WO2018031623A1

WO2018031623A1 - Flexible transmission time interval and on slot aggregation for data transmission for new radio

Info

Publication number: WO2018031623A1
Application number: PCT/US2017/046038
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jeongho Jeon; Ralf Bendlin; Joonyoung Cho; Seunghee Han; Hwan-Joon Kwon; Gang Xiong; Ajit Nimbalker; Hong He; Debdeep CHATTERJEE
Original assignee: Intel Corporation
Priority date: 2016-08-11
Filing date: 2017-08-09
Publication date: 2018-02-15

Abstract

An apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) comprises one or more baseband processors to configure a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration, and a memory to store a value indicating the duration of the TTI. An apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) comprises one or more baseband processors to configure a number of slots for downlink (DL) data transmission to a user equipment (UE) or for uplink (UL) data reception from the UE in an aggregation of one or more slots, and a memory to store the configuration of the slots.

Description

FLEXIBLE TRANSMISSION TIME INTERVAL AND ON SLOT AGGREGATION FOR DATA TRANSMISSION FOR NEW RADIO

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 62/373,757

(P108171Z) filed August 11, 2016, the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 62/455,438 (P14884Z) filed February 6, 2017, and the benefit of US Provisional Application 62/502,520 (P118978Z) filed May 5, 2017. Said Application No. 62/373,757, said Application No. 62/455,438, and said Application No. 62/502,520 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication has evolved significantly from early voice systems to today's highly sophisticated integrated communication platform. The next generation wireless communication system, referred to as Fifth Generation (5G), or new radio (NR), will provide access to information and sharing of data anywhere, anytime by various users and applications. Thus, NR is expected to be a unified network and/or system that meet vastly different and sometime conflicting performance dimensions and services. Such diverse multi-dimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. In general, NR will evolve based on Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) with additional potential new Radio Access Technologies (RATs) to enrich people lives with better, simple and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. NR will enable everything connected by wireless and deliver fast, rich contents and services.

In a legacy 3 GPP LTE system, the shortest transmission time interval (TTI) definition is equal to that of a subframe, which consists of 14 orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. Such a fixed and relatively long TTI may disadvantageous for the following example scenarios. A first example is for a small packet transmission which is capable of being transmitted with only a few OFDM symbols. With a fixed subframe TTI, the entire TTI has to be transmitted even if there is not enough data to fill in the media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) for just the one subframe TTI. A second example is for particular traffic classes or, equivalently applications, which involve low latency. With a fixed subframe TTI, a transmission may have to wait until a valid starting position, that is subframe boundaries which will increase the sojourn time of the traffic. A third example is where the processing delay is in proportion to the TTI. A longer TTI may imply longer hardware processing time for decoding For the first phase of NR, downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) data transmission may span multiple slots in order to increase the coverage for a user equipment (UE) device located at a cell edge, especially for a system operating with larger subcarrier spacing than 15 kHz. For example, if 60 kHz subcarrier spacing is employed for system operation, NR physical downlink shared channel (NR PDSCH) and NR physical uplink shared channel (NR PUSCH) may span four slots, or one millisecond (ms) in duration to allow a similar link budget as used in 3GPP LTE. systems.

The number of slots for data transmission may be either configured by higher layers via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or dynamically indicated in the downlink control information (DCI) carried by NR physical downlink control channel (NR PDCCH). In the case of dynamic time-division duplex (TDD) system, given that the DL slot and the UL slot may be updated dynamically, the information for slots allocated for the DL data transmission or UL data transmission should be available at the UE side. Furthermore, when dynamic resource sharing of control and data channel is applied for slot aggregation, mechanisms to indicate how to perform resource sharing should be defined.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Claimed subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. However, such subject matter may be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of overall operation of a flexible transmission time interval (TTI) in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of small packet transmission with a shortened transmission time interval (TTI) in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of intermittent small packet transmission with transmission time interval (TTI) in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a regular subframe followed by a partial subframe in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of scheduling two subframes, a regular subframe and a partial subframe, in one flexible transmission time interval in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of dynamic indication of the size of a control region in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a flexible transmission time interval (TTI) with a limited valid starting position in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of slot aggregation for data transmission with semi-static time division duplex (TDD) configuration in accordance with one or more embodiments; FIG. 9 is a diagram of slot aggregation in a case when multiple numerologies coexist in the same system bandwidth in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of different data durations within aggregated slots in a time division duplex (TDD) system in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 11 is a diagram of frequency hopping for data transmission in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 12 is a diagram of dynamic resource sharing between downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) control and data channel in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 13 is a diagram of dynamic resource sharing between downlink (DL) control and data for slot aggregation in accordance with one or more embodiments;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of example components of a device 1400 in accordance with some embodiments.

It will be appreciated that for simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, if considered appropriate, reference numerals have been repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding and/or analogous elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subject matter. It will, however, be understood by those skilled in the art that claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and/or circuits have not been described in detail.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a diagram of overall operation of a flexible transmission time interval (TTI) in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. The overall operation of a flexible transmission time interval (TTI) is shon in FIG. 1 wherein a duration of the TTI dynamically may be indicated in the control channel. Although a flexible TTI is discussed herein as derived for downlink transmissions, the same or similar concepts likewise may be applied to uplink transmissions, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

