Patent Description:
However, as the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in NR and LTE technology continue to be useful.

3GPP documents - R1-<NUM>, R1-<NUM>, R1-<NUM>, R1-<NUM>, and R1-<NUM> - discuss how to determine a blind decode (BD) limit and a control channel element (CCE) limit in a cross-scheduling scenario.

Various embodiments are provided by the dependent claims. The embodiments and/or examples of the following description, which are not covered by the claims, are provided for illustrative purpose only and are only intended to assist the reader in understanding the invention. Such embodiments and/or examples, which are not covered by the claims, do not form part of the invention.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatus, devices, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for monitoring for a combination downlink control information (DCI) that schedules transmissions in multiple cells.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as NR (e.g. <NUM> RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM> (Wi-Fi), IEEE <NUM> (WiMAX), IEEE <NUM>, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS).

<FIG> illustrates an example wireless communication network <NUM> (e.g., an NR/<NUM> network), in which aspects of the present disclosure may be performed. For example, the wireless network <NUM> may include a UE <NUM> configured to perform operations <NUM> of <FIG> to monitor for a combination downlink control information (DCI) that schedules transmissions for multiple cells. Similarly, a base station <NUM> (e.g., a gNB) may be configured to perform operations <NUM> of <FIG> to transmit a combination downlink control information (DCI) that schedules transmissions for multiple cells.

As illustrated in <FIG>, the wireless network <NUM> may include a number of base stations (BSs) <NUM> and other network entities. A BS may be a station that communicates with user equipments (UEs). Each BS <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to a coverage area of a NodeB (NB) and/or a NodeB subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In NR systems, the term "cell" and next generation NodeB (gNB), new radio base station (NR BS), <NUM> NB, access point (AP), or transmission reception point (TRP) may be interchangeable. In some examples, the base stations may be interconnected to one another and/or to one or more other base stations or network nodes (not shown) in wireless communication network <NUM> through various types of backhaul interfaces, such as a direct physical connection, a wireless connection, a virtual network, or the like using any suitable transport network.

A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, a subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs.

In the example shown in <FIG>, a relay station 110r may communicate with the BS 110a and a UE 120r to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120r.

A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station, a terminal, an access terminal, a subscriber unit, a station, a Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a tablet computer, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, an appliance, a medical device or medical equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device such as a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet, etc.), an entertainment device (e.g., a music device, a video device, a satellite radio, etc.), a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, gaming device, reality augmentation device (augmented reality (AR), extended reality (XR), or virtual reality (VR)), or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

NR may utilize OFDM with a CP on the uplink and downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using time-division duplexing (TDD).

In some scenarios, air interface access may be scheduled. For example, a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station (BS), Node B, eNB, gNB, or the like) can allocate resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. That is, for scheduled communication, subordinate entities can utilize resources allocated by one or more scheduling entities.

Turning back to <FIG>, this figure illustrates a variety of potential deployments for various deployment scenarios. For example, in <FIG>, a solid line with double arrows indicates desired transmissions between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink. Other lines show component to component (e.g., UE to UE) communication options.

For example, for RAN sharing, radio as a service (RaaS), and service specific ANC deployments, TRPs <NUM> may be connected to more than one ANC.

The logical architecture of distributed RAN <NUM> may support various backhauling and fronthauling solutions. This support may occur via and across different deployment types.

<FIG> illustrates example components ofBS <NUM> and UE <NUM> (as depicted in <FIG>), which may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. For example, antennas <NUM>, processors <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and/or controller/processor <NUM> of the UE <NUM> may be used to perform operations <NUM> of <FIG>, while antennas <NUM>, processors <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and/or controller/processor <NUM> of the BS <NUM> may be used to perform operations <NUM> of <FIG>.

The control information may be for the physical broadcast channel (PBCH), physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), physical hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) indicator channel (PHICH), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor <NUM> may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively.

