WO2020198984A1

WO2020198984A1 - System and method for scheduling a channel

Info

Publication number: WO2020198984A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/080551
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jing Shi; Peng Hao; Xingguang WEI; Wei Gou
Original assignee: Zte Corporation
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2020-10-08
Also published as: CN113678533A

Abstract

A system and method for scheduling a channel are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the system and method are configured to allocate a first set of resources to transmit a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing, and allocate a second set of resources to transmit a second signal on a second channel using a second sub-carrier spacing. The second sub-carrier spacing is greater than the first sub-carrier spacing. The second channel is scheduled based on the first signal. An ending time of the first channel in a time domain is before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SCHEDULING A CHANNEL

TECHNICAL FIELD

The disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for scheduling a channel.

BACKGROUND

5G (the 5 ^th generation mobile communication technology) has been developed to improve communication technology including enabling using mobile device with larger bandwidth, covering wider area, providing higher throughput, etc. 5G New Radio (NR) standards define a 5G architecture including a downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a downlink shared channel (PDSCH) . The PDCCH is used to carry DCI (Downlink Control Information) such as downlink scheduling assignments and uplink scheduling grants. The PDSCH is used to carry downlink payload.

SUMMARY

The example embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving the issues relating to one or more of the problems presented in the prior art, as well as providing additional features that will become readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In accordance with various embodiments, example systems, methods, devices and computer program products are disclosed herein. It is understood, however, that these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not limiting, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who read the present disclosure that various modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made while remaining within the scope of this disclosure.

In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication node includes allocating a first set of resources to transmit a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing. The method can include allocating a second set of resources to transmit a second signal on a second channel using a second sub-carrier spacing. The second sub-carrier spacing is greater than the first sub-carrier spacing. The second channel can be scheduled based on the first signal. An ending time of the first channel in a time domain is before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain.

In another embodiment, an apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement a method. The method can include allocating a first set of resources to transmit a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing, and allocating a second set of resources to transmit a second signal on a second channel using a second sub-carrier spacing. The second sub-carrier spacing is greater than the first sub-carrier spacing. The second channel can be scheduled based on the first signal. An ending time of the first channel in a time domain is before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain.

A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium code stored thereupon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method. The method can include allocating a first set of resources to transmit e a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing, and allocating a second set of resources to transmit a second signal on a second channel using a second sub-carrier spacing. The second sub-carrier spacing is greater than the first sub-carrier spacing. The second channel can be scheduled based on the first signal. An ending time of the first channel in a time domain is before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain

The above and other aspects and their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the descriptions, and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various example embodiments of the present solution are described in detail below with reference to the following figures or drawings. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict example embodiments of the present solution to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present solution. Therefore, the drawings should not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of the present solution. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Figure 1 illustrates an example cellular communication network in which techniques and other aspects disclosed herein may be implemented, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 illustrates block diagrams of an example base station and a user equipment device, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of a process for scheduling a channel, in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Various example embodiments of the present solution are described below with reference to the accompanying figures to enable a person of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the present solution. As would be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, after reading the present disclosure, various changes or modifications to the examples described herein can be made without departing from the scope of the present solution. Thus, the present solution is not limited to the example embodiments and applications described and illustrated herein. Additionally, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed herein are merely example approaches. Based upon design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of steps of the disclosed methods or processes can be re-arranged while remaining within the scope of the present solution. Thus, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or acts in a sample order, and the present solution is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless expressly stated otherwise.

Figure 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network, and/or system, 100 in which techniques disclosed herein may be implemented, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the following discussion, the wireless communication network 100 may be any wireless network, such as a cellular network or a narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) network, and is herein referred to as “network 100. ” Such an example network 100 includes a base station 102 (hereinafter “BS 102” ) and a user equipment device 104 (hereinafter “UE 104” ) that can communicate with each other via a communication link 110 (e.g., a wireless communication channel) , and a cluster of

cells

126, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138 and 140 overlaying a geographical area 101. In Figure 1, the BS 102 and UE 104 are contained within a respective geographic boundary of cell 126. Each of the

other cells

130, 132, 134, 136, 138 and 140 may include at least one base station operating at its allocated bandwidth to provide adequate radio coverage to its intended users.

