WO2022141647A1

WO2022141647A1 - Method, device and computer storage medium of communication

Info

Publication number: WO2022141647A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/070187
Authority: WO
Inventors: Gang Wang; Lin Liang
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2021-01-04
Filing date: 2021-01-04
Publication date: 2022-07-07

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices and computer readable media for communication. A terminal device receives, from a network device, multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI, the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for the first set of PDSCH transmissions; determine, based on the first timing indicator, the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for a second HARQ feedback, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions; and transmits, to the network device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In this way, HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions can be mapped to the respective uplink slots.

Description

METHOD, DEVICE AND COMPUTER STORAGE MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication, and in particular, to methods, devices and computer storage media of communication for hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions scheduled on one physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) .

BACKGROUND

Currently, to support new radio (NR) from 52.6GHz to 71GHz, it is proposed to employ multi-transmission time interval (TTI) based scheduling, where one PDCCH is used to schedule physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions. Based on this mechanism, scheduler implementation and higher layer processing burdened can be relaxed, while maintaining same peak data rate.

It has been agreed that the multi-TTI based scheduling is under investigation, which is extended to a scheduling of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions by one PDCCH. In this case, how to report HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions needs to be studied.

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, devices and computer storage media of communication for HARQ feedback for PDSCH transmissions scheduled on one PDCCH.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by a DCI) , the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for a first set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions; determining, based on the first timing indicator, the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for a second HARQ feedback, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions; and transmitting, to the network device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, a set of PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI; determining at least one uplink slot from a set of uplink slots based on a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions; and transmitting, to the network device, a HARQ feedback for the subset of PDSCH transmissions in the at least one uplink slot.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI, the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for the first set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions; and receiving, from the terminal device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second HARQ feedback in a second uplink slot determined based on the first timing indicator, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, a set of PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI; and receiving, from the terminal device and in at least one uplink slot, a HARQ feedback for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions, the at least one uplink slot being determined from a set of uplink slots based on a TDD pattern for the subset of PDSCH transmissions.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the terminal device to perform the method according to the first or second aspect of the present disclosure.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the network device to perform the method according to the third or fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

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

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to the third or fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

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

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating a problem during a reporting of HARQ feedback for PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating a process for reporting HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for contiguous PDSCH transmissions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for non-contiguous PDSCH transmissions according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating a process for reporting a HARQ feedback for one or more PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions based on a time division duplexing (TDD) slot configuration pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions based on a TDD slot configuration pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates another example method of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates another example method of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing 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 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 limitations 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.

As used herein, the term “terminal device” refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, device on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, or image capture devices such as digital cameras, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device. In addition, the term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an Evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a Transmission Reception Point (TRP) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, and the like.

In one embodiment, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device or the second network device. In one embodiment, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

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. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus are referred to as ‘best, ’ ‘lowest, ’ ‘highest, ’ ‘minimum, ’ ‘maximum, ’ or the like. It will be appreciated that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among many used functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need not be better, smaller, higher, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

As known, if a PUCCH transmission is triggered in response to DCI format detection by a terminal device, the first symbol of the PUCCH transmission is expected to be transmitted upon a period of time elapses after a last symbol of any corresponding PDSCH. As a result, when scheduling a plurality of continuous PDSCH transmissions by a single PDCCH in TDD band, it is most likely to report HARQ feedback for the PDSCH transmissions in different uplink slots, which does not occur in a scheduling of PUSCH transmissions in single DCI as there is no need of HARQ feedback in the scheduling. Thus, if the scheduling of PUSCH transmissions in one PDCCH is extended to the scheduling of PDSCH transmissions in one PDCCH, how to report the HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions in different uplink slots needs to be studied.

On the other hand, to support NR from 52.6GHz to 71 GHz, numerologies 240 kHz, 480 kHz, and 960 kHz are considered as candidates for additional numerologies in addition to 120 kHz, and numerologies outside this range are not supported for any signals or channels. If 960 kHz is adopted, there will be maximum 64 slots in a subframe, the symbol and slot duration is very short. For operation in unpaired spectrum, in order to avoid a frequently switching from downlink to uplink, the downlink slots may last more than 10 slots in a transmission period. In this case, if the HARQ feedbacks are reported in different uplink slots with Type-1 HARQ-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook determination, there will be a lot of overlapping bits in each HARQ-ACK codebook.

In view of this, one aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure provides a solution for reporting HARQ feedbacks for a plurality of PDSCH transmissions scheduled in one PDCCH. In the solution, an uplink slot for HARQ feedback for the earliest one set of the PDSCH transmissions is indicated to a terminal device, and an uplink slot for HARQ feedback for the subsequent PDSCH transmissions is determined by the terminal device based on the derived timing indicators index and an order of a set of timing indicators configured for the terminal device. In this way, the HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions can be mapped to respective uplink slots.

