WO2022193256A1

WO2022193256A1 - Communication methods, devices, and computer-readable medium

Info

Publication number: WO2022193256A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/081628
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lin Liang; Gang Wang
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2021-03-18
Filing date: 2021-03-18
Publication date: 2022-09-22

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to communication methods, devices, and computer readable medium. In the method, a terminal device receives a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device. The terminal device then determining an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration. After that, the terminal device determines the transport block size by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported transport block size for the terminal device. As a result, a solution for determination of TBS for TBoMS is provided, such that coverage enhancement is achieved with TBoMS. In addition an upper bound for TBS is able to be limited such that TBS for TBoMS will not exceed a maximum supported TBS.

Description

COMMUNICATION METHODS, DEVICES, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication, and in particular, to communication methods, devices, and computer-readable medium.

BACKGROUND

New radio (NR) is a new radio access technology (RAT) developed by 3 ^rd generation partnership project (3GPP) for the fifth generation (5G) . In NR, one transport block (TB) is processed within one slot or mini-slot. In order to enhance coverage for NR, TB over multiple slots (TBoMS) is one of objectives in the work item in 3GPP standard and has become one of the hot topics under discussion. As a new type of transmission, there are various aspects for TBoMS to be discussed so as to achieve coverage enhancement and other benefits in communication systems.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for communication.

In a first aspect, there is provided a communication method. The method comprises: receiving, at a terminal device, a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device; determining an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration; and determining the transport block size by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported transport block size for the terminal device.

In a second aspect, there is provided a communication method. The method comprises receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission; determining the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and determining a transport block size based on the number of allocated resources and the scaling factor.

In a third aspect, there is provided a communication method. The method comprises transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission; and receiving, from the terminal device, the uplink transmission of a transport block based on a transport block size determined from the resource allocation and the scaling factor.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device includes a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the terminal device to perform the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device includes a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causing the network device to perform the method according to the third aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the first aspect or the second aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to the third aspect.

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

Fig. 1 illustrate a schematic diagram of a communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

Fig. 2 illustrates a signaling flow for transport block size (TBS) determination in accordance some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates a signaling flow for TBS determination in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an example method of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of an example method of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates a flow chart of an example method of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

As used herein, the term “terminal device” refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but is not limited to, user equipments (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, Internet of Everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, device on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, or image capture devices such as digital cameras, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like.

The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device. In addition, the term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an Evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a Transmission Reception Point (TRP) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, and the like.

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

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

As used herein, the singular forms ‘a’ , ‘an’ and ‘the’ are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

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

Fig. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The communication system 100, which is a part of a communication network, includes a terminal device 110-1, a terminal device 110-2, ..., a terminal device 110-N, which can be collectively referred to as “terminal device (s) 110. ” The number N may be any suitable integer number.

The communication system 100 further includes a network device 120. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may be a gNB. Alternatively, the network device 120 may be IAB. Although not shown, there may also be more than one network device 120 in the communication system 100.

In the communication system 100, the network device 120 and the terminal devices 110 may communicate data and control information to each other. The numbers of terminal devices 110 and network device 120 shown in Fig. 1 are given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations.

Communications in the communication system 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , including, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: code divided multiple address (CDMA) , frequency divided multiple address (FDMA) , time divided multiple address (TDMA) , frequency divided duplexer (FDD) , time divided duplexer (TDD) , multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) , orthogonal frequency divided multiple access (OFDMA) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

As mentioned above, in conventional communication networks, one TB is only processed within one slot/mini-slot. In order to enhance coverage, TBoMS is currently proposed, which allows a transport block to be processed over more than one slot. The communication mechanisms for TBoMS may need to be carefully designed, including resource allocation, resource mapping, TB size (TBS) determination, mapping modulation samples into allocated resources, and the like. Example embodiments of the present disclosure provide some solutions for TBS determination for TBoMS, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Reference is now made to Fig. 2, which illustrates a signaling flow for TBS determination in accordance some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 200 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The signaling flow 200 may involve a terminal device 110 and a network device 120 shown in Fig. 1. It should be appreciated that the signaling flow 200 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some acts as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As shown in Fig. 2, a terminal device 110 receives 210 a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device 120. In some embodiments, the transmission configuration may at least indicate resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots. The uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots may also be referred to as TBoMS. As such, the terminal device 110 may be configured with the resource allocation used for TBoMS (e.g., TBoMS for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) ) . In some embodiments, the transmission configuration may further indicate other parameters related to the uplink transmission, as will be discussed below.

