WO2021042315A1

WO2021042315A1 - Slot format configuration for time-division multiplexing modes

Info

Publication number: WO2021042315A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/104481
Authority: WO
Inventors: Bo Chen; Hao Xu
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2019-09-05
Filing date: 2019-09-05
Publication date: 2021-03-11

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, methods and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media for time division multiplexing (TDM) techniques used in connection with an uplink carrier aggregation mode or a dual connectivity mode. Because some frequency bands may be associated with coverage restrictions that result in unutilized network resources, aspects described herein may enable utilization of such unutilized network resources. For example, for cell center or cell median user equipment (UEs), a base station (BS) may schedule a set of flexible symbols of a TDM pattern as uplink symbols for uplink communication. Further, for cell edge UEs, the BS may schedule the set of flexible symbols of the TDM pattern as downlink symbols for downlink communication. In this way, the BS and the UE enable use of symbols that are unused for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission for edge UEs.

Description

SLOT FORMAT CONFIGURATION FOR TIME-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING MODES

TECHNICAL FIELD

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication and more particularly to techniques for slot format configuration for time-division multiplexing modes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED TECHNOLOGY

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (for example, bandwidth, transmit power, etc. ) . Examples of such multiple-access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems, and Long Term Evolution (LTE) . LTE/LTE-Advanced is a set of enhancements to the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) .

A wireless communication network may include a number of base stations (BSs) that can support communication for a number of user equipment (UEs) . A user equipment (UE) may communicate with a base station (BS) via the downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) . The DL (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the UL (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the BS. As will be described in more detail herein, a BS may be referred to as a NodeB, an LTE evolved nodeB (eNB) , a gNB, an access point (AP) , a radio head, a transmit receive point (TRP) , a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G NodeB, or the like.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different UEs to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. NR, which also may be referred to as 5G, is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) . NR is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the DL, using CP-OFDM or SC-FDM (for example, also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) ) on the UL (or a combination thereof) , as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation.

SUMMARY

The systems, methods, and devices of this disclosure each has several innovative aspects, no single one of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes disclosed herein.

One innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) . The method may include receiving duty cycle scheduling from a base station (BS) to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a time-division-multiplexing (TDM) pattern and communicating, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols.

In some implementations, the method can include receiving a UE-specific indicator that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication. In some implementations, the method can include receiving downlink control information that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication. In some implementations, at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the TDM pattern.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a UE for wireless communication. The UE may include memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to receive duty cycle scheduling from a BS to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a TDM pattern and communicate, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a UE, may cause the one or more processors to receive duty cycle scheduling from a BS to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a TDM pattern and communicate, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for receiving duty cycle scheduling from a BS to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a TDM pattern and means for communicating, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a method of wireless communication performed by a BS. The method may include providing scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center UEs in accordance with a first TDM pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency and providing scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency.

In some implementations, the method can include transmitting a UE-specific indicator to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication. In some implementations, the method can include transmitting downlink control information to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication. In some implementations, at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the first TDM pattern. In some implementations, the method can include transmitting a semi-static indicator to override a use of the set of symbols in the first TDM pattern.

In some implementations, transmitting the semi-static indicator includes transmitting the semi-static indicator to identify at least one of all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols, fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.

In some implementations, the method can include transmitting a dynamic slot format indicator to override a use of one or more symbols of the first TDM pattern. In some implementations, transmitting the dynamic slot format indicator includes the dynamic slot format indicator to identify at least one of all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols, fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a BS for wireless communication. The BS may include memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to provide scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center UEs in accordance with a first TDM pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency and provide scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may store one or more instructions for wireless communication. The one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a BS, may cause the one or more processors to provide scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center UEs in accordance with a first TDM pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency and provide scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency.

Another innovative aspect of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented in an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus may include means for providing scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center UEs in accordance with a first TDM pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency and means for providing scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency.

Aspects generally include a method, apparatus, system, computer program product, non-transitory computer-readable medium, user equipment, base station, wireless communication device, or processing system as substantially described herein with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings and appendix.

Details of one or more implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, aspects, and advantages will become apparent from the description, the drawings and the claims. Note that the relative dimensions of the following figures may not be drawn to scale.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless network.

Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a base station (BS) in communication with a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network.

Figure 3A is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a frame structure in a wireless network.