Another aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure provides a solution for optimizing a reporting of a HARQ feedback for a PDSCH transmission. This solution can be applied to a scheduling of one PDSCH transmission on one PDCCH, and also can be applied to a scheduling of a plurality of PDSCH transmissions on one PDCCH. In the solution, a set of timing indicators for a set of uplink slots configured for the PDSCH transmissions are divided into subsets based on TDD slot configuration patterns (also referred to as TDD patterns herein) , and a HARQ feedback of the PDSCH transmissions for an uplink slot is determined from the subsets of timing indicators based on the TDD slot configuration pattern if present. In this way, redundancy in a HARQ-ACK codebook can be reduced and communication efficiency and performance can be improved.

Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

EXAMPLE OF COMMUNICATION NETWORK

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may be served by the network device 120. It is to be understood that the number of devices in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and/or terminal devices adapted for implementing implementations of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120 via a channel such as a wireless communication channel. The communications in the communication network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) , Machine Type Communication (MTC) 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.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may transmit uplink data to the network device 120 via an uplink data channel transmission. For example, the uplink data channel transmission may be a PUSCH transmission. Of course, any other suitable forms are also feasible. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive downlink data from the network device 120 via a downlink data channel transmission. For example, the downlink data channel transmission may be a PDSCH transmission. Of course, any other suitable forms are also feasible.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive DCI, e.g., data transmission configuration from the network device 120 via a downlink control channel transmission. For example, the downlink control channel transmission may be a PDCCH transmission. Of course, any other suitable forms are also feasible. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may transmit uplink control information (UCI) , e.g., HARQ feedback information to the network device 120 via an uplink channel transmission. For example, the uplink channel transmission may be a PUCCH or PUSCH transmission. Of course, any other suitable forms are also feasible.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may provide a plurality of serving cells (not shown herein) for the terminal device 110, for example, a primary cell (PCell) , a primary secondary cell (PSCell) , a secondary cell (SCell) , a special cell (sPCell) or the like. Each of the serving cells may correspond to a CC. The terminal device 110 may perform transmission with the network device 120 via a CC. Of course, the terminal device 110 may perform transmission with the network device 120 via multiple CCs, for example, in case of CA.

In some scenarios, the network device 120 may schedule a plurality of PDSCH transmissions by DCI on a single PDCCH, and the terminal device 110 may transmit HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions. As known, if a PUCCH transmission is triggered in response to DCI format detection by a terminal device, the first symbol of the PUCCH transmission is expected to be transmitted upon a period of time elapses after a last symbol of any corresponding PDSCH. This will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram 200 illustrating a problem during a reporting of HARQ feedback for PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI. As shown in FIG. 2, a PDCCH 210 schedules PDSCHs #0 to #4 in slots 0 to 4, and HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs #0 to #4 are reported on a PUCCH or PUSCH 220 in slot n. The first symbol S ₀ of the PUCCH or PUSCH 220 in the slot n satisfies the following timeline conditions: S ₀ is not before a symbol with a cyclic prefix (CP) starting after a period of time

after a last symbol of any corresponding PDSCH, wherein

is determined by equation (1) below.

where μ denotes the smallest subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration among the SCS configurations used for the PDCCH scheduling the PDSCH, the PDSCH, the PUCCH with corresponding HARQ-ACK transmission for the PDSCH, N ₁ denotes a value selected based on the UE PDSCH processing capability and μ, d _1, 1 denotes a value selected based on the UE processing capability and the number of PDSCH symbols allocated and PDSCH mapping type, T _C denotes a basic time unit in NR, and κ denotes a ratio between a basic time unit in LTE and T _C.

That is, the time difference Δt between the last symbol of the PDSCH #4 and first symbol of the PUCCH or PUSCH 220 should satisfy the following equation (2) :

In this case, when scheduling a plurality of continuous PDSCH transmissions by a single PDCCH in TDD band, it is most likely to report HARQ feedback for the PDSCH transmissions in different uplink slots, i.e., in more than one uplink slot.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF REPORTING OF HARQ FEEDBACK

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for reporting the HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions in more than one uplink slot. This will be described in detail with reference to FIGs. 3 to 5. FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating a process 300 for communication during a reporting of HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The process 300 may involve the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 3, the network device 120 may transmit 310 a configuration about a set of timing indicators to the terminal device 110. The set of timing indicators indicates a set of slot offsets to uplink slots configured for HARQ feedbacks of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the configuration about the set of timing indicators may be comprised in a pre-defined dl-DataToUL-ACK table. In some embodiments, the configuration may be obtained by modifying the dl-DataToUL-ACK table.

In some embodiments, the configuration about the set of timing indicators may be dedicated for HARQ feedbacks of the PDSCH transmissions. In other words, the configuration about the set of timing indicators may be dedicated for multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI. For example, the configuration about the set of timing indicators may be comprised in a pre-defined dl-DataToUL-ACKForMultiPDSCHs table. That is, the configuration may be obtained by constructing a new table.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit the configuration by a radio resource control (RRC) message. Of course, any other suitable ways are also feasible.

