Patent Description:
Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting telephone calls, many mobile devices now provide access to the internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the global positioning system (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functionalities. Additionally, there exist numerous different wireless communication technologies and standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE Advanced (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE <NUM> (WLAN or Wi-Fi), BLUETOOTH™, etc..

The ever increasing number of features and functionality introduced in wireless communication devices also creates a continuous need for improvement in both wireless communications and in wireless communication devices. To increase coverage and better serve the increasing demand and range of envisioned uses of wireless communication, in addition to the communication standards mentioned above, there are further wireless communication technologies under development, including fifth generation (<NUM>) new radio (NR) communication. Accordingly, improvements in the field in support of such development and design are desired. Further background information can be found in the following documents:.

Embodiments relate to apparatuses, systems, and methods for determining PDCCH monitoring capability per component carriers in a carrier aggregation for span based PDCCH monitoring.

In certain cases, a User Equipment (UE) has a limited ability to monitor for PDCCH messages. When the UE is configured to utilize multiple component carriers (CCs, sometimes also referred to as "cells"), such as in a carrier aggregation scenario, the UE may need to monitor for PDCCH across the multiple carriers. In certain cases, the PDCCH monitoring space can exceed the monitoring capability of the UE. In certain cases, the UE may indicate, for example, to a network element, a maximum PDCCH monitoring capability of the UE. A PDCCH monitoring capability per component carrier may be determined to help scale the complexity limit per component carrier to help reduce the dimensions or space that the UE needs to monitor.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with a number of different types of devices, including but not limited to cellular phones, wireless devices, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and any of various other computing devices.

In certain wireless communications scenarios, component carriers may be associated with a specific PDCCH span pattern and starting span. Monitoring for a PDCCH message on a component carrier occurs on a defined schedule. For example, PDCCH monitoring occasions may be based on a span pattern for a particular time interval. As a more detailed example, an orthogonal frequency-division modulation (OFDM) frame may be divided into a set of spans of a set number of consecutive OFDM symbols. The PDCCH span pattern may then be defined for a set number and location of spans for each set of spans. For example, a PDCCH span pattern may be in a form of (X,Y), where X represents a gap between a first span of a PDCCH monitoring occasion and another PDCCH monitoring occasion, and Y represents a number of spans to monitoring for the PDCCH monitoring occasion. Thus, a PDCCH span pattern of (<NUM>,<NUM>), e.g., would indicate that the PDCCH monitoring occasion will last for three spans, with no monitoring in a fourth span. This span pattern then repeats for the set of spans. In addition to the span pattern, a starting span indicates in which span, of the set of spans, a particular span pattern starts.

Components carriers may thus be categorized as "aligned" or "unaligned. " For two or more component carriers to be aligned, the component carriers have the same span pattern and starting span. Component carriers with different span patterns or different starting spans are unaligned. It may be understood that, in the carrier alignment context, the component carriers implement at least a common time interval. For example, where a UE is configured with a mix of common carriers, a first set of which having OFDM frames divided into a set of spans, such as fourteen spans, and a second set of which have OFDM frames divided into two slots per frame, whether a set of component carriers are aligned or not would not refer to whether a first component carrier from the first set is aligned or not aligned with a second component carrier from the second set.

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, different techniques for allocating the PDCCH monitoring ability of a UE may be implemented based on component carrier alignment. There are three basic scenarios for component carrier alignment. The first scenario is that all of the component carriers are aligned. The second scenario is that some of the component carriers are not aligned. The first scenario applies if, for any span that starts from a symbol on a downlink component carrier from the <MAT> downlink component carriers, there is a span on every other downlink component carrier from the <MAT> downlink component carriers that starts from the symbol. (Note: µ, in this context, simply refers to an index into possible SCS configurations, e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>,. <NUM>, in the cases of Rel-<NUM> and Rel-<NUM>. ) The number of serving component carriers configured with a common time interval, such as a set of spans (e.g., in Rel-<NUM>), PDCCH monitoring capability with an associated PDCCH span pattern (X, Y) with a common subcarrier spacing (SCS) may be referred to as <MAT>. In certain cases, a UE may have a maximum capability to monitor PDCCH for a particular span patterns (X, Y), represented by <MAT>, if the UE indicates a capability to monitor PDCCH according to multiple (X, Y) combinations and a configuration of search space sets to the UE results in a separation of any two consecutive PDCCH monitoring spans that is equal to or larger than the value of X for two or more of the (X, Y) combinations. If a UE is configured with <MAT> downlink component carriers with an combination (X, Y) and SCS configuration µ, and where <MAT>, the UE is not required to monitor more than <MAT> non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) per span on the active downlink bandwidth parts (BWPs) of the scheduling component carriers from the <MAT> downlink component carriers. In this aligned case, the total number of non-overlapping CCEs per span to be monitored is given by Equation <NUM>, <MAT>. Here, <MAT> represents the UE's capability on the number of CCs/cells, with Rel-<NUM> PDCCH monitoring capability.

