CN116830704A - Indication of uplink control channel duplication in wireless communications - Google Patents

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for physical uplink control channel configuration and coverage enhancement in wireless communication networks. The base station can dynamically indicate the repetition factor of the uplink control channel to improve the coverage of the uplink control channel. The base station may use various signaling techniques to indicate the repetition factor explicitly or implicitly. The interpretation of the indication of the repetition factor may depend on one or more parameters, such as physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format, uplink control information size, code rate and/or set of PUCCH resources used for the PUCCH.

Description

Indication of uplink control channel repetition in wireless communications

Priority claim

The present application claims priority and benefit from patent application Ser. No. 17/513,669 filed by the United states patent office at 28 of 10 in 2021, provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/138,241 filed by the United states patent office at 15 of 1 in 2021, provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/138,145 filed by the United states patent office at 15 of 1 in 2021, and provisional patent application Ser. No. 63/138,265 filed by the United states patent office at 15 of 1 in 2021, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if fully set forth below for all applicable purposes.

Technical Field

The techniques discussed below relate generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to techniques for indicating physical uplink control channel repetition in wireless communications.

Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems are able to support communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-advanced (LTE-a) systems, or LTE-a Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems, which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ techniques such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), or discrete fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communication system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each of which simultaneously support communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise referred to as User Equipment (UE).

In a wireless network, such as a 5G NR network, user Equipment (UE) may communicate with a network entity (e.g., a base station) using various Uplink (UL) and Downlink (DL) channels. An exemplary UL channel is a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The UE may transmit various information to the network via the PUCCH. In an aspect, the PUCCH may carry Uplink Control Information (UCI) that may include hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, channel State Information (CSI), and Scheduling Request (SR). Thus, PUCCH is important to maintain communication between a UE and a network.

Disclosure of Invention

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

One aspect of the present disclosure provides a User Equipment (UE) for wireless communication. The UE includes a communication interface for wireless communication, a memory, and a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to receive control information from the base station via the communication interface. The processor and the memory are further configured to determine a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting an uplink control message. The processor and the memory are further configured to send, via the communication interface, repetitions of the uplink control message according to the repetition count to the base station.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE). The method includes receiving control information from a base station. The method also includes determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting the uplink control message. The method also includes transmitting to the base station repetitions of the uplink control message according to the repetition count.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a base station for wireless communication. The base station includes a communication interface for wireless communication, a memory, and a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory. The processor and the memory are configured to transmit control information to the UE via the communication interface, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of uplink control messages. The processor and the memory are further configured to receive, from the UE via the communication interface, an uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communication at a base station. The method includes transmitting control information to the UE, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of the uplink control message. The method also includes receiving an uplink control message from the UE that is repeated according to the repetition count.

These and other aspects of the invention will be more fully understood upon reading the following detailed description. Other aspects, features and implementations will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific exemplary implementations in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Although features may be discussed with respect to certain examples and figures below, all implementations can include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more examples may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with the various implementations discussed herein. In a similar manner, although exemplary implementations may be discussed below as devices, systems, or methods, it should be understood that such exemplary implementations may be implemented in a variety of devices, systems, and methods.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 2 is an illustration of an example of a radio access network in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of radio resource organization in an air interface utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system supporting multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating communication between a base station and a UE using beamformed signals in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a process for explicitly indicating a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) repetition factor in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating example bit string values and corresponding PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for sending a request for PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating a process for implicitly indicating PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example process for implicitly indicating PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects.

Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a process for dynamic indication of PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a scheduling entity, according to some aspects.

Fig. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process for receiving repetitions of an uplink control message, in accordance with some aspects.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduled entity, according to some aspects.

Fig. 15 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process for sending a repetition of an uplink control message, in accordance with some aspects.

Detailed Description

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

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for physical uplink control channel configuration and coverage enhancement in wireless communication networks. In some aspects, the base station may dynamically indicate a repetition factor of the uplink control channel to improve coverage of the uplink control channel. In some aspects, the base station may use various signaling techniques to explicitly or implicitly indicate the repetition factor. In some aspects, the interpretation of the indication of the repetition factor may depend on one or more parameters, e.g., physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format, uplink control information size, code rate, and/or PUCCH resource set for PUCCH.

While aspects and implementations are described in this disclosure by way of illustration of some examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional implementations and use cases may occur in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovations herein may be implemented on many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, implementation and/or usage may be produced via integrated chip examples and/or other non-module component-based devices (e.g., end user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchase devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). While some examples may or may not be specific to use cases or applications, a broad classification of applicability of the described innovations may occur. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and further aggregate, distribute, or Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems that incorporate one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical arrangements, a device incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features to implement and practice the claimed and described implementations. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals must include a number of components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor(s), interleavers, adders/summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-scale components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a variety of telecommunications systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Referring now to fig. 1, various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated with reference to a wireless communication system 100 as a non-limiting illustrative example. The wireless communication system 100 includes three interaction domains: a core network 102, a Radio Access Network (RAN) 104, and a User Equipment (UE) 106. By means of the wireless communication system 100, the UE 106 may be enabled for data communication with an external data network 110, such as, but not limited to, the internet.

RAN 104 may implement any suitable wireless communication technology or technology to provide wireless access to UEs 106. As one example, RAN 104 may operate in accordance with the 3 rd generation partnership project (3 GPP) New Radio (NR) specification (commonly referred to as 5G). As another example, the RAN 104 may operate in the context of a hybrid 5G NR and evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (eUTRAN) standard (commonly referred to as LTE). The 3GPP refers to this hybrid RAN as the next generation RAN or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples may be utilized within the scope of the present disclosure.

As shown, RAN 104 includes a plurality of base stations 108. Broadly, a base station is a network element in a radio access network responsible for radio transmission to or reception from a UE in one or more cells. In different technologies, standards, or contexts, a base station may be referred to variously by those skilled in the art as a Base Transceiver Station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a Basic Service Set (BSS), an Extended Service Set (ESS), an Access Point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNode B (gNB), a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. In some examples, a base station may include two or more TRPs that may be collocated or non-collocated. Each TRP may communicate on the same or different carrier frequencies within the same or different frequency bands.

The radio access network 104 is also illustrated as supporting wireless communications for a plurality of mobile devices. Mobile devices may be referred to as User Equipment (UE) in the 3GPP standards, but those skilled in the art may also refer to such devices as Mobile Stations (MSs), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access Terminals (ATs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, or some other suitable terminology. The UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides access to network services to a user.

In this document, a "mobile" device need not have mobile capabilities and may be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment broadly refers to a wide variety of arrays of devices and technologies. The UE may include a plurality of hardware structural components that are sized, shaped, and arranged to facilitate communication; such components may include antennas, antenna arrays, radio Frequency (RF) chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, and the like, electrically coupled to each other. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile devices, cellular (cell) phones, smart phones, session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal Computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and a broad array of embedded systems corresponding to, for example, "internet of things" (IoT). The mobile device may additionally be an automobile or other transportation vehicle, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotic device, a satellite radio, a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, an object tracking device, an unmanned aerial vehicle, a multi-helicopter, a four-axis helicopter, a remote control device, a consumer and/or wearable device, such as glasses, a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., MP3 player), a camera, a game console, and the like. The mobile device may also be a digital home or smart home device such as a home audio, video and/or multimedia device, appliance, vending machine, smart lighting, home security system, smart meter, etc. In addition, the mobile device may be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a municipal infrastructure device controlling power (e.g., a smart grid), lighting, water, etc.; industrial automation and enterprise equipment; a logistics controller; agricultural equipment, and the like; in addition, the mobile device may provide remote connected medical or telemedicine support, for example, remote medical. The telemedicine devices may include telemedicine monitoring devices and telemedicine management devices whose communications may be given priority treatment or priority access over other types of information, for example, in terms of priority access for transmission of critical service data, and/or related QoS aspects for transmission of critical service data.

Wireless communication between RAN 104 and UE 106 may be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmissions from a base station (e.g., base station 108) to one or more UEs (e.g., UE 106) over the air interface may be referred to as Downlink (DL) transmissions. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink may refer to a point-to-multipoint transmission originating at a scheduling entity (described further below; e.g., base station 108). Another way to describe this scheme may be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. The transmission from a UE (e.g., UE 106) to a base station (e.g., base station 108) may be referred to as an Uplink (UL) transmission. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink may refer to point-to-point transmissions initiated at a scheduled entity (described further below; e.g., UE 106).

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., base station 108) allocates resources for communications between some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within this disclosure, as discussed further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduled communications, the UE 106, which may be the scheduled entity, may utilize the resources allocated by the scheduling entity 108.

The base station 108 is not the only entity that can be used as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE may act as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs).

As shown in fig. 1, the scheduling entity 108 may broadcast downlink traffic 112 to one or more scheduled entities 106. Broadly, the scheduling entity 108 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in a wireless communication network, including downlink traffic 112, and in some examples, uplink traffic 116 from one or more scheduled entities 106 to the scheduling entity 108. On the other hand, the scheduled entity 106 is a node or device that receives downlink control information 114 including, but not limited to, scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information from another entity in the wireless communication network, such as scheduling entity 108. The scheduled entity 106 may also send uplink control information 118 to the scheduling entity 108 including, but not limited to, scheduling request or feedback information, or other control information.

In addition, uplink and/or downlink control information 114 and/or 118 and/or traffic information 112 and/or 116 may be transmitted on waveforms that may be time-divided into frames, subframes, slots, and/or symbols. As used herein, a symbol may refer to a unit of time in an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) waveform that carries one Resource Element (RE) per subcarrier. A slot may carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. A subframe may refer to a duration of 1 ms. Multiple subframes or slots may be grouped together to form a single frame or radio frame. Within this disclosure, frames may refer to a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) for wireless transmission, where each frame is composed of, for example, 10 subframes of 1ms each. Of course, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme for organizing waveforms may be utilized, and the various temporal divisions of the waveforms may have any suitable duration.

In general, the base station 108 may include a backhaul interface for communicating with a backhaul portion 120 of a wireless communication system. Backhaul 120 may provide a link between base station 108 and core network 102. Further, in some examples, the backhaul network may provide interconnection between the various base stations 108. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as direct physical connections, virtual networks, the like using any suitable transport network.

The core network 102 may be part of the wireless communication system 100 and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 104. In some examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to a 5G standard (e.g., 5 GC). In other examples, core network 102 may be configured according to a 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or any other suitable standard or configuration.

Referring now to fig. 2, a schematic diagram of a RAN 200 is provided by way of example and not limitation. In some examples, RAN 200 may be the same as RAN 104 described above and illustrated in fig. 1. The geographical area covered by the RAN 200 may be divided into cellular areas (cells) that may be uniquely identified by User Equipment (UE) based on an identification broadcast from one access point or base station. Fig. 2 illustrates macro cells 202, 204, and 206, and small cell 208, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a sub-region of a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. The radio links within a sector may be identified by a single logical identification belonging to the sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within a cell may be formed by groups of antennas, each antenna responsible for communication with UEs in a portion of the cell.

Various base station arrangements may be utilized. For example, in fig. 2, two base stations, base station 210 and base station 212, are shown in cells 202 and 204. A third base station, base station 214, is shown controlling a Remote Radio Head (RRH) 216 in cell 206. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna or may be connected to the antenna or RRH 216 through a feeder cable. In the illustrated example, cells 202, 204, and 206 may be referred to as macro cells because base stations 210, 212, and 214 support cells having large sizes. In addition, a base station 218 is shown in cell 208 that may overlap with one or more macro cells. In this example, cell 208 may be referred to as a small cell (e.g., a micro cell, pico cell, femto cell, home base station, home node B, home eNode B, etc.) because base station 218 supports cells having a relatively small size. Cell size determination may be made based on system design and component constraints.

