Patent Description:
Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (<NUM>), a second-generation (<NUM>) digital wireless phone service (including interim <NUM> networks), a third-generation (<NUM>) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service, and a fourth-generation (<NUM>) service (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE), WiMax). There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile access (GSM) variation of TDMA, etc..

A fifth generation (<NUM>) mobile standard calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The <NUM> standard (also referred to as "New Radio" or "NR"), according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with <NUM> gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported in order to support large sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of <NUM> mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current <NUM> / LTE standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

<CIT> discloses a two-stage DCI for grants, with both DCI parts being transmitted over the PDCCH. The second DCI triggers a subsequent uplink transmission over the PUSCH, with a pre-configured time-offset.

The 3GPP draft "<NPL>, discloses a two-stage DCI transmission, particularly featuring allocation of the second DCI part within the PDSCH.

It should be noted that while aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with <NUM> and/or <NUM> wireless technologies, aspects of the present disclosure can be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as <NUM> and later, including <NUM> technologies.

The wireless network <NUM> may be an LTE network or some other wireless network, such as a <NUM> network. A BS is an entity that communicates with user equipment (UEs) and may also be referred to as a base station, 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 also be referred to as an access terminal, a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, etc. 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, biometric sensors/devices, wearable devices (smart watches, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wrist bands, smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet)), an entertainment device (e.g., a music or video device, or a satellite radio), a vehicular component or sensor, smart meters/sensors, industrial manufacturing equipment, a global positioning system device, or any other suitable device that is configured to communicate via a wireless or wired medium.

"MTC" may refer to MTC or eMTC. MTC UEs include, for example, robots, drones, remote devices, sensors, meters, monitors, location tags, etc., that may communicate with a base station, another device (e.g., remote device), or some other entity. IoT UEs, eMTC UEs, coverage enhancement (CE) mode UEs, bandwidth-limited (BL) UEs, and other types of UEs that operate using diminished power consumption relative to a baseline UE may be referred to herein as cellular IoT (cloT) UEs.

Access to the air interface may be controlled, for example, using a unified access control (UAC) system in which UEs are associated with an access identity (e.g., an access class and/or the like), which may aim to ensure that certain high-priority UEs (e.g., emergency response UEs, mission critical UEs, and/or the like) can access the air interface even in congested conditions. Updates to the UAC parameters (e.g., priority levels associated with access identities, which access identities are permitted to access the air interface, and/or the like) may be provided for cIoT UEs using a message, such as a paging message or a direct indication information, which may conserve battery power of cIoT UEs.

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., the cell-specific reference signal) and synchronization signals (e.g., the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and secondary synchronization signal (SSS)). Each modulator <NUM> may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for orthogonal frequency divisional multiplexing (OFDM) and/or the like) to obtain an output sample stream.

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 reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a channel quality indicator (CQI), and/or the like.

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 UAC parameter updating, 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 various processes as described herein. Memories <NUM> and <NUM> may store data and program codes for BS <NUM> and UE <NUM>, respectively.

As noted above, various device types may be characterized as UEs. Starting in 3GPP Rel. <NUM>, a number of these UE types are being allocated a new UE classification denoted as Reduced Capability ('RedCap') or 'NR-Light'. Examples of UE types that fall under the RedCap classification include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, etc.), industrial sensors, video cameras (e.g., surveillance cameras, etc.), and so on. Generally, the UE types grouped under the RedCap classification are associated with lower communicative capacity. For example, relative to 'normal' UEs (e.g., UEs not classified as RedCap), RedCap UEs may be limited in terms of maximum bandwidth (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, etc.), maximum transmission power (e.g., <NUM> dBm, <NUM> dBm, etc.), number of receive antennas (e.g., <NUM> receive antenna, <NUM> receive antennas, etc.), and so on. Some RedCap UEs may also be sensitive in terms of power consumption (e.g., requiring a long battery life, such as several years) and may be highly mobile. Moreover, in some designs, it is generally desirable for RedCap UEs to co-exist with UEs implementing protocols such as eMBB, URLLC, LTE NB-IoT/MTC, and so on.

A Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) may be used to carry a Downlink Control Information (DCI). The DCI within the PDCCH provides downlink resource assignments and/or uplink resource grants for one or more UEs. Multiple PDCCHs may be transmitted each slot and each PDCCH may carry user-specific DCI or common DCI (e.g., control information broadcast to a group of UEs). Each DCI may further include a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bit that is scrambled with a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), which may be a specific user RNTI or a group RNTI, to allow the UE to determine the type of control information sent in the PDCCH.

In some systems, to reduce control overhead and improve the processing timeline, the DCI may be split into two portions. A first DCI portion may be transmitted within a PDCCH, while a second DCI portion, referred to as a DCI 'piggyback' may be transmitted within a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). The PDCCH and associated PDSCH carrying the respective DCI portions may be transmitted in the same slot or in different slots.

The first DCI portion may include initial control information regarding an assignment (or grant), such as the resource assignment, rank and modulation order of the assignment (e.g., UL grant or DL grant). In addition, the first DCI portion may also include control information about the second DCI portion in a control information field. In some examples, the control information may indicate the number of resource elements (size) and code rate of the second DCI portion. The second DCI portion may include remaining control information regarding the grant (and/or other grant(s)). For example, the remaining control information may include non-time critical control information, such as the HARQ process ID, redundancy version ID, a new data indicator, transmit power control indicator, channel quality indicator request, sounding reference signal request, or downlink assignment index. Thus, the UE may utilize the first DCI portion to identify user data traffic within the PDSCH to be decoded and may buffer the user data traffic while the second DCI portion is decoded.

As noted above, the second DCI portion may include multiple grants (e.g., one or more UL grants, one or more DL grants, or a combination thereof). The second DCI portion may be either single-user or multi-user (e.g., using a group RNTI for the first DCI portion in conjunction with an addressing scheme in the second DCI portion for respective UEs to extract their respective parts). In some designs, the first DCI portion can be scheduled in accordance with a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) protocol, whereas the second DCI portion can be dynamically scheduled via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling).

In some NR systems, PDCCH is delivered in the Control Resource Set (coreset). A UE may perform blind decoding (BD) of multiple BD candidates in the coreset to identify a particular DCI targeting that UE. In an example, the PDDCH may be sent with a wider beam than the PDSCH, or alternatively via the same beam as the PDSCH. The BD candidates may be organized in search space sets, and one or more search space sets may be associated with one coreset. The NR PDCCH BD design is carried over from the LTE PDCCH BD design, and is generally optimized for the scenario where multiple UEs are served with PDCCH at the same time (e.g., optimized so as to reduce blocking between UEs to randomly hash locations of PDDCH from different UEs differently in the coreset). In a millimeter wave (mmW) use case, due to the analog beam transmission restriction and very short slots in time domain (due to SCS scaling up) in some NR systems, the chance of sending multiple DCIs to different UEs is greatly reduced (compared to FR1). Instead, it is more likely in such NR systems for multiple DL/UL grants to be transmitted to the same UE (e.g., multiple DL/UL grants to handle relatively long DL/UL bursty traffic).

The above-noted piggybacked DCI design may be particularly useful for mmW implementations. For example, the piggybacked DCI design can help to reduce PDDCH BD so the UE PDCCH processing is made faster. In another example, the piggybacked DCI (or second DCI portion) may share the same beam as the PDSCH (e.g., same QCL) and thus can be more efficiently delivered (e.g., the beam used for PDSCH can be narrower than the PDSCH beam).

In NR systems, the receive time of the PDCCH affects the timing of other procedures, including Channel State Information (CSI) reporting, PUSCH timing, PDSCH timing, and so on. In current NR systems, the PDCCH receive time is based on latest reference symbol of the PDCCH itself. In various embodiments of the disclosure, in a scenario where the PDSCH includes a piggybacked DCI for one (or more) UEs, a reference symbol associated with the PDSCH (as opposed to the PDCCH) may be used to determine the 'effective' receive time of the PDCCH.