As discussed in further detail herein, a flexible TTI may be utilized to shorten the TTI or to extend the TTI, and the TTI signaling may be user equipment (UE)-specific, group-specific, or cell-specific. The duration of TTI dynamically may be indicated in the control channel. After the indicated duration of the current TTI, the UE will monitor for new physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to be transmitted in sequel. A flexible TTI also may be used to indicate the IDLE time over which no data is transmitted. The TTI duration may be encoded in the downlink control information (DCI) as a separate field, for example using a look-up table. The time and/or frequency resources for transmission of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) may be jointly encoded using M number of bits in the DCI. The frequency resources may be fixed via radio resource control (RRC) configuration, and the TTI duration may be indicated in the DCI. The length of the control region may be indicated in the first symbol in the control region. If a UE misses a PDCCH, the UE may attempt to decode a PDCCH in every following orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol until the UE is able to successfully decode the next PDCCH. The system may limit a valid starting position in UE-specific, group-specific or cell specific manner. A UE may only attempt to decode PDCCH in every baseline TTI of the UE misses PDCCH once. Different search spaces or different PDCCH sets may be defined, one being semi-static for fallback operation and one or more being defined according to one or more embodiments herein. The above are merely example features and/or applications of a flexible TTI, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1, a first TTI 110 may comprise a first duration of 14 symbols for as indicated in the PDCCH wherein one symbol is used for the PDCCH and 13 symbols are used for PDSCH transmission. A second TTI 112 may comprise a second duration of 6 symbols as indicated in the next PDCCH wherein one symbol is used for the PDCCH and 5 symbols are used for PDSCH transmission. A third TTI 114 may comprise 17 symbols wherein one symbol is used for the PDCCH and 16 symbols are used for PDSCH transmission. In such an arrangement of a flexible TTI allows the duration of a TTI to vary from one TTI to another TTI.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a TTI may be based on a 2-symbol short TTI (sTTI) and a 1-slot sTTI for a short physical downlink shared channel (sPDSCH) or a short physical downlink control channel (sPDCCH). In other embodiments, a TTI may be based on 2- symbol sTTI, a 4-symbol sTTI, and a 1-slot sTTI for a short physical uplink control channel (sPUCCH) or a short physical uplink shared channel (sPUSCH). In addition, in one or more embodiments, a TTI may be based on a 1-slot sTTI for sPDSCH, sPDCCH, sPUSCH, sPUCCH for a time division duplex (TDD) system. In yet other embodiments, a TTI may provide one or more shorter sTTI durations, additional downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) switching points, and/or additional subframe types for TDD latency reduction. It should be noted that these are merely example designs for a flexible TTI as discussed herein, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects. Referring now to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, diagrams of small packet transmission with a shortened transmission time interval (TTI) in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. In some embodiments, a shortened TTI may be utilized for small packet transmission as follows. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a shortened TTI 210 having a duration of 4 symbols may be indicated in the PDCCH. With a flexible TTI, after the indicated duration of a current TTI, the UE may monitor for a new PDCCH to be transmitted in sequence.

FIG. 3 shows an example of intermittent small packet transmission with a flexible transmission time interval (TTI). When the small data is transmitted intermittently, the flexible TTI also may be used to indicate the IDLE time over which no data is transmitted. In the example shown, a shortened TTI 310 having a duration of 4 symbols may be followed by an IDLE time indicated in the PDCCH as a TTI 312 having a duration of 8 symbols for the IDLE time. The next TTI 314 may have a duration of 4 symbols with 3 symbols for PDSCH transmission. In this arrangement, the flexible TTI may contain control information indicating the length of the TTI, and there would be no shared data channel allocation information, which allows UEs to effectively skip the duration of indicated TTI, for example for IDLE time.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a diagram of a regular subframe followed by a partial subframe in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. In some embodiments, a flexible TTI also may be utilized to extend the duration of the TTI. In one example, in accordance with a Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, a time division duplex (TDD) downlink partial subframe, such as a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS), may comprise 3, 6, 9, 10, 11, or 12 OFDM symbols, which involves separate control signaling. This control signaling may involve additional overhead, especially for a short DwPTS as shown in FIG. 4. The DwPTS may be used in a dynamic manner for Frame Structure Type 3 for License Assisted Access (LAA) Secondary Cells (SCells). In this example, a regular subframe having a TTI 410 of 14 symbols may be followed by a partial subframe having a TTI 412 of 6 symbols for the DwPTS, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a diagram of scheduling two subframes, a regular subframe and a partial subframe, in one flexible transmission time interval in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. In the example shown in FIG. 5, with a flexible TTI, the two subframes comprising one regular subframe followed by a partial subframe as shown in FIG. 4 using two control channels alternatively may be scheduled using only one control channel with the indication of the duration of TTI 510 adapted to include both the regular subframe and the partial subframe as shown in FIG. 5. One application of indicating the TTI length in the PDCCH is that a UE that is not scheduled for the corresponding TTI may sleep and thereby save energy. The scheduling information, the DL grant or the UL grant, may be UE-specific. A longer TTI for sleep may achieve increased energy savings. In one or more embodiments, the flexible TTI may indicate any length of an extended TTI, the duration of which being based on a TTI range that is able to be expressed with the designed field to express the TTI length. The length of the TTI may be indicated in the downlink control information (DCI) scheduling the downlink transmission or the uplink transmission, respectively. In some embodiments, the TTI duration may be encoded in the DCI as a separate field. For example, N number of bits in the DCI may indicate a TTI length of 2n symbols where n = 0,1,2, ..., N. Alternatively, N number of bits in the DCI may indicate the TTI duration via a look-up table, an example of which is shown in Table 1, below.

Table 1 : Example of a table based look-up of the TTI duration It should be noted that these approaches to indicate a duration of a TTI are merely examples, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. In addition, the codeword to TTI length mapping as shown for example n Table 1 may be configured via RRC signaling. For example, a UE having predominantly large transport block sizes, longer TTIs on average may be configured compared to UEs with predominantly smaller transport block sizes for which shorter TTIs on average may be configured.

In one or more embodiments, the time and/or frequency resources for transmission of a PDSCH or PUSCH are jointly encoded using M number of bits in the DCI. Each codeword of length M bits then may represent a certain number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the frequency domain and a certain number of symbols in the time domain. Alternatively, the frequency resources may be fixed via RRC configuration, for example 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 80 MHz, 160 MHz, and so on, whereas the TTI duration may be indicated in the DCI.

