WO2020072963A1

WO2020072963A1 - Pdcch monitoring span and dci format set determination

Info

Publication number: WO2020072963A1
Application number: PCT/US2019/054801
Authority: WO
Inventors: Debdeep CHATTERJEE; Hong He
Original assignee: Intel Corporation
Priority date: 2018-10-05
Filing date: 2019-10-04
Publication date: 2020-04-09
Also published as: CN112753189A; EP3861668A4; EP3861668A1

Abstract

Embodiments of a User Equipment (UE) and methods of communication are generally described herein. The UE may receive control signaling that configures one or more control resource sets (CORESETs). The CORESETs may be configurable to span variable numbers of resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. The CORESETs may be configurable to span variable numbers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain. Each of the CORESETs may be allocated for reception of one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs). The UE may determine a duration of a PDCCH monitoring span, which may indicate a number of consecutive OFDM symbols in which the UE is to monitor for PDCCHs. The UE may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span to be equal to a maximum of the numbers of OFDM symbols spanned by the CORESETs.

Description

PDCCH MONITORING SPAN AND DCI FORMAT SET DETERMINATION

PRIORITY CLAIM

[0001] This application claims priority to United States Provisional

Patent Application Serial No. 62/742,137, filed October 5, 2018, and to United States Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/826,892, filed March 29, 2019, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD [0002] Embodiments pertain to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless networks including 3 GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) networks, and 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, Fifth Generation (5G) networks, and/or New Radio (NR) networks. Some embodiments relate to physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs). Some embodiments relate to downlink control information (DCI) formats. Some embodiments relate to determine a PDCCH monitoring span and a set of DCI formats in NR systems.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Efficient use of the resources of a wireless network is important to provide bandwidth and acceptable response times to the users of the wireless network. However, often there are many devices trying to share the same resources and some devices may be limited by the communication protocol they use or by their hardware bandwidth. Moreover, wireless devices may need to operate with both newer protocols and with legacy device protocols. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 A is a functional diagram of an example network in accordance with some embodiments;

[0005] FIG. 1B is a functional diagram of another example network in accordance with some embodiments;

[0006] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine in accordance with some embodiments;

[0007] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary communication circuitry according to some aspects; and

[0008] FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of a method of communication in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0009] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0010] FIG. 1 A is a functional diagram of an example network in accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 1B is a functional diagram of another example network in accordance with some embodiments. In references herein, “FIG. 1” may include FIG. 1 A and FIG. 1B. In some embodiments, the network 100 may be a Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) network. In some embodiments, the network 150 may be a 3GPP network, a new radio (NR) network and/or Fifth Generation (5G) network. Other networks may be used in some embodiments. In some embodiments, a network may include one or more of: one or more components shown in FIG. 1 A; one or more components shown in FIG. 1B; and one or more additional components. Some embodiments may not necessarily include all components shown in FIG. 1 A and FIG. 1B.

[0011] The network 100 may comprise a radio access network (RAN)

101 and the core network 120 (e.g., shown as an evolved packet core (EPC)) coupled together through an Sl interface 115. For convenience and brevity sake, only a portion of the core network 120, as well as the RAN 101, is shown. In some embodiments, the RAN 101 may include one or more of: one or more components of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E- ETTRAN), one or more components of an NR network, and/or one or more other components.

[0012] The core network 120 may include a mobility management entity

(MME) 122, a serving gateway (serving GW) 124, and packet data network gateway (PDN GW) 126. In some embodiments, the networks 100, 150 may include (and/or support) one or more Evolved Node-B’s (eNBs) 104 and/or one or more Next Generation Node-B’s (gNBs) 105. The eNBs 104 and/or gNBs 105 may operate as base stations for communicating with User Equipment (UE) 102. In some embodiments, one or more eNBs 104 may be configured to operate as gNBs 105. Embodiments are not limited to the number of eNBs 104 shown in FIG. 1 A or to the number of gNBs 105 shown in FIG. 1B.

Embodiments are also not limited to the connectivity of components shown in FIG. 1A.

[0013] It should be noted that references herein to an eNB 104 or to a gNB 105 are not limiting. In some embodiments, one or more operations, methods and/or techniques (such as those described herein) may be practiced by a base station component (and/or other component), including but not limited to a gNB 105, an eNB 104, a serving cell, a transmit receive point (TRP) and/or other. In some embodiments, the base station component may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of: a 3 GPP LTE protocol/standard, an NR protocol/standard, a Fifth Generation (5G) protocol/standard; and/or other protocol/standard, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0014] Descriptions herein of one or more operations, techniques and/or methods practiced by a component (such as the UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105 and/or other) are not limiting. In some embodiments, one or more of those operations, techniques and/or methods may be practiced by another component.

[0015] The MME 122 manages mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The serving GW 124 terminates the interface toward the RAN 101, and routes data packets between the RAN 101 and the core network 120. In addition, it may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-eNB handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter- 3GPP mobility. The serving GW 124 and the MME 122 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes.

[0016] In some embodiments, EIEs 102, the eNB 104 and/or gNB 105 may be configured to communicate Orthogonal Frequency Division

Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals over a multicarrier

communication channel in accordance with an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique.

[0017] In some embodiments, the network 150 may include one or more components configured to operate in accordance with one or more 3 GPP standards, including but not limited to an NR standard. The network 150 shown in FIG. 1B may include a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 155, which may include one or more gNBs 105. In some embodiments, the network 150 may include the E-UTRAN 160, which may include one or more eNBs. The E- ETTRAN 160 may be similar to the RAN 101 described herein, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0018] In some embodiments, the network 150 may include the MME

165, which may be similar to the MME 122 described herein, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the network 150 may include the SGW 170, which may be similar to the SGW 124 described herein, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0019] Embodiments are not limited to the number or type of components shown in FIG. 1B. Embodiments are also not limited to the connectivity of components shown in FIG. 1B. [0020] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software.