It should be appreciated that the radio access network 200 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells. Furthermore, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of a given cell. The base stations 210, 212, 214, 218 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, 214, and/or 218 may be the same as base station/scheduling entity 108 described above and shown in fig. 1.

Fig. 2 also includes an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) 220, which may be a four-axis aerial vehicle or an unmanned aerial vehicle. UAV 220 may be configured to function as a base station. That is, in some examples, the cells may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cells may move according to the location of the mobile base station (such as the four-axis aircraft 220).

Within RAN 200, a cell may include UEs that may communicate with one or more sectors of each cell. Further, each base station 210, 212, 214, 218, and 220 may be configured to provide access points to the core network 102 (see fig. 1) to all UEs in the respective cell. For example, UEs 222 and 224 may communicate with base station 210; UEs 226 and 228 may communicate with base station 212; UEs 230 and 232 may communicate with base station 214 over RRH 216; UE 234 may communicate with base station 218; and UE 236 may communicate with mobile base station 220. In some examples, UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, and/or 242 may be the same as UE/scheduled entity 106 described above and shown in fig. 1.

In some examples, UAV 220 (e.g., a four-axis vehicle) may be configured to function as a UE. For example, UAV 220 may operate within cell 202 by communicating with base station 210.

In another aspect of the RAN 200, side-uplink signals may be used between UEs without having to rely on scheduling or control information from the base station. For example, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 238, 240, and 242) may communicate with each other using peer-to-peer (P2P) or side-uplink signals 237 without relaying the communication through a base station. In some examples, UE 238, UE 240, and UE 242 may each act as a scheduling entity or transmitting side uplink device and/or a scheduled entity or receiving side uplink device to schedule resources and transmitting side uplink signals 237 therebetween without relying on scheduling or control information from the base station. In other examples, two or more UEs (e.g., UE 226 and UE 228) within the coverage area of a base station (e.g., base station 212) may also transmit a sidelink signal 227 on a direct link (sidelink) without communicating the communication through base station 212. In this example, base station 212 may allocate resources to UE 226 and UE 228 for side-link communications. In either case, such side-link signaling 227 and 237 may be implemented in a P2P network, a device-to-device (D2D) network, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X), a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network.

In the radio access network 200, the ability of a UE to communicate independent of its location while moving is referred to as mobility. The various physical channels between the UE and the radio access network are typically established, maintained and released under control of access and mobility management functions (AMFs, not shown, part of the core network 102 in fig. 1), which may include Security Context Management Functions (SCMF) and security anchor functions (SEAF) that perform authentication. The SCMF may manage security contexts in whole or in part for both control plane and user plane functionality.

In various aspects of the disclosure, the radio access network 200 may utilize DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility to enable mobility and handover (i.e., transfer of a connection of a UE from one radio channel to another). In a network configured for DL-based mobility, the UE may monitor various parameters of signals from its serving cell and various parameters of neighboring cells during invocation with the scheduling entity, or at any other time. Depending on the quality of these parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another cell, or if the signal quality from the neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may make a handover or handoff from the serving cell to the neighboring (target) cell. For example, UE 224 (illustrated as a vehicle, but any suitable form of UE may be used) may move from a geographic region corresponding to its serving cell 206 to a geographic region corresponding to neighboring cell 202. When the signal strength or quality from neighboring cell 202 exceeds the signal strength or quality of its serving cell 206 for a given amount of time, UE 224 may send a report message to its serving base station 216 indicating the condition. In response, UE 224 may receive the handover command and the UE may experience a handover to cell 202.

In a network configured for UL-based mobility, UL reference signals from each UE may be used by the network to select a serving cell for each UE. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, and 214/216 may broadcast a unified synchronization signal (e.g., unified Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), unified Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and unified Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH)). UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, and 232 may receive the unified synchronization signal, derive carrier frequencies and slot timings from the synchronization signal, and transmit uplink pilot or reference signals in response to the derived timings. Uplink pilot signals transmitted by a UE (e.g., UE 224) may be received simultaneously by two or more cells (e.g., base stations 210 and 214/216) within radio access network 200. Each cell may measure the strength of the pilot signal and the radio access network (e.g., one or more of base stations 210 and 214/216 and/or a central node within the core network) may determine the serving cell of UE 224. As UE 224 moves through radio access network 200, the network may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signals transmitted by UE 224. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by the neighbor cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, network 200 may switch UE 224 from the serving cell to the neighbor cell with or without informing UE 224.

Although the synchronization signals transmitted by the base stations 210, 212, and 214/216 may be uniform, the synchronization signals may not identify a particular cell, but may identify a cell of multiple cells at the same frequency and/or with the same timing. The use of zones in a 5G network or other next generation communication network enables an uplink-based mobility framework and improves the efficiency of both the UE and the network, as the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network can be reduced.

In various implementations, the air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or shared spectrum. Licensed spectrum provides exclusive use of a portion of spectrum, typically due to the mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government authority. Unlicensed spectrum provides shared use of a portion of spectrum without the need for government-authorized permissions. While it is still generally desirable to meet some technical rules to access unlicensed spectrum, in general, access may be available to any operator or device. The shared spectrum may fall between licensed and unlicensed spectrum, where technical rules or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, but the spectrum may still be shared by multiple operators and/or multiple RATs. For example, a licensed holder for a portion of a licensed spectrum may provide Licensed Shared Access (LSA) to share the spectrum with other parties, e.g., to gain access using conditions determined by the appropriate license holder.

The air interface in radio access network 200 may utilize one or more duplexing algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-point communication link where two endpoints can communicate with each other in two directions. Full duplex means that two endpoints can communicate with each other at the same time. Half duplex means that only one endpoint can transfer information to the other endpoint at a time. Half-duplex simulations are often implemented for wireless links using Time Division Duplex (TDD). In TDD, time division multiplexing is used to separate transmissions in different directions on a given channel from each other. That is, at some times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in one direction, and at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmissions in the other direction, where the direction may change very rapidly, e.g., several times per slot. In wireless links, full duplex channels typically rely on physical isolation of the transmitter and receiver and appropriate interference cancellation techniques. Full duplex emulation is often implemented for wireless links by utilizing Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) or Space Division Duplexing (SDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions may operate on different carrier frequencies (e.g., within the paired spectrum). In SDD, spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) is used to separate transmissions in different directions on a given channel from each other. In other examples, full duplex communications may be implemented within unpaired spectrum (e.g., within a single carrier bandwidth), where transmissions in different directions occur within different sub-bands of the carrier bandwidth. This type of full duplex communication may be referred to herein as sub-band full duplex (SBFD), also referred to as flexible duplex.

Further, the air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of the various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification utilizes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a Cyclic Prefix (CP) to provide multiple access for UL transmissions from UEs 222 and 224 to base station 210 and multiplexing for DL transmissions from base station 210 to one or more UEs 222 and 224. In addition, for UL transmissions, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP, also known as single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA). However, it is within the scope of the present disclosure that multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above-described schemes, but may be provided using Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA), resource Spread Multiple Access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes. Further, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 210 to UEs 222 and 224 may be provided utilizing Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), code Division Multiplexing (CDM), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), sparse Code Multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

Various aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to OFDM waveforms schematically illustrated in fig. 3. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described below. That is, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on OFDM links for clarity, it should be understood that the same principles may also be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms.

Referring now to fig. 3, an expanded view of an exemplary subframe 302 is illustrated showing an OFDM resource grid. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the physical layer (PHY) transmission structure for any particular application may differ from the examples described herein, depending on any number of factors. Here, time is in the horizontal direction in units of OFDM symbols; and the frequency is in the vertical direction in subcarriers or carriers.

The resource grid 304 may be used to schematically represent time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation with multiple available antenna ports, a corresponding plurality of resource grids 304 may be used for communication. The resource grid 304 is partitioned into a plurality of Resource Elements (REs) 306. REs of 1 subcarrier x 1 symbol are the smallest discrete part of the time-frequency grid and contain a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Each RE may represent one or more bits of information, depending on the modulation used in a particular implementation. In some examples, the RE blocks may be referred to as Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) or, more simply, resource Blocks (RBs) 308, which contain any suitable number of contiguous subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB may include 12 subcarriers, the number of which is independent of the numerology used. In some examples, an RB may include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain, depending on the parameter set. In this disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB, such as RB 308, corresponds entirely to a single direction of communication (transmission or reception for a given device).

The set of contiguous or non-contiguous resource blocks may be referred to herein as a Resource Block Group (RBG), a subband, or a bandwidth portion (BWP). The set of subbands or BWP may span the entire bandwidth. Scheduling a scheduled entity (e.g., UE) for downlink, uplink, or side-uplink transmission generally involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more subbands or bandwidth portions (BWP). Thus, the UE typically utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, the RB may be a minimum unit of resources that can be allocated to the UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE and the higher the modulation scheme selected for the air interface, the higher the data rate of the UE. RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity, such as a base station (e.g., a gNB, eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D side uplink communications.

In this illustration, RB 308 is shown to occupy less than the entire bandwidth of subframe 302, with some subcarriers illustrated above and below RB 308. In a given implementation, subframe 302 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Further, in this illustration, RB 308 is shown to occupy less than the entire duration of subframe 302, although this is just one possible example.

Each 1ms subframe 302 may be comprised of one or more adjacent slots. In the example shown in fig. 3, one subframe 302 includes four slots 310 as an illustrative example. In some examples, a slot may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols having a given Cyclic Prefix (CP) length. For example, a slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include minislots with shorter durations (e.g., one to three OFDM symbols), sometimes referred to as shortened Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs). In some cases, these minislots or shortened Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs) may be transmitted while occupying resources scheduled for ongoing slot transmissions of the same or different UEs. Any number of resource blocks may be used within a subframe or slot.

An expanded view of one of the time slots 310 illustrates the time slot 310 including a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, control region 312 may carry control channels and data region 314 may carry data channels. Of course, a slot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. The structure shown in fig. 3 is merely exemplary in nature and different slot structures may be used and may include one or more of each of the control region(s) and the data region(s).

Although not shown in fig. 3, individual REs 306 within RBs 308 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including control channels, shared channels, data channels, and the like. Other REs 306 within an RB 308 may also carry pilot or reference signals. These pilot or reference signals may be provided to a receiving device to perform channel estimation of the corresponding channel, which may enable coherent demodulation/detection of control and/or data channels within RB 308.

In some examples, the time slots 310 may be used for broadcast, multicast, or unicast communications. For example, broadcast, multicast, or multicast communication may refer to point-to-multipoint transmission by one device (e.g., a base station, UE, or other similar device) to other devices. Here, broadcast communications are delivered to all devices, while multicast or multicast communications are delivered to multiple intended receiving devices. Unicast communication may refer to point-to-point transmission by one device to a single other device.

In an example of cellular communication over a cellular carrier via a Uu interface, for DL transmissions, a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within a control region 312) to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) to carry DL control information including one or more DL control channels, such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH carries Downlink Control Information (DCI) including, but not limited to, power control commands (e.g., one or more open loop power control parameters and/or one or more closed loop power control parameters), scheduling information, grants, and/or assignments of REs for DL and UL transmissions. The PDCCH may also carry HARQ feedback transmissions, such as Acknowledgements (ACKs) or Negative Acknowledgements (NACKs). HARQ is a technique well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, wherein the integrity of a packet transmission may be checked for accuracy at the receiving side, e.g., using any suitable integrity checking mechanism such as a checksum or Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is acknowledged, an ACK may be sent, whereas if the integrity of the transmission is not acknowledged, a NACK may be sent. In response to the NACK, the transmitting device may transmit HARQ retransmissions, which may enable chase combining, incremental redundancy, etc.