The mechanism described above also may be used to broadcast and/or multicast the TTI duration in a cell-specific or a group- specific manner. For example, a new channel may be introduced which broadcasts and/or multicasts the TTI duration. UEs not receiving a DL assignment for data transmission then may cease to monitor for additional PDCCHs in order to preserve battery life. Referring again to FIG. 3, for the case of a TTI duration indicated as 8 symbols, if the UE is configured to monitor for a PDCCH every 4 symbols, the UE may skip monitoring for a PDCCH in the middle of the TTI 312 of length 8. Alternatively, if no new channel is introduced which broadcasts and/or multicasts the TTI duration, a new Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) may be introduced to scramble the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of a PDCCH carrying such information. Such an RNTI may be fixed by specification, broadcasted in the system information of a cell, or UE-specifically configured. The latter may include the case where a group of UEs is configured with the same RNTI for TTI duration indication. A UE first monitors for a PDCCH with CRC scrambled by the RNTI for TTI duration indication. The UE then monitors for another PDCCH with CRC scrambled by the C-RNTI, for example according to legacy LTE procedures. If no additional PDCCH is found, the UE stops monitoring for more PDCCHs for the duration of the TTI indicated by the PDCCH with the CRC scrambled by the RNTI for TTI duration indication. If another PDCCH with CRC scrambled by the C-RNTI is found, the UE may assume the signaled TTI duration indicated by the PDCCH with the CRC scrambled by the RNTI for TTI duration indication.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a diagram of dynamic indication of the size of a control region in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. When a flexible TTI is used to indicate an extended TTI, it is likely that the number of symbols needed for the control region 610 also will increase. As shown in FIG. 6, the length of the control region 610 may be indicated in at least a portion of the first symbol 612 in the control region 610. It should be noted that the maximum number of symbols used for the control region 610 is not necessarily limited to three OFDM symbols as shown FIG. 3 for an LTE system, and the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 7, a diagram of a flexible transmission time interval (TTI) with a limited valid starting position in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. If a UE misses a PDCCH, the UE attempts to decode PDCCH in every following OFDM symbol until the UE successfully decodes the next PDCCH. Such an arrangement, however, may result in increased overhead for the UE. As one possible solution to the UE overhead issue for missed PDCCH, a system may limit its valid starting position. As shown in FIG. 7, the valid TTI starting position may be limited to slot boundaries. Here the one slot duration of seven symbols may be considered as the baseline TTI duration. As a result, the flexible TTI duration may be expressed in the integer multiples of the baseline TTI duration as shown in FIG. 7. For example, a first TTI 710 may have a duration of seven symbols, a second TTI 712 may have a duration of 14 symbols, and a third TTI 714 may have a duration of seven symbols. The UE may successfully decode the PDCCH in the first TTI 710 but may miss the PDCCH in the second TTI 712. The UE may then attempt to decode the PDCCH in the seventh symbol of the second TTI 712. Since the second TTI has a duration of 14 symbols, the UE will fail to decode the PDCCH at the seventh symbol since there is no PDCCH at the seventh symbol. The UE will then attempt to decode the PDCCH at the next seventh symbol which will correspond to the first symbol of the third TTI 714. Since the PDCCH for the third TTI 714 is located at this first symbol, the UE may successfully decode this PDCCH. With a limited valid TTI starting position, a UE will only attempt to decode PDCCH every baseline TTI duration, in this example every seven symbols, if the UE misses PDCCH. Such an arrangement may help reduce the burden on the UE burden continuously monitor the PDCCH in the event of an error.

Alternatively, different search spaces or different PDCCH sets may be defined, for example one being semi-static for fallback operation and one or more spacing being defined according to one or more embodiments as discussed herein. In this case, the evolved NodeB (eNB) or Fifth Generation (5G) NodeB (gNB) always may reach the UE on the fallback search space or the fall back PDCCH set even if the UE misses a PDCCH and the eNB or gNB and the UE may have different assumptions about the search space, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a diagram of slot aggregation for data transmission with semi- static time division duplex (TDD) configuration in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. As shown in FIG. 8, a slot aggregation 810 may comprise a number of downlink (DL) slots and a number of uplink (UL) slots. The number of slots for DL transmission or UL data transmission may be either configured by higher layers via RRC signaling or dynamically indicated in the downlink control information (DCI). In one or more embodiments, higher layers may include layers higher than the Physical layer, for example at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, or Non- Access Stratum (NAS) layer, and so on, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. As a further extension, a combination of semi-static signaling and dynamic indication may be used to signal the number of slots for data transmission. For example, a set of the number of slots for data transmission may be configured by higher layers via a new radio (NR) master information block (NR MIB), via an NR system information block (NR SIB), or via RRC signaling. Then, one field in the DCI format may be used to indicate the number of slots from the set configured by the higher layers for the data transmission. The DCI may be carried by an NR physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) with either common search space (CSS) or UE specific search space (USS).

In another embodiment for multi-stage DCI design, DCI in the first stage may be used to indicate whether a single or multiple slots are used for data transmission, while DCI in the second stage may be used to indicate the exact number of slots, for example two slots, four slots, or eight slots, that is employed for data transmission. Alternatively, DCI in the first stage may be used to indicate the number of slots used for the data transmission.

For data transmission with multiple slots, given that slot direction, either the DL direction or the UL direction, may be dynamically changed, and the data channel with slot aggregation may not be transmitted in a consecutive manner. In such a case, the UE may be informed which slot within aggregated slots is used for which direction of data transmission.

In one embodiment where time-division duplex (TDD) configuration including a DL slot or an UL slot is semi-statically configured, the UE may derive which slot within aggregated slots may be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission. As shown in FIG. 8, assuming a TDD configuration wherein DL transmission comprises a slot aggregation 810 of four DL slots, DL data may be transmitted in slot #n 812, slot #(n+l) 814, slot #(n+2) 816, and slot #(n+4) 820, with UL data transmitted in slot #(n+3) 818.

In one or more embodiments, slot aggregation is supported to aggregate one or more slots, and data transmission may be scheduled to span one or multiple slots. Dynamic reuse of control resources for downlink (DL) data transmission DL data transmission may include the following. A New Radio (NR) system may support dynamic reuse of at least part of resources in the control resource sets for data for the same user equipment (UE) or for a different UE, at least in the frequency domain. Resource reuse also may be accomplished in time domain. Downlink (DL) data demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) location in time may not vary dynamically as a consequence of dynamic reuse of control resources for data.

Similarly, for uplink data transmission, in one or more embodiments uplink (UL) data and the UL control channel may be multiplexed in the same symbol in a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) manner. An NR system may support FDM of short uplink control channel information (UCI) and UL data, both within a UE and between UEs at least where the physical resource blocks (PRBs) for short UCI and UL data are non-overlapping. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in the short UL duration may be scheduled independently

In one or more embodiments, DL control channel monitoring and support of flexible data channel durations may be accomplished as follows. The UE may be configured to monitor the DL control channel in terms of slot or orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol with respect to the numerology of the DL control channel. A NR system may support the occasion of DL control channel monitoring per one symbol with respect to the numerology of the DL control channel. Such support may not be applied to all type of the UEs and/or use-cases. In some embodiments, a total number of blind decodings in a slot when a UE is configured with DL control channel monitoring per symbol may exceed the total number of blind decodings in a slot when a UE is configured with DL control channel monitoring per slot. Furthermore, a NR system may support a data channel having a minimum duration of one OFDM symbol of the data and starting at any OFDM symbol to below 6 GHz in addition to above 6 GHz. Such support may not be applied to all type of UEs and/or use-cases. A UE is not expected to blindly detect the presence of a demodulation reference symbol (DM-RS) or a phase tracking reference symbol (PT-RS). One symbol data puncturing may be indicated by preemption indication. An NR system may support data having frequency- selective assignment with any data duration. A 1-symbol case may be restricted depending on the bandwidth.

