WO2022155875A1

WO2022155875A1 - Group uplink control information for industrial internet of things

Info

Publication number: WO2022155875A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/073207
Authority: WO
Inventors: Luanxia YANG; Changlong Xu; Jing Sun; Xiaoxia Zhang
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2021-01-22
Filing date: 2021-01-22
Publication date: 2022-07-28

Abstract

Wireless communications systems and methods related to wireless sensor networks are provided. A wireless communication device receives, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs), a plurality of data blocks. Each data block of the plurality of data blocks is associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, and each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs. The wireless communication device encodes each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The wireless communication device transmits group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.

Description

GROUP UPLINK CONTROL INFORMATION FOR INDUSTRIAL INTERNET OF THINGS

Luanxia Yang, Changlong Xu, Jing Sun, Xiaoxia Zhang

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to performing uplink communication in an industrial wireless sensor network.

INTRODUCTION

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations (BSs) , each simultaneously supporting communications for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE) .

To meet the growing demands for expanded mobile broadband connectivity, wireless communication technologies are advancing from the long term evolution (LTE) technology to a next generation new radio (NR) technology, which may be referred to as 5 ^th Generation (5G) . For example, NR is designed to provide a lower latency, a higher bandwidth or a higher throughput, and a higher reliability than LTE. NR is designed to operate over a wide array of spectrum bands, for example, from low-frequency bands below about 1 gigahertz (GHz) and mid-frequency bands from about 1 GHz to about 6 GHz, to high-frequency bands such as millimeter wave (mmWave) bands. NR is also designed to operate across different spectrum types, from licensed spectrum to unlicensed and shared spectrum. Spectrum sharing enables operators to opportunistically aggregate spectrums to dynamically support high-bandwidth services. Spectrum sharing can extend the benefit of NR technologies to operating entities that may not have access to a licensed spectrum.

NR facilitates the operation of the industrial internet of things (IIoT) , characterized by frequent wireless communication between a very large number of devices. One aspect of the IIoT is a wireless sensor network, which may densely populated by wireless sensors (e.g., up to one devices per square meter) frequently transmitting short bursts of data. The large number of wireless sensors and their frequent data transmissions make wireless sensor network traffic uplink intensive, with many sensors transmitting small data packets at frequent intervals. The large number of transmissions from many different devices at very short intervals may place a heavy load on a base station receiving the transmissions.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF SOME EXAMPLES

The following summarizes some aspects of the present disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure and is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in summary form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device includes receiving, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) , a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs. The method further includes encoding each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The method further includes transmitting group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device includes establishing a connection with a second wireless communication device. The method further includes establishing a connection with each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UEs. The method further includes receiving, from the second wireless communication device, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs. The method further includes decoding, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure a wireless communication device comprises a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver is configured to receive, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) , a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs. The processor is configured to encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The transceiver is further configured to transmit group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.

In an additional aspect of the disclosure a wireless communication device comprises a transceiver and a processor. The processor is configured to establish a connection with a second wireless communication device. The processor is further configured to establish a connection with each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UEs. The transceiver is configured to receive, from the second wireless communication device, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs. The processor is configured to decode, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, upon reviewing the following description of specific, exemplary aspects of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features of the present invention may be discussed relative to certain aspects and figures below, all aspects of the present invention can include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more aspects may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various aspects of the invention discussed herein. In similar fashion, while exemplary aspects may be discussed below as device, system, or method aspects it should be understood that such exemplary aspects can be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates communication scenario according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication scheme according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A illustrates a communication scheme according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4B illustrates a communication scheme according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a scheme for supporting soft combining according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates a communication scenario according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating a communication method according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of a base station according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of a wireless communication device according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a communication method according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some aspects, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

This disclosure relates generally to wireless communications systems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. In various aspects, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks, 5 ^th Generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms “networks” and “systems” may be used interchangeably.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, flash-OFDM and the like. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) . In particular, long term evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LTE are described in documents provided from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP) , and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2) . These various radio technologies and standards are known or are being developed. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations that aims to define a globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone specification. 3GPP long term evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP project which was aimed at improving the UMTS mobile phone standard. The 3GPP may define specifications for the next generation of mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. The present disclosure is concerned with the evolution of wireless technologies from LTE, 4G, 5G, NR, and beyond with shared access to wireless spectrum between networks using a collection of new and different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

In particular, 5G networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition to development of the new radio technology for 5G NR networks. The 5G NR will be capable of scaling to provide coverage (1) to a massive Internet of things (IoTs) with a ULtra-high density (e.g., ～1M nodes/km ²) , ultra-low complexity (e.g., ～10s of bits/sec) , ultra-low energy (e.g., ～10+years of battery life) , and deep coverage with the capability to reach challenging locations; (2) including mission-critical control with strong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ～99.9999%reliability) , ultra-low latency (e.g., ～ 1 ms) , and users with wide ranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (3) with enhanced mobile broadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ～ 10 Tbps/km ²) , extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, 100+ Mbps user experienced rates) , and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The 5G NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI) ; having a common, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services and features with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD) /frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wireless technologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) , robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in 5G NR, with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than 3GHz FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with 15 kHz, for example over 5, 10, 20 MHz, and the like bandwidth (BW) . For other various outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than 3 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 30 kHz over 80/100 MHz BW. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using a TDD over the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrier spacing may occur with 60 kHz over a 160 MHz BW. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of 28 GHz, subcarrier spacing may occur with 120 kHz over a 500 MHz BW.

The scalable numerology of the 5G NR facilitates scalable TTI for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTI may be used for low latency and high reliability, while longer TTI may be used for higher spectral efficiency. The efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs to allow transmissions to start on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also contemplates a self-contained integrated subframe design with UL/downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgement in the same subframe. The self-contained integrated subframe supports communications in unlicensed or contention-based shared spectrum, adaptive UL/downlink that may be flexibly configured on a per-cell basis to dynamically switch between UL and downlink to meet the current traffic needs.

Various other aspects and features of the disclosure are further described below. It should be apparent that the teachings herein may be embodied in a wide variety of forms and that any specific structure, function, or both being disclosed herein is merely representative and not limiting. Based on the teachings herein one of an ordinary level of skill in the art should appreciate that an aspect disclosed herein may be implemented independently of any other aspects and that two or more of these aspects may be combined in various ways. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of the aspects set forth herein. In addition, such an apparatus may be implemented or such a method may be practiced using other structure, functionality, or structure and functionality in addition to or other than one or more of the aspects set forth herein. For example, a method may be implemented as part of a system, device, apparatus, and/or as instructions stored on a computer readable medium for execution on a processor or computer. Furthermore, an aspect may comprise at least one element of a claim.

The industrial internet of things (IIoT) allows a variety of devices beyond traditional computing devices to communicate with each other. One aspect of the IIoT is a wireless sensor network (WSN) , where sensors collect and wirelessly transmit operational, environmental, and other kinds of data to devices which may manage and process the data. A wireless sensor may be implemented as reduced capability (RedCap) user equipment (UE) . A RedCap UE provides some of the functionality of a traditional UE, with reduced complexity and ideally reduced cost. For example, a RedCap UE may lack a display and/or an integrated input method. Examples include wearable devices, surveillance cameras, and wireless sensors. For simplicity, this disclosure refers to wireless sensors, but it should be understood that the same concepts described here may apply equally to other RedCap UEs or devices with similar characteristics. Since the sensor may be a type of UE or integrated with a UE, the term UE may be used interchangeably with sensor herein, depending on the context.

Wireless sensors in a WSN may be characterized as uplink-intensive, transmitting more data than they receive. The packet sizes transmitted by the wireless sensors are often small (e.g., about 20 bytes) , with long transmission intervals (e.g., with low data rates) . A WSN may be densely populated by wireless sensors, supporting, for example, up to one sensor per square meter. At an operating range of about 500 meters or less, a BS may support up to about 250,0000 sensors. The nature of short, frequent transmissions from a very large number of sensors may impose a high cost in terms of resource utilization at a base station (BS) receiving the transmissions from the sensors. Accordingly, aspects of the present improve network performance by reducing the load imposed on BSs by densely populated WSNs.