The base station may also allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., in a control region 312 or a data region 314) to carry other DL signals, such as demodulation reference signals (DMRS); phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); channel State Information (CSI) reference signals (CSI-RS); a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB). SSBs may be broadcast at regular intervals based on periodicity (e.g., 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 160 ms). SSBs include a Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), a Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast control channel (PBCH). The UE may implement radio frame, subframe, slot and symbol synchronization in the time domain, identify the center of channel (system) bandwidth in the frequency domain, and identify the Physical Cell Identity (PCI) of the cell using PSS and SSS.

The PBCH in the SSB may further include a Master Information Block (MIB) including various system information and parameters for decoding the System Information Block (SIB). The SIB may be, for example, systeminformation type 1 (SIB 1) which may include various additional system information. The MIB and SIB1 together provide minimum System Information (SI) for initial access. Examples of system information transmitted in the MIB may include, but are not limited to, subcarrier spacing (e.g., default downlink parameter set), system frame number, configuration of PDCCH control resource set (CORESET 0) (e.g., PDCCH CORESET 0), cell prohibit indicator, cell reselection indicator, raster offset, and search space for SIB 1. Examples of Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) transmitted in SIB1 may include, but are not limited to, random access search space, paging search space, downlink configuration information, and uplink configuration information. The base station may also transmit Other System Information (OSI).

In UL transmissions, a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) may utilize one or more REs 306 to carry UL Control Information (UCI) to the scheduling entity, the UCI including one or more UL control channels, such as a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The UCL may include various packet types and categories including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. Examples of the uplink reference signal may include a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) and an uplink DMRS. In some examples, UCI may include a Scheduling Request (SR), i.e., a request for a scheduling entity to schedule uplink transmissions. Here, in response to the SR transmitted on the UCI, the scheduling entity may transmit Downlink Control Information (DCI) that may schedule resources for uplink packet transmission. UCI may also include HARQ feedback, channel State Feedback (CSF) (such as CSI reporting), or any other suitable UCI. In some aspects, the UE may increase coverage of the PUCCH using various enhancements described herein for PUCCH transmission.

In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., within data region 314) may be allocated for traffic data. Such traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) for DL transmissions; or for UL transmissions, a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH). In some examples, one or more REs 306 within the data region 314 may be configured to carry other signals, such as one or more SIBs and DMRSs. In some examples, PDSCH may carry multiple SIBs, not limited to SIB1 discussed above. For example, OSIs, such as SIB2 and above, may be provided in these SIBs.

In an example of sidelink communication over a sidelink carrier via a proximity services (ProSe) PC5 interface, the control region 312 of the slot 310 may comprise a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH) comprising Sidelink Control Information (SCI) transmitted by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device (e.g., a Tx V2X device or other Tx UE) to a set of one or more other receiving sidelink devices (e.g., rx V2X devices or other Rx UEs). The data region 314 of the slot 310 may include a physical side uplink shared channel (PSSCH) that includes side uplink data traffic transmitted by an initiating (transmitting) side uplink device via the SCI within resources reserved by the transmitting side uplink device on the side uplink carrier. Other information may also be transmitted through the various REs 306 within the time slot 310. For example, HARQ feedback information may be transmitted from a receiving side downlink device to a transmitting side downlink device in a physical side uplink feedback channel (PSFCH) within a time slot 310. In addition, one or more reference signals, such as sidelink SSB, sidelink CSI-RS, sidelink SRS, and/or sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (PRS), may be transmitted within the slot 310.

These physical channels are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for processing at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The transport channel carries blocks of information called Transport Blocks (TBs). The Transport Block Size (TBS) may be a controlled parameter based on a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission, where the TBS may correspond to the number of bits of information.

The channels or carriers illustrated in fig. 1-3 are not necessarily all channels or carriers that may be utilized between devices, and those skilled in the art will recognize that other channels or carriers may be utilized in addition to the illustrated channels or carriers, such as other traffic, control, and feedback channels.

These physical channels are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for processing at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The transport channel carries blocks of information called Transport Blocks (TBs). The Transport Block Size (TBS) may be a controlled parameter based on a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission, where the TBS may correspond to the number of bits of information.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the scheduling entity and/or the scheduled entity may be configured for beamforming and/or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. Fig. 4 illustrates an example of a MIMO-enabled wireless communication system 400. In a MIMO system, the transmitter 402 includes a plurality of transmit antennas 404 (e.g., N transmit antennas) and the receiver 406 includes a plurality of receive antennas 408 (e.g., M receive antennas). Thus, there are n×m signal paths 410 from the transmit antenna 404 to the receive antenna 408. Each of the transmitter 402 and the receiver 406 may be implemented, for example, in the scheduling entity 108, the scheduled entity 106, or any other suitable wireless communication device.

The use of such multiple antenna techniques enables a wireless communication system to utilize the spatial domain to support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing may be used to simultaneously transmit different data streams, also referred to as layers, on the same time-frequency resources. The data streams may be transmitted to a single UE to increase the data rate, or to multiple UEs to increase the total system capacity, the latter being referred to as multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplying the data stream by a different weight and phase shift) and then transmitting each spatially precoded stream on the downlink through multiple transmit antennas. The spatially pre-decoded data streams arrive at the UE(s) with different spatial signatures, which enable each of the UE(s) to recover the data stream(s) destined for that UE. On the uplink, each UE transmits a spatially pre-coded data stream, which enables the base station to identify the source of each spatially pre-coded data stream.

The number of data streams or layers corresponds to the rank of transmission. In general, the rank of MIMO system 400 is limited by the number of transmit or receive antennas 404 or 408 (whichever is lower). In addition, channel conditions at the UE, as well as other considerations such as available resources at the base station, may affect the transmission rank. For example, the rank allocated to a particular UE on the downlink (and thus the number of data streams) may be determined based on a Rank Indicator (RI) sent from the UE to the base station. RI may be determined based on an antenna configuration (e.g., the number of transmit antennas and receive antennas) and a signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR) measured at each receive antenna. The RI may indicate, for example, the number of layers that can be supported under the current channel conditions. The base station may use the RI and resource information (e.g., available resources and amount of data to be scheduled for the UE) to allocate a transmission rank to the UE.

In a Time Division Duplex (TDD) system, UL and DL are reciprocal in that each of them uses a different time slot of the same frequency bandwidth. Thus, in a TDD system, a base station may allocate a rank for DL MIMO transmission based on UL SINR measurements (e.g., based on Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) or other pilot signals transmitted from a UE). Based on the assigned rank, the base station may then transmit CSI-RS with separate C-RS sequences for each layer to provide a multi-layer channel estimate. The UE may measure channel quality across multiple layers and resource blocks from the CSI-RS and feedback an RI and Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) indicating a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) to the base station for transmission to the UE for updating rank and allocating REs for future downlink transmission.

In the simplest case, a rank-2 spatially multiplexed transmission on a 2 x 2MIMO antenna configuration will send one data stream from each transmit antenna 404, as shown in fig. 4. Each data stream follows a different signal path 410 to each receive antenna 408. The receiver 406 may then reconstruct the data stream using the signals received from each receive antenna 408.

Beamforming is a signal processing technique that may be used at the transmitter 402 or the receiver 406 to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitter 402 and the receiver 406. Beamforming may be implemented by combining signals transmitted via antennas 404 or 408 (e.g., antenna elements of an antenna array module) such that some signals experience constructive interference and others experience destructive interference. To generate the desired constructive/destructive interference, the transmitter 402 or receiver 406 may apply an amplitude and/or phase offset to signals transmitted or received from each of the antennas 404 or 408 associated with the transmitter 402 or receiver 406.

In a 5G New Radio (NR) system, particularly for an FR2 (millimeter wave) system, the beamformed signal may be used for most downlink channels, including PDCCH and PDSCH. In addition, broadcast control information, such as SSB, slot Format Indicator (SFI), and paging information, may be transmitted in a beam scanning manner to enable all scheduled entities (UEs) in a coverage area of a Transmission and Reception Point (TRP) (e.g., gNB) to receive the broadcast control information. In addition, for UEs configured with a beamforming antenna array, the beamforming signal may also be used for uplink channels, including PUCCH and PUSCH. In addition, the beamformed signals may also be used for D2D systems using FR2, such as NR side uplink (SL) or V2X.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating communication between a base station 504 and a UE 502 using beamformed signals, in accordance with some aspects. The base station 504 may be any of the base stations (e.g., the gnbs) or scheduling entities shown in fig. 1 and/or 2, and the UE 502 may be any of the UEs or scheduled entities shown in fig. 1 and/or 2.

The base station 504 is typically capable of communicating with the UE 502 using one or more transmit beams, and the UE 502 may also be capable of communicating with the base station 504 using one or more receive beams. As used herein, the term transmit beam refers to a beam on the base station 504 that may be used for downlink or uplink communications with the UE 502. Further, the term receive beam refers to a beam on the UE 502 that may be used for downlink or uplink communications with the base station 504.

In the example shown in fig. 5, the base station 504 is configured to generate a plurality of transmit beams 506a-506h, each associated with a different spatial direction. Further, the UE 502 is configured to generate a plurality of receive beams 508a-508e, each associated with a different spatial direction. It should be noted that while some beams are illustrated as being adjacent to each other, such arrangements may be different in different respects. For example, transmit beams 506a-506h transmitted during the same symbol may not be adjacent to each other. In some examples, the base station 504 and the UE 502 may each transmit more or fewer beams distributed in all directions (e.g., 360 degrees) and in three dimensions. In addition, transmit beams 506a-506h may include beams having varying beamwidths. For example, the base station 504 may transmit some signals (e.g., SSBs) on a wider beam and other signals (e.g., CSI-RS) on a narrower beam.

The base station 504 and the UE 502 may use a beam management procedure to select one or more transmit beams 506a-506h on the base station 504 and one or more receive beams 508a-508e on the UE 502 for transmitting uplink and downlink signals therebetween. In one example, during initial cell acquisition, the UE 502 may perform a P1 beam management procedure to scan a plurality of transmit beams 506a-506h over a plurality of receive beams 508a-508e to select a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) procedure for a beam-to-link (e.g., one of the transmit beams 506a-506h and one of the receive beams 508a-508 e) for initial access to the cell. For example, periodic SSB beam scanning may be implemented at certain intervals (e.g., based on SSB periods) at base station 504. Thus, the base station 504 may be configured to scan or transmit SSBs on each of the plurality of wider transmit beams 506a-506h during a beam scanning interval. The UE may measure a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) of each SSB transmit beam on each receive beam of the UE and select transmit and receive beams based on the measured RSRP. In an example, the selected receive beam may be the receive beam on which the highest RSRP is measured, and the selected transmit beam may have the highest RSRP measured on the selected receive beam.

After completing the PRACH procedure, the base station 504 and the UE 502 may perform a P2 beam management procedure for beam refinement at the base station 504. For example, the base station 504 may be configured to scan or transmit CSI-RS on each of a plurality of narrower transmit beams 506a-506h. Each of the narrower CSI-RS beams may be a sub-beam of the selected SSB transmit beam (e.g., in the spatial direction of the SSB transmit beam). The transmission of CSI-RS transmit beams may occur periodically (e.g., as configured by the gNB via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling), semi-permanently (e.g., as configured by the gNB via RRC signaling and activated/deactivated via medium access control element (MAC-CE) signaling), or aperiodically (e.g., as triggered by the gNB via Downlink Control Information (DCI)). The UE 502 is configured to scan a plurality of CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h on a plurality of receive beams 508a-508 e. The UE 502 then performs beam measurements (e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc.) of the received CSI-RS on each of the receive beams 508a-508e to determine a respective beam quality of each of the CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h measured on each of the receive beams 508a-508 e.