Figure 3B is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example synchronization signal (SS) hierarchy in a wireless network.

Figure 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example slot format with a normal cyclic prefix.

Figure 5 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed radio access network (RAN) .

Figure 6 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN.

Figures 7–10 are diagram illustrating an example of slot format configurations.

Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a BS.

Figure 12 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a UE.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is directed to certain implementations for the purposes of describing the innovative aspects of this disclosure. However, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a multitude of different ways. Some of the examples in this disclosure are based on wireless and wired local area network (LAN) communication according to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 wireless standards, the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards, and the IEEE 1901 Powerline communication (PLC) standards. However, the described implementations may be implemented in any device, system or network that is capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency signals according to any of the wireless communication standards, including any of the IEEE 802.11 standards, the

standard, code division multiple access (CDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) , GSM/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) , Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) , Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA) , Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) , Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) , 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DO Rev B, High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) , High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) , Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , AMPS, or other known signals that are used to communicate within a wireless, cellular or internet of things (IOT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4G or 5G, or further implementations thereof, technology.

Time division multiplexing (TDM) techniques may be used in connection with an uplink carrier aggregation mode or a dual connectivity mode. In TDM with uplink carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, a UE may perform concurrent uplink transmission across a plurality of component carriers. Different TDM patterns may be configured for different UEs based on a UE’s location within a frequency band. For example, different TDM patterns may be configured for cell center or cell median UEs, for cell edge UEs, or the like. Supplemental uplink may enable dynamic switching of uplink transmission from a first, primary uplink carrier to a second, secondary or supplemental uplink carrier.

Some frequency bands may be associated with coverage restrictions that result in unutilized network resources. For example, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) may be transmitted on 2.1 Gigahertz (GHz) for cell edge UEs when operating at the 3.5 GHz frequency band as a result of PUSCH coverage restrictions. In time-division duplexing (TDD) , this may result in 30%of resources of the 3.5 GHz frequency band being unused, such as 3 uplink slots out of a total of 10 available uplink slots in a 2.5 millisecond (ms) duty cycle.

Some aspects described herein may enable utilization of unutilized resources. For example, a BS may cascade a first TDM pattern and a second TDM pattern, where the first TDM pattern is in a first frequency band and the second TDM pattern is in a second frequency band. In this case, for cell center or cell median UEs, the BS may schedule a set of flexible symbols of the first TDM pattern as uplink symbols for uplink communication. Further, for cell edge UEs, the BS may schedule the set of flexible symbols of the first TDM pattern as downlink symbols for downlink communication, thereby enabling use of symbols that are unused for PUSCH transmission for edge UEs. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more TDM patterns may be defined to include flexible symbols that the BS may dynamically override to enable use of the unused symbols. In this case, the BS may transmit an indicator, such as a downlink control information (DCI) indicator, a semi-static indicator, or the like to enable dynamic overriding of the unused symbols. In some aspects, the first TDM pattern and the second TDM pattern may be cascaded and may be a slot configuration transmitted in a system information block type 1 (SIB1) message on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) . Based on transmission of the PUCCH, both a BS and one or more UEs may use the same TDM pattern (s) for communication. Some aspects described herein enable the BS to semi-statically or dynamically change a slot format to improve flexibility in an allocation of resources for downlink communication or uplink communication.

Particular implementations of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. By dynamically or semi-statically overriding a flexible symbol of a duty cycle of a TDM pattern, the BS may enable more efficient utilization of network resources.

Figure 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless network 100. The wireless network 100 may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a 5G or NR network. Wireless network 100 may include a number of BSs 110 (shown as a BS 110a, a BS 110b, a BS 110c, and a BS 110d) and other network entities. A BS is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and also may be referred to as a base station, a NR BS, a Node B, a gNB, a 5G node B (NB) , an access point, a transmit receive point (TRP) , or the like. Each BS may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to a coverage area of a BS, a BS subsystem serving this coverage area, or a combination thereof, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, another type of cell, or a combination thereof. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (for example, several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (for example, a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (for example, UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG) ) . A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in Figure 1, the BS 110a may be a macro BS for a macro cell 102a, the BS 110b may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102b, and the BS 110c may be a femto BS for a femto cell 102c. A BS may support one or multiple (for example, three) cells. The terms “eNB” , “base station” , “NR BS” , “gNB” , “TRP” , “AP” , “node B” , “5G NB” , and “cell” may be used interchangeably herein.

