WO2020061965A1

WO2020061965A1 - Harq process management for multi-slot scheduling

Info

Publication number: WO2020061965A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/108147
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianguo Liu; Tao Tao; Zhe LUO; Yan Meng; Gang Shen
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2018-09-27
Filing date: 2018-09-27
Publication date: 2020-04-02
Also published as: CN112771974B; CN112771974A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a method, device and computer readable medium for HARQ process management for multi-slot scheduling in unlicensed spectrum. In example embodiments, the method comprises: receiving scheduling grant information from a network device; determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission; preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the first group; determining, based on the slot format of a starting slot in the N _Float continuous slots and outcome of Listen-Before-Talk, whether at least one sub-channel in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots is available; in response to determining that the at least one sub-channel in the first available slot is available, mapping, to (I) available slots starting from the first available slot, HARQ processes in the first group that are associated with the (I) available slots; and transmitting, to the network device, uplink data associated with the mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

Description

HARQ PROCESS MANAGEMENT FOR MULTI-SLOT SCHEDULING

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to a method, device and computer readable medium for Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process management for multi-slot scheduling in unlicensed spectrum.

BACKGROUND

In telecommunication networks such as those based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications, to facilitate uplink (UL) communication from a terminal device to a network device, the network device may schedule, upon request, UL resource such as a UL slot in a UL grant to the terminal device using a control channel. The terminal device may send UL data in the scheduled slot. Depending on whether the uplink data is successfully received, the network device may transmit an acknowledgement/non-acknowledgement (ACK/NACK) feedback so that the terminal device may determine whether to retransmit the UL data or not.

In new radio (NR) access networks operating in unlicensed spectrum (which is also referred to as NR-U) , a terminal device detects whether a slot is idle or busy before it starts transmission to a network device in this slot, which is called as a listen-before-talk (LBT) process. If the LBT process fails, the terminal device may fail to transmit the transmission to the network device in this slot.

In order to enable more channel access opportunities for the terminal device, it has been proposed to schedule a plurality of continuous slots in one UL grant. If multiple mini-slots are included in a slot, the number of HARQ processes required for a single multi-slot UL scheduling grant will increase as the number of the mini-slots within a slot. Thus, management of HARQ processes for multi-slot UL scheduling in unlicensed spectrum still needs to be discussed.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, device and computer readable medium for HARQ process management for multi-slot scheduling in unlicensed spectrum.

In a first aspect, a method implemented at a terminal device is provided. The method comprises: receiving scheduling grant information from a network device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device; determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein the HARQ processes comprise a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float being natural numbers, N _Float being less than N _Grant; preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the first group; determining, based on the slot format of a starting slot in the N _Float continuous slots and outcome of a Listen-Before-Talk process, whether at least one sub-channel in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots is available; in response to determining that the at least one sub-channel in the first available slot is available, mapping, to

available slots starting from the first available slot, HARQ processes in the first group that are associated with the

available slots, wherein

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot; and transmitting, to the network device, uplink data associated with the mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission is preconfigured.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving, from the network device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission is activated by the scheduling grant information.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving, from the network device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission is configured and activated by the scheduling grant information.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a first frame structure in which each of the N _Float continuous slots comprises a full slot.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a second frame structure in which the starting slot comprises a plurality of mini-slots; and the first group of HARQ processes comprises a sub-group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the sub-group is associated with one of sub-channels and a mini-slot.

In some embodiments, the signaling indicates locations of the N _Float continuous slots.

In some embodiments, the signaling indicates a number of mini-slots in the starting slot and a number of symbols in each of the mini-slots.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in all the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and the method further comprises: in response to determining that a number of available slots among the N _Grant continuous slots is greater than N _Float, preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the second group during transmitting the uplink data.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: transmitting the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.

In a second aspect, a method implemented at a network device is provided. The method comprises: transmitting scheduling grant information to a terminal device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device; determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein the HARQ processes comprises a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ process in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a minis-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float are natural numbers, N _Float is less than N _Grant; in response to detecting the uplink transmission in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots, de-mapping, from

available slots, wherein the first available slot has the same slot format as a starting slot of the N _Float continuous slots, and

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot; and decoding uplink data associated with the de-mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from the available starting point of first available slot.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a second frame structure in which the starting slot comprises a plurality of mini-slots; and the first group of HARQ processes comprises a sub-group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the sub-group is associated with one of sub-channels and one of the mini-slots.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in each of at least one available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and the method further comprises: receiving the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in at least one available slot subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.

In a third aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the device to carry out the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, a network device is provided. The network device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code. The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the device to carry out the method according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium storing a computer program thereon. The computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium storing a computer program thereon. The computer program, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to carry out the method according to the second aspect.

