WO2023051106A1

WO2023051106A1 - Method and apparatus for code block groups and slices mapping in mobile communications

Info

Publication number: WO2023051106A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/114494
Authority: WO
Inventors: Abdellatif Salah; Chi-Hsuan Hsieh; Chia-Chun Hsu
Original assignee: Mediatek Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Priority date: 2021-09-30
Filing date: 2022-08-24
Publication date: 2023-04-06
Also published as: TW202316860A

Abstract

Various solutions for code block groups and slices mapping in a frame of stream with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications are proposed. An apparatus obtains an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices. The apparatus determines a number of code blocks in the code block group and a number of code block groups in the transport block. The apparatus maps the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. The apparatus transmits the code block groups. The apparatus receives a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the code block groups. The apparatus determines whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CODE BLOCK GROUPS AND SLICES MAPPING IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION (S)

The present disclosure is part of a non-provisional application claiming the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/250,282, filed on 30 September 2021, the content of which being incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is generally related to stream processing and, more particularly, to code block groups mapping to slices in a frame of a stream with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.

The video image encoded in the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard can be divided into one or a plurality of slices where each slice consists of non-overlapping macroblocks as the smallest coding unit. Each slice can be coded as an intra slice (I-slice) , predictive slice (P-slice) or bi-directional slice (B-slice) and the compressed data are packed into slice-layer data. Since the slice is independently processed, errors or missing data from one slice cannot propagate to any other slice within the picture.

For cloud gaming (CG) with 30Mbps, the mean packet size is 62500 bytes, and the maximum packet size is 93750 bytes. For augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) with 45Mbps, the mean packet size is 93750 bytes, and the maximum packet size is 140625 bytes. The maximum transport block (TB) size in new radio (NR) is 157709 bytes. Accordingly, one video frame can fit in one TB. When the slices of a video frame are transmitted in one TB, if the TB cannot be correctly decoded by a user equipment (UE) , the whole TB needs to be retransmitted. This would cause waste of resources.

In NR Release 15, code block group (CBG) transmission was specified by grouping code blocks (CBs) of a transport block (TB) into code block groups. The objective is to reduce the retransmission resources, hence improving spectral efficiency and system capacity by only re-transmitting the CBGs with erroneous code blocks. In general, CBG is not widely used today due to its complexity, but worthwhile to consider enhancement to make it useful in beyond 5 ^th Generation (B5G) and 6 ^th Generation (6G) for applications like AR, VR, extended reality (XR) and holographic communication which require both very higher data rate and also high reliability/low latency.

SUMMARY

The following summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. That is, the following summary is provided to introduce concepts, highlights, benefits and advantages of the novel and non-obvious techniques described herein. Select implementations are further described below in the detailed description. Thus, the following summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

An objective of the present disclosure is to propose solutions or schemes that address the aforementioned issues. More specifically, various schemes proposed in the present disclosure are believed to address issues pertaining to code block groups mapping to intra slice and predictive slices of a frame in a stream with respect to user equipment and network apparatus in mobile communications.

In one aspect, a method may involve an apparatus obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. The method may also involve the apparatus determining a number of code blocks in a transport block and a number of code block groups in the transport block. The method may also involve the apparatus mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. The method may also involve the apparatus transmitting the code block groups. The method may also involve the apparatus receiving a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the code block groups. The method may also involve the apparatus determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks.

In another aspect, a method may involve an apparatus obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. The method may also involve the apparatus transmitting the intra slice on a first physical downlink share channel (PDSCH) . The method may also involve the apparatus transmitting at least one of the predictive slices on a second PDSCH. The method may also involve the apparatus receiving a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. The method may also involve the apparatus determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

In another aspect, a method may involve an apparatus obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. The method may also involve the apparatus transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule a plurality of physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) . The method may also involve the apparatus transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices on the PDSCHs. The method may also involve the apparatus receiving a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. The method may also involve the apparatus determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the present disclosure. The drawings illustrate implementations of the disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. It is appreciable that the drawings are not necessarily in scale as some components may be shown to be out of proportion than the size in actual implementation in order to clearly illustrate the concept of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example network environment in which various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example slices in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example slices in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example CBG grouping in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example CBGs/slices transmission in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram of an example CBGs/slices transmission in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an example CBGs/slices transmission in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example communication system in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED IMPLEMENTATIONS

Detailed embodiments and implementations of the claimed subject matters are disclosed herein. However, it shall be understood that the disclosed embodiments and implementations are merely illustrative of the claimed subject matters which may be embodied in various forms. The present disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments and implementations set forth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments and implementations are provided so that description of the present disclosure is thorough and complete and will fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. In the description below, details of well-known features and techniques may be omitted to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presented embodiments and implementations.

Overview

Implementations in accordance with the present disclosure relate to various techniques, methods, schemes and/or solutions pertaining to code block groups and slices mapping in a frame of stream. According to the present disclosure, a number of possible solutions may be implemented separately or jointly. That is, although these possible solutions may be described below separately, two or more of these possible solutions may be implemented in one combination or another.

In new radio (NR) Release 15, code block group (CBG) transmission was specified by grouping code blocks of a transport block (TB) into code block groups. The objective is to reduce the retransmission resources, hence improving spectral efficiency and system capacity by only re-transmitting the CBGs with erroneous code blocks. In general, CBG is not widely used today due to its complexity, but worthwhile to consider enhancement to make it useful in B5G and 6G for applications like augmented reality (AR) , virtual reality (VR) , extended reality (XR) and holographic communication which require very higher data rate, high reliability and low latency.