Referring now to FIG. 9, a diagram of slot aggregation in a case when multiple numerologies coexist in the same system bandwidth in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. In another embodiment of dynamic TDD operation, the UE may derive the slot type based on information from a group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The slot type related information may carried by a group common PDCCH, wherein the UE may derive at least which symbols in a slot that are DL or UL based on this information. According to such slot type related information, the UE also may derive the direction of slot within aggregated slots. Furthermore, a one bit indicator in the DCI message which is used to schedule data transmission with slot aggregation may be used to indicate that UE should monitor a group common PDCCH within each slot to obtain slot type related information. For UL data transmission with slot aggregation, in some slots, a group common PDCCH may not be present in order to increase spectrum efficiency for uplink transmission. In such an arrangement, the UE may assume that this slot is an UL slot which may be used for UL data transmission.

In another embodiment for a time-division duplex (TDD) system where multiple numerologies coexist in the same system bandwidth in a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) manner, either a DL portion or an UL portion should be aligned for different numerologies. In this arrangement, DL data transmission or UL data transmission with larger subcarrier spacing may be transmitted in consecutive slots within aggregated slots as shown in FIG. 9. In this example, an upper portion 910 of the system bandwidth may be used for am NR physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) 914 with normal subcarrier spacing, and a lower portion 912 of the system bandwidth may be used for an NR PDSCH 916 with larger subcarrier spacing. To achieve this, one field in the DCI message of the NR PDCCH or in the uplink control information (UCI) of the NR physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be used to indicate that DL data transmission or UL data transmission may span consecutive slots. This concept may be extended to the case when LTE and NR coexist in the same system bandwidth, where NR and LTE may employ different numerologies for operation, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect.

Referring now to FIG. 10, a diagram of different data durations within aggregated slots in a time division duplex (TDD) system in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. When the DL data channel and/or the UL data channel spans multiple slots, resource allocations for data transmission in each slot within aggregated slots may be provided as follows. In one embodiment, for a TDD system, when the data channel spans multiple slots for the NR PDSCH 1016, the starting symbol and/or the end symbol within each slot may be signaled via higher layers or indicated in the DCI of a NR PDCCH 1014. As shown in FIG. 10, for DL data transmission or UL data transmission, data duration or the starting and/or end symbol position, may be different for different slots within the aggregated slots, which depends on DL control region sizes, guard period duration, NR physical uplink control channel (NR PUCCH) 1012 duration, and whether a reference signal including at least a channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS) 1010, a sounding reference signal (SRS), an RS for beam management, and so on, is present within the slot.

To signal the data duration or starting and/or end symbol for each slot, a bitmap for the data starting and/or end symbol for each slot within aggregated slots may be configured by higher layers or indicated in the DCI. The DCI may be carried in the first stage DCI in the case where a multiple-stage DCI is used to schedule the data transmission. To further reduce the signaling overhead, the starting and/or end symbol for each slot may be same within aggregated slots. In this case, one starting and/or end symbol position for each slot within aggregated slots may be configured by higher layers or dynamically indicated in the DCI.

In another embodiment, the UE may derive the data duration from the DL control region and/or the UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within aggregated slots. As mentioned above, the UE may obtain the information regarding the number of symbols for the DL control channel or the UL control channel from slot type related information carried by a group common PDCCH, and semi-static configuration of guard period duration. After that, the UE can derive the data duration for each slot.

Furthermore, the NR NodeB (gNB) may indicate the CSI-RS or other RS configurations within aggregated slots via DCI for data scheduling or group common PDCCH. In this case, the UE may perform rate matching around the RS in accordance with configuration.

In another embodiment, for a TDD system where multiple numerologies coexist in the same system bandwidth in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner as shown in FIG. 9, above, based on the configuration including DL and/or UL control region size and guard period duration for normal numerology, the UE may derive the data duration when larger subcarrier spacing is applied.

Alternatively, data duration including starting and/or end symbol within an aggregated slot may be configured by higher layers or indicated in the DCI. To reduce signaling overhead, given that data is transmitted in consecutive symbols, the starting symbols and/or starting slot within aggregated slots for the data transmission may be signaled by the gNB. In another embodiment, the UE may transmit the data assuming minimum duration within one slot. In particular, given that the maximum DL and/or UL control region size may be configured by higher layers, the UE may derive the minimum duration for data transmission.

In an embodiment, when a single transport block (TB) may be transmitted using symbols from multiple slots, the number of aggregated slots may be limited to a maximum of N number of aggregated slots. This maximum number of aggregated slots may be predefined in the specifications or configured in a cell-specific or bandwidth (BW) part-specific manner. In one example, N = 2 may be defined in the specifications. In this example, each of the N slots may have a different number of symbols. In one embodiment, the N slots may be restricted to occur consecutively in time.

Since a data channel of flexible duration may be scheduled to start at any point in the slot by a PDCCH that may occur at varied locations within a slot, the following aspects may be established. A scheduling delay from the end of the PDCCH to the scheduled PDSCH/PUSCH in terms of slots and/or symbols; a starting symbol of a data channel within a slot, an ending symbol of a data channel within a slot, and or a duration of the data channel being scheduled.

The scheduling delay from the PDCCH to the PDSCH, referred to as K0, may be indicated in terms of number of slots from the slot containing the PDCCH and that with the scheduled PDSCH and/or PUSCH. In one embodiment, for timing relationships between physical channels PDCCH to PDSCH (K0) or to PUSCH (K2) scheduling delay, or PDSCH to hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgment (ACK) feedback (Kl), in the case of mixed numerology between control and data, scheduling and/or HARQ delays may be indicated in terms of slots corresponding to the numerology with larger subcarrier spacing (SCS).

For indication of the starting symbol within a slot for the scheduled data channel, in one embodiment, a field in the DCI may be utilized to indicate the location from a set of candidates. Given that the PDSCH and/or PUSCH may start in any of the seven or fourteen symbols in a slot, the number of DCI bits used for this indication may be four bits for full flexibility.

In embodiment, towards the end of reducing the DCI overhead at the cost of reduced flexibility, the set of candidate starting symbol locations may be implicitly determined by the location of the scheduling PDCCH within the slot and the number of symbols in the slot. Thus, assuming that the UE is already configured with the total number of symbols, seven or fourteen, in the slot, a 2-bit or a 3-bit field startingSymbolInSlot in the DCI may be used to indicate the starting symbol for the scheduled data channel out of four or eight candidate locations. These candidate starting symbol locations may be configured to the UE or be specified depending on the number of symbols in a slot.