It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method of multi-slot scheduling transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3A is a schematic diagram of multi-slot scheduling in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3B is a schematic diagram of multi-slot scheduling in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of multi-slot scheduling in accordance with still other embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5A is a schematic diagram of data preparation and transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5B is a schematic diagram of data preparation and transmission in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method of multi-slot scheduling transmission in accordance with some other embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 7 is a block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network that follows any suitable communication standards or protocols such as long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and 5G NR, and employs any suitable communication technologies, including, for example, MIMO, OFDM, time division multiplexing (TDM) , frequency division multiplexing (FDM) , code division multiplexing (CDM) , Bluetooth, ZigBee, machine type communication (MTC) , eMBB, mMTC and uRLLC technologies. For the purpose of discussion, in some embodiments, the LTE network, the LTE-A network, the 5G NR network or any combination thereof is taken as an example of the communication network.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to any suitable device at a network side of a communication network. The network device may include any suitable device in an access network of the communication network, for example, including a base station (BS) , a relay, an access point (AP) , a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a gigabit NodeB (gNB) , a Remote Radio Module (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and the like. For the purpose of discussion, in some embodiments, the gNB is taken as an example of the network device.

The network device may also include any suitable device in a core network, for example, including multi-standard radio (MSR) radio equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs) , Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs) , Mobile Switching Centers (MSCs) and MMEs, Operation and Management (O&M) nodes, Operation Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organization Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes, such as Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs) , and/or Mobile Data Terminals (MDTs) .

As used herein, the term “terminal device” refers to a device capable of, configured for, arranged for, and/or operable for communications with a network device or a further terminal device in a communication network. The communications may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic signals, radio waves, infrared signals, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over air. In some embodiments, the terminal device may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the terminal device may transmit information to the network device on predetermined schedules, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network side.

Examples of the terminal device include, but are not limited to, user equipment (UE) such as smart phones, wireless-enabled tablet computers, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , and/or wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) . For the purpose of discussion, in the following, some embodiments will be described with reference to UEs as examples of the terminal devices, and the terms “terminal device” and “user equipment” (UE) may be used interchangeably in the context of the present disclosure.

As used herein, the term “cell” refers to an area covered by radio signals transmitted by a network device. The terminal device within the cell may be served by the network device and access the communication network via the network device.

As used herein, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) ; and (b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) : (i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and (ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) ; and (c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” , and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term “includes” and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean “includes, but is not limited to” . The term “based on” is to be read as “based at least in part on” . The term “one embodiment” and “an embodiment” are to be read as “at least one embodiment” . The term “another embodiment” is to be read as “at least one other embodiment” . Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

Description of the related art -wideband operation for NR/NR-U

As described above, in order to enable more channel access opportunities for the terminal device, the multi-slot typed grant is generally considered for both DL and UL transmission in unlicensed spectrum. As multiple mini-slots are included in a slot, the number of HARQ processes required for a single multi-slot UL scheduling grant will also increase as the number of the mini-slots within a slot.

Furthermore, it’s reasonable to support wider bandwidth operation for multi-slot UL scheduling in order to increase transmission capability of the terminal device with larger bandwidth.

In NR, the maximum channel bandwidth (BW) per carrier could be up to 400 MHz. The large bandwidth can be divided into multiple BWPs, and a terminal device can be configured to work on one or more BWPs (contiguous or non-contiguous) so as to achieve the benefits as below: enabling reduced bandwidth capability of the terminal device within a wideband carrier, enabling reduced power energy consumption of the terminal device by bandwidth adaptation, and enabling the terminal device to use different numerologies in FDM within a wideband carrier.

In line with the NR design, the BWP mechanism can be reused in unlicensed spectrum access. A solution provides an alternative wideband mechanism when accessing unlicensed spectrum on adjacent 20 MHz channels as it can provide savings in the cost of the terminal device with reduced number of RF chains. Single RF chain and FFT processing can be used to access wide bandwidth of e.g. 80 MHz or 160 MHz on 5 GHz or 6 GHz (potential) unlicensed bands. It also improves the trade-off between throughput of the terminal device and battery consumption via fast BWP switching. As the BWP switching time is shorter than the component carrier (de) activation time (subject of current discussion in RAN4) , the terminal device can be switched rather aggressively to narrow BWP (and back to wideband BWP) saving battery of the terminal device and compromising throughput less than the slower component carrier (de) activation. On the other hand, NR BWP switching time (hundreds of microseconds, e.g., 600 us) has clearly a different order of magnitude than a single Channel Clearance Assessment (CCA) (e.g., 9 us) in LBT procedure. This poses constraints on how BWP operation and LBT can interact.

Channel contention mechanism is one of the key components for efficient wideband operation and the channel contention mechanism for wideband operations needs to be considered during the Study Item (SI) . It should be noted that both Wi-Fi and LTE LAA LBT operate on 20 MHz channels and some of the regulatory rules, e.g., ETSI’s standard, require LBT operation on 20 MHz grid at 5 GHz band. Hence, to meet regulatory requirements and to ensure fair coexistence with other systems, NR-unlicensed should support 20 MHz grid for LBT operation at least for the 5 GHz unlicensed band. Of course, wider LBT BWs also should be supported for higher frequency unlicensed bands or for potential new unlicensed bands like the 6 GHz band.

