Patent Description:
Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (<NUM>) systems such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, and fifth generation (<NUM>) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM).

<CIT> relates to the assignment of resources to user equipment in wireless communication systems.

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices, or apparatuses that support transmission of group control information in a Physical Downlink Shared Channel. A method of wireless communication is described. The method may include obtaining, at a user equipment, group control information in a group common PDSCH, determining resources for communicating on a shared channel based on the group control information, and communicating on the resources of the shared channel.

The invention is set out by the appended set of claims.

In various aspects of the disclosure, wireless communications may provide for transmission of group scheduling control information over a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) instead of over a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). As will be described in more detail below, a base station schedules a group of user equipment using a common control information transmission. The base station may first provide, using radio resource control (RRC) signaling, grouping information for one or more user equipment (UE) and a pointer to a group common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The UEs within a particular group may determine, from the group common PDCCH, scheduling information for receiving a group common Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), where UEs receive scheduling information for a subsequent downlink or uplink transmission in a shared channel at a later time.

Various deployments of <NUM> New Radio (NR) may support massive networks of connected devices. In some instances, for example, a connection density for massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC) may comprise up to <NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM> devices/km<NUM> in an urban environment. In other deployments, such as an industrial Internet of Things (IoT) factory automation deployment, there may be numerous controllers in a facility, with large numbers of devices per controller, such as over <NUM> devices in a <NUM>,<NUM> square foot area. For example, multiple sensor/actuator (S/A) units may be controlled by programmable logic controller (PLC) units. Examples of S/A units may include rotary motors, linear servos, actuators, position sensors, etc. The PLC units may receive sensor inputs (e.g., position) from the S/A units and transmit commands to the S/A units in real-time. The traffic profile of communications in a factory automation setting may be mostly periodic, mission-critical communications comprising cyclic exchanges among PLC units and S/A units. The factory environment may include hundreds or thousands of production cells, where cell size may be relatively small compared to cells typically found in wide area networks. In such deployments of densely populated connected devices, not all devices may be sending or receiving messages at once, so massive connectivity may be associated with infrequent traffic but low latency requirements, such as less than <NUM> seconds on the uplink for a <NUM>-byte application packet measured at a maximum coupling loss of <NUM> dB.

The support of high user density, however, may require an increase in capacity for data and control channels as the current structure of data and control channels may be insufficient for high user densities. While there are solutions for increasing capacity of a data channel, such as with multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) using space division multiple access (SDMA) or non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), there may be a particular need for increased capacity of PDCCH in dense connected device environments.

In some instances, PDCCH capacity may be increased by expanding the control region to multiple control regions in a slot. For example, a base station may configure a common control region at the beginning of a slot for all groups of UEs served by the base station, and all the UEs monitor a common search space for receiving the common control region. The base station may configure specific control regions in the slot, each with different starting symbols, for each group of UEs served by the base station. The UEs may monitor UE-specific search spaces in the slot to decode the UE specific control regions based on the group to which a particular UE belongs. The common and UE specific control region configuration, however, reuses PDSCH resources for carrying PDCCH signaling, resulting in significantly reduced PDSCH capacity without dynamic multiplexing of PDSCH with the control region resources. In another example, a single group PDCCH may carry scheduling information for a group of UEs. A single cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (e.g., <NUM> bits) may be attached to the group PDCCH for overhead reduction, and scheduling information, such as time division resource allocation, can be the same for UEs within the same group to further reduce Downlink Control Information (DCI) size. The group PDCCH configuration may save on resources when compared to PDCCH transmission on a per-UE basis, but the group PDCCH includes scheduling information for all UEs served by the base station. Accordingly, the fixed size of the group PDCCH results in inefficient use of PDCCH resources when fewer than all UEs are scheduled.

As disclosed in the present disclosure, instead of transmitting control information solely on a PDCCH, a base station may transmit control information for a particular group on a group common PDSCH (GC-PDSCH). The control information in the GC-PDSCH may then schedule particular UEs within the group for a communication on the uplink or downlink at a later point in time. The transmission of control information over the GC-PDSCH may increase efficiency since resources for PDSCH transmission can be flexibly allocated in time and frequency, whereas the resources for PDCCH may be limited to the first three symbols of a slot, for example. In certain aspects, the scheduling of GC-PDSCH may be signaled in a group common PDCCH (GC-PDCCH). In some instances, a radio resource configuration (RRC) signaling indicates to a UE the configuration of groups of UEs served by a base station, or the group to which the UE belongs. The UE may also determine the time and frequency resource allocation for receiving the GC-PDCCH based on a pointer or an index received in RRC signaling, as well as a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) used to scramble a CRC for the GC-PDCCH. Upon receiving the GC-PDCCH, a UE may then determine resources for the GC-PDSCH, which carries DCI for a group of UEs, including UL or DL grants for communication on a shared channel, such as a PDSCH or Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) at a later time. As described above, the flexibility and availability of resources in the GC-PDSCH may allow for expanded control channel capacity to meet the demands of massive and densely populated networks, such as mMTC or industrial IoT.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context of a wireless communications system. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by and described with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, and flowcharts that relate to transmitting group scheduling control information over PDSCH. The detailed description set forth below, in connection with the appended drawings and appendix, is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure. Rather, the detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the present disclosure.