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary process <NUM> of wireless communications according to an aspect of the disclosure. The process <NUM> of <FIG> is performed by BS <NUM>.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> (e.g., scheduler <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, etc.) schedules, during at least one slot, transmission of a PDCCH and a PDSCH, the PDCCH including a first part of a Downlink Control Information (DCI), the PDSCH including a second part of the DCI. In an example, the first and second parts of the DCI may comprise a two-part DCI as described above. In some designs, the first DCI part may include a control information field associated with the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH. The second part of the DCI may comprise UL grant(s) and/or DL grant(s), and may be associated with a single UE or multiple UEs. For example, the second part of the DCI may not merely supplement the first part of the DCI (e.g., forming a single two-part DCI), but may include other DCIs as well (e.g., one or more other Part-<NUM> DCIs that form one or more other two-part DCIs, for the same UE or other UE(s).

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> (e.g., scheduler <NUM>, controller/processor <NUM>, etc.) determines at least one timing value associated with an effective receive time for the PDCCH based upon a reference symbol of the PDSCH. In some designs, the reference symbol used for the timing value determination may follow the second DCI part within the PDSCH. In some designs, the at least one timing value may comprise a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a DCI report, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PUSCH communication, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PDSCH communication, or a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) communication, or any combination thereof. In some designs, the at least one timing value may be applicable to a DCI-to-beam switching time offset and/or a DCI-to-bandwidth part (BWP) time offset (e.g., to sync in timing with respect to beam transitions or frequency hops, etc.).

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> (e.g., antenna(s) 234a. 234t, modulators(s) 232a. 232a, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, TX processor <NUM>) transmits the PDCCH and the PDSCH during the at least one slot. In an example, the at least one slot may comprise a single slot or multiple slots.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> (e.g., antenna(s) 234a. 234t, modulators(s) / demodulator(s) 232a. 232a, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, TX processor <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, RX processor <NUM>, etc.) optionally performs, based on the at least one timing value, one or more actions. For example, the one or more actions may comprise receiving a CSI report, or receiving a PUSCH communication, or transmitting a PDSCH communication, or receiving a SRS communication, or any combination thereof. In some designs, the at least one timing value may be applicable to a DCI-to-beam switching time offset and/or a DCI-to-BWP time offset (e.g., to sync in timing with respect to beam transitions or frequency hops, etc.).

<FIG> illustrates an exemplary process <NUM> of wireless communications according to an aspect of the disclosure. The process <NUM> of <FIG> is performed by UE <NUM>.

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> (e.g., antenna(s) 252a. 252r, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, etc.) receives, during at least one slot, transmission from a base station of a PDCCH and a PDSCH, the PDCCH including a first part of a Downlink Control Information (DCI), the PDSCH including a second part of the DCI. In an example, the second part of the DCI in the PDSCH may be a second DCI portion associated with the first DCI part (or initial part of the DCI) in the PDCCH that includes a control information field associated with the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH. In some designs, the second part of the DCI may comprise UL grant(s) and/or DL grant(s), and may be associated with a single UE or multiple UEs. In an example, the at least one slot may comprise a single slot or multiple slots. For example, the second part of the DCI may not merely supplement the first part of the DCI (e.g., forming a single two-part DCI), but may include other DCIs as well (e.g., one or more other Part-<NUM> DCIs that form one or more other two-part DCIs, for the same UE or other UE(s).

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> (e.g., controller/processor <NUM>) determines at least one timing value associated with an effective receive time for the PDCCH based upon a reference symbol of the PDSCH. In some designs, the reference symbol used for the timing value determination may follow the second DCI part within the PDSCH. In some designs, the at least one timing value may comprise a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a DCI report, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PUSCH communication, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PDSCH communication, or a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a SRS communication, or any combination thereof.

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> (e.g., antenna(s) 252a. 252r, modulators(s) / demodulator(s) 254a. 254a, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, TX processor <NUM>, MIMO detector <NUM>, RX processor <NUM>, etc.) optionally performs, based on the at least one timing value, one or more actions. For example, the one or more actions may comprise transmitting a CSI report, or transmitting a PUSCH communication, or receiving a PDSCH communication, or transmitting a SRS communication, or any combination thereof.