In view of the above, the present disclosure proposes a number of schemes pertaining to CBGs and slices mapping in a frame of stream with respect to user equipment (UE) , base station and core network. According to the schemes of the present disclosure, CBG grouping and mapping to slices are supported. The transmitting apparatus (e.g., a network node or a UE) may map each of the slices of the stream to one of the CBGs, and then transmit the CBGs to the receiving apparatus (e.g., a UE or a network node) . The receiving apparatus may transmit multiple hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the CBGs to the transmitting apparatus, so that the transmitting apparatus may know which CBG needs to be retransmitted according to the HARQ feedbacks. Accordingly, by applying the schemes of the present disclosure, the performance of stream transmission can be improved to reduce latency. Applications with stream transmission requirements can benefit from the enhancements achieved by the implementations of the present disclosure.

A first embodiment of the present disclosure is as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5. FIG. 1 illustrates example scenario 100 under schemes in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. Scenario 100 illustrates an example of slices and CBGs mapping and transmission. Scenario 100 involves a UE 110, a base station 120 and a core network 130, which may be a part of a wireless communication network (e.g., NR network) . The base station 120 may obtain a plurality of slices S1-S8 of a frame of a stream. The stream may be a video stream or an audio stream. An Application Data Unit (ADU) could be used as a granularity for video frames transmission and processing. The ADU may be a group of Internet Protocol (IP) packets.

FIG. 2 illustrates example scenario 200 under schemes in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure, and FIG. 3 illustrates example scenario 300 under schemes in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. Scenario 200 and scenario 300 illustrate different ways to fragment the frame into slices. The slices consist of an intra slice (hereinafter I-slice and also referred to as I-frame) and a plurality of predictive slices (hereinafter P-slice and also referred to as P-frame) . The intra slice may be encoded or decoded based on the data of the intra slice. Each of the predictive slices may be encoded or decoded based on the data of itself and other slices. It shall be noted that the number of the slices shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is used for illustration, not intended to limit the present disclosure.

The base station 120 may determine a number of code blocks (CBs) in a transport block (TB) and a number of code block groups (CBGs) in the transport block. In determining the number of the CBs and the number of the CBGs, the base station 120 may calculate the number of code blocks and the number of code block groups according to a transport block size of the transport block and a maximum code block size in the transport block. Then, the base station 120 may map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. Specifically, the number of CBs may be calculated as

TBS denotes transport block size which may be determined by the core network 130 according to at least one of modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , maximum bits that can be transmitted in every transmission, and the bits that are going to be transmitted in a buffer. CBmax denotes maximum bit number of the CB in one TB, and the CBmax is 8424 bits. Since the slices will be mapped to CBGs one by one in accordance with the present invention, the number of the CBGs in the TB may be configured to be equal to the number of the slices.

Furthermore, the base station 120 needs to determine a size of each of the CBGs. A size of intra slice usually greater than a size of each of the predictive slices, so the size of the CBG corresponding to the intra slice may also be greater than the size of the CBG corresponding to each of the predictive slices. In detail, the base station 120 may determine a proportionality factor value and calculate the size of the code block group corresponding to the intra slice and the size of the code block group corresponding to each of the predictive slices according to the number of the code blocks, the number of the code block groups and the proportionality factor value.

The proportionality factor value is a multiple of the intra slice and the predictive slices and may be expressed as

denotes the size of the intra slice,

denotes the sizes of the predictive slices, and α denotes the proportionality factor value. Since the sizes of the intra slice and the predictive slices can vary from frame to frame depending on the film motion factor, the proportionality factor value may vary in time. Possible set of the proportionality factor value may be signaled to the base station 120 by the core network 130 (e.g., XR server, computer graphic (CG) application server or codec) or by application layer. Different set of the proportionality factor value may be configured for the uplink (UL) traffic and the downlink (DL) traffic.

The CBGs in one TB may have different sizes. When the CBs are grouping into CBGs, the size of the CBG corresponding to the intra slice may be calculated as

C denotes the number of the CBs in the TB, and N denotes the number of the CBGs in the transport block. The base station 120 may allocate the rest of the CBs to the predictive slices. The size of first few CBGs may be greater than the remaining CBGs. The number of the first few CBG (s) may be calculated as mod= (C, N) -1 , and the size of the first few CBG (s) may be calculated as

The number of remaining CBG (s) may be calculated N-M ₁-1, and the size of the remaining CBG (s) may be calculated as

M ₁ denotes the number of the first few CBG (s) .

For example, reference is made to FIG. 4 which is a diagram of an example CBG grouping in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Scenario 400 illustrates an example of CBG grouping and slices mapping. Assuming that the number of CBs 4201-4223 in the TB 410 is 23, the number of the CBGs 431-438 is 8, and the proportionality factor value is 2 (i.e., N=8, C=23 and α=2) , according to the formulas as explained above, the size of the CBG corresponding to the intra slice equals to 6CBs, the number of the first few CBGs (i.e., M ₁) equals to 3, and the size of each of the first three CBGs equals to 3 CBs. The number of remaining CBGs equals to 4, and the size of each of the remaining CBGs equals to 2 CBs. Accordingly, the slices (e.g., S1-S8) can be one-to-one mapped to the CBGs (e.g., CBGs 431-438) for transmission. Thus, the retransmission can be performed based on one slice or one CBG rather than whole video frame or TB.