[0021] FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example machine in accordance with some embodiments. The machine 200 is an example machine upon which any one or more of the techniques and/or methodologies discussed herein may be performed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 200 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. The machine 200 may be a UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, access point (AP), station (STA), user, device, mobile device, base station, another device, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term“machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

[0022] Examples as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms.

[0023] The machine (e.g., computer system) 200 may include a hardware processor 202 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPET), a graphics processing unit (GPET), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 204 and a static memory 206, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 208. The machine 200 may further include one or more of 210-228.

[0024] The storage device 216 may include a machine readable medium

222 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 224 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 224 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 204, within static memory 206, or within the hardware processor 202 during execution thereof by the machine 200. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 202, the main memory 204, the static memory 206, or the storage device 216 may constitute machine readable media. In some embodiments, the machine readable medium may be or may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In some embodiments, the machine readable medium may be or may include a computer-readable storage medium.

[0025] While the machine readable medium 222 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "machine readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 224. The term“machine readable medium” may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 200 and that cause the machine 200 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting machine readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable

Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, machine readable media may include non-transitory machine readable media. In some examples, machine readable media may include machine readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal. [0026] The instructions 224 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 226 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 220 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols. In an example, the network interface device 220 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 220 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques. The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 200, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

[0027] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary communication circuitry according to some aspects. It should be noted that a device, such as a UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, the machine 200 and/or other device may include one or more components of the communication circuitry 300, in some aspects. The communication circuitry 300 may include protocol processing circuitry 305, which may implement one or more of: medium access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), radio resource control (RRC) and non-access stratum (NAS) functions. The communication circuitry 300 may further include digital baseband circuitry 310, which may implement one or more physical layer (PHY) functions. The communication circuitry 300 may further include transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320 and/or antenna array circuitry 330. The communication circuitry 300 may further include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 325. In an aspect of the disclosure, RF circuitry 325 may include multiple parallel RF chains for one or more of transmit or receive functions, each connected to one or more antennas of the antenna array 330.

[0028] In some embodiments, processing circuitry may perform one or more operations described herein and/or other operation(s). In a non-limiting example, the processing circuitry may include one or more components such as the processor 202, protocol processing circuitry 305, digital baseband circuitry 310, similar component(s) and/or other component(s). [0029] In some embodiments, a transceiver may transmit one or more elements (including but not limited to those described herein) and/or receive one or more elements (including but not limited to those described herein). In a non limiting example, the transceiver may include one or more components such as transmit circuitry 315, receive circuitry 320, radio frequency circuitry 325, similar component(s) and/or other component(s).

[0030] Although the UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, machine 200 and/or other device described herein may each be illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more microprocessors, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0031] Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware and software. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include read only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. Some embodiments may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

[0032] It should be noted that in some embodiments, an apparatus of the

EE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, machine 200, and/or other device may include various components shown in FIGs. 2-3 and/or other components. Accordingly, techniques and operations described herein that are performed by a device may be performed by an apparatus of the device, in some embodiments.

[0033] In accordance with some embodiments, the UE 102 may receive, from the gNB 105, control signaling that configures one or more control resource sets (CORESETs). The CORESETs may be configurable to span variable numbers of resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. The CORESETs may be configurable to span variable numbers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain. Each of the CORESETs may be allocated for reception of one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs). The EE 102 may determine a duration of a PDCCH monitoring span. The PDCCH monitoring span may indicate a number of consecutive OFDM symbols in which the EE 102 is to monitor for PDCCHs. The EE 102 may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span to be equal to a maximum of the numbers of OFDM symbols spanned by the

CORESETs. These embodiments are described in more detail below.

[0034] FIG. 4 illustrates the operation of a method of communication in accordance with some embodiments. Embodiments of the method 400 may include additional or even fewer operations or processes in comparison to what is illustrated in FIG. 4. Embodiments of the method 400 are not necessarily limited to the chronological order that is shown in FIG. 4.

[0035] In some embodiments, a EE 102 may perform one or more operations of the method 400, but embodiments are not limited to performance of the method 400 and/or operations of it by the EE 102. In some embodiments, a device and/or component (including but not limited to the EE 102, gNB 105 and/or eNB 104) may perform one or more operations that may be the same as, similar to, reciprocal to and/or related to an operation of the method 400.

[0036] Discussion of various operations, techniques and/or concepts regarding one method described herein (such as the method 400 and/or other) may be applicable to other operations described herein and/or other methods described herein. One or more of the techniques, operations and/or methods described herein may be performed by a device other than an eNB 104, gNB 105, and EE 102, including but not limited to a Wi-Fi access point (AP), station (STA) and/or other. [0037] In some embodiments, an apparatus of a device (including but not limited to the UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105 and/or other) may comprise memory that is configurable to store one or more elements, and the apparatus may use them for performance of one or more operations. The apparatus may include processing circuitry, which may perform one or more operations (including but not limited to operation(s) of the method 400 and/or other methods described herein). The processing circuitry may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry and/or the processing circuitry may perform one or more operations described herein. The apparatus may include a transceiver to transmit and/or receive one or more blocks, messages and/or other elements.

