WO2019062674A1

WO2019062674A1 - Improvements in or relating to transmission without grant in new radio

Info

Publication number: WO2019062674A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/107066
Authority: WO
Inventors: Guang Liu
Original assignee: Jrd Communication (Shenzhen) Ltd
Priority date: 2017-09-29
Filing date: 2018-09-21
Publication date: 2019-04-04
Also published as: GB2566990A; GB2566990B; CN111149410B; CN111149410A; GB201715857D0

Abstract

A method for providing control signalling in a transmission with variable payload size in a radio network between a base station and one or more user equipment UE, the method comprising including a control message in the payload of the transmission to indicate the a feedback from one or more UEs.

Description

Improvements in or relating to transmission without grant in New Radio

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to wireless communication systems and in particular to devices and methods for enabling a wireless communication system to operate, particularly but nor exclusively in respect of improvements in or relating to transmission without grant in New Radio (NR) . In one example, the invention relates to the Acknowledgement (ACK) and non-acknowledgement (NACK) feedback in downlink (DL) transmissions for uplink (UL) transmission without grant.

Background

Wireless communication systems enable communications which enable devices such as a User Equipment (UE) or mobile device to access a Radio Access Technology (RAT) or Radio Access Network (RAN) , such as the third-generation (3G) of mobile telephone standards and technology are well known. Such 3G standards and technology have been developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . The 3 ^rd generation of wireless communications has generally been developed to support macro-cell mobile phone communications. Communication systems and networks have developed towards a broadband and mobile system.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project has developed the so-called Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, namely, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Territorial Radio Access Network, (E-UTRAN) , for a mobile access network where one or more macro-cells are supported by a base station known as an eNodeB or eNB (evolved NodeB) . More recently, LTE is evolving further towards the so-called 5G; NR and 4G/LTE systems where one or more cells are supported by a base station known as a gNB.

One aspect of NR is the requirement to provide wireless communication and more specifically, DL Ack/Nack feedback of UL transmission without grant.

Normally UL transmission is scheduled by the base station which uses a UL grant message to indicate a terminal which resource can be used for the next UL transmission. This option is called grant based UL transmission. There is another option which does not have a scheduling step before the UL transmission and this option is called grant free UL transmission or UL transmission without grant (both mean the same thing) .

For UL transmission without grant, a set of resources are pre-allocated to the terminal for a certain period and the UE can start its transmission without waiting for the downlink scheduling message. Both are illustrated in figure 1 in which the left side relates to grant based and the right to grant free.

Obviously for grant based UL transmission, there is at least one RTT (Round Trip Time) delay before the initial transmission and when the amount of data transmitted is small, the control signalling overhead is significant. For grant free UL transmission, if the pre-allocated resources are available frequently enough, the latency for initial transmission could be very short but if there is not enough data to occupy most pre-allocated resources, some resources will be wasted.

The advantage and disadvantages of both options are summarized as below:

For Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) or Machine Type Communication (MTC) , the number of connection could be huge and the amount of data transmitted each time is small. In such a case, Scheduling Request (SR) and UL grant together contribute a big signalling overhead and at the same time, both types of services require a short latency and the additional one RTT delay becomes unacceptable. Due to these two reasons, grant free UL transmission is selected for some URLLC and MTC services.

As mentioned above, grant free transmission must also require resources pre-allocated with a certain periodicity and for sporadic services, some resources could be wasted. In LTE, similar scheme is adopted, which is called Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) and it was introduced to support voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) type of services whose packets arrive with a nearly fixed periodicity and very similar packet size so there is no concern of resource wasting. URLLC is considered to be used for factory control and data packets that arrive infrequently and sporadically which means a large percentage of pre-allocated resources may be wasted. To improve the efficiency, it has been proposed to support multiple UEs to share the same resources, including grant free only UEs or grant free and grant based UEs.

When multiple UEs are multiplexed on multiple resources, some UEs may transmit simultaneously. The gNB needs to indicate each UE if its UL transmission is received or not, i.e., Ack/Nack as shown in figure 2, and there could be two options for the DL Ack/Nack feedback indication, one is to transmit each UE's Ack/Nack in a separate message and another is to transmit several UEs'Ack/Nack in one message.

