WO2021248283A1

WO2021248283A1 - Methods for communication, terminal device, and computer readable media

Info

Publication number: WO2021248283A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/094970
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gang Wang; Lin Liang; Yukai GAO
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2020-06-08
Filing date: 2020-06-08
Publication date: 2021-12-16

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, devices and computer readable storage media of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device, control information from a network device; in accordance with a determination that transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels are scheduled by the control information, determining a set of control channels for transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the terminal device to the network device; and transmitting the HARQ feedback information via the set of control channels to the network device. In this way, the enhancement on HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism for terminal device in a case when multiple TBs/independent PDSCHs are scheduled by a single DCI can be reached, which may reduce the impact on the HARQ-ACK codebook and provide more flexibility.

Description

METHODS FOR COMMUNICATION, TERMINAL DEVICE, AND COMPUTER READABLE MEDIA

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to devices, methods, devices and computer readable storage media of Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single Downlink Control Information (DCI) .

BACKGROUND

In third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 (Rel-17) , due to a limited Physical Downlink Control Channels (PDCCH) capacity for Reduced Capability NR Devices, it has been considered scheduling multiple Transport Blocks (TBs) /Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) by a single DCI.

For the Reduced Capability NR Devices, it has been proposed that the bandwidth of the User Equipment (UE) may be reduced to 5MHz or 10MHz and the PDCCH monitoring may be reduced by smaller numbers of blind decodes and CCE limits, which may cause that the PDCCH capacity is limited for reduced bandwidth.

Thus, the HARQ feedback scheme may be discussed for the multiple TBs/PDSCHs scheduled by the single DCI.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method for communications. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device, control information from a network device; in accordance with a determination that transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels are scheduled by the control information, determining a set of control channels for transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the terminal device to the network device; and transmitting the HARQ feedback information via the set of control channels to the network device.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method for communications. The method comprises transmitting control information from a network device to a terminal device, transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels being scheduled by the control information; and receiving a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks via a set of control channels from the terminal device.

In an third aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The network device comprises a processor and a memory storing instructions. The memory and the instructions are configured, with the processor, to cause the terminal device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a network device. The terminal device comprises a processor and a memory storing instructions. The memory and the instructions are configured, with the processor, to cause the network device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the first aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor of a device, cause the device to perform the method according to the second aspect.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings, where

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows an example signaling chart showing an example process for resource coordination in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows multiple PDSCHs scheduled by a single DCI and a set of PUCCHs on which HARQ feedback associated with the multiple PDSCHs is to be transmitted in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows flowchart of an example method of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows flowchart of an example method of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish functionalities of various elements. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as fifth generation (5G) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the future fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR Next Generation NodeB (gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to Mobile Termination (MT) part of the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node (a.k.a. a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

Although functionalities described herein can be performed, in various example embodiments, in a fixed and/or a wireless network node, in other example embodiments, functionalities may be implemented in a user equipment apparatus (such as a cell phone or tablet computer or laptop computer or desktop computer or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device) . This user equipment apparatus can, for example, be furnished with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or the wireless network node (s) , as appropriate. The user equipment apparatus may be the user equipment and/or or a control device, such as a chipset or processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed therein. Examples of such functionalities include the bootstrapping server function and/or the home subscriber server, which may be implemented in the user equipment apparatus by providing the user equipment apparatus with software configured to cause the user equipment apparatus to perform from the point of view of these functions/nodes.

FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 comprises a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. The terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120. It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

Depending on the communication technologies, the network 100 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Address (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network or any others. Communications discussed in the network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, New Radio Access (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , cdma2000, and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and the like. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of the techniques are described below for LTE, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below.

As mentioned above, in third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 17 (Rel-17) , due to a limited Physical Downlink Control Channels (PDCCH) capacity for Reduced Capability NR Devices, it has been considered scheduling multiple Transport Blocks (TBs) /Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) by a single DCI.

In addition to the scenario of the Reduced Capability NR Devices, it is possible to consider scheduling multiple Transport Blocks (TBs) /Physical Downlink Shared Channels (PDSCHs) by a single DCI in at least one of the followings: NR Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) , NR Sidelink Enhancements; NR above 52.6GHz; Extending NR operation up to 71GHz; enhanced Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (eURLLC) /(Enterprise Industrial Internet of Things) eIIoT; non-terrestrial networks (NTN) ; Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) /enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC) over NTN; UE Power Saving Enhancements; NR coverage enhancement; NB-IoT and LTE-MTC; Integrated access backhauling (IAB) ; NR Multicast and Broadcast Services and enhancements on Multi-Radio Dual-Connectivity.