For example, the BS 102 may operate at an allocated channel transmission bandwidth to provide adequate coverage to the UE 104. The BS 102 and the UE 104 may communicate via a downlink radio frame 118, and an uplink radio frame 124 respectively. Each radio frame 118/124 may be further divided into sub-frames 120/127 which may include data symbols 122/128. In the present disclosure, the BS 102 and UE 104 are described herein as non-limiting examples of “communication nodes, ” generally, which can practice the methods disclosed herein. Such communication nodes may be capable of wireless and/or wired communications, in accordance with various embodiments of the present solution.

Figure 2 illustrates a block diagram of an example wireless communication system 200 for transmitting and receiving wireless communication signals, e.g., OFDM/OFDMA signals, in accordance with some embodiments of the present solution. The system 200 may include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features that need not be described in detail herein. In one illustrative embodiment, system 200 can be used to communicate (e.g., transmit and receive) data symbols in a wireless communication environment such as the wireless communication environment 100 of Figure 1, as described above.

System 200 generally includes a base station 202 (hereinafter “BS 202” ) and a user equipment device 204 (hereinafter “UE 204” ) . The BS 202 includes a BS (base station) transceiver module 210, a BS antenna 212, a BS processor module 214, a BS memory module 216, and a network communication module 218, each module being coupled and interconnected with one another as necessary via a data communication bus 220. The UE 204 includes a UE (user equipment) transceiver module 230, a UE antenna 232, a UE memory module 234, and a UE processor module 236, each module being coupled and interconnected with one another as necessary via a data communication bus 240. The BS 202 communicates with the UE 204 via a communication channel 250, which can be any wireless channel or other medium suitable for transmission of data as described herein.

As would be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art, system 200 may further include any number of modules other than the modules shown in Figure 2. Those skilled in the art will understand that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented in hardware, computer-readable software, firmware, or any practical combination thereof. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are described generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software can depend upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those familiar with the concepts described herein may implement such functionality in a suitable manner for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UE transceiver 230 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 230 that includes a radio frequency (RF) transmitter and a RF receiver each comprising circuitry that is coupled to the antenna 232. A duplex switch (not shown) may alternatively couple the uplink transmitter or receiver to the uplink antenna in time duplex fashion. Similarly, in accordance with some embodiments, the BS transceiver 210 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 210 that includes a RF transmitter and a RF receiver each comprising circuity that is coupled to the antenna 212. A downlink duplex switch may alternatively couple the downlink transmitter or receiver to the downlink antenna 212 in time duplex fashion. The operations of the two transceiver modules 210 and 230 can be coordinated in time such that the uplink receiver circuitry is coupled to the uplink antenna 232 for reception of transmissions over the wireless transmission link 250 at the same time that the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna 212. In some embodiments, there is close time synchronization with a minimal guard time between changes in duplex direction.

The UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to communicate via the wireless data communication link 250, and cooperate with a suitably configured RF antenna arrangement 212/232 that can support a particular wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the UE transceiver 210 and the base station transceiver 210 are configured to support industry standards such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards, and the like. It is understood, however, that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited in application to a particular standard and associated protocols. Rather, the UE transceiver 230 and the base station transceiver 210 may be configured to support alternate, or additional, wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variations thereof.

In accordance with various embodiments, the BS 202 may be an evolved node B (eNB) , a serving eNB, a target eNB, a femto station, or a pico station, for example. In some embodiments, the UE 204 may be embodied in various types of user devices such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , tablet, laptop computer, wearable computing device, etc. The processor modules 214 and 236 may be implemented, or realized, with a general purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof, designed to perform the functions described herein. In this manner, a processor may be realized as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, or the like. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

Furthermore, the steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in firmware, in a software module executed by processor modules 214 and 236, respectively, or in any practical combination thereof. The memory modules 216 and 234 may be realized as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, memory modules 216 and 234 may be coupled to the processor modules 210 and 230, respectively, such that the processors modules 210 and 230 can read information from, and write information to, memory modules 216 and 234, respectively. The memory modules 216 and 234 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 210 and 230. In some embodiments, the memory modules 216 and 234 may each include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor modules 210 and 230, respectively. Memory modules 216 and 234 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor modules 210 and 230, respectively.

The network communication module 218 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic, and/or other components of the base station 202 that enable bi-directional communication between base station transceiver 210 and other network components and communication nodes configured to communication with the base station 202. For example, network communication module 218 may be configured to support internet or WiMAX traffic. In a typical deployment, without limitation, network communication module 218 provides an 802.3 Ethernet interface such that base station transceiver 210 can communicate with a conventional Ethernet based computer network. In this manner, the network communication module 218 may include a physical interface for connection to the computer network (e.g., Mobile Switching Center (MSC) ) . The terms “configured for, ” “configured to” and conjugations thereof, as used herein with respect to a specified operation or function, refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc., that is physically constructed, programmed, formatted and/or arranged to perform the specified operation or function.