In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of a mobile BS. In some examples, the BSs may be interconnected to one another as well as to one or more other BSs or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces, such as a direct physical connection, a virtual network, or a combination thereof using any suitable transport network.

Wireless network 100 also may include relay stations. A relay station is an entity that can receive a transmission of data from an upstream station (for example, a BS or a UE) and send a transmission of the data to a downstream station (for example, a UE or a BS) . A relay station also may be a UE that can relay transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in Figure 1, a relay station 110d may communicate with macro BS 110a and a UE 120d in order to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120d. A relay station also may be referred to as a relay BS, a relay base station, a relay, etc.

Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs of different types, for example, macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in wireless network 100. For example, macro BSs may have a high transmit power level (for example, 5 to 40 Watts) whereas pico BSs, femto BSs, and relay BSs may have lower transmit power levels (for example, 0.1 to 2 Watts) .

A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and may provide coordination and control for these BSs. Network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs via a backhaul. The BSs also may communicate with one another, for example, directly or indirectly via a wireless or wireline backhaul.

UEs 120 (for example, 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE also may be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. A UE may be a cellular phone (for example, a smart phone) , a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, biometric sensors/devices, wearable devices (smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wrist bands, smart jewelry (for example, smart ring, smart bracelet) ) , an entertainment device (for example, a music or video device, or a satellite radio) , a vehicular component or sensor, smart meters/sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

Some UEs may be considered machine-type communication (MTC) or evolved or enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) UEs. MTC and eMTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that may communicate with a base station, another device (for example, remote device) , or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (for example, a wide area network such as Internet or a cellular network) via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) . The UE 120 may be included inside a housing that houses components of the UE 120, such as processor components, memory components, similar components, or a combination thereof.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular RAT and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT also may be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency also may be referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area in order to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (for example, a base station) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within the scheduling entity’s service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, the scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity.

Base stations are not the only entities that may function as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more subordinate entities (for example, one or more other UEs) . In this example, the UE is functioning as a scheduling entity, and other UEs utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. A UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, in a mesh network, or another type of network. In a mesh network example, UEs may optionally communicate directly with one another in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

Thus, in a wireless communication network with a scheduled access to time–frequency resources and having a cellular configuration, a P2P configuration, and a mesh configuration, a scheduling entity and one or more subordinate entities may communicate utilizing the scheduled resources.

In some aspects, two or more UEs 120 (for example, shown as a UE 120a and a UE 120e) may communicate directly using one or more sidelink channels (for example, without using a base station 110 as an intermediary to communicate with one another) . For example, the UEs 120 may communicate using peer-to-peer (P2P) communications, device-to-device (D2D) communications, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) protocol (which may include a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, or similar protocol) , a mesh network, or similar networks, or combinations thereof. In this case, the UE 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, as well as other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by the base station 110.

Figure 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example 200 of a base station 110 in communication with a UE 120. In some aspects, the base station 110 and the UE 120 may respectively be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in wireless network 100 of Figure 1. The base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and the UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T ≥ 1 and R ≥ 1.

At the base station 110, a transmit processor 220 may receive data from a data source 212 for one or more UEs, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (for example, encode and modulate) the data for each UE based on the MCS (s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. The transmit processor 220 also may process system information (for example, for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI) , etc. ) and control information (for example, CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc. ) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 220 also may generate reference symbols for reference signals (for example, the cell-specific reference signal (CRS) ) and synchronization signals (for example, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) ) . A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (for example, precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Each modulator 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (for example, for OFDM, etc. ) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (for example, convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via T antennas 234a through 234t, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, the synchronization signals can be generated with location encoding to convey additional information.

At the UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signals from the base station 110 or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (for example, filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (for example, for OFDM, etc. ) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (for example, demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller or processor (controller/processor) 280. A channel processor may determine reference signal received power (RSRP) , received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , channel quality indicator (CQI) , etc. In some aspects, one or more components of the UE 120 may be included in a housing.

On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information (for example, for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc. ) from controller/processor 280. Transmit processor 264 also may generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by modulators 254a through 254r (for example, for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc. ) , and transmitted to the base station 110. At the base station 110, the uplink signals from the UE 120 and other UEs may be received by antennas 234, processed by demodulators 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to a controller or processor (i.e., controller/processor) 240. The base station 110 may include communication unit 244 and communicate to network controller 130 via communication unit 244. The network controller 130 may include communication unit 294, a controller or processor (i.e., controller/processor) 290, and memory 292.

