereof.

[0040] Transmitter 112 may comprise, or may be coupled with one or more antennas 118 of eNB 110 to communicate wirelessly with other components of the wireless communication network 100, e.g., UE 120. Transmitter 122 may comprise, or may be coupled with one or more antennas 128 of UE 120 to communicate wirelessly with other components of the wireless communication network 100, e.g., eNB 110. In some embodiments, transmitter 1 12 and/or transmitter 122may each comprise one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, one or more transmitters, one or more receivers and/or one or more transceivers that may send and/or receive wireless communication signals, radio frequency (RF) signals, frames, blocks, transmission streams, packets, messages, data items, data, information and/or any other signals.

[0041] In some demonstrative embodiments, the antennas 118 and/or the antennas 128 may

comprise any type of antennas suitable to transmit and/or receive wireless communication signals, RF signals, blocks, frames, transmission streams, packets, messages, data items and/or data. For example, the antennas 118 and/or the antennas 128 may comprise any suitable configuration, structure and/or arrangement of one or more antenna elements, components, units, assemblies and/or arrays. In some embodiments, the antennas 118 and/or the antennas 128 may implement transmit and/or receive functionalities using separate transmit and/or receive antenna elements. In some embodiments, the antennas 118 and/or the antennas 128 may implement transmit and/or receive functionalities using common and/or integrated transmit/receive elements. The antenna may comprise, for example, a phased array antenna, a single element antenna, a dipole antenna, a set of switched beam antennas, and/or the like.

[0042] While Fig. 1 illustrates some components of eNB 1 10, in some embodiments, the eNB 110 may optionally comprise other suitable hardware, software and/or firmware components that may be interconnected or operably associated with one or more components in the eNB 110. While Fig. 1 illustrates some components of UE 120, in some embodiments, UE 120 may comprise other suitable hardware, software and/or firmware components that may be interconnected or operably associated with one or more components in UE 120. For example, eNB 110 and/or UE 120 maycomprise one or more radio modules (not shown) to modulate and/or demodulate signals transmitted or received on an air interface, and one or more digital modules (not shown) to process signals transmitted and received on the air interface.

[0043] In some demonstrative embodiments, eNB 110 and/or UE 120 may comprise one or more input units (not shown) and/or one or more output units (not shown). For example, one or more input units may comprise a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touch-screen, a touch-pad, a track-ball, a stylus, a microphone, or any other pointing/input unit or device. For example, one or more output units may comprise a monitor, a screen, a touch-screen, a flat panel display, a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display unit, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display unit, a plasma display unit, one or more audio speakers or earphones, or any other output unit or device.

[0044] In some demonstrative embodiments, UE 120 may comprise, for example, a mobile

computer, a mobile device, a station, a laptop computing device, a notebook computing device, a netbook, a tablet computing device, an UJtrabook™ computing device, a handheld computing device, a handheld device, a storage device, a PDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-board device, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalities with PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device, a mobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a wearable device, a relatively small computing device, a non-desktop computer, a "carry small live large" (CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC), a mobile internet device (MID), an "Origami" device or computing device, a video device, an audio device, an audio/video (A/V) device, a gaming device, a media player, a smartphone, a mobile station (MS), a mobile wireless device, a mobile communication device, a handset, a cellular phone, a mobile phone, a personal computer (PC), a handheld mobile device, an universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a customer premise equipment (CPE), or other consumer electronics such as digital cameras and the like, personal computing accessories and existing and future arising wireless mobile devices which may be related in nature and to which the principles of the embodiments could be suitably applied.

[0045] While Figure 1 illustrates one or more components in eNB 110 and/or UE 120, eNB 1 10 and/or UE 120 may each comprise one or more radio modules or units (not shown) that may modulate and/or demodulate signals transmitted or received on an air interface, and/or one or more digital modules or units (not shown) that may process signals transmitted and received on the air interface.

[0046] Figure 2 schematically illustrates an example of a block diagram of a wireless

communication device. In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may be configured to process a baseband signal that may represent a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)according to various embodiments. In various embodiments, a code rmay code a signal that may represent the PUSCH to generate coded bits. For example, 3GPP LTE specification may outline some coding process. A multiplexer may be configured to multiplex the coded bits for the PUSCH to generate a block of data, e.g., one or more codewords 220. In some embodiments, a size of the block of data may match an amount of REs that can be used by the PUSCH. For example, for a codeword 220, a scrambler or other scrambling module 202may scramble the coded bits in the codeword '220 to be transmitted on the PUSCH. A modulating mapper 204 or a modulator or other modulating module may modulate (204) the scrambled bits in the codeword 220. In various embodiments, quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), bi-phase shift keying (BPSK), 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM), 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or other types of modulation may be used to create a block of one or more complex-valued modulation symbols. [0047] In various embodiments, a layer mapper 206 or other layer mapping module may map

(206)onto one or more transmission layers one or more complex symbols for a codeword 220 to be transmitted on the PUSCH. In some embodiments, a number of the layers may be, e.g., based on that of transmission antenna ports used at an eNB and/or a UE. For example, a single layer may be used for transmission on an antenna port. For another example, the number of layers may be less than or the same as that of antenna ports for transmission of the PUSCH, e.g., for spatial multiplexing. In various embodiments, a precoder 208 or other precoding module may precode one or more complex-valued modulation symbols ona layer to generate an output for transmission on one or more corresponding antenna ports for the layer. In some embodiments, precoding for transmission diversity or spatial multiplexing may be performed for a UE with, e.g., two or four antenna ports based on 3GPP LTE Rel. 8 specification or a UE with other number of antenna ports, e.g., eight or more. For an antenna port for transmission of the PUSCH in a subframe, a resource mapper 210 or other resource mapping module may mapone or more complex valued modulation symbols corresponding tothe antenna port to one or more REs. In various embodiments, the resource mapped complex-valued symbolsmay be sent to a corresponding antenna port of the UE for transmission.

[0048] While Figure 2 illustrates a sequence of one or more processing for PUSCH, in some

embodiments, other processing or order of processing may be used. For example, a time-domain orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal may be generated from the resource mapped complex-valued symbols for transmission on each antenna port. In various embodiments, the one or more components modules for the processing for PUSCH may be used in the controller 24 of UE 120.

[0049] In various embodiments, communication of data on PUSCH may be controlled via a

control channel, referred to as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). A resource unit for uplink transmissions may be denoted as a resource element (RE). In some embodiments, uplink control information (UCI) may be transmitted on physical downlink control channel (PUCCH)or PUSCH. In PUCCH, transport resource allocation may be used. In PUSCH, scheduling may be used. In some embodiments, PUSCH may have a higher priority for UCI than PUCCH. For example, UCI may be transmitted via PUCCH if the PUSCH may not have a scheduled resource for UCI. Otherwise, PUSCH may be used for UCI transmission.

[0050] In some embodiments, uplink control information (UCI) may comprise information on resource allocations or scheduling related to uplink resource assignments on the PDCCH, uplink resource grants, or uplink power control commands and/or other control information. PUCCH may support one or more formats, e.g., format 1 , la, lb, 2, 2a, 2b, 3 or other formats that may be created to carry corresponding uplink control information. While Figure 2 illustrates some embodiment for a PUSCH, other embodiments may use xPUSCH in a 5G system. In some embodiments, UC1 may be transmitted in PUCCH or PUSCH. In PUCCH, transport resource allocation may be used. In PUSCH, scheduling based method may be used. PUSCH may have a higher priority than PUCCH. If there is no scheduled resource for UCI transmission, UE may transmit UCI via PUCCH, otherwise, PUSCH may be used.

[0051 ] Figure 3 illustrates a diagram of an uplink resource grid structure according to an

embodiment. A signal transmitted in a slot may be described by a resource grid300 of A _JS N_sf subcarriers and N^_b single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols, wheTein may represent uplink transmission bandwidth configured in a cell, e.g., a number of resource blocks in the slot,

may represent a number of subcarriers in the slot, and represent a number of SC-FDMA symbols in the slot. While Figure 3 illustrate a radio frame with aduration T of, e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms), in some embodiments, a radio frame may have a different duration. A radio frame may be segmented or divided into one or more subframes that may each have a duration of, e.g., 1 ms. A subframe may be further subdivided into two slots, each with a duration _{s t} of, e.g., 0.5 ms. Figure 3 illustrates an example of an uplink slot 310 with a duration of T_s/ot.

[0052] In various embodiments, uplink transmissions may be scheduled in larger units such as resource blocks320. For example ,a physical resource block 320 may comprise a number N^_b of SC-FDMA symbols in time domain and a . number of subcarriers in frequency domain. In some embodiments, a physical resource block 320 may comprise, e.g., 12-15 kHz subcarriers and, e.g., 7 SC-FDMA symbols per subcarrier, e.g., for short or normal cyclic prefix. In another embodiment, a resource block 320 may use six SC-FDMA symbols for an extended cyclic prefix. In some other embodiments, a resource block 320 may comprise a different number of subcarriers or symbols.