Having discussed aspects of a networking environment as well as devices that can be used to implement the systems, methods and apparatuses described herein, additional details shall follow.

Various of embodiments of the present disclosure provides systems and methods for providing multi-channel scheduling, and can support multi-channel scheduling according to the 5G NR Release 16 standard. When a lower sub-carrier spacing (SCS) PDCCH is used to schedule a higher SCS PDSCH, the earliest possible starting point for the PDSCH can be defined by the end of the PDCCH plus a time interval. The time interval is larger than zero. The systems and methods of the present disclosure provide techniques for determining and/or providing such a time interval for scheduling between channels.

Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 300 for providing wireless communication or channel scheduling according to an example embodiment. The process 300 can be performed by the base station 102 of Figure 1 according to some embodiments. The process 300 can be performed by the user equipment 104 according to some embodiments.

In step 302, a first set of resources is allocated to transmit to a wireless communication device a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing (SCS) according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the first channel is a control channel (e.g., PDCCH) .

The first set of resources can include a search space according to some embodiments. Each first symbol of the search space includes N physical resource blocks (PRBs) in a frequency domain and Y orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols in a time domain according to some embodiments. N is an integer that is a multiple of 6 (or other number) depending on radio resource control configuration, and not larger than an associated bandwidth part (BWP) for example, according to some embodiments. Y can be 1, 2 or 3 (or other number) depending on the radio resource control (RRC) configuration for instance, according to some embodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the first set of resources includes a search space, each first symbol of the search space includes N physical resource blocks in a frequency domain and Y orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing symbols in a time domain, wherein N is an integer that is a multiple of 6 depending on radio resource control configuration and not larger than an associated bandwidth part, and Y is 1, 2 or 3 depending on the radio resource control configuration.

In step 304, a second set of resources is allocated to transmit to the wireless communication device a second signal on a second channel using a second SCS. The second channel is a shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) according to some embodiments. The second SCS is greater than the first SCS according to some embodiments. The second channel can be scheduled based on the first signal.

In step 306, the second channel is scheduled or configured to enable an ending time of the first channel in a time domain to be before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain. A time-domain offset is defined between the ending time of the first channel and the starting time of the second channel according to some embodiments. A value of a parameter for defining the time-domain offset is determined according to information associated with the first set of resources according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the information associated with the first set of resources includes a duration of a control resource set (e.g., a CORESET duration) , a number of first symbol (s) , or a search space type, etc. A time-domain offset for one first symbol is larger than a time-domain offset for multiple first symbols according to some embodiments. The type of search space includes different priority (for traffic) according to some embodiments. The time-domain offset for the type of search space with lower priority traffic is larger than the time-domain offset for the type of search space with higher priority traffic according to some embodiments. For example, the higher priority traffic can include ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) traffic, and lower priority traffic can include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) traffic according to some embodiments.

In some embodiments, the time-domain offset is defined as according to:

T _proc, 0 = (N ₀+d _0, 1) (2048+144) ·κ2 ^-μ·T _C

or

T _proc, 0 = max ( (N ₀+d _0, 1) (2048+144) ·κ2 ^-μ·T _C, d _0, 2)

N ₀ is a predetermined value that is determined according to different SCS values according to some embodiments. K is a constant number. The time-domain offset can be determined based on an additional parameter or time interval d _0, 1. d _0, 2 is a predefined or configured switching time (e.g., for BWP switching) .

The additional time interval can be determined based on a CORESET duration (e.g., associated with the first set of resources) according to some embodiments. For example, according to an example embodiment, when the CORESET duration is 3, the additional time interval is 1. Otherwise, the additional time interval may be 0. According to another example embodiment, when the CORESET duration is 3, the additional time interval is 1; when the CORESET duration is 2, the additional time interval is 0; when the CORESET duration is 1, the additional time interval is -1. According to another example embodiment, when the CORESET duration is 3, the additional time interval is 2; when the CORESET duration is 2, the additional time interval is 1; when the CORESET duration is 1, the additional time interval is 0.