With reference to FIG. 2, the network device 120 may transmit 320, to the terminal device 110, DCI scheduling a plurality of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a first timing indicator indicating an uplink slot (also referred to as a first uplink slot herein) for a HARQ feedback (also referred to as a first HARQ feedback herein) for a first set of PDSCH transmissions of the PDSCH transmissions. For example, the first timing indicator may be a PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator. Of course, any other suitable forms are also feasible. In some embodiments, the first set of PDSCH transmissions may be the earliest ones of the PDSCH transmissions which will report HARQ feedback in a same uplink slot. In other words, the first set of PDSCH transmissions may be the several firstly scheduled PDSCH transmissions.

It is to be understood that the DCI may further comprise any other suitable information. In some embodiments, the DCI may further comprise a downlink assignment index (DAI) field. For example, the DAI field may be a counter DAI field. As another example, the DAI field may be a total DAI field.

In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a plurality of DAI fields. The plurality of DAI fields is used in generation of HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the plurality of DAI fields may be set for different uplink slots for the HARQ feedbacks.

For example, for single cell and carrier aggregation, a DAI field (also referred to as a first DAI field herein) provided by the DCI may be used to generate a Type-2 codebook for the earlier uplink slot, and a second DAI field may be added to generate a Type-2 codebook for the later uplink slot. In some embodiments, the second DAI field may be added when different uplink slots are indicated for HARQ feedbacks of the PDSCH transmissions.

For this embodiment, the modified 3GPP specification of 38.212 would be as below:

2nd Set Downlink assignment index –number of bits as defined in the following:

2N bits if more than one serving cell are configured in the DL and multiple PDSCHs scheduled by a single DCI will report HARQ information in different uplink slot, where the N MSB bits are the counter DAI and the N LSB bits are the total DAI;

N bits if only one serving cell is configured in the DL and the higher layer parameter pdsch-HARQ-ACK-Codebook=dynamic, where the N bits are the counter DAI;

0 bits otherwise.

In some embodiments, the DCI may further comprise information of downlink slots for the PDSCH transmissions. The network device 120 may transmit 330 the plurality of PDSCH transmissions in respective downlink slots. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 may receive the plurality of PDSCH transmissions and generate respective HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments where the DCI comprises first and second DAI fields, the terminal device 110 may generate the HARQ feedback in the earlier uplink slot based on the first DAI field and generate the HARQ feedback in the later uplink slot based on the second DAI field. The generation of the HARQ feedback can be carried out in any suitable ways, and the present disclosure does not make limitation for this.

In some embodiments where the DCI comprises one DAI field, the terminal device 110 may reset the DAI field when a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission, and generate a HARQ feedback in the current uplink slot based on the reset DAI field. For example, for single cell, if different uplink slots are indicated by PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, the counter DAI value needs to be reset to 0 when the terminal device 110 observed that the indicated uplink slot is changed. The generation of the HARQ feedback can be carried out in any suitable ways, and the present disclosure does not make limitation for this.

Upon generation of the HARQ feedback, based on the first timing indicator, the terminal device 110 may determine 340 the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for HARQ feedback (also referred to as a second HARQ feedback) for the rest scheduled PDSCH transmissions (also referred to as a second set of PDSCH transmissions herein) for the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine the first uplink slot based on the first timing indicator. In some embodiments, the first timing indicator may indicate a slot offset between the first scheduled PDSCH transmission and the first uplink slot. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine a set of rest timing indicators (also referred to as a set of second timing indicators herein) for the rest scheduled PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions based on an index of the first timing indicator in the pre-defined configuration table (dl-DataToUL-ACK table or dl-DataToUL-ACKForMultiPDSCHs) and an order of the set of timing indicators. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine the set of rest timing indicators by incrementing the value based on the index of the first timing indicator. For example, PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator may be incremented by 1 for each subsequent PDSCHs in the scheduled order, with modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACKForMultiPDSCHs) or modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACK table) operation applied.

Upon determination of the set of the rest timing indicators, the terminal device 110 may determine a second uplink slot from the set of timing indicators based on the set of the rest timing indicators. In some embodiments, a timing indicator in the set of the rest timing indicators may indicate a slot offset to a corresponding second uplink slot in the set of uplink slots sent from the terminal device 110.

For illustration, the following description will be made on the determination of uplink slots for HARQ feedbacks of the PDSCH transmissions with reference to FIGs. 4 and 5.

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram 400 illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for contiguous PDSCH transmissions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, this example is described in connection with a TDD slot configuration pattern of 7DS2U. Table A. 1.2-2 in 3GPP TS 38.101 Chapter 4 is listed here to shown an example configuration of 7DS2U.