The UE 502 may then generate and send a layer 1 (L1) measurement report to the base station 504 including a respective beam index (e.g., CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI)) and beam measurement (e.g., RSRP or SINR) of one or more of the CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h on one or more of the receive beams 508a-508 e. The base station 504 may then select one or more CSI-RS transmit beams on which to transmit downlink and/or uplink control and/or data with the UE 502. In some examples, the selected CSI-RS transmit beam(s) have the highest RSRP from the L1 measurement report. The transmission of the L1 measurement report may occur periodically (e.g., as configured by the gNB via RRC signaling), semi-permanently (e.g., as configured by the gNB via RRC signaling and activated/deactivated via MAC-CE signaling), or aperiodically (e.g., as triggered by the gNB via DCI).

The UE 502 may also select a respective receive beam on the UE 502 for each selected serving CSI-RS transmit beam to form a respective Beam Pair Link (BPL) for each selected serving CSI-RS transmit beam. For example, the UE 502 may utilize beam measurements obtained during the P2 procedure, or perform a P3 beam management procedure to obtain new beam measurements for the selected CSI-RS transmit beams, thereby selecting a corresponding receive beam for each selected transmit beam. In some examples, the selected receive beam paired with the particular CSI-RS transmit beam may be the receive beam on which the highest RSRP of the particular CSI-RS transmit beam is measured.

In some examples, in addition to performing CSI-RS beam measurements, base station 504 may configure UE 502 to perform SSB beam measurements and provide L1 measurement reports containing beam measurements for SSB transmit beams 506a-506 h. For example, the base station 504 may configure the UE 502 to perform SSB beam measurements and/or CSI-RS beam measurements for beam fault detection (BRD), beam Fault Recovery (BFR), cell reselection, beam tracking (e.g., for the mobile UE 502 and/or the base station 504), or other beam optimization purposes.

In addition, when the channels are reciprocal, an uplink beam management scheme may be used to select the transmit and receive beams. In one example, the UE 502 may be configured to scan or transmit on each of a plurality of receive beams 508a-508 e. For example, UE 502 may transmit SRS on each beam in a different beam direction. In addition, the base station 504 may be configured to receive uplink beam reference signals on a plurality of transmit beams 506a-506 h. The base station 504 then performs beam measurements (e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc.) of the beam reference signals for each transmit beam 506a-506h to determine a respective beam quality for each receive beam 508a-508e measured on each transmit beam 506a-506 h.

The base station 504 may then select one or more transmit beams on which to communicate downlink and/or uplink control and/or data with the UE 502. In some examples, the selected transmit beam(s) have the highest RSRP. The UE 502 may then select a respective receive beam for each selected serving transmit beam using, for example, a P3 beam management procedure to form a respective Beam Pair Link (BPL) for each selected serving transmit beam, as described above.

In one example, a single CSI-RS transmit beam (e.g., beam 506 d) on base station 504 and a single receive beam (e.g., beam 508 c) on the UE may form a single BPL for communication between base station 504 and UE 502. In another example, multiple CSI-RS transmit beams (e.g., beams 506c, 506d, and 506 e) on base station 504 and a single receive beam (e.g., beam 508 c) on UE 502 may form respective BPLs for communication between base station 504 and UE 502. In another example, multiple CSI-RS transmit beams (e.g., beams 506c, 506d, and 506 e) on base station 504 and multiple receive beams (e.g., beams 508c and 508 d) on UE 502 may form multiple BPLs for communication between base station 504 and UE 502. In this example, the first BPL may include a transmit beam 506c and a receive beam 508c, the second BPL may include a transmit beam 508d and a receive beam 508c, and the third BPL may include a transmit beam 508e and a receive beam 508d.

In some cases, wireless communications may suffer from signal attenuation (e.g., path loss), which may be affected by various factors such as temperature, atmospheric pressure, diffraction, and the like. As a result, signal processing techniques such as beamforming may be used to overcome path loss at these frequencies. Thus, transmissions from a base station (e.g., a gNB) and/or a UE may be beamformed, and a receiving device may configure antenna(s) and/or antenna array(s) using beamforming techniques such that the transmissions are received in a directional manner. In some cases, a UE (e.g., UE 502) may select an activated beam for communication with a network (e.g., base station 504) by selecting a strongest beam from a plurality of candidate beams. In some cases, multiple UEs (such as UEs within a group) may use the same beam configuration.

In some cases, wireless communication systems, such as those operating in the millimeter wave frequency range (e.g., FR 2), may experience communication loss due to the weakening or partial blockage of the beam. If the beam is weak, the base station may perform a beam switching procedure to determine a strong beam for communication. However, in some examples, the beam may be weak for a short period of time, such that performing the beam switching process may result in inefficient use of processing resources or may take longer than the time in which the beam is temporarily weakened. Furthermore, even when the active beam is weak, the base station may need to maintain communication with the UE in order to determine the new beam to select when needed. For example, it may be important for a base station to receive Channel State Information (CSI) feedback from a UE in order to determine the beam to use for selection. In some cases, maintaining communication with the UE may include maintaining a performance threshold or coverage on a unicast channel (e.g., PUCCH). In order to maintain communication in the event that a beam becomes unreliable or weak, it may be beneficial to provide a method for coverage enhancement of an uplink channel (e.g., PUCCH), which may be dynamically enabled, and in some cases, in lieu of beam switching or other beam management procedures.

Explicit repetition factor indication for PUCCH

In some aspects, the base station may explicitly signal the UE to use repetition for the uplink control channel for coverage enhancement. For example, one or more repetitions of PUCCH transmission may be transmitted within one slot and/or across multiple slots. Fig. 6 is a diagram illustrating a process for explicitly indicating PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects. Using a PUCCH repetition factor (e.g., repetition count), the base station 602 (e.g., gNB) may cause the UE 604 to send repetitions of PUCCH transmissions, if desired. In some aspects, repeating PUCCH transmissions may enhance PUCCH coverage and/or reliability. In some aspects, the UE may repeat PUCCH transmissions using the same or different communication resources (e.g., PUCCH resource sets).

At block 606, the UE 604 may determine one or more sets of PUCCH resources for the PUCCH transmission 608. The base station may configure communication resources (e.g., PUCCH resource sets) for PUCCH transmissions in various formats and/or code rates. In one example, the base station may send PUCCH resource configuration 607 to the UE using RRC signaling (e.g., pucch_config RRC message). In an aspect, the PUCCH resource configuration may define one or more sets of PUCCH resources (e.g., time domain and frequency domain resources) that the UE may use for PUCCH transmission. The UE may store the PUCCH resource configuration (e.g. enhancement configuration 1415) in the memory 1405 or the computer readable medium 1406 (see fig. 14). Each PUCCH resource set may define a PUCCH format, a first symbol, a number of symbols, a PRB offset, etc. of communication resources (e.g., one or more RBs 308) that may be used for PUCCH transmission. In some aspects, the set of PUCCH resources may be predefined or predetermined in an applicable communication standard (e.g. 3GPP NR standard) or preconfigured by a device manufacturer of the UE or the base station. In one example, if a predefined PUCCH resource set is used, the base station may indicate the PUCCH resource set to be used by transmitting a PUCCH resource indicator in DCI or SIB 1.

In some scenarios, the base station 602 may dynamically configure the UE 604 to repeat PUCCH transmissions (i.e., PUCCH repetition), e.g., to enhance PUCCH coverage if desired. Dynamic configuration or signaling of PUCCH repetition enables a UE to start, stop, or change PUCCH repetition without using RRC or semi-static signaling. When PUCCH repetition is used, the UE 604 may repeat PUCCH transmission in a predetermined number of slots or mini-slots. To this end, the base station 602 may send a first PUCCH repetition indication 610 to the UE 604 to explicitly indicate a PUCCH repetition factor. The base station 602 may send the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 using dynamic signaling. For example, the base station 602 may transmit a first PUCCH repetition indication 610 via DCI to the UE 604. In one example, the base station 602 may transmit a first PUCCH repetition indication 610 via a Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE). In response to the first PUCCH repetition indication 610, the ue 604 may repeat the PUCCH transmission 612 (i.e., repetition of the PUCCH transmission) according to the first PUCCH repetition indication 610.

In some aspects, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may explicitly indicate a PUCCH Repetition Factor (PRF) that controls PUCCH repetition, such that the UE 604 may determine the PRF directly from the repetition indication 610. In one aspect, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may indicate a value represented, for example, by a bit string (e.g., one or more bits) corresponding to a value (e.g., a binary value) of the PRF. For example, if the PRF has a value of 2, the bit string may be '10'; the bit string may be '11' if the value of PRF is 3, and '100' if the value of PRF is 4. Fig. 7 illustrates a table 700 of example bit string values and corresponding PUCCH repetition factor values, in accordance with an aspect. In this example, the bit string '000' is not used or reserved. Bit string values 001-111 represent values 1 through 7 of the PRF, respectively.

In some aspects, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may indicate a value, e.g., a bit string, indicating an index value for identifying the PRF in a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors. For example, a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors may be defined in a table, database, or list (e.g., repetition factor 1417 of fig. 14) that may be stored at the UE, and the PUCCH repetition indication may indicate an index for identifying a desired PRF in the predefined PUCCH repetition factors (e.g., see table 700 of fig. 7).

In some aspects, the UE may send a PUCCH repetition request 620 for a UE-specific PUCCH repetition factor to the base station 602. In one aspect, the UE may send the repetition request 620 in UCI. In another aspect, the UE may send the repeat request 620 in a MAC CE. In an aspect, the repetition request 620 may indicate a number of PUCCH repetitions desired by the UE. In an aspect, repetition request 620 may indicate that the UE requests PUCCH repetition, but does not indicate the number of PUCCH repetitions requested or desired. In one example, repetition request 620 may indicate a need for PUCCH repetition and base station 602 may determine a PUCCH repetition factor or a value of a PUCCH repetition count. In one example, if the UE has been configured to repeat the PUCCH, request 620 may indicate that a PUCCH repetition factor or repetition count needs to be increased or decreased.

In an aspect, in response to the request 620, the base station 602 may send a second PUCCH repetition indication 622 to the UE. In an aspect, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may explicitly indicate the PUCCH repetition factor, for example using a bit string as described above. In an aspect, if the request 620 explicitly indicates a desired PUCCH repetition factor, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may indicate an acknowledgement (e.g. approved or disapproved) without explicitly indicating a PUCCH repetition factor. In response to the second PUCCH repetition indication 622, the ue may repeat the PUCCH transmission 624 according to the second PUCCH repetition indication 622.

In some aspects, the base station 602 may refer to a previous PUCCH repetition factor to indicate a PUCCH repetition factor. For example, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may indicate that the UE may increase (e.g., twice increase) or decrease the PUCCH repetition factor with reference to a previous PUCCH repetition factor, e.g., indicated by the first PUCCH repetition indication 610.

