Patent Description:
For example, some aspects of wireless communication include direct communication between devices, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X), and the like. There exists a need for further improvements in such direct communication between devices. Improvements related to direct communication between devices may be applicable to other multi-access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies.

<CIT> relates to transmitting an uplink signal including data and control information. <CIT> relates to control and data multiplexing in communication systems.

In some example wireless and/or access networks, control information may be multiplexed on a data physical channel. In so doing, a modulation-and-coding scheme (MCS) with which the control information is transmitted may be dependent upon one or more conditions and/or parameters associated with the data to be multiplexed with the control information and/or the data physical channel on which the control information is to be multiplexed. However, the MCS selected for transmission of control information may be restricted to one or more values, which may be associated with the MCS selected for transmission of data.

In some aspects, control information may be expected to be more reliable and/or less error-prone than data, for example, because the control information may assist addressed and/or unaddressed receivers in interference cancellation, channel condition determination, etc., in addition to facilitating data reception by the intended or addressed receiver(s). For example, for sidelink channels, support for disproportional link budgets and/or data reliability may be desirable when control information is multiplexed on a sidelink physical data channel (e.g., for interference management using the control information).

In view of the foregoing, needs exist for improving reliability and/or reducing errors of control information multiplexed on a data channel. The present disclosure addresses such needs through techniques and approaches to selection of MCS for control information multiplexed on a data channel. Broadly, the present disclosure describes various aspects and implementation features of these techniques and approaches through derivation of spectral efficiency associated with control information as a function of spectral efficiency of data, as well as through determination of a modulation order and/or code rate that is suitable for that spectral efficiency.

Illustratively, the present disclosure describes some aspects of techniques and approaches to selection of MCS for control information multiplexed on a data channel through reference to sidelink communication. Sidelink channels may experience unequal link budgets and/or unequal error protection for control information and data, which may be beyond typical operating limits considered for uplink and/or downlink links.

In addition, some control information may facilitate interference management of sidelink channels and, therefore, such control information may be intended to reach receivers beyond the intended recipient(s) of data with which the control information may be multiplexed. For example, data may be sent to a group of receivers (e.g., groupcast) and, while reception of the data by the receivers of the group with some reliability may be desirable, reception of the control information by (unintended) receivers, which may be relatively more distant from the transmitter than the group, with some reliability may also be desirable (e.g., for management of distributed resource usage within the group of receivers).

According to the present invention, there is provided a method of wireless communication as set out in claim <NUM>, a method of wireless communication as set out in claim <NUM> and an apparatus for wireless communication as set out in claims <NUM> and <NUM>. Other aspects of the invention an be found in the dependent claims.

Several aspects of telecommunications systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods.

The base stations <NUM> configured for <NUM> LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC <NUM> through backhaul links <NUM> (e.g., S1 interface). The base stations <NUM> configured for <NUM> NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with core network <NUM> through backhaul links <NUM>. The base stations <NUM> may communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC <NUM> or core network <NUM>) with each other over backhaul links <NUM> (e.g., X2 interface).

Although the present disclosure may reference <NUM> New Radio (NR), the present disclosure may be applicable to other similar areas, such as LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and/or other wireless and/or radio access technologies.

Further, although the present disclosure may describe some aspects in the context of vehicle-to-everything (V2X), the concepts and various aspects provided for herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as D2D communication, IoT communication, Industrial IoT (IIoT) communication, and/or other standards/protocols for communication in wireless/access networks.

Referring again to <FIG>, in certain aspects, the UE <NUM> may be configured to multiplex data with control information, for example, for transmission to a base station <NUM>/<NUM> and/or one or more other UEs. The UE <NUM> may determine at least one modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for the control information. Thus, according to various aspects, the UE <NUM> may include an MCS component <NUM>, which may be configured to determine the MCS for the control information based on spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data.