The controller/processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, or any other component (s) of Figure 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with slot format configuration for time division multiplexing modes, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller/processor 240 of the base station 110, the controller/processor 280 of the UE 120, or any other component (s) (or combinations of components) of Figure 2 may perform or direct operations of, for example, the process 1100 of Figure 11, the process 1200 of Figure 12, or other processes as described herein. The

memories

242 and 282 may store data and program codes for the base station 110 and the UE 120, respectively. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink, the uplink, or a combination thereof.

The stored program codes, when executed by the controller/processor 240 or other processors and modules at the base station 110, may cause the base station 110 to perform operations described with respect to the process 1100 of Figure 11, the process 1200 of Figure 12, or other processes as described herein. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink, the uplink, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the base station 110 may include means for providing scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center UEs in accordance with a first TDM pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency, means for providing scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency, or the like, or combinations thereof. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of the base station 110 described in connection with Figure 2.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may include means for receiving duty cycle scheduling from a BS to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a TDM pattern, means for communicating, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols, or the like, or combinations thereof. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of the UE 120 described in connection with Figure 2.

While blocks in Figure 2 are illustrated as distinct components, the functions described above with respect to the blocks may be implemented in a single hardware, software, or combination component or in various combinations of components. For example, the functions described with respect to the transmit processor 264, the receive processor 258, the TX MIMO processor 266, or another processor may be performed by or under the control of controller/processor 280.

Figure 3A is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example frame structure 300 in a wireless network. In some aspects, frame structure 300 may be for FDD in the wireless network, which may include a 5G NR wireless network or another type of wireless network. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be partitioned into units of radio frames (sometimes referred to as frames) . Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (for example, 10 milliseconds (ms) ) and may be partitioned into a set of Z (Z ≥ 1) subframes (for example, with indices of 0 through Z-1) . Each subframe may have a predetermined duration (for example, 1ms) and may include a set of slots (for example, 2 ^m slots per subframe are shown in Figure 3A, where m is a numerology used for a transmission, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or the like) . Each slot may include a set of L symbol periods. Some symbol periods may be flexibly assigned or customizable and may be dynamically or semi-statically indicated as uplink symbol periods, downlink symbol periods, or the like. For example, each slot may include fourteen symbol periods (for example, as shown in Figure 3A) , seven symbol periods, or another number of symbol periods. In a case where the subframe includes two slots (for example, when m = 1) , the subframe may include 2L symbol periods, where the 2L symbol periods in each subframe may be assigned indices of 0 through 2L–1. In some aspects, a scheduling unit for the FDD may frame-based, subframe-based, slot-based, symbol-based, or the like.

While some techniques are described herein in connection with frames, subframes, slots, or the like, these techniques may equally apply to other types of wireless communication structures, which may be referred to using terms other than “frame, ” “subframe, ” “slot, ” or the like in 5G NR. In some aspects, a wireless communication structure may refer to a periodic time-bounded communication unit defined by a wireless communication standard or protocol. Additionally, or alternatively, different configurations of wireless communication structures than those shown in Figure 3A may be used.

In certain telecommunications (for example, NR) , a base station may transmit synchronization signals. For example, a base station may transmit a primary synchronization signal (PSS) , a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) , or the like, on the downlink for each cell supported by the base station. The PSS and SSS may be used by UEs for cell search and acquisition. For example, the PSS may be used by UEs to determine symbol timing, and the SSS may be used by UEs to determine a physical cell identifier, associated with the base station, and frame timing. The base station also may transmit a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) . The PBCH may carry some system information, such as system information that supports initial access by UEs.

In some aspects, the base station may transmit the PSS, the SSS, the PBCH, or a combination thereof in accordance with a synchronization communication hierarchy (for example, a synchronization signal (SS) hierarchy) including multiple synchronization communications (for example, SS blocks) , as described below in connection with Figure 3B.