Both options have been agreed on as below:

· If HARQ feedback is supported, to indicate HARQ feedback of UL transmission without grant, following options and related UE behavior should be determined.

- Option 1: Based on UL grant to indicate “ACK”

- Option 2: Group-common DCI

· 2-1: Only ACK

· 2-2: ACK and NACK

- Option 3: Define a Timer, UE assumes following, when the Timer expires

· 3-1: ACK if an NACK is not received after the K repetitions

· 3-2: NACK if an ACK is not received

Option 1 may use UE-specific Downlink channel information (DCI) to indicate “Ack” to each UE and Option 2 is to use group common DCI to indicate a number of “Ack” or “Ack/Nack” to a group of UEs. Option 3 is not an independent option and may be supported together with either Option 1 or Option 2.

Option 1 is better for services with multiple data packets in buffer, and after the initial transmission, the gNB can use UE-specific DCI to indicate the Ack/Nack and simultaneously it can switch the UE to grant based transmission for remaining packets in buffer. Option 2 cannot switch the UE to grant based transmission.

Option 2 is better for services without data packet in buffer (so single packet each time) and after the initial transmission, since there is no further data packet in buffer, it is more efficient for the DL control signalling to indicate a group of UEs'Ack/Nack together with group common DCl. Multiple Option 1 messages consume more resources than a single Option 2 message.

Two possible designs for the group common DCI option were proposed so far.

A first example proposes to include a bitmap in the group common DCI to indicate Ack/Nack for each UE. The bitmap size would need to be equal to the number of UEs supported by this group common DCI (as shown in figure 3) . Since each UE transmits sporadically, it is estimated that values of most bits in the bitmap will be “Nack” and the DL control signalling efficiency is low.

Another example tries to improve the DL control signalling efficiency. Multiple feedback fields (as shown in figure 4. ) each of which includes a UE ID and a bitmap of multiple Hybrid Automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes of this UE are transmitted in the group common DCI. The benefit of this example comes from the assumption that only a very small number of UEs will transmit simultaneously. When there is only one HARQ process, the bitmap can be avoided. If UE ID is not found in the received group common DCI, the UE will assume its transmission failed if it transmitted in a corresponding previous slot.

To analyse the probabilities, a simplified model is used as below. A group of UEs are multiplexed on a number of resources, some UEs share the same resource while others do not, and some UEs have multiple resources while others have single resource as shown in figure 5. The gNB indicates which UE to use which resource (s) . All UEs are addressed by the same group common DCI, a separate UE ID within this group is indicated to the UE.

Assuming each UE has an independent arrival rate (AR below) , which can be understood the possibility that a resource is used by this specific UE, for instance, 1%means the 1%pre-allocated resources will be used by this UE.

The probability of n UEs transmitting simultaneously is

where M is the total number of UEs addressed by the same group common DCI.

The cumulative distribution function (CDF) with M=10 is illustrated in figure 6. It can be seen that with AR=0.01, a design with at most three feedback fields can cover 99.9998%cases and with AR = 0.001, it can cover 100%cases.

The cumulative distribution function (CDF) with M=20 is illustrated in figure 7. Here it can be seen that with AR=0.01, a design with at most three feedback fields can cover 99.995%cases and with AR = 0.001, it can cover 100%cases.

It also shows that three feedback fields are transmitted with a probability of about 0.1% (99.995738%-99.899642) from all transmissions and two feedback fields are transmitted with a probability of about 1.6%. When the number of received UL transmissions is more than three, UEs not selected as one of the three UEs cannot be indicated an Ack or Nack and when the number of received UL transmissions is less than three, the unused feedback fields will be filled with filler bits (meaningless but to produce a fixed size payload) .

It can be thus concluded that, even with the second example, a significant part of the DL group common DCI is wasted by transmitting filler bits on one side and on another side, a very high reliability is expected for the group common DCI especially when it is used for URLLC services.

Various proposals have been made in an attempt to address the issues relating to enhancing the reliability of group common DCI which is used to indicate Ack/Nack of UL transmissions without grant. Generally the proposals to date have failed to provide an effective and implementable solution. Thus a need exists to address the issues relating to enhance the reliability of group common DCI which is used to indicate Ack/Nack of UL transmissions without grant.