In an aspect, the PUCCH repetition indication may indicate that the PUCCH repetition factor is valid for a predetermined time interval (active time interval). In an aspect, the base station may configure the UE to track the validity time of the PUCCH repetition factor using a timer (e.g., timer 1430 in fig. 14). The PUCCH repetition factor is valid during the active time. After the time interval passes, the UE may stop repeating the PUCCH. For example, the predetermined time interval may include a predetermined number of time slots or minislots. In an aspect, the PRF may remain active until the UE receives another or next PUCCH repetition indication that may change (e.g., increase, decrease, or stop) or eliminate the PUCCH repetition factor.

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a process 800 for transmitting a request for PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects. In one example, a UE (e.g., UE 604) may use process 800 to determine whether to send a repetition request (e.g., PUCCH repetition request 620) to a base station (e.g., base station 602).

At block 802, the UE may examine one or more PUCCH repetition criteria to determine whether to transmit a PUCCH repetition request. In an aspect, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include UL and/or DL channel quality between the UE and the base station. For example, the channel quality may include a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and/or a signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio (SNDR) of a communication channel between the UE and the base station. In one aspect, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include historical data regarding communications between the UE and the base station. For example, the historical data may indicate a communication failure (if any) that occurred between the UE and the base station during a predetermined time interval. A high rate of communication failure may indicate poor, unstable, or undesirable channel quality, and vice versa. In some aspects, the base station may provide PUCCH repetition criteria to the UE, e.g., using RRC signaling, DCI, and/or MAC CE.

At decision block 804, the UE may determine whether one or more of the PUCCH repetition criteria are met. In one example, the PUCCH repetition criterion is met when channel quality (e.g., SNR, SINR, and/or SNDR) is below a predetermined threshold. In one example, the PUCCH repetition criterion is satisfied when the historical data indicates a failure of high rate communication between the UE and the base station. For example, if the UE fails to transmit HARQ feedback to the base station, PUCCH repetition criteria may be met.

At block 806, the UE may send a PUCCH repetition request (e.g., request 620) to the base station when one or more PUCCH repetition criteria are met (i.e., the "yes" path from decision block 804). The PUCCH repetition request may cause the base station to transmit a PUCCH repetition indication to the UE, as described above with respect to fig. 6. In some aspects, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include a condition of communication between the UE and the base station. For example, the condition may include SNR, SINR, and/or SNDR of a communication channel between the UE and the base station. In this case, the condition of the PUCCH repetition criterion is satisfied when any one of SNR, SINR and/or SNDR is below a predetermined threshold.

Implicit repetition factor indication for PUCCH

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of implicit indication of repetition factors for uplink control channels in accordance with some aspects. Wireless network 900 may implement aspects of RAN 200. The wireless network 900 may include a base station 905 and/or a UE 910, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein.

The wireless network 900 may support various PUCCH enhancement techniques for coverage enhancement. In some aspects, wireless network 900 may use DMRS bundling to support PUCCH repetition and some coverage enhanced signaling mechanisms. Some wireless networks may use group common DCI to indicate PUCCH coverage enhancements, such as preconfigured PUCCH repetition. However, such mechanisms cannot dynamically indicate repetition factors for PUCCH transmissions with repetition. The repetition factor may indicate a number, count, or number of repetitions of a PUCCH transmission, etc., wherein the same PUCCH transmission (e.g., an instance or occurrence of a single PUCCH message) may be sent one or more times according to the repetition factor (e.g., repetition count).

Aspects of the described techniques may provide a mechanism to implicitly indicate a correspondence or mapping between each of the available transmit beams of the base station 905 and a repetition factor (e.g., repetition count) of an uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH). That is, the base station 905 may perform wireless communication with the UE 910 using one or more transmit beams (e.g., the beams depicted in fig. 5). In this context, a transmit beam may generally refer to any beam/transmission performed in a directional manner, which may correspond to a particular transmit beam (e.g., based on a beam index or other identifier), antenna configuration, antenna port, antenna array, etc. In some aspects, each transmit beam of the base station 905 may be uniquely identified or otherwise associated with identifiable characteristics and/or parameters (e.g., a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) configuration, a portion of a resource configuration, etc.).

The base station 905 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 910 may receive or otherwise obtain) a configuration signal that identifies or otherwise indicates the correspondence between the transmit beam of the base station 905 and certain PUCCH repetition factors. For example, the base station 905 may transmit a configuration (e.g., tx beam-PUCCH repetition configuration 912) for indicating a correspondence or mapping to the UE 910 using RRC signaling, upper layer signaling (e.g., L3 signaling), MAC CE signaling, and the like. For example, the configuration may generally map each transmit beam of the base station 905 to a respective repetition factor of the PUCCH transmission. For example, each transmit beam of base station 905 may be mapped to a unique or different repetition factor for PUCCH transmissions (e.g., uplink control messages) with repetition. In another example, a subset or group of transmit beams of base station 905 may each be mapped to a unique repetition factor for PUCCH repetition. Configuration 912 may be initially indicated (e.g., when UE 910 establishes a connection with base station 905 during a connection establishment/reestablishment/update procedure) and/or may be updated by base station 905 (e.g., according to a periodic schedule, an aperiodic schedule, and/or as needed). Thus, the association or correspondence of the transmit beam (or TCI state) and PUCCH repetition factor may be dynamically changed using downlink MAC CE, DCI, etc. The UE 910 may store or otherwise maintain a correspondence between transmit beams of the base station 905 and PUCCH repetition factors (e.g., in memory, in a look-up table 914, etc.). The configuration indicating the correspondence may map one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 905 to two or more repetition counts and, in some cases, one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 905 to one repetition factor (e.g., one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 905 may be mapped to no repetition).

Thus, the UE 910 may identify or otherwise determine that it has a first uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH message) for repeated transmissions. For example, the UE 910 may determine that it has uplink control message transmission with repetition based on receiving a downlink shared channel transmission (e.g., PDSCH message), where the first uplink control message may be used to provide HARQ-ACK feedback (e.g., feedback message). In another example, the UE 910 may determine that it has uplink control message transmission with repetition based on a buffer status of the UE 910 (e.g., based on having a Buffer Status Report (BSR), scheduling Request (SR), etc. for transmission). In another example, the UE 910 may determine that it has uplink control message transmission with repetition based on Channel State Information (CSI) feedback to be provided to the base station 905. Other examples of uplink control information/data may also be the basis for the transmission of the first uplink control message with repetition.

Based on the first uplink control message, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify, select, or otherwise implicitly determine a first repetition factor for the first uplink control message based on an activated transmit beam or transmission configuration indicator state (e.g., TCI state) of the base station 905. For example, the activated transmit beams of the base station 905 may include transmit beams of one or more transmit beams of the base station 905. The base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify a first repetition factor of the first uplink control message using a configuration 914 (e.g., a look-up table) that indicates a correspondence between a transmit beam of the base station 905 and the repetition factor for uplink control channel transmissions with repetition. That is, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may use the correspondence or mapping to determine a corresponding first repetition factor based on the activated transmit beams of the base station 905 and, thus, a corresponding first repetition count for transmitting repetitions of the first uplink control message. Thus, the UE 910 may send or otherwise provide (and the base station 905 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first uplink control message, as indicated by the first repetition factor. For example, the UE 910 may send three repetitions 920 of the first uplink control message corresponding to the first repetition count. In other examples, the repetition count may be one, two, or four or more.

Accordingly, aspects of the described techniques may enable the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 to learn, identify, or otherwise determine an activated transmit beam of the base station 905 in order to implicitly landmark an associated repetition factor. As described above, each transmit beam of the base station 905 may correspond to a beam index, an antenna configuration, an antenna port, a transmission direction, and the like. The transmit beam may be based on various configurations/parameters, such as TCI status, resource configuration, etc.

In one example, the active transmit beam of the base station 905 may be the current (active) control beam of the base station 905. For example, the active control beam of the base station 905 may be considered an active transmit beam for repetition factor determination. In one example, the activated control beam of the base station 905 may correspond to a transmit beam for control message transmission (e.g., PDCCH transmission) from the base station 905. Thus, in one example, the PUCCH repetition factor may be associated with the current control beam of the base station 905.

In another example, the activated transmit beam of base station 950 may be based on PDSCH transmissions. For example, the base station 905 may allocate or otherwise schedule downlink shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) transmissions to the UE 910. The downlink shared channel transmission may be configured with an acknowledgement mode (e.g., with HARQ-ACK feedback) such that the UE 910 is expected to provide a feedback message (e.g., ACK or NACK) indicating whether the UE 910 is able to receive and decode the downlink shared channel transmission. In this example, the transmit beam for the downlink shared channel transmission may be an activated transmit beam of the base station 905 for determining the repetition factor. That is, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may determine which transmit beam the base station 905 uses to perform downlink shared channel transmission, access a configuration indicating a correspondence between the transmit beam and a corresponding repetition factor, and use the correspondence to determine a repetition count for transmitting a feedback message with repetition. Thus, the repetition factor of PUCCH transmissions carrying ACK/NACK information may be associated with the beam or TCI state (e.g., beam configuration) of the associated PDSCH or downlink message.

As described above, in some examples, the activated transmit beam of base station 950 may be identified based on or using TCI status, resource configuration, etc. For example, the base station 905 may configure various TCI state configurations within higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling), which the UE 910 may use to decode PDSCH transmissions. The active transmit beam of the base station 905 may be determined or otherwise identified based on the TCI state configured for the UE 910.

In some examples, the activated transmit beams of the base station 905 may be identified or otherwise determined based on a quasi co-located (QCL) relationship. For example, the base station 905 may transmit a DCI message to the UE 910 that configures various parameters, such as QCL relationships between downlink reference signals in one CSI-RS set and PDSCH DMRS ports. The QCL relationship may identify two antenna ports that are considered quasi-co-located if the properties of the channel through which the symbols on one antenna port pass can be inferred from the channel over which the symbols on one antenna port are transmitted. Thus, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify a second transmit beam of the base station 905. The second transmit beam may be used for various signals transmitted by the base station 905. For example, the second transmit beam of base station 905 can be used for transmission of broadcast transmissions (e.g., SSB transmissions), synchronization signal transmissions (e.g., PSS/SSS, such as SSB's PSS/SSS), reference signal transmissions (e.g., CSI-RS), tracking signal transmissions (location tracking signals, etc.), and the like. The base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify or otherwise determine the active transmit beam of the base station 905 based on the QCL relationship between the second transmit beam and the active transmit beam to identify or otherwise determine the active transmit beam.

In some examples, the base station 905 may dynamically cover the correspondence between one or more transmit beams of the base station 905 and their corresponding repetition factors. That is, the base station 905 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 910 may receive or otherwise obtain) an indication to cover a correspondence of an activated transmit beam of the base station 905 from a first repetition factor to an updated repetition factor associated with an updated repetition count. Thus, the UE 910 may send repetitions of the first uplink control message using the updated repetition count based on the coverage indication. In some examples, the dynamic coverage indication may be signaled using DCI signaling, MAC CE signaling, or the like.

Thus, the UE 910 may receive or otherwise provide (and the base station 905 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first uplink control message based on the first (or updated) repetition factor/count. PUCCH repetition may be transmitted using inter-slot repetition and/or intra-slot repetition. The techniques described above may enable the base station 905 to implicitly indicate the PUCCH repetition factor to the UE 910 via beam selection (e.g., by associating a beam with the PUCCH repetition factor).

Fig. 10 illustrates an example process 1000 supporting implicit indication of repetition factors for uplink control channels in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. Process 1000 may be implemented at or by wireless network 200. Aspects of process 1000 may be implemented by base station 1002 and/or UE 1004, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein.