However, the HARQ problem will become more severe in wideband operations. For example, if the separate HARQ process per sub-channel is considered, the number of HARQ processes required for a multi-slot scheduling grant will be the product of the number of sub-channels in a BWP and the number of scheduled slots or/and mini-slots in a UL grant. When the bandwidth of BWP, the number of mini-slots per slot or/and the number of scheduled slots are large, a very large number of HARQ processes will be required. This will greatly exceed the maximal number of HARQ processes that a terminal device supports in LTE/NR.

Description of the related art -Multi-channel LBT operation for unlicensed spectrum

As required in many regions of the world, unlicensed technologies need to abide to the conformance requirement of regulations, such as Channel Access Mechanism, Nominal Channel Bandwidth. According to ETSI regulation, the Nominal Channel Bandwidth is the widest band of frequencies assigned to a single channel, which shall be 20 MHz for a single sub-channel. Thus, to meet regulatory requirements and to ensure fair coexistence with other systems, also NR unlicensed should support 20 MHz grid for LBT operation at least for the 5 GHz unlicensed band. Of course, wider LBT BWs also should be supported for higher frequency unlicensed bands or for potential new unlicensed bands like the 6 GHz band. For support of multi-channel operation in unlicensed band, two optional channel access mechanisms are specified in ETSI. In an optional channel access mechanism, the terminal device enables simultaneous transmission in any combination of sub-channels if it satisfies the channel access requirements on each such 20 MHz Sub-channel. In another optional channel access mechanism, the terminal device can only use a combination/grouping of 20 MHz sub-channels that is a subset of bonded 40 MHz, 80 MHz or 160 MHz channels based on channel bonding rule.

Description of the related art -Mini-slot frame structure for unlicensed spectrum

In conventional LTE system, the transmission might not start at the slot boundary for a given reference numerology, which results in channel utilization inefficiency in unlicensed spectrum. Subject to channel access procedure, the terminal device may access the channel at any time in a subframe. This may lead to transmission of the unnecessary signal (e.g. reservation signal) to hold the channel or defer access until the starting position where the control and/or data can be transmitted. Thus, it could be beneficial to specify multiple starting positions for flexible and efficient channel access and hence increase the overall system performance.

In NR, a slot can be complemented by mini-slots to support transmissions with a flexible start position and a duration shorter than a regular slot duration. In this case, dynamic mini-slot could improve the efficiency of channel access in the unlicensed spectrum due to small channel access granularity.

In order to reduce the impact of BWP on the number of required HARQ processes, some potential solutions with one HARQ process for one or multiple slot/mini-slots can be considered. However, these solutions seem none of efficiency for the reasons as discussed below.

For one single HARQ process for all the available sub-channels based on the outcome of multi-channel LBT, the terminal device need long time to prepare data for UL transmission on the available sub-channels which pass the CCA check.

During data preparation, one possibility is that the available channels are grabbed by other devices, which would make the prepared data useless; another possibility is that the terminal device need transmit long reservation signaling to occupy the available channel before actual transmission, which greatly reduces the network transmission efficiency. A further possibility is that the terminal device prepares multiple copies of data according to different hypotheses regarding to any combination of sub-channels within the configured BWP. However, such a solution becomes infeasible if number of hypothesis becomes large in the case of large bandwidth of BWP.

For the case of data preparation over entire BWP with one single HARQ process, the following two solutions were proposed.

In a solution, it is proposed that if the terminal device only performs wideband LBT operation over the configured BWP, it can transmit if all the scheduled channels within the scheduled BWP is available. As the channel access probability is very low for wideband LBT, it would cause inefficient UL resource usage as well as increased latency and reduced UL throughput for the terminal device.

In another solution, it is proposed that if the terminal device perform sub-band LBT per sub-channel, the terminal device can transmit on any combination of the available sub-channels. However, the encoded data for wideband transmission need be punctured for UL transmission on the unavailable sub-channels. High puncturing ratio would cause decoding failure and thus reduce the system transmission efficiency.

Therefore, it’s obvious that it is not efficient to use one single HARQ process for wider bandwidth operation in terms of system performance and channel access capability. However, separate HARQ process per sub-channel would reduce system transmission efficiency as the user data is fragmented into multiple transport blocks in the frequency domain besides increasing the number of required HARQ processes.

The HARQ operation including scheduling and feedback will be cumbersome and impractical when the number of required HARQ processes becomes very large.

In order to cope with the encountered issues regarding to the preparation time and the number of required HARQ processes for support of UL multi-slot/min-slot scheduling and dynamic BWP adaption, a solution was proposed. It proposed to have separate HARQ-processes and transport blocks design for each slot and sub-channel in the first M scheduled slots, and have one HARQ process design per slot for all the available sub-channels in the later scheduled slots. As the transport blocks are prepared per sub-channel in the first M scheduled slots and the gaps (guard bands) between sub-channels can be either left empty or filled with some data, most of the preparation time (including reading data from buffer, determination of transport block size, channel coding etc. ) will be saved for the terminal device to match the transmission on the available sub-channels. In this case, the remaining preparation time for resource element mapping, IFFT and digital filter will be greatly reduced so that the terminal device could prepare data before transmission within a short time. During the transmission of first M slots, the terminal device could prepare data transmission in the later slots.