Applying the configuration of the MCS component <NUM>, the UE <NUM> may be configured to transmit the control information, multiplexed with data, with the determined MCS. The UE <NUM> may transmit the data, multiplexed with the control information, with an MCS that may be the same or different from the MCS determined for the control information.

At least one of the TX processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and the controller/processor <NUM> may be configured to perform aspects in connection with the MCS component <NUM> of <FIG>.

In various wireless communications systems, control information may be multiplexed with data on a physical channel. For example, UCI may be multiplexed with data on a PUSCH in LTE and <NUM> NR RANs. In another example applicable to at least <NUM> NR RANs, sidelink control stage <NUM> information may be multiplexed on a PSSCH, which may be a sidelink data physical channel (e.g., for D2D communication). In a further example applicable to at least <NUM> NR RANs, sidelink feedback control information (SFCI) may be multiplexed on the PSSCH (e.g., SFCI may include HARQ ACK/NACK, CQI, RI, PMI, etc.).

Illustratively, control information may include HARQ ACK/NACK information and/or feedback, CQI, RI, PMI, and/or other control information, which may facilitate, inter alia, data reception and/or interference cancellation by a receiving device (e.g., a base station or another UE). In some aspects, information bits of the control information may be independently encoded and then bit multiplexed with information bits of the data, the result of which may be processed (e.g., scrambled, modulated, etc.) using a data physical channel pipeline of a UE. In some other aspects, REs to which bits of the control information are assigned may be multiplexed with REs to which bits of the data are assigned, which may occur after processing the bits of both the control information and the data, for example, so that the control information may be transmitted with the same or a different MCS as that with which the data is transmitted.

As the control information may be multiplexed on a data physical channel, the MCS with which the control information is transmitted may be dependent upon one or more conditions and/or parameters associated with the data to be multiplexed with the control information and/or the data physical channel on which the control information is to be multiplexed. In some RANs (e.g., LTE), the MCS selected for transmission of control information may be restricted to one or more values, which may be associated with the MCS selected for transmission of data.

For example, in various LTE RANs, UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH and, correspondingly, the MCS selected for the control information may be set to the same as that selected for the data. In a second example, the UCI multiplexed on the PUSCH may be mapped to the outer-most constellation points of a higher-order QAM modulation associated with data transmission on the PUSCH. The foregoing second example may, in effect, lead to QPSK but with a higher average power in the constellation points; the receiver may still assume demodulation according to higher-order modulation (e.g., same as the data) and, therefore, may discard the log-likelihood ratio (LLR) corresponding to the inner constellation points, which may effectively provide QPSK modulation. In a third example associated with <NUM> NR RANs, UCI may be multiplexed on the PUSCH, and may be transmitted using the same MCS as that selected for data on the PUSCH with which the UCI may be multiplexed.

In some wireless communications systems, control information may be expected to be more reliable and/or less error-prone than data, for example, because the control information may assist addressed and/or unaddressed receivers in interference cancellation, channel condition determination, etc., in addition to facilitating data reception by the intended or addressed receiver(s). For example, for sidelink channels, support for disproportional link budgets and/or data reliability may be desirable when control information is multiplexed on a sidelink physical data channel (e.g., for interference management using the control information).

In view of the foregoing, needs exist for improving reliability and/or reducing errors of control information multiplexed on a data channel. The present disclosure addresses such needs through techniques and approaches to selection of MCS for control information multiplexed on a data channel, e.g., as further detailed in <FIG>, infra. Broadly, the present disclosure describes various aspects and implementation features of these techniques and approaches through derivation of spectral efficiency associated with control information as a function of spectral efficiency of data, as well as through determination of a modulation order and/or code rate that is suitable for that spectral efficiency. For example, 16QAM code-rate <MAT> may provide better reliability than QPSK code rate <NUM> for a spectral efficiency of <NUM> bits per second (bps) per hertz (Hz) (bps/Hz)).