[0053] In various embodiments, an element in a resource grid 300 may be called as a resource element 330. A resource element 330 may be the smallest resource unit for uplink transmission. A physical resource block 320 in the uplink may comprise N^ x N™KEs 330 that may correspond to a slot, e.g, 0.5 ms in the time domain and, e.g., 180 kHz in the frequency domain. For example, the resource block 320 may be mapped to, e.g., 84 REs (REs) 330 using short or normal cyclic prefixing or, e.g., 72 REs (not shown) using extended cyclic prefixing. In some embodiments, a resource block 320 may be mapped to a different number of REs. A resource element 330 may be identified by an index pair (k, l) in a slot, where k = 0,..., N^ N^ - 1 is the index in the frequency and / = 0,..., N°_y^_b - 1 is the index in the time domain. In some embodiments, a resource element 330 may transmit, e.g., two bits of information for QPSK. In some other embodiments, a number of one or more bits communicated per resource element 330 may depend on other types of modulation, e.g., BPSK, 16 16-QAM, 32-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or other types of modulation.

[0054] Figure 4A illustrates an example of a resource mapping pattern for an uplink demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with PUSCH for, e.g., l-41ayers,in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 4B illustrates an example of a resource mapping pattern for an uplink demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated with PUSCH for, e.g., 5-161ayers, according to various embodiments. While Figures 4A and 4B use PUSCH as an example, some embodiments may be use in xPUSCH.

[0055] In some demonstrative embodiments, a DMRS signal on each antenna port may be

generated based on orthogonal cover code (OCC). Each DMRS signal may be mapped to aset of one or more REs410 in a PUSCH RE mapping pattern. As shown in Figs. 4A and 4B, one or more REs 410 may be used for DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission. The resource for DMRS for 1-4 layers of Fig. 4 A may be different from that for 5-16 layers of Fig. 4B. In some embodiments, a set of one or more REs 420 may be used for PUSCH transmission for 1-4 layers of Fig. 4A. A different set of one or more REs 420may be used for PUSCH transmission for 5-16 layers.

[0056] In some embodiments, intra and/or inter interference, e.g., signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), in DMRS associated with an antenna port may increase with an increased MU-MIMO dimension. The increased intra and/or inter interference may have an impact on channel estimation performance. With a fast increase in the MU-MIMO dimension, the channel estimation quality, e.g., channel quality indicator (CQI) measurement, of each user in a MU-MIMO group may have an impact on all other users in the group and the interference may vary fast. A 5G system may use cell-less operation for mobility control. In some demonstrative embodiments, uplink dynamic point selection (DPS) may be used to support cell-less operation. Different cells may have different sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration, which may result in different resource mapping schemes for PUSCH orxPUSCH. In some embodiments, the resource mapping scheme for PUSCH may be configured based on the SRS configuration.

[0057] Figure 5 illustrates an example of a PUSCH resource mapping pattern 500 according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the resource mapping pattern 500 may be used for xPUSCH. While Figure 5 illustrates a resource mapping pattern that may be use for, e.g., maximum eight layers and/or antenna ports, some embodiments may apply a PUSCH resource mapping pattern for a different number of layers and/or antenna ports. In some demonstrative embodiments, for UEs that may transmit PUSCH in relatively high MU-MIMO dimension, each UE may have a different resource mapping pattern for DMRS and/or a different set of OCCs.As shown in Fig. 5, a first set of one or more resource elements(REs) 510 may be used by a UE to transmit DMRS for, e.g., one or more ofl-41ayers. A second set of one or more REs 520 and 530may be used by theUE to transmit PUSCH for, e.g., the same one or more of l-41ayers.

[0058] In some embodiments, the UE may use the same RE(s)530oflayerl-4for DMRS generation or transmission on other layer, e.g., layer5-8. The UE may mute one or more PUSCH REs 530 for layers l-4in response to the UE using the same REs 530 for DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission for one or more other layers 5-8. In some embodiments, muting one or more PUSCH REs530ofl-41ayersand using the muted PUSCH RE 530 for DMRS generation or transmission on other layers 5-8 may reduce interference from the PUSCH on theREs530of layer 1 -4 to DMRS on the same REs 530 forthe other layers 5-8. In some embodiments, the UE may mute PUSCH transmission on one or more REs 530for a first antenna port in response to using the same REs 530 for DMRS in other antenna port(s) to reduce interference from PUSCH on theREs 530 for the first antenna port to one or more DMRS on the same RE(s) 530in one or more other antenna ports.

[0059] In some other embodiments, in response to transmitting PUSCH in one antenna port, the UE may mute one or more PUSCH related REs 530and use the muted REs 530 for DMRS generation transmission in other antenna port(s). In various embodiments, an eNB may configure a total number of the receiving antenna ports Pof the eNB via, e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.

[0060] In some embodiments, the eNB may add an indicator, e.g., a MIMO indication, in an uplink grant. The MIMO indication in the uplink grant may comprise one or more bits to indicate what MIMO mode the UE is to use. In some demonstrative embodiments, a MIMO indicator may comprise one bit. For example, the indication may have a value "0" to indicate that the UE is to transmit in a SU-MIMO way or a value "1 " to indicate that the UE is to transmit in a MU-MIMO way.

[0061 ] In some demonstrative embodiments, the UEin the SU-MIMO mode may perform the same PUSCH resource mapping as those mentioned in, e.g., release 13of LTE specification. For example, for one or more UEs in MU-MIMO mode, to reduce interference from PUSCH transmission on one or more REs 530 in an antenna port, the UE may mute the transmission on PUSCH associated REs 530 and the muted REs 530 may be used for DMRS in other antenna port(s).

[0062] In some demonstrative embodiments, a UE in MU-MIMO may not use all of the receiving antenna ports configured in the eNB. The eNB may include in the uplink grant a N-bit muting indicator for muted antenna ports. For example, the muting indicator may indicate whether to mute PUSCH RE(s) of a receiving antenna port in the P receiving antenna ports and use the muted PUSCH RE(s)for DMRS of one or more other antenna ports in the P receiving antenna ports. The muting indicator may comprise Nbits, where Nmay be calculated by Equation (1):

N=fP/Q 0),

where P may represent a total number of receiving antenna ports configured in the eNB, and O may represent an OCC sequence number. In some embodiments, the OCC sequence number O may correspond to a number of uplink reference signals, e.g., DMRS. Each bit in the muting indicator may correspond to a receiving antenna port and may show whether to mute RE(s) of the receiving antenna port and use the muted REs for DMRS for another receiving antenna port.

[0063] In some demonstrative embodiments, the PUSCH resource mapping pattern of Figure 5 may be used to provide intra-cell interference suppression. In some embodiments, the PUSCH resource mapping pattern may be used to support high MU-MIMO dimension.

[0064] Figure 6 illustrates an example of a PUSCH resource mapping pattern associated with different UEs according to various embodiments. In some embodiments, the embodiments of Fig. 6 may be applied to xPUSCH similarly. In some demonstrative embodiments, a UE in a cell may apply PUSCH muting (e.g., as shown in 600A), which may reduce an inter-cell interferencefrom the UE to DMRS of one or more neighboring or other UEs in another cell. In some embodiments, the UE in the cell may apply a cell-specific frequency shift to DMRS. For example, each cell may use a different frequency shift. An example of the frequency shift*/* may be given by Equation (2):

A_fs=2(N,^c _D ^e!!mod3)

(2), where ^NID may represent a cell ID or a virtual cell ID of a serving cell (e.g., eNB) for the UE. In some embodiments, an eNB may configure the virtual cell ID for the UE by, e.g., RRC signaling. For resource mapping, the DMRS may be shifted Δ_/5 subcarriers based on Equation (3):

k = (k ' + A_f5) modN™ ₍₃

where k may represent an index of a shifted subcarrier, A: 'may represent an index of the subcarrier without shifting;#ic may represent a number of subcarriers per resource block (RB).

In some embodiments, eNB may configure the frequency shift ^Δ/* and may transmit the frequency shift via, e.g., RRC signaling.