However, this solution faces a big challenge regarding to how to configure the number of first slots M. As the number of M is fixed, a small number M could cause that the terminal device doesn’t have chance to transmit if it couldn’t grab the channels in the first M slots. This could reduce the system resource usage and thus increase the latency of UL traffic as the terminal device haven’t to prepare data transmission in the later slots even though the terminal device grabs the channels in the later slots. On the other hand, a large number M would lose advantageous of this solution which cause increasing the number of required HARQ processes.

In order to address at least some of the above problems and other potential problems, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, there is proposed a solution for HARQ process management for multi-slot scheduling in unlicensed spectrum. In this solution, HARQ processes used for scheduled UL transmission are divided into floating HARQ processes and common HARQ processes. Based on the combined design of the floating HARQ processes and the common HARQ processes, this solution is able to reduce the number of required HARQ processes for multi-slot UL scheduling transmission.

Now some example embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the figures. However, those skilled in the art would readily appreciate that the detailed description given herein with respect to these figures is for explanatory purpose as the present disclosure extends beyond theses limited embodiments.

Fig. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The network 100 includes a network device 110 and a terminal device 120 served by the network device 110. The serving area of the network device 110 is called as a cell 102. It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more terminal devices may be located in the cell 102 and served by the network device 110.

The communications in the network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Extended Coverage Global System for Mobile Internet of Things (EC-GSM-IoT) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) , and the like. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols.

In the communication network 100, the network device 110 can communicate data and control information to the terminal device 120 and the terminal device 120 can also communicate data and control information to the network device 110. A link from the network device 110 to the terminal device 120 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the terminal device 120 to the network device 110 is referred to as an uplink (UL) .

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method 200 for HARQ feedback transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 200 can be implemented at the terminal device 120 as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the method 200 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 210, the terminal device 120 receives scheduling grant information from the network device 110. The scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for UL transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device 120. N _Grant is a natural number.

At block 220, the terminal device 120 determines an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the UL transmission. The HARQ processes comprise a first group of HARQ processes. Each of the HARQ processes in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots. N _Float is a natural number and less than N _Grant.

In some embodiments, N _Float may be determined based on capability of the terminal device 120 for preparation of a transport block (TB) with maximal processing time.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the UL transmission comprises a first frame structure. In the first frame structure, each of the N _Float continuous slots comprises a full slot.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the UL transmission comprises a second frame structure. In the second frame structure, a starting slot of the N _Float continuous slots comprises a plurality of mini-slots; and the first group of HARQ processes comprises a sub-group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the sub-group is associated with one of sub-channels in each of the mini-slots.

In other embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives, from the network device 110, a signaling for configuring the terminal device 120 with the frame structure for the uplink transmission. In such embodiments, the signaling indicates locations of the N _Float continuous slots. Examples of the signaling for configuring includes, but are not limited to, radio resource control (RRC) signaling and Layer 1 (L1) signaling.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission is activated by the scheduling grant information. In other embodiments, the terminal device 120 receives, from the network device 110, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission. Examples of the signaling for activating includes, but are not limited to, RRC signaling and L1 signaling.

In other embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission is configured and activated by the scheduling grant information.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes. Each of the HARQ processes in the second group is associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in each of at least one slot available subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots. Thus, embodiments of the present disclosure support wider bandwidth operation with reduced number of HARQ processes.

Hereinafter, for ease of discussion, the HARQ processes in the first group are also referred to as floating HARQ processes, and the HARQ processes in the second group are also referred to as common HARQ processes. A time-frequency resource block associated with the floating HARQ processes is referred to as a floating block. A time-frequency resource block associated with the common HARQ processes is referred to as a common block.

Fig. 3A shows an example of the first frame structure. In this example, it is supposed that the network device 110 schedules five (i.e., N _Grant=5)

continuous slots

310, 311, 312, 313 and 314 for UL transmission. The scheduling grant information indicates the five continuous slots. Each of the

slots

310, 311, 312, 313 and 314 is a full slot consisting of 14 symbols. The floating block includes eight sub-channels with two (i.e., N _Float =2)

continuous slots

310 and 311. The common block includes twelve sub-channels with three

continuous slots

312, 313 and 314. Each of the eight sub-channels has a bandwidth of 20MHz. It should be noted that Fig. 3A shows that the

slots

310 and 311 in the floating block are separate from the

slots

312, 313 and 314 just for purpose of clarity.