At the UE <NUM>, antennas 452a through 452r may receive downlink signals from the base station <NUM> and may provide received signals to demodulators (DEMODs) in transceivers 454a through 454r, respectively. Each demodulator <NUM> may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, down convert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator may further process input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector <NUM> may obtain received symbols from all demodulators 454a through 454r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols.

At the BS <NUM>, uplink signals from the UE <NUM> may be received by the antennas <NUM>, processed by the modulators <NUM>, detected by a MIMO detector <NUM> if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor <NUM> to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE <NUM>.

The controllers/processors <NUM> and <NUM> may direct operations at the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, respectively. The processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the BS <NUM> may perform or direct execution of processes for techniques described herein.

A first option <NUM>-a shows a split implementation of a protocol stack, in which implementation of the protocol stack is split between a centralized network access device (e.g., an ANC <NUM> in <FIG>) and distributed network access device (e.g., TRP <NUM> in <FIG>).

Embodiments discussed herein may include a variety of spacing and timing deployments. For example, in LTE, the basic transmission time interval (TTI) or packet duration is the <NUM> subframe. A subframe contains a variable number of slots (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, slots) depending on the subcarrier spacing.

A mini-slot is a subslot structure (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> symbols).

In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block (SSB) is transmitted. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, and the SS may provide the CP length and frame timing. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, system frame number, etc..

Certain deployment scenarios may include one or both NR deployment options. Some may be configured for non-standalone (NSA) and/or standalone (SA) options. A standalone cell may broadcast both SSB and remaining minimum system information (RMSI), for example, with SIB <NUM> and SIB2. A non-standalone cell may only broadcast SSB, without broadcasting RMSI. In a single carrier in NR, multiple SSBs may be sent in different frequencies, and may include the different types of SSB.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide apparatuses, methods, processing systems, and computer readable mediums for monitoring for combination downlink control information (DCI) that schedules transmissions in multiple cells.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a single (combination) DCI used to schedule transmissions in multiple cells. A combination DCI generally refers to a single DCI transmission that has one or more common DCI fields, shared among multiple cells. For example, the common DCI fields of a combination DCI may dynamically schedule UL and/or DL data and/or reference signals in multiple cells. As described herein, the common DCI fields of a combination DCI may also dynamically activate and deactivate frequency resources in multiple cells, for example, via a bandwidth part (BWP) switch to be applied in the multiple cells.

As illustrated, a single (combination) DCI transmitted by a first cell (in component carrier CC0) may schedule data and/or reference signal (RS) transmissions between a UE and multiple cells (in component carriers CC0, CC1, and CC2). For example, DCI <NUM> may schedule physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmissions, physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions, channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs) transmissions, and sounding reference signals (SRSs) transmissions.

Case <NUM> illustrates an example in which separate DCIs transmitted on separate component carriers to configure cells operating on the separate component carriers. Case <NUM> illustrates an example in which cross-carrier scheduling, where separate DCIs are transmitted on one component carrier (i.e., CC0), is used to schedule cells operating on CC0, CC1, and CC2. In both examples <NUM> and <NUM>, a UE may monitor for DCIs individually for each cell operating on CC0, CC1, and CC2.

However, where a combination DCI (e.g., combination DCI <NUM>) is transmitted by a scheduling cell to configure multiple cells, the blind decode and CCE limits for the scheduled cells may be reduced, as information for the scheduled cells is carried in the combination DCI. For example, if a cell operating on CC0 transmits a combination DCI for cells operating on CC0, CC1, and CC2, the PDCCH limits (e.g., blind decode and CCE limits) may be reduced for the cells other than the cell that transmitted the combination DCI. As illustrated, by using a combination DCI <NUM>, a UE may not need to monitor for DCI <NUM> transmitted by a cell operating on CC1 or DCI <NUM> transmitted by a cell operating on CC2, in case <NUM> and may not need to monitor for DCIs <NUM> and <NUM> transmitted by the cell operating on CC0 to configure cells operating on CC1 and CC2 in case <NUM>. The PDCCH limits for the cell that transmitted the combination DCI may not be reduced, however, as that cell still is to decode a DCI. Thus, the parameter calculations described below may be modified to account for monitoring for a combination DCI from a scheduling cell (i.e., the cell that transmitted the combination DCI), and not needing to monitor for individual DCIs for the scheduled cells (i.e., the cells, other than the cell that transmitted the combination DCI, scheduled in the combination DCI).