The terminal device 110 determines 220 an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size (TBS) for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration. Generally, in order to determine a TBS, the parameter (s) configured in the transmission configuration from the network device 120 may be used to calculate an intermediate variable, which is used to look up for a table or to calculate directly the TBS. The determination of the intermediate variable will be described in detail below.

Upon determination of the intermediate variable, the terminal device 110 determines 230 the TBS by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported TBS for the terminal device 110.

Currently, as the TBoMS is introduced, it is desired to limit the size of the TBoMS as the TBoMS can be processed across multiple slots. In accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, instead of directly determining a reasonable maximum TBS to limit the size of the TBoMS, an upper bound is set for the intermediate variable used in determining the size of the TBoMS. This upper bound is referred to as a reference intermediate variable, which may be considered as an intermediate variable for determining the maximum supported TBS for the terminal device 110.

In some embodiments, the TBS may be determined based on an unquantized intermediate variable, which is determined by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported TBS. In some examples, the unquantized intermediate variable may also be referred to as N _info. In these embodiments, for example, the unquantized intermediate variable may be determined with below method: if it is determined that the intermediate variable is smaller or equal to the reference intermediate variable, the terminal device 110 may determine the unquantized intermediate variable based on the intermediate variable; and if it is determined that the intermediate variable is greater than the reference intermediate variable, the terminal device 110 may determine the unquantized intermediate variable based on the reference intermediate variable. For example, the following equation (1) may be used to determine the unquantized intermediate variable (represented as N _info) :

N _info = MIN (intermediate variable, N _{ref_info}) (1)

where the intermediate variable is the intermediate variable for determination of a TBS for the uplink transmission as mentioned above; N _{ref_info} is the reference intermediate variable. As such, the result obtained from MIN in the above equation will be used for determining TBS. Ways on how to determine the intermediate variable and the reference intermediate variable N _{ref_info} will be introduced in a later part of the present disclosure.

Accordingly, a solution for determination of TBS for TBoMS is provided. In one aspect, coverage enhancement is able to be achieved with TBoMS used in the uplink transmission. Meanwhile, in this solution, instead of directly determining a reasonable maximum TBS to limit the size of the TBoMS, the intermediate variable used in determining the size of the TBoMS is limited by the reference intermediate variable. As such, it is possible to set an upper bound for the size of the TBoMS such that this size will not exceed a maximum size. Further, MIN operation is introduced to get both flexible scheduling gain and lower extra hardware consumption.

In some embodiments, with the TBS determined, the terminal device 110 may perform the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device 120 based on the determined TBS.

In the following part, more details for determining TBS according to some embodiment of the present disclosure will be introduced. It should be appreciated that the following examples are only provided for the purpose of illustration, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the transmission configuration may indicate resource allocation, a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 may determine the intermediate variable based on these parameters in the following ways.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a RB (may also be referred to as PRB in the embodiments) based on the resource allocation. The following is an example for determining the number of resources allocated based on the resource allocation. In this example, the terminal device 110 may determine the resources allocated i.e., the number of REs allocated for PUSCH within a physical resource block (PRB) (N′ _RE) by the following equation (2) :

where

is the number of subcarriers in the frequency domain in a physical resource block,

is the number of symbols L of the PUSCH allocation according to Clause 6.1.2.1 (of TS 38.214) for scheduled PUSCH or Clause 6.1.2.3 (of TS 38.214) for configured PUSCH,

is the number of REs for demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) per PRB in the allocated duration including the overhead of the DM-RS code division multiplexing (CDM) groups without data, as described for PUSCH with a configured grant in Clause 6.1.2.3 (of TS 38.214) or as indicated by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_1 or DCI format 0_2 or as described for DCI format 0_0 in Clause 6.2.2 (of TS 38.214) , and

is the overhead configured by higher layer parameter xOverhead in PUSCH-ServingCellConfig. If the

is not configured (a value from 6, 12, or 18) , the

is assumed to be 0. For Msg3 or MsgA PUSCH transmission the

is always set to 0. In case of PUSCH repetition Type B,

is determined assuming a nominal repetition with the duration of L symbols without segmentation.