[0065] As shown in Figure 6, there source mapping pattern 600A may relate to a first set of one or more users in a first cell (e.g.., cell 0) and the resource mapping pattern 600B may relate to a second set of one more users in a second cell (e.g., cell 1). A first UE in cell 0 may use a set of one or more REs, e.g., 61 OA for DMRS generatio and/or DMRS transmission. A second UE in cell 1 may use a set of one or more REs, e.g., 610B for DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission. In some demonstrative embodiments, one or moreREs630Aof PUSCH belonging to the first UE may be muted to avoid or reduce interference to DMRS of the second UE. For example, the RE 630A for PUSCH transmission for the first UE may be muted if the PUSCH REs 630A are at the same or corresponding position as REs 610Bfor DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission for the second UE. Similarly, in some embodiments, one or more REs630Bfor PUSCH for the second UE may be muted if the PUSCH REs 630B are at the same or corresponding position as one or moreREs610Afor DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission for the first UE in cell O.The second UE in cell 1 may use a set of one or more REs 610B for DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission. In some embodiments, none of the REs 620A and 620B are in the same location as that of a DMRS RE610A or 610B. For example, the DMRS RE may comprise one or more REs for DMRS in the PUSCH resource mapping pattern. REs 620A and 620B may not be muted and may be used for PUSCH transmission for the first UE and the second UE, respectively.

[0066] In various embodiments, the PUSCH resource' mapping pattern of Figure 6 may provide inter cell interference suppression. In some embodiments, the PUSCH resource mapping pattern maybe used to support high MU-MIMO dimension.

[0067] In some embodiments, the one or more REs (e.g., associated with PU SCH)to be muted may be grouped and identified by a predefined bit map. For example, each bit in the bit map may represent a muting RE group that may comprise one or more REs(RE) to be muted. An eNB may configure a relationship between the bit map and the muting RE group. For example, the relationship information may indicate how each bit in the bit map may be mapped to one or more muting RE groups. The relationship information may indicate a bit in the bit map may be mapped to a muting RE group or may indicate a bit in the bit map may be mapped to multiple muting RE groups, e.g., two or more.

The eNB may transmit the configured relationship information to a UE, e.g., by RRC signaling. In some embodiments, the eNB may configure the bit map information. The eNB may transmit the bit map information by, e.g., RRC signaling and/or uplink grant. For example, for Figure 5, a muting RE group may contain a set of one or more muted REs 530at subcarrier(s)^{fc =} -^fc' ^{+ l})^modA^ , where k' may represent an index of the subcarrier of DMRS for a UE that may be interfered by another UE's PUSCH REs. In some embodiments, eNB may add aone-bit indicator, e.g., a PUSCH muting indicator, in uplink grant and/or RRC signaling to inform the UE of PUSCH muting, e.g., to indicate if PUSCH muting is enabled. The UE may determine whether to perform PUSCH muting, e.g., muting one or more PUSCHREs, based on the one-bit indicator. For example, the one-bit PUSCH muting indicator may comprise a bit value "0" to indicate that PUSCH muting is not enabled or required and a value "1" to indicate that PUSCH muting is enabled or required, or vice versa. In some embodiments, a different number of two or more bits may be used for the PUSCH muting indicator.

In some embodiments, each bit in the bit map may correspond to multiple RE groups. For example, each bit index may relate to multiple RE groups. The eNB may configure a relationship between the bit map and the muting RE groups and may transmit the configured relationship information to a UE, e.g., by RRC signaling. For example, if three RE groups are used, the ith group may contain REs with one or more subcarriers of ^^— ^ ^odN_sc ^ ^ = 0,1 ,2). The eNB may generate a 2-bit map, where a first bit bO may represent a first muting RE group 0, a second bit bl may be assigned to a combination of a second muting RE group 1 anda third muting RE group 2.

In some embodiments, each bit in the 2-bit map may correspond to a different muting RE group(s), e.g., bO corresponding to a combination of muting RE groups 0 and 1 and bl corresponding muting RE group 2 or bO corresponding to a combination of muting RE groups 0 and 2, bl corresponding muting RE group 1. The eNB may configure the2-bit map information and may transmit the 2-bit map information to the UE by, e.g., RRC signal and/or uplink grant. In some embodiments, a different number of bits may be used for the bit map information. [0071] Figure 7 illustrates an example of resource mapping patterns associated with PUSCH for UEs in different cells according to various embodiments. For example, PUSCH resource mapping patterns700A and 700Bmay be used in SC-FDMA or cyclic prefix (CP) based or guard interval (GI) based Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) spread OFDM (GI-DFT-s-OFDM) waveform. In some embodiments, the embodiments of Fig. 7 may be used for xPUSCH. In various embodiments, a cell-specific time shift may be applied to a DMRS. An example of the time shift ^^temay be provided by Equation (4):

_NCell

where ^iD may represent a cell ID or a virtual cell ID for a serving cell (e.g., eNB) for a UE, and^™^{ax t5}may denote a cell-specificmaximum time shift for a DMRS. For example, the eNB may configure the virtual cell ID and transmit the virtual cell ID to a UE, e.g., by RRC signaling. Fora resource mapping, theDMRS may be shifted by ^ symbols based on Equation (5):

I = V + (5),

where /may representa shifted symbol index, /'may represent a symbol index without shifting.

[0072] In some embodiments, the eNB may configure the time shift and may transmit the configured time shift by, e.g., RRC signaling. In some embodiments, the eNBor a UEmay calculate the time shift ^based on the cell ID or the virtual cell ID. The eNB may configure the maximum time shift ^^-^ nd may transmit the maximum time shift to the UE, e.g., by RRC signaling.

[0073] As shown in Fig. 7, the resource mapping pattern 700A may relate to one or more UEs in a first cell (e.g., cell 0) and the resource mapping pattern 700B may relate to one or more UEs in a second cell (e.g., cell 1). In some demonstrative embodiments, one or more REs to be muted and identified by a predefined bit map.For example, each bit may correspond to a muting RE group to be muted, e.g.,740A or 740B. The muting RE group 740A may be associated with PUSCH for a first UE in cell 0. The muting RE group 740B may be associated with PUSCH for a second UE in cell 1.

[0074] The eNB may configure a relationship between a first bit map and a muting RE group

740Ato be muted for the first UE, e.g., RRC signaling and/or system information block (SIB) and may transmit the configured relationship information to the first UE. In some embodiments, the eNB may configure the first bit map information and transmit the first bit map information by, e.g., RRC signaling, and/or SIB and/or an uplink grant. For example, for a DMRS symbol index /'associated with the second UE in cell 1, the muting RE group 740A for the first UE may contain one or more REs 730A at symbol / = (7 -1). Similarly, for a DMRS symbol / associated with the first UE, the muting RE group 740B for the second UE may contain REs 730B at symbol /' = (/ + 1).

[0075] In some embodiments, each bit in the first bit map may correspond to one muting RE group of the first UE. For example, each bit index may relate to a muting RE group. In some other embodiments, each bit in the first map may correspond to multiple RE groups. For example, each bit index may relate to multiple muting RE groups. The eNB may configure a relationship between the first bit map and the muting RE groups, e.g., by RRC signaling and may transmit the configured relationship information to the first UE.

[0076] Similarly, the eNB may configure a relationship between a second bit map and a muting RE group 740B for the second UE via RRC signal and/or SIB. The eNB may configure the second bit map information for the second UE via RRC signaling, SIB or uplink grant. Each bit in the second bit map may correspond to one muting RE group of the second UE. For example, each bit index may relate to a muting RE group. In some other embodiments, each bit in the second map may correspond to multiple RE groups. For example, each bit index may relate to multiple muting RE groups.

[0077] In various embodiments, the first UE may mute PUSCH on the REs 730A belonging to the first UEin the muting RE group 740A in cell 0 based on the first bit map information in response to the second UE transmitting DMRS on REs 710B that are at the same or corresponding position as the PUSCH REs 730A. The first UE may mute the one or more REs 730A of PUSCH to avoid or reduce inter cell interference between cell 0 and cell I . For example, the muting of the one or more REs730A of PUSCH in the muting RE group 740A may avoid or reduce the interference to DMRS at RE 710B of the second UE in cell 1. In some embodiments, one or more REs 720A of PUSCH for the first UE may not locate at the same location as that of the REs 710B of DMRS. The one or more REs 720A may remain unmuted. Similarly, the second UE in cell 1 may mute PUSCH or data transmission on one or more REs730B in muting RE group 740B of the second UE based on bit map information to avoid or reduce inter cell interference to DMRS at RE 710Aof the first UE in cell 0.

[0078] In some embodiments, the eNB may add a one-bit indicator, e.g., a PUSCH muting

indicator, in an uplink grant or RRC signaling to inform the first UE of PUSCH muting. For example, the PUSCH muting indicator may indicate whether to mute PUSCH REs for the first UE. For example, bit "0" may represent that the PUSCH muting is disabled and bit "1 " may represent that the PUSCH muting is enabled, or vice versa. In some embodiments, a different number of bits may be used for the PUSCH muting indicator. Similarly, the eNB may configure a second one-bit indicator, via an uplink grant or RRC signaling, to inform the second UE whether PUSCH muting is required for the second. UE.