[0038] Embodiments are not limited by references herein to

transmission, reception and/or exchanging of elements such as frames, messages, requests, indicators, signals or other elements. In some embodiments, such an element may be generated, encoded or otherwise processed by processing circuitry for transmission by a transceiver or other component cases. In some embodiments, such an element may be received by a transceiver or other component, and may be decoded, detected or otherwise processed by processing circuitry. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry and the transceiver may be included in a same apparatus. In some embodiments, the transceiver may be separate from the apparatus that comprises the processing circuitry, in some embodiments.

[0039] One or more of the elements (such as messages, operations and/or other) described herein may be included in a 3 GPP protocol, 3 GPP LTE protocol, 4G protocol, 5G protocol, NR protocol and/or other protocol, but embodiments are not limited to usage of those elements. In some embodiments, other elements may be used, including other element(s) in a same

standard/protocol, other element(s) in another standard/protocol and/or other. In addition, the scope of embodiments is not limited to usage of elements that are included in standards.

[0040] In some embodiments, the EE 102, eNB 104 and/or gNB 105 may be arranged to operate in accordance with a 3 GPP protocol, NR protocol, and/or other protocol. [0041] At operation 405, the UE 102 may exchange control signaling with a gNB 105. It should be noted that multiple instances of control signaling may be exchanged, in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the exchange of control signaling may include one or more of: transmission of one or more elements (such as signaling, messages and/or other) by the UE 102, transmission of one or more elements by the UE 102 to the gNB 105, reception of one or more elements by the UE 102, reception of one or more elements from the gNB 105 by the UE 102, and/or other. In some embodiments, the control signaling may include multiple messages, multiple instances of signaling, multiple types of signaling, multiple elements and/or other.

[0042] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may receive, from the gNB

105 and/or other component, control signaling that configures one or more control resource sets (CORESETs). The control signaling may include one or more additional elements, in some embodiments.

[0043] In some embodiments, the CORESETs may be configurable for variable sizes in the frequency domain and/or time domain. In a non-limiting example, the CORESETs may be configurable to span one or more of: variable numbers of resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain, variable numbers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain, and/or other. Embodiments are not limited to the example units given above (RBs and OFDM symbols), as any suitable units of frequency and time may be used.

[0044] In some embodiments, the control signaling may indicate, for each of the CORESETs, one or more of: a number of RBs spanned by the CORESET, a number of OFDM symbols spanned by the CORESET, and/or other. In some embodiments, RBs of each of the CORESET may be non overlapping. In some embodiments, the number of RBs of each of the

CORESETs is less than a total number of RBs of a channel in which the CORESETs are allocated.

[0045] In some embodiments, each of the CORESETs may be allocated for one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs), although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, each of the CORESETs may be allocated for reception of one or more PDCCHs, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect

[0046] At operation 410, the EE 102 may determine a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring span. In some embodiments, the EE 102 may determine a duration of a PDCCH monitoring span. In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may indicate a number of consecutive OFDM symbols in which the EE 102 is to monitor for at least one PDCCH. Various techniques may be used to determine the PDCCH monitoring span.

[0047] In some embodiments, the EE 102 may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span to be equal to a maximum value of the numbers of OFDM symbols spanned by each of the CORESETs. For instance, each of the CORESETs may span a number of OFDM symbols (wherein one or more of those numbers may be the same, one or more of those numbers may be different). Of the number of OFDM symbols spanned per CORESET (for all of the CORESETs), the EE 102 may select the maximum value to be the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span. In some embodiments, the EE 102 may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span to be the maximum number of OFDM symbols spanned by any one CORESET.

[0048] In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may occur within a subframe that comprises two slots, although embodiments are not limited to two slots per subframe. In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may comprise consecutive OFDM symbols that do not cross a slot boundary between the two slots of the subframe.

[0049] In some embodiments, the EE 102 may receive, from the gNB

105, EE capability signaling (and/or other signaling) that indicates the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span. In a non-limiting example, the indication may be in terms of a number of OFDM symbols during which the EE 102 is to monitor the CORESETs for at least one PDCCH. Embodiments are not limited to indication of the number of OFDM symbols, as other time units may be used, in some embodiments.

[0050] In a non-limiting example, the duration of the PDCCH

monitoring span may be based on a duration as indicated via EE capability reporting indicating support of a feature group (FG), wherein the FG is one of: an FG of format 3-5 (corresponding to the Capability indication parameter pdcch-MonitoringAny Occasions) and an FG of format 3 -5b (corresponding to the Capability indication parameter pdcch-

MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap). Embodiments are not limited to these FG formats, as one or more other FG formats may be used, in some

embodiments. In some embodiments, the FG of format 3-5 may be based on a type-l common search space (CSS) with a dedicated radio resource control (RRC) configuration, a type-3 CSS, or a UE search space (EIE-SS). In some embodiments, a monitoring occasion may be any OFDM symbol of a slot. In some embodiments, an FG of format 3-5b may be based on a type-l CSS with a dedicated RRC configuration, a type-3 CSS, or a EIE-SS. In some embodiments, a monitoring occasion is any OFDM symbol of a slot and is based on span gap.

[0051] It should be noted that the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span in the above example may be included in the EGE capability signaling and/or other signaling, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the duration may be determined using another technique (including but not limited to techniques described herein).

[0052] In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may indicate a number of consecutive OFDM symbols in which the EGE 102 is to monitor for at least one PDCCH. The TIE 102 may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span as a number of OFDM symbols that ensures inclusion of a span gap of OFDM symbols. In some embodiments, the span gap may be based on a gap of OFDM symbols between two spans that include PDCCH monitoring occasions. In some embodiments, of the two PDCCH monitoring occasions, at least one of them is not a monitoring occasion of feature group (FG) #3-1 that defines the mandatory TIE capability for PDCCH monitoring. In some embodiments, monitoring occasions of FG #3-1 may include monitoring occasions in a span of type A or a span of type B.