In embodiments where the first frame structure is used, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the following Equation (1) , HARQ identifiers (ID) of a HARQ process associated with an available sub-channel in any of the N _Float continuous slots:

HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) = (HARQ _start + n _slot *N _ch + n _ch) mod HARQ _max (1)

where HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) represents HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with a sub-channel in one of N _Float continuous slots, HARQ _start represents the starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device 120, n _slot represents a slot among the N _Float continuous slots and 0≤n _slot≤ N _Float -1, N _ch represents the number of sub-channels in a slot, n _ch represents a sub-channel in a slot and 0 ≤n _ch ≤N _ch-1, HARQ _max represents the maximum number of HARQ processes for UL transmission. In such embodiments, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the following Equation (2) , HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with all available sub-channels in any of remaining slots (i.e., ( (N _Grant - N _Float) slots) :

HARQ (n _slot) = (HARQ _start + N _Float *N _ch + n _slot -N _Float) mod HARQ _max (2)

where HARQ (n _slot) represents HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with all available sub-channels in any of the remaining slots, and N _Float≤n _slot≤ N _Grant -1.

If the scheduling grant information indicates that a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device 120 is 2, and HARQ _max is preconfigured as 16, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the above Equation (1) , the floating HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9. Each of the HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9 is associated with a sub-channel in any of the

slots

310 and 311. For example, in the slot 310, the HARQ processes #2, #3, #4 and #5 are associated with sub-channels #0, #1, #2 and #3 of a Bandwidth Part (BWP) , respectively.

In addition, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the above Equation (2) , the common HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #10, #11, #12, and each of the HARQ processes #10, #11, #12 is associated with all the available sub-channels in any of the

slots

312, 313 and 314. For example, in the slot 312, the HARQ process #10 is associated with all the available sub-channels #0, #1, #2 and #3 of the BWP.

Fig. 3B shows an example of the second frame structure. The example in Fig. 3B is different from the example in Fig. 3A in that the slot 310 comprises

mini-slots

315 and 316. Each of the

mini-slots

315 and 316 consists of seven symbols. It should be noted that the slot 310 comprising two mini-slots is described just by way of example. According to application scenarios, the slot 310 may comprise any number of mini-slots. For example, where a mini-slot consists of two symbols, the slot 310 may comprise seven mini-slots, as will be described with reference Fig. 4.

Fig. 4 shows another example of the second frame structure. In this example, it is supposed that the network device 110 schedules five (i.e., N _Grant=5)

continuous slots

410, 411, 412, 413 and 414 for UL transmission. The scheduling grant information indicates the five continuous slots. The floating block includes two (i.e., N _Float =2)

continuous slots

410 and 411, and includes a sub-channel in each of

slots

410 and 411. The slot 410 comprises seven mini-slots. Each of the seven mini-slots consists of two symbols. The common block includes three sub-channels with three

continuous slots

412, 413 and 414. Each of the sub-channels has a bandwidth of 20MHz.

The association between HARQ processes and N _Grant continuous slots is indicated by the reference number 400. The floating HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7. Each of the floating HARQ processes #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 is associated with a sub-channel in any of the seven mini-slots. The floating HARQ process #7 is associated with a sub-channel in the slot 411.

In addition, the common HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #8, #9, #10, and each of the HARQ processes #8, #9, #10 is associated with all the available sub-channels in any of the

slots

312, 313 and 314. It should be noted that in this example, the number of all the available sub-channels in any of the

slots

312, 313 and 314 is equal to one.

In embodiments where the second frame structure is used, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the following Equation (3) , HARQ identifier (ID) of a HARQ process associated with an available sub-channel in any of the mini-slots:

HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) = (HARQ _start + n _min-slot *N _ch + n _ch) mod HARQ _max (3)

where HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) represents HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with a sub-channel in one of mini-slots in a starting slot of the N _Grant continuous slots, n _min-slot represents a mini-slot in any of the N _Float continuous slots and 0≤n _slot ≤ N _mini-slot -1, N _mini-slot represents the number of mini-slots in the starting slot, N _ch represents the number of sub-channels in a mini-slot, n _ch represents a sub-channel in a mini-slot and 0 ≤n _ch ≤N _ch-1, HARQ _max represents the maximum number of HARQ processes for UL transmission.

In such embodiments, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the following Equation (4) , HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with an available sub-channel in a slot subsequent the mini-slots in the floating block:

HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) = (HARQ _start +N _ch *N _mini-slot + (n _slot -1) *N _ch + n _ch) mod HARQ _max (4)

where HARQ (n _slot, n _ch) represents HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with an available sub-channel in a slot subsequent the mini-slots in the floating block, and 1 ≤n _slot ≤ N _Float -1.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the following Equation (5) , HARQ ID of a HARQ process associated with all available sub-channels in any of remaining slots (i.e., ( (N _Grant -N _Float) slots) :

HARQ (n _slot) = (HARQ _start + N _ch *N _mini-slot + N _Float -1) *N _ch + n _slot -N _Float) mod HARQ _max (5)

Returning to the example as shown in Fig. 3B, if the scheduling grant information indicates that a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device 120 is 2, and HARQ _max is preconfigured as 16, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the above Equation (3) , the floating HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9. Each of the HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9 is associated with a sub-channel in each of the

mini-slots

315 and 316. The terminal device 120 may determine, based on the above Equation (4) , the floating HARQ processes further comprise HARQ processes #10, #11, #12, #13, and each of the HARQ processes #10, #11, #12, #13 is associated with a sub-channel in the slot 311.

