Patent Description:
As will be described in more detail herein, a BS may be referred to as a Node B, a gNB, an access point (AP), a radio head, a transmit receive point (TRP), a <NUM> BS, a <NUM> Node B, and/or the like.

The above multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless communication devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. <NUM>, which may also be referred to as New Radio (NR), is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). <NUM> is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum, and better integrating with other open standards using OFDM with a cyclic prefix (CP) (CP-OFDM) on the downlink (DL), using CP-OFDM and/or SC-FDM (e.g., also known as discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)) on the uplink (UL), as well as supporting beamforming, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, and carrier aggregation. As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, further improvements in LTE, NR, and other radio access technologies and the telecommunication standards that employ these technologies remain useful. <CIT> discloses techniques for transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request feedback by narrowband Internet-of-Things devices, in which the feedback is transmitted in response to a narrowband physical downlink shared channel received over a downlink. It is disclosed that the feedback can be transmitted over a narrowband physical uplink shared channel or over a narrowband physical uplink control channel. It is further disclosed that higher level signal and/or indications provided in downlink control information can be used to determine the time, frequency or code domain resources.

In some communications systems, such as <NUM>, a secondary cell group (SCG) may be defined for a user equipment (UE) communicating with one or more base stations. The SCG may include one or more serving cells associated with a secondary radio access network (RAN) node (sometimes termed a secondary node or SN). For example, the SN may be a base station that provides connectivity to the UE in addition to a master RAN node (sometimes termed a master node or MN). By enabling dual-connectivity in this way, the MN and the SN may enable improved connectivity, coverage area, and/or bandwidth for the UE. For example, in some cases, the SCG may be configured to enable carrier aggregation to provide for communication in one or more bands using at least two component carriers, which may include a primary component carrier (PCC) or primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells), primary secondary cells (PSCells), secondary component carriers (SCCs), and/or the like. In some cases, such as when an MN and a master cell group (MCG) associated with the MN have a bandwidth to support traffic associated with the UE, access to the SCG may result in unnecessary overhead or power utilization by the UE. Accordingly, the MN may place one or more activated SCells in a dormancy mode for a period of time and may reactivate the dormant SCells when, for example, the MN no longer has the bandwidth to support traffic associated with the UE.

In some cases, a base station may transmit information on a control channel (e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) associated with the PCell to indicate the dormancy mode associated with one or more activated SCells in the same cell group. Accordingly, a UE may generally be configured to monitor the control channel for downlink control information (DCI) that includes an SCell dormancy indication. For example, the DCI used to convey the SCell dormancy indication may include a non-fallback DCI message (e.g., DCI format 0_1 for uplink scheduling or DCI format 1_1 for downlink scheduling), and the configuration of the SCell dormancy indication may vary depending on whether the DCI message schedules data (e.g., a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data transmission where the DCI is used for uplink scheduling, or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) data transmission where the DCI is used for downlink scheduling). For example, in cases where the DCI schedules data, the SCell dormancy indication may be provided in a field appended to the non-fallback DCI message having DCI format 0_1 or DCI format 1_1. Alternatively, in cases where the DCI does not schedule data, the SCell dormancy indication may be provided in one or more unused fields of a non-fallback DCI message having DCI format 1_1. These varying options can create ambiguity, however, especially in context with other information that may be conveyed in DCI.

For example, in addition to monitoring the control channel for the SCell dormancy indication, a UE may also be configured to monitor the control channel for an indicator containing a request for one-shot hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) codebook feedback, which is generally requested in DCI having DCI format 1_1 for downlink scheduling. Accordingly, although an SCell dormancy indication can be provided in a field appended to a DCI message having DCI format 0_1 for uplink scheduling when the DCI schedules data, a DCI message having DCI format 0_1 cannot be easily configured to convey a request for one-shot HARQ-ACK feedback. Furthermore, while a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field in the DCI can be set to a particular value to indicate that the DCI is not used for scheduling data when the DCI is used for conveying an SCell dormancy indicator, the value to be used in the FDRA field in order to indicate that the DCI is not used for scheduling data is undefined in cases where the DCI is used to convey a one-shot HARQ-ACK feedback. Accordingly, various ambiguities and inconsistencies may arise when both SCell dormancy and one-shot HARQ-ACK feedback are configured for a UE.