To reduce the load on a BS that may be imposed by a WSN, an anchor node (also referred to simply as an anchor) may be used, as illustrated in FIG. 2. More than acting as a relay, the anchor node may assume some of the functionality of the BS in terms of coordinating and processing communication from the sensors in a WSN. For example, the anchor node can configure each sensor in the WSN (e.g., via radio resource control (RRC) ) , including providing client-specific configurations during the initial association process. The anchor may also provide certain physical (PHY) layer and/or medium access control (MAC) layer functionalities. For example, the anchor may schedule transmissions by the sensors, including resource allocations, and/or PHY layer transmission parameter selections, and/or hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) functionalities. A single anchor may serve multiple sensors, while each sensor may be served by a single anchor.

To improve network efficiency and performance, data from multiple sensors may be aggregated for transmission from the anchor to the BS. The anchor may receive and decode the data from the multiple sensors and generate a combination transport block (TB) that includes the data, along with group information to aid the BS in determining which sensor originally transmitted the data and in decoding the data. The combination TB and group information may then be transmitted by the anchor block to the BS. In some aspects, an additional UE may assist in communication between the sensors and the anchor. For example, the additional UE may include multiple sensors or receive data from multiple sensors. The additional UE can combine data from the different sensors, generate the corresponding group information, and transmit the combined data and group information to the anchor. The anchor may then combine that data with data from other sensors (including data from other UEs with multiple sensors) and transmit the combined data upstream to the BS.

For instance, a wireless communication device (e.g., an anchor node or a UE) may receive a plurality of data blocks from a plurality of UEs (e.g., sensors) , with each data block of the plurality of data blocks being associated with a UE identifier (ID) of a plurality of UE IDs. Each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs may identify a UE of the plurality of UEs. For example, each UE ID may be a cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or other identifier that uniquely identifies a UE within the plurality of UEs. The wireless communication device may then encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The wireless communication device may then transmit (e.g., to a BS) group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block (e.g., a combination TB) including the plurality of encoded data blocks. The combination data block may include the group information. For example, a header (e.g., a physical layer header) of the combination data block may include the group information. The group information may be referred to as group uplink control information (UCI) . In some cases, for example, if the wireless communication device is unable to fulfill the timing requirements of a UE, the BS may communicate directly with the UE based on the UE ID of the UE. UE IDs may alternately be referred to as sensor IDs or wireless sensor IDs.

In some aspects, the group information may include a plurality of UE information blocks. Each UE information block may include a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID. The configuration parameters may include an indication of a location of an encoded data information block (e.g., carrying user data or sensor data) associated with the UE ID. The encoded data information block may also be referred to as a sub-block or sub-TB of the combination TB. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) . Different UEs may have different service requirements in terms of reliability and/or latency. For example, some UEs may require ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) , while other UEs may require enhanced mobile broadband (emBB) . Accordingly, transmission of the encoded blocks for each UE may be scheduled separately, and the encoded blocks for each UE may use different MCSs (indicated in the configuration parameters) , depending on the service requirement. For example, UEs requiring URLLC may be encoded using a lower MCS than UEs requiring emBB, where the lower MCS can be more robust, and thereby provide a higher reliability. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of the packet size of the data transmitted by the UE associated with the configuration parameters.

The group information may include a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs. In other words, a UE information block may be included in the group information whether or not the combination data block includes valid data from the UE associated with the UE information block, so that each UE of the plurality of UEs has a fixed-length information block in a fixed location of the group information. In this case, the bits in the UE information block may be set to 0 to indicate no data for the UE is included in the combination data block. Alternately, the group information may include fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs. For example, the size of the group information may be variable, with a UE information block included for a UE only if the wireless communication device will transmit valid data from the UE in the combination data block. In this case, the BS may adjust the allocation of the UE information blocks dynamically.

In some aspects, the wireless communication device may group, based on a grouping parameter, each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a group of a plurality groups. The grouping parameter may include a service requirement (e.g., a time stringency requirement indicating how quickly the data must be transmitted) . The group information may include a plurality of group information blocks, each group information block associated with a group of the plurality of groups, wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication. For example, the wireless communication device may group data blocks together that have the same or similar timing requirements and encode and transmit those blocks together. The combination data block would then include the encoded blocks grouped together based on the grouping parameter. For example, data blocks associated with URLLC may be grouped together and data blocks associated with emBB may be grouped together so that the corresponding encoded blocks are grouped together in the combination TB. The time-sensitive indication may indicate whether the data from a UE has a survival time and/or time-stringent requirement. A survival time may indicate the period of time a communication link may survive without receiving an anticipated message. Each group information block may also include one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a HARQ Process ID, a new data indicator (NDI) , a redundancy version (RV) , and/or a packet size for a data block associated with the UE ID.

In some aspects, as part of transmitting the group information and the combination data block, the wireless communication device may transmit a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first MCS, and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS, which may be different from the first MCS. The group information may indicate the first MCS and the second MCS.

In some aspects, a UE may include or communicate with multiple sensors, and each sensor of the UE may have a different service requirement (e.g., some sensors may require URLLC and some may require emBB) . The UE may gather data from the multiple sensors, combine the data, and generate group information as described above, then transmit the combined data and group information to the wireless communication device. For instance, as part of receiving the plurality of data blocks, the wireless communication device may receive, from a first UE of the plurality of UEs (e.g., a UE with multiple sensors) , a first data block of the plurality of data blocks and second group information. The first data block may include a plurality of data sub-blocks each associated with at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and the second group information may include a service requirement parameter for each of the plurality of sensors.

Aspects of the present disclosure can provide several benefits. For example, offloading some of the configuration and scheduling responsibilities of a BS to an anchor node for IIoT operations (e.g., WSNs) improves network efficiency by reducing the load on the BS that would result from having a very large number of devices frequently transmitting very small amounts of data. Furthermore, since the communication range of wireless sensors and other RedCap UEs may be relatively short (e.g., 500m or less) , having an anchor relay communication between a BS and sensors in the WSN may effectively extend the distance from the BS at which a WSN may operate.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wireless communication network 100 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The network 100 may be a 5G network. The network 100 includes a number of base stations (BSs) 105 (individually labeled as 105a, 105b, 105c, 105d, 105e, and 105f) and other network entities. A BS 105 may be a station that communicates with UEs 115 and may also be referred to as an evolved node B (eNB) , a next generation eNB (gNB) , an access point, and the like. Each BS 105 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term “cell” can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a BS 105 and/or a BS subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A BS 105 may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a pico cell, would generally cover a relatively smaller geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell, such as a femto cell, would also generally cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also provide restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSG) , UEs for users in the home, and the like) . A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell BS, a pico BS, a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1, the

BSs

105d and 105e may be regular macro BSs, while the BSs 105a-105c may be macro BSs enabled with one of three dimension (3D) , full dimension (FD) , or massive MIMO. The BSs 105a-105c may take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to exploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. The BS 105f may be a small cell BS which may be a home node or portable access point. A BS 105 may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

The network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timing, and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time.

The UEs 115 are dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary or mobile. A UE 115 may also be referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE 115 may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE 115 may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) . In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, the UEs 115 that do not include UICCs may also be referred to as IoT devices or internet of everything (IoE) devices. The UEs 115a-115d are examples of mobile smart phone-type devices accessing network 100. A UE 115 may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communication, including machine type communication (MTC) , enhanced MTC (eMTC) , narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. The UEs 115e-115h are examples of various machines configured for communication that access the network 100. The UEs 115i-115k are examples of vehicles equipped with wireless communication devices configured for communication that access the network 100. A UE 115 may be able to communicate with any type of the BSs, whether macro BS, small cell, or the like. In FIG. 1, a lightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wireless transmissions between a UE 115 and a serving BS 105, which is a BS designated to serve the UE 115 on the downlink (DL) and/or uplink (UL) , desired transmission between BSs 105, backhaul transmissions between BSs, or sidelink transmissions between UEs 115.

In operation, the BSs 105a-105c may serve the

UEs

115a and 115b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. The macro BS 105d may perform backhaul communications with the BSs 105a-105c, as well as small cell, the BS 105f. The macro BS 105d may also transmits multicast services which are subscribed to and received by the

UEs

115c and 115d. Such multicast services may include mobile television or stream video, or may include other services for providing community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts, such as Amber alerts or gray alerts.

The BSs 105 may also communicate with a core network. The core network may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. At least some of the BSs 105 (e.g., which may be an example of a gNB or an access node controller (ANC) ) may interface with the core network through backhaul links (e.g., NG-C, NG-U, etc. ) and may perform radio configuration and scheduling for communication with the UEs 115. In various examples, the BSs 105 may communicate, either directly or indirectly (e.g., through core network) , with each other over backhaul links (e.g., X1, X2, etc. ) , which may be wired or wireless communication links.