For the Reduced Capability NR Devices, it has been proposed that the bandwidth of the User Equipment (UE) may be reduced to 5MHz or 10MHz and the PDCCH monitoring may be reduced by smaller numbers of blind decodes and CCE limits, which may cause that the PDCCH capacity is limited for reduced bandwidth. The following table shows the number of PDCCH for 10MHz bandwidth and 30KHz /15KHz sub-carrier spacing, which may indicate that PDCCH capacity is limited due to reduced bandwidth.

Table: 1 Limited PDCCH capacity due to reduced bandwidth

The term “HARQ-ACK timing K _1, k” may be referred to as a time window from downlink data reception to transmission of the UL acknowledgment. For example, the HARQ-ACK timing may be indicated via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or control information, i.e. Downlink Control Information (DCI) .

For example, a set K1 of HARQ-ACK timing values is configured for the terminal device by RRC parameter, which is related to DL DCI format. For PDSCH scheduled by DCI format 1_0 or SPS PDSCH reception activated by DCI format 1_0 or SPS PDSCH release indicated by DCI format 1_0, the set of timing values between PDSCH and HARQ-ACK is defined in specification K ₁= {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8} . For PDSCH scheduled by DCI format 1_1 or SPS PDSCH reception activated by DCI format 1_1 or SPS PDSCH release indicated by DCI format 1_1, the set of timing values between PDSCH and HARQ-ACK is configured by RRC parameter dl-DataToUL-ACK. For PDSCH scheduled by DCI format 1_2 or SPS PDSCH reception activated by DCI format 1_2 or SPS PDSCH release indicated by DCI format 1_2, the set of timing values between PDSCH and HARQ-ACK is configured by RRC parameter dl-DataToUL-ACKForDCIFormat1_2.

It has been specified that 1～3 bits in the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field in DL DCI is used to indicate one of the set K1 of timing values. The mapping of PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field values to numbers of slots can be shown as below:

Table 2: mapping of PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator field values to numbers of slots

There are two types codebook used for HARQ feedback in licensed spectrum, namely Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook and Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook. Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook can be considered as a semi-static codebook, while Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook can be considered as dynamic codebook.

The Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook is determined based on the at least one of the factors such as PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing values K1, PDSCH time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table, the ratio

between the downlink SCS configuration μ _DL and the uplink SCS configuration μ _UL if different numerology between DL and UL is configured and TDD configuration by TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated.

In a conventional way, the HARQ-ACK window size can be determined based on the HARQ-ACK timing values K1. Then for each K1, the candidate PDSCH reception occasions in each slot can be determined based on TDRA table and TDD configuration. The Candidate PDSCH reception occasions in the time domain RA table overlapped with UL configured by TDD-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated are excluded and for overlapped candidate PDSCH reception occasions, only one HARQ-ACK bit is generated based on a particular rule. When the PDSCH reception occasions are determined, the Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook can be determined based on the PDSCH reception occasions.

The Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook is determined based on counter DAI and total DAI in the scheduling DCI, where the HARQ-ACKs for PDSCHs scheduled by DCI pointing to the same slot for PUCCH transmission are mapped into the same HARQ-ACK codebook. First a group of DCIs for scheduling PDSCH receptions can be determined, for which the terminal device transmits according HARQ-ACK information in a same PUCCH in slot n. Then the codebook size and the HARQ-ACK information bits order can be determined based on parameters such as the counter DAI in DL DCI format, the total DAI in DCI format 1_1/DCI format 1_2, maxNrofCodeWordsScheduledByDCI, harq-ACK-SpatialBundlingPUCCH and PDSCH-CodeBlockGroupTransmission.

In a case where multiple TBs/PDSCHs are scheduled by the single DCI, the conventional HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism for one PDCCH scheduling single-TB/or two TBs in spatial domain cannot be able to directly reuse.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a mechanism for HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism. If the terminal device determines multiple TBs on data channels are scheduled by a single DCI, the terminal device may determine a control channel for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback and determine the corresponding codebook for carrying the HARQ-ACK feedback information. Then the terminal device may transmit the HARQ-ACK feedback information to the network device based on the determined codebook via the control channel.