[0079] Figure 8 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 8 may be used by, e.g., eNB 110 of Fig. 1. In some demonstrative embodiments, eNB 1 10 may configure, e.g., by control 1 14, a number of receiving antenna ports of the eNB 1 10 via, e.g., RRC signaling, at 810. The controller 114 may be configured to transmit to a UE 120 the number of receiving antenna port of eNB 110 via a transmitter 112.

[0080] At 820, the controller 114 may configure an uplink grant to comprise a MIMO indicator and/or aN-bit muting indicator for muted antenna ports, e.g., as described with regard to Fig. 5. The MIMO indicator may be used to indicate a MIMO mode to be used by UE 120. For example, the N-bit muting indicator may comprise one or more bits, wherein each bit may correspond to a receiving antenna port of eNB 120 and may indicate whether to mute PUSCH RE(s) of the receiving antenna port and use the muted RE(s) for DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission in other receiving antenna port(s). The controller 1 14 may be configured to transmit to UE 120 the MIMO indicator and the PUSCH muting indicator via transmitter 1 12. At 830, the controller 1 10 may be configured to transmit the uplink grant to the UE 120, via transmitter 112.

[0081] Figure 9 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 9 may be used by, e.g., UE 120 of Fig. 1. In some demonstrative embodiments, controller 124 of UE 120 may receiving the number of receiving antenna ports of eNB 110 and/or the uplink grant from eNB 110 at 910. At 920, in response to transmitting PUSCH for a receiving antenna port or a layer of the eNB 110, controller 124 may perform PUSCH muting for the receiving antenna port based on the number of antenna ports and configuration information in the uplink grant, e.g., the MIMO indicator and/or the PUSCH muting indicator.

[0082] For example, for a MU-MIMO mode as indicate by the MIMO indicator, the controller 124 may determine whether to mute PUSCH REs for the receiving antenna port and use the muted PUSCH RE for DMRS generation and transmission for other antenna port(s) based ona value of a bit corresponding to the antenna port in the N-bit muting indicator. The controller 124 may mute PUSCH REs for the antenna port in response to the bit indicating to mute PUSCH REs for the antenna port or may not mute the PUSCH REs for the antenna port in response to receiving the bit indicating not to mute the PUSCH REs for the antenna port.

[0083] Figure 10 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 10 may be used by, e.g., UE 120 of Fig. 1.

[0084] In some embodiments, at 1010, the controller 124 may apply a time shift to DMRS of the

UE 120 in a cell, e.g. based on Equations (4) and (5). Similarly, in some embodiments, another

UE in another cell may apply a cell-specific DMRS time shift based on Equations (4) and (5).

In some embodiments, eNB 1 10 may apply a cell specific DMRS frequency shift and/or a cell specific DMRS time shift.

[0085] At 1020, in response to transmitting PUSCH of the UE 120, controller 124 may perform

PUSCH muting mute one or more RE(s) of the UE 120, e.g., RE(s) 630A that are at the same or corresponding position as the shifted DMRS RE(s) of another UE in another cell, e.g., 610B as shown in Fig. 6.

[0086] In some demonstrative embodiments, the controller 124 may mute the REs 63 OA further based on, e.g., configuration information in a received uplink grant, e.g., as described with regard to Fig. 9 and/or configuration information as described below with regard to Fig. 1 1.

[0087] In some embodiments, downlink control information (DCI) may provide control signaling of muting REs. The control signaling can comprise the bit map as described below with regard to Fig. 1 1. For example, controller 124 may determine if a REs 63 OA is at the same or corresponding position as a DMRS RE of another UE in another cell based on the control signaling.

[0088] In some other embodiments, in response to transmitting PUSCH of the UE 120, controller 124 may mute one or more RE(s) of the UE 120, e.g., RE(s) 730A that are at the same or corresponding position as DMRS or DMRS RE(s) of another UE in another cell, e.g., 710B as shown in Fig. 7. In some demonstrative embodiments, the controller 124 may mute the REs 730A further based on, e.g., configuration information in a received uplink grant, e.g., as described with regard to Fig. 9 and/or configuration information as described below with regard to Fig. 1 1. While the processes of Fig. 10 may be used for PUSCH, in some demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 10 may be used for xPUSCH. Similarly, in some demonstrative embodiments, another UE in another cell may mute its PUSCH REs that may be used for DMRS of UE 120 in response to transmitting the PUSCH, based on configuration information of Fig. 9 and Fig. 1 1.

[0089] Figure 1 1 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 1 1 may be used by, e.g., eNB 1 10 of Fig. 1. In some demonstrative embodiments, one or more REs to be muted of UE 120 may be grouped in a muting RE group. The controller 114 may use a bit map to identify the one or more REs in the muting RE group.

[0090] At 1 1 10, the controller 1 14 may configure a relationship between the bit map and the muting RE group via, e.g., RRC signaling or SIB and may transmit the relationship information to the UE 120 via transmitter 112.

[0091] At 1120, the controller 114 may configure the bit map information via, e.g., RRC signaling or an uplink grant or SIB and/or transmit the bit map information to the UE 120 via transmitter 112, wherein each bit in the bit map information may correspond to one muting RE group. For example, the bit map information may comprise a set of one or more bits. A bit in the bit map information may have a value of "0" that may indicate not to mute a muting RE group corresponding to the bit or a value of "1 " that may indicate to mute the muting RE group corresponding to the bit, or vice versa. For example, a bit map information may comprise a set of 3 bits "100", wherein the first bit has a value "1" to represent a first muting RE groups is to be muted and the second bit and the third bit have' a value "0" to represent the second and the third muting RE groups are not to be muted, respectively.

[0092] Some other embodiments may use a different riumber of bits for the bit map information.

In some embodiments, the controller 114 may configure the bit map information, wherein each bit in the bit map information may correspond to two or more muting RE groups or each bit index may contain different muting RE groups.

[0093] At 1130, the controller 114 may configure a one-bit muting indicator to inform UE of PUSCH muting via, e.g., RRC signaling or an uplink grant or SIB. For example, the one-bit muting indicator maybe used to inform UE 120 whether PUSCH muting is enabled. In some embodiment, the muting indicator may comprise a different number of bits.

[0094] While the processes of Fig. 11 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some

demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 1 1 may be used for xPUSCH.

[0095] Figure 12 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig? 12 may be used by, e.g., UE 120 of Fig. 1.

[0096] In some demonstrative embodiments, at 1210, controller 124 of UE 120 may receive via receiver 1 16 the configuration information from the eNB 1 10, e.g., the relationship information, the bit map information, and/or the PUSCH muting indication as described with regard to Fig. 11 and/or configuration information as described with regard to Fig. 9. [0097] At 1220, controller 124 may mute one or more muting RE groups (e.g., 740A) of the UE 120 in a first cell based on the relationship information, the bit map information, and/or the PUSCH muting indication, in response to transmitting the PUSCH.

[0098] For example, controller 124 may determine whether to perform PUSCH muting based on the PUSCH muting indicator that may indicate whether PUSCH muting is enabled. For example, controller 124 may not perform PUSCH muting in response to receiving the PUSCH muting indication that indicates the PUSCH muting is disabled. Contrarily, the controller 124 may determine which PUSCH muting RE groups (e.g., 740A) to mute based on the relationship information and bit map information in response to receiving the PUSCH muting indication that indicates the PUSCH muting is enabled.

[0099] Similarly, another UE in a second cell may mute one or more muting RE groups (e.g., 740B that may be at the same or corresponding position as the DMRS of UE 120) associated with PUSCH transmission of the another UE in the second cell based on relationship information, bit map information, and/or PUSCH muting indication received by the another UE, in response to transmitting corresponding PUSCH.

[00100] While the processes of Fig. 12 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some

demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 12 may be used for xPUSCH. While the processes of Fig. 12 may be described with regard to a bit map with each bit corresponding to one muting RE group, the processes may be similarly used for a bit map with each bit corresponding to two or more muting RE groups, wherein each bit index may contain different muting RE groups.

[00101] In some embodiments, a UE may utilize PUSCH resource mapping to enhance uplink control information (UCI) performance. Figure 13 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 13 may be used by, e.g., eNB 110 of Fig. 1.

[00102] In some demonstrative embodiments, at 1310, controller 1 14 of eNB 1 10 may configure an uplink grant and/or RRC signaling to include a trigger that may indicate which channel to transmit uplink control information (UCI). For example, the trigger may comprise a bit with a value "0"to represent that UCI is to be transmitted in PUCCH or a value "l"to represent that UCI is to be transmitted in PUSCH, or vice versa. In some embodiments, at 1310, the controller 1 14 may further transmit the trigger toUE 120, via RRC signaling and/or an uplink grant via transmitter 112.

[00103] In some demonstrative embodiments, the eNB may transmit the trigger implicitly. For example, the UE 120 may transmit UCI via PUCCH in response to the triggering of MU-MIMO (e.g., configured by eNB 1 10) or in response to detecting a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant. Contrarily, the UE 120 may transmit UCI via PUSCH.