In one embodiment, the data channel duration may be indicated in a number of symbols, when the PDSCH and/or PUSCH is limited to within a slot. Furthermore, in this case, the number of symbols may be indicated using a 2-bit field durationWithinSlot in the DCI such that one of the code-points may indicate that all remaining symbols from the starting symbol are to be used for the data channel. The remaining code-points may correspond to the number of symbols that may be based on higher layer configuration.

When slot aggregation is used to map a TB, the data channel duration may be indicated by indicating the number of aggregated slots for the data channel. Thus in one example, a 1-bit field or a 2-bit field in the DCI, numAggregatedSlots may be used to indicate the number of aggregated slots, of which one code-point indicates a value of 1 or no slot aggregation. Other values may be 2 for a 1-bit field, for example N = 2 slots max for slot aggregation, or {2, 3, 4} for a 2-bit field, or example N = 4 slots max for slot aggregation.

Furthermore, as indicated above, in one embodiment the same value of startingSymbolInSlot may be assumed for all slots within the aggregation window. Alternatively, the symbol indicated by startingSymbolInSlot implies the starting symbol in the first slot, and all available symbols in the second through the (N-l)th slot within the aggregation window are assumed to be used for the data channel, and finally, the number of symbols within the last slot, the Nth slot, indicated by the durationWithinSlot field. In such an arrangement, the available symbols in the intermediate slots within an aggregation window ay either be predefined in the specifications or configured from a set of options via higher layer or higher layer and DCI signaling. For example, one configuration may include that all symbols in the intermediate slots are available except for the demodulation reference symbol (DM-RS) resource elements (REs) for the associated PDSCH and/or PUSCH, while another configuration may indicate that all symbols except the first three and last one or two symbols are available in a slot.

In another example, the configurations for the available symbols in a slot may defined separately for PDSCH and PUSCH. Furthermore, the available symbols may be indicated using a bitmap whose code -points differ in terms of the candidate locations and/or symbols only for the specific data channel, PDSCH or PUSCH, and does not distinguish uses of symbols that may not be available, for example "Don't Care" for unavailable symbols. Thus, higher layer signaling may be used to configure a specific bitmap or a set of bitmaps, and for the latter case, a field in the DCI may be used to indicate the particular bitmap to assume for the concerned scheduling decision. The same bitmap and/or available symbol configuration may be assumed for all intermediate slots within the aggregation window. In another example, the available symbol configuration applies to all slots in the aggregation window and the starting and ending symbols in the first and last slots are determined using the indicated signaling on top of the bitmap of the available symbols. Furthermore, the configurations may be defined as a function of the slot duration in number of symbols, for example seven symbols or fourteen symbols.

In one embodiment, the UE may be expected to assume rate-matching of PDSCH or PUSCH, the latter for TDD systems, around the PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) configured at the beginning of a slot in each of the intermediate slots, but not any CORESETs corresponding to additional PDCCH monitoring occasions within the slot. In another embodiment, the UE may assume rate-matching of PDSCH or PUSCH, the latter for TDD systems, around all CORESETs corresponding to all configured DL control channel monitoring occasions. Rate- matching around other signals like CSI-RS or any persistent and/or shared and/or wideband DM- RS or sounding reference signals (SRS) further may be defined as long as the corresponding configuration of the reference signals is known to the UE.

In an LTE system, the data channel duration may be assumed to have a fixed reference length of one millisecond, and the transport block size (TBS) value may be determined based on the frequency domain resource allocation and the indicated Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS). In an NR, however, flexible data channel durations may be supported. In this case, the TBS should be determined also as a function of the data channel duration. In one embodiment, a duration corresponding to use of all available symbols in a slot may be assumed to define a reference. This embodiment may be be similar to LTE TBS determination, and further scaling up or down of the TBS may be applied depending on the actual data channel duration. For a 14- symbol slot, such scaling may be defined by setting a reference number of symbols as one of 10 through 14, and then applying scaling to the actual number of symbols used, similar to the handling of TBS for PDSCH and/or PUSCH in a downlink pilot time slot (DwPTS) and an uplink pilot time slot (UpPTS) respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 11, a diagram of frequency hopping for data transmission in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. When the DL data channel or the UL data channel spans multiple slots, intra-slot and/or inter-slot frequency hopping may be applied for the transmission of data to exploit the benefit of frequency diversity. Whether to enable or disable one or all of intra-slot and/or inter-slot hopping for data transmission may be configured by higher layers via RRC signaling or dynamically indicated in the DCI. In the example of frequency hopping for data transmission show in FIG. 11, the DL data channel 1110 may be transmitted in one frequency resource or subband in two consecutive slots, slot #n 1112 and slot #n+l 1114, before switching to another frequency resource or subband for two more consecutive slots, slot #n+2 1116 and slot #n+3 1118.

In one embodiment, for inter-slot or intra-slot frequency hopping, two or more frequency resources or subbands may be configured by higher layers via NR master information block (NR MIB), NR system information block (NR SIB), or RRC signaling. Furthermore, data transmission may hop among these frequency resources or subbands within a slot or across slots within aggregated slots.

In another embodiment, a frequency hopping pattern may be defined for the transmission of data within a slot or across slots within aggregated slots. In particular, the frequency hopping pattern may be defined as a function of one or more parameters including physical cell ID or virtual cell ID, slot index and a UE ID such as a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI).

In one example, a set of possible frequency resources for the transmission of data may be predefined in the specification or configured by higher layers via NR MIB, NR SIB, or RRC signaling. Furthermore, the exact frequency resource or subband used for the data transmission may be derived from this set of possible frequency resources according to a function of physical cell ID and slot index. For example, Kj_req frequency resources or subbands can be configured in the NR SIB The exact frequency resource or subband index can be derived from:

Ifreq = ' ell + ^cl ' ⁿs + C₂)mod K_freq Where mod is modulo operation, c₀ , c_t , c₂ are constants, which may be predefined in the specification or configured by higher layers, i eH i^s the physical cell ID, n_s is the subframe or slot index, l_jreq is the frequency resource or subband index and K_jreq is the number of frequency resources or subbands for the data transmission.

In another embodiment, in the case of multi-stage DCI, the number of the slots may be indicated in the first stage DCI, while the resource allocation for data transmission in each slot may be indicated in the second stage DCI in each or some slots within aggregated slots.