The scope of the present invention is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Any embodiments that do not fall under the scope of the claims are examples which are useful for understanding the invention, but do not form a part of the invention.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with a <NUM> radio access technology (RAT, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to other RATs, such as a <NUM> RAT, a <NUM> RAT, and/or a RAT subsequent to <NUM> (e.g., <NUM>).

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless network <NUM> in which aspects of the present disclosure may be practiced. A base station (BS) is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and may also be referred to as a <NUM> BS, a Node B, a gNB, a <NUM> NB, an access point, a transmit receive point (TRP), and/or the like.

A UE may be a cellular phone (e.g., 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, a camera, a gaming device, a netbook, a smartbook, an ultrabook, a medical device or equipment, a biometric sensor/device, a wearable device (a smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, a smart wrist band, smart jewelry (e.g., a smart ring, a smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicular component or sensor, a smart meter/sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

In some cases, UEs <NUM> may communicate in a dual-connectivity mode, a carrier aggregation mode, and/or the like, which may include a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells (SCells) that are associated with the same BS <NUM> or different BSs <NUM>. In some aspects, a BS <NUM> may use the PCell to transmit control signaling related to the SCell(s). For example, in some aspects, the control signaling may include downlink control information (DCI) that includes an SCell dormancy indicator to identify one or more SCells that are operating in a dormancy mode. Additionally, in some cases, the DCI may include a request for one-shot hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) codebook feedback, such as when the UE communicates with one or more SCells in an unlicensed spectrum. In some aspects, when the DCI includes the SCell dormancy indicator and triggers one-shot HARQ-ACK codebook feedback, the BS <NUM> may determine a format for the DCI and configure one or more DCI messages to include fields for the SCell dormancy indicator and the request for HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, the SCell dormancy indicator and the request for HARQ-ACK feedback may be provided in one or more fields that are appended to a DCI message that schedules data, in one or more unused fields of a DCI message that does not schedule data, and/or the like. Furthermore, in cases where the DCI message does not schedule data, the DCI message may include a predefined value in a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field to indicate that the DCI message does not schedule data such that the UE may know to decode the SCell dormancy indicator and the request for HARQ-ACK feedback from the one or more unused fields of the DCI message.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating an example <NUM> of a base station <NUM> in communication with a UE <NUM> in a wireless network <NUM>.

At base station <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive data from a data source <NUM> for one or more UEs, may select a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on channel quality indicators (CQIs) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for each UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for the UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. Transmit processor <NUM> may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), and/or the like) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, and/or the like) and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. Transmit processor <NUM> may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), and/or the like) and synchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). Each modulator <NUM> may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal (e.g., an RRC signal to configure one or more component carrier sets, a MAC-CE to indicate a beam update command, and/or the like).

A receive (RX) processor <NUM> may process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for UE <NUM> to a data sink <NUM>, and provide decoded control information and system information to a controller/processor <NUM>. A channel processor may determine a reference signal received power (RSRP), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and/or the like.

On the uplink, at UE <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive and process data from a data source <NUM> and control information (e.g., for reports that include RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, and/or the like) from controller/processor <NUM>. The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor <NUM>) and memory <NUM> to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein.

The transceiver may be used by a processor (e.g., controller/processor <NUM>) and memory <NUM> to perform aspects of any of the methods described herein.

Controller/processor <NUM> of base station <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM> of UE <NUM>, and/or any other component(s) of <FIG> may perform one or more techniques associated with downlink control information (DCI) for a dormancy indication and one-shot hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, controller/processor <NUM> of base station <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM> of UE <NUM>, and/or any other component(s) of <FIG> may perform or direct operations of, for example, method <NUM> of <FIG> and/or other processes as described herein. Memories <NUM> and <NUM> may store data and program codes for BS <NUM> and UE <NUM>, respectively. In some aspects, memory <NUM> and/or memory <NUM> may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more instructions for wireless communication. For example, the one or more instructions, when executed (e.g., directly, or after compiling, converting, interpreting, and/or the like) by one or more processors of the base station <NUM> and/or the UE <NUM>, may cause the one or more processors, the UE <NUM>, and/or the base station <NUM> to perform or direct operations of, for example, process <NUM> of <FIG> and/or other processes as described herein. In some aspects, executing instructions may include running the instructions, converting the instructions, compiling the instructions, interpreting the instructions, and/or the like.