In some implementations, the CBG sizes can be derived by the 5GS based on some other information (e.g., slices content) . For instance, background slices may have lower priority, hence the CBGs carrying background slices may have smaller sizes, and motion slices may have higher priority, hence the CBGs carrying motion slices may have larger sizes) .

In some implementations, each of the slices has a priority, and the size of each of the CBGs is determined according to the priorities of the slices or ADUs. To be more specific, the slices and application data units are assigned different priorities. The ADU unit may be a frame or any unit. The priority of each slice or application data unit is signaled to the base station 120 by the XR server or the codec at the network side (i.e., the core network 130) or by the application layer. The application layer may use an ADU as a granularity for its processing, and the ADU could be defined in terms of number of IP packets.

The sizes of the ADUs may be signaled to the base station 120 by the XR server or the codec at the network side (e.g., the core network 130) or by the application layer at the device (e.g., the UE 110) . In UL transmission, sizes of ADUs may be signaled by the UE application layer to lower layers (e.g., physical layer) . The sizes of ADU defined for video frames or slices could be different from other video frames or slices (e.g., sizes of ADUs for I-frames are different from sizes of ADUs for P-frames) . The size of the ADU in terms of IP packets can be fixed or variable. The size of the ADU can be adjusted dynamically (e.g., via downlink control information (DCI) ) or semi-statically (e.g., via radio resource control (RRC) signaling) following feedback from device.

Besides, CBGs may be assigned different priorities. For instance, the CBG carrying one of the slices with static motion has lower priority, and the CBG carrying one of the slices with dynamic motion has higher priority.

Priority may also be defined per ADU and signaled to the base station 120 by the core network 130 or to lower layer by application layer. Also, ADUs associated with some types of traffic could have different requirements from ADUs associated with other types of traffic. For example, ADUs associated with I-frame may require lower latency and higher reliability than ADUs associated with P-frame. The base station 120 is signaled the start and the end or the start and the duration of each ADU. In some implementations, the base station 120 is signaled the priority of each ADU.

In some implementations, a set of parameters could be signaled to the base station 120 or/and to the UE 110 from the codec or XR server or the application layer. The set of parameters contain information about the ADUs (e.g., duration, start, offset, etc. ) . The set of parameters is updated when the information about ADUs changes. The set of parameters could be defined per media stream (e.g., video stream, audio stream, etc. ) .

The UE 110 may be signaled or informed about the start and the last ADU in a burst/video frame. In some implementations, a DCI bit-field indicates the last ADU in the burst. In another implementations, the last PDSCH of a burst carry information about ADUs and/or trigger the UE 110 to go in sleep mode. In another implementations, the reception of the last ADU in a burst triggers the sleep mode.

In some implementations, ADU fragmentation could be enabled or disabled dynamically (e.g., via DCI) or semi-statically (e.g., via RRC) . In some implementations, an ADU header could be specified. 5GS can have access to the ADU header. The ADU header signals information about the ADU (one or some of start, length, level of priority, latency and reliability requirements, associated stream, dependence, etc. ) . In some implementations, information about ADUs could be signaled within a burst header (one or some of start, length, level of priority, latency and reliability requirements, associated stream, dependence, etc. ) . The Burst head could signal information about ADUs in the burst and information about the burst as well (number of ADUs, level of priority, latency and reliability requirements, associated stream, dependence, etc. ) . In some implementations, the base station may send ACK/NACK feedback to codec/XR server or application layer for ADU transmissions.

Under the proposed scheme of the present disclosure, after mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the CGBs, the base station 120 may schedule a physical downlink share channel (PDSCH) by transmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) , and then the base station 120 may transmit the CBGs to the UE 110 on the same the PDSCH. As shown in FIG. 5 which is a diagram of an example CBGs/slices transmission in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Scenario 500 illustrates an example of CBG transmission. In this embodiment, the base station 120 transmits DCI on the PDCCH 510 to schedule PDSCH 520. Then, the base station 120 transmits all of the CBGs (i.e., transmits the intra slice and the predictive slices) on the PDSCH 520 to the UE 110.

For further protection to CGBs to ensure reliability, each of the CGBs has a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) . A length of each of the CRCs is determined according to the size of each of the CGBs. For example, X number of CBs is used as threshold. If the number of CBs in CBG greater than X, then the length of the CRCs is 24 bits. If the number of CBs in CBG equal to or less than X, then the length of the CRCs is 16 bits.

In some implementations, for further protection, each of the CBGs may associate with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , and the MCSs are different. In some implementations, the TB may be allowed a specific number of MCSs to use for all CBGs (e.g., 2) , and the mapping of the MCSs to CBGs is signaled in the DCI. In some implementations, each of the CBGs may also associate with a coding rate, and the coding rates are different. In some implementations, new DCI bit-fields could be introduced to signal the MCS per CBG.

After transmitting the CBGs, the base station 120 may receive a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the CBGs from the UE 110 and determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks. For example, if the frame includes 8 slices, after transmitting the CGBs to the UE 110, the UE 110 will transmit an 8 bits HARQ feedbacks corresponding to each of the CBGs to the base station 120 reporting whether each of the CBGs can be correctly decoded. The HARQ feedbacks may include at least one of automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) and automatic repeat request negative acknowledgement (HARQ-NACK) . If the HARQ feedback is HARQ-ACK, the base station 120 determines that the corresponding CBG does not need to be retransmitted. If the HARQ feedback HARQ-NACK, the base station 120 retransmits the corresponding CBG.