This disclosure relates generally to transmitting group scheduling control information over PDSCH. In various embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms "networks" and "systems" may be used interchangeably.

3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a 3GPP project which was aimed at improving the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) mobile phone standard. The present disclosure is concerned with the evolution of wireless technologies from LTE, <NUM>, <NUM>, and beyond with shared access to wireless spectrum between networks using a collection of new and different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

In particular, <NUM> networks contemplate diverse deployments, diverse spectrum, and diverse services and devices that may be implemented using an OFDM-based unified, air interface. In order to achieve these goals, further enhancements to LTE and LTE-A are considered in addition to development of a new radio (NR) technology. The <NUM> NR will be capable of scaling to provide coverage (<NUM>) to a massive Internet of things (IoTs) with an ultra-high density (e.g., ~<NUM> nodes/km2), ultra-low complexity (e.g., ~<NUM> of bits/sec), ultra-low energy (e.g., ~<NUM>+ years of battery life), and deep coverage with the capability to reach challenging locations; (<NUM>) including mission-critical control with strong security to safeguard sensitive personal, financial, or classified information, ultra-high reliability (e.g., ~<NUM>% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., ~ <NUM>), and users with wide ranges of mobility or lack thereof; and (<NUM>) with enhanced mobile broadband including extreme high capacity (e.g., ~ <NUM> Tbps/km2), extreme data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rate, <NUM>+ Mbps user experienced rates), and deep awareness with advanced discovery and optimizations.

The <NUM> NR may be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveforms with scalable numerology and transmission time interval (TTI); having a common, flexible framework to efficiently multiplex services and features with a dynamic, low-latency time division duplex (TDD)/frequency division duplex (FDD) design; and with advanced wireless technologies, such as massive multiple input, multiple output (MIMO), robust millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Scalability of the numerology in <NUM> NR, with scaling of subcarrier spacing, may efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrum and diverse deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro coverage deployments of less than <NUM> FDD/TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM>, for example over <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and the like bandwidth. For other various outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD greater than <NUM>, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over <NUM>/<NUM> bandwidth, for example. For other various indoor wideband implementations, using a TDD over the unlicensed portion of the <NUM> band, the subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over a <NUM> bandwidth, for example. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components at a TDD of <NUM>, subcarrier spacing may occur with <NUM> over a <NUM> bandwidth, for example. Other deployments of different subcarrier spacing over different bandwidths are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

The scalable numerology of <NUM> NR facilitates scalable TTI for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. The efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs may allow transmissions to start on symbol boundaries.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a wireless communications system <NUM> that supports transmitting group scheduling control information over PDSCH in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system <NUM> includes base stations <NUM>, UEs <NUM>, and a core network <NUM>. In some examples, the wireless communications system <NUM> may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, or a New Radio (NR) network. In some cases, wireless communications system <NUM> may support enhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission critical) communications, low latency communications, or communications with low-cost and lowcomplexity devices.

Each access network entity may communicate with UEs <NUM> through a number of other access network transmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio head, a smart radio head, a remote radio head, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). The functions performed by base stations <NUM> may be carried out via these network entities (e.g., TRPs). Accordingly, as described herein, the terms TRP, eNB, gNB, and base station may be used interchangeably unless otherwise noted.

The wireless communications system <NUM> may include, for example, a heterogeneous LTE/LTE-A or NR network in which different types of base stations <NUM> provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas <NUM>.

In some implementations, such as in factory automation settings and as used in certain examples herein, a UE <NUM> may also refer to a sensor/actuator (S/A) unit <NUM> that communicates with a programmable logic controller (PLC) that acts as a TRP <NUM> or base station <NUM>.

Some UEs <NUM>, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or low complexity devices, and may provide for automated communication between machines (e.g., via Machineto-Machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with one another or a base station <NUM> without human intervention or with minimal human intervention. In some cases, networks of mMTC devices may require increased control channel capacity to accommodate the large number of devices in a dense mMTC environment. Accordingly, as described herein, a base station <NUM> may schedule UEs <NUM> using group scheduling control information transmitted over PDSCH to increase control channel capacity.

In some examples, base stations <NUM> or TRPs <NUM> may communicate with each other through backhaul links <NUM> to coordinate transmission and reception of signals with UEs <NUM>. For example, a first base station <NUM> may determine from CSI reports that transmissions from a neighboring base station <NUM> are negatively interfering with communications between the first base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>. Accordingly, the first base station <NUM> may inform the neighboring base station <NUM> via backhaul links <NUM> of the interference or request that the neighboring base station <NUM> mute transmissions on certain resources or transmit on different resources.