At 1010, the base station 1002 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 1004 may receive or otherwise obtain) a configuration indicating a correspondence between one or more transmit beams of the base station 1002 and repetition factors for uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH) transmissions. In some aspects, the repetition factor may identify or otherwise indicate a repetition count for transmitting an uplink control message on an uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH). In some aspects, the base station 1002 can send the configuration 1010 indicating the correspondence via upper layer signaling, RRC signaling, or the like. In some aspects, the configuration may indicate a correspondence between one or more of the transmit beams of base station 1002 and repetition count (e.g., no repetition). In some aspects, the configuration may indicate a correspondence between one or more of the transmit beams of base station 1002 and two or more repeated repetition counts. In one example, base station 1002 can configure a first subset of transmit beams with a repetition count of two or more repetitions and a second subset of transmit beams with a repetition count of one (which can be referred to as no repetition in some examples). Thus, the configured correspondence may map the transmit beam(s) of base station 1002 to one or more repetition counts for PUCCH transmissions with repetition.

At 1015, the base station 1002 may identify or otherwise determine a first repetition factor for a first uplink control message from the UE 1004 based on the activated transmit beams from the base station 1002 of the one or more transmit beams according to the correspondence. For example, the base station 1002 may identify the activated transmit beam based on a QCL relationship between a TCI status configuration, a broadcast beam, a synchronization signal beam, a tracking signal beam, a reference signal beam, etc., provided to the UE 1004, and the activated transmit beam. In some aspects, the base station 1002 may identify or otherwise determine an activated transmit beam based on the current control beam being used by the base station 1002.

At 1020, ue 1004 may identify or otherwise determine a first repetition factor for a first uplink control message to base station 1002 based on the activated transmit beam of base station 1002 according to the correspondence. For example, the UE 1004 may identify an activated transmit beam at the base station 1002 based on a QCL relationship between a TCI status configuration, a broadcast beam, a synchronization signal beam, a reference signal beam, a tracking signal beam, etc., provided by the base station 1002, and the activated transmit beam. In some examples, this may include the UE 1004 identifying or otherwise determining an activated transmit beam based on the current control beam being used by the base station 1002.

At 1025, ue 1004 may send or otherwise provide (and base station 1002 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of a first uplink control message (e.g., UCI/PUCCH) as indicated by a first repetition factor, three repetitions 1026 being shown by way of example only. For example, the UE 1004 may transmit repetitions of a first uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH), where the number of repetitions transmitted corresponds to a first repetition factor (e.g., a first repetition count) of the transmit beam based on activation of the base station 1002. In some aspects, the repetition of the first uplink control message may be transmitted using intra-slot repetition and/or inter-slot repetition.

At 1030, the base station 1002 may optionally transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 1004 may receive or otherwise obtain) an indication to cover a correspondence of the activated transmit beam of the base station 1002 from the first repetition factor to the updated repetition factor. In general, the updated repetition factor (e.g., the second repetition factor) may have a different repetition count than the first repetition factor. That is, the updated repetition factor may indicate or otherwise be associated with an updated repetition count that is different from the first repetition count associated with the first repetition factor.

Thus, at 1035, the ue 1004 may optionally send or otherwise provide (and the base station 1002 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first and/or second uplink control messages to the base station 1002 according to the updated repetition factor, with two example repetitions 1036 being shown by way of example only. That is, the coverage indication 1030 may provide a mechanism in which the base station 1002 may dynamically (e.g., using an indication in DCI signaling, MAC CE, etc.) change or update the correspondence between the transmit beam of the base station 1002 and the repetition factor for uplink control messages with repetitions transmitted via the uplink control channel.

Repetition factor interpretation based on PUCCH parameters

In some aspects, the PUCCH repetition factor or indication may be applied or interpreted differently depending on the PUCCH repetition parameter. The PUCCH repetition factor may be indicated explicitly or implicitly, for example using the methods described above in fig. 6-10. In some aspects, the PUCCH parameters may include PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, and/or code rate of PUCCH transmission. By dynamically indicating the PUCCH repetition factor, the configuration of PUCCH repetition may be adjusted to increase the chance of receiving PUCCH repetition. Accordingly, some aspects of the techniques and apparatus described herein may positively impact network performance.

In some aspects, the UE may determine or select a PUCCH resource set from one or more (e.g., up to 4) configured PUCCH resource sets based on UCI payload size (e.g., excluding Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)). Each PUCCH resource set includes certain communication resources (e.g., time and frequency resources or RBs 308) that may be used for PUCCH transmission. In some casesIn case, the selection of the PUCCH resource set may be based on UCI payload size (O _UCI ) And a comparison between thresholds associated with each PUCCH resource set. The PUCCH resource sets may have different thresholds. For example, the threshold for PUCCH resource set 0 may be 2 bits, meaning that the UE may select PUCCH resource set 0 for 1 bit or 2 bits O _UCI . For O _UCI > 2, the ue may select a PUCCH resource set with a higher threshold (e.g. greater than 2 bits).

In one example, PUCCH resource sets 1, 2, and 3 may each be configured with a threshold (e.g., up to 1706 bits, a limit selected for the coding chain to ensure good performance) respectively. If the threshold parameters of PUCCH resource set (1, 2 or 3) are not configured, then the threshold may be assumed to be 1706, which means that PUCCH resource set may support up to 1706 bits. O (O) _UCI >2 may sequentially add O to each of the UEs _UCI Compare against the thresholds of PUCCH format sets 1, 2 and 3 and determine the appropriate set of PUCCH resources for PUCCH transmission.

Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a process 1100 associated with dynamic indication of PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. For example, process 1100 may be used between a base station and a UE to interpret PUCCH repetition factors or indications, which may be explicitly or implicitly indicated as described above with respect to fig. 6-10.

In block 1102, the ue may receive, from a base station, a configuration including one or more rules associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining or interpreting PUCCH repetition factor indications. For example, the UE may receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message that provides configuration (e.g., control information) for dynamic interpretation of PUCCH repetition factors or indications, as described below. In some aspects, the configuration may provide one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with PUCCH formats, UCI sizes, PUCCH resource sets, or code rates for interpreting PUCCH repetition factor indications, among other examples. In some aspects, one or more rules may be specified in a wireless communication standard (e.g., 5G NR) that governs communication between the UE and the base station. In some aspects, the UE may dynamically determine the value of the PUCCH repetition factor using one or more rules, which may be indicated explicitly (e.g., explicit indication as described in fig. 6) or implicitly (e.g., implicit indication as described in fig. 10) by the base station. For example, the one or more rules may define an interpretation of values associated with the one or more PUCCH parameters relative to the value of the repetition factor. In some aspects, the PUCCH parameters may include at least one of PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, or code rate of PUCCH.

At block 1104, the UE may determine one or more PUCCH parameters currently configured at the UE. For example, the one or more PUCCH parameters may include a PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, and/or code rate of PUCCH transmission. At block 1106, the ue may determine a PUCCH repetition factor based on the one or more PUCCH parameters and one or more rules for interpreting an indication of the PUCCH repetition factor, where the indication of the PUCCH repetition factor may be explicitly indicated by the base station or implicitly indicated.

In an aspect, the UE may determine a PUCCH format and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on a rule associated with the PUCCH format (e.g., PUCCH formats 0-4). In the case where the UE has received an explicit or implicit indication of the PUCCH repetition factor from the base station, the UE may interpret the indication (e.g., a first value) based on the associated rule to reach a second value that becomes an actual or valid value (e.g., a count) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling repetition of the PUCCH transmission. In an aspect, the PUCCH repetition factor may be limited to one or more PUCCH formats. For example, the indication of PUCCH repetition factor may be valid only for (or limited to) one or more PUCCH formats according to the configured rule. If the UE determines that the PUCCH repetition factor is invalid, the UE does not repeat the PUCCH.

In another aspect, the UE may determine a UCI size and/or code rate for PUCCH transmission and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on a rule associated with the UCI size and/or code rate. For example, the UE may interpret an explicit or implicit PUCCH repetition factor indication (e.g., a first value) based on a rule associated with UCI size and/or code rate to reach an actual or valid value (e.g., a second value) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling repetition of PUCCH transmission. In one example, the indication of PUCCH repetition factor may be valid only for (or limited to) one or more UCI sizes and/or code rates according to the rules of the configuration. If the UE determines that the PUCCH repetition factor is invalid, the UE does not repeat the PUCCH.

In another aspect, the UE may determine a set of PUCCH resources for PUCCH transmission and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on a rule associated with the set of PUCCH resources. For example, the UE may interpret an explicit or implicit PUCCH repetition factor indication (e.g., a first value) based on a rule associated with the PUCCH resource set to reach an actual value or a valid value (e.g., a second value) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling repetition of the PUCCH transmission. In one example, the indication of PUCCH repetition factor may be valid only for (or limited to) one or more PUCCH resource sets according to a configured rule.

After determining the PUCCH repetition factor, if at least one PUCCH repetition (e.g., repeated PUCCH transmission in one or more slots) is valid, the UE may transmit the at least one PUCCH repetition based at least in part on the dynamically determined PUCCH repetition factor. As described above, fig. 11 provides an example in which a UE may dynamically determine and apply an explicitly or implicitly indicated PUCCH repetition factor, which may be interpreted differently based on one or more PUCCH parameters and one or more rules for interpreting the repetition factor. Rules may be preconfigured or configured by the base station.

Fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a scheduling entity 1200 employing a processing system 1214. For example, scheduling entity 1200 may be a base station, a gNB, or an RRH as shown in any one or more of fig. 1, fig. 2, fig. 5, fig. 6, fig. 9, and/or fig. 10.

The scheduling entity 1200 can be implemented with a processing system 1214 including one or more processors 1204. Examples of processor 1204 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. In various examples, the scheduling entity 1200 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, the processor 1204, as used in the scheduling entity 1200, may be used to implement any one or more of the processes and procedures described below and shown in fig. 13.

In some examples, the processor 1204 may be implemented via a baseband or modem chip, and in other implementations, the processor 1204 may include multiple devices that are distinct and different from the baseband or modem chip (e.g., in such scenarios that may cooperate to implement the examples discussed herein). As described above, various hardware arrangements and components other than baseband modem processors may be used in implementations (including RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, interleavers, adders/summers, etc.).

In this example, the processing system 1214 may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus 1202. The bus 1202 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system 1214 and the overall design constraints. The bus 1202 communicatively couples various circuitry including one or more processors (generally represented by the processor 1204), memory 1205, and computer readable media (generally represented by the computer readable medium 1206). The bus 1202 may also link various other circuits known in the art, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, and therefore, will not be described any further. Bus interface 1208 provides an interface between bus 1202 and transceiver 1210. The transceiver 1210 and antenna array 1220 may provide a communication interface or module for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. Depending on the nature of the device, a user interface 1212 (e.g., keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, touch screen) may also be provided. Of course, such user interface 1212 is optional and may be omitted in some examples, such as a base station.

The processor 1204 is responsible for managing the bus 1202 and general-purpose processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium 1206. The software, when executed by the processor 1204, causes the processing system 1214 to perform the various functions described below for any particular apparatus. The computer readable medium 1206 and the memory 1205 may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor 1204 when executing software. For example, the scheduling entity may store the uplink control enhancement configuration information 1215 at the memory 1205.