The present invention has as a goal the need to provide a solution to at least some of the outstanding problems in this domain.

Summary

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a method for providing control signalling in a transmission with variable payload size in a radio network between a base station and one or more user equipment UE, the method comprising including a control message in the payload of the transmission to indicate the a feedback from one or more UEs.

Preferably, the feedback comprises a HARQ feedback including one or more feedback fields.

Preferably, the or each feedback field includes a pre-configured identification.

Preferably, the pre-configured identification is pre-allocated to one or more UEs.

Preferably, the or each feedback field includes a bitmap of Ack/Nack bits.

Preferably, each Ack/Nack bit of the bitmap is allocated to indicate one or more UEs'feedback.

Preferably, the control message comprises a useful payload size indicator as payload to indicate the corresponding payload size.

Preferably, the useful payload size indicator includes a payload format.

Preferably, the payload is pre-encoded and rate matched to a pre-defined length prior to adding the useful payload size indicator.

Preferably, a pre-encoded block of payload and the useful payload size indicator are interleaved and encoded by a channel encoder.

Preferably, the useful payload size indicator is encode together with part of the payload and the size of the part of payload is at least one of pre-configured and hard coded by a specification.

Preferably, an encoded block containing the useful payload size indicator is mapped to a pre-allocated physical resource.

Preferably, the remainder of the payload is encoded by another channel encoder and mapped to the pre-allocated physical resource.

Preferably, the Radio Access Network is a New Radio/5G network.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a base station capable of performing the method of another aspect of the present invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a User equipment capable of performing the method of another aspect of the present invention.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor to perform the method of another aspect of the present invention.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise at least one from a group consisting of: a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a Read Only Memory, a Programmable Read Only Memory, an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory and a Flash memory.

Brief description of the drawings

Further details, aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings. Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. Like reference numerals have been included in the respective drawings to ease understanding.

Figure 1 is simplified diagram showing UL transmission with and without grant, according to the prior art;

Figure 2 is simplified diagram showing UL transmission and feedback, according to the prior art;

Figure 3 is simplified diagram showing an ACK/NACK bitmap, according to the prior art;

Figure 4 is simplified diagram showing feedback fields, according to the prior art;

Figure 5 is simplified diagram showing UE resources, according to the prior art;

Figure 6 is simplified graph showing a cumulative distribution function, according to the prior art;

Figure 7 is simplified graph showing a cumulative distribution function, according to the prior art;

Figure 8 is a simplified diagram showing possible group common DCIs, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 9 is a simplified diagram showing pre-encoded block encoded by a channel encoder, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 10a is a simplified diagram showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 10b is a simplified graph showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 11 is a simplified diagram showing independent decoding, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 12a is a simplified diagram showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 12b is a simplified graph showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 13 is a simplified diagram showing a DCI including fixed fields, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 14a is a simplified diagram showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 14b, is a graph showing simulation results, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Those skilled in the art will recognise and appreciate that the specifics of the examples described are merely illustrative of some embodiments and that the teachings set forth herein are applicable in a variety of alternative settings.

This invention discloses a method to enhance the reliability of group common DCI which is used to indicate Ack/Nack of UL transmissions without grant

This invention can improve the reliability of control signalling, especially when it has a flexible payload size. Without the capability to support variable payload size, the standards have to use a fixed size which must be no less than the maximum size. In that case, when the actual size is smaller than the fixed size, filler bits need to be used which is a resource burden and has no benefit for the reliability of the transmission or system.

The present invention proposes a new signal field is included, which is given the name Useful Power Size (UPS) . The UPS can be used to indicate a variable size, and thus, the gNB can transmit the actual size rather than a fixed size, because the actual size is smaller than the fixed size. As a result, a lower coding rate can be achieved which results in a more reliable link performance.

In order to enable the decoding with variable payload size, the UPS must be obtained before the decoding process of the variable payload. In this invention, a payload design together three options of coding scheme of how to do this are provided. In general, the total payload is split into two parts, UPS is included in a part with fixed size and the remainder is included in a second part with variable size. The part with UPS is encoded with fixed scheme while the other part uses a coding scheme selected according to the UPS value.