[0053] In some embodiments, monitoring occasions of the span of type

A may be within the first three symbols of a slot. In some embodiments, the monitoring occasions of the span of type A may start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH is to be monitored. The PDCCH that is to be monitored may be for one of: type 1 common search space (CSS) with dedicated radio resource control (RRC) configuration, type 3 CSS, and UE search space (HE SS).

[0054] In some embodiments, monitoring occasions of the span of type

B may be within three consecutive OFDM symbols. In some embodiments, the monitoring occasions of the span of type B may start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH of type 0, type 0A or type 2 CSS is to be monitored.

[0055] At operation 415, the UE 102 may determine one or more sets of downlink control information (DCI) formats. In some embodiments, the EE 102 may determine one or more sets of DCI formats. In some embodiments, the EE 102 may determine one or more sets of DCI formats that the EE 102 is to attempt to decode, store, and process from amongst PDCCHs detected during the PDCCH monitoring span. In some embodiments, for each of the one or more sets of DCI formats, a maximum limit on the number of such DCI formats the EE may expect to receive within a monitoring span is specified. Here, the DCI formats may also be referred to as“valid DCI formats” or“consistent DCI formats” or“PDCCH with consistent control information”, etc., implying that this refers to a detected DCI format that the EE 102 may consider as conveying consistent Layer 1 control information and may need to act upon reception of such control information.

[0056] In some embodiments, the EE 102 may restrict the one or more sets of DCI formats to: DCI formats that schedule unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs). In some embodiments, the one or more sets of DCI formats may include: DCI formats that schedule unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs).

[0057] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may restrict the one or more sets of DCI formats to: DCI formats that schedule unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs) with with corresponding PDCCHs carrying cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that is one of: a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), a configured scheduling (CS) RNTI (CS-RNTI) if the CS-RNTI is configured, or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI) if the MCS -C-RNTI is configured. Embodiments are not limited to the above RNTIs, as any suitable RNTI(s) may be used.

[0058] In some embodiments, the one or more sets of DCI formats may include: DCI formats that schedule unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs), and with the corresponding PDCCH carrying cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) scrambled by an RNTI that is one of: a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), a configured scheduling (CS) RNTI (CS-RNTI) if the CS-RNTI is configured, or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI) if the MCS-C- RNTI is configured. Embodiments are not limited to the above RNTIs, as any suitable RNTI(s) may be used.

[0059] In some embodiments, the one or more sets of DCI formats may include DCI formats that trigger uplink (ETL) transmission or unicast downlink (DL) reception.

[0060] At operation 420, the TIE 102 may monitor one or more control resource sets (CORESETs) for PDCCHs. At operation 425, the TIE 102 may attempt to decode the DCI formats of the one or more sets of DCI formats

[0061] In some embodiments, the TIE 102 may, during the PDCCH monitoring span, monitor the CORESETs for PDCCHs. In some embodiments, the TIE 102 may, during the PDCCH monitoring span, monitor the CORESETS for at least one PDCCH. Embodiments are not limited to performance of the above operations during the PDCCH monitoring span.

[0062] In some embodiments, the TIE 102 may, if one or more PDCCHs are detected: within the detected PDCCHs, attempt to decode the DCI formats of the determined set of DCI formats. In some embodiments, the TIE 102 may, if at least one PDCCH is detected, attempt to decode the DCI formats of the determined set of DCI formats. Embodiments are not limited to attempting to decode the DCI formats of the set of DCI formats, as the TIE 102 may attempt to decode other DCI formats and/or other elements, in some embodiments.

[0063] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may determine one or more sets of DCI formats that the UE 102 is to store and process as received via decoded PDCCHs during the PDCCH monitoring span. The UE 102 may, during the PDCCH monitoring span, monitor the CORESETs for PDCCHs. The UE 102 may, if one or more PDCCHs are decoded, within the decoded

PDCCHs, store and process the DCI formats of the determined one or more sets of DCI formats.

[0064] In some embodiments, for each of the one or more sets of DCI formats, a maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats may be pre-defmed. In some embodiments, a maximum limit on the number of DCI formats may be pre-defmed for each of the one or more sets of DCI formats. For instance, the maximum limits may be included in a standard, such as a 3GPP standard, NR standard, 5G standard and/or other standard.

[0065] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may determine and/or receive control signaling that indicates, for each of the one or more sets of DCI formats, a maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats. In some embodiments, the maximum limit(s) on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats (and/or related information) may be one or more of: part of a standard, received (at least partly) in control signaling, determined (at least partly) by the UE 102, and/or other. In a non-limiting example, the UE 102 may determine, in accordance with a first maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats, a first set of DCI formats that includes DCI formats that schedule the unicast PDSCHs. The UE 102 may determine, in accordance with a second maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats, a second set of DCI formats that includes DCI formats that schedule the PUSCHs.

[0066] In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may occur within a subframe that comprises a number of slots. The number of slots may be based at least partly on a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a downlink bandwidth part (BWP). The PDCCH monitoring span may comprise consecutive OFDM symbols that do not cross a slot boundary between any two consecutive slots of the subframe.