One or more processors 1204 in the processing system may execute software. Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, and the like, whether related to software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. The software may reside on a computer readable medium 1206. The computer-readable medium 1206 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. As one example, non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact Disk (CD) or Digital Versatile Disk (DVD)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, or key drive), random Access Memory (RAM), read Only Memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically Erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disk, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium 1206 may reside in the processing system 1214, external to the processing system 1214, or distributed across multiple entities including the processing system 1214. The computer readable medium 1206 may be included in a computer program product. For example, the computer program product may include a computer readable medium in a packaging material. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure, depending on the particular application and overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 1204 may include circuitry configured for various functions including, for example, an indication of a repetition factor for uplink control information. For example, the circuitry may be configured to implement one or more of the functions described below with respect to fig. 13.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 1204 may include communication and processing circuitry 1240 configured for various functions, including, for example, communication with a network core (e.g., a 5G core network), a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE), or any other entity (e.g., a local infrastructure or an entity in communication with the scheduling entity 1200 via the internet, such as a network provider). In some examples, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may include one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure that performs processing related to wireless communications (e.g., signal reception and/or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and/or processing signals for transmission). For example, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may include one or more transmit/receive chains. Further, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may be configured to receive and process uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to uplink traffic 116 and uplink control 118 of fig. 1), and to transmit and process downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to downlink traffic 112 and downlink control 114). The communication and processing circuitry 1240 may also be configured to execute the communication and processing software 1250 stored on the computer-readable medium 1206 to implement one or more of the functions described herein.

In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may obtain the information from a component of the scheduling entity 1200 (e.g., from the transceiver 1210 that receives the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for the applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may output information to another component of processor 1204, memory 1205, or bus interface 1208. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may receive one or more of signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may include functionality for the received components. In some examples, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may include functionality for processing, including means for demodulating, means for decoding, and so forth.

In some implementations where communication involves sending (e.g., transmitting) information, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may obtain the information (e.g., from another component of processor 1204, memory 1205, or bus interface 1208), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may output information to the transceiver 1210 (e.g., which transmits the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for the applicable communication medium). In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may send one or more of signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1240 may transmit information via one or more channels. In some examples, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may include functionality for transmitting (e.g., means for transmitting). In some examples, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may include functionality for generating components, including components for modulation, components for encoding, and so forth.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 1204 may include uplink control enhancement circuitry 1242 configured for various functions, e.g., uplink control channel coverage enhancement as described herein. Uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 can be configured to manage and provide repeated configuration or control information for uplink control information transmission (e.g., UCI/PUCCH transmission). In one aspect, uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, along with communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to explicitly indicate a repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above with respect to fig. 6-8. In one aspect, uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, along with communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to implicitly indicate a repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above with respect to fig. 9-10. In an aspect, uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, along with communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to dynamically indicate a repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), which may be interpreted differently according to one or more PUCCH parameters, e.g., as described above with respect to fig. 11. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 may also be configured to execute uplink control enhancement software 1252 stored on the computer-readable medium 1206 to implement one or more functions described herein.

In one configuration, an apparatus 1200 for wireless communication includes means for configuring, controlling, and receiving repetitions of uplink control information. In one aspect, the foregoing components may be a processor 1204 shown in diagram 1200 configured to perform the functions recited by the foregoing components. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be circuitry or any apparatus configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Of course, in the above examples, the circuitry included in the processor 1204 is provided as an example only, and other components for performing the described functions may be included within aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer readable storage medium 1206, or any other suitable device or component described in any of fig. 1, 2, 4-6, 9, and/or 10, and utilizing, for example, the processes and/or algorithms described herein with respect to fig. 6-8, 10, and/or 11.

Fig. 13 is a flow chart illustrating an example process 1300 for receiving a repetition of an uplink control message in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be necessary for all example implementations. In some examples, process 1300 may be performed by base station 1200 shown in fig. 12. In some examples, process 1300 may be performed by any suitable means or component for performing the functions or algorithms described below.

At block 1302, a base station (e.g., a gNB or scheduling entity) may send control information to a UE. For example, the control information may include an indication of a repetition factor (e.g., PUCCH repetition factor) corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH repetition 612 or 920) from the UE. In one aspect, uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 can provide means for determining and providing control information. The control information enables the base station to explicitly or implicitly indicate the repetition factor to the UE. In one aspect, communication and processing circuitry 1240 (see fig. 12) may provide means for transmitting control information to UEs via transceiver 1210 and antenna array 1220.

In one aspect, the control information may include an explicit indication of a repetition factor for repeating the uplink control message. The explicit indication may indicate the actual number of repetitions or a repetition count. For example, the indication may include a bit string indicating a value of a PUCCH repetition factor or an index value (e.g., table 700) for identifying the PUCCH repetition factor among a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors. In one example, an explicit indication of PUCCH repetition factor may be carried in DCI or MAC CE. In response to the control information, the UE may send repetitions of PUCCH transmissions according to a PUCCH repetition factor to enhance coverage and/or quality of the PUCCH.

In one aspect, for example, for PUCCH, the control information may enable an implicit indication of the repetition factor. For example, the control information may provide a configuration indicating a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors of the uplink control message. In one example, the UE may determine or select the repetition factor based at least in part on a current or active transmit beam, a TCI state, a control beam, or another beam associated with the active transmit beam of the base station. In one example, the base station may send the configuration indicating the correspondence via upper layer signaling, RRC signaling, semi-persistent signaling, or the like.

In some aspects, the control information may include a configuration indicating one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining the repetition factor. For example, among other examples, the configuration may indicate one or more rules associated with PUCCH formats, UCI sizes, PUCCH resource sets, or code rates. The UE may use the rule to dynamically determine a PUCCH repetition factor based on the interpretation of the repetition indication according to the rule and the one or more PUCCH parameters.

In block 1304, the base station may receive an uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count. For example, the base station may receive a plurality of PUCCH transmissions (uplink control messages) repeated according to the PUCCH repetition factor. In one aspect, communications and processing circuitry 1240 may provide for means for receiving uplink control messages from a UE. In some aspects, the base station may receive repetitions of an uplink control message (e.g., 2 or more repetitions of PUCCH transmission) using the same communication resource. In some aspects, the base station may receive different transmissions of the repeated PUCCH transmission using different communication resources.

Fig. 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of an exemplary scheduled entity or UE 1400 employing a processing system 1414. According to various aspects of the invention, an element or any portion of an element or any combination of elements may be implemented with a processing system 1414 including one or more processors 1404. For example, scheduled entity 1400 may be a User Equipment (UE) as illustrated in any one or more of fig. 1, 2, 4-6, 9, and/or 10.

The processing system 1414 may be substantially the same as the processing system 1214 shown in fig. 12, including a bus interface 1408, a bus 1402, a memory 1405, a processor 1404, and a computer-readable medium 1406. Further, scheduled entity 1400 may include a user interface 1412, transceiver 1410, and antenna array 1420 substantially similar to those described above in fig. 12. That is, the processor 1404 as utilized in the scheduled entity 1400 may be used to implement any one or more of the processes described below and shown in fig. 15.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 1404 may include communication and processing circuitry 1440 configured for various functions, including, for example, communicating with a base station (e.g., scheduling entity 1200). In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include one or more hardware components that provide physical structure to perform processing related to wireless communication (e.g., signal reception and/or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and/or processing signals for transmission). For example, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include one or more transmit/receive chains. Further, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may be configured to send and process uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to uplink traffic 116 and uplink control 118 of fig. 1), receive and process downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to downlink traffic 112 and downlink control 114). The communication and processing circuitry 1440 may also be configured to execute communication and processing software 1450 stored on the computer-readable medium 1406 to implement one or more of the functions described herein.

In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may obtain information from a component of scheduled entity 1400 (e.g., from transceiver 1410 that receives information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for the applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, communication and processing circuit 1440 may output information to another component of processor 1404, memory 1405, or bus interface 1408. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may receive one or more of signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include functionality for the components received. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include functionality for processing, including means for demodulating, means for decoding, and so forth.

In some implementations where communication involves sending (e.g., transmitting) information, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may obtain the information (e.g., from another component of processor 1404, memory 1405, or bus interface 1408), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may output information to transceiver 1410 using antenna array 1420 (e.g., which transmits information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for an applicable communication medium). In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may send one or more of signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may transmit information via one or more channels. In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include functionality for transmitting (e.g., means for transmitting). In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1440 may include functionality for generating means including means for modulating, means for encoding, and so forth.

In some aspects of the disclosure, the processor 1404 may include uplink control enhancement circuitry 1442 configured for various functions, e.g., uplink control channel coverage enhancement as described herein. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may be configured to receive and process repeated configuration or control information for uplink control information transmission (e.g., UCI/PUCCH transmission). In an aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 along with the communication and processing circuit 1440 may be configured to determine a repetition factor, e.g., for explicit indication of uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), as described above with respect to fig. 6-8. In an aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 along with the communication and processing circuit 1440 may be configured to determine a repetition factor for implicit indication of uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above with respect to fig. 9-10. In an aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 along with the communication and processing circuit 1440 may be configured to dynamically determine a repetition factor of uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above with respect to fig. 11. For example, uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 can interpret the repetition factor indicator to determine a value of the repetition factor based on one or more rules associated with one or more PUCCH parameters. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may also be configured to execute uplink control enhancement software 1452 stored on the computer readable medium 1406 to implement one or more of the functions described herein.

In one configuration, an apparatus 1400 for wireless communication includes means for providing and transmitting repetition of uplink control information. In one aspect, the foregoing components may be the processor 1404 shown in the diagram 1400 configured to perform the functions enumerated by the foregoing components. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be circuitry or any apparatus configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Of course, in the above examples, the circuitry included in the processor 1404 is provided as an example only, and other means for performing the described functions may be included in aspects of the disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium 1406, or any other suitable device or means described in any of fig. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, and/or 10, and utilizing, for example, the processes and/or algorithms described herein with respect to fig. 6-11.

Fig. 15 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 1500 for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message for coverage enhancement, in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be necessary for all example implementations. In some examples, process 1500 may be performed by scheduled entity 1400 shown in fig. 14. In some examples, process 1500 may be performed by any suitable means or component for performing the functions or algorithms described below.

At block 1502, the ue may receive control information from a base station. The control information may be used to determine a repetition factor (e.g., PUCCH repetition factor) that indicates a repetition count of an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH repetition 612 or 920). In some aspects, the control information may explicitly indicate the repetition factor to the UE, as described above with respect to fig. 6-8. In some aspects, the control information may enable the UE to implicitly determine the repetition factor, as described above with respect to fig. 9-10. In one aspect, communication and processing circuitry 1440 (see fig. 14) may provide means for receiving control information from a base station. In some aspects, the UE may receive the control information via DCI, MAC CE, and/or RRC signaling.

At block 1504, the ue may determine a repetition factor based on the control information. The repetition factor may indicate a repetition count for transmitting an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH). In an aspect, uplink control enhancement circuitry 1442 may provide means for determining a repetition factor based on control information received from a base station. In one example, the control information may include an explicit indication of a repetition factor for repeating the uplink control message. The explicit indication may directly indicate the actual number of repetitions (e.g., count). For example, the indication may be a bit string indicating a value of a PUCCH repetition factor or an index value (e.g., table 700 in fig. 7) for identifying a PUCCH repetition factor among a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors. In one example, an explicit indication of PUCCH repetition factor may be carried in DCI or MAC CE.

In an aspect, for example, for PUCCH transmissions, the control information may enable an implicit indication of the repetition factor. For example, the control information may provide a configuration indicating a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors of the uplink control message. In this case, the UE may determine or select the repetition factor based at least in part on the current or active transmit beam, TCI state, active control beam, or beam associated with the active beam of the base station. In one example, the UE may receive a configuration indicating the correspondence via upper layer signaling, RRC signaling, semi-persistent signaling, or the like.