Figure 3B is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example SS hierarchy in a wireless network. In some aspects, the example SS hierarchy may be an example of a synchronization communication hierarchy. As shown in Figure 3B, the SS hierarchy may include an SS burst set, which may include a plurality of SS bursts (identified as SS burst 0 through SS burst B-1, where B is a maximum number of repetitions of the SS burst that may be transmitted by the base station) . As further shown, each SS burst may include one or more SS blocks (identified as SS block 0 through SS block (b _{max_SS}-1) , where b _{max_SS}-1 is a maximum number of SS blocks that can be carried by an SS burst) . In some aspects, different SS blocks may be beam-formed differently. An SS burst set may be periodically transmitted by a wireless node, such as every X milliseconds, as shown in Figure 3B. In some aspects, an SS burst set may have a fixed or dynamic length, shown as Y milliseconds in Figure 3B.

The SS burst set shown in Figure 3B is an example of a synchronization communication set, and other synchronization communication sets may be used in connection with the techniques described herein. Furthermore, the SS block shown in Figure 3B is an example of a synchronization communication, and other synchronization communications may be used in connection with the techniques described herein.

In some aspects, an SS block includes resources that carry the PSS, the SSS, the PBCH, or other synchronization signals (for example, a tertiary synchronization signal (TSS) ) or synchronization channels. In some aspects, multiple SS blocks are included in an SS burst, and the PSS, the SSS, or the PBCH may be the same across each SS block of the SS burst. In some aspects, a single SS block may be included in an SS burst. In some aspects, the SS block may be at least four symbol periods in length, where each symbol carries one or more of the PSS (for example, occupying one symbol) , the SSS (for example, occupying one symbol) , or the PBCH (for example, occupying two symbols) .

In some aspects, the symbols of an SS block are consecutive, as shown in Figure 3B. In some aspects, the symbols of an SS block are non-consecutive. Similarly, in some aspects, one or more SS blocks of the SS burst may be transmitted in consecutive radio resources (for example, consecutive symbol periods) during one or more slots. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more SS blocks of the SS burst may be transmitted in non-consecutive radio resources.

In some aspects, the SS bursts may have a burst period, whereby the SS blocks of the SS burst are transmitted by the base station according to the burst period. In other words, the SS blocks may be repeated during each SS burst. In some aspects, the SS burst set may have a burst set periodicity, whereby the SS bursts of the SS burst set are transmitted by the base station according to the fixed burst set periodicity. In other words, the SS bursts may be repeated during each SS burst set.

The base station may transmit system information, such as system information blocks (SIBs) on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) in certain slots. The base station may transmit control information/data on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in C symbol periods of a slot, where B may be configurable for each slot. The base station may transmit traffic data or other data on the PDSCH in the remaining symbol periods of each slot.

Figure 4 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example slot format 410 with a normal cyclic prefix. The available time frequency resources may be partitioned into resource blocks. Each resource block may cover a set to of subcarriers (for example, 12 subcarriers) in one slot and may include a number of resource elements. Each resource element may cover one subcarrier in one symbol period (for example, in time) and may be used to send one modulation symbol, which may be a real or complex value.

An interlace structure may be used for each of the downlink and uplink for FDD in certain telecommunications systems (for example, NR) . For example, Q interlaces with indices of 0 through Q –1 may be defined, where Q may be equal to 4, 6, 8, 10, or some other value. Each interlace may include slots that are spaced apart by Q frames. In particular, interlace q may include slots q, q + Q, q + 2Q, etc., where q ∈ {0, …, Q –1} .

A UE may be located within the coverage of multiple BSs. One of these BSs may be selected to serve the UE. The serving BS may be selected based on various criteria such as received signal strength, received signal quality, path loss, or the like, or combinations thereof. Received signal quality may be quantified by a signal-to-noise-and-interference ratio (SINR) , or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) , or some other metric. The UE may operate in a dominant interference scenario in which the UE may observe high interference from one or more interfering BSs.

While aspects of the examples described herein may be associated with NR or 5G technologies, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable with other wireless communication systems. New radio (NR) may refer to radios configured to operate according to a new air interface (for example, other than Orthogonal Frequency Divisional Multiple Access (OFDMA) -based air interfaces) or fixed transport layer (for example, other than Internet Protocol (IP) ) . In aspects, NR may utilize OFDM with a CP (herein referred to as cyclic prefix OFDM or CP-OFDM) or SC-FDM on the uplink, may utilize CP-OFDM on the downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. In aspects, NR may, for example, utilize OFDM with a CP (herein referred to as CP-OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) on the uplink, may utilize CP-OFDM on the downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. NR may include Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) service targeting wide bandwidth (for example, 80 megahertz (MHz) and beyond) , millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (for example, 60 gigahertz (GHz) ) , massive MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, or mission critical targeting ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) service.