[0067] In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span may occur within a subframe that comprises a number of slots. In a non-limiting example, the number of slots may be defined by a parameter such as

₀f _a 3 GPP standard and/or NR standard, although other parameters may be used. In some embodiments, the parameter tf^**”*** may be defined in Table 4.3.2-1 of TS 38.211, vl5.6.0, although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, the parameter// may indicate the subcarrier spacing (SCS) in the DL bandwidth part (BWP), although the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0068] In some embodiments, the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span may be a function of a PDCCH monitoring duration Ύ corresponding to a span-gap value‘X’, as indicated via UE capability reporting indicating support of a feature group (FG) of format 3 -5b (corresponding to the Capability indication parameter pdcch-MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap) for monitoring of PDCCH candidates belonging to a type-l CSS with a dedicated RRC configuration, a type-3 CSS, or a UE-SS, wherein a monitoring occasion is any OFDM symbol of a slot and is based on span gap.

[0069] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span as a number of OFDM symbols as a function of a PDCCH monitoring duration corresponding to a span-gap value as indicated by the UE capability reporting using a pdcch-

MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap parameter and a maximum duration of all CORESETs for which the UE 102 is configured for PDCCH monitoring. In some embodiments, of the two PDCCH monitoring occasions, at least one of them is not a monitoring occasion belonging to a monitoring span of type A or type B. Monitoring occasions of the span of type A may be within the first three symbols of a slot. The monitoring occasions of the span of type A may start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH is to be monitored, wherein the PDCCH that is to be monitored is for one of: type 1 common search space (CSS) with dedicated radio resource control (RRC) configuration, type 3 CSS, and UE search space (UE-SS). Monitoring occasions of the span of type B may be within three consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the monitoring occasions of the span of type B may start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH of type 0, type 0A or type 2 CSS is to be monitored.

[0070] It should be noted that descriptions below (and elsewhere herein) may illustrate some or all of the concepts and techniques described herein in some cases. The scope of embodiments is not limited by such descriptions, however. For instance, embodiments are not limited by the name, number, type, size, ordering, arrangement or other aspect(s) of elements (such as devices, operations, messages and/or other elements) described below and elsewhere herein. Although some of the elements described below (and elsewhere herein) may be included in a 3GPP standard, NR standard, 5G standard and/or other standard, embodiments are not limited to usage of such elements that are included in standards.

[0071] Some embodiments may be related to the possible

characterization of minimum UE requirements on the maximum number of valid Downlink Control Information (DCI) formats. Here,“valid DCI format” may also be referred to as“consistent DCI formats” or“PDCCH with consistent control information”, etc., implying that this refers to a detected DCI format that the EE 102 may consider as conveying consistent Layer 1 control information and may need to act upon reception of such control information.

[0072] In addition to the current limits/minimum requirements on

BDs/CCEs for PDCCH monitoring, the maximum number of valid DCI formats a EE 102 may expect may impact overall resource dimensioning in the EE 102, in some cases. This may be due to factors such as the impact on achievable processing latency due to parsing and pruning efforts in detecting consistent DCI formats, and memory access requirements and EE scheduler (control processing) considerations that may otherwise need to support a very large number of unicast scheduling instances, all subject to tight processing time constraint, in the absence of any limitations.

[0073] Some embodiments may be related to methods to characterize the minimum requirements on number of valid DCI formats a EE 102 may need to store and/or process. In turn, this may imply a characterization of the maximum number of valid DCIs a UE 102 may expect over a certain time-scale.

[0074] In some cases, it may be beneficial to UE dimensioning to define some limits on the maximum number of valid DCI formats a UE 102 may expect to receive within a certain time-scale. In some cases, a per-slot limitation may need to consider various possible configurations of PDCCH monitoring occasions and scheduling options, and may still yield a somewhat too restrictive solution from the network perspective. This is due to the fact that a UE 102 may be configured to monitor according to a wide range of PDCCH monitoring configurations, spanning from a single PDCCH monitoring occasion within a slot to multiple partially/non-/fully-overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions. For instance, considering multiple non-overlapping PDCCH monitoring occasions in a slot, it may be not be necessary to impose an“overall limit” since the impact on UE implementation from possibly many unicast scheduling DCI triggers comes primarily in the form of memory access and UE scheduler operations subject to tight processing time budgets.

[0075] In some cases, a per-monitoring occasion limitation may appear attractive for a single search space monitoring perspective, with the possibility that a UE 102 may be configured with multiple (up to 10) search space sets with perfectly overlapping monitoring occasions, the UE dimensioning may incur an unnecessary amount of over-budgeting to cover the“most extreme” cases.

[0076] In some embodiments, a per-PDCCH monitoring span may be used. In some cases, the PDCCH monitoring span may be defined as:“(PDCCH monitoring) span is of length up to Y consecutive OFDM symbols in which PDCCH is configured to be monitored”. Note that the span of consecutive symbols are such that they do not cross the slot boundary.

[0077] In comparison to options related to per-slot limitation and per- monitoring occasion limitation, embodiments that use a per-PDCCH monitoring span may provide a convenient and appropriate means to characterize the overall demands on UE processing from the perspective of time by defining a time duration within which one or multiple PDCCH search space sets may be monitored. [0078] In some embodiments, from a UE dimensioning perspective, the number of valid DCI formats triggering unicast reception/transmission events would be of material importance and defining such limits may be meaningful to UE implementation. In some embodiments, the value of“Y” may be defined. In some embodiments, for the definition of the span duration“Y” - for feature group (FG) #3-5b, it may be indicated as part of UE capability signaling. In some embodiments, the duration of a PDCCH monitoring span (in“Y” consecutive OFDM symbols) follows the indicated UE capability for FG #3-5b. However, this may not be sufficient, in some cases for the most general monitoring configuration (per FG #3-5). Considering this case, in some embodiments, the duration of PDCCH monitoring span, Y, may be defined as the maximum duration of a CORESET in which the UE 102 is configured to monitor PDCCH across all configured search space sets. In some embodiments, the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span, Y, may be defined as the minimum duration of a CORESET in which the UE 102 is configured to monitor PDCCH across all configured search space sets.