[00104] For UCI transmitted associated with PUSCH, the controller 114 may add a UCI resource muting indicator in uplink grant or RRC signaling for UE 120. In some embodiments, the UCI resource muting indicator may indicate whether muting RE(s) for UCI of UE 120 is enabled or required, wherein the REs for UCI may be at the same position as UCI resources for another UE, e.g., in other cell(s).

[00105] For example, in response to receiving the UCI resource muting indicator that may indicate disabling the muting of the UCI RE(s) of UE 120 at the same position as another UE's UCI resource, UE 120 may not mute its RE(s) at the same position as other UE's UCI resources in response to transmitting PUSCH without UCI on the UCI RE(s) of UE 120.

[00106] In response to receiving the UCI resource muting indicator that may indicate enabling the muting of the UCI RE(s) of UE 120 at the same position as another UE's UCI resource, UE 120 may mute its UCI RE(s) at the same position as another UE's UCIRE in response to transmitting PUSCH without UCI and/or mute the PUSCH transmission without UCI on the UCI RE(s) ofthe UE.

[00107] In some embodiments, muting PUSCH transmission without UCI on the UCI resource of the UE 120 in response to other UEs transmitting UCI on their UCI RE(s) at the same position as the UCI resources of UE 120may reduce inter-user interference in MU-MIMO to the UCI resource(s) and or the inter-cell interference. In some embodiments, a UE may use a

SC-FDMA waveform in transmitting UCI in PUSCH to provide a better link budget or accuracy than OFDMA.

[00108] For a MU-MIMO with a high dimension, e.g., maximum dimension, convergence of

OLLA may be low, which may result in performance loss for UCI for the first k subframes, wherein k may depend on OLLA algorithm convergence. In some embodiments,

Acknowledge/Non-Acknowledge (ACK/NACK) may not be decoded correctly under an inaccurate modulation and coding scheme (MCS), which may increase a delay of small package users and may influence downlink performance for these users. In the embodiments of high MU-MIMO dimension, convergence of open loop link adaptation (OLLA) may be low, which may have an impact on performance of uplink control information (UCI) transmitted associated with PUSCH. Latency may be increased for users with small downlink packages.

[00109] In some embodiments, at 1320,controller 1 14 may apply an adaptive coding rate for UCI transmission in PUSCH. For example, controller 1 14 may explicitly indicate to the UE 120 to use a lower coding rate with lower confidence or accuracy of uplink link adaptation, e.g., via a coding rate indicator. The controller 1 14 may configure the coding rateindicator via, e.g., uplink grant or RRC signaling and transmit the coding rate indicator to the UE 120.

[001 10] In some embodiments, the controller 114 may transmit the coding rate indicator implicitly.

For example, the UE 120, e.g., via controller 124, may select a lower coding rate for UCI for the first n uplink transmissions and/or may select a second coding rate for UCI for the rest of uplink transmissions, wherein n may represent a number of uplink transmissions and may be configured by the controller 114 via RRC signaling.

[00111] For example, the second coding rate for UCI for the rest of the uplink transmission may be a normal coding rate that may be higher than that used for the first n uplink transmissions, n may represent a number of uplink transmissions. While the processes of Fig. 13 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 13 may be used for xPUSCH. In some embodiments, the embodiments of Fig. 13 may be used to enhance UCI performance for lower convergence of OLLA in a higher MU-MIMO dimension to reduce a latency for small downlink package users.

[001 12] Figure 14 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 14 may be used by, e.g., eNB HO ofFig. 1. In some embodiments, in cell-less operation, a target eNB for PUSCH and for PDSCH may be different. The network may dynamically schedule a UE to transmit PUSCH to any cell, e.g., an eNB in a cluster of one or more eNBs. Each cell may have a different or same sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration. For example, an eNB may configure periodic SRS transmission, e.g., at a subframe the same as or different from that of another eNB.

[00113] In some embodiments, UE 120 may transmit PUSCH and/or SRS on PUSCH resource of the UE 120. One or more PUSCH REs used in transmitting SRS may be called as SRS resource or SRS REs. In response to UE 120 being scheduled to transmit PUSCH to a target receiving point (RP), e.g., one or more target eNBs, controller 114 of the current serving cell for UE 120, e.g., eNB 1 1 Omay determine whether the PUSCH transmission of the UE 120is in a periodical SRS subframe of the target eNB.

[00114] In some embodiment, at 1410, controller 1 14 may configure a one-bit SRS resource muting indicator to indicate if UE 1 10 can transmit PUSCHin SRS resource(s) based on SRS configuration of the target eNB. For example, in response to determining that the PUSCH is to be transmitted in the same periodical SRS subframe, e.g., at the same symbol, asSRS transmission configuration inthe target eNB, the controller 1 14 may configure the 1-bit muting indicator that may indicate to enable muting SRS RE(s) of UE 120 in response to the UE 120 transmitting PUSCH inthe SRS RE(s), e.g., the PUSCH transmission being at the same symbol as that of the SRS transmission of the target eNB. In response to the 1-bit muting indicator enabling muting SRS RE(s) of UE 120, the UE 120 may not transmit SRS on the muted SRS RE(s) of UE 120, e.g., a blank transmission may be on the muted SRS RE(s).

[001 15] Contrarily, in response to determining that the PUSCH transmission of the UE 120 is in a subframe different from the periodical SRS subframe of the target eNB, the controller 1 14 may configure the 1-bit muting indicator that may indicate to disable muting the PUSCH transmission, e.g., transmission with SRS or without SRS, on SRS resourceof UE 120.

[00116] In some embodiments, the 1 -bit muting indicator may have a value "0" to indicate that the UE 120 may transmit PUSCH in SRS resource. F,or example, UE 120 may transmit PUSCH in RE(s) for SRS that may not be muted, e.g., in the scenario that the PUSCH is not to be transmitted in the same periodical SRS subframe of the target eNB. A value "1" may indicate that transmitting PUSCH with muting on SRS REs of the UE 120 is required, e.g., in the scenario that the PUSCH is to be transmitted in a subframe the same as periodical SRS subframe configured for the target eNB. The controller 114 may configure the 1-bit muting indicator via RRC signaling and/or uplink grant.

[00117] At 1420, the controller 114 may transmit, via a transmitter 120, the muting indicator to UE 120 via a transmitter 112. The controller 124 of the UE 120 may be configured to transmit PUSCH, via transmitter 122, based on the 1-bit muting indicator in response to receiving the 1-bit muting indicator from the eNB 110. In some embodiment, the muting indicator may use more bits.

[00118] While the processes of Fig. 14 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some

demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 14 may be used for xPUSCH. In some embodiments, the processes of Fig. 14 may be used to perform PUSCH transmission scheme in DPS mode to support cell-less operation.

[00119] Fig. 15 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 15 may be used by, e.g., UE 120 of Fig. 1. For example, at 1510, controller 124 of UE 120 may receive, via receiver 126, the muting indicator from the eNB 110 via RRC signaling or uplink grant. At 1520, controller 124 may schedule PUSCH transmission, e.g., to another eNB, based on the muting indicator and/or other configuration from eNB 110. For example, the controller 124 may transmit PUSCH in SRS resource(s)of UE 120 via transmitter 122, in response to receiving a muting indicator with a value "0". In some embodiments, the controller 124 may schedule to transmit PUSCH with muting in SRS resource in response to receiving the muting indicator with a value of "1". [00120] While the processes of Fig. 15are described with regard to PUSCH, in some demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 14 may be used for xPUSCH.

[00121] Figure 16 schematically illustrates a flow chart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. For example, the processes of Fig. 16 may be used by, e.g., eNB 110 of Fig. 1. In some embodiments, a 5G system may use a frame structure, in which PUCCH and PUSCH may be multiplexed in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner. The PUCCH resources in different cells may be different due to loading conditions, which is similar to, e.g., control format indication (CFI).A UE may transmit PUSCH in the corresponding PUSCH resource if a different resource point is selected based on configuration of PUCCH resource of the receiving point. At 1610, controller 1 14 of eNB 1 10 may configure a set of one or more

Quasi-Co-Location (QCL) to indicate the PUSCH resource mapping via RRC signaling and/or the set index via uplink grant. The controller 1 14 may transmit to the UE a content of each set of QCL.

[00122] In some demonstrative embodiments, an example of one or more QCL contents may be used:

- Total DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO, which may indicate the REs (e.g., PUSCHREs) for muting when transmitting PUSCH;

- A muting flag or indicator for UC1 resource;

- A simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag or indicator, wherein if enabled, a UE may transmit UCI via PUCCH, otherwise the UE may transmit UCI associated with PUSCH;

- A muting flag or indicator for SRS resource and/or SRS period configuration.