<NUM> may refer to radios configured to operate according to a new air interface (e.g., other than Orthogonal Frequency Divisional Multiple Access (OFDMA)-based air interfaces) or fixed transport layer (e.g., other than Internet Protocol (IP)). In some aspects, <NUM> may utilize OFDM with a CP (herein referred to as cyclic prefix OFDM or CP-OFDM) and/or SC-FDM on the uplink, may utilize CP-OFDM on the downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. In some aspects, <NUM> may, for example, utilize OFDM with a CP (herein referred to as CP-OFDM) and/or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) on the uplink, may utilize CP-OFDM on the downlink and include support for half-duplex operation using TDD. <NUM> may include Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) service targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., <NUM> megahertz (MHz) and beyond), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequency (e.g., <NUM> gigahertz (GHz)), massive MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and/or mission critical targeting ultra reliable low latency communications (URLLC) service.

A single component carrier bandwidth of <NUM> may be supported. <NUM> resource blocks may span <NUM> sub-carriers with a sub-carrier bandwidth of <NUM> kilohertz (kHz) over a <NUM> duration. Each radio frame may include <NUM> subframes with a length of <NUM>. Consequently, each subframe may have a length of <NUM>. Each subframe may indicate a link direction (e.g., DL or UL) for data transmission and the link direction for each subframe may be dynamically switched. Each subframe may include DL/UL data as well as DL/UL control data.

Alternatively, <NUM> may support a different air interface, other than an OFDM-based interface. <NUM> networks may include entities such central units or distributed units.

The RAN may include a central unit (CU) and distributed units (DUs). A <NUM> BS (e.g., gNB, <NUM> Node B, Node B, transmit receive point (TRP), access point (AP)) may correspond to one or multiple BSs. <NUM> cells can be configured as access cells (ACells) or data only cells (DCells). For example, the RAN (e.g., a central unit or distributed unit) can configure the cells. DCells may be cells used for carrier aggregation or dual connectivity, but not used for initial access, cell selection/reselection, or handover. In some aspects, DCells may not transmit synchronization signals. In some aspects, DCells may transmit synchronization signals. <NUM> BSs may transmit downlink signals to UEs indicating the cell type. Based at least in part on the cell type indication, the UE may communicate with the <NUM> BS. For example, the UE may determine <NUM> BSs to consider for cell selection, access, handover, and/or measurement based at least in part on the indicated cell type.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating one or more examples <NUM> of downlink control information (DCI) for providing a secondary cell (SCell) dormancy indication and triggering one-shot hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. As shown in <FIG>, example(s) <NUM> may include a UE <NUM> communicating with one or more base stations <NUM> providing a primary cell (PCell) and one or more SCells in a cell group, which can generally include up to <NUM> SCells. In some aspects, the PCell and the one or more SCells may be provided by a single base station <NUM>, or the PCell and the one or more SCells may be provided by different base stations <NUM>. Furthermore, in some aspects, the PCell may be a primary cell in a master cell group (MCG), a primary secondary cell (PSCell) in a secondary cell group (SCG), and/or the like.

At <NUM>, the base station <NUM> transmits, and the UE receives, DCI that includes an SCell dormancy indication and a HARQ feedback indication. For example, in some aspects, one or more of the SCells that are associated with the PCell may be placed into a dormant mode, such as when the PCell has sufficient bandwidth to support traffic associated with the UE <NUM>, in order to reduce overhead, power consumption by the UE <NUM>, and/or the like. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more of the SCells may be transitioned from the dormant mode to non-dormant mode, such as when the PCell has insufficient bandwidth to support traffic demands of the UE <NUM>. When an SCell is in a dormant mode, behavior of the UE <NUM> in the dormant SCell may be referred to as "dormancy-like" behavior. When an SCell is in a non-dormant mode, the behavior of the UE <NUM> in the non-dormant SCell may be referred to as "non-dormancy-like" behavior.