In another embodiment, the data channel may be transmitted in the same frequency resources or subbands in K number of consecutive slots. Then, the data channel may be switched to another frequency resource or subband for frequency hopping. The value K may be predefined in the specification or configured by higher layers via NR MIB, NR SIB, or RRC signaling. Such a mechanism may achieve better channel estimation performance when cross-slot channel estimation algorithm is employed.

Referring now to FIG. 12, a diagram of dynamic resource sharing between downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) control and data channel in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. In the upcoming New Radio (NR) standard, dynamic resource sharing between the control channel and the data channel for both the DL and the UL may be supported. As shown in FIG. 12, the DL data channel, PDSCH 1210, may use at least part of the resources in the control resource sets of PDCCH 1212. Similarly, UL data transmission on PUSCH 1214 may be multiplexed with the UL control channel PUCCH 1216 with short duration in the last part of the slot.

In one embodiment, the starting position of DL data transmission or the end position of UL data transmission in each or some slots within aggregated slots may be explicitly signaled in the DCI. Alternatively, to reduce signaling overhead, a 1-bit indicator may be indicated whether the DL data channel is transmitted from the first symbol or the symbol which may be configured by higher layers via RRC signaling. In the case where the starting symbol for DL transmission overlaps with control resource set, data transmission may be rate matched or puncturing the reserved resource for control resource set or actually resource allocated for control channel transmission.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a diagram of dynamic resource sharing between downlink (DL) control and data for slot aggregation in accordance with one or more embodiments will be discussed. Given that one or more control resource sets may be contained within a control subband, which is narrower than system bandwidth, data transmission may use the resource which is not configured for control subband in the first symbols. FIG. 13 illustrates one example of dynamic resource sharing between the DL control and data channel with slot aggregation. In the example shown, a control resource set may be contained within one control subband PDCCH 1310 for a corresponding data channel PDSCH 1312. The data channel with frequency hopping in each slot may rate matched around the resource reserved for control resource set. To further reduce the signaling overhead, the starting position of data transmission in each slot may be same within aggregated slots. The same design principle as mentioned above may be applied for dynamic sharing between the UL control channel and the data channel in the case of slot aggregation.

In another embodiment, dynamic resource sharing of DL and/or UL control and data transmission may not be applied for slot aggregation. In other words, in each slot within aggregated slots, the DL control and data channel and/or the UL control and data channel may be multiplexed in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner. Such an arrangement may help to reduce the signaling overhead and avoid potential collision of control and data channel in the subsequent slots.

As used herein, the terms "circuit" or "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 circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software.

FIG. 14 illustrates example components of a device 1400 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include application circuitry 1402, baseband circuitry 1404, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 1406, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1408, one or more antennas 1410, and power management circuitry (PMC) 1412 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 1400 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 1402, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 1400 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud- RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 1402 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 1402 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 1400. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 1402 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 1404 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 1404 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1406. Baseband processing circuity 1404 may interface with the application circuitry 1402 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 1406. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 1404A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 1404B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 1404C, or other baseband processor(s) 1404D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sil4h generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 1404 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 1404A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1406. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1404A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 1404G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 1404E. 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 1404 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1404 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, 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. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 1404F. The audio DSP(s) 1404F may be 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 1404 and the application circuitry 1402 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1404 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) 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 1404 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 1406 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 1406 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1406 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1408 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 1404. RF circuitry 1406 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 1404 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 1408 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 may include mixer circuitry 1406a, amplifier circuitry 1406b and filter circuitry 1406c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 may include filter circuitry 1406c and mixer circuitry 1406a. RF circuitry 1406 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1406d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 1408 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1406d. The amplifier circuitry 1406b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 1406c 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 1404 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 1406a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1406d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1408. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1404 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 1406c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a 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 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

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 1406 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 1404 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 1406.

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. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406d 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 may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. The synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1406a of the RF circuitry 1406 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

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 1404 or the applications processor 1402 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 1402.

Synthesizer circuitry 1406d of the RF circuitry 1406 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 (DPA). 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.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1406d 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 1406 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 1408 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 1410, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1406 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1408 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 1406 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 1410. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1406, solely in the FEM 1408, or in both the RF circuitry 1406 and the FEM 1408. In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1406). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1406), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 1410).

In some embodiments, the PMC 1412 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 1404. In particular, the PMC 1412 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 1412 may often be included when the device 1400 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC 1412 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

While FIG. 14 shows the PMC 1412 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 1404. In other embodiments, however, the PMC 14 12 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 1402, RF circuitry 1406, or FEM 1408.

In some embodiments, the PMC 1412 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 1400. For example, if the device 1400 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node 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 1400 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 1400 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 device 1400 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 1400 may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state.

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. Processors of the application circuitry 1402 and processors of the baseband circuitry 1404 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 1404, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 1404 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

The following are example implementations of the subject matter described herein. It should be noted that any of the examples and the variations thereof described herein may be used in any permutation or combination of any other one or more examples or variations, although the scope of the claimed subject matter is not limited in these respects.

In example one, an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) comprises one or more baseband processors to configure a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration, and a memory to store a value indicating the duration of the TTI. Example two may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a new duration of the TTI in a next PDCCH. Example three may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the duration of the TTI to indicate to the UE an IDLE time over which no data is to be transmitted. Example four may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to schedule two subframes comprising one regular subframe by followed by a partial subframe using a single PDCCH to indicate a duration of the TTI for the two subframes. Example five may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the duration of the TTI is encoded in downlink control information (DCI) of the PDCCH as a separate field, or via a look-up table, and wherein the look-up table is configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling. Example six may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein, the time and frequency resources for transmission of the PDSCH or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) are jointly encoded using M number of bits in downlink control information (DCI) or uplink control information (UCI), or wherein the frequency resources are fixed via radio resource control (RRC) configuration wherein the duration of the TTI is indicated in the DCI. Example seven may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the flexible TTI is used to broadcast and/or multicast the TTI duration in a cell- specific or group- specific manner. Example eight may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to indicate a length of a control region for the PDCCH in a first symbol in the control region. Example nine may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are configured to limit a valid starting position of the PDCCH in a UE-specific manner, a group- specific manner, or a cell-specific manner. Example ten may include the subject matter of example one or any of the examples described herein, wherein one or more baseband processors are to configure two or more PDCCH sets or two or more search sets, wherein a first PDCCH set or a first search set is for normal operation, and a second PDCCH set a second search set is static or semi-static for fallback operation.