In some cases, this may facilitate use of antenna arrays within a UE <NUM> (e.g., for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) operations such as spatial multiplexing, or for directional beamforming).

For example, wireless communications system <NUM> may employ LTE License Assisted Access (LTE-LAA) or LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology or NR technology in an unlicensed band such as the <NUM> ISM band. In some cases, operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a CA configuration in conjunction with CCs operating in a licensed band.

In some cases, the antennas of a base station <NUM> or UE <NUM> may be located within one or more antennas or antenna arrays, which may support MIMO operations such as spatial multiplexing, or transmit or receive beamforming.

MIMO wireless systems use a transmission scheme between a transmitting device (e.g., a base station <NUM>) and a receiving device (e.g., a UE <NUM>), where both transmitting device and the receiving device are equipped with multiple antennas. MIMO communications may employ multipath signal propagation to increase the utilization of a radio frequency spectrum band by transmitting or receiving different signals via different spatial paths, which may be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The different signals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Likewise, the different signals may be received by the receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the different signals may be referred to as a separate spatial stream, and the different antennas or different combinations of antennas at a given device (e.g., the orthogonal resource of the device associated with the spatial dimension) may be referred to as spatial layers.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station <NUM> or a UE <NUM>) to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or receive beam) along a direction between the transmitting device and the receiving device. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antenna elements may include a transmitting device or a receiving device applying certain phase offset, timing advance/delay, or amplitude adjustment to signals carried via each of the antenna elements associated with the device.

In one example, a base station <NUM> may use multiple use antennas or antenna arrays to conduct beamforming operations for directional communications with a UE <NUM>. For instance, signals may be transmitted multiple times in different directions, which may include a signal being transmitted according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different directions of transmission. A receiving device (e.g., a UE <NUM>, which may be an example of a mmW receiving device) may try multiple receive beams when receiving various signals from the base station <NUM>, such as synchronization signals or other control signals.

Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized according to radio frames each having a duration of <NUM> milliseconds (Tf = <NUM> * Ts). Each frame may include ten subframes numbered from <NUM> to <NUM>, and each subframe may have a duration of <NUM> millisecond. A subframe may be further divided into two slots each having a duration of <NUM> milliseconds, and each slot may contain <NUM> or <NUM> modulation symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of the cyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period). In some cases a subframe may be the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system <NUM>, and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI).

In <NUM> NR deployments, a radio frame may have a duration of <NUM>, and one slot may comprise <NUM> OFDM symbols, but the number of slots in a <NUM> NR radio frame may vary due to flexible numerology resulting in a flexible time-slot structure. In particular, the numerology for <NUM> NR may include sub-carrier spacings of <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>, depending on the system configuration and bandwidth. For example, with increased sub-carrier spacing, the symbol duration decreases while the radio frame duration would remain the same. Accordingly, if the sub-carrier spacing is increased from <NUM> to <NUM>, the duration of each slot is halved, resulting in <NUM> slots within the <NUM> radio frame.

In some wireless communications systems, a slot may further be divided into multiple mini-slots containing one or more symbols and, in some instances, a symbol of a mini-slot or a mini-slot may be the smallest unit of scheduling. In some deployments, such as in <NUM> NR, each symbol may vary in duration depending on the subcarrier spacing or frequency band of operation, for example. Some wireless communications systems may implement slot aggregation in which multiple slots or mini-slots may be aggregated together for communication between a UE <NUM> and a base station <NUM>.

A resource element may consist of one symbol period (e.g., a duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier (e.g., a <NUM> frequency range). A resource block may contain <NUM> consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (e.g., collectively forming a "carrier") and, for a normal cyclic prefix in each orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, <NUM> consecutive OFDM symbol periods in the time domain, or <NUM> total resource elements across the frequency and time domains. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (the configuration of modulation symbols that may be applied during each symbol period). Thus, the more resource elements that a UE <NUM> receives and the higher the modulation scheme (e.g., the higher the number of bits that may be represented by a modulation symbol according to a given modulation scheme), the higher the data rate may be for the UE <NUM>. In MIMO systems, a wireless communications resource may refer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrum band resource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layers), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increase the data rate for communications with a UE <NUM>.

The term "carrier" refers to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined organizational structure for supporting uplink or downlink communications over a communication link <NUM>. For example, a carrier of a communication link <NUM> may include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band that may also be referred to as a frequency channel. In some examples a carrier may be made up of multiple sub-carriers (e.g., waveform signals of multiple different frequencies). A carrier may be organized to include multiple physical channels, where each physical channel may carry user data, control information, or other signaling.

The organizational structure of the carriers may be different for different radio access technologies (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, NR, etc.).