The network 100 may also support mission critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such as the UE 115e, which may be a drone. Redundant communication links with the UE 115e may include links from the

macro BSs

105d and 105e, as well as links from the small cell BS 105f. Other machine type devices, such as the UE 115f (e.g., a thermometer) , the UE 115g (e.g., smart meter) , and UE 115h (e.g., wearable device) may communicate through the network 100 either directly with BSs, such as the small cell BS 105f, and the macro BS 105e, or in multi-action-size configurations by communicating with another user device which relays its information to the network, such as the UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, the UE 115g, which is then reported to the network through the small cell BS 105f. The network 100 may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such asV2V, V2X, C-V2X communications between a

UE

115i, 115j, or 115k and other UEs 115, and/or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications between a

UE

115i, 115j, or 115k and a BS 105.

In some implementations, the network 100 utilizes OFDM-based waveforms for communications. An OFDM-based system may partition the system BW into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as subcarriers, tones, bins, or the like. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In some aspects, the subcarrier spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system BW. The system BW may also be partitioned into subbands. In other aspects, the subcarrier spacing and/or the duration of TTIs may be scalable.

In some aspects, the BSs 105 can assign or schedule transmission resources (e.g., in the form of time-frequency resource blocks (RB) ) for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) transmissions in the network 100. DL refers to the transmission direction from a BS 105 to a UE 115, whereas UL refers to the transmission direction from a UE 115 to a BS 105. The communication can be in the form of radio frames. A radio frame may be divided into a plurality of subframes or slots, for example, about 10. Each slot may be further divided into mini-slots. In a FDD mode, simultaneous UL and DL transmissions may occur in different frequency bands. For example, each subframe includes a UL subframe in a UL frequency band and a DL subframe in a DL frequency band. In a TDD mode, UL and DL transmissions occur at different time periods using the same frequency band. For example, a subset of the subframes (e.g., DL subframes) in a radio frame may be used for DL transmissions and another subset of the subframes (e.g., UL subframes) in the radio frame may be used for UL transmissions.

The DL subframes and the UL subframes can be further divided into several regions. For example, each DL or UL subframe may have pre-defined regions for transmissions of reference signals, control information, and data. Reference signals are predetermined signals that facilitate the communications between the BSs 105 and the UEs 115. For example, a reference signal can have a particular pilot pattern or structure, where pilot tones may span across an operational BW or frequency band, each positioned at a pre-defined time and a pre-defined frequency. For example, a BS 105 may transmit cell specific reference signals (CRSs) and/or channel state information –reference signals (CSI-RSs) to enable a UE 115 to estimate a DL channel. Similarly, a UE 115 may transmit sounding reference signals (SRSs) to enable a BS 105 to estimate a UL channel. Control information may include resource assignments and protocol controls. Data may include protocol data and/or operational data. In some aspects, the BSs 105 and the UEs 115 may communicate using self-contained subframes. A self-contained subframe may include a portion for DL communication and a portion for UL communication. A self-contained subframe can be DL-centric or UL-centric. A DL-centric subframe may include a longer duration for DL communication than for UL communication. A UL-centric subframe may include a longer duration for UL communication than for UL communication.

In some aspects, the network 100 may be an NR network deployed over a licensed spectrum. The BSs 105 can transmit synchronization signals (e.g., including a primary synchronization signal (PSS) and a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) ) in the network 100 to facilitate synchronization. The BSs 105 can broadcast system information associated with the network 100 (e.g., including a master information block (MIB) , remaining system information (RMSI) , and other system information (OSI) ) to facilitate initial network access. In some aspects, the BSs 105 may broadcast the PSS, the SSS, and/or the MIB in the form of synchronization signal block (SSBs) over a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) and may broadcast the RMSI and/or the OSI over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) .

In some aspects, a UE 115 attempting to access the network 100 may perform an initial cell search by detecting a PSS from a BS 105. The PSS may enable synchronization of period timing and may indicate a physical layer identity value. The UE 115 may then receive a SSS. The SSS may enable radio frame synchronization, and may provide a cell identity value, which may be combined with the physical layer identity value to identify the cell. The PSS and the SSS may be located in a central portion of a carrier or any suitable frequencies within the carrier.

After receiving the PSS and SSS, the UE 115 may receive a MIB. The MIB may include system information for initial network access and scheduling information for RMSI and/or OSI. After decoding the MIB, the UE 115 may receive RMSI and/or OSI. The RMSI and/or OSI may include radio resource control (RRC) information related to random access channel (RACH) procedures, paging, control resource set (CORESET) for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring, physical UL control channel (PUCCH) , physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) , power control, and SRS.

After obtaining the MIB, the RMSI and/or the OSI, the UE 115 can perform a random access procedure to establish a connection with the BS 105. In some examples, the random access procedure may be a four-step random access procedure. For example, the UE 115 may transmit a random access preamble and the BS 105 may respond with a random access response. The random access response (RAR) may include a detected random access preamble identifier (ID) corresponding to the random access preamble, timing advance (TA) information, a UL grant, a temporary cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) , and/or a backoff indicator. Upon receiving the random access response, the UE 115 may transmit a connection request to the BS 105 and the BS 105 may respond with a connection response. The connection response may indicate a contention resolution. In some examples, the random access preamble, the RAR, the connection request, and the connection response can be referred to as message 1 (MSG1) , message 2 (MSG2) , message 3 (MSG3) , and message 4 (MSG4) , respectively. In some examples, the random access procedure may be a two-step random access procedure, where the UE 115 may transmit a random access preamble and a connection request in a single transmission and the BS 105 may respond by transmitting a random access response and a connection response in a single transmission.

After establishing a connection, the UE 115 and the BS 105 can enter a normal operation stage, where operational data may be exchanged. For example, the BS 105 may schedule the UE 115 for UL and/or DL communications. The BS 105 may transmit UL and/or DL scheduling grants to the UE 115 via a PDCCH. The scheduling grants may be transmitted in the form of DL control information (DCI) . The BS 105 may transmit a DL communication signal (e.g., carrying data) to the UE 115 via a PDSCH according to a DL scheduling grant. The UE 115 may transmit a UL communication signal to the BS 105 via a PUSCH and/or PUCCH according to a UL scheduling grant. The connection may be referred to as an RRC connection. When the UE 115 is actively exchanging data with the BS 105, the UE 115 is in an RRC connected state.

In some aspects, the BS 105 may communicate with a UE 115 using HARQ techniques to improve communication reliability, for example, to provide a URLLC service. The BS 105 may schedule a UE 115 for a PDSCH communication by transmitting a DL grant in a PDCCH. The BS 105 may transmit a DL data packet to the UE 115 according to the schedule in the PDSCH. The DL data packet may be transmitted in the form of a transport block (TB) . If the UE 115 receives the DL data packet successfully, the UE 115 may transmit a HARQ ACK to the BS 105. Conversely, if the UE 115 fails to receive the DL transmission successfully, the UE 115 may transmit a HARQ NACK to the BS 105. Upon receiving a HARQ NACK from the UE 115, the BS 105 may retransmit the DL data packet to the UE 115. The retransmission may include the same coded version of DL data as the initial transmission. Alternatively, the retransmission may include a different coded version of the DL data than the initial transmission. The UE 115 may apply soft combining to combine the encoded data received from the initial transmission and the retransmission for decoding. The BS 105 and the UE 115 may also apply HARQ for UL communications using substantially similar mechanisms as the DL HARQ.

In some aspects, the network 100 may operate over a system BW or a component carrier (CC) BW. The network 100 may partition the system BW into multiple BWPs (e.g., portions) . A BS 105 may dynamically assign a UE 115 to operate over a certain BWP (e.g., a certain portion of the system BW) . The assigned BWP may be referred to as the active BWP. The UE 115 may monitor the active BWP for signaling information from the BS 105. The BS 105 may schedule the UE 115 for UL or DL communications in the active BWP. In some aspects, a BS 105 may assign a pair of BWPs within the CC to a UE 115 for UL and DL communications. For example, the BWP pair may include one BWP for UL communications and one BWP for DL communications.

FIG. 2 illustrates communication scenario 200 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Communication scenario 200 includes a base station 105, an anchor 225, and two UEs 215 (individually, 215a and 215b) forming a wireless sensor network.