In some implementations, the UE 110 may transmit a UE capability to the base station 120. The base station 120 may receive a UE capability from the UE 110 reporting whether the UE 110 supports CBG grouping before transmitting the CGBs. Then, the base station 120 may transmit a CBG grouping indication, indicating that the CBG grouping is enabled or disabled, to the UE 110 via RRC signal or DCI. In an event that the UE capability reports that the UE 110 supports CBG grouping, the base station 120 may dynamically (e.g., via DCI) enable or disable CBG grouping. In an event that the base station 120 enables the CBG grouping, the UE 110 may send multiple HARQ feedbacks for the CBGs. In an event that the base station 120 disables the CBG grouping, the UE 110 may send a single bit HARQ feedback for the TB. For large packets with potential for enhancement using CBG grouping, the base station 120 may decide to enable CBG grouping for that particular TB transmission, so that the transmission may have better protection and better resource efficiency for retransmissions.

In some implementations, the DCI may include additional bit field, and the base station 120 may transmit the CBG grouping indication on the additional bit field. In some implementations, the base station 120 may configure the UE 110 semi-statically (e.g., via RRC signaling) with the dynamic CBG configuration.

CBG grouping is useful for some streams with large TB sizes (e.g., DL VR, UL AR, etc. ) , therefore, in some implementations, the base station 120 may determine whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a type of the stream or determine whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a size of the transport block. In some implementations, CBG grouping could be enabled or disabled per stream of data. In some implementations, CBG grouping could be enabled or disabled for some specific type of video frames, IP packets or data units (e.g., I/P frames) .

In some implementations, at least one of the slices is fragmented into a plurality of video blocks, and at least one of the video blocks is mapping to one of the code block groups or one of the code blocks.

In some implementations, the UE 110 may transmit a UE capability to the base station 120. The base station 120 may receive a UE capability from the UE 110 reporting whether the UE 110 supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the CBGs. Then, the base station 120 may transmit an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, to the UE 110 via RRC signal or DCI.

A second embodiment of the present disclosure is as shown in FIG. 6. The second embodiment is an extension of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is an example of CBG transmission under schemes in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. Scenario 600 illustrates an example of PDSCHs scheduling for transmitting CBGs/slices. The base station 120 may obtain a plurality of slices of a frame of a stream. The stream may be a video stream or an audio stream. The slices consist of an intra slice (hereinafter I-slice and also referred to as I-frame) and a plurality of predictive slices (hereinafter P-slice and also referred to as P-frame) . The intra slice may be encoded or decoded based on the data of the intra slice. Each of the predictive slices may be encoded or decoded based on the data of itself and other slices.

The base station 120 may determine the number of CBs in a TB and the number of CBGs in the transport block and map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. Then, the base stations 120 may transmits the intra slice on a first PDSCH and transmit at least one of the predictive slices on a second PDSCH. The base station 120 may receive HARQ feedback (s) and determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback (s) .

The difference between the first embodiment and the second embodiment is that the intra slice and the predictive slices are transmitted on the same PDSCH in the first embodiment, and the intra slice and the predictive slices on different PDSCHs are transmitted on different PDSCHs in the second embodiment. To be more specific, after mapping the slices to CBGs, the base station 120 may transmit DCI on a PDCCH to schedule the first PDSCH for transmitting the intra slice, the base station 120 will then transmit another DCI on another PDCCH to schedule the second PDSCH for transmitting the predictive slices.

For example, reference is made to FIG. 6, the base station 120 transmits DCI on PDCCH 610 to schedule PDSCH 620 and transmits the CBG corresponding to the intra slice on the PDSCH 620. The base station 120 further transmits another DCI on PDCCH 630 to schedule PDSCH 640 and transmits the CBGs corresponding to the predictive slices on the PDSCH 640.

Therefore, the base station 120 may receive at least two HARQ feedbacks. One of the HARQ feedbacks is a 1-bit signaling indicating that whether the intra slice can be correctly decoded, and the other one of the HARQ feedbacks includes multiple bits (e.g., 7 bits) corresponding to the predictive slices respectively indicating whether each of the predictive slices can be correctly decoded. In this way, the intra slice is transmitted with lower latency and higher reliability.

In some implementations, if the video slice is fragmented into multiple video blocks, each of the video blocks may map to a PDSCH. In some implementations, the base station 120 may obtain a group of pictures (GOP) information of the stream, determine the number of code blocks in a code block group and a number of code block groups in the transport block, and map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively according to the GOP information. If the core network 130 (e.g., XR server or codec) has a fixed GOP periodicity, and the GOP always starts from the intra slice/I-frame, then the GOP information may include offset, start slice/frame, periodicity, etc.

In some implementations, if the intra slice is sent on request, the core network 130 labels the intra slice request to be recognized at the base station 120 and transmits the label to the base station 120. Therefore, after the base station 120 receives the label that indicates a starting slice, the base station 120 may determine the intra slice according to the label.

In some implementations, the UE 110 may transmit a UE capability reporting whether it supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the CBGs, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH. If the UE 110 supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the CBGs, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH, the base station 120 will transmit an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the CBGs, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH, to the UE 110 via RRC signal or DCI.

In some implementations, the UE 110 may transmit a UE capability reporting whether it supports mapping the video blocks to the CBs or CBGs. If the UE 110 supports mapping the video blocks to the CBs or CBGs, the base station 120 will transmit an enabling indication, enabling mapping the video blocks to the CBs or the CBGs, to the UE 110 via RRC signal or DCI.