For example, the carrier bandwidth may be one of a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of a particular radio access technology (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> for LTE). In <NUM> NR, the carrier bandwidth may range from <NUM> up to <NUM> for sub-<NUM> frequency spectrum, and from <NUM> up to <NUM> for mmW frequency spectrum (above <NUM> frequency spectrum). In some examples the system bandwidth may refer to a minimum bandwidth unit for scheduling communications between a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>. In other examples a base station <NUM> or a UE <NUM> may also support communications over carriers having a smaller bandwidth than the system bandwidth. In such examples, the system bandwidth may be referred to as "wideband" bandwidth and the smaller bandwidth may be referred to as a "narrowband" bandwidth. In some examples of the wireless communications system <NUM>, wideband communications may be performed according to a <NUM> carrier bandwidth and narrowband communications may be performed according to a <NUM> carrier bandwidth.

Devices of the wireless communications system <NUM> (e.g., base stations or UEs <NUM>) may have a hardware configuration that supports communications over a particular carrier bandwidth, or may be configurable to support communications over one of a set of carrier bandwidths. For example, base stations <NUM> or UEs <NUM> may perform some communications according to a system bandwidth (e.g., wideband communications), and may perform some communications according to a smaller bandwidth (e.g., narrowband communications). In some examples, the wireless communications system <NUM> may include base stations <NUM> and/or UEs that can support simultaneous communications via carriers associated with more than one different bandwidth.

Wireless communications systems such as an NR system may use a combination of licensed, shared, and unlicensed spectrum bands, among others. The flexibility of eCC symbol duration and subcarrier spacing may allow for the use of eCC across multiple spectrums. In some examples, NR shared spectrum may increase spectrum utilization and spectral efficiency, specifically through dynamic vertical (e.g., across frequency) and horizontal (e.g., across time) sharing of resources.

As depicted in <FIG>, a UE <NUM> may communicate over wireless communication links <NUM> with a particular serving base station <NUM>. In particular, a base station <NUM> may schedule a number of UEs <NUM> by transmitting grants in a PDCCH on the downlink of communications link <NUM>. The grants on the PDCCH allocate resources for UEs <NUM> to communicate on a shared channel on the uplink or downlink. In some instances, such as in factory automation or mMTC environments, a base station <NUM> may serve an extremely large number of UEs <NUM>, so the base station <NUM> may schedule resources for the UEs using group control information that effectively increases control channel signaling capacity. Multiple UEs <NUM> may be grouped together, and the base station <NUM> may transmit grouping information in RRC signaling to the UEs <NUM>. The UEs <NUM> may then determine, based on the grouping information in RRC signaling, a location of a GC-PDCCH for receiving scheduling for a GC-PDSCH. The base station <NUM> may then include group control information, including grants for a later communication, for a group of UEs in the GC-PDSCH instead of in the PDCCH, and transmit the GC-PDSCH over communication links <NUM> to schedule the UEs <NUM>. Other procedures and details for transmitting group control information over PDSCH are described herein.

<FIG> illustrates an example timeline <NUM> for transmitting group control information over PDSCH, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. As seen in <FIG>, a base station <NUM> may configure one or more UEs <NUM> into a group <NUM>. In the illustrated example, three UEs <NUM> are configured as one group. The base station <NUM> may then transmit grouping information in RRC signaling <NUM> to the UEs <NUM> in the group <NUM> to indicate to the UEs <NUM> the group to which they belong as well as the information needed for receiving group control information in a physical channel. For example, the base station <NUM> may include, in the grouping information in RRC signaling <NUM>, the UE <NUM> grouping <NUM> and a pointer <NUM> to a GC-PDCCH <NUM>. In certain cases, the pointer <NUM> may comprise time and frequency domain resource allocation and the RNTI for the GC-PDCCH <NUM> (e.g., the group common RNTI used to scramble the GC-PDCCH <NUM>). In some instances, the grouping information may contain an index that the UEs <NUM> may use to determine the resources for receiving the GC-PDCCH <NUM>. Other examples of grouping information that allows the UEs <NUM> to determine a location of the GC-PDCCH <NUM> are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

In the illustrated example, the grouping information indicates to the UEs <NUM> that a GC-PDCCH <NUM> for the group of UEs <NUM> will arrive on particular resources in a particular slot 250a. The UEs <NUM> may then receive the GC-PDCCH <NUM>, which may include information scheduling a GC-PDSCH <NUM>. In some instances, the GC-PDSCH <NUM> is scheduled in the same slot 250a as the GC-PDCCH <NUM>. In certain cases, the base station <NUM> includes scheduling or grants for each of the UEs <NUM> within group <NUM> in the GC-PDSCH <NUM>, while in other cases, the base station <NUM> may schedule a subset of the UEs <NUM> within group <NUM>. The scheduled UEs <NUM> may then receive the grants or scheduling and use the granted resources for communication at a later time. The grants included in GC-PDSCH <NUM>, for example, may schedule a first UE <NUM> for receiving a PDSCH 240a in a later slot 250b, a second UE <NUM> for receiving a PDSCH 240b in the same slot 250b, and a third UE <NUM> for transmitting a PUSCH 240c in a different, subsequent slot 250c.