UEs

215a and 215b may be wireless sensors (e.g., they may be UEs 115 that include wireless sensors) . For example, UE 215a may be RedCap UE that includes a temperature sensor, and UE 215b may be a RedCap UE that includes a pressure sensor. The UEs 215 may continuously gather data and transmit the data to anchor 225 at various time intervals. For example, UE 215 may perform a temperature reading and transmit a packet including the reading to the anchor 225 every quarter of a second, and UE 215b may perform a pressure reading and transmit a packet including the reading to anchor 225 every half of a second. As described in detail above and in FIGs. 7-11, anchor 225 may receive and decode the data packets from UE 215a and UE 215b and generate a combination TB that includes the data received from both UEs 215. Anchor 225 may also generate group information to allow a BS to decode the data included in the combination TB. The structure of the combination TB and the group information is described in detail in FIGs. 3-5. Anchor 225 may then transmit the combination TB and the group information (which may be included as a header in the combination TB) to BS 105. For simplicity, only one BS 105, one anchor 225 and two UEs 215 are shown, but additional devices may be supported. For example, multiple anchors 225 may communicate with BS 105, and additional UEs 215 may communicate with each anchor 225.

FIG. 3 illustrates a communication scheme 300 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described above and in FIGs. 2, 4A-4B, and 5-11, an anchor 225 may receive sensor data from multiple UEs 115 (e.g., sensors, such as UE 215a and UE 215b) and aggregate them for transmission to a BS 105. The sensor data may be aggregated into one or more combination TBs, for example combination TB 320 and combination TB 330. Within each

combination TB

320 and 330, a sub-block corresponding to each UE 115 may be included that includes the data transmitted by the UE 115. As illustrated, combination TB 320 includes data transmitted by two UEs 115, identified as UE-0 and UE-1, and combination TB 330 includes data transmitted by two UEs 115, identified as UE-2 and UE-3. The anchor 225 may receive the data from each UE 115, encode it, and include it in a sub-block. For example, sub-block 322 includes data received from UE-0, sub-block 324 includes data received from UE-1, sub-block 332 includes data received from UE-2, and sub-block 334 includes data received from UE-3. Each

combination TB

320 and 330 may be encoded separately, using a different MCS. As described herein, data from the different UEs 115 may be grouped and encoded together using the same MCS, based on grouping criteria (e.g., sharing common service requirements) .

The anchor may transmit group information 304 over PUSCH in the form of UCI preceding the combination TBs 320 and 330 (e.g., as a header) , with combination TB 320 transmitted in a first sub-PUSCH within the PUSCH, and combination TB 330 transmitted in a second sub-PUSCH within the PUSCH. Combination TB 320 and combination TB 330 may also be transmitted in separate PUSCH transmissions, with group information 304 including scheduling information for each PUSCH transmission. In other words, group information can include scheduling information for one or more PUSCH transmissions. The group information 304 may include information indicating where data from a particular UE 115 may be found in the

combination TBs

320 and 330 and how to decode the data. For example, the group information 304 may include a UE information block for each UE 115 for which the

combination TBs

320 and 330 include data. Each UE information block may include a UE ID, an MCS, a HARQ process ID, a redundancy version, and/or an NDI and may indicate the location of data from the UE 115 associated with the UE ID. For example, UE information block 306 may include parameters for UE-0, including an indication that data from UE-0 is included in block sub-block 322. UE information block 308 may include parameters for UE-1, including an indication that data from UE-1 is included in sub-block 324. UE information block 310 may include parameters for UE-2, including an indication that data from UE-2 is included in block sub-block 332. UE information block 312 may include parameters for UE-3, including an indication that data from UE-3 is included in block sub-block 334.

In some aspects, an anchor (e.g., the anchor 225) may receive scheduling DCI from a BS (e.g., the BS 105) indicating a resource for a PUSCH transmission, and the first sub-PUSCH signal and the second sub-PUSCH signal may be transmitted in the indicated resource.

FIG. 4A illustrates a communication scheme 400A according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The communication scheme 400A includes group information 402, which may be similar to group information 304 and precede a combination TB (e.g., combination TB 320) . The group information may include a UE information block (e.g., information blocks 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, and 414) for each UE 115 of a plurality of UEs 115, whether or not a combination TB includes valid data from the UE 115 associated with the UE information block. In scheme 400A, each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 may have a fixed-length information block (e.g., information blocks 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, and 414) in a fixed location of the group information 402. The bits in each UE information block may be set to 0 to indicate no data for the UE is included in the combination TB. For example, information blocks 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, and 414 may include information (e.g., UE ID, MCS, HARQ process ID, redundancy version, NDI, etc. ) about UE-0, UE-1, UE-2, UE-3, UE-4, and UE-n, respectively, which may allow a BS 105 to locate and decode data from each UE 115. The set of UEs (UE-0 to UE-n) may be UEs that are connected to or in communication with an anchor (e.g., the anchor 225) . If no data is included in the combination TB for UE-2, then information block 408 may be set to 0 (e.g., each bit may be set to 0) , or some other value to indicate that no data is included in the combination TB for UE-2. The group information 402 may include a CRC 416 to aid in error detection and recovery.

FIG. 4B illustrates a communication scheme 400B according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The communication scheme 400B includes group information 418, which may be similar to

group information

304 and 402 and precede a combination TB (e.g., combination TB 320) . In contrast to scheme 400A, the group information in scheme 400B may be variable in length. Rather than including a UE information block for every UE 115 in a plurality of UEs, the group information 418 may refrain from including a UE information block corresponding to a UE 115 in the plurality of UEs if a combination TB associated with the group information 418 does not include valid data for a particular UE. For example, if the plurality of UEs 115 includes UE-1, UE-2, UE-3, UE-4, and UE-n as in FIG. 4A, and no data is included for UE-1 and UE-2 in the associated combination TB, the group information may not include a UE information block for UE-1 and UE-2. Instead, UE information blocks are only included for UEs 115 for which data is included in the combination TB. For example, group information 418 only includes UE information block 420 corresponding to UE0, UE information block 422 corresponding to UE-3, information block 424 corresponding to UE 4, and UE information block 426, corresponding to UE-n. The group information 402 may also include a CRC 428 to aid in error detection and recovery.

FIG. 5 illustrates a communication scheme 500 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The communication scheme 500 includes group information 502, which may be similar to group information 304 and precede a combination TB (e.g., combination TB 320) , as illustrated in FIG. 3. Data blocks from a plurality of UEs 115 (e.g., UEs 115 including sensors, such as UEs 215a and 215b) may be grouped into a plurality of groups by an anchor 225 for encoding and transmission based on a grouping parameter. The grouping parameter may include a service requirement (e.g., a survival time requirement and/or time stringency requirement) . The group information 502 may include a plurality of group information blocks 504, 506, 508, and 510, each associated with a group of the plurality of groups. Each group information block 504, 506, 508, and 510 may include a time-sensitive indication indicating the service requirement common to data from the UEs 115 aggregated into a group, as well as a UE ID, HARQ process ID, NDI, RV, and/or packet size associated with each data block in the group. For example, data blocks associated with URLLC may be grouped together and data blocks associated with emBB may be grouped together so that the corresponding encoded blocks are grouped together in a combination TB. The time-sensitive indication may indicate whether the data from a UE has a survival time and/or time-stringent requirement. Based on the information in the group information blocks 504, 506, 508, and 510, a device (e.g., as BS 105) may locate and decode the data from each UE 115 in the plurality of UEs 115 within a combination TB. The group information 502 may also include a CRC 512 to aid in error detection and recovery.

FIG. 6 illustrates a communication scenario 600 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Communication scenario 600 includes a base station 105, an anchor 225, and seven UEs 615 (individually, 615a, 615b, 615c, 615d, 615e, 615f, and 615g, each of which may be a UE 115) forming a wireless sensor network. Each UE 615 may be a RedCap UE similar to UEs 215 in FIG. 2. Anchor 225 may receive data from

UEs

615a and 615b, aggregate the data as described below and in FIGs. 2-5 and 7-11, generate group information, and transmit the group information and aggregated data (e.g., as a combination TB) to BS 105. In some aspects, the

UEs

615c and 615d may be sensors that are in communication with the UE 615a, and the UEs 615e-g are sensors that are in communication with the UE 615b. The data received by the anchor 225 from

UEs

615a and 615b may include sensor data received and aggregated by

UEs

615a and 615b from

UEs

615c and 615d (for UE 615a) and

UEs

615e, 615f, and 615g (for UE 615b) , as well as group information generated by

UEs

615a and 615b.