[00123] While the processes of Fig. 16 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some

demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 16 may be used for xPUSCH. In some embodiments, the processes of Fig. 16 may be used to perform PUSCH transmission scheme in DPS mode to support cell-less operation.

[00124] Figure 17 illustrates a flowchart of processes in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the processes of Fig. 17 may be used by a UE 120 of Figure 1. At 1710, the controller 124 of UE 120 may receive the set of QCL from the eNB 1 10 via RRC signaling and/or the index of the QCL set via uplink grant. At 1720, the controller 124 may transmit PUSCH, DMRS, UCI and/orSRS based on configuration information in the received QCL set.

[00125] For example, the controller 124 may mute one or more PUSCH REsand may use the muted PUSCH REs fore.g., DMRS generation and/or DMRS transmission, in response to transmitting PUSCH based on the total DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO, e.g., with reference to embodiments as described with regard to Figs. 5-12.

[00126] In some embodiments, the controller 124 may determine to transmit UCI on PUCCH and/or PUSCH based on the simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag and/or transmit PUSCH without UCI. In some embodiments, for PUSCH, the controller 124 may determine whether to mute one or more REs for UCI based on the muting flag for UCI resource in response to the UE 120 transmitting the PUSCH without UCI, e.g., with reference to embodiments as described with regard to Figs. 13. For example, if the muting flag for UCI resource indicates to enable UCI resource muting, the controller 124 may mute RE(s) for UCI of UE 120and another UE may transmit UCI onUCI RE(s) at the same position as the muted UCI RE(s)of UE 120. Otherwise, the controller 124 may not mutethe REs for UCI of UE 120 in response to transmitting PUSCH without UCI via a transmission 122.

[00127] In some embodiments, SRS may be transmitted periodically. The controller 124 may obtain theSRS period configuration for a target eNB from the eNB 110. In response to PUSCH transmission to the target eNB, the controller 124 may determine to transmit PUSCH in REs for SRS with or without muting the REs for SRS at the same position of SRS REs of another eNB based on the SRS configuration of the target eNB, e.g., with reference to embodiments as described with regard to Figs. 1 and 15.

[00128] While the processes of Fig. 17 may be described with regard to PUSCH, in some

demonstrative embodiments, the processes of Fig, 17 may be used for xPUSCH. In some embodiments, the processes of Figs. 16 and 17 may be used to perform PUSCH transmission scheme in DPS mode to support cell-less operation. In some embodiments, the embodiments of Figs. 16 and 17 may be used to enhance UCI performance for lower convergence of OLLA in a higher MU-MIMO dimension to reduce a latency for small downlink package users.

[00129] Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware, software and/or firmware. Figure 18 illustrates, for one embodiment, an example system comprising radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1830, baseband circuitry 1820, application circuitry 1810, front end module (FEM) circuitry 1860, memory/storage 1840, one or more antennas 1850, display 1802, cameral 804, sensorl 806, and input/output (I/O) interface 1808, coupled with each other at least as shown. For one embodiment, Figure 18 illustrates example components of a UE device 1800 in accordance with some embodiments.

[00130] The application circuitry 1810 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1810 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

[00131 ] The baseband circuitry 1820 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1820 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1830 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1830. Baseband processing circuity 1820 may interface with the application circuitry 1810 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1830. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1820 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor, a third generation (3G) baseband processor, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor, and/or other baseband processor(s) 1820d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 1820 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1830. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation,

encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments,

modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1820 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1820 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation demodulation and

encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[00132] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1820 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an EUTRAN protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or RRC elements. A central processing unit (CPU) of the baseband circuitry 1820 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1820 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) that may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1820 and the application circuitry 1810 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[00133] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1820 may provide for communication

compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1820 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN).

Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 1820 is configured to support radio

communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[00134] RF circuitry 1830 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1830 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc.to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1830 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1860 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1820. RF circuitry 1830 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1820 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1860 for transmission.

[00135] In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1830 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1830 may include mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry and/or filter circuitry. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1830 may include filter circuitry and/or mixer circuitry.

[00136] RF circuitry 1830 may also include synthesizer circuitry for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1860 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry.

[00137] The amplifier circuitry may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals. The filter circuitry may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 1820 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00138] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1860. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1820 and may be filtered by filter circuitry. The filter circuitry may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00139] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[00140] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 1830 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 1820 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1830.

[00141] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for

processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00142] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers niay be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[00143] The synthesizer circuitry may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry of the RF circuitry 1830 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[00144] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1820 or the applications processor 1810 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 1810.

[00145] Synthesizer circuitry of the RF circuitry 1830 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DP A). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[00146] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry may be configured to generate a carrier

frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 1830 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[00147] FEM circuitry 1860 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry

configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1850, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1830 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1860 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1830 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1850. [00148] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1860 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation.

[00149] The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1830). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1860 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1830), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1850.

[00150] In some embodiments, the UE 1800 comprises a plurality of power saving mechanisms. If the UE 1800 is in an RRC Connected state, where it is still connected to the eNB as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[00151] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the UE 1800 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The UE 1800 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device cannot receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC Connected state.

[00152] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is _^assumed the delay is acceptable.

[00153] In various embodiments, transmit circuitry, control circuitry, and/or receive circuitry

discussed or described herein may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry 1830, the baseband circuitry 1820, FEM circuitry 1860 and/or the application circuitry 1810. As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules or units. [00154] In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1820, the application circuitry 1 810, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC).

[00155] Memory/storage 1840may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. Memory/storage 1840for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)) and/or non- volatile memory (e.g., Flash memory).

[00156] In various embodiments, the I/O interface 1808may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface.

[001 7] In various embodiments, sensor may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

[00158] In various embodiments, the display 1802 may include a display (e.g., a liquid crystal display, a touch screen display, etc.).

[00159] In various embodiments, the system may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures.

[00160] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules or units.

[00161] EXAMPLES [00162] Example 1 may include a method, e.g., used by an user equipment (UE), comprising: applying a PUSCH resource mapping pattern for a PUSCH transmission for an antenna port, wherein the PUSCH resource mapping pattern to comprise a PUSCH associated resource element (RE) that is at the same position as that of a resource element for DMRS for another antenna port; and muting the PUSCH associated resource element in response to transmitting the PUSCH.

[00163] Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example(s) herein, the method comprising: receiving a MIMO indicator to indicate a MIMO mode of the UE; and applying the PUSCH resource mapping pattern in response that the first indicator indicates the UE is in a MU- IMO mode.

[00164] Example 3 may include the method of any one of example 1 and 2 or some other example(s) herein, the method comprising: receiving a muting indicator, wherein the muting indicator may comprise one or more bits to each indicate whether to mute the PUSCH associated REfor an antenna port and use the muted PUSCH associated RE for DMRS for another antenna port.

[00165] Example 4 may include a method, e.g., used by an user equipment (UE), comprising: applying a PUSCH resource mapping pattern for a PUSCH transmission, wherein the PUSCH resource mapping pattern to comprise one or more PUSCH resource elements (RE) that is at the same position as that of one or more resource element for DMRS for another UE; and muting the one of more PUSCH REs in response to transmitting the PUSCH.

[00166] Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other example(s) herein:

receiving bit map information that comprises a bit corresponding to a set of one or more muting resource element groups comprising the one or more PUSCH REs to be muted, the bit is to indicate whether the set of muting resource element groups is to be muted.

[00167] Example 6 may include any one of example 4 and 5 or some other example(s) herein, the method comprising: receiving relationship information between the bit map and the set of muting resource element groups.

[00168] Example 7 may include the method of any one of example 4 to 6 or some other example(s) herein, the method comprising: receiving a PUSCH muting indicator to indicate whether PUSCH muting is enabled for the UE.

[00169] Example 8may include the method of any one of example 4 to 7 or some other example(s) herein, the method comprising: muting the set of muting RE groups based on one or more of the relationship information between the bit map and the set of muting RE groups, the bit map information, and the PUSCH muting indicator. [00170] Example 9 include a method, e.g., used by a UE, comprising: receiving a trigger relating to a UCf, wherein the trigger to indicate whether the UCI is to be transmitted in a PUCCH or a

PUSCH; and transmitting the UCI on the PUSCH in response that the trigger indicates to transmit the UCI in the PUSCH.

[00171 ] Example 10 may include the method of example 9 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising muting a resource for the UCI based on a UCI resource muting indicator in response to transmitting the PUSCH without UCI.

[001721 Example 1 1 may include the method of any one of example 9 and 10 or some other

example(s) herein, further comprising: transmitting the UCI via the PUCCH in response to the U-MIMO mode.

[00173] Example 12 may include the method of example any one of example 9 to 1 1 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: transmitting the UCI via the PUCCH in response to detecting a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant.

