Patent Description:
Fifth Generation New Radio (5GNR) supports three usage scenarios: enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC). URLLC has stringent requirements for high-reliability and low-latency communication. Therefore, <NUM> NR allows user equipment (UE) to transmit an URLLC signal over an already-scheduled resource when a <NUM> NR base station (e.g., g NodeB, or gNB) cannot schedule an individual resource to the URLLC user equipment for the URLLC transmission. <NPL> describes the concept of a so-called Pause-Resume scheduling solution for inter-UE multiplexing. <NPL> discusses the encoding chain for NR data channel.

This summary is provided to introduce simplified concepts of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission. The simplified concepts are further described below in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The invention is defined by the appended claims and relate to embodiments being directed to the operation of the user equipment.

In some aspects, an electronic device is configured as a user equipment (UE) for fifth generation new radio (<NUM> NR) communication. The UE is configured to insert a first cyclical redundancy check (CRC) into a transport block (TB), encode the TB, including the CRC, into a codeword (CW), receive a preemption indicator for part of a first physical resource, and select a first part of the CW for rate matching with a length based on a received uplink (UL) grant and the received preemption indicator. The UE is also configured to transmit the first part of the CW using the first physical resource, select a second part of the CW, insert a second CRC in the selected second part of the CW, and transmit the second part of the CW in a second physical resource.

In another aspect, a base station is configured to decode a first part of a codeword received from a user equipment, detect a second part of the received CW using a multi-user detector (MUD), determine if the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful, and based on the determination that the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful, send an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE. Based on the determination that the decoding of the first part of the CW is not successful and the detection of the second part of the CW is successful, the base station is further configured to: combine the first part and the second part of the CW to form a combined CW, decode the combined CW, determine if the decoding of the combined CW is successful and, based on the determination that the decoding of the combined CW is successful, send an Ack to the UE. The base station is further configured to, based on either the decoding of the first part of the CW not being successful or the decoding of the combined CW not being successful, send a negative acknowledgement (Nck) to the UE.

In a further aspect, a method for non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) encoding in a transmitter of a user equipment (UE) is described that includes inserting, by the UE, a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) into a transport block (TB), encoding the TB, including the CRC, into a codeword, receiving a preemption indicator for part of a first physical resource, and selecting a first part of the CW for rate matching with a length based on a received uplink (UL) grant and the received preemption indicator. The method further includes transmitting the first part of the CW in the first physical resource, selecting a second part of the CW, and transmitting the second part of the CW in a second physical resource.

In another aspect, a method for receiving a non-orthogonal multiple access decoding by a base station from a user equipment is described that includes decoding a first part of a codeword received from the UE, detecting a second part of the received codeword using multi-user detection that produces a first MUD outcome, and determining if the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful. The method further includes, based on the determining that the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful, sending an Ack to the UE, combining the first part and the second part of the CW to form a combined CW, decoding the combined CW, determining if the decoding of the combined CW is successful, and based on the determining that the decoding of the combined CW was successful, sending an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE. The method further includes, based on the determining that the decoding of the combined CW is not successful, dropping the second part of the CW, combining the first part of the CW and another second part of the CW from a second MUD outcome to produce another combined CW, determining if the decoding of the other combined CW is successful, based on the determining that the decoding of the other combined CW is successful, sending an Ack to the UE, and if either the decoding of the other combined CW is not successful or no additional MUD outcomes are available, sending a Nck to the UE.

The details of one or more aspects of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission are described below. The use of the same reference numbers in different instances in the description and the figures may indicate like elements:.

This document describes methods, devices, systems, and means for fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission. A user equipment (UE) inserts a first cyclical redundancy check (CRC) into a transport block (TB), encodes the TB, including the CRC, into a codeword (CW). Based on receiving a preemption indicator for part of a first physical resource, the UE selects a first part of the CW for rate matching with a length based on a received uplink (UL) grant and the received preemption indicator. The UE transmits the first part of the CW using the first physical resource, selects a second part of the CW, inserts a second CRC in the selected second part of the CW, and transmits the second part of the CW using a second physical resource.

When a first user equipment transmits an Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC) uplink signal over an already-scheduled resource, such as an enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) uplink from a second UE, the scheduled eMBB uplink data may be punctured, canceled, or interrupted by the URLLC UL data transmission. In aspects, after receiving a schedule request (SR) from the first UE, a base station sends a preemption indicator to the second UE before the URLLC and eMBB data transmissions take place to cancel or interrupt the eMBB transmission. The second UE can cancel all or part of the eMBB transmission data according to the preemption indicator. The cancelation of the eMBB transmission provides guaranteed resources for high-reliability URLLC data transmission. The size of the URLLC data transmission is often much smaller than the size of the eMBB data transmission. If the second UE cancels the entire eMBB data transmission, the preemption procedure reduces the efficiency of utilization of the uplink resources.

If the eMBB uplink transmission is punctured by the URLLC transmission, both the first UE and the second UE transmit uplink data, and the URLLC transmission punctures a portion of the eMBB data transmission. In this case, the probability of errors in the received eMBB data will increase due to the puncturing by the URLLC transmission. By utilizing non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) encoding and Multi-User Detection (MUD) techniques, both UEs can transmit, error rates from transmission punctures are reduced, and network resources are used more efficiently.