In this example, the set of uplink slots (e.g., dl-DataToUL-ACK) is set to {8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2} , and the first timing indicator (e.g., the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator) of the first PDSCH transmission is set to 0 (the first index of dl-DataToUL-ACK) . Then, the set of rest timing indicators are determined by incrementing the first timing indicator by 1 for each subsequent PDSCHs in the scheduled order, with modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACK) operation applied. Then the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator of each PDSCH transmission can be indicated to different uplink slots. As shown in FIG. 4, PDSCHs 401 to 404 in slots 0 to 3 are indicated to PUCCH 409 in slot 8, and PDSCHs 405 to 408 in slots 4 to 7 are indicated to PUCCH 410 in slot 9. In other words, HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs 401-404 are transmitted on PUCCH 409 in slot 8, and HARQ feedbacks for PDSCHs 405-408 are transmitted on PUCCH 410 in slot 9.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram 500 illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for non-contiguous PDSCH transmissions according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For convenience, this example is described in connection with a TDD slot configuration pattern of DDDSU. Table A. 1.3-2 in 3GPP TS 38.101 Chapter 4 is listed here to shown an example configuration of DDDSU.

In this example, if the network device 120 would schedules 8 non-contiguous PDSCHs by a single DCI, the network device 120 may set the set of uplink slots (e.g., dl-DataToUL-ACK) to be {6, 4, 3, 2, 6, 4, 3, 2} and start from slot 3, and set the first timing indicator (e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator) of the first PDSCH to 0 (the first index of dl-DataToUL-ACK) . In this case, the terminal device 110 may obtain the set of rest timing indicators by incrementing the first timing indicator by 1 for each subsequent PDSCHs in the scheduled order, with modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACK) operation applied. Then the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator of each PDSCH can be indicated to the corresponding uplink slot. As shown in FIG. 5, special channel 504 and PDSCHs 506 to 508 in

slots

3 and 5 to 7 are indicated to PUCCH 510 in slot 9, special channel 509 and PDSCHs 511 to 513 in slots 8 and 10 to 12 are indicated to PUCCH 515 in slot 14, and special channel 514 and PDSCHs 516 to 518 in slots 13 and 15 to 17 are indicated to PUCCH 520 in slot 19. In other words, HARQ feedbacks for special channel 504 and PDSCHs 506 to 508 in

slots

3 and 5 to 7 are transmitted on PUCCH 510 in slot 9, HARQ feedbacks for special channel 509 and PDSCHs 511 to 513 in slots 8 and 10 to 12 are transmitted on PUCCH 515 in slot 14, and special channel 514 and PDSCHs 516 to 518 in slots 13 and 15 to 17 are transmitted on PUCCH 520 in slot 19.

It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the above examples in FIGs. 4 and 5, and can be applied to any other TDD slot configuration patterns.

Upon determination of the first uplink slot and the second uplink slot, the terminal device 110 may transmit 350 the first HARQ feedback and the second HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second uplink slot.

In this way, by setting a proper pre-defined dl-DataToUL-ACK or dl-DataToUL-ACKForMultiPDSCHs table, multiple PDSCHs scheduled by a single DCI can be indicated to feedback to different uplink slots, and the counter DAI or total DAI field in the DCI is extended accordingly.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF OPTIMIZATION FOR A REPORTING OF HARQ FEEDBACK

As mentioned above, if HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions are reported in different uplink slots with Type-1 HARQ-ACK codebook determination, there will be a lot of overlapping bits in each HARQ-ACK codebook. In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for optimizing a reporting of a HARQ feedback for a PDSCH transmission. This will be described in detail with reference to FIGs. 6 to 8.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating a process 600 for reporting a HARQ feedback for one or more PDSCH transmissions scheduled by single DCI according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 600 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The process 600 may involve the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 6, the network device 120 may transmit 610 a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators to the terminal device 110. The set of timing indicators indicates a set of uplink slots configured for transmission of a HARQ feedback for a PDSCH transmission.

In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise a pre-defined dl-DataToUL-ACK table. That is, the network device 120 may generate the configuration by extending the dl-DataToUL-ACK table. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may divide the set of timing indicators provided by the dl-DataToUL-ACK table to several subsets according to an uplink slot index, so that the divided subsets of the timing indicators are applied to different TDD slot configuration patterns. In other words, the network device 120 may convert a slot index comprised in the set of timing indicators into a corresponding uplink slot index, and construct a subset of timing indicators comprising the uplink slot index based on a TDD slot configuration pattern.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, an uplink slot index of a slot refers to an index of the slot in a slot configuration period. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may determine the uplink slot index based on equation (3) below.

where S denotes an uplink slot index of a slot, P denotes a slot configuration period, and μ _ref denotes a reference SCS configuration. It should be noted that this equation is merely an example, and any other suitable forms are also feasible.

For illustration, an example of an extended dl-DataToUL-ACK table is listed in Table 1 below.