In some aspects, the control information may include a configuration indicating one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining the repetition factor. For example, among other examples, the configuration may indicate one or more rules associated with PUCCH formats, UCI sizes, PUCCH resource sets, or code rates. The UE may use rules to dynamically determine or interpret PUCCH repetition factor indications, which may be indicated explicitly or implicitly by the base station, as described herein. For example, the UE may interpret a specific value indicated by the PUCCH repetition factor as a different repetition factor according to a PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, or a used code rate.

At block 1506, the ue may send a repetition of the uplink control message according to a repetition count or a repetition factor. For example, the UE may transmit a plurality of PUCCH transmissions repeated according to the PUCCH repetition factor determined in block 1504. In one example, the communication and processing circuitry 1440 may provide means for sending repetitions of an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH transmission) to a base station. In some aspects, the UE may send repetitions of the uplink control message (e.g., 2 or more repetitions of PUCCH transmission) using the same communication resource. In some aspects, the UE may send different transmissions of the repeated PUCCH transmission using different communication resources.

A first aspect of the present disclosure provides a User Equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the UE comprising: a communication interface for wireless communication; a memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: receiving control information from a base station via the communication interface; determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting the uplink control message; and transmitting the repetition of the uplink control message according to the repetition count to the base station via the communication interface.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, wherein the control information comprises a value indicative of at least one of: a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or a relationship of the repetition factor to a previous repetition factor.

In a third aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the first to second aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval of the repetition factor.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the first to second aspects, the processor and the memory are further configured to: a request for the repetition factor is sent to the base station, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of the one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: according to the correspondence, a repetition factor for transmitting the uplink control message is determined based at least in part on an activated transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with the fifth aspect, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to determine the activated transmit beam based on at least one of: downlink shared channel transmission associated with a feedback message included in the uplink control message; an activated control beam of the base station; or a transmission configuration indicator state of the downlink message.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the fifth to sixth aspects, the processor and the memory are further configured to: receiving, from the base station, an indication to cover a correspondence between the repetition factor and an activated transmit beam of the base station; and based at least in part on the indication, transmitting a repetition of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the first, second, fifth and sixth aspects, the processor and the memory are further configured to: determining Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters; and determining the repetition factor based on the PUCCH parameter and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameter, wherein the PUCCH parameter includes at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

A ninth aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving control information from a base station; determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting the uplink control message; and transmitting the repetition of the uplink control message according to the repetition count to the base station via the communication interface.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, wherein the control information comprises a value indicative of at least one of: a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or a relationship of the repetition factor to a previous repetition factor.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the ninth to tenth aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval of the repetition factor.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the ninth to tenth aspects, the method further comprises: a request for the repetition factor is sent to the base station, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, the control information indicates a correspondence between each of the one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and further comprising: according to the correspondence, a repetition factor for transmitting the uplink control message is determined based at least in part on an activated transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams.

In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, the method further comprises: the active transmit beam is determined based on at least one of: downlink shared channel transmission associated with a feedback message included in the uplink control message; an activated control beam of the base station; or a transmission configuration indicator state for a downlink message.

In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the thirteenth to fourteenth aspects, the method further comprises: receiving, from the base station, an indication to cover a correspondence between the repetition factor and an activated transmit beam of the base station; and based at least in part on the indication, transmitting a repetition of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor.

In a sixteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the ninth, tenth, thirteenth and fourteenth aspects, the method further comprises: determining Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters; and determining the repetition factor based on the PUCCH parameter and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameter, wherein the PUCCH parameter includes at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

A seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure provides a base station for wireless communication, the base station comprising: a communication interface for wireless communication; a memory; and a processor operatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: transmitting control information to a User Equipment (UE) via the communication interface, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and receiving, from the UE via the communication interface, an uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count.

In an eighteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the seventeenth aspect, wherein the control information comprises a value indicative of at least one of: a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or a relationship of the repetition factor to a previous repetition factor.

In a nineteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the seventeenth to eighteenth aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval of the repetition factor.

In a twentieth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the seventeenth to eighteenth aspects, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: a request for the repetition factor is received from the UE, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a twenty-first aspect, alone or in combination with the seventeenth aspect, wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of the one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: the repetition of the update control message is received according to a repetition factor determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

In a twenty-second aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-first aspect, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to: transmitting an indication to the UE to cover a correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and based at least in part on the indication, receiving a repetition of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor.

In a twenty-third aspect, alone or in combination with any of the seventeenth, eighteenth, twenty-first and twenty-second aspects, the control information comprises one or more rules for determining the repetition factor based at least in part on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters comprise at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a set of PUCCH resources, or a code rate used by the base station.

A twenty-fourth aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communication at a base station, the method comprising: transmitting control information to a User Equipment (UE), the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and receiving an uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count from the UE.

In a twenty-fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-fourth aspect, wherein the control information comprises a value indicative of at least one of: a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or a relationship of the repetition factor to a previous repetition factor.

In a twenty-sixth aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the twenty-fourth to twenty-fifth aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval of the repetition factor.

In a twenty-seventh aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the twenty-fourth to twenty-fifth aspects, the method further comprises: a request for the repetition factor is received from the UE, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a twenty-eighth aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-fourth aspect, wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of the one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and further comprising: the repetition of the update control message is received according to a repetition factor determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

In a twenty-ninth aspect, alone or in combination with the twenty-eighth aspect, the method further comprises: transmitting an indication to the UE to cover a correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and based at least in part on the indication, receiving a repetition of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor.

In a thirty-first aspect, alone or in combination with any one of the twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth aspects, the control information comprises one or more rules for determining the repetition factor based at least in part on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters comprise at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set or a code rate used by the base station.

Several aspects of a wireless communication network have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards.

As one example, aspects may be implemented in other systems defined by 3GPP, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), evolved Packet System (EPS), universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and/or global system for mobile communications (GSM). Aspects may also be extended to systems defined by 3 rd generation partnership project 2 (3 GPP 2), such as CDMA2000 and/or evolution data optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems employing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, ultra Wideband (UWB), bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunications standards, network architectures, and/or communication standards employed will depend on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

Within this disclosure, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects of the invention. Likewise, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation. The term "coupled" is used herein to refer to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object a physically contacts object B and object B contacts object C, then objects a and C may still be considered coupled to each other-even if they are not in direct physical contact with each other. For example, a first object may be coupled to a second object even though the first object is never in direct physical contact with the second object. The terms "circuitry" and "circuitry" are used broadly and are intended to encompass both hardware implementations of electrical devices and conductors that, when connected and configured, enable performing the functions described in this disclosure, not to be limited to the type of electronic circuitry, as well as software implementations that, when executed by a processor, enable performing the information and instructions, carrying out the functions described in this disclosure.

One or more of the components, steps, features, and/or functions illustrated in fig. 1-15 may be rearranged and/or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or included in several components, steps, or functions. Additional elements, components, steps, and/or functions may also be added without departing from the novel features disclosed herein. The apparatus, devices, and/or components shown in fig. 1-15 may be configured to perform one or more of the methods, features, or steps described herein. The novel algorithms described herein may also be effectively implemented in software and/or embedded in hardware.

It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed are illustrations of exemplary processes. Based on design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented, unless specifically recited herein.

The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims, wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless specifically so stated, but rather "one or more". The term "some" means one or more unless expressly specified otherwise. The phrase "at least one of" refers to any combination of these items, including individual members. As one example, "at least one of: a. b or c "is intended to cover: a, a; b; c, performing operation; a and b; a and c; b and c; all structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Furthermore, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. Unless an element is recited explicitly with the phrase "means for … …" or, in the case of a method claim, with the phrase "step for … …", the claim element should not be construed in accordance with the provision of 35u.s.c. ≡112 (f).

Claims (30)

1. A User Equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising:

a communication interface for wireless communication;

a memory; and

a processor operatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory,

wherein the processor and the memory are configured to:

receiving control information from a base station via the communication interface;

determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting an uplink control message; and

and transmitting a repetition of the uplink control message according to the repetition count to the base station via the communication interface.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the control information comprises a value indicating at least one of:

the repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or (b)

The repetition factor is related to the previous repetition factor.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition factor.

4. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

a request for the repetition factor is sent to the base station, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

5. The UE according to claim 1,

wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, an

Wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

according to the correspondence, the repetition factor for transmitting the uplink control message is determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to determine the activated transmit beam based on at least one of:

downlink shared channel transmissions associated with feedback messages included in the uplink control messages;

an activated control beam of the base station; or (b)

Transmission configuration indicator status for downlink messages.

7. The UE of claim 5, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

receiving an indication from the base station to cover the correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and

The repetition of the uplink control message is sent using an updated repetition factor based at least in part on the indication.

8. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

determining Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters; and

the repetition factor is determined based on the PUCCH parameters and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters include at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

9. A method of wireless communication at a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving control information from a base station;

determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count of repetitions for transmitting an uplink control message; and

and transmitting repetition of the uplink control message according to the repetition count to the base station.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the control information comprises a value indicating at least one of:

the repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or (b)

The repetition factor is related to the previous repetition factor.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition factor.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a request for the repetition factor is sent to the base station, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and the method further comprises:

according to the correspondence, the repetition factor for transmitting the uplink control message is determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the activated transmit beam is determined based on at least one of:

downlink shared channel transmissions associated with feedback messages included in the uplink control messages;

an activated control beam of the base station; or (b)

Transmission configuration indicator status for downlink messages.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving an indication from the base station to cover the correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and

the repetition of the uplink control message is sent using an updated repetition factor based at least in part on the indication.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

determining Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters; and

the repetition factor is determined based on the PUCCH parameters and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters include at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

17. A base station for wireless communication, comprising:

a communication interface for wireless communication;

a memory; and

a processor operatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory,

wherein the processor and the memory are configured to:

transmitting control information to a User Equipment (UE) via the communication interface, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and

The uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count is received from the UE via the communication interface.

18. The base station of claim 17, wherein the control information comprises a value indicating at least one of:

the repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or (b)

The repetition factor is related to the previous repetition factor.

19. The base station of claim 17, wherein the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition factor.

20. The base station of claim 17, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

a request for the repetition factor is received from the UE, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

21. The base station of claim 17,

wherein the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, an

Wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

a repetition of the uplink control message is received in accordance with the repetition factor determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

22. The base station of claim 21, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to:

transmitting an indication to the UE to cover the correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and

based at least in part on the indication, the repetition of the uplink control message is received using an updated repetition factor.

23. The base station of claim 17, wherein the control information comprises one or more rules for determining the repetition factor based at least in part on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters comprise at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a set of PUCCH resources, or the code rate used by the base station.

24. A method for wireless communication at a base station, the method comprising:

transmitting control information to a User Equipment (UE), the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and

the uplink control message repeated according to the repetition count is received from the UE.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the control information comprises a value indicating at least one of:

the repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors; or (b)

The repetition factor is related to the previous repetition factor.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition factor.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

a request for the repetition factor is received from the UE, wherein the request is configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the control information indicates correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and the method further comprises:

a repetition of the uplink control message is received in accordance with the repetition factor determined based at least in part on an activated one of the one or more transmit beams.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

transmitting an indication to the UE to cover the correspondence between the repetition factor and the activated transmit beam of the base station; and

Based at least in part on the indication, the repetition of the uplink control message is received using an updated repetition factor.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the control information comprises one or more rules for determining the repetition factor based at least in part on Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters comprise at least one of a PUCCH format, an Uplink Control Information (UCI) size, a set of PUCCH resources, or the code rate used by the base station.