In the aforementioned second scenario, at least two component carriers are non-aligned. That is, the second scenario applies if, for any span that starts from a symbol on a downlink component carrier from the <MAT> downlink component carriers, all of the spans on at least one other downlink component carrier from the <MAT> downlink component carriers do not start from the same symbol. If a UE is configured with <MAT> downlink component carriers with an combination (X, Y) and SCS configuration µ, and where <MAT>, the UE is not required to monitor more than <MAT> non-overlapping control channel elements for any set of spans across the active Downlink Bandwidth Parts (DL BWPs) of scheduling of the scheduling component carriers from the <MAT> downlink component carriers if the spans on different downlink component carriers from the <MAT> downlink component carriers are not aligned, with at most one span per scheduling component carrier for each set. In this non-aligned case, the total number of non-overlapping CCEs per span to be monitored may also be defined by Equation <NUM>, <MAT>. <MAT>, where j is an index into the available subcarrier spacing configurations (e.g., only <NUM> and <NUM> are considered in this example).

The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure:.

Turning now to <FIG>, a simplified example of a wireless communication system is illustrated, according to some embodiments.

As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station 102A, which communicates over a transmission medium with one or more user devices 106A, 106B, etc., through 106N.

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station may be referred to as a "cell. " The base station 102A and the UEs <NUM> may be configured to communicate over the transmission medium using any of various radio access technologies (RATs), also referred to as wireless communication technologies, or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), <NUM> new radio (<NUM> NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternately be referred to as an 'eNodeB' or 'eNB'. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of <NUM> NR, it may alternately be referred to as a 'gNodeB' or 'gNB'.

Thus, while base station 102A may act as a "serving cell" for UEs 106A-N as illustrated in <FIG>, each UE <NUM> may also be capable of receiving signals from (and possibly within communication range of) one or more other cells (which might be provided by base stations 102B-N and/or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells. " Such cells may also be capable of facilitating communication between user devices and/or between user devices and the network <NUM>.

In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next generation base station, e.g., a <NUM> New Radio (<NUM> NR) base station, or "gNB. " In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) / <NUM> core (5GC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). For example, it may be possible that that the base station 102A and one or more other base stations <NUM> support joint transmission, such that UE <NUM> may be able to receive transmissions from multiple base stations (and/or multiple TRPs provided by the same base station). For example, as illustrated in <FIG>, both base station 102A and base station 102C are shown as serving UE 106A.

Note that a UE <NUM> may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE <NUM> may be configured to communicate using a wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and/or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, <NUM> NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). The UE <NUM> may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigational satellite systems (GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), and/or any other wireless communication protocol, if desired. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

<FIG> illustrates user equipment <NUM> (e.g., one of the devices 106A through 106N) in communication with a base station <NUM>, according to some embodiments. The UE <NUM> may be a device with cellular communication capability such as a mobile phone, a hand-held device, a computer, a laptop, a tablet, a smart watch or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device.

The UE <NUM> may include a processor (processing element) that is configured to execute program instructions stored in memory. Alternatively, or in addition, the UE <NUM> may include a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field-programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and/or any of various other possible hardware components that are configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

The UE <NUM> may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, the UE <NUM> may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As additional possibilities, the UE <NUM> could be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (1xRTT / 1xEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio and/or GSM or LTE using the single shared radio. The shared radio may couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. In general, a radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation as well as other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, the UE <NUM> may share one or more parts of a receive and/or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies, such as those discussed above.