For example, UE 615a may receive sensor data from

UEs

615c and 615d, and may generate its own sensor data. UEs 615b may receive sensor data from UEs 615e, 615f, and 615g and may also generate its own sensor data. For example, UE 615a may be configured to monitor and report environmental conditions and may wirelessly receive temperature sensor data from UE 615c and humidity sensor data from UE 615d.

UE

615c, 615d, 615e, 615f, and 615g may each have different service requirements for delivering sensor data. For example,

UEs

615c, 615e, and 615g may be associated with URLLC, while

UE

615d and 615f may be associated with emBB. In some other examples,

UEs

615c, 615e, and 615g may be associated with a first latency tolerance parameter, and

UE

615d and 615f may be associated with a second latency tolerance parameter less timing-sensitive than the first latency tolerance parameter.

UE

615a and 615b may receive sensor data from their associated UEs (615c and 615d for UE 615a, and

UE

615e, 615f, and 615g for UE 615b) , aggregate the data into one or more combination TBs (e.g., combination TB 320) as described with respect to an anchor 225 in FIGs. 2-5, and transmit the aggregated data to anchor 225, which may then further aggregate the data from

UEs

615a and 615b into one or more combination TBs (e.g., combination TB 320) .

UEs

615a and 615b may indicate a service time requirement of each of their associated UEs, along with an MCS, a resource allocation, UE ID, HARQ process ID, NDI, RV, and/or packet size in group information 304, and transmit the group information 304 to the anchor 225. The MCS for each UE 615 may be configured initially by BS 105, but each UE 605 may adjust its MCS based on, for example, a service requirement. As described in FIGs. 2-5, the anchor 225 may then generate its own group information based on the data received from

UEs

615a and 615b and transmit the generated group information along with a combination TB including the data from

UEs

615a and 615b to the BS 105. Any of

communication schemes

300, 400A, 400B, and 500 may be employed by

UEs

215a and 215b to transmit group information and data to anchor 225, and by anchor 225 to transmit group information and data to BS 105. For simplicity, only one BS 105, one anchor 225 and seven UEs 615 are shown, but additional devices may be supported. For example, multiple anchors 225 may communicate with BS 105, additional UEs 615 may communicate with each anchor 225, and additional UEs 615 may transmit sensor data to UEs 615 between them and an anchor 225.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating a communication method according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The communication method 700 may be performed by a BS 105, anchor 225, and UEs (e.g., UEs including sensors) 715, 720, and 725 (each of which may be a UE 115, 215, or 615) referred to in the diagram as UE x, UE y, and UE z, respectively.

At action 730, UE 715 may transmit data to anchor 225, including a UE ID (x) identifying the UE 715. The data may be, for example, sensor data from a sensor at UE 715. In some aspects, the data may have been received from other wireless sensors or UEs 615, as described in FIG. 6.

At action 735, UE 720 may transmit data to anchor 225, including a UE ID (y) identifying the UE 720. The data may be, for example, sensor data from a sensor at UE 720. In some aspects, the data may have been received from other wireless sensors or UEs 615, as described in FIG. 6.

At action 740, UE 725 may transmit data to anchor 225, including a UE ID (z) identifying the UE 725. The data may be, for example, sensor data from a sensor at UE 725. In some aspects, the data may have been received from other wireless sensors or UEs 615, as described in FIG. 6.

At action 745, the anchor 225 may decode the data received from the

UEs

715, 720, and 725 and generate one or more combination TBs that aggregate the data received from

UEs

715, 720, and/or 725 at

actions

730, 735, and 740, respectively. Data from each

UE

715, 720, and 725 may form a sub-block (e.g., a sub-TB) in the one or more combination TBs. In some aspects, anchor 225 may encode each sub-block of the one or more combination TBs using a different MCS, based on, for example, a service requirement. The anchor 225 may also generate group information that includes a number of UE information blocks indicating a UE ID, an MCS, a HARQ process ID, a redundancy version, and/or an NDI for each sub-block of the one or more combination TBs. The anchor 225 may use any of

schemes

300, 400A, 400B, and 500 to generate the group information.

At action 750, the anchor 225 may transmit the one or more combination TBs and the group information generated at action 745 to the BS 105 (e.g., via PUSCH) . The group information may be transmitted as a header preceding the one or more combination TBs, e.g., as UCI.

At action 755, the BS 105 may decode the combination TB received at action 750 based on the group information received at the same action. For example, the BS 105 may determine which sub-block of the combination TB corresponds to each of

UEs

715, 720, and 725, and decode the data based on the MCS indicated in the UE information block of the group information corresponding to each

UE

715, 720, and 725.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary BS 800 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The BS 800 may be a BS 105 as discussed in FIGS. 1-7 and 9-11. A shown, the BS 800 may include a processor 802, a memory 804, a data grouping module 808, a transceiver 810 including a modem subsystem 812 and a RF unit 814, and one or more antennas 816. These elements may be coupled with one another. The term “coupled” may refer to directly or indirectly coupled or connected to one or more intervening elements. For instance, these elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The processor 802 may have various features as a specific-type processor. For example, these may include a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a controller, a FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein. The processor 802 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 804 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache memory of the processor 802) , RAM, MRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, a solid state memory device, one or more hard disk drives, memristor-based arrays, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types of memory. In some aspects, the memory 804 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory 804 may store instructions 806. The instructions 806 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 802, cause the processor 802 to perform operations described herein, for example, aspects of FIGS. 1-7, and 9-11. Instructions 806 may also be referred to as program code. The program code may be for causing a wireless communication device to perform these operations, for example by causing one or more processors (such as processor 802) to control or command the wireless communication device to do so. The terms “instructions” and “code” should be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable statement (s) . For example, the terms “instructions” and “code” may refer to one or more programs, routines, sub-routines, functions, procedures, etc. “Instructions” and “code” may include a single computer-readable statement or many computer-readable statements.

The data grouping module 808 may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. For example, the data grouping module 808 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions 806 stored in the memory 804 and executed by the processor 802. In some examples, the data grouping module 808 can be integrated within the modem subsystem 812. For example, the data grouping module 808 can be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuitry) within the modem subsystem 812. The data grouping module 808 may communicate with one or more components of BS 800 to implement various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, aspects of FIGS. 1-7 and 9-11.

For instance, the processor 802 may establish a connection with a wireless communication device 900, which may be, for example, an anchor 225. In some aspects, the establishing of the connection may include performing an initial random access and/or establishing an RRC connection as discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 with the wireless communication device 900. The wireless communication device 900 may relay communications between the BS 800 and other devices (e.g., one or more wireless communication devices 900, such as UEs 115 or other anchors 225) . The processor may also establish a connection with each UE 115 of a plurality of UEs 115. In some aspects, the establishing of the connection with each UE 115 may include performing an initial random access and/or establishing an RRC connection as discussed above with reference to FIG. 1. Each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 may be a RedCap UE that includes a sensor. In some aspects, UEs 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 may include multiple sensors, or communicate with multiple sensors wirelessly.

The data grouping module 808 may receive (e.g., in combination with the transceiver 810) , from the wireless communication device 900, group information and a combination data block. The group information may include a plurality of UE IDs, where each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and where the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks. Each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs. The combination data block may include the group information. For example, a header (e.g., a physical layer header) of the combination data block may include the group information and the header may be received by the data grouping module 808 in UCI.

In some aspects, the group information may include a plurality of UE information blocks. Each UE information block may include a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE 115 associated with the UE ID. The configuration parameters may include an indication of a location of an encoded information block associated with the UE ID. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of at least one of an MCS, a HARQ process ID, a redundancy version, or an NDI. Data blocks in the combination data block from different UEs 115 may have been encoded using different MCSs, based on, for example, a service requirement. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of the packet size of the data transmitted by the UE 115 associated with the configuration parameters.

The group information may include a UE information block for each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115. In other words, a UE information block may be included in the group information whether or not the combination data block includes valid data from the UE 115 associated with the UE information block, so that each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 has a fixed-length information block in a fixed location of the group information. In this case, the bits in the UE information block may be set to 0 to indicate no data for the UE 115 is included in the combination data block. Alternately, the group information may include fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs 115. For example, the size of the group information may be variable, with an information block included for a UE 115 only if the wireless communication device 900 transmitted valid data from the UE 115 in the combination data block. In this case, the data grouping module 808 may adjust the allocation of the UE information blocks dynamically.