In some embodiments, the additional time interval can be determined based on the number of first symbols (e.g., associated with the first set of resources) . Such first symbols can refer to one or multiple first symbols of a CORESET within a slot that is used for PDCCH monitoring. For example, according to an example embodiment, when the number of first symbols is 1, the additional time interval is 1, otherwise, the additional time interval is 0. According to another example embodiment, when the number of first symbols is 1, the additional time interval is 0; when the number of first symbols is greater than 1, the additional time interval is -1.

In some embodiments, the additional time interval can be determined based on the search space (e.g., associated with the first set of resources) . For example, according to an example embodiment, when the search space has a type of eMBB (for example the search space type corresponds to eMBB traffic and its associated priority) , the additional time interval is determined as 1. Otherwise (e.g., the search space has a type of URLLC, for example the search space type corresponds to URLLC traffic and its associated priority) , the additional time interval is determined as 0. For example, according to another example embodiment, when the search space has a type of eMBB, the additional time interval is determined as 0. Otherwise (e.g., the search space has a type of URLLC) , the additional time interval is determined as -1. For example, a time-domain offset for a type of search space corresponding to eMBB traffic with a priority A is larger than a time-domain offset for a type of search space corresponding to URLLC traffic with a priority B, wherein priority B is higher than the priority A, and the additional time interval is determined as 0 for URLLC while the additional time interval is determined as 1 for eMBB.

In some embodiments, the step 306 is performed by identifying a slot offset for a time-domain offset between a first slot in which the first set of resources are allocated and a second slot in which the second set of resources are located. In some embodiments, the time-domain offset is configured, adjusted, supplemented or augmented by selectively adding a non-zero value K ₀ to the slot offset according to a symbol position of an end of the control channel. In some embodiments, time-domain offset is configured by selectively adding a non-zero value K ₀ to the slot offset according to the first sub carrier spacing and the second sub carrier spacing (e.g., according to different values of K ₀ predefined or predetermined for respective different combinations of the first sub carrier spacing and the second sub carrier spacing) .

The non-zero value can be added to the slot offset if the symbol position of the end of the first channel corresponds to one of a set (or plurality) of symbol indices. The set of symbol indices can include symbol index 3 to symbol index 13 (e.g., symbol indices #3-13) for example. In some embodiments, the set of symbol indices can include various other symbol indices. A symbol index can include an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol index (sometimes referred to as OS#) . An OS#or symbol index can indicate or describe a symbol position.

In some embodiments, the non-zero value K ₀ can be determined according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The non-zero value K ₀ (and therefore the slot offset) can be determined or identified according to a symbol position of an end of the first channel, wherein the symbol position is within a first range (e.g., one of a plurality of defined or specified ranges) . The first range can for example include one of: symbol indices #7-13; symbol indices #7-9; symbol indices #10-13; symbol indices #7; symbol indices #8-9; symbol indices #10-11; symbol indices #12-13; symbol indices #0-6; symbol indices #3-9; symbol indices #3-6; symbol indices #3-4; symbol indices #5-6; and/or symbol indices #0-2.

In some example embodiments, Table-1 and Table-2 are provided below for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-1 and Table-2 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein. Table-1 is used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ when the symbol position of the end of the control channel is in the range of 0-6, in some embodiments. Table-2 is used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ when the symbol position of the end of the control channel is in the range of 7-13, in some embodiments. When a symbol position of the end of the control channel is determined, the non-zero value K ₀ can be selected based on the SCS of the control channel (e.g., scheduling CC in Table-1 and Table-2) and the SCS of the shared channel (e.g., scheduled CC in Table-1 and Table-2) . For example, if the control channel has a SCS of 15kHz and the shared channel has a SCS of 60 kHz, and a symbol position of the end of the control channel is 5, the non-zero value K ₀ can be determined as 2 according to Table-1. Note, Table-1 and Table-2 are just example, other Tables are not precluded.

Table-1

Table-2

In some example embodiments, Table-2-1 (alternative embodiment 1 or 2) is provided below for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-2-1 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein. In the Table-2-1, OS#indicates the symbol position of the end of the control channel. In the Table-2-1, the various values of K ₀’ are non-zero positive integers, and the same applies to the tables in other embodiments.

Table-2-1 (Embodiment 1)

Table-2-1 (Embodiment 2)

In some example embodiments, Table-2-2 (alternative embodiment 1 or 2) is provided below for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-2-2 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein. In the Table-2-2, OS#indicates the symbol position of the end of the control channel.