Illustratively, the present disclosure explicates some aspects of techniques and approaches to selection of MCS for control information multiplexed on a data channel through reference to sidelink communication (e.g., D2D, UE-to-UE, V2X, some IoT scenarios, etc.). Sidelink channels may experience unequal link budgets and/or unequal error protection for control information and data, which may be beyond typical operating limits considered for uplink and/or downlink links (e.g., UE-to-gNB, UE-to-base station, UE-to-small cell).

In addition, some control information may facilitate interference management of sidelink channels and, therefore, such control information may be intended to reach UE(s) beyond the UE(s) that is the intended recipient of the data with which the control information may be multiplexed. For example, different from UE-to-gNB links, data may be sent to a group of UEs (e.g., groupcast, which may include UE-to-UEs links) and, while reception of the data by the UEs of the group with some reliability may be desirable, reception of the control information by UEs that are relatively more distant from the transmitting UE than each of the group of UEs with some reliability may also be desirable (e.g., for management of distributed resource usage within the group of UEs).

<FIG> is a call flow diagram illustrating a wireless communications system <NUM> including at least two UEs <NUM>, <NUM> configured for communication on a sidelink channel <NUM>. In the context of the preceding <FIG> and <FIG>, each of the UEs <NUM>, <NUM> may be implemented as the UE <NUM> and/or the UE <NUM>. The sidelink channel <NUM> may be a data channel, such as a PSSCH as described in the context of <FIG>. While <FIG> may describe the concepts of the present disclosure in the context of the sidelink channel <NUM>, the concepts of the present disclosure may be applicable to other channels (e.g., uplink and/or downlink channels), as well as other radio access and/or wireless technologies.

In the wireless communications system <NUM>, control information configured to indicate data may be separated into two parts (e.g., as in <NUM> NR): a sidelink control channel stage-<NUM> (CCH-<NUM>) and a sidelink control channel stage-<NUM> (CCH-<NUM>). CCH-<NUM> may indicate CCH-<NUM>, whereas CCH-<NUM> may indicate data. In other words, CCH-<NUM> may include first control information so that CCH-<NUM> may be received and decoded, and, once decoded, second control information of CCH-<NUM> may facilitate reception and decoding of data. Specifically, CCH-<NUM> may carry data resource reservation information (e.g., current and/or future resource schedule(s)), as well as information for decoding CCH-<NUM> including MCS, TM, DMRS patterns, etc. CCH-<NUM> may be intended for all UEs that are sufficiently proximate to the transmitting UE, and not just limited to the UE(s) that is the intended recipient of data. CCH-<NUM> may include additional information for decoding SCH and further information specific to the type of communication (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), including source and destination IDs, HARQ ID, NDI, RV. CCH-<NUM> may be intended for Rx UEs for which data is transmitted, such as a UE(s) addressed or indicated in the source ID. To that end, Table <NUM> and Tables <NUM>-<NUM> may describe the contents of CCH-<NUM> and CCH-<NUM>, respectively.

In the wireless communications system <NUM>, a first UE <NUM> (e.g., a Tx UE) may be configured to determine a first MCS associated with transmission of control information based on spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed. Accordingly, the first UE <NUM> may determine the spectral efficiency associated with data transmission (<NUM>). The first UE <NUM> may determine the spectral efficiency associated with data transmission (<NUM>) based on one or more of a number of information bits I (e.g., of CCH-<NUM> ICCH or of a data/shared channel ISCH), a number of REs to be used for transmission N (e.g., a number of modulated symbols), a total number of REs available for transmission M, and/or a modulation order Q. In some aspects, the spectral efficiency associated with control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) may be derived based on the inverse of an offset β.

According to various aspects, Equation <NUM> and Equation <NUM> may illustrate derivation of spectral efficiency associated with transmission of control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) based on spectral efficiency associated with data. In Equations <NUM> and <NUM>, infra, subscript CCH may indicate a variable associated with control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) and subscript SCH may indicate a variable associated with a data and/or shared channel (e.g., sidelink channel <NUM>) on which the control information is to be multiplexed. <MAT> <MAT>.