When compared to a case illustrated by <NUM> or <NUM>, where individual DCI transmissions are used to schedule transmissions in each cell, whether self-scheduled (each individual DCI is transmitted in the cell it is scheduling) or cross-scheduled (a DCI sent in one cell schedules transmissions in a different cell), a combination DCI can reduce the size of overall PDCCH resources used by sharing some DCI fields scheduling information for the multiple cells. When the DCI <NUM> schedules PDSCH or PUSCH, the DCI <NUM> can schedule one transport block (TB) across the multiple cells or can separately schedule multiple TBs in the multiple cells. When CSI-RS or SRS transmissions are triggered, the DCI can trigger one resource across the multiple cells or can separately schedule multiple resources in the multiple cells.

In some cases, a UE may handle a number of blind decodes and a number of non-overlapped control channel elements (CCEs) for PDCCH decoding up to a blind decode and CCE limit over a time duration. The time duration may be, for example, a slot or a PDCCH span with up to a number of OFDM symbols (e.g., three OFDM symbols) when ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) is configured. When a UE is configured with carrier aggregation, the blind decode limit and CCE limit may be defined for each cell as a per-cell limit or across multiple cells (e.g., all cells associated with the same numerology) as a total limit.

Generally, when one DCI schedules data or reference signal transmission in multiple cells, a single DCI may be decoded in the scheduling cell. No additional DCI decoding, however, may be needed for data and reference signal transmissions scheduled for the other cells. Thus, for the scheduled cells (excluding the scheduling cell), a PDCCH limit (e.g., a blind decode limit and/or CCE limit) may be reduced.

Typically, to determine PDCCH limits, a UE may begin by determining <MAT>, which represents a reference number of configured cells. When a UE is not configured with NR dual connectivity (NR-DC) and the UE reports its PDCCH blind decode capability (e.g., pdcchBlindDetectionCA), <MAT> may be set to the value of the PDCCH blind decode capability. Otherwise, <MAT> may be set to the number of configured downlink cells. If, however, a UE is configured with NR-DC, <MAT> may be determined for each cell group (e.g., master cell group, secondary cell group, etc.). <MAT> may be set to the value of a reference number of cells in each cell group provided by the network (e.g., to pdcch-BlindDetectionMCG for the master cell group and pdcch-BlindDetectionSCG for the secondary cell group).

The UE may then determine the PDCCH blind decode and CCE share of <MAT> for the set of cells having a numerology associated with a numerology factor µ. The UE may proportionally split <MAT> across different sets of cells with different numerology factors µ based on the number of cells associated with the numerology factor µ (i.e., <MAT>), such that the reference number for each set of cells may be represented as <MAT>. In some cases, if cell A with numerology factor µA is scheduled by cell B with numerology factor µB, the PDCCH blind decode and CCE limits may be determined for cell A by assuming that the numerology factor for cell A is µB.

The UE may determine the total PDCCH blind decode and CCE limits for each set of cells associated with a same numerology factor µ. The total PDCCH blind decode limit, which represents the total number of blind decodes the UE may be expected to process, may be represented by the equation <MAT>, where <MAT> represents the floor operation (i.e., an operation that rounds down to the nearest integer). The total PDCCH CCE limit, which represents that maximum total number of non-overlapped CCEs the UE may be expected to process, may be represented by the equation <MAT>. <MAT> may represent a maximum number of monitored PDCCH candidates (e.g., the maximum number of blind decodes) per slot, and <MAT> and <MAT> may represent a maximum number of blind decodes and a maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs per slot for a given numerology factor µ configured for a bandwidth part (BWP) of a cell used for PDCCH limit determination, as defined in Tables <NUM>-<NUM> and <NUM>-<NUM> of TS <NUM>, Rel. <NUM>, respectively.