The SCell dormancy indication is transmitted to the UE <NUM> via a control channel (e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) to indicate a dormancy mode associated with one or more activated SCells in the cell group associated with the UE <NUM>. For example, as mentioned above, the cell group may generally include up to <NUM> SCells, whereby the SCell dormancy indication may include a bitmap with a quantity of bits (up to <NUM>) that corresponds to a quantity of the SCells in the cell group, with each bit in the bitmap indicating the dormant mode associated with a corresponding SCell. Furthermore, the HARQ feedback indication includes a single bit that is used to indicate whether HARQ-ACK codebook feedback is triggered, requested, and/or the like. For example, as described in more detail elsewhere herein, the HARQ feedback indication may trigger HARQ-ACK codebook feedback for one or more downlink transmissions, in which case the UE <NUM> may transmit HARQ-ACK codebook feedback that includes an acknowledgement (ACK) to indicate that a particular downlink transmission was successfully received, or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to indicate that a particular downlink transmission was not successfully received.

The UE <NUM> may monitor the control channel in the PCell for the DCI that includes the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication during certain time periods. For example, in some aspects, the UE <NUM> may monitor the control channel associated with the PCell during a radio connected active time (e.g., continuously while operating in a radio connected mode, such as a radio resource control (RRC) connected mode), or the UE <NUM> may monitor the control channel during an active time within a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle configured for the UE <NUM>. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE <NUM> may monitor the control channel outside the DRX active time for a wake-up signal (WUS), which may carry the DCI that includes the SCell dormancy indication. In some aspects, as described herein, the DCI that carries the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication may schedule data (e.g., a downlink data transmission, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)), and may include one or more fields to indicate whether the DCI schedules data. Furthermore, as described herein, the DCI that carries the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication has a format that ensures a consistent representation for conveying the SCell dormancy indication, the HARQ feedback indication, and information that indicates whether the DCI schedules data.

As shown by reference number <NUM>, contents of the DCI that includes the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication may be based on a non-fallback DCI format for downlink scheduling (e.g., DCI format 1_1). In this way, the DCI may have a format that is consistent across cases in which the DCI schedules data, in which case the DCI can be based on non-fallback DCI formats for downlink scheduling (e.g., DCI format 1_1) or non-fallback DCI formats for uplink scheduling (e.g., DCI format 0_1), and cases in which the DCI does not schedule data and/or triggers HARQ-ACK feedback, in which case the DCI can be based on non-fallback DCI formats for downlink scheduling only. Accordingly, by using the non-fallback DCI format for downlink scheduling, the DCI can be configured to carry the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in cases where the DCI schedules data and in cases where the DCI does not schedule data.

For example, as shown by reference number <NUM>, the contents of the DCI may include a DCI message having a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA) field, where a value of the FDRA field may be set to a predefined value to indicate that the DCI message is not being used to schedule data (e.g., a downlink data transmission, such as a PDSCH). For example, in some aspects, the FDRA field may be set to a predefined invalid value to indicate that the DCI message is not being used to schedule data, and the invalid value may be based at least in part on a resource allocation type associated with the UE <NUM> (e.g., all '<NUM>'s when the UE <NUM> is configured with a type-<NUM> resource allocation, all '<NUM>'s when the UE <NUM> is configured with a type-<NUM> resource allocation, and/or the like). Alternatively, in some aspects, the FDRA field may be set to a predefined valid value to indicate that the DCI message is not being used to schedule data, in which case the predefined valid value may be unavailable to use for data scheduling purposes. Furthermore, in some aspects, the predefined valid value may differ depending on the resource allocation type configured for the UE <NUM> (e.g., a first predefined valid value may be used in the FDRA field to indicate that the DCI does not schedule data when the UE <NUM> is configured with a type-<NUM> resource allocation, and a different valid value may be used to indicate that the DCI does not schedule data when the UE <NUM> is configured with a type-<NUM> resource allocation). In some aspects, the FDRA field may be set to the predefined invalid value to indicate that the DCI does not schedule data and includes the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication. Accordingly, as described herein, the FDRA field may be set to a predefined value to indicate that the DCI message is not being used to schedule data, and may alternatively indicate that the DCI message is being used to schedule data when the FDRA field is set to a valid value that has not been reserved to indicate that the DCI does not schedule data.