In such example, the terminal device 110 may then determine the total number of REs allocated for PUSCH by the following equation (3) :

N _RE=min (156, N′ _RE) ·n _PRB (3)

where n _PRB is the total number of allocated PRBs for the UE. As a result, the resulting N _RE may be used in the following step when determining the intermediate variable.

In another example, the terminal device 110 may also determine the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block in the following way.

For example, the terminal device 110 may determine the number of REs (may also be referred to as N _L) in the first L symbols over which the TBoMS transmission is allocated. L is the number of symbols determined using the start and length indicator (SLIV) of PUSCH indicated via time domain resource assignment (TDRA) . In such example, the number of REs determined in the first L symbols over which the TBoMS transmission may also be scaled by S≥1, the details of which will be introduced in the following part. For example, the N _L may be used in the following steps when determining the intermediate variable.

It should be appreciated that there may also be other ways to determine the number of resources allocated for uplink transmission within a resource block and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In some embodiments, upon determining the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission, the terminal device 110 may determine the intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission. In such embodiments, there may be a few alternatives for determining the intermediate variable the details of which will be illustrated in the following part. However, it should be appreciated that there may also be other ways for determining the intermediate variable and the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In one example, the intermediate variable may be determined with the following equation (4) :

Intermediate Variable = N _RE*R*Q*v (4)

where N _RE may be the total number of REs allocated obtained in the previous equation (3) . R and Q are coding rate and modulation order based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) indication in DCI. V is layer number indicated by DCI.

In such example, MCS and/or RB allocation may be indicated to the terminal device 110 as in conventional solution, which is flexible for scheduling and may have performance gain for some cases.

In a further example, the intermediate variable may be determined with the following equation (5) :

Intermediate Variable = S *N _L*R*Q*v (5)

where N _L is the number of REs in the first L symbols over which the TBoMS transmission is allocated, as obtained above; R and Q are coding rate and modulation order based on the MCS indication in DCI; V is layer number indicated by DCI; and S is a scaling factor. The scaling factor may be configured by the network device 120, for example, together with the transmission configuration (e.g, in DCI) . The scaling factor may be equal to or larger than one. A solution for determining the intermediate variable (and then determining the TBS) with the scaling factor will be elaborated in detail in the later part of the present disclosure.

In such further example, MCS and/or RB allocation may also be indicated to the terminal device 110 as in conventional solution, which is flexible for scheduling and may have performance gain for some cases.

In the above discussion, some embodiments for determining the intermediate variable are illustrated. In the following part, embodiments of how to determine a reference intermediate variable for the maximum supported TBS for the terminal device 110 will be introduced. It should be appreciated that following embodiments are introduced only for the purpose of illustration, without providing any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, for example, the terminal device 110 may determine the reference intermediate variable (may be referred to as N _{ref_info}) based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and the maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device 110. In such embodiments, for example, the reference intermediate variable may be determined according to the following equation (6) :

N _{ref_info} = min (156, N’ _RE) *N _max_ _PRB*R*Q*v (6)

where (N′ _RE) may be calculated as in the above equation (2) , N _{max_PRB} is determined based on the maximum number of RBs in bandwidth part (BWP) (i.e., the system bandwidth for the terminal device 110 mentioned above) . In this example, only RB is considered for limitation, that is, the size of TBoMS does not exceed conventional transmission as if all RBs are allocated for a MCS. R and Q are coding rate and modulation order based on the MCS indication in DCI. V is layer number indicated by DCI.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine the reference intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, the maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device 110, the maximum coding rate for the terminal device 110, and the maximum modulation order for the terminal device 110. In such embodiments, for example, the reference intermediate variable may be determined according to the following equation (7) :