A third embodiment of the present disclosure is as shown in FIG. 7. The third embodiment is an extension of the first embodiment and the second embodiment. FIG. 7 is an example CBG transmission under schemes in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. Scenario 700 illustrates an example of PDSCHs scheduling for transmitting CBGs/slices. The base station 120 may obtain a plurality of slices of a frame of a stream. The stream may be a video stream or an audio stream. The slices consist of an intra slice (hereinafter I-slice and also referred to as I-frame) and a plurality of predictive slices (hereinafter P-slice and also referred to as P-frame) . The intra slice may be encoded or decoded based on the data of the intra slice. Each of the predictive slices may be encoded or decoded based on the data of itself and other slices.

The base station 120 may determine the number of CBs in a TB and the number of CBGs in the transport block and map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. Then, the base stations 120 may transmit a PDCCH to schedule a plurality of PDSCHs and transmit the intra slice and the predictive slices on the PDSCHs. The base station 120 may receive HARQ feedback (s) and determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback (s) .

Specifically, if one slice is transmitted using one PDSCH, the base station 120 needs to keep scheduling PDSCH and transmitting DCI every time the slice is going to be transmitted. If the base station 120 uses semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) to schedule all the PDSCHs for transmitting the slices and informs the SPS scheduling to the UE 110 via RRC signaling, the resource allocation does not flexible enough. In this embodiment, the base station 120 may uses SPS scheduling to schedule multiple PDSCHs and transmits DCI to inform the UE about the scheduled PDSCHs. Therefore, the base station 120 does not need to transmit DCI before transmitting each of the slices on PDSCH. In other words, after the SPS scheduling is transmitted on the DCI to the UE 110, the base station 120 only transmits the slices on corresponding PDSCH until all the slices are transmitted or until the period of the SPS is finished.

For example, reference is made to FIG. 7, the base station 120

schedules PDSCHs

720, 730, 740, 750 within a period for transmitting the slices. The base station 120 may transmit DCI on PDCCH 710 to inform the UE 110 about the scheduled

PDSCHs

720, 730, 740, 750, so that the UE 110 may keep receiving the slices transmitted on the

PDSCHs

720, 730, 740, 750.

In some implementations, to reduce control overhead and at the same time guarantee good flexibility, the same PDCCH can be used to schedule multiple PDSCHs. For instance, the base station 120 may use one PDCCH to schedule the PDSCHs within one slot or use one PDCCH to schedule the PDSCHs within multiple slots. In some implementations, the base station 120 may use multiple PDCCHs to schedule multiple PDSCHs at the same time.

In some implementations, the information of intra slice and predictive slices need to be cross-layer marked from application server to the base station 120. In some implementations, the information of intra slice and predictive slices need to be cross-layer marked from UE application layer to the physical layer. In some implementations, marking mechanism can be used for different QoS flow or different DRB or following the mechanism of remaining delay budget marking.

Illustrative Implementations

FIG. 8 illustrates an example communication system 800 having an example communication apparatus 810, an example network apparatus 820, a core network 830 and a server 840 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Each of communication apparatus 810 and network apparatus 820 may perform various functions to implement schemes, techniques, processes and methods described herein pertaining to code block groups and slices mapping in a frame of stream, including scenarios/schemes described above as well as

processes

800, 900 and 1000 described below.

Communication apparatus 810 may be a part of an electronic apparatus, which may be a UE such as a portable or mobile apparatus, a wearable apparatus, a wireless communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 810 may be implemented in a smartphone, a smartwatch, a personal digital assistant, a digital camera, or a computing equipment such as a tablet computer, a laptop computer or a notebook computer. Communication apparatus 810 may also be a part of a machine type apparatus, which may be an IoT, NB-IoT, IIoT or NTN apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, a wire communication apparatus or a computing apparatus. For instance, communication apparatus 810 may be implemented in a smart thermostat, a smart fridge, a smart door lock, a wireless speaker or a home control center.

Alternatively, communication apparatus 810 may be implemented in the form of one or more integrated-circuit (IC) chips, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, one or more reduced-instruction set computing (RISC) processors, or one or more complex-instruction-set-computing (CISC) processors. Communication apparatus 810 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 8 such as a processor 812, for example. Communication apparatus 810 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of communication apparatus 810 are neither shown in FIG. 8 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

Network apparatus 820 may be a part of an electronic apparatus/station, which may be a network node such as a base station, a small cell, a router, a gateway or a satellite. For instance, network apparatus 820 may be implemented in an eNodeB in an LTE, in a gNB in a 5G, NR, 6G, IoT, NB-IoT, IIoT, or in a satellite in an NTN network. Alternatively, network apparatus 820 may be implemented in the form of one or more IC chips such as, for example and without limitation, one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more RISC or CISC processors. Network apparatus 820 may include at least some of those components shown in FIG. 8 such as a processor 822, for example. Network apparatus 820 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., internal power supply, display device and/or user interface device) , and, thus, such component (s) of network apparatus 820 are neither shown in FIG. 8 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity.

In one aspect, each of processor 812 and processor 822 may be implemented in the form of one or more single-core processors, one or more multi-core processors, or one or more CISC processors. That is, even though a singular term “a processor” is used herein to refer to processor 812 and processor 822, each of processor 812 and processor 822 may include multiple processors in some implementations and a single processor in other implementations in accordance with the present disclosure. In another aspect, each of processor 812 and processor 822 may be implemented in the form of hardware (and, optionally, firmware) with electronic components including, for example and without limitation, one or more transistors, one or more diodes, one or more capacitors, one or more resistors, one or more inductors, one or more memristors and/or one or more varactors that are configured and arranged to achieve specific purposes in accordance with the present disclosure. In other words, in at least some implementations, each of processor 812 and processor 822 is a special-purpose machine specifically designed, arranged and configured to perform specific tasks including power consumption reduction in a device (e.g., as represented by communication apparatus 810) and a network (e.g., as represented by network apparatus 820) in accordance with various implementations of the present disclosure.

