WO2021163956A1

WO2021163956A1 - Slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations

Info

Publication number: WO2021163956A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/076022
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yiqing Cao; Xiao Feng Wang; Peter Gaal; Liangping Ma; Dan Zhang; Huilin Xu; Iyab Issam SAKHNINI; Jun Ma; Qiang Wu; Yan Li
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-02-20
Filing date: 2020-02-20
Publication date: 2021-08-26

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication. In some aspects, a user equipment may receive, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels. Numerous other aspects are provided.

Description

SLOT AGGREGATION FOR CONFIGURED GRANT COMMUNICATIONS WITH BASE STATIONS

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication and to techniques and apparatuses for slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations.

BACKGROUND

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 (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power, and/or the like) . 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 and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the BS to the UE, and the uplink (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 Node B, a gNB, an access point (AP) , a radio head, a transmit receive point (TRP) , a New Radio (NR) BS, a 5G Node B, and/or the like.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different user equipment to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. New Radio (NR) , which may also 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 downlink (DL) , using CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) ) on the uplink (UL) , as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, there exists a need for further improvements in LTE and NR technologies. Preferably, these improvements should be applicable to other multiple access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

SUMMARY

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication, performed by a user equipment (UE) , may include receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, a method of wireless communication, performed by a base station, may include transmitting, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, a UE for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to receive, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, a base station for wireless communication may include a memory and one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory. The memory and the one or more processors may be configured to transmit, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and receive, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, a 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, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, a 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 base station, may cause the one or more processors to transmit, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and receive, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and means for transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

In some aspects, an apparatus for wireless communication may include means for transmitting, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and means for receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.

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

The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of examples according to the disclosure in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages will be described hereinafter. The conception and specific examples disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure. Such equivalent constructions do not depart from the scope of the appended claims. Characteristics of the concepts disclosed herein, both their organization and method of operation, together with associated advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. Each of the figures is provided for the purposes of illustration and description, and not as a definition of the limits of the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

So that the above-recited features of the present disclosure can be understood in detail, a more particular description, briefly summarized above, may be had by reference to aspects, some of which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is to be noted, however, that the appended drawings illustrate only certain typical aspects of this disclosure and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope, for the description may admit to other equally effective aspects. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a base station in communication with a UE in a wireless communication network, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Figs. 3 and 4 are diagrams illustrating examples of slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a user equipment, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various aspects of the disclosure are described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. This disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to any specific structure or function presented throughout this disclosure. Rather, these aspects are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art. Based on the teachings herein one skilled in the art should appreciate that the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein, whether implemented independently of or combined with any other aspect of the disclosure. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such an apparatus or method which is practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure set forth herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim.

Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatuses and techniques. These apparatuses and techniques will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, modules, components, circuits, steps, processes, algorithms, and/or the like (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using hardware, software, or combinations thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and/or 4G wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and later, including NR technologies.

Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a wireless network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. The wireless network 100 may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a 5G or NR network. The wireless network 100 may include a number of BSs 110 (shown as BS 110a, BS 110b, BS 110c, and BS 110d) and other network entities. A BS is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and may also 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) , and/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 and/or a BS subsystem serving this coverage area, 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, and/or another type of cell. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., 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 (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having association with the femto cell (e.g., 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 Fig. 1, a BS 110a may be a macro BS for a macro cell 102a, a BS 110b may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102b, and a BS 110c may be a femto BS for a femto cell 102c. A BS may support one or multiple (e.g., 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 aspects, 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 aspects, the BSs may be interconnected to one another and/or 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, and/or the like using any suitable transport network.

In some aspects, the wireless network 100 may include one or more a non-terrestrial network (NTN) deployments in which a satellite may be used as a BS (referred to herein, interchangeably, as a “non-terrestrial BS” and “non-terrestrial base station” ) . The wireless network 100 may include any number of non-terrestrial BSs. As used herein, an NTN may refer to a network for which access is provided by a non-terrestrial BS, such as a BS carried by a satellite, a balloon, a dirigible, an airplane, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a high altitude platform station, and/or the like. A non-terrestrial BS may be part of a non-terrestrial network that is separate from wireless network 100. Alternatively, an NTN may be part of the wireless network 100. BSs carried by satellites may communicate directly and/or indirectly with other entities in wireless network 100 using satellite communication. The other entities may include UEs, other satellites in the one or more NTN deployments, other types of BSs (e.g., stationary or ground-based BSs) , one or more components and/or devices included in a core network of wireless network 100, and/or the like.