Principle and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 2. For the purpose of discussion, the process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The process 200 may involve the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network device 120 may transmit 210 control information, i.e., Downlink Control information to the terminal device 110. The control information may schedule transmissions of a plurality of TBs, which are transmitted on different data channel, i.e. PDSCHs, from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110. It is to be understood that terminal device 110 doesn’t expect to be scheduled these PDSCHs by a DCI in different cells. These PDSCHs should be scheduled by a DCI in one cell.

Then the terminal device 120 may first determine 220 a set of control channels, i.e. PUCCHs for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with a plurality of TBs. Basically, the PUCCHs for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information may be determined based on the HARQ-ACK timing values associated with multiple PDSCHs scheduled by the DCI.

The terminal device 110 may determines the slot/sub-slot for each PUCCH transmission for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback based on HARQ-ACK timing value indicated by the network devices. If the slot for the PDSCH is n, the HARQ-ACK timing K _1, k value is indicated by PDSCH-to-HARQ _feedback timing indicator field in a corresponding DCI is k, then the PUCCH for HARQ-ACK is transmitted in slot n+k. In some embodiments, the value range of HARQ-ACK timing K1 set (a.k.a. dl-DataToUL-ACK) , e.g., the maximum K _1, k can be expanded to 31 or 63.

Regarding to the codebook, for the case where the terminal device 110 reports HARQ-ACK information for the multiple PDSCH receptions in different PUCCHs and determines the different PUCCHs based on the corresponding HARQ-ACK timing values, the Type-1 codebook may not need to be changed. For Type-2 HARQ-ACK codebook, bit widths of the counter DAI field in DCI can be extended as x bits, e.g., 4-bits of counter DAI field. For example, 1 ^st 2-bit are the accumulative number of DL data receptions associated with DCI format for 1 ^st PUCCH, up to the current serving cell c and current PDCCH monitoring occasion m and 2 ^nd 2-bits are the accumulative number of DL data receptions associated with DCI format for 2 ^nd PUCCH, up to the current serving cell c and current PDCCH monitoring occasion m.

FIG. 3 shows multiple PDSCHs scheduled by a single DCI and multiple PUCCHs on which HARQ feedback associated with the multiple PDSCHs is to be transmitted in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 3, a PDCCH 311 may be transmitted on the slot 301, from which the DCI can be received. The DCI may schedule a first PDSCH 312 transmitted on the slot 302 and a second PDSCH 313 transmitted on the slot 303. The HARQ-ACK value of the first PDSCH 312 may be transmitted on the first PUCCH 314 and the HARQ-ACK value of the second PDSCH 313 may be transmitted on the second PUCCH 315.

For determining the slot for the PUCCHs transmission, the terminal device 110 may obtain a HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k for each PDSCH from the DCI, which indicates the time from the slot/sub-slot of the PDSCH reception, i.e. slots 302 and 303 shown in FIG. 3, in time domain to transmission of the UL acknowledgment. If HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k for both PDSCH 312 and PDSCH 313 having K _1, k=2, then the slot 305 can be determined for the transmission of the PUCCH 314, and the slot 306 can be determined for the transmission of the PUCCH 315.

That is, the determination of the multiple PUCCHs for the HARQ-ACK feedback associated with the multiple PDSCHs may substantially depend on the HARQ-ACK timing values for the multiple PDSCHs.

In some embodiments, multiple independent PDSCHs scheduling by a DCI can share the same HARQ-ACK timing K _1, k value, which is indicated in PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the scheduling DCI.

FIG. 4 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 4, the PDCCH 411 (DCI involved) transmitted in the slot 401 may schedule

PDSCHs

421, 422, 423 and 424 on the

slots

402, 403, 404 and 405, respectively. If the HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k=5 is adopted for each

PDSCH

421, 422, 423 and 424, the

multiple PUCCHs

431, 432, 433 and 434 in the

slots

407, 408, 409 and 410 are determined for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback of

PDSCH

421, 422, 423 and 424, respectively.

In this case, when a same HARQ-ACK timing value is adopted for each PDSCH in the multiple independent PDSCHs, the slot for PUCCH transmission for HARQ-ACK indicated by scheduling DCI may collide with DL symbols for a given semi-static TDD configuration. For example, in FIG. 4, if the slot 410 is original configured as DL slot, the collision between the UL transmission for the HARQ-ACK feedback and DL symbols may be generated.