N _{ref_info} = min (156, N’ _RE) *N _max_ _PRB*R _max*Q _max*v (7)

where (N′ _RE) may be calculated as in the above equation (2) , N _{max_PRB} is determined based on the maximum number of RBs in BWP, R _max and Q _max are the maximum coding rate and maximum modulation order for the terminal device 110. V is layer number indicated by DCI. In this example, only RB and MCS are consider for limitation, i.e., TBoMS TBS does not exceed conventional transmission as if all RB is allocated and highest MCS level is indicated for a time domain resource allocation (for a SLIV) .

In some other embodiments, the terminal device 110 may also determine the reference intermediate variable based on the maximum number of resources allocated in a resource block of a system bandwidth, the maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device 110, the maximum coding rate for the terminal device 110, the maximum modulation order for the terminal device 110, and the maximum number of layers for the uplink transmission. For example, the reference intermediate variable may be determined according to the following equation (8) :

N _{ref_info} = 156 *N _max_ _PRB*R _max*Q _max*V _max (8)

where 156 is the maximum number of resources allocated in a resource block; N _{max_PRB} is determined based on the maximum number of RBs in BWP; R _max and Q _max are the maximum coding rate and modulation order for the terminal device 110; and V _max is the maximum number of layers for the terminal device 110, which may be indicated by DCI.

In some other embodiments, the terminal device 110 may also determine the reference intermediate variable based on a limited buffer margin for a transport block to be transmitted by the terminal device 110. In such embodiments, for example, the limited buffer margin for a transport block may be determined based on TBS _LBRM (where LBRM is limited-buffer rate-matching) as defined in section 5.4.2.1 in TS38.212 as below. In such example, only hardware is considered for limitation.

According to section 5.4.2.1 in TS38.212, TBS _LBRM is determined according to Clause 6.1.4.2 in [6, TS 38.214] for UL-SCH and Clause 5.1.3.2 in [6, TS 38.214] for DL-SCH/PCH, assuming the following:

- maximum number of layers for one TB for UL-SCH is given by X, where

- if the higher layer parameter maxMIMO-Layers of PUSCH-ServingCellConfig of the serving cell is configured, X is given by that parameter

- elseif the higher layer parameter maxRank of pusch-Config of the serving cell is configured, X is given by the maximum value of maxRank across all BWPs of the serving cell

- otherwise, X is given by the maximum number of layers for PUSCH supported by the UE for the serving cell

- maximum number of layers for one TB for DL-SCH/PCH is given by the minimum of X and 4, where

- if the higher layer parameter maxMIMO-Layers of PDSCH-ServingCellConfig of the serving cell is configured, X is given by that parameter

- otherwise, X is given by the maximum number of layers for PDSCH supported by the UE for the serving cell

- if the higher layer parameter mcs-Table given by a pdsch-Config for at least one DL BWP of the serving cell is set to ′qam256′, maximum modulation order Q _m=8 is assumed for DL-SCH; otherwise a maximum modulation order Q _m=6 is assumed for DL-SCH;

- if the higher layer parameter mcs-Table or mcs-TableTransformPrecoder given by a pusch-Config or configuredGrantConfig for at least one UL BWP of the serving cell is set to ′qam256′, maximum modulation order Q _m=8 is assumed for UL-SCH;

otherwise a maximum modulation order Q _m=6 is assumed for UL-SCH

- maximum coding rate of 948/1024;

- n _PRB=n _PRB, LBRM is given by Table 5.4.2.1-1, where the value of n _PRB, LBRM for DL-SCH is determined according to the initial downlink bandwidth part if there is no other downlink bandwidth part configured to the UE;

- N _RE=156·n _PRB;

- C is the number of code blocks of the transport block determined according to Clause 5.2.2.

In the following part, solution for determining the TBS according to some embodiments will be introduced. However, it should be appreciated that the TBS may also be determined in other alternatives and the scope of the present disclosure will not be limited in this regard.