In some aspects, as shown by reference number <NUM>, the DCI message may include one or more appended fields that are used to carry the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication in cases where the DCI message is used to schedule data. For example, as described elsewhere herein, up to <NUM> SCells can be configured for the UE <NUM>, whereby an appended field used to carry the SCell dormancy indication may include up to <NUM> bits (e.g., depending on a quantity of SCells that are configured for the UE <NUM>). Alternatively, an appended field used to carry the SCell dormancy indication may include up to <NUM> bits to indicate the dormancy mode for up to <NUM> SCell groups, with each SCell group containing one or more SCells. Furthermore, the HARQ feedback indication may be a single bit, whereby an appended field used to carry the HARQ feedback indication may be one bit that may be set to a first value (e.g., zero) to indicate that HARQ-ACK codebook feedback is not triggered, or to a second value (e.g., one) to indicate that HARQ-ACK codebook feedback is triggered. Accordingly, in cases where the DCI message schedules data and both the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication are configured, separate fields may be appended to the DCI (e.g., a first appended field having up to <NUM> bits for the SCell dormancy indication and a second appended field having one bit for the HARQ feedback indication, or a first appended field having up to <NUM> bits for the SCell dormancy indication for up to <NUM> SCell groups and a second appended field having one bit for the HARQ feedback indication). Additionally, or alternatively, when the DCI message schedules data, a single field may be appended to the DCI message to carry either the SCell dormancy indication or the HARQ feedback indication, and a separate DCI message that does not schedule data may be used to communicate the other indication. In this case, the appended field may be configured for the SCell dormancy indication, which can have up to <NUM> bits (one for each SCell) or up to <NUM> bits (one for each SCell group) and can therefore be used for the SCell dormancy indication or the HARQ feedback indication. Additionally, or alternatively, in some aspects, separate fields for the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication may be appended to the DCI message, but only one or the other may be used.

In some aspects, as shown by reference number <NUM>, the DCI message may include one or more fields that have usable bits for the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication when the DCI message does not schedule data. In some aspects, one or more fields of the DCI message may be unused when the DCI message does not schedule data, and these unused fields can be repurposed to carry the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication when the DCI message does not schedule data. For example, in some aspects, the fields that have usable bits when the DCI message does not schedule data may include a five-bit modulation and coding scheme (MCS) field, a one-bit new data indication (NDI) field, a two-bit redundancy version (RV) field, a four-bit HARQ process number field, an antenna port(s) field that has at least four bits, a one-bit demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence initialization field, and/or the like. Accordingly, in this example, the unused MCS, NDI, RV, HARQ, antenna, and DMRS fields provide at least <NUM> usable bits, which may provide a sufficient quantity of bits to accommodate both the SCell dormancy indication that includes up to <NUM> bits and the one-bit HARQ feedback indication. Furthermore, in cases where the DCI message that does not schedule data includes only one of the SCell dormancy indication or the one-bit HARQ feedback indication, the usable bits in the unused fields may be used for either the SCell dormancy indication or the one-bit HARQ feedback indication, and a separate DCI message can be used to convey the other indication.

Accordingly, the DCI that is transmitted via the control channel associated with the PCell and received by the UE <NUM> may generally provide the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in one or more DCI messages that may be configured as shown in <FIG>. Furthermore, in cases where two DCI messages are transmitted to separately communicate the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication, the two DCI messages may be configured to have an equal size to simplify decoding at the UE <NUM>. For example, in cases where one or more fields are appended to the DCI message when the DCI message schedules data, the size of the DCI message may increase according to a total size of the appended fields (e.g., up to <NUM> additional bits in cases where separate fields are appended for the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication and the SCell dormancy indication includes the maximum <NUM> bits). Accordingly, when two DCI messages are transmitted to separately communicate the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication (e.g., one DCI message that schedules data and one DCI message that does not schedule data), a quantity of bits may be added to a smaller one of the DCI messages until the two DCI messages have an equal size.