In some aspects, a single component carrier bandwidth of 100 MHZ may be supported. NR resource blocks may span 12 sub-carriers with a sub-carrier bandwidth of 60 or 120 kilohertz (kHz) over a 0.1 millisecond (ms) duration. Each radio frame may include 40 slots and may have a length of 10 ms. Consequently, each slot may have a length of 0.25 ms. Each slot may indicate a link direction (for example, DL or UL) for data transmission and the link direction for each slot may be dynamically switched. Each slot may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data.

Beamforming may be supported and beam direction may be dynamically configured. MIMO transmissions with precoding also may be supported. MIMO configurations in the DL may support up to 8 transmit antennas with multi-layer DL transmissions up to 8 streams and up to 2 streams per UE. Multi-layer transmissions with up to 2 streams per UE may be supported. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to 8 serving cells. Alternatively, NR may support a different air interface, other than an OFDM-based interface. NR networks may include entities such central units or distributed units.

Figure 5 illustrates an example logical architecture of a distributed RAN 500. A 5G access node 506 may include an access node controller (ANC) 502. The ANC may be a central unit (CU) of the distributed RAN 500. The backhaul interface to the next generation core network (NG-CN) 504 may terminate at the ANC. The backhaul interface to neighboring next generation access nodes (NG-ANs) may terminate at the ANC. The ANC may include one or more TRPs 508 (which also may be referred to as BSs, NR BSs, Node Bs, 5G NBs, APs, gNB, or some other term) . As described above, a TRP may be used interchangeably with “cell. ”

The TRPs 508 may be a distributed unit (DU) . The TRPs may be connected to one ANC (ANC 502) or more than one ANC (not illustrated) . For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (RaaS) , and service specific AND deployments, the TRP may be connected to more than one ANC. A TRP may include one or more antenna ports. The TRPs may be configured to individually (for example, dynamic selection) or jointly (for example, joint transmission) serve traffic to a UE.

The local architecture of RAN 500 may be used to illustrate fronthaul definition. The architecture may be defined that support fronthauling solutions across different deployment types. For example, the architecture may be based on transmit network capabilities (for example, bandwidth, latency, jitter, etc. ) .

The architecture may share features or components with LTE. According to aspects, the next generation AN (NG-AN) 510 may support dual connectivity with NR. The NG-AN may share a common fronthaul for LTE and NR.

The architecture may enable cooperation between and among TRPs 508. For example, cooperation may be preset within a TRP or across TRPs via the ANC 502. According to aspects, no inter-TRP interface may be needed/present.

According to aspects, a dynamic configuration of split logical functions may be present within the architecture of RAN 500. The packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , radio link control (RLC) , medium access control (MAC) protocol may be adaptably placed at the ANC or TRP.

According to various aspects, a BS may include a central unit (CU) (for example, ANC 502) or one or more distributed units (for example, one or more TRPs 508) .

Figure 6 illustrates an example physical architecture of a distributed RAN 600. A centralized core network unit (C-CU) 602 may host core network functions. The C-CU may be centrally deployed. C-CU functionality may be offloaded (for example, to advanced wireless services (AWS) ) , in an effort to handle peak capacity.

A centralized RAN unit (C-RU) 604 may host one or more ANC functions. Optionally, the C-RU may host core network functions locally. The C-RU may have distributed deployment. In some implementations, the C-RU may be closer to the network edge.

A distributed unit (DU) 606 may host one or more TRPs. The DU may be located at edges of the network with radio frequency (RF) functionality.

Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example 700 of slot format configurations. For example, example 700 shows slot format configurations for frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing (TDD) for uplink (UL) carrier aggregation or dual connectivity (DC) modes when a BS is in communication with cell center or cell median UEs, at 710, and with cell edge UEs, at 720. As shown, symbol periods may be allocated as downlink symbol periods (D) , uplink symbol periods (U) , or reference signal periods (S) that may include sounding reference signals (SRSs) . Some symbol periods may be unused for PUSCH transmission for edge UEs (which may be indicated by being X’d out) .

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating an example 800 of slot format configurations. Example 800 shows examples of time division multiplexing (TDM) patterns for supplementary uplink (SUL) for a BS in communication with a UE at a cell center or a cell median, at 810, and with a UE at a cell edge, at 820.