[00174] Example 13 may include the method of example any one of example 9 to 12 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: muting a resource for the UCI in response that the recourse for UCI is at the same position as a resource to transmit PUSCH without UCI.

[00175] Example 14 may include the method of example any one of example 9 to 13 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: using a SC-FDMA waveform to transmit the UCI in the PUSCH.

[00176] Example 15 may include the method of example any one of example 9 to 14 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: receiving a coding rate indicator that indicates a coding rate for the UCI; and selecting a coding rate for the UCI based on the coding rate indicator.

[00177] Example 16 may include the method of example any one of example 9 to 15 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: selecting a first coding rate UCI for the first one or more uplink transmissions and selecting a second coding rate UCI for the rest of uplink transmission transmitting, wherein the first coding rate is lower than the second coding rate.

[00178] Example 17 may include a method, e.g., used by a UE, comprising: receiving a muting indicator to indicate whether the UE is to transmit PUSCH in a SRS resource, and transmitting the PUSCH in the SRS resource in response that the muting indicator indicates not to mute SRS resource.

[00179] Example 1 S may include the method of example 17 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: transmitting the PUSCH and muting the SRS resource in response that the muting indicator to indicate muting the SRS resource is enabled. [00180] Example 19 may include the method of any one of examples 17 and 18 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising: the muting indicator may comprise a bit to indicate whether to transmit PUSCH in the SRS resource.

[00181] Example 20 may include the method of any one of examples 17 to 19 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising receiving the muting indicator via RRC signaling or an uplink grant.

[00182] Example 21 may include a method, e.g., used by an eNB, comprising: configuring a set of quasi-co-location (QCL) for PUSCH resource mapping, and transmitting to a UE the set of QCL via RRC signaling.

[00183] Example 22 may include the method of example 21 or some other example(s) herein, transmitting to the UE an index of the set of QCL via an uplink grant.

[00184] Example 23 may include the method of any one of examples 21 and 22 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the set of QCL comprise one or more of a total number of DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO, a muting flag for UCI resources, a PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag, a muting flag for SRS resource, and a SRS period configuration.

[00185] Example 24 may include a method, comprising: receiving a set of one or more QCL, transmitting PUSCH based on the one or more QCLs.

[00186] Example 25 may include the method of example 24 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the QCL comprise a total number of DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO, the method further comprising: muting PUSCH on a RE based on the total number of DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO that may indicate an RE to be muted in response to transmitting PUSCH, transmitting the PUSCH on a RE that is not indicated in the total number of DMRS antenna ports.

[00187] Example 26 may include the method of any one of examples 24 and 25 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising muting a UCI resource based on a muting flag for UCI resources in the set of QCL in response to transmitting PUSCH.

[00188] Example 27 may include the method of any one of examples 24 to 26 or some other

example(s) herein, the QCL comprise a PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag, the method further comprising selecting a PUCCH or a PUSCH to transmit UCI based on the PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag.

[00189] Example 28 may include the method of any one of examples 24 and 27 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising transmitting^* a PUSCH in a SRS resource in response to a muting flag for SRS resource in the QCL, wherein the muting flag is to indicate the PUSCH is to be transmitted in the SRS resource. [00190] Example 29 may include the method of any one of examples 24 and 28 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising transmitting the PUSCH based on a SRS period configuration in the QCL.

[00191] Example 30 may include the method of any one of examples 24 and 29 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising receiving the QCL via RRC signaling or an index of the

QCL via an uplink grant.

[00192] Example 31 may include an evolved Node B (eNB), comprising: a controller to configure a PUSCH resource mapping pattern for a PUSCH transmission, wherein the PUSCH resource mapping pattern to comprise a PUSCH associated resource element (RE) that is at the same position as that of a DMRS associated resource element; and configuring a muting indicator to indicate muting the PUSCH associated resource element in response to a UE transmitting the PUSCH; and a transmitter that is coupled to the controller to transmit the muting indicator to the UE.

[00193] Example 31 may include the eNB of example 30 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to configure the muting indicator to indicate the PUSCH associated resource element is to be muted in response to another UE transmitting the DMRS at the DMRS associated resource element.

[001 4] Example 31 may include the eNB of example 30 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to configure the muting indicator to indicate the PUSCH associated resource element is to be muted in response to another UE transmitting the DMRS at the DMRS associated resource element. <]'·■

[00195] Example 32 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 31 or some other

example(s) herein, wherein the eNB is further to configure a MIMO indicator to indicate a MIMO mode of the UE; and apply the PUSCH resource mapping pattern in response that the first indicator indicates the LTE is in a MU-MIMO mode.

[00196] Example 33 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 to 32 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the eNB is further to the method comprising: configuring a muting indicator, wherein the muting indicator may comprise one or more bits that each indicates whether to mute the PUSCH associated RE for the DMRS in a corresponding antenna port.

[00197] Example 34 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 33 or some other

example(s) herein, the controller is further to configure bit map information that comprises a bit corresponding to a set of one or more muting resource element group comprising one or more resource element to be muted, the bit is to indicate whether the muting resource element group is to be muted. [00198] Example 35 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 34 or some other example(s) herein, the controller is further to configure a relationship information between the bit map and the muting resource element group and the transmitter is further transmit the relationship information to the UE.

[00199] Example 36 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 35 or some other

example(s) herein, the controller is further to configure a PUSCH muting indicator to indicate whether PUSCH muting is enabled for the UE.

[00200] Example 37 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 36 or some other

example(s) herein, the controller is further to configure the PUSCH muting indicator via RRC signaling or an uplink grant.

[00201] Example 38 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 37 or some other

example(s) herein, the controller is further to calculate a frequency shift and/or a time shift for the DMRS.

[00202] Example 39 may include the eNB of any one of examples 30 and 38 or some other

example(s) herein, the controller is further to generate a bit map that comprise a bit index corresponding to multiple muting RE groups.

[00203] Example 40 may include a UE, comprising: a receiver to receive a trigger relating to a UCI, wherein the trigger to indicate whether the UCI is to be transmitted in a PUCCH or a PUSCH; and a controller that is coupled to the receiver, the controller to transmit the UCI on the PUSCH in response that the trigger indicates to transmit the UCI in the PUSCH via a transmitter.

[00204] Example 41 may include the UE of examples 40 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to the MU-MIMO mode via the transmitter.

[00205] Example 42 may include the UE of any one of examples40 and 41 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to detecting a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant via the transmitter.

[00206] Example 43 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 42 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to mute a resource for the UCI in response that the recourse for UCI is at the same position as a resource to transmit PUSCH without UCI.

[00207] Example 44 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 43 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to use a SC-FDMA waveform in response to transmitting the UCI in the PUSCH.

[00208] Example 45 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 44 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to receive a coding rate indicator that indicates a coding rate for the UCI via the receiver; and to select a coding rate for the UCI based on the coding rate indicator.

[00209] Example 46 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 45 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to mute the REs for UCI in response to detecting a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant via the transmitter.

[00210] Example 47 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 46 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to select a first coding rate UCI for the first one or more uplink transmissions and select a second coding rate UCI for the rest of uplink transmission transmitting, wherein the first coding rate is lower than the second coding rate.

[0021 1 ] Example 48 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 47 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to receiving a muting indicator to indicate whether the UE is to transmit PUSCH in a SRS resource, and transmitting the PUSCH in the SRS resource in response that the muting indicator indicates to not to mute SRS resource.

[00212] Example 49 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 48 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to transmit the PUSCH and muting the SRS resource in response that the muting indicator to indicate to transmitting the PUSCH with muting the SRS resource.

[00213] Example 50 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 49 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the muting indicator may comprise a bit to indicate whether to transmit

PUSCH in the SRS resource.

[00214] Example 5 may include the UE of any one of examples 40 to 50 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the controller is further to receive the muting indicator via RRC signaling or an uplink grant.

[00215] Example 52 may include an eNB, comprising: a controller to configure a set of

quasi-co-location (QCL) for PUSCH resource mapping, and a transmitter coupled to the controller to transmit to a UE the set of QCL via RRC signaling.

[00216] Example 53 may include the eNB of example 52 or some other example(s) herein, the transmitter is further to transmit to the UE an index of the set of QCL via an uplink grant.

[00217] Example 54 may include the eNB of any one of examples 52 and 53 or some other

example(s) herein, wherein the set of QCL comprise one or more of a total number of DMRS antenna ports for U-MI O, a muting flag for UCI resources, a PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag, a muting flag for SRS resource, and a SRS period configuration.

[00218] Example 55 may include a UE, comprising a receiver to receive a set of one or more QCL, transmitting PUSCH based on the one or more QCLs. [00219] Example 56 may include the UE of example 55 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the QCL comprise a total number of DMRS antenna ports for U-MIMO, the method further comprising: muting PUSCH on a RE based on the total number of DMRS antenna ports for MU-MIMO that may indicate an RE to be muted in response to transmitting PUSCH, transmitting the PUSCH on a RE that is not indicated in the total number of DMRS antenna ports.