[0079] However, there can be cases wherein a UE 102 may be configured to monitor PDCCH using a one-symbol CORESET in symbols‘n’ and‘n+2’, such that symbols n, n+l, and n+2 form a PDCCH monitoring span. To support such use cases, the definition of the span needs to be generalized and the value of span duration (Y) should not be limited to either max or min durations of all CORESETs configured to the UE. Accordingly, in some embodiments, a PDCCH monitoring span is defined as a set of Y consecutive OFDM symbols, in which PDCCH is configured to be monitored in at least the first of the Y symbols.

[0080] In some embodiments, the value of“Y” may be defined as the maximum number of symbols (for example, between 2 and 3) that satisfy the constraint that the minimum span-gap of X symbols (as specified or as indicated by UE capability reporting corresponding to the value of Y) is ensured. Here, a “span-gap” is considered between any two spans containing PDCCH monitoring occasions, where at least one of them is not the monitoring occasions of FG (feature group) #3-1, in same or different search spaces, and the constraint is such that there is a minimum time separation of X OFDM symbols (including the cross-slot boundary case) between the start of two spans. Note that the MOs (monitoring occasions) of FG #3-1 include MOs in the following spans: Span A) includes MOs within the first 3 symbols in a slot and starts at the first symbol where PDCCH for type 1 CSS with dedicated RRC configuration, type 3 CSS, and UE-SS needs to be monitored, and Span B) includes MOs within three consecutive symbols and starts at the first symbol where PDCCH for typeO, 0A and 2 CSS needs to be monitored. In some embodiments, per set of monitoring occasions with same starting symbol may be used. The option of defining the PDCCH monitoring span as the time-scale to define the minimum requirements for UE to store/process maximum number of valid DCI formats fails to achieve a good balance between scheduling flexibility (blocking performance) and the EE complexity considering cases of overlapping PDCCH spans, e.g., for the case of PDCCH monitoring according to FG #3-5. To address this, in some

embodiments, the EE 102 is not expected to store or process more than a certain number of valid DCI formats per set of PDCCH monitoring occasions (across all configured PDCCH search space sets) with the same starting symbol. Each starting system for a monitoring occasion can be mapped to a scheduling opportunity in time from the gNB scheduler’s perspective, and thus, defining the max # of valid DCIs meaningfully achieves a balance between characterization of valid DCIs from scheduling opportunities/flexibility and EE processing requirements.

[0081] In some embodiments, the EE 102 may not be expected to store or process more than a certain number of valid DCI formats per set of PDCCH monitoring occasions (across all configured PDCCH search space sets) with the same ending symbol.

[0082] Some embodiments may be related to which DCI formats should be considered. First, it may not be essential to limit maximum number of DCI formats for all types of DCI formats, in some cases. In this regard, it may be important to limit the number of DCI formats scheduling unicast traffic due to tight processing timeline requirements, in some cases. In some embodiments, the number of broadcast DCI formats may be limited in accordance with Processing no more than one DCI with each RNTI in each of Type 0 CSS, Type 0A CSS, Type 1 CSS, Type 2 CSS, Type 3 CSS excluding unicast DCI per slot, and/or similar.

[0083] In some cases, limiting the other DCI formats (e.g., group- common DCI formats) may not be that critical from a UE implementation perspective. Thus, in some embodiments, the minimum requirements on the (maximum) number of valid DCI formats is defined for DCI formats scheduling unicast PDSCH or PUSCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, CS-RNTI (if configured), or MCS-C-RNTI (if configured). These include DCI formats used for DL/UL scheduling of unicast PDSCH/PUSCH (respectively) based on dynamic scheduling, activation DCI for Type 2 Configured Grant (CG) PUSCH, and activation DCI for DL SPS PDSCH.

[0084] In some embodiments, the minimum requirements on the

(maximum) number of valid DCI formats is defined for DCI formats scheduling unicast PDSCH or PUSCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, CS-RNTI (if configured), or MCS-C-RNTI (if configured), or broadcast PDSCH with CRC scrambled with one or more of: SI-RNTI, RA-RNTI, T-C-RNTI. In this case, the maximum number of valid DCI formats can be determined as: one for DCI scheduling unicast PDSCH (FDD and TDD); one (or two) for DCI scheduling unicast PUSCH for FDD (or TDD); one for each RNTI for broadcast PDSCH scheduling (FDD and TDD); and/or other.