All possible group-common DCI payloads are illustrated in figure 8 and show corresponding probabilities. Four possible cases are discussed, these are for example, 0, 1, 2 and 3 feedback fields for Ack/Nack, and filler bits are used for those fields which are not used for any UE. A Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) of the same size is attached for all cases. Probabilities behind are given with assumptions that the number of UEs M=20 and the arrival rate AR=0.01.

Each feedback field may include a UE ID and optionally an Ack/Nack bitmap for all HARQ processes of this UE. The UE ID is configured to the UE via high layer signalling, e.g., radio resource control (RRC) . One UE may have one or more IDs and several UEs may share the same ID, for instance, UEs that transmit frequently can be configured with a unique ID while UEs that transmit infrequently can be configured with the same ID. There are some machine type control (MTC) or URLLC services transmit very infrequently, e.g., water/electricity meter reading reports.

An example can be found in table 1, below:

Table 1

All UEs from UE #0 to UE #3 transmit frequently and each of them has a dedicated ID from ID #0 to ID #3. All UEs from UE #4 to UE #7 transmit infrequently and they together share the same ID #4 so do UE #8 and UE #9 share ID #5. At the same time, another ID #6 is used to address UE #0 to UE #3 and UE #7 is used to address UE #4 to UE #9. So when ID #4 is included in any feedback field, all UEs from UE #4 to UE #7 are addressed but if any of them didn't transmit in the corresponding previous slot, the UE will ignore the feedback. In fact it is probable that the UE did not receive the group common DCI at all. Since all UEs from UE #4 to UE #7 transmit infrequently, the probability that two or more UEs transmitted simultaneously is very low so in most cases, ID #4 is only used to address one UE. If the two or more transmitted at the same time, “Ack” is indicated if all UEs'transmissions are successful, otherwise “Nack” is indicated.

Alternatively, ID #6 or ID #7 can be used to minimize the payload size. For instance, if all UEs from UE #0 to UE #3 transmitted, ID #6 can be used to address all of them rather than use all 4 IDs, or if no transmission is successful from all UEs from UE #4 to UE #9, ID #7 can be used to address all of them rather than to use all 6 IDs.

A number of examples can be found below if feedback field is selected:

Note when one UE is addressed by multiple IDs, the ID used by the least number of UEs has priority and in this example, UE #1 will take feedback from ID #1 and ignore ID #6.

A number of examples can be found below if bitmap is selected:

Each bit of the bitmaps may indicate Ack/Nack for one or more UE (s) and it is up to the gNB to select the proper bitmap format which can address all UEs which need to be indicated and at the same time to minimize the total payload size. The UEs understand the bitmap with the assistance of UPS.

The benefit of this UE ID design is that the number of bits used for each ID can be reduced, in this example, 1 bit can be saved by reducing the number of bits from 4 to 3 and less feedback fields or smaller bitmap can be used to reduce the group common DCI payload size.

A drawback of this design may be that resource is wasted from unnecessary retransmission. For example if both UE #6 and UE #7 have transmitted, only one's transmission is successful, a “Nack” is indicated and both need to retransmit including the one whose transmission was successful. In addition, there may be issues associated with packet loss. If for example, both UE #6 and UE #7 have transmitted, UE #6's transmission is successful while UE #7's transmission is completely lost, the gNB will indicate an “Ack” which will stop the retransmission of UE #7 and result in a packet loss. Considering both UEs transmit infrequently, the costs from both drawbacks are considered to be acceptable.

The following examples attempt to avoid filler bits and use the space to enhance the reliability of the useful fields. To support this design, UPS is used to indicate which of the above cases is transmitted.

In a first example (#1) , two level encoders are considered.

The useful payload (without filler bits) is encoded and optionally rate matched to the length of maximum payload size, e.g., three feedback fields (max [n] = 3, n = 0, 1, 2, or 3 in this example) plus CRC. If the useful payload size is 0, the CRC can be replaced with a pre-defined sequence of the same length (useful payload size = 0) otherwise the CRC can be generated with the input feedback field (s) . When there is no filler bit (n = 3) , no pre-encoder is applied. The “useful payload size” indicator (UPS below) and the pre-encoded block are encoded again by the channel encoder is shown in Figure 9.