In addition, the terminal device 120 may determine, based on the above Equation (5) , the common HARQ processes comprise HARQ processes #14, #15, #16, and each of the HARQ processes #14, #15, #16 is associated with all the available sub-channels in any of the

slots

312, 313 and 314. For example, in the slot 312, the HARQ process #14 is associated with all the available sub-channels #0, #1, #2 and #3 of the BWP.

With continued reference to Fig. 2, at block 230, the terminal device 120 prepares, based on the scheduling grant information, UL data associated with the HARQ processes in the first group.

In some embodiments, the UL data may include transport blocks.

In some embodiments, the scheduling grant information may indicate a configuration of each of the HARQ processes in the first group and the frequency domain resource allocation of the corresponding sub-channel in the BWP. Examples of the configuration of a HARQ process may include, but is not limited to, Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) , New Data indicator (NDI) and Redundancy Version (RV) . Thus, the terminal device 120 may prepare the transport blocks for the HARQ processes based on the scheduling grant information.

At block 240, the terminal device 120 determines, based on the slot format of a starting slot in the N _Float continuous slots and outcome of a Listen-Before-Talk process, whether at least one sub-channel in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots is available.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 performs an LBT operation on each of sub-channels of the BWP starting from a starting scheduled slot until at least one sub-channel is available before one of the UL transmission starting positions.

With reference to the example as shown in Fig. 4, a process of LBT operations is indicated by the reference number 405. Starting from the starting slot 410 and based on the frame structure of the starting slot 410, the terminal device 120 performs an LBT operation on each of sub-channels of the BWP. In this example, the BWP includes a sub-channel. From the perspective of the frame structure, the starting slot 410 comprises seven mini-slots, which are associated with HARQ processes #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, respectively.

Starting from the slot 410, the terminal device 120 performs an LBT operation on each of sub-channels until the LBT operation succeeds on at least one sub-channel before a bounary of one of the seven mini-slots. As shown, the LBT operation fails on each of sub-channels in each of the seven mini-slots in the slot 410.

Then, the frame structure of the starting slot 410 floats to the the slot 411. As such, the slot 411 comprises seven mini-slots, which are associated with HARQ processes #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, respectively.

In the slot 411, the terminal device 120 continues the LBT operation on each of sub-channels based on the frame structure of the starting slot 410. As shown, the LBT operation fails on each of sub-channels in each of the mini-slots associated with HARQ processes #0 and #1, and the LBT operation succeeds on at least one sub-channel on a boundary of the mini-slot associated with HARQ process #2. Thus, the terminal device 120 may access the at least one sub-channel on the boundary of the mini-slot associated with HARQ process #2 for the UL transmission. Accordingly, with the floating block design and mini-slot frame structure according to embodiments of the present disclosure, the channel access opportunity of the terminal device 120 is increased.

With continued reference to Fig. 2, at block 240, in response to determining that the at least one sub-channel in the first available slot is available, the terminal device 120 maps, to

available slots.

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot.

In some embodiments,

wherein

represents the number of the available scheduled slots after the LBT operation.

With reference to the example as shown in Fig. 4, because the LBT operation succeeds in the slot 411, the number of the available scheduled slots after the LBT operation is equal to 4. Thus,

and

With still reference to Fig. 2, at block 250, the terminal device 120 transmits, to the network device 110, uplink data associated with the mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

Hereinafter, examples of data preparation, HARQ process mapping and data transmission will be described with reference to Figs. 4, 5A and 5B.

With reference to the example in Fig. 4, the terminal device 120 prepares uplink data associated with the HARQ processes #0, #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7. In response to the success of the LBT operation on at least one sub-channel on the boundary of the mini-slot associated with HARQ process #2, the terminal device 120 maps HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7 to all the available sub-channels in the

slots

411 and 412. Then, part of the floating HARQ processes (i.e., HARQ processes #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 and #7) , which are mapped into the available sub-channels and available scheduled mini-slots or slot, will be activated for data preparation of actual transmission.

Fig. 5A shows an example of data preparation, HARQ process mapping and data transmission in which the first frame structure is used.

In this example, the terminal device 120 shall prepare 8 transport blocks associated with the HARQ processes #2 to #9 for the floating block. Each transport block may be prepared based on the scheduling grant information including frequency domain resource allocation, MCS, RV, NDI and other related information in the given sub-channel.

From the beginning of the scheduled slots (i.e. slot 310) , the terminal device 120 would perform a multi-channel LBT operation and prepare data transmission until at least one sub-channel is available. As shown in Fig. 5A, there are two sub-channels (i.e. Channels #2 and #3) available after the LBT operation in the scheduled slot 311. That means that there are four scheduled slots available (i.e.