The UE may determine per-cell PDCCH blind decode and CCE limits for each cell associated with a numerology factor µ. The maximum number of blind decodes a UE may be expected to process for a scheduled cell with a given numerology factor µ may be <MAT>. The maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs the UE may be expected to process for each scheduled cell with a given numerology factor µ may be <MAT>.

In some cases, where a cell can be scheduled together with other cells with a combination DCI for data and RS transmission, the cell's PDCCH limit for one or more of blind decodes or non-overlapped CCEs may be reduced. Processing the combination DCI may be counted into the PDCCH limit of the scheduling cell, and thus, the PDCCH limit for the scheduling cell may not need to be limited.

<FIG> illustrates example operations <NUM> that may be performed by a user equipment to monitor for a combination DCI scheduling data and/or reference signal (RS) transmissions in multiple cells, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As illustrated, operations <NUM> begin at <NUM>, where the UE determines a blind decode (BD) limit and a control channel element (CCE) limit based on a scaling factor. The scaling factor may be less than one.

At <NUM>, the UE determines physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters based on the BD limit and the CCE limit for monitoring for a combination DCI that schedules at least one of data or reference signal (RS) transmissions in multiple cells. Means for performing the functionality of <NUM> and/or <NUM> may, but not necessarily, include, for example, controller/processor <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, and/or memory <NUM>, or any combination thereof.

At <NUM>, the UE monitors for the combination DCI based on the determined PDCCH parameters. Means for performing the functionality of <NUM> may, but not necessarily, include, for example, antenna <NUM>, DEMOD/MOD <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or memory <NUM>, or any combination thereof.

<FIG> illustrates example operations <NUM> that may be performed by a cell to transmit a combination DCI scheduling data and/or reference signal (RS) transmissions in multiple cells, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As illustrated, operations <NUM> begin at <NUM>, where the cell determines a blind decode (BD) limit and a control channel element (CCE) limit based on a scaling factor. The scaling factor may be less than one.

At <NUM>, the cell determines physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) parameters based on the BD limit and the CCE limit for a user equipment (UE) to monitor for a combination downlink control information (DCI) that schedules at least one of data or reference signal (RS) transmissions in multiple cells. Means for performing the functionality of <NUM> and/or <NUM> may, but not necessarily, include, for example, controller/processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, and/or memory <NUM>, or any combination thereof.

At <NUM>, the cell transmits a combination DCI based on the determined PDCCH parameters. Means for performing the functionality of <NUM> may, but not necessarily, include, for example, antenna <NUM>, MOD/DEMOD <NUM>, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or memory <NUM>, or any combination thereof.

As discussed, where a UE is configured to handle a scenario in which a DCI is used to schedule data and/or reference signal (RS) transmissions in multiple cells, for each of a plurality of carriers, the PDCCH limit per cell can be reduced. The reduction can be based on a scaling factor x, if x is less than <NUM>. The per-cell limit for blind decodes may thus be defined as <MAT>. Likewise, the per-cell limit for CCEs may be defined as <MAT>. In some embodiments, the scaled per-cell limits for blind decodes and non-overlapped CCEs the UE may be expected to process for each cell with a given numerology factor µ may not apply to the scheduling cell (e.g., the cell that transmits the combination DCI to the UE for scheduling). The scaling factor x may be specified a priori, configured by the network, or reported by the UE (e.g., as a UE capability in capability signaling).