In some examples, the control information in GC-PDCCH <NUM> and/or the GC-PDSCH <NUM> is attached with a single cyclic redundancy check (CRC) (e.g., <NUM> bit CRC), or the control information of multiple UEs <NUM> is joint coded. The single CRC and joint coding for group scheduling may reduce control overhead signaling. In addition, overhead signaling may be further reduced by allowing a variable payload size for the GC-PDSCH <NUM>. That is, the base station <NUM> may include the group control information of only UEs <NUM> in a group that are currently scheduled for communication while omitting control information of UEs <NUM> that are not currently scheduled. The dynamic payload size of GC-PDSCH <NUM> may provide flexibility for the base station <NUM> to manage grouping of the control information, especially when UEs <NUM> within a group <NUM> may be experiencing different channel conditions. A group scheduling message intended for all UEs <NUM> within a group would need to have modulation or coding accommodating the UE <NUM> experiencing the worst channel conditions out of the UEs <NUM> in the group, resulting in inefficient use of resources for scheduling. The base station <NUM>, however, may dynamically remove a UE <NUM> (e.g., a UE <NUM> experiencing poor channel conditions) from the group control information instead of reconfiguring the group <NUM>. In some instances, the base station <NUM> may indicate the presence or absence of scheduling information in GC-PDSCH <NUM> for a particular UE <NUM> using a bitmap field in the MAC Payload Data Unit (PDU) of the GC-PDSCH <NUM>, as described in further detail below with respect to <FIG>.

The base station <NUM> may further increase efficiency and UE power saving by indicating whether a current GC-PDSCH <NUM> has changed from the previous GC-PDSCH <NUM>. In some instances, the change indicator may be included as a one-bit indicator in the DCI of GC-PDCCH <NUM>. The UE <NUM> may then determine, from the change indicator, whether there is a change in the current GC-PDSCH <NUM> of scheduled UEs <NUM> and whether the UE <NUM> should accordingly skip decoding of the GC-PDSCH <NUM> for power saving. For example, if a UE <NUM> was not scheduled by GC-PDSCH <NUM> in a previous period and determines from the change indicator that there is no change in UE scheduling in the current period, then the UE <NUM> may skip the decoding of the current GC-PDSCH <NUM> to save power.

<FIG> illustrates an example MAC Payload Data Unit (PDU) <NUM> for a GC-PDSCH transmission. The MAC PDU <NUM> may have a MAC header <NUM>, followed by a downlink control information (DCI) presence indication <NUM>. The DCI presence indication <NUM> may indicate, to UEs <NUM> within the group that are receiving the particular GC-PDSCH, whether a particular UE <NUM> is scheduled by the current GC-PDSCH message. In some instances, the DCI presence indication <NUM> may include a bitmap indicating which UEs <NUM> within a group are scheduled. In some instances, the DCI presence indication <NUM> may be included in the GC-PDCCH, instead of in the MAC PDU <NUM> for the GC-PDSCH, if there are sufficient reserved bits in the DCI of the GC-PDCCH. The inclusion of the DCI presence indication <NUM> in GC-PDCCH may allow a UE <NUM> to know whether it is currently scheduled and provides an opportunity for the UE <NUM> to skip decoding the GC-PDSCH for power savings if the UE <NUM> is not currently scheduled. The MAC PDU <NUM> may also include a DCI length indicator <NUM>, which defines the length of the DCI for each scheduled UE <NUM> in the MAC PDU <NUM>. In some cases, if the actual length of a particular DCI <NUM> for a scheduled UE <NUM> is less than the length provided in the DCI length indicator <NUM>, the base station <NUM> may include additional padding bits to that DCI <NUM>. The order of the DCI <NUM> for scheduled UEs <NUM> in the MAC PDU <NUM> may be based on the ordering of UE indications in the bitmap in the DCI presence indication <NUM>, on an index associated with UEs <NUM> within the group, or on other configuration parameters. In certain instances, the MAC PDU <NUM> may also separately provide both UL and DL grants for a UE <NUM>. In this situation, each UE <NUM> may be configured with two indices, one for DL transmission and another for UL transmission, and the DCI presence indication <NUM> may separately indicate the presence of UL and DL scheduling for a UE <NUM>.

Returning to <FIG>, the scheduling of unicast shared channel transmissions occurs at a time period before the actual shared channel transmission. The base station <NUM> may schedule UEs <NUM> using a particular timeline that results in a delay from reception of the grant in GC-PDSCH <NUM> and the communication <NUM> on the PDSCH or PUSCH. As can be seen in <FIG>, for a GC-PDSCH <NUM> received in slot n 250a, the communication of unicast data can be in slot n+k, where the value of k is <MAT> for DL and <MAT> for UL, where k<NUM> is the delay in slots between the DL grant and corresponding DL data reception on PDSCH and k<NUM> is the delay in slots between the reception of the UL grant (in the downlink) and the transmission of UL data in PUSCH. In some instances, k<NUM> and k<NUM> are indicated in the associated DCI for each unicast UL or DL communication. The delay introduced by the described timeline <NUM> may comprise approximately <NUM>, in the illustrated example, when compared to scheduling using normal PDCCH. The delay may allow the UE to accommodate the longer decoding time of PDSCH when compared to PDCCH and the longer PHY/MAC interaction time for determining scheduling control information. Other delay times are also within the scope of the present disclosure.