Figure 9 is a diagram illustrating an example 900 of slot format configurations. Example 900 shows examples of TDM patterns with flexible symbols that can be overridden by a BS to enable utilization of unused resources at a cell edge in a first combination of TDM patterns, at 910, and in a second combination of TDM patterns, at 920. For example, the last two symbols for the first combination of TDM patterns are overridden from uplink communication for cell center UEs to downlink communication for cell edge UEs.

Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating an example 1000 of slot format configurations. Example 1000 shows an example of overriding a flexibly allocated symbol, at 1010, to uplink communication for cell center or cell median UEs, at 1020, and to downlink communication for cell edge UEs, at 1030.

Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating an example process 1100 performed, for example, by a BS, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The example process 1100 shows where the BS, such as the BS 110 or the like, performs operations associated with slot format configuration for time division multiplexing modes.

As shown in Figure 11, in some aspects, the process 1100 may include providing scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center user equipment (UEs) in accordance with a first time-division-multiplexed (TDM) pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency, where the first TDM pattern includes a set of symbols scheduled as flexible symbols and used for uplink communication in the first duty cycle (block 1110) . For example, the BS, such as by using transmit processor 220, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or the like, may provide scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center user equipment (UEs) in accordance with a first time-division-multiplexed (TDM) pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency, as described above. In some aspects, the first TDM pattern includes a set of symbols scheduled as flexible symbols and used for uplink communication in the first duty cycle. In some aspects, the BS may include one or more interfaces for scheduling the one or more cell center UEs.

As shown in Figure 11, in some aspects, the process 1100 may include providing scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency, where the set of symbols of the first TDM pattern are used for downlink communication in the second duty cycle (block 1120) . For example, the BS, such as using transmit processor 220, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, or the like, may provide scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency, as described above. In some aspects, the set of symbols of the first TDM pattern are used for downlink communication in the second duty cycle. In some aspects, the BS may include one or more interfaces for scheduling the one or more cell edge UEs.

The process 1100 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the process 1100 includes transmitting a UE-specific indicator to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the process 1100 includes transmitting downlink control information to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the first TDM pattern.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, the process 1100 includes transmitting a semi-static indicator to override a use of the set of symbols in the first TDM pattern.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, transmitting the semi-static indicator includes transmitting the semi-static indicator to identify at least one of all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols, fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, the process 1100 includes transmitting a dynamic slot format indicator to override a use of one or more symbols of the first TDM pattern.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, transmitting the dynamic slot format indicator includes transmitting the dynamic slot format indicator to identify at least one of all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols, fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.

Although Figure 11 shows example blocks of the process 1100, in some aspects, the process 1100 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Figure 11. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of the process 1100 may be performed in parallel.

Figure 12 is a diagram illustrating an example process 1200 performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The example process 1200 shows where the UE, such as the UE 120 or the like, performs operations associated with slot format configuration for time division multiplexing modes.

As shown in Figure 12, in some aspects, the process 1200 may include receiving duty cycle scheduling from a base station (BS) to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a time-division-multiplexing (TDM) pattern, wherein the set of symbols are a set of flexible symbols reassigned from use for uplink communication by the BS with one or more cell center UEs to use for downlink communication by the BS with one or more cell edge UEs (block 1210) . For example, the UE, such as using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, or the like, may receive duty cycle scheduling from a base station (BS) to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a time-division-multiplexing (TDM) pattern, as described above. In some aspects, the set of symbols are a set of flexible symbols reassigned from use for uplink communication by the BS with one or more cell center UEs to use for downlink communication by the BS with one or more cell edge UEs. In some aspects, the UE may include one or more interfaces for receiving scheduling.

As shown in Figure 12, in some aspects, the process 1200 may include communicating, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols (block 1220) . For example, the UE, such as using antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna 252, or the like, may communicate, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols, as described above. In some aspects, the UE may include one or more interfaces for communicating in accordance with the TDM pattern.

The process 1200 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, the process 1200 includes receiving a UE-specific indicator that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the process 1200 includes receiving downlink control information that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the TDM pattern.

Although Figure 12 shows example blocks of the process 1200, in some aspects, the process 1200 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Figure 12. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of the process 1200 may be performed in parallel.

The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the aspects.