As mentioned above, the intermediate value may be compared with the reference intermediate variable N _{ref_info} and the smaller one of them may be determined as an unquantized intermediate variable N _info which can then be used to determine the TBS for TBoMS. In the following part, a detailed example about how to determine the TBS based on the unquantized intermediate variable will be illustrated. However, there may also be other method for determine the TBS based on the unquantized intermediate variable and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

In the example, the TBS is determined according to the method in Section 5.1.3.2 of TS 38.214 as follows. Upon obtaining the unquantized intermediate variable (N _info) ,

If N _inf o≤3824

Use step 3 as the next step of the TBS determination

else

Use step 4 as the next step of the TBS determination

end if

3) When N _inf o≤3824, TBS is determined as follows

- quantized intermediate number of information bits

where

- use Table 5.1.3.2-1 find the closest TBS that is not less than N′ _inf o.

Table 5.1.3.2-1: TBS for N _inf o≤3824

Index	TBS	Index	TBS	Index	TBS	Index	TBS
1	24	31	336	61	1288	91	3624
2	32	32	352	62	1320	92	3752
3	40	33	368	63	1352	93	3824
4	48	34	384	64	1416
5	56	35	408	65	1480
6	64	36	432	66	1544
7	72	37	456	67	1608
8	80	38	480	68	1672
9	88	39	504	69	1736
10	96	40	528	70	1800
11	104	41	552	71	1864
12	112	42	576	72	1928
13	120	43	608	73	2024
14	128	44	640	74	2088
15	136	45	672	75	2152
16	144	46	704	76	2216
17	152	47	736	77	2280
18	160	48	768	78	2408
19	168	49	808	79	2472
20	176	50	848	80	2536
21	184	51	888	81	2600
22	192	52	928	82	2664
23	208	53	984	83	2728
24	224	54	1032	84	2792
25	240	55	1064	85	2856
26	256	56	1128	86	2976
27	272	57	1160	87	3104
28	288	58	1192	88	3240
29	304	59	1224	89	3368
30	320	60	1256	90	3496

4) When N _info＞3824, TBS is determined as follows.

- quantized intermediate number of information bits

where

and ties in the round function are broken towards the next largest integer.

- if R≤1/4

else if Table 5.1.3.1-2 is used and 28≤I _MCS≤31,

- the TBS is assumed to be as determined from the DCI transported in the latest PDCCH for the same transport block using 0≤I _MCS≤27. If there is no PDCCH for the same transport block using 0≤I _MCS≤27, and if the initial PDSCH for the same transport block is semi-persistently scheduled, the TBS shall be determined from the most recent semi-persistent scheduling assignment PDCCH.

else

- the TBS is assumed to be as determined from the DCI transported in the latest PDCCH for the same transport block using 0≤I _MCS≤28. If there is no PDCCH for the same transport block using0≤I _MCS≤28, and if the initial PDSCH for the same transport block is semi-persistently scheduled, the TBS shall be determined from the most recent semi-persistent scheduling assignment PDCCH.

Further, as mentioned above, a scaling factor can be used when TBS is determined. In the following part, a method for TBS determination with the scaling factor will be illustrated with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 illustrates a signaling flow for TBS determination in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow 300 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The signaling flow 300 may involve a terminal device 110 and a network device 120 shown in Fig. 1. It should be appreciated that the signaling flow 300 may include additional acts not shown and/or may omit some acts as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

As shown in Fig. 3, a network device 120 transmits 305 control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 receives 310 from the network device 120, control information. In some example embodiments, the control information may indicate the resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots. As the transmission of a transport block is to be performed across a plurality of slots, such a transport block is referred to as a transport block over multiple slots (TBoMS) .