[00220] Example 57 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 56 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a controller that is coupled to the receiver, the controller to mute a

UCI resource based on a muting flag for UCI resources in the set of QCL in response to transmitting PUSCH via a transmitter.

[00221] Example 58 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 57 or some other example(s) herein, the QCL comprise a PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag, the method further comprising selecting a PUCCH or a PUSCH to transmit UCI based on the PUCCH and PUSCH transmission flag. ϊ -

[00222] Example 59 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 58 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a controller to transmit a PUSCH in a SRS resource in response to a muting flag for SRS resource in the QCL via a transmitter, wherein the muting flag is to indicate the PUSCH is to be transmitted in the SRS resource.

[00223] Example 60 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 59 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a controller to further comprising transmitting the PUSCH based on a SRS period configuration in the QCL via a transmitter.

[00224] Example 61 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 60 or some other example(s) herein, wherein the receiver is further to receive the QCL via RRC signaling or an index of the

QCL via an uplink grant.

[00225] Example 62 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 61 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a transmitter to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to the MU-MIMO mode.

[00226] Example 63 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 62 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a controller to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to the MU-MIMO mode via a transmitter.

[00227] Example 64 may include the UE of any one of examples 55 and 63 or some other example(s) herein, further comprising a controller to configure a UCI resource muting indicator to indicate muting the resource for UCI in response that another UE is transmitting PUSCH without the UCI on a resource element at the same position as the UCI resource. [00228] Example 65 may comprise a non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause an electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method or a UE or eNB described in or related to any of examples 1-64 and/or any other examples described herein.

[00229] Example 67 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method or a UE or eNB described in or related to any of examples 1 -66 and/or any other process described herein.

[00230] Example 68 may include an apparatus comprising control circuitry, transmit circuitry, and/or receive circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method, a UE or an eNB described in or related to any of examples l-67and/or any other method or process described herein.

[00231] Example 69 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[00232] Example 70 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[00233] Example 71 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[00234] It should be understood that many of the functional units described in this specification have been labeled as modules or units, in order to more particularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, a module or unit may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom VLSI circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discrete components. A module or unit may also be implemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices or the like.

[00235] Modules or units may also be implemented in software for execution by various types of processors. An identified module or unit of executable code may, for instance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computer instructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, the executable code of an identified module or unit need not be physically located together, but may comprise disparate instructions stored in different locations which, when joined logically together, comprise the module or unit and achieve the stated purpose for the module or unit.

[00236] A module or unit of executable code may be a single instruction, or many instructions, and may even be distributed over several di ferent code segments, among different programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustrated herein within modules or units, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized within any suitable type of data structure. The operational data may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed over different locations including over different storage devices, and may exist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network. The modules or units may be passive or active, including agents operable to perform desired functions.

[00237] Reference throughout this specification to "an example" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in an example" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

[00238] As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositional elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as an equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary. In addition, various embodiments and example of the present invention may be referred to herein along with alternatives for the various components thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as equivalents of one another, but are to be considered as separate and autonomous

representations of the present invention.

[00239] Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided, such as examples of search spaces, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

[00240] While the forgoing examples are illustrative of the principles of the present invention in one or more particular applications, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications in form, usage and details of implementation may be made without the exercise of inventive faculty, and without departing from the principles and concepts of the invention. Accordingly, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except as by the claims set forth below.

[00241] While the methods of FIGs. 8- 17 is illustrated to comprise a sequence of processes, the methods in some embodiments may perform illustrated processes in a different order.

[00242] While certain features of the invention have been described with reference to embodiments, the description is not intended to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications of the embodiments, as well as other embodiments of the invention, which are apparent to persons skilled in the art to which the invention pertains are deemed to lie within the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a base station, comprising:

a controller to:

configure a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) resource mapping pattern for a PUSCH transmission, wherein the PUSCH resource mapping pattern to comprise one or more PUSCH associated resource elements (REs) that are at the same position as that of one or more demodulation reference signal (DMRS) associated resource elements; and

configure a muting indicator to indicate muting the PUSCH associated resource element in response to a UE transmitting the PUSCH; and

a transmitter coupled to the controller, to transmit the muting indicator to the UE.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further to configure the muting indicator to indicate the one or more PUSCH associated resource elements are to be muted in response to another UE transmitting the DMRS at the DMRS associated resource element.

3. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 and 2, wherein the controller is further to configure the muting indicator to indicate the one or more PUSCH associated resource elementsare to be muted in response to another UE transmitting the DMRS at the DMRS associated resource element.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein controller is further to configure a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) indicator to indicate a M1MO mode of the UE; and apply the PUSCH resource mapping pattern in response that the first indicator indicates the UE is in a multi-user-multiple input multiple output (MU-MIMO) mode.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the muting indicator may comprise one or more bits that each indicates whether to mute the PUSCH associated RE for the DMRS in a corresponding antenna port.

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the controller is further to configure bit map information that comprises a bit corresponding to a set of one or more muting resource element groups comprising the one or more PUSCH associated resource elements to be muted, the bit to indicate whether the set of muting resource element groups is to be muted.

7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the controller is further to configure a relationship information between the bit map and the set of muting resource element groups and the transmitter is further transmit the relationship information to the UE.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein controller is further to configure a PUSCH muting indicator to indicate whether the PUSCH muting is enabled for the UE.

9. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the controller is further to configure the PUSCH muting indicator via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or an uplink grant.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the controller is further to calculate a frequency shift and/or a time shift for the DMRS.

1 1 . The apparatus of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the controller comprising further to generate a bit map comprise a bit index corresponding to multiple muting RE groups.

12. Auser equipment (UE), comprising:

a receiver to receive a trigger relating to a uplink control information (UCI), the trigger to indicate whether the UCI is to be transmitted in a PUCCH or a PUSCH; and

a controller that is coupled to the receiver, the controller to transmit the UCI on the PUSCH in response to the trigger indicating the UCI in the PUSCH via a transmitter.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the controller is further to mute a resource for the UCI based on a UCI resource muting indicator.

14. The UE of any one of claimsl2 and 13, wherein the controller is further to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to a MU-MIMO mode via the transmitter.

15. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the controller is further to transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant via the transmitter.

16. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the controller is further to mute a resource for the UCI in response to transmitting PUSCH without UCI, wherein the recourse for the UCI is at a same position as that of a RE for UCI for another UE.

17. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 16, wherein the controller is further to use a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) waveform to transmit the UCI in the PUSCH.

18. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 17, wherein the controller is further to receive a coding rate indicator that indicates a coding rate for the UCI via the receiver; and to select a coding rate for the UCI based on the coding rate indicator.

19. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 18, wherein the controller is further to select a first coding rate UCI for the first one or more uplink transmissions and select a second coding rate UCI for the rest of uplink transmissions, wherein the first coding rate is lower than the second coding rate.

20. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 19, wherein the controller is further to:

receive a SRS resource muting indicator to indicate whether the UE is to transmit PUSCH in a SRS resource, and

transmit the PUSCH in the SRS resource in response to the muting indicator that indicates muting the SRS resource is disabled.

21. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 20, wherein the controller is further to transmit the PUSCH and mute the SRS resource in response to a muting indicator to indicate muting the SRS resource is enabled.

22. The UE of any one of claims 12 to 21 , wherein the controller is further to receive the muting indicator via RRC signaling or an uplink grant.

23. A machine-readable medium having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE to:

receive a trigger relating to a UCI, wherein the trigger to indicate whether the UCI is to be transmitted in a PUCCH or a PUSCH; and transmit the UCI on the PUSCH in response that the trigger indicates to transmit the UCI in the PUSCH.

24. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 and 23 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

mute a resource for the UCI for based on a UCI resource muting indicator.

25. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 and 23 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

transmit the UCI via the PUCCH in response to the MU-MIMO mode.

26. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 to 25 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

transmitthe UCI via the PUCCH in response to detecting a UCI resource muting indicator in an uplink grant.

27. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 to 26 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

mute a resource for the UCI in response to transmitting the PUSCH without the UCI, wherein the recourse for UCI is at the same position as that of a resource for UCI of another UE.

28. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 to 27 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

use a SC-FD A waveformto transmit the UCI in the PUSCH.

29. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 to 28 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

receive a coding rate indicator that indicates a coding rate for the UCI; and

select a coding rate for the UCI based on the coding rate indicator.

30. The machine-readable medium of any one of claims 22 to 29 having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a UE further to:

select a first coding rate UCI for the first one or more uplink transmissions; and select a second coding rate UCI for the rest of uplink transmission transmitting, wherein the first coding rate is lower than the second coding rate.