Table 1 An example of an extended dl-DataToUL-ACK table

It is to be understood that the above example is merely for illustration, and is not for limitation.

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram 700 illustrating an example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions based on a time division duplexing (TDD) slot configuration pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the TDD slot configuration pattern is 7DS2U.

As shown in FIG. 7, HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 0 to 3 are transmitted in slot 8. HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 4 to 7 are transmitted in slot 9. In this example, dl-DataToUL-ACK= {8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2} . In this case, the dl-DataToUL-ACK table may be extended as shown in Table 2 below.

Table 2 An example of an extended dl-DataToUL-ACK table for 7DS2U

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram 800 illustrating another example reporting of HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions based on a TDD slot configuration pattern according to embodiments of the present disclosure. In this example, the TDD slot configuration pattern is 15DS4U.

As shown in FIG. 8, HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 0 to 3 are transmitted in slot 16. HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 4 to 7 are transmitted in slot 17. HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 8 to 11 are transmitted in slot 18. HARQ feedbacks for PDSCH transmissions in slots 12 to 15 are transmitted in slot 19. In this example, dl-DataToUL-ACK= {16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4} . In this case, the dl-DataToUL-ACK table may be extended as shown in Table 3 below.

Table 3 An example of an extended dl-DataToUL-ACK table for 15DS4U

It is to be understood that the above examples in FIGs. 7 and 8 are merely for illustration, and do not make limitation for the present disclosure. Any other suitable ways are also feasible.

Return to FIG. 6, the network device 120 may transmit 620 DCI scheduling one or more PDSCH transmissions to the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, the DCI may schedule one PDSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the DCI may schedule a plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments where the DCI schedules one PDSCH transmission, the network device 120 may transmit 630 the one PDSCH transmission. In some embodiments where the DCI schedules a plurality of PDSCH transmissions, the network device 120 may transmit 630’ the plurality of PDSCH transmissions. Although three PDSCH transmissions are shown in FIG. 6, it is to be understood that this is merely an example, and any less or more number of the PDSCH transmissions are also feasible. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 may generate HARQ feedback for the one PDSCH transmission or HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

The terminal device 110 may determine 640 at least one uplink slot from a set of uplink slots based on a TDD pattern for the set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine whether the configuration about the set of uplink slots comprises a first configuration associated with the TDD pattern. The first configuration comprises a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the first set of uplink slot indexes, for example, as indicated by “TDD pattern 1” in Table 1. If determining that the first configuration is comprised, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration.

In some embodiments, upon determination that the first configuration does not comprise the uplink slot index, and there is a second configuration comprising a second set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the second set of uplink slot indexes, as indicated by “TDD pattern 2” in Table 1, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot index from the second configuration. In some embodiments, upon determination that the first and the second configurations do not comprise the uplink slot index, the terminal device 110 may determine a HARQ feedback window from the default configuration (also referred to as a third configuration herein) , for example, as indicated by “default” in Table 1, 2 or 3.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine at least one uplink slot index in a slot configuration period, for example, by the above equation (3) , and determine the subsets of timing indicators based on the at least one uplink slot index.

In some embodiments, upon determination that the first configuration is not comprised, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot from a third configuration comprising the set of timing indicators, for example, as indicated by “default” in Table 1, 2 or 3.

For example, for operation in unpaired spectrum, if the dl-DataToUL-ACK contains only “default” value (s) , all uplink slots generate HARQ-ACK codebook according to the default value (s) . If the table contains “default” and “TDD pattern 1” , for the fixed uplink slots in pattern1 which is provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, look up the “TDD pattern 1” part in the dl-DataToUL-ACK table according to determined slot index, else check the “default” . If the table contains “default” and “TDD pattern 1” and “TDD pattern 2” , for the fixed uplink slots in pattern1 which is provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, look up the “TDD pattern 1” part in the dl-DataToUL-ACK table according to determined slot index; for the fixed uplink slots in pattern2 which is provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, look up the “TDD pattern 2” part in the dl-DataToUL-ACK table according to determined slot index; else check the “default” value (s) . An example of pseudo-code is listed as below.

If dl-DataToUL-ACK contains only “default” values

all uplink slots generate HARQ-ACK codebook according to the default table

elseif dl-DataToUL-ACK contains “default” and “TDD pattern 1”

if the fixed uplink slots in pattern1 which is provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, look up the “TDD pattern 1” part in the dl-DataToUL-ACK table according to determined slot index

else check the “default”

end if

elseif the table contains “default” and “TDD pattern 1” and “TDD pattern 2”

elseif the fixed uplink slots in pattern2 which is provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, look up the “TDD pattern 2” part in the dl-DataToUL-ACK table according to determined slot index

else check the “default”

end if

end if.