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

Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network that includes BSs of different types, e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relay BSs, and/or the like. 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 (e.g., 5 to 40 Watts) whereas pico BSs, femto BSs, and relay BSs may have lower transmit power levels (e.g., 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 may also communicate with one another, e.g., directly or indirectly via a wireless or wireline backhaul.

UEs 120 (e.g., 120a, 120b, 120c) may be dispersed throughout wireless network 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, and/or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., 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 (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)) , an entertainment device (e.g., 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, and/or the like, that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., remote device) , or some other entity. A wireless node may provide, for example, connectivity for or to a network (e.g., 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, and/or may be implemented as NB-IoT (narrowband internet of things) devices. Some UEs may be considered a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) . UE 120 may be included inside a housing that houses components of UE 120, such as processor components, memory components, and/or the like. In some aspects, the processor components and the memory components may be coupled together. For example, the processor components (e.g., one or more processors) and the memory components (e.g., a memory) may be operatively coupled, communicatively coupled, electronically coupled, electrically coupled, and/or the like.

In general, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, and/or the like. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a frequency channel, and/or the like. 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 aspects, two or more UEs 120 (e.g., shown as UE 120a and UE 120e) may communicate directly using one or more sidelink channels (e.g., 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 (e.g., which may include a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) protocol, a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) protocol, and/or the like) , a mesh network, and/or the like. In this case, the UE 120 may perform scheduling operations, resource selection operations, and/or other operations described elsewhere herein as being performed by the base station 110.

As indicated above, Fig. 1 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a design 200 of base station 110 and UE 120, which may be one of the base stations and one of the UEs in Fig. 1. Base station 110 may be equipped with T antennas 234a through 234t, and UE 120 may be equipped with R antennas 252a through 252r, where in general T ≥ 1 and R ≥ 1.

At 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 at least in part on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS (s) selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor 220 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI) and/or the like) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, and/or the like) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., the cell-specific reference signal (CRS) ) and synchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS) ) . A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, the overhead symbols, and/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 (e.g., for OFDM and/or the like) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may further process (e.g., 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 UE 120, antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signals from base station 110 and/or other base stations and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. Each demodulator 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM and/or the like) 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 (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE 120 to a data sink 260, and provide decoded control information and system information to a 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) , and/or the like. In some aspects, one or more components of UE 120 may be included in a housing.

On the uplink, at UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 and control information (e.g., for reports comprising RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, and/or the like) from controller/processor 280. Transmit processor 264 may also 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 (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, and/or the like) , and transmitted to base station 110. At base station 110, the uplink signals from 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 UE 120. Receive processor 238 may provide the decoded data to a data sink 239 and the decoded control information to controller/processor 240. Base station 110 may include communication unit 244 and communicate to network controller 130 via communication unit 244. Network controller 130 may include communication unit 294, controller/processor 290, and memory 292.

Controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE 120, and/or any other component (s) of Fig. 2 may perform one or more techniques associated with carrier aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor 240 of base station 110, controller/processor 280 of UE 120, and/or any other component (s) of Fig. 2 may perform or direct operations of, for example, process 500 of Fig. 5, process 600 of Fig. 6, and/or other processes as described herein.

Memories

242 and 282 may store data and program codes for base station 110 and UE 120, respectively. In some aspects, memory 242 and/or memory 282 may comprise a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed (e.g., directly, or after compiling, converting, interpreting, and/or the like) by one or more processors of the base station 110 and/or the UE 120, may perform or direct operations of, for example, process 500 of Fig. 5, process 600 of Fig. 6, and/or other processes as described herein. In some aspects, executing instructions may include running the instructions, converting the instructions, compiling the instructions, interpreting the instructions, and/or the like. A scheduler 246 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and/or uplink.

In some aspects, UE 120 may include means for receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication, means for transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels, and/or the like. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of UE 120 described in connection with Fig. 2, such as controller/processor 280, transmit processor 264, TX MIMO processor 266, MOD 254, antenna 252, DEMOD 254, MIMO detector 256, receive processor 258, and/or the like.