Referring to <FIG>, by way of example, determining the effective receive time for the PDDCH using the PDSCH reference symbol (as opposed to a PDCCH reference symbol) provides one or more technical advantages, such as more accurate timing with respect to various operations (e.g., beam and/or BWP switching, various UL and/or DL communications such as CSI reports, PUSCH communications, PDSCH communications, SRS communications, etc.).

<FIG> illustrate a slot <NUM> depicting various reference symbol options for the determination at <NUM> of <FIG> or <NUM> of <FIG> in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. In <FIG>, a PDCCH region of the slot <NUM> is followed by a PDSCH region. A piggybacked DCI is included near the beginning of the PDSCH region. The PDSCH includes three DMRSs, with one DMRS preceding and/or overlapping with the piggybacked DCI.

Referring to <FIG>, in a first example, the reference symbol of the PDSCH corresponds to a last symbol <NUM> of the second part of the DCI (e.g., piggybacked DCI) within the PDSCH. For example, the previous timing relative to the last symbol of the PDCCH may be updated so as to be relative to the last symbol <NUM> in the PDSCH with the piggybacked DCI. In terms of timing, the last symbol <NUM> is a fairly aggressive reference symbol option.

Referring to <FIG>, in a second example, the reference symbol of the PDSCH corresponds to a last symbol <NUM> of the PDSCH. For example, the previous timing relative to the last symbol of the PDCCH may be updated so as to be relative to the last symbol <NUM> in the PDSCH. In terms of timing, the last symbol <NUM> is a fairly conservative reference symbol option.

Referring to <FIG>, in a third example, the reference symbol of the PDSCH corresponds to a symbol <NUM> that is offset (e.g., by one or more symbols, such as <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM><NUM> symbols, etc.) from the last symbol <NUM> of the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH. For example, the previous timing relative to the last symbol of the PDCCH may be updated so as to be relative to the piggyback-offset symbol <NUM> in the PDSCH. In terms of timing, the piggybacked-offset symbol <NUM> is neither as aggressive as the symbol <NUM> nor as conservative as the symbol <NUM>. In some designs, the offset may be pre-defined (e.g., defined in the relevant standard). In other designs, the offset may be configured via higher-layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling). In an example, if the offset would extend outside of the PDSCH, then the reference symbol may be bounded (or capped) to the last symbol <NUM> in the PDSCH. In some designs, the offset may be configured as a function of a number of DMRSs after the last symbol <NUM> of the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH. In the embodiment depicted in <FIG>, there are two DMRSs after the last symbol <NUM> of the piggybacked DCI, which can be used to set the offset (e.g., a symbol offset of <NUM> to match the post-symbol <NUM> DMRS count, a symbol offset of 2x2=<NUM> to be twice as much as the post-symbol <NUM> DMRS count, etc.).

Referring to <FIG>, according to the present invention, if there is a DMRS after a last symbol (i.e., symbol <NUM>) of the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH (i.e., the piggybacked DCI), then the reference symbol may correspond to a last symbol <NUM> of a first DMRS instance after the last DCI symbol <NUM>. For example, the previous timing relative to the last symbol of the PDCCH may be updated so as to be relative to the post-DCI DMRS symbol <NUM>. In terms of timing, the symbol <NUM> is neither as aggressive as the symbol <NUM> nor as conservative as the symbol <NUM>. In an example, if there is no DMRS following the symbol <NUM>, then the end-of-PDSCH symbol <NUM> may be a fallback option for the reference symbol.