For example, the UE <NUM> might include a shared radio for communicating using either of LTE or <NUM> NR (or either of LTE or 1xRTT, or either of LTE or GSM, among various possibilities), and separate radios for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

<FIG> illustrates an example simplified block diagram of a communication device <NUM>, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the communication device of <FIG> is only one example of a possible communication device. According to embodiments, communication device <NUM> may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and/or a combination of devices, among other devices. As shown, the communication device <NUM> may include a set of components <NUM> configured to perform core functions. For example, this set of components may be implemented as a system on chip (SOC), which may include portions for various purposes. Alternatively, this set of components <NUM> may be implemented as separate components or groups of components for the various purposes. The set of components <NUM> may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to various other circuits of the communication device <NUM>.

For example, the communication device <NUM> may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash <NUM>), an input/output interface such as connector I/F <NUM> (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; dock; charging station; input devices, such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices, such as speakers; etc.), the display <NUM>, which may be integrated with or external to the communication device <NUM>, and wireless communication circuitry <NUM> (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.).

The wireless communication circuitry <NUM> may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antenna(s) <NUM> as shown. The wireless communication circuitry <NUM> may include cellular communication circuitry and/or short to medium range wireless communication circuitry, and may include multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) configuration.

In some embodiments, as further described below, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include one or more receive chains (including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for <NUM> NR). For example, a first radio may be dedicated to a first RAT, e.g., LTE, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with a second radio. The second radio may be dedicated to a second RAT, e.g., <NUM> NR, and may be in communication with a dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain.

As shown, the SOC <NUM> may include processor(s) <NUM>, which may execute program instructions for the communication device <NUM> and display circuitry <NUM>, which may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to the display <NUM>. The processor(s) <NUM> may also be coupled to memory management unit (MMU) <NUM>, which may be configured to receive addresses from the processor(s) <NUM> and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory <NUM>, read only memory (ROM) <NUM>, NAND flash memory <NUM>) and/or to other circuits or devices, such as the display circuitry <NUM>, wireless communication circuitry <NUM>, connector I/F <NUM>, and/or display <NUM>. The MMU <NUM> may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU <NUM> may be included as a portion of the processor(s) <NUM>.

As noted above, the communication device <NUM> may be configured to communicate using wireless and/or wired communication circuitry. As described herein, the communication device <NUM> may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processor <NUM> of the communication device <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processor <NUM> may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processor <NUM> of the communication device <NUM>, in conjunction with one or more of the other components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

Further, as described herein, wireless communication circuitry <NUM> may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in wireless communication circuitry <NUM>. Thus, wireless communication circuitry <NUM> may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry <NUM>. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuitry <NUM>.

In some embodiments, base station <NUM> may be a next generation base station, e.g., a <NUM> New Radio (<NUM> NR) base station, or "gNB. " In such embodiments, base station <NUM> may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or to a NR core (NRC) / <NUM> core (5GC) network.

As another possibility, the base station <NUM> may include a multi-mode radio, which is capable of performing communications according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., <NUM> NR and LTE, <NUM> NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

The processor <NUM> of the base station <NUM> may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium).

In addition, as described herein, processor(s) <NUM> may include one or more processing elements.

Further, as described herein, radio <NUM> may include one or more processing elements.

<FIG> illustrates an example simplified block diagram of cellular communication circuitry, according to some embodiments. It is noted that the block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of <FIG> is only one example of a possible cellular communication circuit; other circuits, such as circuits including or coupled to sufficient antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuits including or coupled to fewer antennas, e.g., that may be shared among multiple RATs, are also possible. According to some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may be included in a communication device, such as communication device <NUM> described above. As noted above, communication device <NUM> may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet and/or a combination of devices, among other devices.

The cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may couple (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a-b and <NUM> as shown. In some embodiments, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include dedicated receive chains (including and/or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and/or radios) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for <NUM> NR). For example, as shown in <FIG>, cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include a first modem <NUM> and a second modem <NUM>. The first modem <NUM> may be configured for communications according to a first RAT, e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A, and the second modem <NUM> may be configured for communications according to a second RAT, e.g., such as <NUM> NR.

As shown, the first modem <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> and a memory <NUM> in communication with processors <NUM>.