In some aspects, the modulation order of the shared/data channel (e.g., sidelink channel <NUM>) QSCH may be different from the modulation order of the control information QCCH. In order to enforce the inequality QSCH ≠ QCCH, the maximum code rate given a modulation order may be constrained, e.g., so that the maximum code rate cannot exceed RMAX, which may be <NUM> in some aspects. According to such a constraint, the number of REs to be used for transmission of the control information NCCH may be constrained according to the maximum of two functions shown in Equation <NUM>, infra.

The foregoing constraint illustrated in Equation <NUM> may be imposed if the modulation order for the control information QCCH is fixed to a given modulation, such as when CCH modulation is fixed to QPSK for reliability reasons. However, the maximum code rate may not necessarily be constrained in all aspects. For example, in <NUM> NR, UCI on the PUSCH may be unconstrained, as the modulation order for the control information QCCH may be equal to the modulation order for the data/shared channel QSCH such that a code rate less than <NUM> is guaranteed.

In some further aspects, the maximum fraction of REs to be used by bits of the control information may be limited to a fraction α of the total number of REs available for transmission M. For example, the number of REs to be used for transmission of the control information NCCH may be limited to the minimum of two functions shown in Equation <NUM>, infra.

For Equations <NUM>-<NUM>, supra, the first UE <NUM> may be configured to determine the offset β when deriving the spectral efficiency associated with control information as a function of the spectral efficiency associated with the data/shared channel on which the control information is to be multiplexed. In one aspect, the first UE <NUM> may determine the offset β based on preconfigured information (e.g., the offset β may be fixed or non-configurable in memory of the first UE <NUM>) - e.g., the offset β may be defined in a standard or technical specification promulgated by 3GPP or other standards-governing organization. In another aspect, the first UE <NUM> may determine the offset β based on implementation design of the first UE <NUM>, although the first UE <NUM> may be configured to determine the offset β to adhere to one or more parameters (e.g., one or more preconfigured limits) - e.g., one or more parameters defined in a standard or technical specification promulgated by 3GPP or other standards-governing organization. In yet another aspect, the first UE <NUM> may determine the offset β and/or a set of potential values for the offset β based on one or more of the type of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data - e.g., correspondence between the offset β and one or more of the type of data, the priority of the data, and/or the QoS parameters associated with the data may be defined in a standard or technical specification promulgated by 3GPP or other standards-governing organization.

Based on the spectral efficiency associated with data transmission (<NUM>), the first UE <NUM> may determine at least a first MCS for the control information (<NUM>). For example, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) based on one or more of an upper limit on a maximum coding rate, a modulation order, or a number of information bits associated with transmission of the control information <NUM>.

In a first aspect, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS to be equal to that of a second MCS associated with transmission of the data with which the control information is to be multiplexed. For example, the first UE <NUM> may determine the second MCS based on the spectral efficiency associated with data transmission (<NUM>) and, correspondingly, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS to be equal to the second MCS. According to the first aspect, the determination of the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) by the first UE <NUM> may be similar to that of the determination of an MCS for UCI to be multiplexed on the PUSCH in <NUM> NR.

In a second aspect, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) based on the spectral efficiency associated with the control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) derived as a function of the spectral efficiency associated with data transmission. For example, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS to be suitable (e.g., optimal) for the spectral efficiency associated with the control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>). To do so, the first UE <NUM> may be configured with mapping and/or other information indicating correspondence between a determined spectral efficiency and an MCS, which may be implemented in the first UE <NUM> as a selection or lookup table (e.g., a preconfigured table(s) stored in the first UE <NUM>). Thus, when the first UE <NUM> determines a value of the spectral efficiency associated with the control information, the first UE <NUM> may access a table to determine an MCS that is indicated as corresponding to the determined value of the spectral efficiency associated with the control information.

Further to the aforementioned second aspect, as reliability and/or QoS conditions associated with the data may vary, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) based on the spectral efficiency associated with the control information and based on one or more of the type of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data. For example, the first UE <NUM> may be configured with mapping and/or other information indicating an MCS that corresponds to a combination of the determined spectral efficiency associated with the control information and one or more of one or more of the type of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data.