In some aspects, the UE <NUM> may decode the one or more DCI messages based at least in part on a value of the FDRA field. For example, in cases where a DCI message schedules data, the value of the FDRA field may be set to a valid value that does not correspond to a predefined value reserved to indicate that the DCI message triggers HARQ-ACK codebook feedback and does not schedule data, as described above. In such cases, the UE <NUM> may obtain the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication from separate fields that are appended to the DCI message. Alternatively, in some aspects, the UE <NUM> may obtain one of the SCell dormancy indication or the HARQ feedback indication from a field appended to the DCI message, and the other indication may be obtained from a subsequent DCI message that does not schedule data. Additionally, or alternatively, in cases where a DCI message does not schedule data, the value of the FDRA field may be set to an invalid value or a predefined valid value, as described above. In such cases, the UE <NUM> may obtain the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication from the one or more unused fields that provide usable bits for the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication. For example, the DCI message that does not schedule data may include both the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in the usable bits of the one or more unused fields, or only one of the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication with the other indication provided in a separate DCI message (e.g., a DCI message that schedules data). In the former case, where the DCI message that does not schedule data includes both the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication, a validity of the SCell dormancy indication may depend on a value of the HARQ feedback indication. For example, the SCell dormancy indication may be unused (e.g., invalid or ignored by the UE <NUM>) if the one bit for the HARQ feedback indication is set to a value that triggers or requests HARQ-ACK codebook feedback. Additionally, or alternatively, the SCell dormancy indication may be used (e.g., valid or otherwise decoded by the UE <NUM>) if the one bit for the HARQ feedback indication is set to a value to indicate that HARQ-ACK codebook feedback is not triggered or otherwise requested. Alternatively, in some aspects, the SCell dormancy indication may always be valid regardless of the value of the HARQ feedback indication.

At <NUM>, the UE <NUM> may reduce scheduled activity in one or more SCells based at least in part on the SCell dormancy indication. For example, the UE <NUM> may identify one or more SCells that are in a dormant mode from the SCell dormancy indication and reduce scheduled activity in such SCell(s). For example, the UE <NUM> may schedule no PDCCH or PDSCH reception in the one or more dormant SCells, may perform less frequent downlink measurements for beam management and/or channel state information reporting in the one or more dormant SCells, and/or the like.

At <NUM>, the UE <NUM> may transmit HARQ-ACK feedback to the base station <NUM> operating the PCell based at least in part on the HARQ feedback indication. For example, in cases where the DCI includes a HARQ feedback indication that triggers HARQ-ACK codebook feedback and schedules a downlink data transmission, such as a PDSCH, the UE <NUM> may generate and transmit HARQ-ACK feedback to indicate whether the downlink data transmission scheduled by the DCI was successfully received. Additionally, or alternatively, in cases where the DCI includes a HARQ feedback indication that triggers HARQ-ACK codebook feedback and does not schedule a downlink data transmission, the UE <NUM> may generate and transmit HARQ-ACK feedback to indicate whether the DCI was successfully received.

<FIG> is a flowchart of a method <NUM> of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., the UE <NUM> of <FIG>, the UE <NUM> of <FIG>, the UE <NUM> of <FIG>, the apparatus <NUM> of <FIG>, the apparatus <NUM>' of <FIG>, and/or the like).

At <NUM>, the UE may monitor a control channel in a PCell for an SCell dormancy indication and a HARQ feedback indication. For example, the UE may monitor (e.g., using antenna <NUM>, DEMOD <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or the like) a control channel in a PCell for an SCell dormancy indication and a HARQ feedback indication, as described in more detail above. The monitoring of the control channel is performed during a radio connected active time or a discontinuous reception active time.

At <NUM>, the UE may receive, via the control channel, the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in one or more DCI messages having a format associated with downlink scheduling. For example, the UE may receive (e.g., using antenna <NUM>, DEMOD <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, and/or the like), via the control channel, the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in one or more DCI messages having a format associated with downlink scheduling, as described in more detail above. The one or more DCI messages include a single DCI message having an appended field for the SCell dormancy indication and an appended bit for the HARQ feedback indication based at least in part on the single DCI message scheduling downlink data. The one or more DCI messages include a first DCI message that schedules downlink data and has an appended bit for the HARQ feedback indication, and a second DCI message that does not schedule downlink data and includes the SCell dormancy indication in one or more unused fields of the second DCI message. The appended bit for the HARQ feedback indication may be included in a field configured for the SCell dormancy indication. The one or more DCI messages include a first DCI message that schedules downlink data and has an appended field for the SCell dormancy indication, and a second DCI message that does not schedule downlink data and includes a bit for the HARQ feedback indication in one or more unused fields of the second DCI message.

The one or more DCI messages include a single DCI message with a field for the SCell dormancy indication and a bit for the HARQ feedback indication. The field for the SCell dormancy indication and the bit for the HARQ feedback indication may be in one or more unused fields of the single DCI message based at least in part on the predefined value in the FDRA field. A validity of the SCell dormancy indication may depend on whether the bit for the HARQ feedback indication triggers HARQ feedback. The UE may determine that the SCell dormancy indication is valid based at least in part on the HARQ feedback indication indicating that HARQ feedback is not requested by the one or more DCI messages. The UE may determine that the SCell dormancy indication is invalid based at least in part on the HARQ feedback indication indicating that HARQ feedback is requested by the one or more DCI messages.