Similarly, the second modem <NUM> may include one or more processors <NUM> and a memory <NUM> in communication with processors <NUM>.

Thus, when cellular communication circuitry <NUM> receives instructions to transmit according to the first RAT (e.g., as supported via the first modem <NUM>), switch <NUM> may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem <NUM> to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry <NUM> and UL front end <NUM>). Similarly, when cellular communication circuitry <NUM> receives instructions to transmit according to the second RAT (e.g., as supported via the second modem <NUM>), switch <NUM> may be switched to a second state that allows the second modem <NUM> to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain that includes transmit circuitry <NUM> and UL front end <NUM>).

As described herein, the first modem <NUM> and/or the second modem <NUM> may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processors <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), processors <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Alternatively (or in addition) the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, in conjunction with one or more of the other components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

In addition, as described herein, processors <NUM>, <NUM> may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processors <NUM>, <NUM> may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) that are configured to perform the functions of processors <NUM>, <NUM>. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processors <NUM>, <NUM>.

In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may include only one transmit/receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may not include the modem <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the DL front end <NUM>, and/or the antenna 335b. As another example, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may not include the modem <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the DL front end <NUM>, and/or the antenna 335a. In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry <NUM> may also not include the switch <NUM>, and the RF front end <NUM> or the RF front end <NUM> may be in communication, e.g., directly, with the UL front end <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a network element <NUM>, according to some embodiments. According to some embodiments, the network element <NUM> may implement one or more logical functions/entities of a cellular core network, such as a mobility management entity (MME), serving gateway (S-GW), access and management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), network slice quota management (NSQM) function, etc. It is noted that the network element <NUM> of <FIG> is merely one example of a possible network element <NUM>. As shown, the core network element <NUM> may include processor(s) <NUM> which may execute program instructions for the core network element <NUM>.

The network element <NUM> may include at least one network port <NUM>. The network port <NUM> may be configured to couple to one or more base stations and/or other cellular network entities and/or devices. The network element <NUM> may communicate with base stations (e.g., eNBs/gNBs) and/or other network entities / devices by means of any of various communication protocols and/or interfaces.

As described further subsequently herein, the network element <NUM> may include hardware and software components for implementing and/or supporting implementation of features described herein. The processor(s) <NUM> of the core network element <NUM> may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a nontransitory computer-readable memory medium).

Turning now to <FIG>, an example distribution of PDCCH monitoring occasions for a set of component carriers <NUM> is illustrated, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, the set of component carriers <NUM> includes six component carriers, CC1-CC6, all utilizing a fixed SCS. For this example, a total number of component carriers aggregated is represented by the parameter N=<NUM>. Component carriers CC1 and CC2 utilize a (<NUM>,<NUM>) PDCCH span pattern. In this example, a number of component carriers with a (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern is represented by the parameter N_DL(<NUM>,<NUM>)=<NUM>. The other four component carriers CC3-CC6 utilize a (<NUM>,<NUM>) PDCCH span pattern with various starting spans. In this example, a number of component carriers with a (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern is represented by the parameter N_DL(<NUM>,<NUM>)=<NUM>. As shown, component carriers CC3 and CC4 both have the same span patterns and starting spans, and thus are aligned. Similarly, CC1 and CC2 are also aligned. However, as there is at least one span where not all of the spans of the component carriers have a monitoring period, the set of component carriers overall is non-aligned. In this example, the parameters C_max(<NUM>,<NUM>)=<NUM> and C_max(<NUM>,<NUM>)=<NUM> indicate a maximum non-overlapping CCEs per span that the UE can monitor for a given PDCCH span pattern.