In some embodiments, the scaling factor may be selected from a set of predetermined values. In such embodiments, the set of predetermined values may include at least one non-integer value. For example, the set of predetermined values may include non-integer values such as 1.5, 1.25, 2.5 and the like, and possibly integer values such as 1, 2, 3, 4, and the like. Thus, in some cases, the network device 120 may set the scaling factor as a non-integer value and indicate it to the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, the scaling factor may be greater than one. For example, the scaling factor may be 1.25, 1.5, 2, 3, 4 and the like. The scaling factor may also be other values and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

Upon receiving the control information, the terminal device 110 determines 320 the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation. Then, the terminal device 110 determines 330 a TBS based on the number of allocated resources and the scaling factor.

As such, a solution for TBS is able to be determined based on the number of resources allocated (which is determined based on the resource allocation) and a scaling factor. Accordingly, consistent TBS for initial transmission and retransmission can be obtained. As a result, the implementation flexibility is secured.

In some embodiments, as a next step, the terminal device 110 may perform the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device 120 based on the determined TBS. Accordingly, the network device 120 receives, from the terminal device 110, the uplink transmission of a transport block based on a TBS determined from the resource allocation and the scaling factor.

In the following part, some methods illustrating how to indicate the scaling factor will be illustrated according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that the scaling factor may also be indicated by the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 and the scope is not limited in this regard.

In some embodiments, the control information may include a field indicating a value of the scaling factor. In such embodiments, for example, the filed indicating the value of the scaling factor may be 1.5, 2.5 and the like.

In some other embodiments, the scaling factor may be mapped to the resource allocation selected from a plurality of pre-configured resource allocations. The plurality of pre-configured resource allocations are mapped to different scaling factors. In one example, the plurality of pre-configured resource allocations (e.g., a PUSCH allocation list) may be transmitted from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 via RRC. In some other example, the plurality of pre-configured resource allocations may be also included in other downlink signaling provided to the terminal device 110.

For example, when the PUSCH allocation list including the TBoMS scaling factor is configured in the RRC message, it may be as follows:

PUSCH-Allocation-r16 : : = SEQUENCE {

mappingType-r16 ENUMERATED {typeA, typeB} OPTIONAL, startSymbolAndLength-r16 INTEGER (0. . 127) OPTIONAL, --Cond TypeA

startSymbol-r16 INTEGER (0. . 13) OPTIONAL, --Cond RepTypeB length-r16 INTEGER (1. . 14) OPTIONAL, --Cond RepTypeB numberOfRepetitions-r16 ENUMERATED {n1, n2, n3, n4, n7, n8, n12, n16} OPTIONAL, --Cond Format01-02

...,

TBoMS-scaling-factor ENUMERATED {1dot0, 1dot5, 2dot5, 3dot0} OPTIONAL

}

Accordingly, for example, DCI may be used to indicate which value in the above PUSCH allocation list is used. Each of the values in the list may correspond to a TBoMS-scaling-factor. Accordingly, there is no need to explicitly indicate (for example, in DCI) which scaling factor (such as 1.5, 2, 5) is used. As such, the TBoMS scaling factor is not only able to be configured dynamically with DCI, but also the number of bits used in DCI can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission. Accordingly, the terminal device 110 may determine the TBS according to the following method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the embodiments, the terminal device 110 may determine an intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission. Ways on how to determine the intermediate variable may be similar to those illustrated above (e.g., according to equations (4) or (5) ) .

After determining the intermediate variable, the terminal device 110 may determine an unquantized intermediate variable by scaling the intermediate variable by the scaling factor. As such, the terminal device 110 may determine the TBS based on the unquantized intermediate variable.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 can be implemented at a terminal device 110 as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the method 400 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 110 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 410, the terminal device receives a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device. At block 420, the terminal device then determining an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration. At block 430, the terminal device determines the transport block size by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported transport block size for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, determining the transport block size comprises: in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is smaller or equal to the reference intermediate variable, determining an unquantized intermediate variable based on the intermediate variable; in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is greater than the reference intermediate variable, determining an unquantized intermediate variable based on the reference intermediate variable; and determining the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further comprises performing the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.