A UE that received a group common DCI, carries out the channel decoding first, reads the UPS indicator, and then according to the value of the indicator, selects the corresponding pre-encoding and rate matching scheme to decode the payload. Obtained payload needs to pass the CRC check otherwise it will be discarded. The UPS indicator could be represented by a number of different sequences, for instance, UPS = 0 could be represented by a pre-defined sequence #0, UPS = 1 could be represented by a pre-defined sequence #1 and so on. The CRC length is selected according to a target false alarm rate, for instance, a target false alarm rate of 2 ^-21 has been agreed for DL control channel, so the CRC length of at least 21 bits is assumed here.

A feedback field size of 9 bits is simulated, at most three feedback fields are supported and CRC length is fixed 21 bits. The reference curve is for a known example.

Simulation assumptions are summarized in figure 10 (Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) , Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel and practical channel estimation) :

The final performance is determined by two aspects, one aspect is the increased channel coding rate due to the introduction of UPS indicator and another aspect is the coding gain from the pre-encoder. As can be seen from figure 10, with two feedback fields, the coding gain from the pre-encoder cannot compensate for the loss of the increased channel coding rate so the performance is worse than the reference and for both 0 and 1 feedback field. The coding gain from the pre-encoder can compensate the loss of the increased channel coding rate so the performance is better than the reference. Considering transmissions with different number of feedback fields happen with different probabilities as illustrated in figure 8 with assumptions that M=20 and AR=0.01, the final benefit is that the Block Error rate (BLER) is reduced from 4.3＊10 ^-4 to 1.9＊10 ^-4 at SNR = -3 dB.

In a second example (#2A) , two-parallel encoder are considered.

Example #1 provides some advantages and gains, and it can be considered for use with a one level encoder but with the UPS separately encoded so that it can be decoded independently as shown in figure 11.

The procedure at the gNB side can be summarized as below (the UE side will operate in a reverse way. ) . In a first step, the gNB splits the payload into two parts, one part has fixed size and the other has variable size. In example #2A, which is a specific case, it can be understood that the first part's size is 0. In example #2B, a more general case, the first part has half of CRC bits which is fixed but it needs to be clarified other size of the first part is not precluded. In a second step, the UPS is inserted and its value is set according to the size of the second part. In a third step, the first part is encoded with a fixed channel coding and rate matching scheme. This could be achieved in alternative ways for example, by hard coding according to specifications. In a fourth step the second part may be encoded and rate matched with a scheme that is selected according to the size the second part. This may also be indicated by the UPS. In a fifth step, encoded blocks of two parts may be combined and interleaved together and then mapped to the pre-allocated PHY resources.

When the UE receives the said group common DCI, it carries out de-interleaving and decoding of the header and then according to the indication from the header selects the required rate matching scheme to decode the payload part. Ultimately, the entire payload is verified by the CRC.

The simulation results can be found in figure 12 and with the same assumptions as shown in figure 8 are used: M=20 and AR=0.01. It can be seen that the performance is improved by about 0.74dB at BLER = 10 ^-3. A more detailed explanation can be found with reference to figure 14.

Simulation assumptions are summarized in figure 12 a (QPSK, AWGN channel and practical channel estimation) :

It is also observed that due to the very short length of the header, there is no remarkable coding “cliff” observed. This means a sudden improvement in performance after a certain SNR. As a result, the performance of the header part reduces smoothly with SNR so the overall performance is dominated by the header part when the BLER is very small and gaps between curves (gains) get smaller when the BLER reduces.

Example (#2B) with two-parallel encoders is now considered.

In this case, the UPS indicator and part of CRC can be encoded first with channel encoder since together they have fixed size. The rest of CRC and all possible feedback fields (if there are) are encoded separately with another channel encoder. The purpose to do so is to have a bigger input for the encoder so that the coding “cliff” can be obtained.