As discussed above with respect to <FIG>, the grouping information in RRC signaling may inform the UE <NUM> where to receive and monitor the GC-PDCCH that schedules the GC-PDSCH. <FIG> illustrates a timeline <NUM> showing one example of the type of information that may indicate to the UE <NUM> where to receive the GC-PDCCH. As seen in <FIG>, the base station <NUM> may include a slot offset 415a and a periodicity 415b associated with the GC-PDCCH 420a. The slot offset 415a may indicate a number of slots after the slot in which the RRC signaling <NUM> with the grouping information <NUM> is received for expecting the GC-PDCCH 420a. In the illustrated example, the slot offset 415a may indicate that the GC-PDCCH 420a will arrive after a delay of one slot after the slot in which RRC <NUM> is received. The periodicity 415b may indicate a period of time, in slots, for which one or more GC-PDCCH 420a are configured to schedule a particular GC-PDSCH 430a transmission. In other words, for the indicated period 415b, each GC-PDCCH 420a in the period 415b is intended to schedule a particular GC-PDSCH 430a. In some instances, for example, multiple copies 420b and 420c of the same GC-PDCCH are transmitted, and both copies 420b and 420c of the GC-PDCCH schedule the same GC-PDSCH 430b, as illustrated in <FIG>. In certain situations, the base station <NUM> may transmit the GC-PDCCH <NUM> in a common search space with CRC scrambled by a configured group RNTI.

The DCI for scheduling of GC-PDSCH may be based on the DL grant used to schedule unicast PDSCH or include some of the same information used for scheduling unicast PDSCH (i.e., DCI format 1_0). For example, the DCI for scheduling of GC-PDSCH may include some of the same fields used in scheduling for unicast PDSCH, including fields providing frequency domain resource assignment, time domain resource assignment, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), VRB-to-PRB mapping, and redundancy version. Some fields used in DCI for scheduling unicast PDSCH, however, may not apply to scheduling of GC-PDSCH, such as the Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) process number or new data indicator. In some instances, the timeline for GC-PDCCH scheduling of GC-PDSCH may be based on the timeline for scheduling of unicast PDSCH (e.g., based on K<NUM> indicated in the DCI of PDCCH).

In some situations, a communication scheduled by GC-PDSCH for a UE <NUM> may "collide" with another communication scheduled by PDCCH for the same UE <NUM>. As used herein, a collision of scheduling refers to a situation when at least a portion of time or frequency resources scheduled by one grant (e.g., GC-PDSCH) overlaps in time or frequency with a communication scheduled by a different grant (e.g., PDCCH). A predefined rule or set of rules may be used to determine priority of scheduling in case of collision.

<FIG> illustrates a timeline <NUM> of one example scheduling collision and a rule for determining priority. As depicted in <FIG>, a base station <NUM> may schedule a group <NUM> of UEs <NUM> using GC-PDSCH <NUM> as described herein. The grants transmitted in GC-PDSCH <NUM> may schedule a first UE <NUM> for receiving PDSCH 540a, a second UE <NUM> for receiving PDSCH 540b, and a third UE <NUM> for transmitting PUSCH 540c. As illustrated, there is a delay between the GC-PDSCH <NUM> transmission and the scheduled PDSCH 540b transmission for the second UE <NUM>, and a separate grant is received by the second UE <NUM> via PDCCH <NUM> that schedules the UE <NUM> for receiving a different PDSCH transmission <NUM>. In the present example, however, the resources for PDSCH <NUM> overlap in part in the same slot with the resources for PDSCH 540b. Accordingly, there is a collision of scheduling for the second UE <NUM>. In the illustrated example, the UE <NUM> may select one of the scheduled PDSCH transmission based on a priority of scheduled transmissions. In some instances, a transmission scheduled via PDCCH <NUM> has priority over a transmission scheduled via GC-PDSCH <NUM>, so the UE <NUM> may prioritize decoding of the PDSCH <NUM> scheduled by PDCCH <NUM> over the PDSCH 540b scheduled by GC-PDSCH <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a flowchart illustrating a process <NUM> performed by a user equipment (UE) <NUM> for receiving group control information in a PDSCH in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of process <NUM> may be implemented by a UE <NUM> or its components, as described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. For example, the operations of process <NUM> may be performed by the processor <NUM>, either alone or in combination with other components, as described herein. In some examples, the UE <NUM> may execute a set of codes to control the functional elements of the device to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the UE <NUM> may perform aspects of the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At <NUM>, the UE <NUM> obtains group control information in a group common PDSCH. In some instances, the UE <NUM> receives a group common PDCCH and determines a location of the group common PDSCH based on information received in the group common PDCCH. In some instances, the UE <NUM> determines whether to decode the group common PDSCH based on an indication in the group common PDCCH of whether the group control information has changed from a previously received group control information. In some instances, the group common PDCCH is received in a common search space with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by a group common RNTI. In some instances, the UE <NUM> receives grouping information in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, determines that the UE <NUM> belongs to a particular group based on the grouping information, and determines an index within the group for receiving the resources of the shared channel. In some instances, the group control information includes one or more grants for a plurality of UEs belonging to the particular group. In some instances, the grant information includes at least one of a downlink grant or an uplink grant for the UE. In some instances, the group control information includes grants for scheduled UEs in the particular group and excludes grants for unscheduled UEs in the particular group, wherein the grants for scheduled UEs in the particular group are sorted according to the index in the group.