In some aspects, the plurality of data blocks of the combination block may be arranged into a plurality of groups based on a grouping parameter. The grouping parameter may include a service requirement (e.g., a time stringency requirement or a survival time requirement) . The group information may include a plurality of group information blocks, each group information block associated with a group of the plurality of groups, wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication. Data blocks that have the same or similar timing requirements may be grouped together. The combination data block would then include the data blocks grouped together based on the grouping parameter. For example, data blocks associated with URLLC may be grouped together and data blocks associated with emBB may be grouped together. The time-sensitive indication may indicate whether the data from a UE 115 has a survival time and/or time-stringent requirement. A survival time may indicate the period of time a communication link may survive without receiving an anticipated message. Each group information block may also include one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs 115 associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a HARQ Process ID associated with the UE ID.

In some aspects, the data grouping module 808 may receive a PUSCH signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first MCS, and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS, which may be different from the first MCS. The group information may indicate the first MCS and the second MCS.

The data grouping module 808 may decode, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks. For example, the grouping module 808 may locate a data block corresponding to a particular UE 115 using the UE ID for that UE 115 in the group information, and decode the data block based on the MCS indicated in the UE information block associated with the UE ID for the UE 115.

As shown, the transceiver 810 may include the modem subsystem 812 and the RF unit 814. The transceiver 810 can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the UEs 115 and/or wireless communication devices 900 and/or another core network element. The modem subsystem 812 may be configured to modulate and/or encode data according to a MCS, e.g., a LDPC coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit 814 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc. ) modulated/encoded data (data signals, configuration signals, etc. ) from the modem subsystem 812 (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a UE 115 and/or UE 900. The RF unit 814 may be further configured to perform analog beamforming in conjunction with the digital beamforming. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver 810, the modem subsystem 812 and/or the RF unit 814 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the BS 800 to enable the BS 800 to communicate with other devices.

The RF unit 814 may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information) , to the antennas 816 for transmission to one or more other devices. The antennas 816 may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices and provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 810. The transceiver 810 may provide the demodulated and decoded data (e.g., combination TBs, group information, UCI, etc. ) to the data grouping module 808 for processing. The antennas 816 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links.

In an example, the processor 802 is configured to communicate with one or more components of the BS 800 to establish a connection with a wireless communication device 900. The processor 802 is further configured to establish a connection with each UE 115 of a plurality of UEs 115. The transceiver 810 is configured to receive, from the wireless communication device 900, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs 115, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs. The processor 802 is further configured to decode, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication device 900 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 900 may be a UE 115 or an anchor node 225 as discussed in FIGS. 1-8 and 10-11. As shown, the wireless communication device 900 may include a processor 902, a memory 904, a data grouping module 908, a transceiver 910 including a modem subsystem 912 and a radio frequency (RF) unit 914, and one or more antennas 916. These elements may be coupled with one another. The term “coupled” may refer to directly or indirectly coupled or connected to one or more intervening elements. For instance, these elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, for example via one or more buses.

The processor 902 may include a central processing unit (CPU) , a digital signal processor (DSP) , an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein. The processor 902 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 904 may include a cache memory (e.g., a cache memory of the processor 902) , random access memory (RAM) , magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) , read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, solid state memory device, hard disk drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or a combination of different types of memory. In an aspect, the memory 904 includes a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The memory 904 may store, or have recorded thereon, instructions 906. The instructions 906 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 902, cause the processor 902 to perform the operations described herein with reference to a UE 115 or an anchor in connection with aspects of the present disclosure, for example, aspects of FIGs. 1-8 and 10-11. Instructions 906 may also be referred to as code, which may be interpreted broadly to include any type of computer-readable statement (s) as discussed above with respect to FIG. 8.

The data grouping module 908 may be implemented via hardware, software, or combinations thereof. For example, the data grouping module 908 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and/or instructions 906 stored in the memory 904 and executed by the processor 902. In some aspects, the data grouping module 908 can be integrated within the modem subsystem 912. For example, the data grouping module 908 can be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuitry) within the modem subsystem 912. The data grouping module 908 may communicate with one or more components of wireless communication device 900 to implement various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, aspects of FIGS. 1-8 and 10-11.

For instance, the data grouping module 908 may receive, from a plurality of UEs 115, a plurality of data blocks. Each data block of the plurality of data blocks may be associated with a UE ID of a plurality of UE IDs, and each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs may identify a UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115.

The data grouping module 908 may encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The data grouping module 908 may use a different MCS for encoding each data block, depending on a service requirement (e.g., a survival time requirement) associated with the data blocks. For example, data blocks from UEs 115 requiring URLLC may be encoded using a lower MCS than those from UEs 115 requiring emBB.

The data grouping module 908 may transmit group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block (e.g., a combination TB) including the plurality of encoded data blocks. The combination data block may include the group information. For example, a header (e.g., a physical layer header) of the combination data block may include the group information and the header may be transmitted in UCI.

In some aspects, the group information may include a plurality of UE information blocks. Each UE information block may include a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE 115 associated with the UE ID. The configuration parameters may include an indication of a location of an encoded information block associated with the UE ID. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of at least one of an MCS, a HARQ process ID, a redundancy version, or an NDI. Different UEs 115 may have different service requirements. Transmission of the encoded blocks for each UE 115 may be scheduled separately, and the encoded blocks for each UE 115 may use different MCSs (indicated in the configuration parameters) as described above, depending on the service requirement. The configuration parameters may also include an indication of the packet size of the data transmitted by the UE associated with the configuration parameters.

The group information may include a UE information block for each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115. In other words, the data grouping module 908 may include a UE information block in the group information whether or not the combination data block includes valid data from the UE 115 associated with the information block, so that each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 has a fixed-length information block in a fixed location of the group information. In this case, the data grouping module may set the bits in the UE information block to 0 to indicate no data for the UE 115 is included in the combination data block. Alternately, the group information may include fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs 115. For example, the size of the group information may be variable, with an information block included for a UE 115 only if the wireless communication device will transmit valid data from the UE 115 in the combination data block. In this case, the data grouping module 908 may adjust the allocation of the UE information blocks dynamically.

In some aspects, the data grouping module 908 may group, based on a grouping parameter, each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a group of a plurality groups. The grouping parameter may include a service requirement (e.g., a time stringency requirement or a survival time requirement) . The group information may include a plurality of group information blocks, each group information block associated with a group of the plurality of groups, wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication. For example, the data grouping module 908 may group data blocks together that have the same or similar timing requirements and encode and transmit those blocks together. The combination data block would then include the encoded blocks grouped together based on the grouping parameter. For example, data blocks associated with URLLC may be grouped together and data blocks associated with emBB may be grouped together so that the corresponding encoded blocks are grouped together in the combination TB. The time-sensitive indication may indicate whether the data from a UE 900 has a survival time and/or time-stringent requirement. A survival time may indicate the period of time a communication link may survive without receiving an anticipated message. Each group information block may also include one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs 900 associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a HARQ Process ID associated with the UE ID.

In some aspects, as part of transmitting the group information and the combination data block, the data grouping module 908 may transmit a PUSCH signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first MCS, and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS, which may be different from the first MCS. The group information may indicate the first MCS and the second MCS.

In some aspects (e.g., when the wireless communication device 900 is a UE 115) , the data grouping module 908 may communicate with multiple sensors (e.g., sensors wirelessly connected to the wireless communication device 900) , and each sensor of the wireless communication device 900 may have a different service requirement (e.g., some sensors may require URLLC and some may require emBB) , as described in detail in FIG. 6. The data grouping module 908 may gather data from the multiple sensors, combine the data, and generate group information, then transmit the combined data and group information to a different wireless communication device 900 (e.g., an anchor 225) . For instance, as part of receiving the plurality of data blocks, the data grouping module 908 may receive, from a first UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 (e.g., from a UE 115 with-or communicating with-multiple sensors) , a first data block of the plurality of data blocks and second group information. The first data block may include a plurality of data sub-blocks each associated with at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and the second group information may include a service requirement parameter for each of the plurality of sensors.