In some embodiments, the scaling factor may be used to calculate total PDCCH limits (including a total BD limit and a total CCE limit) for cells associated with a numerology factor µ. The term <MAT> in the equations illustrated above may be replaced with the term <MAT>, where <MAT> represents the number of configured downlink cells associated with numerology factor µ that are not within or not among the multiple cells that can be configured by a combination DCI, and <MAT> represents the number of configured downlink cells associated with numerology factor µ that are within or among the multiple cells that can be configured by the combination DCI. The scheduling cells that can transmit the combination DCI may be excluded from <MAT> but included in <MAT>.

In some embodiments, if NR-DC is configured for a UE, per-cell blind decode limits and CCE limits may be determined for cells in a master cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG) separately.

In some embodiments, the UE may report its supported PDCCH blind detection capability (i.e., pdcchBlindDetectionCA), and the scheduling cell receives the PDCCH blind detection capability from the UE, based on one or more conditions. In one embodiment, when it is possible that the network can configure the UE with M + N downlink cells, where M (the first number) represents a number of downlink cells greater than zero (M ≥ <NUM>) that are not within (or not among) the multiple cells that can be configured by the combination DCI and N (the second number) represents a number of downlink cells greater than zero (N≥ <NUM>) that are within (or are among) the multiple cells that can be configured by the combination DCI, the one or more conditions are satisfied when M + x · N > <NUM> (or, more generally, where M + x · N > thresholdvalue). The scheduling cells within the set of cells that can transmit the combination DCI may be excluded from N but included in M. In some embodiments, where a UE is configured for NR-DC, the UE may report (and the scheduling cell may receive) its supported PDCCH blind detection capability for all downlink cells together across the MCG and SCG.

In some embodiments, where the UE is not configured with NR-DC, the reference number of cells <MAT> may be the value of the supported PDCCH blind detection capability (i.e., pdcch-BlindDetectionCA) if the UE reports (and if the scheduling cell receives) the supported PDCCH blind detection capability.

In some embodiments, when the UE is not configured with NR-DC and the UE does not report the supported PDCCH blind detection capability (i.e., pdcch-BlindDetectionCA), the value of <MAT> may be m + x · n, where m is the number of configured downlink cells that are not within or not among the multiple cells that can be configured by the combination DCI, and n is the number of configured DL cells within or among the multiple cells that can be configured by the combination DCI. The scheduling cell(s) within the multiple cells that can transmit the combination DCI may be excluded from n but included in m.

If the scaling factor is <NUM>, a UE may use a legacy technique, discussed above, for identifying blind decode and CCE limits for a cell. For example, a per-cell limit for blind decodes may be represented by the equation <MAT>, and the per-cell CCE limit may be represented by the equation <MAT>.

For example, such a computer program product may comprise a computer-readable medium such as, for example, memory <NUM> or memory <NUM> (with reference to <FIG>) having instructions stored (and/or encoded) thereon, the instructions being executable by one or more processors (such as transmit processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or receive processor <NUM> and/or receive processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or transmit processor <NUM> with reference to <FIG>) to perform the operations described herein. Such instructions can include, for example, instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct the one or more processors to perform the operations described herein and illustrated in FIGs. <NUM>-<NUM>.

Claim 1:
A method for wireless communications, the method being performed by a user equipment, UE, and comprising
determining (<NUM>) a blind decode, BD, limit and a control channel element, CCE, limit based on a scaling factor being less than one;
determining (<NUM>) physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, parameters based on the BD limit and the CCE limit for monitoring a single downlink control information, DCI, that schedules at least one of data or reference signal, RS, transmissions in multiple cells; and
monitoring (<NUM>) the single DCI, from a scheduling cell of the multiple cells, based on the determined PDCCH parameters,
the method further comprising:
reporting, to the scheduling cell, a supported physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, blind detection capability based on one or more conditions being satisfied; and
wherein the one or more conditions are satisfied when a sum of a first number of cells with which the UE may be configured and a second number of cells with which the UE may be configured scaled by the scaling factor exceeds a threshold value,
wherein the first number represents a number of cells not among the multiple cells configured by the single DCI and the second number represents a number of cells among the multiple cells configured by the single DCI.