At <NUM>, the UE <NUM> determines resources for communicating on a shared channel based on the group control information. In some instances, the UE <NUM> determines whether the UE is scheduled based on a bitmap field included in the group control information, and determines the resources if it is determined that the UE is scheduled. In some instances, the UE <NUM> determines a size of a grant for the UE based on a length indicator included in the group control information, and determines the resources based at least in part on the size of the grant. In some instances, the UE <NUM> obtains the grant for the UE based on the determined the size of the grant and the bitmap indication that the UE is scheduled, and determines resources for communicating on a shared channel based on the determined grant. In some instances, the determining the resources comprises determining that at least a portion of the resources overlaps with resources allocated by a grant received in a PDCCH, and communicating on the resources allocated by the grant in the PDCCH. At <NUM>, the UE <NUM> communicates on the resources of the shared channel.

<FIG> shows a flowchart illustrating a process <NUM> performed by a base station <NUM> for transmitting group control information in PDSCH in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of process <NUM> may be implemented by a base station <NUM> or its components, as described with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>. For example, the operations of process <NUM> may be performed by the processor <NUM>, either alone or in combination with other components, as described herein. In some examples, the base station <NUM> may execute a set of codes to control the functional elements of the device to perform the functions described below. Additionally or alternatively, the base station <NUM> may perform aspects of the functions described below using special-purpose hardware.

At <NUM>, the base station <NUM> configures a UE group comprising at least one UE. At <NUM>, the base station <NUM> transmits, in a group PDSCH, group control information for scheduling the at least one UE for communicating on a shared channel. In some instances, the base station <NUM> transmits scheduling information for the group common PDSCH in a group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). In certain instances, the base station <NUM> transmits, in a common search space, the scheduling information in the group common PDCCH with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by a group common radio network temporary identifier (RNTI). The group control information may include scheduling grants for scheduled UEs in the UE group and excludes scheduling grants for unscheduled UEs in the UE group. In some instances, the base station <NUM> transmits a bitmap field in the group control information that indicates scheduled and unscheduled UES within the UE group. The base station <NUM> may transmit, in radio resource control (RRC) signaling, grouping information indicating that the at least one UE belongs to a particular UE group. The base station <NUM> may include, in the group control information, one or more grants for a plurality of UEs belonging to the particular UE group. At <NUM>, the base station <NUM> communicates on the shared channel with the at least one UE.

<FIG> shows a block diagram <NUM> of a design of a base station/eNB <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be one of the base stations/eNBs and one of the UEs in <FIG>. At the eNB <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive data from a data source <NUM> and control information from a controller/processor <NUM>. The control information may be for various control channels such as the PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH etc. The data may be for the PDSCH, etc. The transmit processor <NUM> may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor <NUM> may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor <NUM> may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 832a through 832t. Downlink signals from modulators 832a through 832t may be transmitted via the antennas 834a through 834t, respectively. The downlink signals may include references signals such as CSI-RS or synchronization signals, which may be used by the UE <NUM> to measure channel conditions for reporting to the base station <NUM>. The downlink signals may also include scheduling information for scheduling a group common PDSCH or delayed unicast shared channel communications, as described above with reference to <FIG>.

At the UE <NUM>, the antennas 852a through 852r may receive the downlink signals from the eNB <NUM> and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) 854a through 854r, respectively. A MIMO detector <NUM> may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 854a through 854r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols.

On the uplink, at the UE <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source <NUM> and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor <NUM>. The symbols from the transmit processor <NUM> may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor <NUM> if applicable, further processed by the modulators 854a through 854r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the eNB <NUM>. The transmissions to the eNB <NUM> may include channel measurement reports such as CSI reports, for example. At the eNB <NUM>, the uplink signals from the UE <NUM> may be received by the antennas <NUM>, processed by the demodulators <NUM>, detected by a MIMO detector <NUM> if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor <NUM> to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may provide the decoded data to a data sink <NUM> and the decoded control information to the controller/processor <NUM>.