As shown, the transceiver 910 may include the modem subsystem 912 and the RF unit 914. The transceiver 910 can be configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the

BSs

105 and 800. The modem subsystem 912 may be configured to modulate and/or encode the data from the memory 904 and/or the data grouping module 908 according to a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , e.g., a low-density parity check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, a digital beamforming scheme, etc. The RF unit 914 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog to digital conversion or digital to analog conversion, etc. ) modulated/encoded data (e.g., combination TBs, group information, UCI, etc. ) from the modem subsystem 912 (on outbound transmissions) or of transmissions originating from another source such as a UE 115, a BS 105, or an anchor. The RF unit 914 may be further configured to perform analog beamforming in conjunction with the digital beamforming. Although shown as integrated together in transceiver 910, the modem subsystem 912 and the RF unit 914 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the UE 115 to enable the UE 115 to communicate with other devices.

The RF unit 914 may provide the modulated and/or processed data, e.g. data packets (or, more generally, data messages that may contain one or more data packets and other information) , to the antennas 916 for transmission to one or more other devices. The antennas 916 may further receive data messages transmitted from other devices. The antennas 916 may provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 910. The transceiver 910 may provide the demodulated and decoded data (e.g., data signals, sensor readings, etc. ) to the data grouping module 908 for processing. The antennas 916 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to sustain multiple transmission links.

In an example, transceiver 910 is configured to receive, from a plurality of UEs, a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115. The processor 802 (e.g., in combination with the data grouping module 808) is configured to encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. The transceiver is further configured to transmit group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram illustrating a communication method 1000 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Aspects of the method 1000 can be executed by a computing device (e.g., a processor, processing circuit, and/or other suitable component) of a wireless communication device or other suitable means for performing the blocks. For example, the wireless communication device may be a wireless communication device 900, which may include a UE 115 or an anchor node 225. The wireless communication device 900 may utilize one or more components, such as the processor 902, the memory 904, the data grouping module 908, the transceiver 910, the modem 912, the RF unit 914, and the one or more antennas 916, to execute the blocks of method 1000. The method 1000 may employ similar mechanisms as described in FIGS. 2-9. As illustrated, the method 1000 includes a number of enumerated blocks, but aspects of the method 1000 may include additional blocks before, after, and in between the enumerated blocks. In some aspects, one or more of the enumerated blocks may be omitted or performed in a different order.

At block 1002, the wireless communication device 900 receives, from a plurality of UEs 115, a plurality of data blocks. Each data block of the plurality of data blocks may be associated with a UE ID of a plurality of UE IDs, and each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs may identify a UE of the plurality of UEs. For example, each UE ID may be a C-RNTI or other identifier that uniquely identifies a UE 115 within the plurality of UEs 115. In some aspects, the wireless communication device 900 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 902, the memory 904, the data grouping module 908, the transceiver 910, the modem 912, the RF unit 914, and the one or more antennas 916, to perform the operations at block 1002.

At block 1004, the wireless communication device 900 encodes each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks. A different MCS may be used for encoding each data block, depending on a service requirement (e.g., a survival time requirement) associated with the data blocks. For example, data blocks from UEs 115 requiring URLLC may be encoded using a lower MCS than those from UEs 115 requiring emBB. In some aspects, the wireless communication device 900 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 902, the memory 904, the data grouping module 908, the transceiver 910, the modem 912, the RF unit 914, and the one or more antennas 916, to perform the operations at block 1004.

At block 1006, the wireless communication device 900 transmits (e.g., to a BS 100 or an anchor 225) group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block (e.g., a combination TB) including the plurality of encoded data blocks. The combination data block may include the group information. For example, a header (e.g., a physical layer header) of the combination data block may include the group information and the header may be transmitted in UCI.

The group information may include a UE information block for each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115. In other words, a UE information block may be included in the group information whether or not the combination data block includes valid data from the UE 115 associated with the information block, so that each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 has a fixed-length information block in a fixed location of the group information. In this case, the bits in the UE information block may be set to 0 to indicate no data for the UE 115 is included in the combination data block. Alternately, the group information may include fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs 115. For example, the size of the group information may be variable, with an information block included for a UE 115 only if the wireless communication device will transmit valid data from the UE 115 in the combination data block. In this case, the BS 105 may adjust the allocation of the UE information blocks dynamically.

In some aspects, the wireless communication device 900 may group, based on a grouping parameter, each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a group of a plurality groups. The grouping parameter may include a service requirement (e.g., a time stringency requirement or a survival time requirement) . The group information may include a plurality of group information blocks, each group information block associated with a group of the plurality of groups, wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication. For example, the wireless communication device 900 may group data blocks together that have the same or similar timing requirements and encode and transmit those blocks together. The combination data block would then include the encoded blocks grouped together based on the grouping parameter. For example, data blocks associated with URLLC may be grouped together and data blocks associated with emBB may be grouped together so that the corresponding encoded blocks are grouped together in the combination TB. The time sensitive may indicate whether the data from a UE 900 has a survival time and/or time-stringent requirement. A survival time may indicate the period of time a communication link may survive without receiving an anticipated message. Each group information block may also include one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs 900 associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a HARQ Process ID associated with the UE ID.

In some aspects, as part of transmitting the group information and the combination data block, the wireless communication device 900 may transmit a PUSCH signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first MCS, and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS, which may be different from the first MCS. The group information may indicate the first MCS and the second MCS.

In some aspects, a UE 900 may include or communicate with multiple sensors, and each sensor of the UE may have a different service requirement (e.g., some sensors may require URLLC and some may require emBB) , as described in detail in FIG. 6. The UE 900 may gather data from the multiple sensors, combine the data, and generate group information, then transmit the combined data and group information to the wireless communication device. For instance, as part of receiving the plurality of data blocks, the wireless communication device 900 may receive, from a first UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 (e.g., from a UE 115 with-or communicating with-multiple sensors) , a first data block of the plurality of data blocks and second group information. The first data block may include a plurality of data sub-blocks each associated with at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and the second group information may include a service requirement parameter for each of the plurality of sensors.

In some aspects, the wireless communication device 900 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 902, the memory 904, the data grouping module 908, the transceiver 910, the modem 912, the RF unit 914, and the one or more antennas 916, to perform the operations at block 1006.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram illustrating a communication method 1100 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Aspects of the method 1100 can be executed by a computing device (e.g., a processor, processing circuit, and/or other suitable component) of a wireless communication device or other suitable means for performing the blocks. For example, the wireless communication device may be a BS 105 or BS 800, and may utilize one or more components, such as the processor 802, the memory 804, the data grouping module 808, the transceiver 810, the modem 812, the RF unit 814, and the one or more antennas 816, to execute the blocks of method 1100. The method 1100 may employ similar mechanisms as described in FIGS. 2-10. As illustrated, the method 1100 includes a number of enumerated blocks, but aspects of the method 1100 may include additional blocks before, after, and in between the enumerated blocks. In some aspects, one or more of the enumerated blocks may be omitted or performed in a different order.

At block 1102, the BS 800 may establish a connection with a second wireless communication device 900, which may be, for example, an anchor 225. In some aspects, the establishing of the connection may include performing an initial random access and/or establishing an RRC connection as discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 with the second wireless communication device 900. The second wireless communication device may relay communications between the BS 800 and other devices (e.g., one or more wireless communication devices 900, such as UEs 115 or other anchors 225) . In some aspects, the BS 800 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 802, the memory 804, the data grouping module 808, the transceiver 810, the modem 812, the RF unit 814, and the one or more antennas 816, to perform the operations at block 1102.

At block 1104, the BS 800 may establish a connection with each UE 115 of a plurality of UEs 115. In some aspects, the establishing of the connection may include performing an initial random access and/or establishing an RRC connection as discussed above with reference to FIG. 1 with each UE 115. Each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 may be or include a sensor. In some aspects, UEs 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 may include multiple sensors, or communicate with multiple sensors wirelessly. In some aspects, the BS 800 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 802, the memory 804, the data grouping module 808, the transceiver 810, the modem 812, the RF unit 814, and the one or more antennas 816, to perform the operations at block 1104.

At block 1106, the BS 800 may receive, from the second wireless communication device 900, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs. Each UE ID may be a C-RNTI or other identifier that uniquely identifies a UE 115 within the plurality of UEs 115. The combination data block may include the group information. For example, a header (e.g., a physical layer header) of the combination data block may include the group information and the header may be received in UCI.