The one or more DCI messages may include a first DCI message that schedules downlink data and a second DCI message that does not schedule downlink data, and the first DCI message and the second DCI message have an equal size. A quantity of bits may be added to a smaller one of the first DCI message and the second DCI message such that the first DCI message and the second DCI message have the equal size.

At <NUM>, the UE may perform an action based at least in part on the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication. For example, the UE may perform (e.g., using antenna <NUM>, DEMOD <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, MOD <NUM>, antenna <NUM> and/or the like) an action based at least in part on the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication, as described in more detail above. For example, the action may include reducing one or more activities in one or more SCells that are operating in a dormant mode (e.g., not scheduling downlink reception, performing less frequent downlink measurements for beam management and reporting channel state information, and/or the like). Additionally, or alternatively, when the HARQ feedback indication includes a request for HARQ feedback, the action may include generating and transmitting feedback to a base station to indicate whether a downlink transmission was successfully received, where the HARQ feedback may be for the DCI message(s), a downlink transmission scheduled by the DCI message(s), and/or the like.

Method <NUM> may include additional aspects, such as any single aspect or any combination of aspects described elsewhere herein and/or in connection with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein.

Although <FIG> shows example blocks of a method of wireless communication, in some aspects, the method may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks than those shown in <FIG>. Additionally, or alternatively, two or more blocks shown in <FIG> may be performed in parallel.

<FIG> is a conceptual data flow diagram <NUM> illustrating data flow between different modules/means/components in an example apparatus <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> may be a UE in communication with a base station <NUM>. In some aspects, the apparatus <NUM> includes a reception module <NUM>, a scheduling module <NUM>, a feedback module <NUM>, and/or a transmission module <NUM>.

Reception module <NUM> may receive, as data <NUM>, one or more DCI messages from the base station <NUM>. For example, the one or more DCI messages may be received via a control channel associated with a PCell, and may include an SCell dormancy indication for one or more SCells, a HARQ feedback indication, and/or the like. In some aspects, the one or more DCI messages may include a single DCI message that carries both the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication, or the one or more DCI messages may include two DCI messages that separately convey the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication. In some aspects, the one or more DCI messages may schedule a downlink data transmission or may not schedule a downlink data transmission, and a field in the DCI messages (e.g., an FDRA field) may indicate whether the DCI messages schedule a downlink data transmission. Furthermore, fields used to carry the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication may depend on whether the DCI messages schedule a downlink data transmission. For example, in a DCI message that schedules a downlink data transmission, one or more fields may be appended to the DCI message to carry the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication. Additionally, or alternatively, in a DCI message that does not schedule a downlink data transmission, one or more fields within the DCI message may include usable bits that can be used to carry the SCell dormancy indication and/or the HARQ feedback indication. In some aspects, reception module <NUM> may include an antenna (e.g., antenna <NUM>), a receive processor (e.g., receive processor <NUM>), a controller/processor (e.g., controller/processor <NUM>), a transceiver, a receiver, and/or the like.

Scheduling module <NUM> may receive, as data <NUM>, information related to the SCell dormancy indication from the reception module <NUM>. Accordingly, in some aspects, scheduling module <NUM> may reduce one or more scheduled activities in one or more dormant SCells, which may be identified based at least in part on the SCell dormancy indication. For example, scheduling module <NUM> may refrain from scheduling PDCCH and/or PDSCH reception in the one or more dormant SCells, reduce a frequency at which downlink measurements are performed in the one or more dormant SCells, and/or the like. Accordingly, scheduling module <NUM> may provide, as data <NUM>, information to reception module <NUM> to reduce one or more scheduled activities in the one or more dormant SCells, as described above. In some aspects, scheduling module <NUM> may include a processor (e.g., a transmit processor <NUM>, a receive processor <NUM>, a controller/processor <NUM>, and/or the like).