The controllers/processors <NUM> and <NUM> may direct the operation at the eNB <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, respectively. The controller/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the eNB <NUM> may perform or direct the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in <FIG>, and/or other various processes for the techniques described herein. The controllers/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the UE <NUM> may also perform or direct the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in <FIG>, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memories <NUM> and <NUM> may store data and program codes for the eNB <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, respectively. For example, memory <NUM> may store instructions that, when performed by the processor <NUM> or other processors depicted in <FIG>, cause the base station <NUM> to perform operations described with respect to <FIG>. Similarly, memory <NUM> may store instructions that, when performed by processor <NUM> or other processors depicted in <FIG> cause the UE <NUM> to perform operations described with respect to <FIG>.

While blocks in <FIG> are illustrated as distinct components, the functions described above with respect to the blocks may be implemented in a single hardware, software, firmware, or combination component or in various combinations of components. For example, the functions described with respect to the transmit processor <NUM>, the receive processor <NUM>, or the TX MIMO processor <NUM> may be performed by or under the control of processor <NUM>.

Turning now to <FIG>, a UE <NUM>, such as a UE <NUM> (see <FIG>), may have a controller/processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, and antennas 852a through 852r, as described above with respect to <FIG>. UE <NUM> may also have wireless radios 901a to 901r that comprise additional components also described above with reference to <FIG>. The memory <NUM> of UE <NUM> stores one or more algorithms that configure processor/controller <NUM> to carry out one or more procedures including, for example, those described above with reference to <FIG>.

One or more algorithms stored by memory <NUM> configure processor/controller <NUM> to carry out one or more procedures relating to wireless communication by the UE <NUM>, as previously described. For example, a control information manager <NUM> may configure controller/processor <NUM> to obtain group control information received in a PDSCH by wireless radios 901a to 901r. Additionally, shared channel manager <NUM> may configure controller/processor <NUM> to carry out operations including determining resources for communicating on a shared channel based on group control information. Also, a communication manager <NUM> may configure controller/processor <NUM> to carry out operations including communicating, via wireless radios 901a to 901r, on the resources of the shared channel. Other operations as described above may be carried out by one or more of the described algorithms or components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and/or their various subcomponents.

Each of the illustrated components <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of the control information manager <NUM>, shared channel manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure. The control information manager <NUM>, shared channel manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations by one or more physical devices. In some examples, control information manager <NUM>, shared channel manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be a separate and distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In other examples, control information manager <NUM>, shared channel manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be combined with one or more other hardware components, including but not limited to an I/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Referring now to <FIG>, a base station <NUM>, such as a base station <NUM> (see <FIG>), may have a controller/processor <NUM>, a memory <NUM>, and antennas 834a through 834t, as described above. The base station <NUM> may also have wireless radios 1001a to 1001t that comprise additional components also described above with reference to <FIG>. The memory <NUM> of base station <NUM> stores one or more algorithms that configure processor/controller <NUM> to carry out one or more procedures as described above with reference to <FIG>.

One or more algorithms stored by memory <NUM> configure processor/controller <NUM> to carry out one or more operations relating to wireless communication by the base station <NUM>, as previously described. For example, a grouping manager <NUM> configures controller processor <NUM> to carry out operations that include configuring a UE group comprising at least one UE. In addition, a scheduling manager <NUM> configures controller processor <NUM> to carry out operations that include generating group control information for scheduling the at least one UE for communicating on a shared channel. In some instances, a communication manager <NUM> configures controller processor <NUM> to carry out operations that include transmitting, using wireless radios 1001a-r, the group control information generated by the scheduling manager <NUM> on a group common PDSCH and also communicating on the shared channel with the at least one UE. Other operations as described above may be carried out by one or more of the described algorithms or components <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM> and/or their various subcomponents.

Each of the illustrated components <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions of the grouping manager <NUM>, scheduling manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described in the present disclosure. The grouping manager <NUM>, scheduling manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various subcomponents may be physically located at various positions, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented at different physical locations by one or more physical devices. In some examples, grouping manager <NUM>, scheduling manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be a separate and distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. In other examples, grouping manager <NUM>, scheduling manager <NUM>, communication manager <NUM> and/or at least some of their various sub-components may be combined with one or more other hardware components, including but not limited to an I/O component, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device, one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) for wireless communication performed by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising:
obtaining (<NUM>), group control information in a group common physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, from a base station;
receiving, from the base station, grouping information in radio resource control, RRC, signaling;
determining that the UE belongs to a particular group based on the grouping information;
determining an index within the group for receiving the resources of the shared channel, wherein the group control information includes grants for scheduled UEs in the particular group and excludes grants for unscheduled UEs in the particular group, wherein the grants for scheduled UEs in the particular group are sorted according to the index in the particular group;
determining (<NUM>) resources for communicating on a shared channel based on the group control information; and
communicating (<NUM>) with the base station on the resources of the shared channel.