In some aspects, base station 110 may include means for transmitting, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication, means for receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels, and/or the like. In some aspects, such means may include one or more components of base station 110 described in connection with Fig. 2, such as antenna 234, DEMOD 232, MIMO detector 236, receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, transmit processor 220, TX MIMO processor 230, MOD 232, antenna 234, and/or the like.

As indicated above, Fig. 2 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with regard to Fig. 2.

In non-terrestrial implementations, the BS may be a large distance away from a communicating UE. For example, in satellite communication, the BS (carried by satellite) may be as much as approximately 36,000 km away from the UE. Both downlink and uplink transmission reliability may be important to achieve in this scenario, due to large propagation distances. In some cases, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback processes may be disabled in communications with satellite BSs due to large latencies that may be introduced by HARQ feedback processes as a result of large propagation delays. To minimize delays, satellite communications may include configured grant communications (for uplink and/or downlink) , in addition to, or in lieu of, dynamic grant communications.

3GPP specifications define slot aggregation for scheduled physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) communications and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) communications. Slot aggregation allows for a transmission to utilize symbols of two or more consecutive slots with different redundancy versions. However, slot aggregation is not defined for configured grant communications. Additionally, for PDSCH and PUSCH, the slot aggregation definitions only allow for certain numbers of slots to be aggregated. While effective for frequency division duplex (FDD) communications, these limitations may not be flexible enough for time division duplex (TDD) communications, particularly in non-terrestrial scenarios. Moreover, UEs communicating with a non-terrestrial BS typically will have similar coverage issues and may be likely to request the same aggregation level for communications.

In some aspects, techniques and apparatuses are described herein for enabling slot aggregation for configured grant transmissions. Various aspects of the techniques and apparatuses described herein may be implemented in connection with UEs and BSs, and the BSs may include terrestrial and/or non-terrestrial BSs. In some aspects, a BS may provide an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication to a UE. The indication of the configured grant may indicate a number of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication. The BS and/or the UE may select an aggregation level to be used for the communication. In this way, slot aggregation may be used to increase reliability of uplink transmissions to a BS. Allowing a UE and/or a BS to choose the aggregation level based on signal measurements may further enhance reliability of uplink transmissions to BSs.

In some aspects, a new aggregation level may be employed in PDSCH and/or PUSCH communications between UEs and BSs, in which all of the downlink or uplink slots of a frame structure may be aggregated for a communication. In this way, some aspects disclosed herein may enable more flexible uplink and/or downlink communications between UEs and BSs, which may improve reliability.

Fig. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example 300 of slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, a BS 110 and a UE 120 may communicate with one another.

As shown by reference number 305, the BS 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication. In some aspects, the indication may be carried in an RRC message. The indication may indicate a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication. Each aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels may correspond to aggregation of multiple slots in a PUSCH communication. In some aspects, the indication may include a new element in the ConfiguredGrantConfig signaling protocol. For example, the element may include a pusch-AggregationFactor, which may be an enumerated information element having possible values of the set {n2, n4, n8, nmax_ul1, nmax_ul2, ... } .

As shown by reference number 310, the UE 120 may measure at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) , a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) , or a combination thereof. As shown by reference number 315, the UE 120 may select an aggregation level based at least in part on measuring the SSB and/or the CSI-RS. In some aspects, the uplink communication may include a TDD communication, and the selected aggregation level may allow aggregation of a number of uplink slots of a frame structure 320 corresponding to the uplink communication. For example, the selected aggregation level may correspond to aggregating two slots, four slots, eight slots, and/or the like.

The aggregated slots may be consecutive slots and/or non-consecutive slots. In some aspects, the selected aggregation level may include an indication of a slot interval for aggregation such as a constant, k, that may be selected to specify the number of slots between aggregated slots. For example, the constant may specify that every second slot is to be aggregated, every third slot is to be aggregated, and/or the like. In some aspects, as shown by reference number 325, the selected aggregation level may correspond to an extended aggregation level (shown as “extended AL” ) , in which all uplink slots of the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication are aggregated.

As shown by reference number 330, the UE 120 may transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and the selected aggregation level. In some aspects, the selected aggregation level may be less than the configured grant periodicity to avoid overlap of two consecutive configured grants.