In some implementations, communication apparatus 810 may also include a transceiver 816 coupled to processor 812 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, communication apparatus 810 may further include a memory 814 coupled to processor 812 and capable of being accessed by processor 812 and storing data therein. In some implementations, network apparatus 820 may also include a transceiver 826 coupled to processor 822 and capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data. In some implementations, network apparatus 820 may further include a memory 824 coupled to processor 822 and capable of being accessed by processor 822 and storing data therein. Accordingly, communication apparatus 810 and network apparatus 820 may wirelessly communicate with each other via transceiver 816 and transceiver 826, respectively.

Each of communication apparatus 810 and network apparatus 820 may be a communication entity capable of communicating with each other using various proposed schemes in accordance with the present disclosure. To aid better understanding, the following description of the operations, functionalities and capabilities of each of communication apparatus 810 and network apparatus 820 is provided in the context of a mobile communication environment in which communication apparatus 810 is implemented in or as a communication apparatus or a UE (e.g., UE 110) and network apparatus 820 is implemented in or as a network node or base station (e.g., gNB 120) of a communication network. It is also noteworthy that, although the example implementations described below are provided in the context of streams, the same may be implemented in other types of networks.

Core network 830 may include at least some of those functions shown in FIG. 8 such as an access and mobility management function (AMF) 832, a plurality of session management function (SMF) 834 and a plurality of user plane function (UPF) 836. Network apparatus 820 may further include one or more other components not pertinent to the proposed scheme of the present disclosure (e.g., authentication server function, policy control function, network exposure function, etc. ) , such function (s) of core network 830 are neither shown in FIG. 8 nor described below in the interest of simplicity and brevity. Core network 830 may be implemented in or as core network of telecom operator or server of third party (e.g., extended reality (XR) server of game vendor, but not limited thereto) .

Under various proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure pertaining to code block groups and slices mapping in a frame of stream, processor 822 of the network apparatus 820 implemented in or as base station 120 may obtain a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Processor 822 may determine a number of code blocks in a transport block and a number of code block groups in the transport block. Processor 822 may map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. Processor 822 may transmit the code block groups. Processor 822 may receive, via the transceiver 826, a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the code block groups. Then, processor 822 may determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks.

In determining the number of the code blocks and the number of code block groups, processor 822 may calculate the number of code blocks and the number of code block groups according to a transport block size of the transport block and a maximum code block size in the transport block.

In some implementation, each of the slices has a priority, and a size of each of the code block groups is determined according to the priorities. In some implementation, the code block group carrying one of the slices with static motion has lower priority, and the code block group carrying one of the slices with dynamic motion has higher priority.

In some implementation, each of the code block groups has a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) , and a length of each of the CRCs is determined according to a size of each of the code block groups.

In some implementation, each of the code block groups is associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , and wherein the MCSs are different.

In some implementation, processor 822 may determine a proportionality factor value, and calculate a size of the code block group corresponding to the intra slice and a size of the code block group corresponding to each of the predictive slices according to the number of the code blocks, the number of the code block groups and the proportionality factor value. The proportionality factor value is a multiple of the intra slice and the predictive slices, and the proportionality factor value may vary in time.

In some implementation, processor 822 may receive, via the transceiver 826, a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports code block group (CBG) grouping, and transmit, via the transceiver 826, a code block group (CBG) grouping indication, indicating that the CBG grouping is enabled or disabled, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .

In some implementation, processor 822 may determine whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a type of the stream or determine whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a size of the transport block.

In some implementation, at least one of the slices is fragmented into a plurality of video blocks, and at least one of the video blocks is mapping to one of the code block groups or one of the code blocks.

In some implementation, processor 822 may receive, via the transceiver 826, a UE capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, and transmit, via the transceiver 826, an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, to the UE via RRC signal or DCI.

Under various proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure pertaining to code block groups and slices, which consist of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices, mapping in a frame of stream and transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices on different physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) , processor 822 of the network apparatus 820 implemented in or as base station 120 may obtain a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Processor 822 may transmit, via the transceiver 826, the intra slice on a first PDSCH, and transmit at least one of the predictive slices on a second PDSCH. Processor 822 may receive, via the transceiver 826, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Then, processor 822 may determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

In some implementation, processor 822 may obtain a group of pictures (GOP) information of the stream. Processor 822 may determine a number of code blocks in a code block group and a number of code block groups in the transport block. Processor 822 may map the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively according to the GOP information.

In some implementation, processor 822 may receive a label to indicate a starting slice and determine the intra slice according to the label.

In some implementation, processor 822 may receive, via the transceiver 826, a UE capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH. Processor 822 may transmit, via the transceiver 826, an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH, to the UE via RRC signal or DCI.

Under various proposed scheme in accordance with the present disclosure pertaining to code block groups and slices, which consist of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices, mapping in a frame of stream and using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule multiple physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) for transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices, processor 822 of the network apparatus 820 implemented in or as base station 120 may obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Processor 822 may transmit, via the transceiver 826, a PDCCH to schedule a plurality of PDSCHs. Processor 822 may transmit, via the transceiver 826, the intra slice and the predictive slices on the PDSCHs. Processor 822 may further receive, via the transceiver 826, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. Then, processor 822 may determine whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

In some implementation, the PDSCHs are scheduled within one slot.