In some embodiments where the DCI schedules one PDSCH transmission, the terminal device 110 may determine one uplink slot for HARQ feedback of the one PDSCH transmission from the configuration. Upon determination of the one uplink slot, the terminal device 110 may transmit 650 a HARQ feedback for the one PDSCH transmission to the network device 120 in the one uplink slot.

In some embodiments where the DCI schedules a plurality of PDSCH transmissions, the terminal device 110 may determine one or more uplink slot for HARQ feedbacks of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions from the configuration. Upon determination of the one or more uplink slots, the terminal device 110 may transmit 650’ HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions to the network device 120 in the one or more uplink slots.

In this way, redundancy in HARQ-ACK codebook for HARQ feedback can be reduced and thus communication efficiency and performance can be improved.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF METHODS

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods of communication implemented at a terminal device and a network device. These methods will be described below with reference to FIGs. 9 to 12.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example method 900 of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 900 may be performed at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 900 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 900 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 910, the terminal device 110 receives DCI from the network device 120, the DCI scheduling a plurality of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for the first set of PDSCH transmissions of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the first HARQ feedback may comprise a HARQ-ACK codebook for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the first HARQ feedback may comprise a HARQ-ACK codebook for one of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

At block 920, the terminal device 110 determines, based on the first timing indicator, the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for a second HARQ feedback, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, a configuration about a set of timing indicators for HARQ feedbacks for the PDSCH transmissions. The set of timing indicators indicates a set of uplink slots. The terminal device 110 may determine the first uplink slot from the set of uplink slots based on the first timing indicator, determine a set of second timing indicators for the rest scheduled PDSCH transmissions based on the first timing indicator and an order of the set of timing indicators, and determine the second uplink slot based on the set of second timing indicators. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine the set of second timing indicators by incrementing the value of the first timing indicator in the order of the set of timing indicators. For example, PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator may be incremented by 1 for each subsequent PDSCHs in the scheduled order, with modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACKForMultiPDSCHs) or modulo sizeof (dl-DataToUL-ACK table) operation applied.

At block 930, the terminal device 110 transmits, to the network device 120, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In some embodiments, the DCI may further comprise a first DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may transmit, based on the first DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot, and transmit, based on the second DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. For example, for single cell and CA, the DAI field provide by a single DCI will be used to generate the Type-2 codebook for the earlier uplink slot, and a second DAI field is added to generate the Type-2 codebook for the later uplink slot.

In some embodiments, the DCI may further comprise one DAI field, and the network device 120 may provide a single cell for the terminal device 110. In these embodiments, the terminal device 110 may reset the DAI field if a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission, and transmit a HARQ feedback in the current uplink slot based on the reset DAI field. For example, for single cell, if different uplink slots are indicated by the first or second timing indicator (e.g., PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator) , the value of the DAI field may be reset to 0 by the terminal device 110 when it observed that the indicated uplink slot is changed.

In this way, a set of second timing indicators can be determined based on the indicated first timing indicator. By looking up the designed set of uplink slots based on the first timing indicator and the set of second timing indicators, the HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions can be mapped to respective uplink slots.

FIG. 10 illustrates another example method 1000 of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1000 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1010, the terminal device 110 receives, from the network device 120, DCI scheduling a set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the DCI may schedule one PDSCH transmission. In some embodiments, the DCI may schedule a plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

At block 1020, the terminal device 110 determines at least one uplink slot from a set of uplink slots based on a TDD pattern for the subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots. In some embodiments, if the configuration comprises a first configuration comprising a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration. In some embodiments, if the configuration comprises a first configuration comprising a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern (for example, a first TDD pattern) and a second configuration comprising a second set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern (for example, a second TDD pattern) , the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration or the second configuration. In some embodiments, if the configuration does not comprise any configuration associated with the TDD pattern, the terminal device 110 may determine the at least one uplink slot from a third configuration comprising the set of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine at least one uplink slot index in a slot configuration period, and determine the subsets of timing indicators based on the at least one uplink slot index. For example, the uplink slot index may be determined based on the above equation (3) . Of course, any other suitable ways are also feasible for determination the uplink slot index.

At block 1030, the terminal device 110 transmits, to the network device 120, a HARQ feedback for the set of PDSCH transmissions in the at least one uplink slot. In some embodiments, the HARQ feedback may comprise a HARQ-ACK codebook for the set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the HARQ feedback may comprise a HARQ-ACK codebook for one PDSCH transmission in the set of PDSCH transmissions.

In this way, by looking up the extended subset of timing indicators based on an uplink slot index, redundancy in a HARQ-ACK codebook can be reduced and communication efficiency and performance can be improved.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method 1100 of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1100 may be performed at the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 1100 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1100 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As shown in FIG. 11, at block 1110, the network device 120 transmits, to the terminal device 110, DCI scheduling a plurality of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for the first set of PDSCH transmissions of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may further transmit, to the terminal device 110, a configuration about a set of timing indicators dedicated for HARQ feedbacks for the plurality of PDSCH transmissions.