In some embodiments, the transmission configuration indicates resource allocation, a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and determining the intermediate variable comprises: determining the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and determining the intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further comprises determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following: the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further comprises determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following: the number of allocated resources, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device, a maximum coding rate for the terminal device, and a maximum modulation order for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further comprises determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following: a maximum number of resources allocated in a resource block of a system bandwidth, a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device, a maximum coding rate for the terminal device, a maximum modulation order for the terminal device, and a maximum number of layers for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the method 400 further comprises determining the reference intermediate variable based on a limited buffer margin for a transport block to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the control information indicates the resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 can be implemented at the terminal device 110 as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the method 500 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 110 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 510, a terminal device receives from a network device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission. At block 520, the terminal device then determines the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation. After that, at block 530, the terminal device determines a transport block size based on the number of allocated resources and the scaling factor.

In some embodiments, the scaling factor is selected from a set of predetermined values, the set of predetermined values comprising at least one non-integer value.

In some embodiments, the scaling factor is greater than one.

In some embodiments, the method 500 further comprises performing the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.

In some embodiments, the control information comprises a field indicating a value of the scaling factor, or the scaling factor is mapped to the resource allocation selected from a plurality of pre-configured resource allocations, the plurality of pre-configured resource allocations being mapped to different scaling factors.

In some embodiments, the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and where determining the transport block size comprises: determining an intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission; determining an unquantized intermediate variable by scaling the intermediate variable by the scaling factor; and determining the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 can be implemented at the network device 120 as shown in Fig. 1. It is to be understood that the method 600 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the network device 120 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 610, the network device 120 transmits to a terminal device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission. At block 620, , the network device 120 receives, from the terminal device, the uplink transmission of a transport block based on a transport block size determined from the resource allocation and the scaling factor.

In some embodiments, the scaling factor is greater than one.

In some embodiments, the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and the transport block size is determined further based on the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, a terminal device (for example, the terminal device 110) comprising circuitry configured to: receive a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device; determine an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration; and determine the transport block size by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported transport block size for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, in determining the transport block size, the circuitry is further configured to: in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is smaller or equal to the reference intermediate variable, determine an unquantized intermediate variable based on the intermediate variable; in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is greater than the reference intermediate variable, determine an unquantized intermediate variable based on the reference intermediate variable; and determine the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to perform the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.

In some embodiments, the transmission configuration indicates resource allocation, a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and in determining the intermediate variable, the circuitry is further configured to determine the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and determine the intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine the reference intermediate variable based on the following: the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine the reference intermediate variable based on the following: the number of allocated resources, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device, a maximum coding rate for the terminal device, and a maximum modulation order for the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine the reference intermediate variable based on the following: a maximum number of resources allocated in a resource block of a system bandwidth, a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device, a maximum coding rate for the terminal device, a maximum modulation order for the terminal device, and a maximum number of layers for the uplink transmission.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to determine the reference intermediate variable based on a limited buffer margin for a transport block to be transmitted by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, a terminal device (for example, the terminal device 110) comprising circuitry configured to: receive from a network device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission; determine the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and determine a transport block size based on the number of allocated resources and the scaling factor.

In some embodiments, the scaling factor is greater than one.

In some embodiments, the circuitry is further configured to performing the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.

In some embodiments, the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and in determining the transport block size, the circuitry is further configured to determine an intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission; determine an unquantized intermediate variable by scaling the intermediate variable by the scaling factor; and determine the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.

In some embodiments, a network device (for example, the network device 120) comprising circuitry configured to: transmit, to a terminal device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission; and receive, from the terminal device, the uplink transmission of a transport block based on a transport block size determined from the resource allocation and the scaling factor.

In some embodiments, the scaling factor is greater than one.

In some embodiments, the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and where the transport block size is determined further based on the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.

Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 700 can be considered as a further example implementation of the terminal device 120 or the network device 110 as shown in Fig. 1. Accordingly, the device 700 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 120 or the network device 110.

As shown, the device 700 includes a processor 710, a memory 720 coupled to the processor 710, a suitable transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) 740 coupled to the processor 710, and a communication interface coupled to the TX/RX 740. The memory 710 stores at least a part of a program 730. The TX/RX 740 is for bidirectional communications. The TX/RX 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2 interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs, S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) /Serving Gateway (S-GW) and the eNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB and a terminal device.