Table-2-2 (Embodiment 1)

Table-2-2 (Embodiment 2)

In some example embodiments, Table-2-3 (alternative embodiment 1 or 2) is provided below for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-2-3 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein. In all the tables described herein, OS#indicates the symbol position of the end of the control channel.

Table-2-3 (Embodiment 1)

Table-2-3 (Embodiment 2)

In some example embodiments, Table 2-4 is provided for determining a minimum non-zero value K ₀ according to the symbol position of the end of the control channel. The minimum non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-2-4 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the minimum K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein.

Table-2-4

In some embodiments, the non-zero value K ₀ can be determined according to a minimum gap between the end of the control channel and the start of the shared channel. In some embodiments, the minimum gap is zero or a threshold value C. In some example embodiments, Table-1 as provided above, Table-3, and Table-4 as provided below are used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the minimum gap between the end of the control channel and the start of the shared channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-3 and Table-4 are provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein. Table-1 is used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ when the symbol position of the end of the control channel is in the range of 0-2. Table-3 is used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ when the symbol position of the end of the control channel is in the range of 3-9. Table-4 is used for determining the non-zero value K ₀ when the symbol position of the end of the control channel is in the range of 10-13. When a symbol position of the end of the control channel is determined, the non-zero value K ₀ can be selected based on the SCS of the control channel (e.g., scheduling CC) and the SCS of the shared channel (e.g., scheduled CC) . In some embodiments, the determined non-zero value K ₀ is compared with the threshold value C. When the non-zero value K ₀ is greater than the threshold value C, the non-zero value K ₀ is added to the slot offset. When the nonzero value K ₀ is not greater than the threshold value C, the non-zero value K ₀ is not added to the slot offset.

Table-3

Table-4

In some example embodiments, Table-5 (alternative embodiment 1, 2, 3 or 4) is provided for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the minimum gap between the end of the control channel and the start of the shared channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-5 is provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein.

Table-5 (Embodiment 1)

Table-5 (Embodiment 2)

Table-5 (Embodiment 3)

Table-5 (Embodiment 4)

In some example embodiments, Table-6 (alternative embodiment 1 or 2) is provided for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the minimum gap between the end of the control channel and the start of the shared channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-6 is provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein.

Table-6 (Embodiment 1)

Table-6 (Embodiment 2)

In some example embodiments, Table-7 (alternative embodiment 1 or 2) is provided for determining the non-zero value K ₀ according to the minimum gap between the end of the control channel and the start of the shared channel. The non-zero values K ₀ listed in the Table-7 is provided for illustration purposes. A skilled person in the art could implement any suitable non-zero positive integers to the K ₀ according to the concepts disclosed herein.

Table-7 (Embodiment 1)

Table-7 (Embodiment 2)

In some embodiments, the time-domain offset is configured by selectively adding a value K ₀’ to the slot offset. The value K ₀’ is determined based on a number of the first symbols. When the number of the first symbols is 1, the value K ₀’ is 0 according to some embodiments. When the number of the first symbols is greater than 1, the value K ₀’ is greater than 0. The K ₀’ can be determined using various equations according to the SCS of the control channel and the SCS of the shared channel. For example, the K ₀’ can be defined using any of the following equations:

In some embodiments, the K ₀’ can be determined by both the number of the first symbols and a symbol position of the end of the control channel. In some embodiments, if the number of the first symbols is 1 and the symbol position of the end of the control channel is within the range of 0-3 (e.g., within the first three positions in the slot) , K ₀’ is 0 for instance. Otherwise, K ₀’s is greater than 0, for instance. Similarly, when K ₀’ is determined greater than 0, K ₀’ can be determined using any one of the above equations.

While various embodiments of the present solution have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only, and not by way of limitation. Likewise, the various diagrams may depict an example architectural or configuration, which are provided to enable persons of ordinary skill in the art to understand example features and functions of the present solution. Such persons would understand, however, that the solution is not restricted to the illustrated example architectures or configurations, but can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. Additionally, as would be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art, one or more features of one embodiment can be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described illustrative embodiments.