Further disclosure is included in the appendix. The appendix is provided as an example only, and is to be considered part of the specification. A definition, illustration, or other description in the appendix does not supersede or override similar information included in the detailed description or figures. Furthermore, a definition, illustration, or other description in the detailed description or figures does not supersede or override similar information included in the appendix. Furthermore, the appendix is not intended to limit the disclosure of possible aspects.

As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, the phrase “based on” is intended to be broadly construed to mean “based at least in part on. ”

Some aspects are described herein in connection with thresholds. As used herein, satisfying a threshold may refer to a value being greater than the threshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than the threshold, less than or equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, not equal to the threshold, or the like.

As used herein, a phrase referring to “at least one of” a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c.

The various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, circuits and algorithm processes described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. The interchangeability of hardware and software has been described generally, in terms of functionality, and illustrated in the various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

The hardware and data processing apparatus used to implement the various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose single-or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or, any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor also may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, 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 such configuration. In some aspects, particular processes and methods may be performed by circuitry that is specific to a given function.

In one or more aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuitry, computer software, firmware, including the structures disclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents thereof, or in any combination thereof. Aspects of the subject matter described in this specification also can be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions, encoded on a computer storage media for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus.

If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. The processes of a method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented in a processor-executable software module which may reside 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 from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that may be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection can be properly termed a computer-readable medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD) , laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method or algorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and instructions on a machine readable medium and computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

Various modifications to the aspects described in this disclosure may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles and the novel features disclosed herein.

Additionally, a person having ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate, the terms “upper” and “lower” are sometimes used for ease of describing the figures, and indicate relative positions corresponding to the orientation of the figure on a properly oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any device as implemented.

Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate aspects also can be implemented in combination in a single aspect. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single aspect also can be implemented in multiple aspects separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. Further, the drawings may schematically depict one more example processes in the form of a flow diagram. However, other operations that are not depicted can be incorporated in the example processes that are schematically illustrated. For example, one or more additional operations can be performed before, after, simultaneously, or between any of the illustrated operations. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the aspects described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all aspects, and it should be understood that the described program components and systems can generally be integrated together in a single software product or packaged into multiple software products. Additionally, other aspects are within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a different order and still achieve desirable results.

Claims

A method of wireless communication performed by a base station (BS) , comprising:

providing scheduling, in a first duty cycle, one or more cell center user equipment (UEs) in accordance with a first time-division-multiplexed (TDM) pattern for a first frequency and a second TDM pattern for a second frequency,

wherein the first TDM pattern includes a set of symbols scheduled as flexible symbols and used for uplink communication in the first duty cycle; and

providing scheduling, in a second duty cycle, one or more cell edge UEs in accordance with the first TDM pattern for the first frequency and the second TDM pattern for the second frequency,

wherein the set of symbols of the first TDM pattern are used for downlink communication in the second duty cycle.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a UE-specific indicator to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting downlink control information to indicate whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.
The method of claim 1, wherein at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the first TDM pattern.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a semi-static indicator to override a use of the set of symbols in the first TDM pattern.
The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the semi-static indicator comprises:

transmitting the semi-static indicator to identify at least one of:

all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols,

all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols,

fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or

fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a dynamic slot format indicator to override a use of one or more symbols of the first TDM pattern.
The method of claim 7, wherein transmitting the dynamic slot format indicator comprises:

transmitting the dynamic slot format indicator to identify at least one of:

all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols,

all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols,

fewer than all of the set of symbols as downlink symbols, or

fewer than all of the set of symbols as uplink symbols.
A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

receiving duty cycle scheduling from a base station (BS) to override an assignment of a set of symbols of a time-division-multiplexing (TDM) pattern,

wherein the set of symbols are a set of flexible symbols reassigned from use for uplink communication by the BS with one or more cell center UEs to use for downlink communication by the BS with one or more cell edge UEs; and

communicating, in the duty cycle, in accordance with the TDM pattern based on the scheduling overriding the assignment of the set of symbols.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a UE-specific indicator that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving downlink control information that indicates whether the set of symbols are used for uplink communication or downlink communication.
The method of claim 9, wherein at least one symbol, of the set of symbols, is disposed after a last uplink symbol of the TDM pattern.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication, the one or more instructions comprising one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations according to the method of any one of claims 1–12.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to perform operations according to the method of any one of claims 1–12.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for performing operations according to the method of any one of claims 1–12.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

one or more interfaces for performing operations according to the method of any one of claims 1–12.