Feedback module <NUM> may receive, as data <NUM>, information related to the HARQ feedback indication from the reception module <NUM>. Accordingly, in some aspects, feedback module <NUM> may generate HARQ-ACK feedback for one or more downlink transmissions when the HARQ feedback indication triggers or otherwise requests the HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, when the DCI carrying the HARQ feedback indication schedules a downlink data transmission, such as a PDSCH, feedback module <NUM> may generate HARQ-ACK feedback to indicate whether the downlink data transmission was successfully received. Additionally, or alternatively, when the DCI carrying the HARQ feedback indication does not schedule a downlink data transmission, feedback module <NUM> may generate HARQ-ACK feedback to indicate whether the DCI was successfully received. In some aspects, feedback module <NUM> may include a processor (e.g., a transmit processor <NUM>, a receive processor <NUM>, a controller/processor <NUM>, and/or the like).

Transmission module <NUM> may receive, as data <NUM>, information related to the HARQ-ACK feedback generated by feedback module <NUM> and may transmit, as data <NUM>, the HARQ-ACK feedback to the base station <NUM>. In some aspects, transmission module <NUM> may include an antenna (e.g., antenna <NUM>), a transmit processor (e.g., transmit processor <NUM>), a controller/processor (e.g., controller/processor <NUM>), a transceiver, a transmitter, and/or the like.

The apparatus may include additional modules that perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned method <NUM> of <FIG> and/or the like. Each block in the aforementioned method <NUM> of <FIG> and/or the like may be performed by a module and the apparatus may include one or more of those modules. The modules may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

<FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus <NUM>' employing a processing system <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM>' may be a UE.

The processing system <NUM> may be implemented with a bus architecture, represented generally by the bus <NUM>. The bus <NUM> may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges depending on the specific application of the processing system <NUM> and the overall design constraints. The bus <NUM> links together various circuits including one or more processors and/or hardware modules, represented by the processor <NUM>, the modules <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and the computer-readable medium / memory <NUM>. The bus <NUM> may also link various other circuits such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art, and therefore will not be described any further.

The processing system <NUM> may be coupled to a transceiver <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> is coupled to one or more antennas <NUM>. The transceiver <NUM> provides a means for communicating with various other apparatuses over a transmission medium. The transceiver <NUM> receives a signal from the one or more antennas <NUM>, extracts information from the received signal, and provides the extracted information to the processing system <NUM>, specifically the reception module <NUM>. In addition, the transceiver <NUM> receives information from the processing system <NUM>, specifically the transmission module <NUM>, and based at least in part on the received information, generates a signal to be applied to the one or more antennas <NUM>. The processing system <NUM> includes a processor <NUM> coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory <NUM>. The processor <NUM> is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory <NUM>. The software, when executed by the processor <NUM>, causes the processing system <NUM> to perform the various functions described herein for any particular apparatus. The computer-readable medium / memory <NUM> may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor <NUM> when executing software. The processing system further includes at least one of the modules <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. The modules <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be software modules running in the processor <NUM>, resident/stored in the computer readable medium / memory <NUM>, one or more hardware modules coupled to the processor <NUM>, or some combination thereof. The processing system <NUM> may be a component of the UE <NUM> and may include the memory <NUM> and/or at least one of the TX MIMO processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and/or the controller/processor <NUM>.

In some aspects, the apparatus <NUM>/<NUM>' for wireless communication includes means for monitoring a control channel in a PCell for an SCell dormancy indication and a HARQ feedback indication, means for receiving, via the control channel, the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in DCI, which includes the SCell dormancy indication and the HARQ feedback indication in one or more DCI messages having a format associated with downlink scheduling, and/or the like. The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned modules of the apparatus <NUM> and/or the processing system <NUM> of the apparatus <NUM>' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described elsewhere herein, the processing system <NUM> may include the TX MIMO processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and/or the controller/processor <NUM>. In one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX MIMO processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and/or the controller/processor <NUM> configured to perform the functions and/or operations recited herein.

It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes / flowcharts disclosed is an illustration of example approaches.

Claim 1:
A method of wireless communication performed by a network entity, comprising:
transmitting, via a control channel in a primary cell, a secondary cell, SCell, dormancy indication and a hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback indication in a downlink control information, DCI, message (<NUM>),
wherein the DCI message (<NUM>) has a format associated with downlink scheduling,
wherein, when the DCI message (<NUM>) does not schedule downlink data, the DCI message includes a field for the SCell dormancy indication and a bit for the HARQ feedback indication (<NUM>), and
wherein a validity of the SCell dormancy indication depends on whether the bit for the HARQ feedback indication triggers HARQ feedback.