In some aspects, the UE 120 may receive an indication of a configured grant for a downlink communication, in addition to, or in lieu of, the indication of the configured grant for the uplink communication. The indication of the downlink communication may indicate an aggregation level configured for the downlink communication. As with the uplink communication, the downlink communication may include a TDD communication. The aggregation level configured for the downlink communication may allow for aggregation of a number of downlink slots. In some aspects, as shown by reference number 335, the aggregation level may include an extended aggregation level that allows for aggregation of all downlink slots of a frame structure 320 corresponding to the downlink communication. In some aspects, the frame structure 320 corresponding to the downlink communication may be the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication 320.

In some aspects, the extended aggregation level may be defined for any PDSCH and/or PUSCH communications for TDD. In some aspects, the extended aggregation levels may be signaled using RRC information elements. Downlink information elements may include a PDSCH-Config. element pdsch-AggregationFactor, which may be an enumerated information element having possible values of the set {n2, n4, n8, nmax_dl1, nmax_dl2, . . . } . Uplink information elements may include the pusch-AggregationFactor element described above.

In some aspects, the BS 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, an indication of a redundancy version (RV) configuration corresponding to an uplink communication. In some aspects, the RV configuration may include a current RV based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots satisfying a specified threshold (e.g., if the quantity of uplink slots is less than or equal to eight) . In some aspects, based at least in part on the quantity of uplink slots failing to satisfy the specified threshold (e.g., if the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight) , the RV configuration may include an RV modulo function, such as RV mod (nmax_ul/nmax_dl, 8) .

In some aspects, if the quantity of uplink slots fails to satisfy the specified threshold (e.g., if the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight) , the RV configuration may include an extension of a current RV configuration. The extension of the current RV configuration may include an RV table having a plurality of RV numbers and at least one extension number. In some aspects, the at least one extension number may include at least one additional instance of at least one of the plurality of RV numbers. For example, an RV table may include the RV numbers {0, 2, 3, 1} and the extension of the current RV configuration may include {0, 2, 3, 1, X, Y, Z} , where X, Y, and Z may be any of the numbers 0, 1, 2, or 3.

As indicated above, Fig. 3 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 3.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating another example 400 of slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, a BS 110 and a UE 120 may communicate with one another.

As shown by reference number 405, the BS 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication. In some aspects, the indication of the configured grant may be carried in an RRC message. As explained above in connection with Fig. 3, the indication may indicate a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication.

As shown by reference number 410, the UE 120 may transmit, and the BS 110 may receive, an SRS. As shown by reference number 415, the BS 110 may select the aggregation level based at least in part on the SRS. As shown by reference number 420, the BS 110 may transmit, and the UE 120 may receive, an indication of the selected aggregation level. In some aspects, the indication of the selected aggregation level may be carried in downlink control information (DCI) .

As shown by reference number 425, the UE 120 may transmit, and the BS 110 may receive, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and the selected aggregation level.

As indicated above, Fig. 4 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from what is described with respect to Fig. 4.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example process 500 performed, for example, by a UE, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 500 is an example where the UE (e.g., UE 120 and/or the like) performs operations associated with slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations.

As shown in Fig. 5, in some aspects, process 500 may include receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication (block 510) . For example, the UE (e.g., using receive processor 258, controller/processor 280, memory 282, and/or the like) may receive, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, as described above. In some aspects, the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication.

As further shown in Fig. 5, in some aspects, process 500 may include transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels (block 520) . For example, the UE (e.g., using transmit processor 264, controller/processor 280, memory 282, and/or the like) may transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels, as described above.