[0085] In some embodiments, one or more of the following constraints on number of unicast scheduling DCI formats may be relevant. In some embodiments, feature group (FG) #3-1 (mandatory w/o capability signaling), the following components (which may be referred to without limitation as“5” and “6” below) may be relevant: 5) Processing one unicast DCI scheduling DL and one unicast DCI scheduling UL per slot per scheduled CC for FDD, 6)

Processing one unicast DCI scheduling DL and 2 unicast DCI scheduling UL per slot per scheduled CC for TDD. In some embodiments, FG #3-5a (optional w/ capability signaling), for type 1 CSS with dedicated RRC configuration, type 3 CSS and UE-SS, monitoring occasion can be any OFDM symbol(s) of a slot for Case 2, with minimum time separation (including the cross-slot boundary case) between two DL unicast DCIs , between two UL unicast DCIs, or between a DL and an UL unicast DCI in different monitoring occasions for a same UE as: 20FDM symbols for l5kHz; 40FDM symbols for 30kHz; 70FDM symbols for 60kHz with NCP; 140FDM symbols for l20kHz; and/or other. In addition, for TDD the minimum separation between the first two UL unicast DCIs in the first monitoring occasion within the first 3 OFDM symbols of a slot can be zero OFDM symbols. Thus, the remaining cases for PDCCH monitoring

configurations include FG #3-5 and FG #3-5b. In FG #3-5: for type 1 CSS with dedicated RRC configuration, type 3 CSS, and UE-SS, monitoring occasion can be any OFDM symbol(s) of a slot for Case 2. In FG #3-5b, for type 1 CSS with dedicated RRC configuration, type 3 CSS, and UE-SS, monitoring occasion can be any OFDM symbol(s) of a slot for Case 2 with a span gap.

[0086] Some embodiments may be related to a number of

PDSCH/PUSCH TBs within a slot. The case of scheduling multiple

PDSCH/PUSCH TBs within a slot may be factored in if the limits on the maximum number of valid unicast-scheduling DCIs is defined per slot.

However, with a characterization of limits per PDCCH monitoring span or per set of monitoring occasions with same starting symbol, special consideration for the feature of multi-TB-in-slot may not be necessary considering the fact that the feature of multi-TB-in-slot is primarily motivated by“mini-slot-based scheduling” approaches considering low latency targets, implying reliance on multiple PDCCH monitoring occasions that are TDM-ed within a slot. If all scheduling DCIs are to be transmitted within a single span of PDCCH monitoring occasions, there would not be much practical benefits from scheduling a UE 102 with multiple TDM-ed PDSCH/PUSCH TBs within a slot.

[0087] Based on the above considerations, it may be seen that defining the restrictions on maximum number of valid unicast-scheduling DCI formats should be such that the PDCCH monitoring cases for FG #3-5 and FG#3-5b are meaningfully addressed. In this regard, defining limits on the maximum number of valid unicast-scheduling DCI formats per PDCCH monitoring span provides the best balance between scheduling flexibility and impact on UE

implementation. [0088] In some embodiments, for the exact limits, considering the above discussion and the target use cases and impact on UE implementation, in one embodiment, the maximum numbers may be defined as follows: 1) maximum number of valid DCI scheduling unicast PDSCH per set of monitoring occasions with same starting symbol per scheduled CC = 1 (for TDD and FDD), 2) maximum number of valid DCI scheduling unicast PUSCH per set of monitoring occasions with same starting symbol per scheduled CC = 1 (FDD), 3) maximum number of valid DCI scheduling unicast PUSCH per set of monitoring occasions with same starting symbol per scheduled CC = 2 (TDD).

[0089] In some embodiments, for carrier aggregation (CA) configuration, the above numbers scale up to four DL/UL CCs respectively, and when the number of configured DL/UL CCs in greater than four, then the UE capability for BD/CCE scaling (y) is used to scale the above numbers of max number of valid DCIs scheduling unicast PDSCH/PUSCH.

[0090] In some embodiments, in a method for new radio (NR) communications, minimum requirements for a number of valid DCI formats a UE 102 may need to store or process may be determined (and/or defined) per time unit. In some embodiments, the time unit may correspond to a PDCCH monitoring span of duration Ύ consecutive OFDM symbols that do not cross the slot boundary. In some embodiments, the duration of the PDCCH

monitoring span (in“Y” consecutive OFDM symbols) may follow the indicated UE capability for FG #3-5b for a UE indicating support of NR UE feature group #3-5b.

[0091] In some embodiments, the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span, Y, may be defined as the maximum duration of a CORESET in which the UE 102 is configured to monitor PDCCH across all configured search space sets. In some embodiments, the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span, Y, may be defined as the minimum duration of a CORESET in which the UE 102 is configured to monitor PDCCH across all configured search space sets.

[0092] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may not be expected to store or process more than a certain number of valid DCI formats per set of PDCCH monitoring occasions (across all configured PDCCH search space sets) with the same starting symbol. In some embodiments, the UE 102 is not expected to store or process more than a certain number of valid DCI formats per set of PDCCH monitoring occasions (across all configured PDCCH search space sets) with the same ending symbol.

[0093] In some embodiments, the minimum requirements on the

(maximum) number of valid DCI formats is defined for DCI formats scheduling unicast PDSCH or PUSCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, CS-RNTI (if configured), or MCS-C-RNTI (if configured). In some embodiments, the minimum requirements on the (maximum) number of valid DCI formats is defined for DCI formats scheduling unicast PDSCH or PUSCH with CRC scrambled with C-RNTI, CS-RNTI (if configured), or MCS-C-RNTI (if configured), or broadcast PDSCH with CRC scrambled with one or more of: SI- RNTI, RA-RNTI, T-C-RNTI. In some embodiments, the PDCCH monitoring span is a set of Y consecutive OFDM symbols, in which PDCCH is configured to be monitored in at least the first of the Y symbols. In some embodiments, the span duration (Y) is the maximum number of symbols (for example, between 2 and 3) that satisfy the constraint that the minimum span-gap of X symbols including cross-slot boundary cases (with the value of X as specified or as indicated by UE capability reporting corresponding to the value of Y) is ensured between any two spans containing PDCCH monitoring occasions, where at least one of them is not the monitoring occasions of FG (feature group) #3-1, in same or different search spaces.