Some approaches may be considered to avoid the collision. In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback information transmitted in a PUCCH, which collide with DL symbols, can be dropped.

In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK feedback information transmitted in a PUCCH, which collide with DL symbols, can be multiplexed in the latest (earlier/later) available PUCCH for other PDSCH. For example, in FIG. 4, the HARQ-ACK feedback information to be transmitted on the PUCCH 434 can be transmitted in the PUCCH 433.

As another option, the the HARQ-ACK feedback information transmitted in a PUCCH, which collide with DL symbols, can be postponed to be transmitted on next first available UL transmission.

In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK timing K _1, k values for multiple PDSCHs can be different. That is, the determination of the multiple PUCCHs for the HARQ-ACK feedback associated with the multiple PDSCHs may depend on different HARQ-ACK timing values for the multiple PDSCHs.

In some embodiments, a set K’ for different values of multi-PDSCHs is determined based on k value in PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the scheduling DCI and time offset Δk, Δk can be indicated in DCI or RRC. For example, the terminal device 110 may obtain the HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k for the first/last PDSCH in the multi-PDSCHs and determine the HARQ-ACK timing values for other PDSCH based on the HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k and the time offset Δk. For example, if there are four PDSCHs are scheduled, the set K’ for the four PDSCHs can be represented as K’ = {k, k+Δk, k+ 2Δk, k+ 3Δk} respectively.

FIG. 5 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 5, the PDCCH 511 (DCI involved) transmitted in the slot 501 may schedule PDSCHs 521 and 522 in the slots 501 and 502 respectively. If the HARQ-ACK timing value for PDSCH 521 is K _1, k=3 and the time offset Δk=1, the terminal device 120 may determine the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 521 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 531 in the slot 504 and the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 522 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 532 in the slot 506.

In some embodiments, a set K’ for different values of multi-PDSCHs are configured by RRC. For example, the set K’ is added in TDRA table for a given row index, when the terminal device 110 is scheduled with multi-PDSCHs with the row index, different HARQ-ACK timing values in set K’ is used for the multi-PDSCHs. An example of TDRA table can be shown as below.

Table 3: TDRA table

Row index	K ₀	S	L	K’
1	{0, 1}	{2, 2}	{2, 2}	{2, 3}

2	{0, 1}	{4, 4}	{2, 4}	{2, 4}
3	0	6	2	\
4	0	8	2	\
5	…	…	…	…

Still referring to FIG. 5, if the terminal device 110 obtains, from a TDRA table, different values of K’ = {3, 4} , for PDSCHs 521 and 522 scheduled in the slots 501 and 502 respectively, the terminal device 110 may determine the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 521 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 531 in the slot 504 and the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 522 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 532 in the slot 506.

In some embodiments, different K _1, k values of PDSCHs indicated in the extended PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator in the scheduling DCI. For example, first x bits in PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator is used to determine the K _1, k value for first PDSCH in time domain, the second x bits in PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator is used to determine the K _1, k value for second PDSCH in time domain. Then a set k= {k ₁, k ₂} are indicated by the DCI for 2 PDSCHs respectively.

Still referring to FIG. 5, if the terminal device 110 obtains different HARQ-ACK timing value K _1, k = {3, 4} for PDSCHs 521 and 522 scheduled in the slots 501 and 502 respectively, the terminal device 110 may determine the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 521 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 531 in the slot 504 and the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 522 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 532 in the slot 506.

In some embodiments, different K _1, k values of PDSCH groups can be configured. The PDSCHs belongs same group share same HARQ-ACK timing value, PDSCHs are grouped by the configuration of the network device.

FIG. 6 shows a mapping between the multiple PDSCHs and a set of PUCCHs in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 6, the PDCCH 611 (DCI involved) transmitted in the slot 601 may schedule

PDSCHs

621, 622 and 623 in the

slots

601, 602 and 603 respectively. If the

PDSCHs

621 and 622 are configured in the first group and the PDSCH 623 is configured in the second group. If the terminal device 110 obtains different K _1, k values for the first and the second group, respectively, for example, the K _1, k for the first group is 3 and the K _1, k for the second group is 4, the terminal device 110 may determine the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 621 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 631 in the slot 604, the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 622 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 632 in the slot 605 and the HARQ-ACK feedback information associated with the PDSCH 623 is to be transmitted on the PUCCH 633 in the slot 607.