<FIG> illustrates an example implementation <NUM> of the processes <NUM>-<NUM> of <FIG> in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> schedules transmission of the PDCCH and PDSCH. In an example, <NUM> may correspond to <NUM> of <FIG> (e.g., the scheduled PDCCH may comprise a first DCI part with the PDSCH comprising a piggybacked second DCI part, etc.). The second DCI part may be associated with one or more grants, such as UL grant(s), DL grant(s) or a combination thereof, which in turn may be associated with a single UE or multiple UEs.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> transmits the PDCCH and PDSCH to UE <NUM> (e.g., and possibly other UEs associated with the grant(s) in one or more DCIs of the second DCI part of the PDSCH), and the UE <NUM> receives the PDCCH and PDSCH at <NUM>. In an example, <NUM>-<NUM> of <FIG> may correspond to <NUM> of <FIG> and <NUM> of <FIG>, respectively. In an example, the transmission of the PDCCH and the PDSCH at <NUM>-<NUM> may occur within a single slot or across multiple slots.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> determines timing value(s) based on a PDSCH reference symbol (e.g., one of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> in <FIG>). In an example, <NUM> may correspond to <NUM> of <FIG>, whereby the reference symbol used for the timing value determination may follow the DCI part within the PDSCH. In some designs, the at least one timing value may comprise a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a DCI report, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PUSCH communication, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PDSCH communication, or a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) communication, or any combination thereof. In some designs, the at least one timing value may be applicable to a DCI-to-beam switching time offset and/or a DCI-to-bandwidth part (BWP) time offset (e.g., to sync in timing with respect to beam transitions or frequency hops, etc.).

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> determines timing value(s) based on a PDSCH reference symbol (e.g., one of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> in <FIG>). In an example, <NUM> may correspond to <NUM> of <FIG>, whereby the reference symbol used for the timing value determination may follow the DCI part within the PDSCH. In some designs, the at least one timing value may comprise a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a DCI report, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PUSCH communication, a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a PDSCH communication, or a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) communication, or any combination thereof. In some designs, the at least one timing value may be applicable to a DCI-to-beam switching time offset and/or a DCI-to-bandwidth part (BWP) time offset (e.g., to sync in timing with respect to beam transitions or frequency hops, etc.). In an example, the timing value(s) are independently determined at BS <NUM> and UE <NUM> for timing synchronization with respect to UL and/or DL transmissions.

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> optionally transmits a CSI report to BS <NUM> based on the timing value(s). In an example, the reference symbol used to determine the timing value(s) at <NUM> may be based on PDSCH reference symbol, such as any of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> depicted in <FIG>.

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> optionally transmits a PUSCH to BS <NUM> based on the timing value(s). In an example, the reference symbol used to determine the timing value(s) at <NUM> may be based on PDSCH reference symbol, such as any of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> depicted in <FIG>.

At <NUM>, BS <NUM> optionally transmits a PDSCH to UE <NUM> based on the timing value(s). In an example, the reference symbol used to determine the timing value(s) at <NUM> may be based on PDSCH reference symbol, such as any of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> depicted in <FIG>.

At <NUM>, UE <NUM> optionally transmits an SRS to BS <NUM> based on the timing value(s). In an example, the reference symbol used to determine the timing value(s) at <NUM> may be based on PDSCH reference symbol, such as any of symbols <NUM>-<NUM> depicted in <FIG>.

<FIG> is a conceptual data flow diagram <NUM> illustrating the data flow between different means/components in exemplary apparatuses <NUM> and <NUM> in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The apparatus <NUM> may be a UE (e.g., UE <NUM>) in communication with an apparatus <NUM>, which may be a base station (e.g., base station <NUM>).

The apparatus <NUM> includes a transmission component <NUM>, which may correspond to transmitter circuitry in UE <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including controller/processor <NUM>, antenna(s) 252a. 252r, modulators(s) 254a. 254r, TX MIMO processor <NUM>, TX processor <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> further includes timing component <NUM>, which may correspond to processor circuitry in UE <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including controller/processor <NUM>, etc. The apparatus <NUM> further includes a reception component <NUM>, which may correspond to receiver circuitry in UE <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including controller/processor <NUM>, antenna(s) 252a. 252r, demodulators(s) 254a. 254r, MIMO detector <NUM>, RX processor <NUM>.