) after the LBT operation.

In consideration of processing time for data preparation after the LBT operation, the prepared transport blocks in the floating block will be mapped into

available scheduled slots. In this example,

In this case, the prepared transport blocks for the floating block associated with

HARQ processes #

4, 5, 8 and 9 would be one-to-one mapped into the available sub-channels (i.e., Channels #2 and #3) starting from the first available scheduled slot (i.e., the slot 311) .

After completing resource element (RE) mapping and other preparation, the terminal device 120 may transmit the transport blocks associated with

HARQ processes #

4, 5, 8 and 9 through the available sub-channels.

During UL transmission, the terminal device 120 may prepare transport blocks for the subsequent slots. For example, the terminal device 120 may prepare the data transmission for the slot 313 during transmission in the slots 311 and 312. For the later two scheduled slots (i.e.,

) , one single transport block would be prepared for each slot on the available sub-channels by using the associated HARQ processes #11 and 12) as illustrated in Fig. 5A. The determination of transport block size shall also take all the available sub-channels into consideration.

Fig. 5B shows an example of data preparation, HARQ process mapping and data transmission in which the second frame structure is used.

In this example, because there are two mini-slots in the slot 310, the terminal device 120 shall prepare 12 transport blocks associated with the HARQ processes #2 to 9 for the first slot of the floating block, and 4 transport blocks associated with HARQ processes #10 to 13 for the second slot 311 of the floating block.

From the beginning of the scheduled slots (i.e., the slot 310) , the terminal device 120 would perform a multi-channel LBT operation and prepare data transmission until at least one sub-channel is available. As shown in Fig. 5B, there are two sub-channels (i.e., Channels #2 and #3) available after the LBT operation in the second mini-slot of the scheduled slot 311. That means that there are four scheduled slots available (i.e.

) after the LBT operation.

available scheduled slots. In this example,

HARQ processes #

8, 9, 12 and 13 would be one-to-one mapped into the available sub-channels (i.e., Channels #2 and 3) starting from the first available transmission starting position of the available scheduled slot (i.e. the second mini-slot in the slot 311) .

After completing RE mapping and other preparation, the terminal device 120 may transmit the transport blocks of HARQ processes #8, 9, 12 and 13 through the available sub-channels.

) , one single transport block would be prepared for each slot on the available sub-channels by using the associated HARQ processes #15 and 0, as illustrated in Fig. 5B.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method 600 for HARQ feedback transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 600 can be implemented at the network device 110 as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the method 600 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 610, the network device 110 transmits scheduling grant information to the terminal device 120. The scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device 120.

At block 620, the network device 110 determines an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission. The HARQ processes comprises a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ process in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float are natural numbers, N _Floatis less than N _Grant.

At block 630, in response to detecting the uplink transmission in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots, the network device 110 de-maps, from

available slots. The first available slot has the same slot format as a starting slot of the N _Float continuous slots, and

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot.

At block 640, the network device 110 decodes uplink data associated with the de-mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the terminal device 120, a signaling for configuring the terminal device 120 with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to the terminal device 120, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a second frame structure in which the starting slot comprises a plurality of mini-slots; and the first group of HARQ processes comprises a sub-group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the sub-group is associated with one of sub-channels in each of the mini-slots.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in each of at least one slot available subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and the method 600 further comprises: receiving the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in at least one available slot subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 200 (for example, the terminal device 120) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 200. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving scheduling grant information from a network device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device; means for determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein the HARQ processes comprise a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float being natural numbers, N _Float being less than N _Grant; preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the first group; means for determining, based on the slot format of a starting slot in the N _Float continuous slots and outcome of a Listen-Before-Talk process, whether at least one sub-channel in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots is available; in response to determining that the at least one sub-channel in the first available slot is available, means for mapping, to

available slots, wherein

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot; and means for transmitting, to the network device, uplink data associated with the mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the network device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the network device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and one of the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and the apparatus further comprises: in response to determining that a number of available slots among the N _Grant continuous slots is greater than N _Float, means for preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the second group during transmitting the uplink data.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in at least one available slot subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the apparatus 600 (for example, the network device 110) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the apparatus 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting scheduling grant information to a terminal device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device; means for determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein the HARQ processes comprises a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ process in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float are natural numbers, N _Float is less than N _Grant; in response to detecting the uplink transmission in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots, means for de-mapping, from

is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot; and means for decoding uplink data associated with the de-mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in each of at least one available slot subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and the apparatus further comprises: means for receiving the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in at least one available slot subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.

Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 can be considered as a further example implementation of the network device 110 as shown in Fig. 1. Accordingly, the device 700 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the network device 110 or the terminal device 120.

As shown, the device 700 includes a processor 710, a memory 720 coupled to the processor 710, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 740 coupled to the processor 710, and a communication interface coupled to the TX/RX 740. The memory 720 stores at least a part of a program 730. The TX/RX 740 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2 interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs, S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Serving Gateway (S-GW) and the eNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB and UE.