In certain cases, to help reduce the PDCCH monitoring complexity, the UE may estimate the total limit for non-overlapping CCE monitoring for spans with a same span pattern and SCS and then perform a "hard split" of the number of non-overlapping CCEs required to be monitored across all of the spans, such that each component carrier is allocated a fixed number of non-overlapped CCEs per span for monitoring by sharing the limited resources equally between the component carriers. For a scheduled component carrier, the number of non-overlapped CCEs a UE may monitor on the active downlink BWP with a span configuration (X,Y) for SCS µ, of the scheduling component carrier from the downlink component carriers may be defined by Equation <NUM>, <MAT>. In this example, for the component carriers with a span pattern of (<NUM>,<NUM>) using equation <NUM> to find a total number of non-overlapping CCEs per span to be monitored with the example parameters is <MAT> <MAT>. Plugging <MAT> into Equation <NUM> above, indicates that the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is Limit = min(<NUM>, <NUM>) = <NUM> for CC1 and CC2. Thus, UE monitoring capability for the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern is split across the component carriers with the monitoring pattern. Solving Equation <NUM> for span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) can be shown as <MAT>. Plugging <MAT> into Equation <NUM> above, indicates that the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span for span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <MAT> for CC3 - CC6. Thus, the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <NUM>, and UE monitoring capability for the span pattern is split across the component carriers with the span pattern. In certain cases, the above calculations may be repeated for each SCS configuration.

In certain cases, to allocate C_total between CCs in the unaligned case, assume that C(x,y) is the limit for span y within CC x, where x = <NUM>,. ,X, then C(x,y) = C(x) for all spans y within CC x, and the sum of all C(x,y) = C_total, for x = <NUM>,. In this case, the CCE values may be unevenly distributed across the component carriers but remain constant within each component carrier, and the sum of any set of spans selected across component carriers is equal to C_total.

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, reducing the PDCCH monitoring complexity can further be enhanced in the second scenario where the component carriers overall are non-aligned, but some of component carriers are aligned. For example, grouping may be performed into aligned and unaligned groups with the same SCS. Here, the UE may estimate the total number of non-overlapping CCEs per span to be monitored for the spans with the same configuration and SCS. Here, again, a total number of non-overlapping CCEs per span to be monitored for a given span pattern ( <MAT>) is determined based on equation <NUM>. In addition, a hard split of C_total between the different groups (e.g., aligned and non-aligned) may be performed for a given span pattern, as defined by Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
wherein i represents an index into the number of groups in (X,Y), µ, and wherein k is an index that sums across all groups. Then, for a scheduled component carrier, the UE can monitor on the active downlink BWP with a span pattern (X,Y) for SCS µ, of the scheduling component carrier from the non-aligned downlink component carriers, a
<MAT>
<MAT>
of non-overlapped CCEs per span. In the non-aligned case, the UE can split the maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs equally between component carriers. For aligned groups, for a scheduled component carrier, the UE can monitor on the active downlink BWP with a span configuration (X,Y) for SCS µ, of the scheduling component carrier from the non-aligned downlink component carriers, a
<MAT>
of non-overlapped CCEs per span. In the aligned case, the UE may allocate a component carrier, such as a Primary cell (Pcell), more non-overlapped CCEs than a secondary cell (Scell), so long as the total number does not exceed the limit. In certain cases, the above calculations may be repeated for each SCS configuration.

In certain cases, to allocate C_total between CCs in the unaligned case, assume that C(x,y) is the limit for span y within CC x, where x = <NUM>,. ,X, then C(x,y) = C(x) for all spans y within CC x, and the sum of all C(x,y) = C _total, for x = <NUM>,. In this case, the CCE values may be unevenly distributed across the component carrier groups but remain constant within each component carrier group, and the sum of any set of spans selected across component carriers is equal to C_total. Note that, within a component carrier group, the values of C(x,y) may be different.

<FIG> illustrates an example distribution of PDCCH monitoring occasions for a set of component carriers <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown, the set of component carriers <NUM> once again includes six component carriers, CC1-CC6, all utilizing a fixed SCS with the same parameters as the example from <FIG>. In this example the UE may split each span pattern and SCS into sets of aligned groups and a single non-aligned group and then estimate C_total for each group. This may be described by Equation <NUM>,. <MAT>
In this example, the UE performs a hard split within the non-aligned groups of available monitoring occasions. For non-aligned downlink component carriers of a scheduled component carrier, the UE may monitor, on the active downlink DWP with a span pattern (X,Y) for SCS µ, a number of non-overlapped CCEs per span based on Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
For non-aligned component carriers, the UE may split the maximum number of non-overlapped CCEs equally between component carriers. For aligned span groups, the UE can pool the monitoring limits across all the spans of the aligned groups. For aligned downlink component carriers of a scheduled component carrier, the UE may monitor, on the active downlink BWP with a span pattern (X,Y) for SCS µ, a number of non-overlapped CCEs per span based on Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
For aligned component carriers, the UE may allocate a component carrier, such as a Pcell, more non-overlapped CCEs than a Scell, so long as the total number does not exceed the limit.