It is also understood that any reference to an element herein using a designation such as "first, " "second, " and so forth does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. Rather, these designations can be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to first and second elements does not mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art would understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits and symbols, for example, which may be referenced in the above description can be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

A person of ordinary skill in the art would further appreciate that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, means, circuits, methods and functions described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., a digital implementation, an analog implementation, or a combination of the two) , firmware, various forms of program or design code incorporating instructions (which can be referred to herein, for convenience, as "software" or a "software module) , or any combination of these techniques. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware or software, or a combination of these techniques, depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans can implement the described functionality in various ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions do not cause a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, a person of ordinary skill in the art would understand that various illustrative logical blocks, modules, devices, components and circuits described herein can be implemented within or performed by an integrated circuit (IC) that can include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof. The logical blocks, modules, and circuits can further include antennas and/or transceivers to communicate with various components within the network or within the device. A general purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor can be any conventional processor, controller, or state machine. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

If implemented in software, the functions can be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Thus, the steps of a method or algorithm disclosed herein can be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that can be enabled to transfer a computer program or code from one place to another. A storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

In this document, the term "module" as used herein, refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements for performing the associated functions described herein. Additionally, for purpose of discussion, the various modules are described as discrete modules; however, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, two or more modules may be combined to form a single module that performs the associated functions according embodiments of the present solution.

Additionally, memory or other storage, as well as communication components, may be employed in embodiments of the present solution. It will be appreciated that, for clarity purposes, the above description has described embodiments of the present solution with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any suitable distribution of functionality between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains may be used without detracting from the present solution. For example, functionality illustrated to be performed by separate processing logic elements, or controllers, may be performed by the same processing logic element, or controller. Hence, references to specific functional units are only references to a suitable means for providing the described functionality, rather than indicative of a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

Various modifications to the implementations described in this disclosure will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other implementations without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementations shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as recited in the claims below.

Claims

A method, comprising:

allocating a first set of resources to transmit a first signal on a first channel using a first sub-carrier spacing; and

allocating a second set of resources to transmit a second signal on a second channel using a second sub-carrier spacing greater than the first sub-carrier spacing, the second channel to be scheduled based on the first signal, wherein an ending time of the first channel in a time domain is before a starting time of the second channel in the time domain.
The method of claim 1, comprising:

allocating the first set of resources to the first channel, the first channel comprising a control channel, wherein the first signal comprises control information; and

allocating the second set of resources to the second channel, the second channel comprising a shared channel.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, in accordance with a relationship to define a time-domain offset between the ending time of the first channel and the starting time of the second channel, a value of a parameter of the relationship according to information associated with the first set of resources.
The method of claim 3, wherein the information associated with the first set of resources comprises a duration of a control resource set.
The method of claim 3, wherein the information associated with the first set of resources comprises a number of first symbols.
The method of claim 5, wherein a time-domain offset for one first symbol is larger than a time-domain offset for multiple first symbols.
The method of claim 3, wherein the information associated with the first set of resources comprises a type of a search space.
The method of claim 7, wherein a time-domain offset for a type of search space corresponding to traffic with a priority A is larger than a time-domain offset for a type of search space corresponding to traffic with a priority B, wherein priority B is higher than the priority A.
The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying a slot offset for a time-domain offset between a first slot in which the first set of resources are allocated and a second slot in which the second set of resources are located; and

configuring the time-domain offset, by selectively adding a non-zero value to the slot offset according to a symbol position of an end of the first channel.
The method of claim 9, comprising adding the non-zero value to the slot offset if the symbol position of the end of the first channel corresponds to one of a set of symbol indices.
The method of claim 11, wherein the set of symbol indices includes symbol index 3 to symbol index 13.
The method of claim 11, comprising identifying that the non-zero value is a first value if the symbol position of the end of the first channel is within a first range.
The method of claim 12, comprising determining the non-zero value according to a minimum gap between the end of the first channel and the start of the second channel, wherein the minimum gap is zero or a threshold value C.
The method of claim 10, comprising selectively adding the non-zero value to the slot offset according to a number of first symbols associated with the first set of resources.
The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying a slot offset for a time-domain offset between a first slot in which the first set of resources are allocated and a second slot in which the second set of resources are located, according to a symbol position of an end of the first channel, wherein the symbol position is within a first range.
The method of claim 12 or 15, wherein the first range comprises one of:

symbol indices 7-13;

symbol indices 7-9;

symbol indices 10-13;

symbol index 7;

symbol indices 8-9;

symbol indices 10-11;

symbol indices 12-13;

symbol indices 0-6;

symbol indices 3-9;

symbol indices 3-6;

symbol indices 3-4;

symbol indices 5-6;

symbol indices 0-2.
An apparatus comprising at least one processor and a memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to read code from the memory and implement a method recited in any of claims 1 to 16.
A computer program product comprising a computer-readable program medium code stored thereupon, the code, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement a method recited in any of claims 1 to 16.