More generally, this can be used by any type of transmission with variable total length, for instance, a DCI may include some fixed fields (as shown within the dotted box in figure 13) and some variable fields. Part of the fixed fields (including CRC) can be encoded together with the header and the rest of the payload can be encoded separately. Both encoded block1 and block2 have fixed length which is known by the receiver. Rate matching is used to produce the fixed encoded block length.

At the receiver side, the received block are de-interleaved, since lengths of block encoded block1 and block2 are already known. The receiver can decode the part with header first and then according to the indication from the header, select the proper rate matching scheme to decode the remaining part. In the end, both parts (fixed fields and variable fields) are combined to pass the CRC check.

Simulation assumptions are summarized in figure 14a (QPSK, AWGN channel and practical channel estimation) :

The simulation results are given in figure 14b and with the same assumptions as shown in figure 8 are used: M=20 and AR=0.01. As can be seen, the performance is improved by about 1.11dB at BLER = 10 ^-3 (= 1.25＊0.818 + 0.6＊0.165 -0.5＊0.016 -1.70＊0.001) .

When the total payload size is bigger, a bigger gain can be expected as the coding cliff can be obtained earlier.

It can be seen from the above results that two-parallel encoders improve the link performance dramatically and the two-parallel encoder example #2B can bring still more link performance benefits.

The schemes proposed in the present invention are relevant to any uplink or downlink transmission in any type of radio network.

Although not shown in detail any of the devices or apparatus that form part of the network may include at least a processor, a storage unit and a communications interface, wherein the processor unit, storage unit, and communications interface are configured to perform the method of any aspect of the present invention. Further options and choices are described below.

The signal processing functionality of the embodiments of the invention especially the gNB and the UE may be achieved using computing systems or architectures known to those who are skilled in the relevant art. Computing systems such as, a desktop, laptop or notebook computer, hand-held computing device (PDA, cell phone, palmtop, etc. ) , mainframe, server, client, or any other type of special or general-purpose computing device as may be desirable or appropriate for a given application or environment can be used. The computing system can include one or more processors which can be implemented using a general or special-purpose processing engine such as, for example, a microprocessor, microcontroller or other control module.

The computing system can also include a main memory, such as random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic memory, for storing information and instructions to be executed by a processor. Such a main memory also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by the processor. The computing system may likewise include a read only memory (ROM) or other static storage device for storing static information and instructions for a processor.

The computing system may also include an information storage system which may include, for example, a media drive and a removable storage interface. The media drive may include a drive or other mechanism to support fixed or removable storage media, such as a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a compact disc (CD) or digital video drive (DVD) read or write drive (R or RW) , or other removable or fixed media drive. Storage media may include, for example, a hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, CD or DVD, or other fixed or removable medium that is read by and written to by media drive. The storage media may include a computer-readable storage medium having particular computer software or data stored therein.

In alternative embodiments, an information storage system may include other similar components for allowing computer programs or other instructions or data to be loaded into the computing system. Such components may include, for example, a removable storage unit and an interface, such as a program cartridge and cartridge interface, a removable memory (for example, a flash memory or other removable memory module) and memory slot, and other removable storage units and interfaces that allow software and data to be transferred from the removable storage unit to computing system.

The computing system can also include a communications interface. Such a communications interface can be used to allow software and data to be transferred between a computing system and external devices. Examples of communications interfaces can include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet or other NIC card) , a communications port (such as for example, a universal serial bus (USB) port) , a PCMCIA slot and card, etc. Software and data transferred via a communications interface are in the form of signals which can be electronic, electromagnetic, and optical or other signals capable of being received by a communications interface medium.

In this document, the terms ‘computer program product’ , ‘computer-readable medium’ and the like may be used generally to refer to tangible media such as, for example, a memory, storage device, or storage unit. These and other forms of computer-readable media may store one or more instructions for use by the processor comprising the computer system to cause the processor to perform specified operations. Such instructions, generally referred to as ‘computer program code’ (which may be grouped in the form of computer programs or other groupings) , when executed, enable the computing system to perform functions of embodiments of the present invention. Note that the code may directly cause a processor to perform specified operations, be compiled to do so, and/or be combined with other software, hardware, and/or firmware elements (e.g., libraries for performing standard functions) to do so.