The group information may include a UE information block for each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115. In other words, a UE information block may be included in the group information whether or not the combination data block includes valid data from the UE 115 associated with the information block, so that each UE 115 of the plurality of UEs 115 has a fixed-length information block in a fixed location of the group information. In this case, the bits in the UE information block may be set to 0 to indicate no data for the UE 115 is included in the combination data block. Alternately, the group information may include fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs 115. For example, the size of the group information may be variable, with an information block included for a UE 115 only if the wireless communication device 900 transmitted valid data from the UE 115 in the combination data block. In this case, the BS 105 may adjust the allocation of the UE information blocks dynamically.

In some aspects, as part of receiving the group information and the combination data block, the BS 800 may receive a PUSCH signal including the group information using a first MCS for a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) , and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS, which may be different from the first MCS. The group information may indicate the first MCS and the second MCS. In some aspects, the BS 800 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 802, the memory 804, the data grouping module 808, the transceiver 810, the modem 812, the RF unit 814, and the one or more antennas 816, to perform the operations at block 1106.

At block 1108, the BS 800 may decode, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks. For example, the BS 800 may locate a data block corresponding to a particular UE 115 using the UE ID for that UE 115 in the group information and decode the data block based on the MCS indicated in the UE information block associated with the UE ID for the UE 115. In some aspects, the BS 800 may utilize one or more components, such the processor 802, the memory 804, the data grouping module 808, the transceiver 810, the modem 812, the RF unit 814, and the one or more antennas 816, to perform the operations at block 1108.

Further aspects of the present disclosure include the following:

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) , a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs;

encoding each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks; and

transmitting group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.

2. The method of aspect 1, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.

3. The method of aspects 1-2, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE information blocks, each UE information block including a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID, wherein the configuration parameters include an indication of a location of an encoded information block associated with the UE ID.

4. The method of aspects 1-3, wherein the configuration parameters further include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) .

5. The method of aspects 1-4, wherein the group information includes a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs.

6. The method of aspects 1-4, wherein the group information includes fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs.

7. The method of aspects 1-2, further comprising:

grouping, based on a grouping parameter, each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a group of a plurality groups.

8. The method of aspects 1-2 and 7, wherein the grouping parameter includes a service requirement.

9. The method of aspects 1-2 and 7, wherein the group information includes a plurality of group information blocks, wherein each group information block is associated with a group of the plurality of groups, and wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication.

10. The method of aspects 1-2 and 7-9, wherein each group information block further includes one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) Process ID associated with the UE ID.

11. The method of aspects 1-2, wherein the transmitting the group information and the combination data block comprises:

transmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal including the group information using a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) for a first subset of the of encoded data blocks based on a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) , and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS.

12. The method of aspects 1-2, wherein the receiving the plurality of data blocks comprises:

receiving, from a first UE of the plurality of UEs, a first data block of the plurality of data blocks and second group information, wherein the first data block includes a plurality of data sub-blocks each associated with at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and wherein the second group information includes a service requirement parameter for each of the plurality of sensors.

13. A method of wireless communication performed by a first wireless communication device, the method comprising:

establishing a connection with a second wireless communication device;

establishing a connection with each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UEs;

receiving, from the second wireless communication device, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs; and

decoding, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.

14. The method of aspect 13, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.

15. The method of aspects 13-14, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE information blocks, each UE information block including a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID, wherein the configuration parameters include an indication of a location of a data block of the combination data block, wherein the data block is associated with the UE ID.

16. The method of aspects 13-15, wherein the configuration parameters further include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) .

17. The method of aspects 13-16, wherein the group information includes a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs.

18. The method of aspects 13-15, wherein the group information includes fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs.

19. The method of aspects 13-14, wherein the plurality of data blocks of the combination data block are arranged into a plurality of groups based on a grouping parameter.

20. The method of aspects 13-14 and 19, wherein the grouping parameter includes a service requirement.

21. The method of aspects 13-14 and 19-20, wherein the group information includes a plurality of group information blocks, wherein each group information block is associated with a group of the plurality of groups, and wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication.

22. The method of aspects 13-14 and 19-21 wherein each group information block further includes one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) Process ID associated with the UE ID.

23. The method of aspect 13, wherein the receiving the group information and the combination data block comprises:

receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of data blocks based on a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) , and second subset of the plurality of data blocks based on a second MCS.

Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration) .

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, functions described above can be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or combinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may also be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (for example, a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or “one or more of” ) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of [at least one of A, B, or C] means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) .

As those of some skill in this art will by now appreciate and depending on the particular application at hand, many modifications, substitutions and variations can be made in and to the materials, apparatus, configurations and methods of use of the devices of the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope thereof. In light of this, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to that of the particular aspects illustrated and described herein, as they are merely by way of some examples thereof, but rather, should be fully commensurate with that of the claims appended hereafter and their functional equivalents.

Claims

A method of wireless communication performed by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

receiving, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) , a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs;

encoding each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks; and

transmitting group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.
The method of claim 1, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.
The method of claim 1, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE information blocks, each UE information block including a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID, wherein the configuration parameters include an indication of a location of an encoded information block associated with the UE ID.
The method of claim 3, wherein the configuration parameters further include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) .
The method of claim 3, wherein the group information includes a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 3, wherein the group information includes fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

grouping, based on a grouping parameter, each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a group of a plurality groups.
The method of claim 7, wherein the grouping parameter includes a service requirement.
The method of claim 7, wherein the group information includes a plurality of group information blocks, wherein each group information block is associated with a group of the plurality of groups, and wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication.
The method of claim 9, wherein each group information block further includes one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) Process ID associated with the UE ID.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the group information and the combination data block comprises:

transmitting a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) , and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS.
The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the plurality of data blocks comprises:

receiving, from a first UE of the plurality of UEs, a first data block of the plurality of data blocks and second group information, wherein the first data block includes a plurality of data sub-blocks each associated with at least one sensor of a plurality of sensors, and wherein the second group information includes a service requirement parameter for each of the plurality of sensors.
A method of wireless communication performed by a first wireless communication device, the method comprising:

establishing a connection with a second wireless communication device;

establishing a connection with each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UEs;

receiving, from the second wireless communication device, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs; and

decoding, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.
The method of claim 13, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.
The method of claim 13, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE information blocks, each UE information block including a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID, wherein the configuration parameters include an indication of a location of a data block of the combination data block, wherein the data block is associated with the UE ID.
The method of claim 15, wherein the configuration parameters further include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) .
The method of claim 15, wherein the group information includes a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 15, wherein the group information includes fewer UE information blocks than the number of the plurality of UEs.
The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of data blocks of the combination data block are arranged into a plurality of groups based on a grouping parameter.
The method of claim 19, wherein the grouping parameter includes a service requirement.
The method of claim 19, wherein the group information includes a plurality of group information blocks, wherein each group information block is associated with a group of the plurality of groups, and wherein each group information block includes a time-sensitive indication.
The method of claim 21 wherein each group information block further includes one or more UE IDs corresponding to any UEs associated with a data block in the group associated with the group information block, and a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) Process ID associated with the UE ID.
The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the group information and the combination data block comprises:

receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) signal including the group information, a first subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a first modulation coding scheme (MCS) , and a second subset of the plurality of encoded data blocks based on a second MCS.
A wireless communication device, comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

receive, from a plurality of user equipments (UEs) , a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a user equipment (UE) ID of a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies a UE of the plurality of UEs; and

a processor configured to:

encode each data block of the plurality of data blocks into a plurality of encoded data blocks,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

transmit group information including the plurality of UE IDs and a combination data block including the plurality of encoded data blocks.
The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.
The wireless communication device of claim 24, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE information blocks, each UE information block including a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs and configuration parameters for the UE associated with the UE ID, wherein the configuration parameters include an indication of a location of an encoded information block associated with the UE ID.
The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein the configuration parameters further include an indication of at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, a redundancy version, or a new data indicator (NDI) .
The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein the group information includes a UE information block for each UE of the plurality of UEs.
A wireless communication device, comprising:

a processor configured to:

establish a connection with a second wireless communication device; and

establish a connection with each user equipment (UE) of a plurality of UEs; and

a transceiver coupled to the processor, wherein the transceiver is configured to:

receive, from the second wireless communication device, group information and a combination data block, wherein the group information includes a plurality of UE IDs, wherein each UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs identifies one of the plurality of UEs, and wherein the combination data block includes a plurality of data blocks, each data block of the plurality of data blocks associated with a UE ID of the plurality of UE IDs,

wherein the processor is further configured to:

decode, based on the plurality of UE IDs, each data block of the plurality of data blocks.
The wireless communication device of claim 29, wherein the combination data block includes the group information.