[0094] The Abstract is provided to comply with 37 C.F.R. Section

1.72(b) requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: memory; and processing circuitry, configured to:

decode, from a Next Generation Node-B (gNB), control signaling that configures one or more control resource sets (CORESETs),

wherein the CORESETs are configurable to span variable numbers of resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain, wherein the CORESETs are configurable to span variable numbers of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in the time domain,

wherein each of the CORESETs is allocated for reception of one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs); and

determine a duration of a PDCCH monitoring span, wherein the PDCCH monitoring span indicates a number of consecutive OFDM symbols in which the UE is to monitor for PDCCHs,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span to be equal to a maximum of the numbers of OFDM symbols spanned by the CORESETs,

wherein the memory is configured to store information related to the CORESETs.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, the processing circuitry configured to:

determine one or more sets of downlink control information (DCI) formats that the UE is to store and process as received via decoded PDCCHs during the PDCCH monitoring span;

during the PDCCH monitoring span, monitor the CORESETs for PDCCHs; and

if one or more PDCCHs are decoded, within the decoded PDCCHs, store and process the DCI formats of the determined one or more sets of DCI formats.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein for each of the one or more sets of DCI formats, a maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats is pre-defmed.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, the processing circuitry configured to:

determine the one or more sets of DCI formats to include DCI formats that trigger uplink (UL) transmission or unicast downlink (DL) reception.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, the processing circuitry configured to:

determine the one or more sets of DCI formats to include:

DCI formats that schedule unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and

DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs), with corresponding PDCCHs carrying cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that is one of: a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), a configured scheduling (CS) RNTI (CS-RNTI) if the CS-RNTI is configured, and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) cell RNTI (MCS -C-RNTI) if the MCS-C-RNTI is configured.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, the processing circuitry further configured to:

determine, in accordance with a first maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats, a first set of DCI formats that includes DCI formats that schedule the unicast PDSCHs; and

determine, in accordance with a second maximum limit on the number of DCI formats per set of DCI formats, a second set of DCI formats that includes DCI formats that schedule the PUSCHs.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the PDCCH monitoring span occurs within a subframe that comprises a number of slots, wherein the number of slots is based at least partly on a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a downlink bandwidth part (BWP), and

the PDCCH monitoring span comprises consecutive OFDM symbols that do not cross a slot boundary between any two consecutive slots of the subframe.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UE is arranged to operate in accordance with a new radio (NR) protocol.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the processing circuitry includes a baseband processor to decode the control signaling, and

the apparatus further comprises a transceiver to receive the control signaling.

10. A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution of operations by processing circuitry of a User Equipment (UE), the operations to configure the processing circuitry to:

decode, from a Next Generation Node-B (gNB), control signaling that configures one or more control resource sets (CORESETs), wherein the

CORESETS are configurable to be of variable size in the frequency domain and configurable to be of variable size in the time domain,

wherein each of the CORESETs is allocated for reception of one or more physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs);

during a PDCCH monitoring span, monitor the CORESETS for

PDCCHs;

store and process one or more sets of downlink control information (DCI) formats, wherein the one or more sets are restricted to:

DCI formats that schedule physical uplink shared channels (PUSCHs),

with the corresponding PDCCH carrying cyclic redundancy checks (CRCs) scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) that is one of: a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), a configured scheduling (CS) RNTI (CS-RNTI) if the CS-RNTI is configured, or a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) cell RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI) if the MCS-C-RNTI is configured.

11. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 10, the processing circuitry further configured to:

determine a duration of the PDCCH monitoring span, in terms of a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, during which the UE is to monitor the CORESETs for PDCCHs.

12. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 11, wherein:

the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span is a function of a

PDCCH monitoring duration Ύ corresponding to a span-gap value‘X’, as indicated via UE capability reporting indicating support of a feature group (FG) of format 3 -5b (corresponding to the Capability indication parameter pdcch- MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap ) for monitoring of PDCCH candidates belonging to a type-l CSS with a dedicated RRC configuration, a type-3 CSS, or a UE-SS, wherein a monitoring occasion is any OFDM symbol of a slot and is based on span gap.

13. An apparatus of a User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: memory; and processing circuitry, configured to:

wherein the CORESETs are configurable to be of variable size in the frequency domain and configurable to be of variable size in the time domain, wherein each of the CORESETs is allocated for reception of physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs);

determine a duration of a PDCCH monitoring span, wherein the PDCCH monitoring span indicates a number of consecutive orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in which the UE is to monitor for PDCCHs,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the duration of the PDCCH monitoring span as a number of OFDM symbols as a function of a PDCCH monitoring duration corresponding to a span-gap value as indicated by the UE capability reporting using a pdcch-

MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap parameter and a maximum duration of all CORESETs for which the UE is configured for PDCCH monitoring,

wherein the memory is configured to store information related to the

CORESETs.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein:

of the two PDCCH monitoring occasions, at least one of them is not a monitoring occasion belonging to a monitoring span of type A or type B,

wherein monitoring occasions of the span of type A are within the first three symbols of a slot, wherein the monitoring occasions of the span of type A start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH is to be monitored, wherein the PDCCH that is to be monitored is for one of:

type 1 common search space (CSS) with dedicated radio resource control (RRC) configuration,

type 3 CSS, and

UE search space (UE-SS);

and wherein monitoring occasions of the span of type B are within three consecutive OFDM symbols, wherein the monitoring occasions of the span of type B start at the first symbol of the slot at which a PDCCH of type 0, type 0A or type 2 CSS is to be monitored.