The non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise at least one from a group consisting of: a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a Read Only Memory, a Programmable Read Only Memory, an Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, EPROM, an Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory and a Flash memory

In an embodiment where the elements are implemented using software, the software may be stored in a computer-readable medium and loaded into computing system using, for example, removable storage drive. A control module (in this example, software instructions or executable computer program code) , when executed by the processor in the computer system, causes a processor to perform the functions of the invention as described herein.

Furthermore, the inventive concept can be applied to any circuit for performing signal processing functionality within a network element. It is further envisaged that, for example, a semiconductor manufacturer may employ the inventive concept in a design of a stand-alone device, such as a microcontroller of a digital signal processor (DSP) , or application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and/or any other sub-system element.

It will be appreciated that, for clarity purposes, the above description has described embodiments of the invention with reference to a single processing logic. However, the inventive concept may equally be implemented by way of a plurality of different functional units and processors to provide the signal processing functionality. Thus, references to specific functional units are only to be seen as references to suitable means for providing the described functionality, rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organisation.

Aspects of the invention may be implemented in any suitable form including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. The invention may optionally be implemented, at least partly, as computer software running on one or more data processors and/or digital signal processors or configurable module components such as FPGA devices. Thus, the elements and components of an embodiment of the invention may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed, the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the scope of the present invention is limited only by the accompanying claims. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognize that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in accordance with the invention. In the claims, the term ‘comprising’ does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps.

Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by, for example, a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly be advantageously combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, the inclusion of a feature in one category of claims does not imply a limitation to this category, but rather indicates that the feature is equally applicable to other claim categories, as appropriate.

Furthermore, the order of features in the claims does not imply any specific order in which the features must be performed and in particular, the order of individual steps in a method claim does not imply that the steps must be performed in this order. Rather, the steps may be performed in any suitable order. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. Thus, references to ‘a’ , ‘an’ , ‘first’ , ‘second’ , etc. do not preclude a plurality.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the scope of the present invention is limited only by the accompanying claims. Additionally, although a feature may appear to be described in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in the art would recognise that various features of the described embodiments may be combined in accordance with the invention. In the claims, the term ‘comprising’ or “including” does not exclude the presence of other elements.

Claims

A method for providing control signalling in a transmission with variable payload size in a radio network between a base station and one or more user equipment UE, the method comprising including a control message in the payload of the transmission to indicate the a feedback from one or more UEs.
The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback comprises a HARQ feedback including one or more feedback fields.
The method of claim 2, wherein the or each feedback field includes a pre-configured identification.
The method of claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the pre-configured identification is pre-allocated to one or more UEs.
The method of any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the or each feedback field includes a bitmap of Ack/Nack bits.
The method of claim 5, wherein each Ack/Nack bit of the bitmap is allocated to indicate one or more UEs’ feedback.
The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control message comprises a useful payload size indicator as payload to indicate the corresponding payload size.
The method of claim 7, wherein the useful payload size indicator includes a payload format.
The method of claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the payload is pre-encoded and rate matched to a pre-defined length prior to adding the useful payload size indicator.
The method of any of claims 7 to 9 wherein, a pre-encoded block of payload and the useful payload size indicator are interleaved and encoded by a channel encoder.
The method of any of claims 7 to 10, wherein the useful payload size indicator is encode together with part of the payload and the size of the part of payload is at least one of pre-configured and hard coded by a specification.
The method of any of claims 7 to 11, wherein an encoded block containing the useful payload size indicator is mapped to a pre-allocated physical resource.
The method of claim 12, wherein the remainder of the payload is encoded by another channel encoder and mapped to the pre-allocated physical resource.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the Radio Network is a New Radio/5G network.
A user equipment, UE, apparatus comprising a processor, a storage unit and a communications interface, wherein the processor unit, storage unit, and communications interface are configured to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-14.
A base station, BS, apparatus comprising a processor, a storage unit and a communications interface, wherein the processor unit, storage unit, and communications interface are configured to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 1-14.
A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions stored thereon for execution by a processor to perform the method according to any of claims 1-14.