Process 500 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a first aspect, each aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels corresponds to aggregation of multiple slots in a physical uplink shared channel communication.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, receiving the indication of the configured grant comprises receiving a radio resource control message.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, process 500 includes measuring at least one of an SSB or CSI-RS; and selecting the selected aggregation level based at least in part on measuring the at least one of the SSB or the CSI-RS.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, process 500 includes receiving, from the base station, an indication of the selected aggregation level.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, receiving the indication of the selected aggregation level comprises receiving DCI, the DCI comprising the indication of the selected aggregation level.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, process 500 includes transmitting an SRS to the base station, wherein the selected aggregation level is based at least in part on the SRS.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, the uplink communication comprises a TDD communication, and the selected aggregation level allows aggregation of all uplink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through seventh aspects, process 500 includes receiving an indication of a configured grant for a downlink communication, wherein the indication indicates an aggregation level configured for the downlink communication, wherein the downlink communication comprises a TDD communication, and wherein the aggregation level configured for the downlink communication allows aggregation of all downlink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, the frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication is the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, process 500 includes receiving an indication of an RV configuration corresponding to the uplink communication.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through tenth aspects, the RV configuration comprises a current RV based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots satisfying a specified threshold.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eleventh aspects, the RV configuration comprises an RV modulo function or an extension of a current RV configuration based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots failing to satisfy a specified threshold, wherein the extension of the current RV configuration comprises an RV table having a plurality of RV numbers and at least one extension number, wherein the at least one extension number comprises at least one additional instance of at least one of the plurality of RV numbers.

In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through twelfth aspects, the quantity of uplink slots fails to satisfy the specified threshold when the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight.

Although Fig. 5 shows example blocks of process 500, in some aspects, process 500 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 5. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 500 may be performed in parallel.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example process 600 performed, for example, by a base station, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Example process 600 is an example where the base station (e.g., BS 110 and/or the like) performs operations associated with slot aggregation for configured grant communications with base stations.

As shown in Fig. 6, in some aspects, process 600 may include transmitting, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication (block 610) . For example, the base station (e.g., using transmit processor 220, controller/processor 240, memory 242, and/or the like) may transmit, to a UE, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, as described above. In some aspects, the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication.

As further shown in Fig. 6, in some aspects, process 600 may include receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels (block 620) . For example, the base station (e.g., using receive processor 238, controller/processor 240, memory 242, and/or the like) may receive, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels, as described above.

Process 600 may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described below and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, transmitting the indication of the configured grant comprises transmitting a radio resource control message.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first and second aspects, process 600 includes transmitting, to the UE, an indication of the selected aggregation level.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through third aspects, transmitting the indication of the selected aggregation level comprises transmitting DCI, the DCI comprising the indication of the selected aggregation level.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fourth aspects, process 600 includes receiving an SRS from the UE, and selecting the aggregation level based at least in part on the SRS.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifth aspects, the uplink communication comprises a TDD communication, and the selected aggregation level allows aggregation of all uplink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, process 600 includes transmitting an indication of a configured grant for a downlink communication, wherein the indication indicates an aggregation level configured for the downlink communication, wherein the downlink communication comprises a TDD communication, and wherein the aggregation level configured for the downlink communication allows aggregation of all downlink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through seventh aspects, the frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication is the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.

In a ninth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eighth aspects, process 600 includes transmitting an indication of an RV configuration corresponding to the uplink communication.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, the RV configuration comprises a current RV based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots satisfying a specified threshold.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through tenth aspects, the RV configuration comprises an RV modulo function or an extension of a current RV configuration based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots failing to satisfy a specified threshold, wherein the extension of the current RV configuration comprises an RV table having a plurality of RV numbers and at least one extension number, wherein the at least one extension number comprises at least one additional instance of at least one of the plurality of RV numbers.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with one or more of the first through eleventh aspects, the quantity of uplink slots fails to satisfy the specified threshold when the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight.

Although Fig. 6 shows example blocks of process 600, in some aspects, process 600 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those depicted in Fig. 6. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 600 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.

As used herein, the term “component” is intended to be broadly construed as hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. As used herein, a processor is implemented in hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software.

As used herein, satisfying a threshold may, depending on the context, 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, and/or the like.

It will be apparent that systems and/or methods described herein may be implemented in different forms of hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and/or methods is not limiting of the aspects. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and/or methods were described herein without reference to specific software code-it being understood that software and hardware can be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based, at least in part, on the description herein.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of various aspects. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of various aspects includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set. 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, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c or any other ordering of a, b, and c) .