At block 1120, the network device 120 may receive, from the terminal device 110, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second HARQ feedback in second uplink slot determined based on the first timing indicator, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the plurality of PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a first DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may receive the HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot transmitted based on the first DAI field, and receive the HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot transmitted based on the second DAI field.

In some embodiments, the DCI may comprise a DAI field, and the network device 120 may provide a single cell for the terminal device 110. In these embodiments, the network device 120 may receive a HARQ feedback transmitted based on the DAI field reset in accordance with a determination that a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission.

In this way, by designing the configuration about the set of timing indicators and indicating an indicator for an uplink slot for HARQ feedback of the first PDSCH transmission, a reporting of HARQ feedbacks on different uplink slots can be facilitated.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example method 1200 of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1200 may be performed at the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 1200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1200 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As shown in FIG. 12, at block 1210, the network device 120 transmits DCI scheduling a set of PDSCH transmissions. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may further transmit, to the terminal device 110, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for a set of uplink slots. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise a first configuration comprising a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the first set of uplink slot indexes. In some embodiments, the configuration may further comprise a second configuration comprising a second set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the second set of uplink slot indexes. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise a third configuration comprising the set of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots.

At block 1220, the network device 120 receives, from the terminal device 110, a HARQ feedback for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in at least one uplink slot, the at least one uplink slot being determined from a set of uplink slots based on a TDD pattern for the subset of PDSCH transmissions.

In this way, by extending the configuration about the set of timing indicators based on a TDD slot configuration pattern, redundancy in a HARQ-ACK codebook can be reduced and communication efficiency and performance can be improved.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEVICE

FIG. 13 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1300 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1300 can be considered as a further example implementation of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the device 1300 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120.

As shown, the device 1300 includes a processor 1310, a memory 1320 coupled to the processor 1310, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 1340 coupled to the processor 1310, and a communication interface coupled to the TX/RX 1340. The memory 1310 stores at least a part of a program 1330. The TX/RX 1340 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 1340 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

The program 1330 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 1310, enable the device 1300 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGs. 3 to 12. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 1310 of the device 1300, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 1310 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 1310 and memory 1320 may form processing means 1350 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 1320 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 1320 is shown in the device 1300, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 1300. The processor 1310 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1300 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.

In some embodiments, a terminal device comprises circuitry configured to: receive, from a network device, multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI, the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first HARQ feedback for the first set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions; determine, based on the first timing indicator, the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for a second HARQ feedback, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions; and transmit, to the network device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine the first uplink slot and the second uplink slot by receiving, from the network device, a configuration about a set of timing indicators dedicated for HARQ feedbacks for the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions; determining the first uplink slot from the set of uplink slots based on the first timing indicator; determining a set of second timing indicators for the rest scheduled PDSCH transmissions based on the first timing indicator and an order of the set of timing indicators; and determining the second uplink slot based on the determined set of second timing indicators.

In some embodiments, the DCI further comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI) field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to transmit the first HARQ feedback and the second HARQ feedback by transmitting, based on the first DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot; and transmitting, based on the second DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot.

In some embodiments, the DCI comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, and the network device provides a single cell for the terminal device. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to transmit the first HARQ feedback and the second HARQ feedback by resetting the DAI field in accordance with a determination that a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission; and transmitting a HARQ feedback in the current uplink slot based on the reset DAI field.

In some embodiments, a terminal device comprises circuitry configured to: receive, at a terminal device and from a network device, a set of PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI; determine at least one uplink slot from a set of uplink slots based on a TDD pattern for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions; and transmit, to the network device, a set of HARQ feedbacks for the subset of PDSCH transmissions in the at least one uplink slot.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine at least one uplink slot by receiving, from the network device, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots; in accordance with a determination that the configuration comprises a first configuration comprising a set of uplink slot index associated with the TDD pattern, determining the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration; and in accordance with a determination that the configuration does not comprise the first configuration associated with the TDD pattern, determining the at least one uplink slot from a second configuration comprising the set of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to determine the at least one uplink slot by determining at least one uplink slot index in a slot configuration period; and determining the subsets of timing indicators based on the at least one uplink slot index.

In some embodiments, a network device comprises circuitry configured to: transmit, to a terminal device, multiple PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI, the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for the first HARQ feedback for a first set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions; and receive, from the terminal device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second HARQ feedback in a second uplink slot determined based on the first timing indicator, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration about a set of timing indicators dedicated for HARQ feedbacks for the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the DCI comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI) field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to receive the first HARQ feedback and the second HARQ feedback by receiving the HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot transmitted based on the first DAI field; and receiving the HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot transmitted based on the second DAI field.

In some embodiments, the DCI comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, and the network device provides a single cell for the terminal device. In these embodiments, the circuitry may be configured to receive the first HARQ feedback and the second HARQ feedback by receiving a HARQ feedback transmitted based on the DAI field reset in accordance with a determination that a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission.