In some embodiments, the mapping between the HARQ-ACK timing value k and the PDSCH are based on at least one of the HARQ-ACK process ID associated with the multiple PDSCHs, the order of receptions of the multiple PDSCH order in time domain and the group index of multiple PDSCHs. The mapping between the HARQ-ACK timing value k and multiple PDSCHs can be shown in Table 4 as below:

Table 4: Mapping between the HARQ-ACK timing value k and multiple PDSCHs

In this way, if the terminal device 110 determines the set of control channels (PUCCHs) for transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback information, referring back to FIG. 2, the terminal device 110 may transmit 230 the HARQ-ACK feedback information via the set of control channels to the network device.

Furthermore, regarding to the processing timeline for the HARQ feedback, the terminal device 110 does not expect the start symbol of each PUCCH Tx for HARQ-ACK for corresponding PDSCHs is earlier than

of ending symbol of corresponding PDSCH reception in time domain among multi-PDSCHs,

As an option, the terminal device may only reports HARQ-ACK information for PDSCH (s) that satisfy the processing timeline.

Whether the terminal device 110 can support/decode/receive unicast multi-TBs/separate TBs (a.k.a multiple independent PDSCHs) scheduled by a PDCCH is depend on capability of the terminal device 110.

If a terminal device 110 indicates a capability to receive/decode unicast multi-TBs scheduled by a PDCCH, the maximum number of unicast TBs scheduled by a PDCCH depends on UE capability. E.g., separate capabilities for different maximum number of unicast TBs scheduled by a PDCCH, up to two unicast TBs can be scheduled by a PDCCH or up to four unicast TBs can be scheduled by a PDCCH.

The actual number of unicast TBs scheduled by a PDCCH depends on the configuration of the network device. The terminal device can get the information by following ways. For example, the information can be indicated by RRC or DCI implicitly. Alternatively, the information can be indicated by RRC and DCI implicitly. For example, the number of time domain resource allocations for each entry in TDRA table. As another option, the information can be indicated by RRC or DCI explicitly. For example, a RRC parameter in PDSCH-Config, e.g., NrofTbsScheduledBySingleDCI, can be introduced or a new indicator field or re-interpret current indicator field in scheduling DCI, for example, 2-bits is used to indicate the number of unicast TBs, bit 00 may correspond to 1TB; bit 01 may correspond to 2TBs; bit 10 may correspond to 3TBs and bit 11 may correspond to 4TBs.

In this way, the enhancement on HARQ-ACK feedback mechanism for terminal device in a case when multiple TBs/independent PDSCHs are scheduled by a single DCI can be reached, which may reduce the impact on the HARQ-ACK codebook and provide more flexibility.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 can be implemented at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 7, at 710, the terminal device 110 receives control information from a network device.

At 720, the terminal device 110 determines a set of control channels for transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device, if the terminal device 110 determines transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels are scheduled by the control information.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may obtain a time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the control information. The terminal device 110 may further determine respective positions of the set of data channels in a time domain and determine the set of control channels based on the respective positions and the time window.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine a set of time windows for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks based on the control information. The terminal device 110 may further determine respective positions of the set of data channels in a time domain and determine the set of control channels based on the respective positions and the time window.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may obtain, from the control information, a reference time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks and a set of time offsets related to the time window and determine the set of time windows based on the reference time window and the set of time offsets.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may obtain a reference time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the control information and receive a Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration information from the network device. The terminal device 110 may further obtain a set of time offsets related to the reference time window from the RRC configuration information and determine the set of time windows based on the reference time window and the set of time offsets.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may obtain the set of time windows from the control information.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive a Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration information from the network device and obtain the set of time windows from the RRC configuration information.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine a set of transport block groups associated with the plurality of transport blocks and determine the respective time windows, for HARQ feedback associated with the set of transport block groups, as the set of time windows.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device, configuration information for dividing the plurality of transport blocks into the set of transport block groups and determine the set of transport block groups based on the configuration information.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine a mapping between the set of time windows and the plurality of transport blocks based on at least one of the following: indices of HARQ processes associated with the plurality of transport blocks; an order of respective reception occasions of the plurality of transport blocks on the set of data channel; and respective group indices of the plurality of transport blocks.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may obtain, from the control information, a set of bits associated with HARQ feedback on the set of control channels and determine the set of control channels based on the number of bits included in the set of bits.