In example eleven, an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) comprises one or more or more baseband processors to decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH includes an indication of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of data from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration, and a memory to store a value indicating the duration of the TTI. Example twelve may include the subject matter of example eleven or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to monitor for a new PDCCH after the duration of the TTI. Example thirteen may include the subject matter of example eleven or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to monitor for a next PDCCH at one or more fallback intervals of the duration of the TTI.

In example fourteen, an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB), comprises one or more baseband processors to configure a number of slots for downlink (DL) data transmission to a user equipment (UE) or for uplink (UL) data reception from the UE in an aggregation of one or more slots, and a memory to store the configuration of the slots. Example fifteen may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a set of the number of slots for data transmission by higher layers via an NR master information block (NR MIB), an NR system information block (NR SIB), or radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein one field in a downlink control information (DCI) format is to indicate the number of slots from the set configured by the higher layers for the data transmission. Example sixteen may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a field in a downlink control information (DCI) message may be used to indicate that DL data transmission or UL data reception, or a combination thereof, is to span consecutive or non-consecutive slots. Example seventeen may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to signal via higher layers or indicate in downlink control information (DCI) a start symbol and or end symbol in each slot, or a combination thereof, if a data channel spans multiple slots. Example eighteen may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to indicate a data channel duration in a number of symbols if a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is limited to be within a slot. Example nineteen may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure available symbols in intermediate slots within an aggregation window from a set of options via higher layer or via downlink control information (DCI) signaling. Example twenty may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the number of slots for frequency hopping if DL data transmission or UL data reception spans multiple slots, wherein intra-slot or inter-slot frequency hopping is enabled or disabled via higher layers via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or is indicated in downlink control information (DCI). Example twenty-one may include the subject matter of example fourteen or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the number of slots to be transmitted in a same frequency resource for a number of consecutive slots, and to switch to another frequency resource for frequency hopping after the number of consecutive slots.

In example twenty-two, an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprises one or more baseband processors to decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to determine a number of slots for downlink (DL) data reception from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) or for uplink (UL) data transmission to the gNB in an aggregation of one or more slots, and a memory to store the configuration of the slots. Example twenty-three may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to derive if a slot within the aggregation of one or more slots is to be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission. Example twenty-four may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to derive a data duration from a DL control region or an UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within the aggregation of one or more slots. Example twenty- five may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to decode an indication received from the gNB of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or other RS configurations within the aggregation of one or more slots via downlink control information (DCI) for data scheduling or a group common PDCCH. Example twenty-six may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure transmission of data assuming a minimum duration within one slot for data transmission spanning multiple slots. Example twenty-seven may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to assume rate-matching of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) around the PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) configured at the beginning of a slot in one or more intermediate slots, but not any CORESETs corresponding to additional PDCCH monitoring occasions within the slot. Example twenty-eight may include the subject matter of example twenty-two or any of the examples described herein, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to assume rate-matching of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) around CORESETs corresponding to configured DL control channel monitoring occasions.

In example twenty-nine, one or more machine readable media may have instructions stored thereon that, if executed by an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB), result in configuring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration, and storing a value indicating the duration of the TTI in a memory. Example thirty may include the subject matter of example twenty-nine or any of the examples described herein, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in configuring a new duration of the TTI in a next PDCCH. Example thirty-one may include the subject matter of example twenty-nine or any of the examples described herein, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in configuring the duration of the TTI to indicate to the UE an IDLE time over which no data is to be transmitted. Example thirty-two may include the subject matter of example twenty-nine or any of the examples described herein, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in scheduling two subframes comprising one regular subframe by followed by a partial subframe using a single PDCCH to indicate the duration of the TTI for the two subframes.

In example thirty-three, one or more machine readable media may have instructions stored thereon that, if executed by an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), result in decoding a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to determine a number of slots for downlink (DL) data reception from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) or for uplink (UL) data transmission to the gNB in an aggregation of one or more slots, and storing the configuration of the slots in a memory. Example thirty-four may include the subject matter of example thirty-three or any of the examples described herein, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in deriving if a slot within the aggregation of one or more slots is to be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission. Example thirty-five may include the subject matter of example thirty-three or any of the examples described herein, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in deriving a data duration from a DL control region or an UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within the aggregation of one or more slots.

In example thirty-six, an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) comprises means for configuring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration, and means for storing a value indicating the duration of the TTI. Example thirty-seven may include the subject matter of example thirty-six or any of the examples described herein, further comprising means for configuring a new duration of the TTI in a next PDCCH. Example thirty-eight may include the subject matter of example thirty-six or any of the examples described herein, further comprising means for configuring the duration of the TTI to indicate to the UE an IDLE time over which no data is to be transmitted. Example thirty-nine may include the subject matter of example thirty-six or any of the examples described herein, further comprising means for scheduling two subframes comprising one regular subframe by followed by a partial subframe using a single PDCCH to indicate the duration of the TTI for the two subframes.

In example forty, an apparatus of a user equipment (UE) comprises means for decoding a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to determine a number of slots for downlink (DL) data reception from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) or for uplink (UL) data transmission to the gNB in an aggregation of one or more slots, and means for storing the configuration of the slots. Example forty-one may include the subject matter of example forty or any of the examples described herein, further comprising means for deriving if a slot within the aggregation of one or more slots is to be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission. Example forty-two may include the subject matter of example forty or any of the examples described herein, further comprising means for deriving a data duration from a DL control region or an UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within the aggregation of one or more slots. In example forty-three, machine -readable storage may include machine-readable instructions, when executed, to realize an apparatus as recited in any preceding example.

In the description herein and/or claims, the terms coupled and/or connected, along with their derivatives, may be used. In particular embodiments, connected may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical and/or electrical contact with each other. Coupled may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical and/or electrical contact. Coupled, however, may also mean that two or more elements may not be in direct contact with each other, but yet may still cooperate and/or interact with each other. For example, "coupled" may mean that two or more elements do not contact each other but are indirectly joined together via another element or intermediate elements. Finally, the terms "on," "overlying," and "over" may be used in the following description and claims. "On," "overlying," and "over" may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical contact with each other. It should be noted, however, that "over" may also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other. For example, "over" may mean that one element is above another element but not contact each other and may have another element or elements in between the two elements. Furthermore, the term "and/or" may mean "and", it may mean "or", it may mean "exclusive-or", it may mean "one", it may mean "some, but not all", it may mean "neither", and/or it may mean "both", although the scope of claimed subject matter is not limited in this respect. In the description herein and/or claims, the terms "comprise" and "include," along with their derivatives, may be used and are intended as synonyms for each other.