The program 730 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 710, enable the device 700 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to Figs. 1 to 10. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 710 of the device 700, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 710 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 710 and memory 720 may form processing means 750 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 720 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 720 is shown in the device 700, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 700. The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the

methods

200, 600 as described above with reference to Figs. 2 and 6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable media.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A method implemented at a terminal device, comprising:

receiving scheduling grant information from a network device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device;

determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein:

the HARQ processes comprise a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and a full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float being natural numbers, N _Float being less than N _Grant;

preparing, based on the scheduling grant infonnation, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the first group;

determining, based on the slot format of a starting slot in the N _Float continuous slots and outcome of a Listen-Before-Talk process, whether at least one sub-channel in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots is available;

in response to determining that the at least one sub-channel in the first available slot is available, mapping, to
available slots starting from the first available slot, HARQ processes in the first group that are associated with the
available slots, wherein
is determined based on N _Grant , N _Float and the first available slot; and

transmitting, to the network device, uplink data associated with the mapped HARQ processes in the available sub-channels starting from the starting point of the first available slot.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission is preconfigured.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the network device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.
The method of Claim 2 or 3, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission is activated by the scheduling grant information.
The method of Claim 2 or 3, further comprising:

receiving, from the network device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission is configured and activated by the scheduling grant information.
The method of any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a first frame structure in which each of the N _Float continuous slots comprises a full slot.
The method of any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein:

the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a second frame structure in which the starting slot comprises a plurality of mini-slots.
The method of Claim 3, wherein the signaling indicates locations of the N _Float continuous slots.
The method of Claim 3, wherein the signaling indicates a number of mini-slots in the starting slot and a number of symbols in each of the mini-slots.
The method of Claim 1, wherein:

the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and a slot in each of the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and

the method further comprises:

in response to determining that a number of available slots among the N _Grant continuous slots is greater than N _Float, preparing, based on the scheduling grant information, uplink data associated with the HARQ processes in the second group during transmitting the uplink data.
The method of Claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.
A method implemented at a network device, comprising:

transmitting scheduling grant information to a terminal device, wherein the scheduling grant information indicates N _Grant continuous slots scheduled for uplink transmission and a starting identifier of HARQ processes for the terminal device;

determining an association between the HARQ processes and the N _Grant continuous slots based at least in part on the starting identifier and a frame structure for the uplink transmission, wherein:

the HARQ processes comprises a first group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ process in the first group is associated with a sub-channel and one of a mini-slot and full slot in each of N _Float continuous slots among the N _Grant continuous slots, N _Grant and N _Float are natural numbers, N _Floatis less than N _Grant;

in response to detecting the uplink transmission in a first available slot among the N _Grant continuous slots, de-mapping, from
available slots starting from the first available slot, HARQ processes in the first group that are associated with the
available slots, wherein:

the first available slot has the same slot format as a starting slot of the N _Float continuous slots, and
is determined based on N _Grant, N _Float and the first available slot; and

decoding uplink data associated with the de-mapped HARQ processes in available sub-channels starting from available starting point of the first available slot.
The method of Claim 13, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transrnission is preconfigured.
The method of Claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for configuring the terminal device with the frame structure for the uplink transmission.
The method of Claim 14 or 15, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission is activated by the scheduling grant information.
The method of Claim 14 or 15, further comprising:

transmitting, to the terminal device, a signaling for activating the frame structure for the uplink transmission.
The method of Claim 13, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission is configured and activated by the scheduling grant information.
The method of any of Claim 13 to 18, wherein the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a first frame structure in which each of the N _Float continuous slots comprises a full slot.
The method of any of Claims 13 to 18, wherein:

the frame structure for the uplink transmission comprises a second frame structure in which the starting slot comprises a plurality of mini-slots.
The method of Claim 15, wherein the signaling indicates locations of the N _Float continuous slots.
The method of Claim 15, wherein the signaling indicates a number of mini-slots in the starting slot and a number of symbols in each of the mini-slots.
The method of Claim 13, wherein:

the HARQ processes further comprise a second group of HARQ processes, each of the HARQ processes in the second group being associated with all the available sub-channels and one slot in the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots; and

the method further comprises:

receiving the uplink data in the available sub-channels associated with the HARQ processes in the second group in the available slots subsequent to the N _Float continuous slots.
A terminal device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to perform the method of any of Claims 1 to 12.
A network device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code;

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first network device to perform the method of any of Claims 13 to 23.
An apparatus, comprising:

means for performing a process, the process comprising the method according to any of Claims 1 to 12.
An apparatus, comprising:

means for performing a process, the process comprising the method according to any of Claims 13 to 23.
A computer-readable medium storing a computer program thereon, the computer program, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to carry out the method of any of Claims 1 to 12.
A computer-readable medium storing a computer program thereon, the computer program, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to carry out the method of any of Claims 13 to 23.