At 730, the terminal device 110 transmits the HARQ feedback information via the set of control channels to the network device.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, the terminal device 110 may transmit the HARQ feedback information other than a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, the terminal device 110 may transmit a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels on the set of control channels other than the portion of the set of control channels.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, the terminal device 110 may transmit a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels on a further control channel for a transmission from the terminal device to the network device.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 of HARQ feedback for multiple data channels scheduled by a single DCI according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 800 can be implemented at the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 8, at 810, the network device 120 transmits control information from a network device to a terminal device, transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels being scheduled by the control information.

At 820, the network device 120 receives a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks via a set of control channels from the terminal device.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 940 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 940 coupled to the processor 910.

The TX/RX 940 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 940 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.

The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 924, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 922 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The program 930 may be stored in the ROM 920. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 920.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGs. 2 to 8. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like.

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

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

methods

700 and 800 as described above with reference to FIGs. 7-8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

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

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

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

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

Claims

A method for communication comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device, control information from a network device;

in accordance with a determination that transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels are scheduled by the control information, determining a set of control channels for transmitting Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the terminal device to the network device; and

transmitting the HARQ feedback information via the set of control channels to the network device.
The method of Claim 1, wherein determining the set of control channels comprises:

obtaining a time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the control information;

determining respective positions of the set of data channels in a time domain; and

determining the set of control channels based on the respective positions and the time window.
The method of Claim 1, wherein determining the set of control channels comprises:

determining a set of time windows for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks based on the control information;

determining respective positions of the set of data channels in a time domain; and

determining the set of control channels based on the respective positions and the time window.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

obtaining, from the control information, a reference time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks and a set of time offsets related to the reference time window; and

determining the set of time windows based on the reference time window and the set of time offsets.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

obtaining a reference time window for HARQ feedback associated with the plurality of transport blocks from the control information;

receiving a Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration information from the network device;

obtaining a set of time offsets related to the reference time window from the RRC configuration information; and

determining the set of time windows based on the reference time window and the set of time offsets.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

obtaining the set of time windows from the control information.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

receiving a Radio Resource Control, RRC, configuration information from the network device; and

obtaining the set of time windows from the RRC configuration information.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

determining a set of transport block groups associated with the plurality of transport blocks; and

determining the respective time windows, for HARQ feedback associated with the set of transport block groups, as the set of time windows.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of transport block groups comprises:

receiving, from the network device, configuration information for dividing the plurality of transport blocks into the set of transport block groups; and

determining the set of transport block groups based on the configuration information.
The method of Claim 3, wherein determining the set of time windows comprises:

determining a mapping between the set of time windows and the plurality of transport blocks based on at least one of the following:

indices of HARQ processes associated with the plurality of transport blocks;

an order of respective reception occasions of the plurality of transport blocks on the set of data channel;

respective group indices of the plurality of transport blocks.
The method of Claim 1, wherein determining the set of control channels comprises:

obtaining, from the control information, a set of bits associated with HARQ feedback on the set of control channels; and

determining the set of control channels based on the number of bits included in the set of bits.
The method of Claim 1, wherein transmitting the HARQ feedback information comprises:

in accordance with a determination that a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, transmitting the HARQ feedback information other than a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels.
The method of Claim 1, wherein transmitting the HARQ feedback information comprises:

in accordance with a determination that a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, transmitting a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels on the set of control channels other than the portion of the set of control channels.
The method of Claim 1, wherein transmitting the HARQ feedback information comprises:

in accordance with a determination that a portion of the set of control channels is overlapped with resources preconfigured for a further transmission from the network device to the terminal device, transmitting a portion of HARQ feedback information to be transmitted on the portion of the set of control channels on a further control channel for a transmission from the terminal device to the network device.
A method for communications, comprising:

transmitting control information from a network device to a terminal device, transmissions of a plurality of transport blocks from the network device to the terminal device on a set of data channels being scheduled by the control information; and

receiving a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, feedback information associated with the plurality of transport blocks via a set of control channels from the terminal device.
A terminal device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions,

the memory and the instructions being configured, with the processor, to cause the terminal device to perform the method of any of claims 1-14.
A network device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions,

the memory and the instructions being configured, with the processor, to cause the terminal device to perform the method of claim 15.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 1-14.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 15.