Applying the parameters of this example to solve for Equation <NUM> for the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern of CC1 and CC2 may be shown as:
<MAT>
As CC1 and CC2 are aligned component carriers, solving for Equation <NUM> may be shown as Limit = min(<NUM>, <NUM>) = <NUM>. Thus, the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for aligned component carriers having a span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <NUM>, as shown in <FIG> for CC1 and CC2.

In this example, CC3 and CC4 are also aligned component carriers and solving for Equation <NUM> may be shown as:
<MAT>
and solving for Equation <NUM> may be shown as Limit = min(<NUM>, <NUM>) = <NUM>. As the UE may allocate up to all of the monitoring resources to a single component carrier of the aligned component carriers, CC3 here is allocated all <NUM> monitoring instances. Thus, the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for aligned component carriers having a span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <NUM>, as shown in <FIG> for CC3 and CC4.

In this example, CC5 and CC6 are non-aligned component carriers and solving for Equation <NUM> may be shown as
<MAT>
and solving for Equation <NUM> may be shown as <MAT>. Thus, the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <NUM>. Thus, the monitoring limit for non-overlapped CCEs per span pattern span for non-aligned component carriers having a span pattern (<NUM>,<NUM>) is <NUM>, as shown in <FIG> for CC5 and CC6. In certain cases, the above calculations may be repeated for each SCS configuration. In certain cases, the determined PDCCH monitoring limit for component carriers with a shared span pattern remains constant within each component carrier. In some such cases, determining the PDCCH monitoring limit for a group of component carriers comprises determining a minimum of a predetermined maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for a monitoring pattern and a total number of non-overlapping CCEs of the group shared by a number of component carriers with a shared span pattern.

In certain cases, "overbooking" limits, i.e., the practice of a wireless station (e.g., a gNB) configuring more non-overlapping CCEs than is allowed, based on the per-cell or carrier aggregation (CA) limits, may depend on what type of group a Pcell is located in. For example, if the Pcell is in an aligned group, then C_limit for the Pcell (C_limit(Pcell)) may be described as min(Ctotal_aligned, C_span), and C_limit for the corresponding Scell (C_limit(Scell)) may be described as Ctotal_{aligned}-C_limit (Pcell). If the Pcell is in an unaligned group, then C_limit(Pcell) may equal min (Ctotal_{non-aligned}/number(non-aligned), C_max_span). For the corresponding SCell, C_limit(Scell) may equal min (Ctotal_{non-aligned}/number(non-aligned), C_max_span).

In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, monitoring gap and span capability may be reported by a UE. For example, the UE may report gap and span capability to the network element by reporting a supported Ncap-r16 estimation method. As another example, a UE may receive a PDCCH configuration, the configuration indicated expected gap and span capability using the Ncap-r16 estimation method. Based on this indication, the UE may either treat all component carriers as unaligned or perform grouping as described above. In certain cases, the UE may estimate applicable gap and span configurations based on a received PDCCH configuration. The UE may also receive an Ncap-r16 estimation method, or use a stored estimation method.

In certain cases, a gNB cell may include one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs), and a UE may be configured to connect via multiple component carriers, where some component carriers are served by a single TRP, while other component carriers are served by multiple TRPs. When monitoring a component carrier operating in a multi-TRP mode, the UE may have to monitor for multiple downlink control information (DCI) from the multiple TRPs. Here, <MAT> may represent a number of cells in a single DCI or single TRP mode and <MAT> may represent the number of cell in a multi-DCI mode. If a UE is configured with <MAT> downlink component carriers, for the UE to determine UE capability, PDCCH-BlindDetectionCA, the number of supported serving components carriers for PDCCH monitoring per slot is <MAT>, where γ is derived from a UE capability, R. In certain cases, R may be predefined for a UE, for example, as a constant stored on the UE. With multi-TRPs, a maximum number of total PDCCH candidates and non-overlapped CCEs are scaled by r times in Rel-<NUM>, as compared to Rel-<NUM>. If the UE does not report to a network element pdcch-BlindDetectionCA, or the UE is not provided with BDFactorR, r is equal to <NUM>. Otherwise, r is configured by BDFactorR, which is either <NUM> or R. For Rel-<NUM> behavior, r=<NUM>. For r > <NUM>, the sets associated with the CORESET with CORESETPoolIndex=<NUM> if CORESETPoolIndex is configured and on the primary cell. A CORESET is a set of physical resources, such as a downlink resource grid, and a set of parameters used to carry the PDCCH/DCI.