In a third aspect, the first UE <NUM> may be configured to determine the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) based on fixed or preconfigured information. For example, the first UE <NUM> may separately determine the modulation order and the code rate associated with the first MCS, and the modulation order may be fixed or preconfigured whereas the first UE <NUM> may determine the code rate for the first MCS (e.g., based on the spectral efficiency, as described herein). For example, the first UE <NUM> may determine that the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) is fixed to a given modulation, such as QPSK. Additionally or alternatively, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS for the control information (<NUM>) as a function of one or more of the type of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data. For example, the first UE <NUM> may be preconfigured with information indicating that unicast data corresponds to one MCS, whereas multicast data corresponds to another MCS.

In addition to determining the first MCS for the control information <NUM>, the first UE <NUM> may be configured to determine a second MCS for the data <NUM>. For example, the first UE <NUM> may determine the second MCS based on the spectral efficiency associated with transmission of the data <NUM>. The first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS to be different from or equal to the second MCS.

The first UE <NUM> may multiplex <NUM> the data <NUM>, to be transmitted with the second MCS, with the control information <NUM> (e.g., CCH-<NUM>), to be transmitted with the first MCS. In one aspect, the first UE <NUM> may multiplex <NUM> the data <NUM> with the control information <NUM> using bit multiplexing on the sidelink channel <NUM>. In another aspect, the first UE <NUM> may multiplex <NUM> the data <NUM> with the control information <NUM> by multiplexing REs assigned to the data <NUM> on the sidelink channel <NUM> with REs assigned to the control information <NUM> on the sidelink channel <NUM>.

Subsequently, the first UE <NUM> may transmit the data <NUM> multiplexed with the control information <NUM> on the sidelink channel <NUM>, so that the data <NUM> may be transmitted using the second MCS while the control information <NUM> (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) may be transmitted using the aforementioned determined first MCS. In some aspects, the first UE <NUM> may indicate the offset β in other control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) that facilitates reception and/or decoding of the control information <NUM> (e.g., CCH-<NUM>).

The first UE <NUM> may transmit the multiplexed data <NUM> and control information <NUM> to the second UE <NUM>, which may be an intended recipient of the data <NUM> or may not be an intended recipient of the data <NUM> but within range of the first UE <NUM>. The second UE <NUM> may receive at least the control information <NUM>, which may be more reliable and/or less error-prone than the data <NUM> with which the control information <NUM> is multiplexed.

<FIG> is a flowchart of a method <NUM> of wireless communication. The method <NUM> may be performed by a UE (e.g., the UE <NUM>, the UE <NUM>, the first UE <NUM>) and/or an apparatus (e.g., the apparatus <NUM> or another apparatus that may include the memory <NUM> and that may be the entire UE <NUM> or a component of the UE <NUM>, such as the TX processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and/or the controller/processor <NUM>). According to different aspects, one or more of the illustrated operations of the method <NUM> may be transposed, omitted, and/or contemporaneously performed.

Beginning with operation <NUM>, the UE may determine spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data. The UE may determine the spectral efficiency associated with the transmission of data based on one or more of a number of information bits I (e.g., of CCH-<NUM> ICCH or of a data/shared channel ISCH), a number of REs to be used for transmission N (e.g., a number of modulated symbols), a total number of REs available for transmission M, and/or a modulation order Q. The UE may determine spectral efficiency associated with transmission of control information (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) to be multiplexed with the data as a function of the spectral efficiency determined for the data transmission. By way of illustration, For example, referring to <FIG>, the first UE <NUM> may determine spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data (<NUM>).