The apparatus <NUM> includes a reception component <NUM>, which may correspond to receiver circuitry in BS <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including controller/processor <NUM>, antenna(s) 234a. 234r, demodulators(s) 232a. 232r, MIMO detector <NUM>, RX processor <NUM>, communication unit <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> further optionally includes a timing component <NUM>, which may correspond to processor circuitry in BS <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including controller/processor <NUM>. The apparatus <NUM> further includes a transmission component <NUM>, which may correspond to transmission circuitry in BS <NUM> as depicted in <FIG>, including e.g., controller/processor <NUM>, antenna(s) 234a. 234r, modulators(s) 232a. 232r, Tx MIMO processor <NUM>, TX processor <NUM>, communication unit <NUM>.

Referring to <FIG>, the transmission component <NUM> schedules and transmits, to the reception component <NUM>, a PDCCH, and a PDSCH, in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. The transmission component <NUM> optionally schedules and transmits, to the reception component <NUM>, a CSI report, a PUSCH, and/or an SRS. The transmission of the CSI report, PUSCH, SRS and/or PDSCH may be based on timing value(s) determined by the timing components <NUM> and <NUM>.

One or more components of the apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may perform each of the blocks of the algorithm in the aforementioned flowcharts of <FIG> and <FIG>. As such, each block in the aforementioned flowcharts of <FIG> and <FIG> may be performed by a component and the apparatus <NUM> and apparatus <NUM> may include one or more of those components.

<FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an apparatus <NUM> employing a processing system <NUM>. 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 components, represented by the processor <NUM>, the components <NUM>, <NUM> and <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 apparatus 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 component <NUM>. In addition, the transceiver <NUM> receives information from the processing system <NUM>, specifically the transmission component <NUM>, and based 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 supra 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 <NUM> further includes at least one of the components <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>. The components may be software components running in the processor <NUM>, resident/stored in the computer readable medium / memory <NUM>, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor <NUM>, or some combination thereof. The processing system <NUM> may be a component of the UE <NUM> of <FIG> and may include the memory <NUM>, and/or at least one of the TX processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and the controller/processor <NUM>.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM> (e.g., a UE) for wireless communication includes means for receiving, during at least one slot, transmission from a base station of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), the PDCCH including a first part of a Downlink Control Information (DCI), the PDSCH including a second part of the DCI, and means for determining at least one timing value associated with an effective receive time for the PDCCH based upon a reference symbol of the PDSCH.

The aforementioned means may be one or more of the aforementioned components 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 supra, the processing system <NUM> may include the TX processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and the controller/processor <NUM>.

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 apparatus 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 component <NUM>. In addition, the transceiver <NUM> receives information from the processing system <NUM>, specifically the transmission component <NUM>, and based 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 supra 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 <NUM> further includes at least one of the components <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>. The components may be software components running in the processor <NUM>, resident/stored in the computer readable medium / memory <NUM>, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor <NUM>, or some combination thereof. The processing system <NUM> may be a component of the BS <NUM> of <FIG> and may include the memory <NUM>, and/or at least one of the TX processor <NUM>, the RX processor <NUM>, and the controller/processor <NUM>.

In one configuration, the apparatus <NUM> (e.g., a BS) for wireless communication includes means for scheduling, during at least one slot, transmission of a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), the PDCCH including a first part of a Downlink Control Information (DCI), the PDSCH including a second part of the DCI, means for determining at least one timing value associated with an effective receive time for the PDCCH based upon a reference symbol of the PDSCH, and means for transmitting the PDCCH and the PDSCH during the at least one slot.

Claim 1:
A method of operating a user equipment, UE, (<NUM>) comprising:
receiving (<NUM>, <NUM>), during at least one slot, transmission from a base station of a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, and a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, the PDCCH including a first part of a Downlink Control Information, DCI, the PDSCH including a second part of the DCI; and
determining (<NUM>, <NUM>) at least one timing value associated with an effective receive time for the PDCCH,
wherein, if there is a demodulation reference signal, DMRS, after a last symbol of the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH, then the effective receive time of the PDCCH corresponds to a last symbol of a first DMRS instance after the last symbol of the second part of the DCI within the PDSCH; and wherein the at least one timing value comprises:
a time offset between the effective receive time for the PDCCH and at least one of a channel state information, CSI, report, a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, communication, a PDSCH communication, or a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, communication.