Where a UE is configured with <MAT> downlink component carriers, if
<MAT>
then the UE may be configured to process <MAT> non-overlapped CCEs per slot on the active downlink DWP of the scheduling cell, where, per Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
In such a configuration, C_total may be estimated where if a UE is configured with
<MAT>
where Z is pre-defined limit, such as <NUM>, with an associated monitoring patter (X,Y) and SCS configuration µ the UE may monitor <MAT> non-overlapping CCEs per span on the active downlink BWP of the scheduling cells from the downlink cells. Here, per Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>.

For a scheduled cell, for the aligned component carriers, the UE may monitor, per Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
non-overlapped CCEs per span and may monitor
<MAT>
non-overlapped CCEs per span for CORESETS with the same CORESETPoolIndex value. For non-aligned component carriers, the UE may monitor, per Equation <NUM>,
<MAT>
non-overlapped CCEs per span and may monitor
<MAT>
non-overlapped CCEs per span for CORESETS with the same CORESETPoolIndex value. In certain cases, for any (X,Y) span pattern for a specific SCS may be treated as unaligned for a multi-TRP component carrier.

<FIG> illustrates an example distribution of PDCCH monitoring occasions for a set of component carriers <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the set of component carriers <NUM>, CC3 is configured for multi-TRP operation with TRP1 and TRP2. In this example, the parameter γ = <NUM> and all other parameters are the same as the examples discussed with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>. Solving for Equation <NUM> for the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern can be shown as
<MAT>
and for the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern,
<MAT>
As the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern is aligned, Equation <NUM> is applied as Limit = min(<NUM>,<NUM>) = <NUM>. Thus, each (<NUM>,<NUM>) span may include <NUM> scheduled monitoring instances for CC1 and CC2. In this example, the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern may be treated as unaligned as there is a multi-TRP component carrier with the (<NUM>,<NUM>) span pattern and Equation <NUM> may be applies as shown as <MAT>. Thus, each (<NUM>,<NUM>) span may include <NUM> monitoring instances for CC3-CC6.

In other cases, a UE may implement certain procedures to determine whether a multi-DCI/multi-TRP configuration is aligned. This determination may be made in two steps. In the first step, the UE may define an intra-TRP alignment and an inter-TRP alignment. The intra-TRP alignment may be determined if there is a span on every downlink component carrier from the downlink component carriers which start from the symbol with a single TRP. Inter-TRP alignment may be determined if there is a span on every other TRP from all the TRPs that starts from the symbol within a single downlink component carrier, and the UE can process the PDCCHs from the different TRPs substantially simultaneously, e.g., where the difference in the timing advance to the two TRPs is less than a threshold, such as a threshold processing limit. This threshold may be defined as a UE capability or otherwise predefined.