At operation <NUM>, the UE may determine an offset β associated with modulation and coding for transmission of control information to be multiplexed with the data. The control information may be CCH-<NUM>, and may be multiplexed onto a data and/or shared channel (e.g., a PSSCH). The UE may determine the offset β based on one or more of a type of data with which the control information is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data. For example, referring to <FIG>, the first UE <NUM> may determine the offset β, e.g., based on one or more of the type of data <NUM> with which the control information <NUM> is to be multiplexed (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), a priority associated with the data <NUM>, and/or QoS parameter(s) associated with the data <NUM>.

In some aspects, the UE may perform operation <NUM>. At operation <NUM>, the UE may determine at least one of an upper bound and/or a lower bound associated with the offset β. The UE may determine the at least one of the upper bound and/or the lower bound based on a configuration, which may be received (e.g., from the network or another UE) or may be preconfigured in memory of the UE. The UE may determine the offset β (operation <NUM>) to be within the at least one of the upper bound and/or the lower bound (e.g., including the at least one of the upper bound and/or the lower bound). For example, referring to <FIG>, the first UE <NUM> may determine at least one of an upper bound and/or a lower bound associated with the offset β, and the UE <NUM> may determine the offset β to be inclusively within the determined at least one of the upper bound and/or lower bound.

At operation <NUM>, the UE may determine a first MCS for the control information based on at least the determined spectral efficiency and the determined offset β. For example, the UE may determine the first MCS for the control information based on at least one of information indicating correspondence between the determined spectral efficiency and the first MCS, the type of the data multiplexed with the control information for the transmission, the priority of the data, one or more QoS parameters associated with the data, and/or a second MCS with which the data is transmitted. In some aspects, the second MCS is different from the first MCS. For example, referring to <FIG>, the first UE <NUM> may determine the first MCS for the control information <NUM> based on the spectral efficiency associated with transmission of the data <NUM> (<NUM>).

At operation <NUM>, the UE may transmit the control information with the first MCS multiplexed on a data or shared channel with the data. The data may be transmitted with the second MCS. The UE may multiplex bits or may multiplex REs of the control information and the data on the data or shared channel. In some aspects, the number of REs on which the control information is transmitted may be limited based on a fraction α of the total number of REs available for transmission of the multiplexed data and control information. For example, referring to <FIG>, the first UE <NUM> may transmit the control information <NUM> (e.g., CCH-<NUM>) with the first MCS multiplexed <NUM> on the sidelink channel <NUM> with the data <NUM>, which may be transmitted with the second MCS.

The communication manager <NUM> includes the one or more illustrated components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. The components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> within the communication manager <NUM> may be stored in the computer-readable medium / memory and/or configured as hardware within the cellular baseband processor <NUM>.

The communication manager <NUM> includes a determination component <NUM> that is configured to determine spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data, e.g., as described in connection with operation <NUM> of <FIG>. For example, the determination component <NUM> may determine the spectral efficiency associated with the transmission of data based on one or more of a number of information bits, a number of resource elements to be used for transmission of data multiplexed with control information, a total number of resource elements available for the transmission, or a modulation order associated with the transmission.

The communication manager <NUM> includes an offset component <NUM> that is configured to determine an offset β associated with modulation and coding for transmission of control information multiplexed with data, e.g., as described in connection with operation <NUM> of <FIG>. In some aspects, the offset β is preconfigured in memory of the apparatus <NUM>. In some other aspects, the offset β is determined based on at least one of a type of the data multiplexed with the control information for the transmission, a priority of the data, or a QoS parameter associated with the data.

The offset component <NUM> may be further configured to determine at least one of an upper bound or a lower bound associated with the offset β based on a configuration, e.g., as described in connection with operation <NUM> of <FIG>. The offset component <NUM> may determine the offset β to be inclusively within the at least one of the upper bound or the lower bound.

The communication manager <NUM> further includes an MCS component <NUM> that receives input in the form of spectral efficiency from the determination component <NUM> and in the form of the offset β from the offset component <NUM>, and the MCS component <NUM> is configured to determine a first MCS for the control information based on at least the spectral efficiency and the offset β, e.g., as described in connection with operation <NUM> of <FIG>.