The program 730 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 710, enable the device 700 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to Figs. 2-7. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 710 of the device 700, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 710 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 710 and memory 710 may form processing means 750 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 710 is shown in the device 700, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 700. The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representation, it will be appreciated that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to Figs. 2-7. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

Claims

A communication method comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device, a transmission configuration for uplink transmission from a network device;

determining an intermediate variable for determination of a transport block size for the uplink transmission based on the transmission configuration; and

determining the transport block size by comparing the intermediate variable with a reference intermediate variable for a maximum supported transport block size for the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, wherein determining the transport block size comprises:

in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is smaller or equal to the reference intermediate variable, determining an unquantized intermediate variable based on the intermediate variable;

in accordance with a determination that the intermediate variable is greater than the reference intermediate variable, determining an unquantized intermediate variable based on the reference intermediate variable; and

determining the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission configuration indicates resource allocation, a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and determining the intermediate variable comprises:

determining the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and

determining the intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following:

the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and

a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following:

the number of allocated resources, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission,

a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device,

a maximum coding rate for the terminal device, and

a maximum modulation order for the terminal device.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining the reference intermediate variable based on the following:

a maximum number of resources allocated in a resource block of a system bandwidth,

a maximum number of resource blocks in a system bandwidth for the terminal device,

a maximum coding rate for the terminal device,

a maximum modulation order for the terminal device, and

a maximum number of layers for the uplink transmission.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the reference intermediate variable based on a limited buffer margin for a transport block to be transmitted by the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission configuration indicates the resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots.
A communication method comprising:

receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission;

determining the number of resources allocated for the uplink transmission within a resource block based on the resource allocation; and

determining a transport block size based on the number of allocated resources and the scaling factor.
The method of claim 10, wherein the scaling factor is selected from a set of predetermined values, the set of predetermined values comprising at least one non-integer value.
The method of claim 10, wherein the scaling factor is greater than one.
The method of claim 10, further comprising:

performing the uplink transmission of a transport block to the network device based on the determined transport block size.
The method of claim 10, wherein the control information comprises a field indicating a value of the scaling factor, or

wherein the scaling factor is mapped to the resource allocation selected from a plurality of pre-configured resource allocations, the plurality of pre-configured resource allocations being mapped to different scaling factors.
The method of claim 10, wherein the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and wherein determining the transport block size comprises:

determining an intermediate variable based on the number of allocated resources, the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission;

determining an unquantized intermediate variable by scaling the intermediate variable by the scaling factor; and

determining the transport block size based on the unquantized intermediate variable.
The method of claim 10, wherein the control information indicates the resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots.
A communication method comprising:

transmitting, at a network device and to a terminal device, control information at least indicating resource allocation for uplink transmission and a scaling factor for the uplink transmission; and

receiving, from the terminal device, the uplink transmission of a transport block based on a transport block size determined from the resource allocation and the scaling factor.
The method of claim 17, wherein the scaling factor is selected from a set of predetermined values, the set of predetermined values comprising at least one non-integer value.
The method of claim 17, wherein the scaling factor is greater than one.
The method of claim 17, wherein the control information comprises a field indicating a value of the scaling factor, or

wherein the scaling factor is mapped to the resource allocation selected from a plurality of pre-configured resource allocations, the plurality of pre-configured resource allocations being mapped to different scaling factors.
The method of claim 17, wherein the control information further indicates a coding rate, a modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission, and

wherein the transport block size is determined further based on the coding rate, the modulation order, and the number of layers for the uplink transmission.
The method of claim 17, wherein the control information indicates the resource allocation for uplink transmission of a transport block over a plurality of slots.
A terminal device, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, causing the device to perform the method according to any of claims 1-9 or any of claims 10-15.
A network device, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory coupled to the processing unit and storing instructions thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processing unit, causing the device to perform the method according to any of claims 16-21.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of claims 1-9 or any of claims 10-16.
A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed on at least one processor, causing the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of claims 17-22.