In some embodiments, a network device comprises circuitry configured to: transmit, at a network device and to a terminal device, a set of PDSCH transmissions scheduled by DCI; and receive, from the terminal device and in at least one uplink slot, a set of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions, the at least one uplink slot being determined from a set of uplink slots based on a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern for the subset of PDSCH transmissions.

In some embodiments, the circuitry may be further configured to transmit, to the terminal device, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots, the configuration comprising a first configuration comprising a set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and a second configuration comprising the set of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots.

The term “circuitry” used herein may refer to hardware circuits and/or combinations of hardware circuits and software. For example, the circuitry may be a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuits with software/firmware. As a further example, the circuitry may be any portions of hardware processors with software including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In a still further example, the circuitry may be hardware circuits and or processors, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software/firmware for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. As used herein, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (s) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor (s) and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.

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 representation, it will be appreciated that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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 process or method as described above with reference to FIGs. 4 to 19. 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 apparatus, 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.

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine 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 language 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 of communication, comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, multiple physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) , the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for a first set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions;

determining, based on the first timing indicator, the first uplink slot and a second uplink slot for a second HARQ feedback, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions; and

transmitting, to the network device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and the second HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot.
The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

receiving, from the network device, a configuration about a set of timing indicators for HARQ feedbacks for the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions;

determining the first uplink slot based on the first timing indicator;

determining a set of second timing indicators for the rest scheduled PDSCH transmissions based on the first timing indicator and an order of the set of timing indicators; and

determining the second uplink slot based on the determined set of second timing indicators.
The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI further comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI) field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot, and

wherein the transmitting comprises:

transmitting, based on the first DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot; and

transmitting, based on the second DAI field, the HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot.
The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, and the network device provides a single cell for the terminal device, and

wherein the transmitting comprises:

in accordance with a determination that a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission, resetting the DAI field; and

transmitting a HARQ feedback in the current uplink slot based on the reset DAI field.
A method of communication, comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, a set of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) ;

determining at least one uplink slot from a set of uplink slots based on a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions; and

transmitting, to the network device, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for the subset of PDSCH transmissions in the at least one uplink slot.
The method of claim 5, wherein the determining comprises:

receiving, from the network device, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots;

in accordance with a determination that the configuration comprises a first configuration comprising a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern, determining the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration; and

in accordance with a determination that the configuration comprises the first configuration comprising the first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and a second configuration comprising a second set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern, determining the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration or the second configuration.
The method of claim 6, wherein determining the at least one uplink slot from the first configuration comprises:

determining at least one uplink slot index in a slot configuration period; and

determining the subsets of timing indicators based on the at least one uplink slot index.
A method of communication, comprising:

transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, multiple physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) , the DCI comprising a first timing indicator indicating a first uplink slot for a first hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for a first set of PDSCH transmissions of the PDSCH transmissions; and

receiving, from the terminal device, the first HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second HARQ feedback in a second uplink slot determined based on the first timing indicator, the second HARQ feedback for a second set of PDSCH transmissions of the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions performed later than the first set of PDSCH transmissions.
The method of claim 8, further comprising:

transmitting, to the terminal device, a configuration about a set of timing indicators for HARQ feedbacks for the scheduled multiple PDSCH transmissions.
The method of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a first downlink assignment index (DAI) field for a HARQ feedback in the first uplink slot and a second DAI field for a HARQ feedback in the second uplink slot,

wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving the HARQ feedbacks in the first uplink slot transmitted based on the first DAI field; and

receiving the HARQ feedbacks in the second uplink slot transmitted based on the second DAI field.
The method of claim 8, wherein the DCI comprises a downlink assignment index (DAI) field, and the network device provides a single cell for the terminal device, and

wherein the receiving comprises:

receiving a HARQ feedback transmitted based on the DAI field reset in accordance with a determination that a current uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission is different from a previous uplink slot for a HARQ feedback transmission.
A method of communication, comprising:

transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, a set of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) ; and

receiving, from the terminal device and in at least one uplink slot, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback for a subset of PDSCH transmissions in the set of PDSCH transmissions, the at least one uplink slot being determined from a set of uplink slots based on a time division duplexing (TDD) pattern for the subset of PDSCH transmissions.
The method of claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting, to the terminal device, a configuration about a set and subsets of timing indicators for the set of uplink slots, the configuration comprising a first configuration comprising a first set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the first set of uplink slot indexes.
The method of claim 13, wherein the configuration further comprises a second configuration comprising a second set of uplink slot indexes associated with the TDD pattern and subsets of timing indicators for the second set of uplink slot indexes.
A terminal device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the terminal device to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 7.
A network device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the network device to perform the method according to any of claims 8 to 14.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 7.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to perform the method according to any of claims 8 to 14.