In some aspects, the first MCS is determined based on one or more of an upper limit on a maximum coding rate, a modulation order, or a number of information bits associated with the transmission.

In some other aspects, the first MCS is determined based on at least one of information indicating correspondence between the spectral efficiency and the first MCS, a type of the data multiplexed with the control information for the transmission, a priority of the data, a QoS parameter associated with the data, and/or a second MCS with which the data is to be transmitted.

In further aspects, the first MCS may be determined to be different from the second MCS with which the data is to be transmitted. Is still other aspects, a modulation order associated with the first MCS is fixed to QPSK.

The MCS component <NUM> configures the transmission component <NUM> with the determined first MCS, with which the control information is to be transmitted, and the second MCS with which the data is to be transmitted. The transmission component <NUM> transmits the control information with the first MCS, the control information being multiplexed with the data. For example, the transmission component <NUM> may transmit the control information with the first MCS and the data with the second MCS, the control information being multiplexed with the data, to the UE <NUM>, e.g., on a sidelink channel. In some aspects, a number of resource elements on which the control information is transmitted is limited based on a fraction α of the number of resource elements available for the transmission.

The apparatus may include additional components that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned call flow diagram of <FIG> and/or the aforementioned flowchart of <FIG>. As such, each block in the aforementioned call flow diagram of <FIG> and/or the aforementioned flowchart of <FIG> may be performed by a component and the apparatus may include one or more of those components.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM>, and in particular the cellular baseband processor <NUM>, includes means for means for determining a first MCS for control information based on spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data; and means for transmitting the control information with the first MCS, the control information being multiplexed with data.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM>, and in particular the cellular baseband processor <NUM>, includes means for determining the spectral efficiency associated with the transmission of data based on one or more of a number of information bits, a number of resource elements to be used for the transmission of the data multiplexed with the control information, a total number of resource elements available for the transmission, or a modulation order associated with the transmission.

In one configuration, a number of resource elements on which the control information is transmitted is limited based on a fraction α of the number of resource elements available for the transmission. In one configuration, the first MCS is determined based on one or more of an upper limit on a maximum coding rate, a modulation order, or a number of information bits associated with the transmission.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM>, and in particular the cellular baseband processor <NUM>, includes means for determining the offset β, and the determination of the first MCS is based on an offset β. In one configuration, the offset β is preconfigured in memory of the apparatus <NUM>. In one configuration, the offset β is determined based on at least one of a type of the data multiplexed with the control information for the transmission, a priority of the data, or a QoS parameter associated with the data.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM>, and in particular the cellular baseband processor <NUM>, includes means for determining at least one of an upper bound or a lower bound associated with the offset β based on a configuration, and the offset β is determined to be inclusively within the at least one of the upper bound or the lower bound.

In one configuration, the first MCS is determined based on at least one of information indicating correspondence between the spectral efficiency and the first MCS, a type of the data multiplexed with the control information for the transmission, a priority of the data, a QoS parameter associated with the data, or a second MCS with which the data is transmitted.

In one configuration, the first MCS is different from a second MCS with which the data is transmitted. In one configuration, a modulation order associated with the first MCS is fixed to QPSK.

The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components of the apparatus <NUM> configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described supra, the apparatus <NUM> may include the TX Processor <NUM>, the RX Processor <NUM>, and the controller/processor <NUM>.

Claim 1:
A method of wireless communication by a user equipment, UE (<NUM>), the method comprising:
determining (<NUM>) an offset β associated with modulation and coding scheme, MCS;
determining (<NUM>) at least one of an upper bound or a lower bound associated with the offset β based on a configuration, wherein the offset β is determined to be inclusively within the at least one of the upper bound or the lower bound;
determining (<NUM>) a first MCS for control information on a sidelink channel based at least on spectral efficiency associated with transmission of data on the sidelink channel and the offset β; and
transmitting (<NUM>), on the sidelink channel, the control information (<NUM>) with the first MCS, the control information being multiplexed with data (<NUM>).