In some implementation, the PDSCHs are scheduled within multiple slots.

Illustrative Processes

FIG. 9 illustrates an example process 900 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 900 may be an example implementation of schemes described above, whether partially or completely, with respect to code block groups and slices mapping in a frame of stream with the present disclosure. Process 900 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of network apparatus 820. Process 900 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of

blocks

910, 920, 930, 940, 950 and 960.

Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 900 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 900 may executed in the order shown in FIG. 9 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 900 may be implemented by communication apparatus 810 or any suitable gNB or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 900 is described below in the context of network apparatus 820.

Process 900 may begin at block 910. At block 910, process 900 may involve processor 822 of network apparatus 820 obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Process 900 may proceed from block 910 to block 920.

At block 920, process 900 may involve processor 822 determining a number of code blocks in a transport block and a number of code block groups in the transport block. Process 900 may proceed from block 920 to block 930.

At block 930, process 900 may involve processor 822 mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively. Process 900 may proceed from block 930 to block 940.

At block 940, process 900 may involve processor 822 transmitting the code block groups. Process 900 may proceed from block 940 to block 950.

At block 950, process 900 may involve processor 822 receiving a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the code block groups. Process 900 may proceed from block 950 to block 960.

At block 960, process 900 may involve processor 822 determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks.

In some implementations, in determining the number of the code blocks and the number of code block groups, process 900 may involve processor 822 calculating the number of code blocks and the number of code block groups according to a transport block size of the transport block and a maximum code block size in the transport block.

In some implementations, process 900 may involve processor 822 determining a proportionality factor value and calculating a size of the code block group corresponding to the intra slice and a size of the code block group corresponding to each of the predictive slices according to the number of the code blocks, the number of the code block groups and the proportionality factor value.

In some implementations, the proportionality factor value is a multiple of the intra slice and the predictive slices. In some implementations, the proportionality factor value varies in time.

In some implementations, each of the slices has a priority, and a size of each of the code block groups is determined according to the priorities.

In some implementations, the code block group that carrying one of the slices with static motion has lower priority, and the code block group carrying one of the slices with dynamic motion has higher priority.

In some implementations, each of the code block groups has a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) , and a length of each of the CRCs is determined according to a size of each of the code block groups.

In some implementations, each of the code block groups is associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , and wherein the MCSs are different.

In some implementations, process 900 may involve processor 822 receiving a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports code block group (CBG) grouping and transmitting a code block group (CBG) grouping indication, indicating that the CBG grouping is enabled or disabled, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .

In some implementations, process 900 may involve processor 822 determining whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a type of the stream or determining whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a size of the transport block.

In some implementations, at least one of the slices is fragmented into a plurality of video blocks, at least one of the video blocks is mapping to one of the code block groups or one of the coed blocks.

In some implementations, process 900 may involve processor 822 receiving a UE capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, and transmitting an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, to the UE via RRC signal or DCI.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example process 1000 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 1000 may be an example implementation of schemes described above, whether partially or completely, with respect to code block groups and slices, which consist of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices, mapping in a frame of stream and transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices on different physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) with the present disclosure. Process 1000 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of network apparatus 820. Process 1000 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of

blocks

1010, 1020, 1030, 1040 and 1050.

Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 1000 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 1000 may executed in the order shown in FIG. 10 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 1000 may be implemented by network apparatus 820 or any suitable base station or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 1000 is described below in the context of network apparatus 820.

Process 1000 may begin at block 1010. At block 1010, process 1000 may involve processor 822 of network apparatus 820 obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Process 1000 may proceed from block 1010 to block 1020.

At block 1020, process 1000 may involve processor 822 transmitting the intra slice on a first PDSCH. Process 1000 may proceed from block 1020 to block 1030.

At block 1030, process 1000 may involve processor 822 transmitting at least one of the predictive slices on a second PDSCH. Process 1000 may proceed from block 1030 to block 1040.

At block 1040, process 1000 may involve processor 822 receiving a HARQ feedback. Process 1000 may proceed from block 1040 to block 1050.

At block 1050, process 1000 may involve processor 822 determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

In some implementations, process 1000 may involve processor 822 obtaining a group of pictures (GOP) information of the stream, determining a number of code blocks in a code block group and a number of code block groups in the transport block, and mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively according to the GOP information.

In some implementations, process 1000 may involve processor 822 receiving a label to indicate a starting slice and determining an intra slice according to the label.

In some implementations, process 1000 may involve processor 822 receiving a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH. Process 1000 may also involve processor 822 transmitting an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .

FIG. 11 illustrates an example process 1100 in accordance with an implementation of the present disclosure. Process 1100 may be an example implementation of schemes described above, whether partially or completely, with respect to code block groups and slices, which consist of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices, mapping in a frame of stream and using a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule multiple physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) for transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices with the present disclosure. Process 1100 may represent an aspect of implementation of features of network apparatus 820. Process 1100 may include one or more operations, actions, or functions as illustrated by one or more of

blocks

1110, 1120, 1130, 1140 and 1150.