In the second step, the UE may classify a transmission as aligned or non-aligned based on the intra-TRP or inter-TRP alignment. This classification may be based on four scenarios. The first is where there is intra-TRP alignment and inter-TRP alignment. In such case, the UE may classification the transmission as aligned. In this scenario, a single group may be used to estimate C_total, based on the aligned span technique described above. In the second scenario, there may be an intra-TRP alignment, but inter-TRP is non-aligned. In this scenario, the UE may create two groups, the first group including intra-TRP component carriers without multi-DCI mode which are aligned, and a second group including intra-TRP component carriers with multi-DCI mode, which are non-aligned. Alternatively, in this second scenario, the UE may assume R=<NUM> and fall back to basic Rel-<NUM> behavior, i.e., PDCCH monitoring based on a single TRP and its associated limits. In the third scenario, intra-TRP may be non-aligned with inter-TRP alignment. In this scenario, the system may be considered non-aligned with R set to the configured value. In a fourth scenario, intra-TRP may be non-aligned and inter-TRP may also be non-aligned. In this scenario, the UE may assume R=<NUM> and fall back to basic Rel-<NUM> limits.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three component carriers (CCs). At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs based on whether the CCs share a monitoring pattern and a starting span for monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) of each CC. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCE) are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group. In certain cases, the dividing is further based on subcarrier spacings of the CCs.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three CCs. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs based on whether the CCs share a monitoring pattern and a starting span for monitoring a PDCCH of each CC. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, a PDCCH monitoring limit for a group of component carriers is determined. At block <NUM>, the determined PDCCH monitoring limit is split across the spans of the component carriers of the group of component carriers. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three CCs. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs by grouping the component carriers with both a shared span pattern and a shared starting span into a first set of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group for monitoring a PDCCH of each CC. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, a PDCCH monitoring limit is determined for component carriers with a shared span pattern. At block <NUM>, the determined PDCCH monitoring limit is split for component carriers of the first group based on the shared span pattern. At block <NUM> the determined PDCCH monitoring limit is split for component carriers of the second group across spans of the component carriers of the second group. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three CCs. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs by grouping the component carriers with both a shared span pattern and a shared starting span into a first set of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group for monitoring a PDCCHof each CC. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, a PDDCH monitoring limit for component carriers is determined based on the grouped component carriers. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three CCs. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs by grouping the component carriers with both a shared span pattern and a shared starting span into a first set of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group for monitoring PDCCH of each CC. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, an overbooking limit is determined for each CC, wherein the overbooking limit is based on the group an overbooked CC is in. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for or wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least three CCs, where at least one of the CCs is received from multiple transmission points. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs by grouping the component carriers with both a shared span pattern and a shared starting span into a first set of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group for monitoring a PDCCH of each CC, wherein the at least one CC received from a multiple transmission point is divided into the second group. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

<FIG> illustrates a technique for wireless communications <NUM>, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. At block <NUM>, a wireless device is configured to access a wireless network using a set of at least CCs, where at least one of the CCs is received from multiple transmission points. At block <NUM>, the at least three CCs are divided into groups of CCs by grouping the component carriers with both a shared span pattern and a shared starting span into a first set of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group for monitoring a PDCCH of each CC, wherein the at least one of the CCs received from a multiple transmission point are grouped based on an alignment of the multiple transmission points. At block <NUM>, a number of non-overlapping CCEs are determined to monitor for each group of CCs. At block <NUM>, the wireless device is configured to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.

It is noted that, while the examples and embodiments above focus primarily on methods to calculate the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs in a carrier aggregation scenario, similar methodologies and formulae may also be applied for calculating the maximum number of PDCCH Candidates (i.e., M) in a wireless communication scenario. Similarly, while the examples and embodiments above focus primarily methods to calculate the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs in a carrier aggregation scenario, similar methodologies and formulae may also be applied for calculating limits on the number of blind decodes (BDs) that may be attempted by a UE in a carrier aggregation scenario, as well.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE <NUM>, a BS <NUM>, a network element <NUM>) may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, where the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or, any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any of various forms.

Claim 1:
A method for wireless communications by a wireless device, comprising:
configuring (<NUM>) the wireless device to access a wireless network using a set of at least three components carriers, CCs;
dividing (<NUM>) the at least three component carriers into groups of component carriers for monitoring a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, of each component carrier, wherein the dividing comprises:
grouping the component carriers with both a shared monitoring pattern and a shared starting span into a first group of one or more groups and the other component carriers into a second group;
determining (<NUM>) a number of non-overlapping control channel elements, CCE, to monitor for each group of component carriers, wherein determining the number of non-overlapping CCEs to monitor for the second group comprises:
determining (<NUM>) a PDCCH monitoring limit for component carriers with a shared span pattern;
splitting (<NUM>) the determined PDCCH monitoring limit for component carriers of the first group based on the shared span pattern; and
splitting (<NUM>) the determined PDCCH monitoring limit for component carriers of the second group across spans of the component carriers of the second group; and configuring (<NUM>) the wireless device to monitor the non-overlapping CCEs based on the determined number to monitor for each group.