Although the claimed subject matter has been described with a certain degree of particularity, it should be recognized that elements thereof may be altered by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and/or scope of claimed subject matter. It is believed that the subject matter pertaining to flexible transmission time interval and on slot aggregation for data transmission for new radio and many of its attendant utilities will be understood by the forgoing description, and it will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form, construction and/or arrangement of the components thereof without departing from the scope and/or spirit of the claimed subject matter or without sacrificing all of its material advantages, the form herein before described being merely an explanatory embodiment thereof, and/or further without providing substantial change thereto. It is the intention of the claims to encompass and/or include such changes.

Claims

What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB), comprising:

one or more baseband processors to configure a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration; and

a memory to store a value indicating the duration of the TTI.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a new duration of the TTI in a next PDCCH.

3. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-2, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the duration of the TTI to indicate to the UE an IDLE time over which no data is to be transmitted.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to schedule two subframes comprising one regular subframe by followed by a partial subframe using a single PDCCH to indicate a duration of the TTI for the two subframes.

5. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the duration of the TTI is encoded in downlink control information (DCI) of the PDCCH as a separate field, or via a look-up table, and wherein the look-up table is configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

6. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-5, wherein, the time and frequency resources for transmission of the PDSCH or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) are jointly encoded using M number of bits in downlink control information (DCI) or uplink control information (UCI), or wherein the frequency resources are fixed via radio resource control (RRC) configuration wherein the duration of the TTI is indicated in the DCI.

7. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-6, wherein the TTI is used to broadcast or multicast the TTI duration in a cell-specific or group-specific manner.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to indicate a length of a control region for the PDCCH in a first symbol in the control region.

9. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-8, wherein the one or more baseband processors are configured to limit a valid starting position of the PDCCH in a UE-specific manner, a group- specific manner, or a cell- specific manner.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-9, wherein one or more baseband processors are to configure two or more PDCCH sets or two or more search sets, wherein a first PDCCH set or a first search set is for normal operation, and a second PDCCH set a second search set is static or semi-static for fallback operation.

11. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more baseband processors to decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the PDCCH includes an indication of a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the transmission of data from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration; and

a memory to store a value indicating the duration of the TTI.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to monitor for a new PDCCH after the duration of the TTI.

13. The apparatus of any one of claims 11-12, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to monitor for a next PDCCH at one or more fallback intervals of the duration of the TTI.

14. An apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB), comprising: one or more baseband processors to configure a number of slots for downlink (DL) data transmission to a user equipment (UE) or for uplink (UL) data reception from the UE in an aggregation of one or more slots; and

a memory to store the configuration of the slots.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a set of the number of slots for data transmission by higher layers via an NR master information block (NR MIB), an NR system information block (NR SIB), or radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein one field in the a downlink control information (DCI) format is to indicate the number of slots from the set configured by the higher layers for the data transmission.

16. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-15, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure a field in a downlink control information (DCI) message may be used to indicate that DL data transmission or UL data reception, or a combination thereof, is to span consecutive or non-consecutive slots.

17. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-16, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to signal via higher layers or indicate in downlink control information (DCI) a start symbol and or end symbol in each slot, or a combination thereof, if a data channel spans multiple slots.

18. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-17, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to indicate a data channel duration in a number of symbols if a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is limited to be within a slot.

19. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-18, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure available symbols in intermediate slots within an aggregation window from a set of options via higher layer or via downlink control information (DCI) signaling.

20. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-19, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the number of slots for frequency hopping if DL data transmission or UL data reception spans multiple slots, wherein intra-slot or inter-slot frequency hopping is enabled or disabled via higher layers via radio resource control (RRC) signaling or is indicated in downlink control information (DCI).

21. The apparatus of any one of claims 14-20, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure the number of slots to be transmitted in a same frequency resource for a number of consecutive slots, and to switch to another frequency resource for frequency hopping after the number of consecutive slots.

22. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more baseband processors to decode a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to determine a number of slots for downlink (DL) data reception from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) or for uplink (UL) data transmission to the gNB in an aggregation of one or more slots; and a memory to store the configuration of the slots.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to derive if a slot within the aggregation of one or more slots is to be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission.

24. The apparatus of any one of claims 22-23, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to derive a data duration from a DL control region or an UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within the aggregation of one or more slots.

25. The apparatus of any one of claims 22-24, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to decode an indication received from the gNB of channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) or other RS configurations within the aggregation of one or more slots via downlink control information (DCI) for data scheduling or a group common PDCCH.

26. The apparatus of any one of claims 22-25 wherein the one or more baseband processors are to configure transmission of data assuming a minimum duration within one slot for data transmission spanning multiple slots.

27. The apparatus of any one of claims 22-26, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to assume rate-matching of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) around the PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) configured at the beginning of a slot in one or more intermediate slots, but not any CORESETs corresponding to additional PDCCH monitoring occasions within the slot.

28. The apparatus of any one of claims 22-27, wherein the one or more baseband processors are to assume rate-matching of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) around control resource sets (CORESETs) corresponding to configured DL control channel monitoring occasions.

29. One or more machine readable media having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by an apparatus of a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB), result in:

configuring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for the transmission of data to a user equipment (UE) in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the PDCCH indicates a duration of a transmission time interval (TTI) for the PDSCH, and wherein the duration of the TTI is to be a standard duration, shorter than a standard duration, or longer than a standard duration; and

storing a value indicating the duration of the TTI in a memory.

30. The one or more machine readable media of claim 29, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in configuring a new duration of the TTI in a next PDCCH.

31. The one or more machine readable media of any one of claims 29-30, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in configuring the duration of the TTI to indicate to the UE an IDLE time over which no data is to be transmitted.

32. The one or more machine readable media of any one of claims 30-31, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in scheduling two subframes comprising one regular subframe by followed by a partial subframe using a single PDCCH to indicate the duration of the TTI for the two subframes.

33. One or more machine readable media having instructions stored thereon that, if executed by an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), result in:

decoding a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to determine a number of slots for downlink (DL) data reception from a New Radio (NR) NodeB (gNB) or for uplink (UL) data transmission to the gNB in an aggregation of one or more slots; and storing the configuration of the slots in a memory.

34. The one or more machine readable media of claim 33, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in deriving if a slot within the aggregation of one or more slots is to be used for either DL data reception or UL data transmission.

35. The one or more machine readable media of any one of claims 33-34, wherein the instructions, if executed, further result in deriving a data duration from a DL control region or an UL control region and guard period duration for each slot within the aggregation of one or more slots.