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Furthermore, as used herein, the terms “set” and “group” are intended to include one or more items (e.g., related items, unrelated items, a combination of related and unrelated items, and/or the like) , and may be used interchangeably with “one or more. ” Where only one item is intended, the phrase “only one” or similar language is used. Also, as used herein, the terms “has, ” “have, ” “having, ” and/or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Claims

A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
The method of claim 1, wherein each aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels corresponds to aggregation of multiple slots in a physical uplink shared channel communication.
The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication of the configured grant comprises receiving a radio resource control message.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring at least one of a synchronization signal block (SSB) or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) ; and

selecting the selected aggregation level based at least in part on measuring the at least one of the SSB or the CSI-RS.
The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the base station, an indication of the selected aggregation level.
The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the indication of the selected aggregation level comprises receiving downlink control information (DCI) , the DCI comprising the indication of the selected aggregation level.
The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting a sounding reference signal (SRS) to the base station, wherein the selected aggregation level is based at least in part on the SRS.
The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink communication comprises a time division duplex (TDD) communication, and wherein the selected aggregation level allows aggregation of all uplink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving an indication of a configured grant for a downlink communication, wherein the indication indicates an aggregation level configured for the downlink communication, wherein the downlink communication comprises a TDD communication, and wherein the aggregation level configured for the downlink communication allows aggregation of all downlink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication.
The method of claim 9, wherein the frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication is the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving an indication of a redundancy version (RV) configuration corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 11, wherein the RV configuration comprises a current RV based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots satisfying a specified threshold.
The method of claim 11, wherein the RV configuration comprises an RV modulo function or an extension of a current RV configuration based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots failing to satisfy a specified threshold, wherein the extension of the current RV configuration comprises an RV table having a plurality of RV numbers and at least one extension number, wherein the at least one extension number comprises at least one additional instance of at least one of the plurality of RV numbers.
The method of claim 13, wherein the quantity of uplink slots fails to satisfy the specified threshold when the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight.
A method of wireless communication performed by a base station, comprising:

transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) , an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
The method of claim 15, wherein each aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels corresponds to aggregation of multiple slots in a physical uplink shared channel communication.
The method of claim 15, wherein transmitting the indication of the configured grant comprises transmitting a radio resource control message.
The method of claim 15, further comprising transmitting, to the UE, an indication of the selected aggregation level.
The method of claim 18, wherein transmitting the indication of the selected aggregation level comprises transmitting downlink control information (DCI) , the DCI comprising the indication of the selected aggregation level.
The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving a sounding reference signal (SRS) from the UE, and selecting the aggregation level based at least in part on the SRS.
The method of claim 15, wherein the uplink communication comprises a time division duplex (TDD) communication, and wherein the selected aggregation level allows aggregation of all uplink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting an indication of a configured grant for a downlink communication, wherein the indication indicates an aggregation level configured for the downlink communication, wherein the downlink communication comprises a TDD communication, and wherein the aggregation level configured for the downlink communication allows aggregation of all downlink slots of a frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication.
The method of claim 22, wherein the frame structure corresponding to the downlink communication is the frame structure corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting an indication of a redundancy version (RV) configuration corresponding to the uplink communication.
The method of claim 24, wherein the RV configuration comprises a current RV based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots satisfying a specified threshold.
The method of claim 24, wherein the RV configuration comprises an RV modulo function or an extension of a current RV configuration based at least in part on a quantity of uplink slots failing to satisfy a specified threshold, wherein the extension of the current RV configuration comprises an RV table having a plurality of RV numbers and at least one extension number, wherein the at least one extension number comprises at least one additional instance of at least one of the plurality of RV numbers.
The method of claim 26, wherein the quantity of uplink slots fails to satisfy the specified threshold when the quantity of uplink slots is greater than eight.
A user equipment for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

receive, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
A base station for wireless communication, comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors operatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the one or more processors configured to:

transmit, to a user equipment (UE) , an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

receive, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
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 of a user equipment, cause the one or more processors to:

receive, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

transmit the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
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 of a base station, cause the one or more processors to:

transmit, to a user equipment (UE) , an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

receive, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for receiving, from a base station, an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

means for transmitting the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.
An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for transmitting, to a user equipment (UE) , an indication of a configured grant for an uplink communication, wherein the indication indicates a plurality of aggregation levels configured for the uplink communication; and

means for receiving, from the UE, the uplink communication based at least in part on the configured grant and a selected aggregation level of the plurality of aggregation levels.