Although illustrated as discrete blocks, various blocks of process 1100 may be divided into additional blocks, combined into fewer blocks, or eliminated, depending on the desired implementation. Moreover, the blocks of process 1100 may executed in the order shown in FIG. 11 or, alternatively, in a different order. Process 1100 may be implemented by network apparatus 820 or any suitable base station (e.g., gNB) or machine type devices. Solely for illustrative purposes and without limitation, process 100 is described below in the context of network apparatus 820.

Process 1100 may begin at block 1110. At block 1110, process 1100 may involve processor 822 of network apparatus 820 obtaining a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream. Process 1100 may proceed from block 1110 to block 1120.

At block 1120, process 1100 may involve processor 822 transmitting a PDCCH to schedule a plurality of PDSCHs. Process 1100 may proceed from block 1120 to block 1130.

At block 1130, process 1100 may involve processor 822 transmitting the intra slice and the predictive slices on the PDSCHs. Process 1100 may proceed from block 1130 to block 1140.

At block 1140, process 1100 may involve processor 822 receiving a HARQ feedback. Process 1100 may proceed from block 1140 to block 1150.

At block 1150, process 1100 may involve processor 822 determining whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.

In some implementations, the PDSCHs are scheduled within one slot.

In some implementations, the PDSCHs are scheduled within multiple slots.

Additional Notes

The herein-described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components contained within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures can be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality is achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality can be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components so associated can also be viewed as being "operably connected" , or "operably coupled" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewed as being "operably couplable" , to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/or physically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactable components.

Further, with respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and/or application. The various singular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

Moreover, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims, e.g., bodies of the appended claims, are generally intended as “open” terms, e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to, ” the term “having” should be interpreted as “having at least, ” the term “includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to, ” etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to implementations containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an, " e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more; ” the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number, e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations, " without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations. Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. In those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc. ” is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention, e.g., “a system having at least one of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and/or A, B, and C together, etc. It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B. ”

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that various implementations of the present disclosure have been described herein for purposes of illustration, and that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the various implementations disclosed herein are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Claims

A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a processor of an apparatus, a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream;

determining, by the processor, a number of code blocks in a transport block and a number of code block groups in the transport block;

mapping, by the processor, the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively;

transmitting, by the processor, the code block groups;

receiving, by the processor, a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedbacks corresponding to the code block groups; and

determining, by the processor, whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedbacks.
The method of Claim 1, wherein in determining the number of the code blocks and the number of code block groups, the method further comprises:

calculating, by the processor, the number of code blocks and the number of code block groups according to a transport block size of the transport block and a maximum code block size in the transport block.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, a proportionality factor value; and

calculating, by the processor, a size of the code block group corresponding to the intra slice and a size of the code block group corresponding to each of the predictive slices according to the number of the code blocks, the number of the code block groups and the proportionality factor value.
The method of Claim 3, wherein the proportionality factor value is a multiple of the intra slice and the predictive slices.
The method of Claim 3, wherein the proportionality factor value varies in time.
The method of Claim 3, wherein each of the slices has a priority, and wherein the size of each of the code block groups is determined according to the priorities.
The method of Claim 1, wherein the code block group carrying one of the slices with static motion has lower priority, and wherein the code block group carrying one of the slices with dynamic motion has higher priority.
The method of Claim 1, wherein each of the code block groups comprises a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) , and wherein a length of each of the CRCs is determined according to a size of each of the code block groups.
The method of Claim 1, wherein each of the code block groups is associated with a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) , and wherein the MCSs are different.
The method of Claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports code block group (CBG) grouping; and

transmitting, by the processor, a code block group (CBG) grouping indication, indicating that the CBG grouping is enabled or disabled, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .
The method of Claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the processor, whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a type of the stream; or

determining, by the processor, whether to enable the CBG grouping according to a size of the transport block.
The method of Claim 1, wherein at least one of the slices is fragmented into a plurality of video blocks, and wherein at least one of the video blocks is mapping to one of the code block groups or one of the code blocks.
The method of Claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups; and

transmitting, by the processor, an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .
A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a processor of an apparatus, a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream;

transmitting, by the processor, the intra slice on a first physical downlink share channel (PDSCH) ;

transmitting, by the processor, at least one of the predictive slices on a second PDSCH;

receiving, by the processor, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback; and

determining, by the processor, whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.
The method of Claim 14, the method further comprises:

obtaining, by the processor, a group of pictures (GOP) information of the stream;

determining, by the processor, a number of code blocks in a code block group and a number of code block groups in the transport block; and

mapping, by the processor, the intra slice and the predictive slices to each of the code block groups respectively according to the GOP information.
The method of Claim 14, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the processor, a label to indicate a starting slice; and

determining, by the processor, the intra slice according to the label.
The method of Claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a user equipment (UE) capability from a UE reporting whether the UE supports mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH; and

transmitting, by the processor, an enabling indication, enabling mapping the intra slice and the predictive slices to the code block groups, the first PDSCH or the second PDSCH, to the UE via a radio resource control (RRC) signal or downlink control information (DCI) .
A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a processor of an apparatus, a plurality of slices consisting of an intra slice and a plurality of predictive slices of a frame of a stream;

transmitting, by the processor, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to schedule a plurality of physical downlink share channels (PDSCHs) ;

transmitting, by the processor, the intra slice and the predictive slices on the PDSCHs;

receiving, by the processor, a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback; and

determining, by the processor, whether to retransmit any of the intra slice and the predictive slices according to the HARQ feedback.
The method of Claim 18, wherein the PDSCHs are scheduled within one slot.
The method of Claim 18, wherein the PDSCHs are scheduled within multiple slots.