<FIG> illustrates an example environment <NUM> which includes multiple user equipment <NUM> (UE <NUM>), illustrated as UE <NUM>, UE <NUM>, and UE <NUM> that can communicate with base stations <NUM> (illustrated as base stations <NUM> and <NUM>) through wireless communication links <NUM> (wireless link <NUM>), illustrated as wireless links <NUM> and <NUM>. For simplicity, the UE <NUM> is implemented as a smartphone but may be implemented as any suitable computing or electronic device, such as a mobile communication device, modem, cellular phone, gaming device, navigation device, media device, laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet computer, smart appliance, vehicle-based communication system, or an Internet-of Things (IoT) device such as a sensor or an actuator. The base stations <NUM> (e.g., an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Node B, E-UTRAN Node B, evolved Node B, eNodeB, eNB, Next Generation Node B, gNode B, gNB, or the like) may be implemented in a macrocell, microcell, small cell, picocell, and the like, or any combination thereof.

The base stations <NUM> communicate with the user equipment <NUM> using the wireless links <NUM> and <NUM>, which may be implemented as any suitable type of wireless link. The wireless links <NUM> and <NUM> include control and data communication, such as downlink of data and control information communicated from the base stations <NUM> to the user equipment <NUM>, uplink of other data and control information communicated from the user equipment <NUM> to the base stations <NUM>, or both. The wireless links <NUM> may include one or more wireless links (e.g., radio links) or bearers implemented using any suitable communication protocol or standard, or combination of communication protocols or standards, such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long-Term Evolution (3GPP LTE), Fifth Generation New Radio (5GNR), and so forth. Multiple wireless links <NUM> may be aggregated in a carrier aggregation to provide a higher data rate for the UE <NUM>. Multiple wireless links <NUM> from multiple base stations <NUM> may be configured for Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) communication with the UE <NUM>.

The base stations <NUM> are collectively a Radio Access Network <NUM> (e.g., RAN, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network, E-UTRAN, <NUM> NR RAN or NR RAN). The base stations <NUM> and <NUM> in the RAN <NUM> are connected to a core network <NUM>. The base stations <NUM> and <NUM> connect, at <NUM> and <NUM> respectively, to the core network <NUM> through an NG2 interface for control-plane signaling and using an NG3 interface for user-plane data communications when connecting to a <NUM> core network, or using an S1 interface for control-plane signaling and user-plane data communications when connecting to an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. The base stations <NUM> and <NUM> can communicate using an Xn Application Protocol (XnAP) through an Xn interface, or using an X2 Application Protocol (X2AP) through an X2 interface, at <NUM>, to exchange user-plane and control-plane data. The user equipment <NUM> may connect, via the core network <NUM>, to public networks, such as the Internet <NUM> to interact with a remote service <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example device diagram <NUM> of the user equipment <NUM> and the base stations <NUM>. The user equipment <NUM> and the base stations <NUM> may include additional functions and interfaces that are omitted from <FIG> for the sake of clarity. The user equipment <NUM> includes antennas <NUM>, a radio frequency front end <NUM> (RF front end <NUM>), an LTE transceiver <NUM>, and a <NUM> NR transceiver <NUM> for communicating with base stations <NUM> in the RAN <NUM>. The RF front end <NUM> of the user equipment <NUM> can couple or connect the LTE transceiver <NUM>, and the 5GNR transceiver <NUM> to the antennas <NUM> to facilitate various types of wireless communication. The antennas <NUM> of the user equipment <NUM> may include an array of multiple antennas that are configured similar to or differently from each other. The antennas <NUM> and the RF front end <NUM> can be tuned to, and/or be tunable to, one or more frequency bands defined by the 3GPP LTE and <NUM> NR communication standards and implemented by the LTE transceiver <NUM>, and/or the <NUM> NR transceiver <NUM>. Additionally, the antennas <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the LTE transceiver <NUM>, and/or the <NUM> NR transceiver <NUM> may be configured to support beamforming for the transmission and reception of communications with the base stations <NUM>. By way of example and not limitation, the antennas <NUM> and the RF front end <NUM> can be implemented for operation in sub-gigahertz bands, sub-<NUM> bands, and/or above <NUM> bands that are defined by the 3GPP LTE and <NUM> NR communication standards.

The user equipment <NUM> also includes processor(s) <NUM> and computer-readable storage media <NUM> (CRM <NUM>). The processor <NUM> may be a single core processor or a multiple core processor composed of a variety of materials, such as silicon, polysilicon, high-K dielectric, copper, and so on. The computer-readable storage media described herein excludes propagating signals. CRM <NUM> may include any suitable memory or storage device such as random-access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or Flash memory useable to store device data <NUM> of the user equipment <NUM>. The device data <NUM> includes user data, multimedia data, beamforming codebooks, applications, and/or an operating system of the user equipment <NUM>, which are executable by processor(s) <NUM> to enable user-plane communication, control-plane signaling, and user interaction with the user equipment <NUM>.

In some implementations, the CRM <NUM> may also include a user equipment manager <NUM>. The UE manager <NUM> can communicate with the antennas <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the LTE transceiver <NUM>, and/or the <NUM> NR transceiver <NUM> to monitor the quality of the wireless communication links <NUM> and initiate a beam search based on the monitored quality of the wireless communication links <NUM>.

The device diagram for the base stations <NUM>, shown in <FIG>, includes a single network node (e.g., a gNode B). The functionality of the base stations <NUM> may be distributed across multiple network nodes or devices and may be distributed in any fashion suitable to perform the functions described herein. The base stations <NUM> include antennas <NUM>, a radio frequency front end <NUM> (RF front end <NUM>), one or more LTE transceivers <NUM>, and/or one or more <NUM> NR transceivers <NUM> for communicating with the UE <NUM>. The RF front end <NUM> of the base stations <NUM> can couple or connect the LTE transceivers <NUM> and the 5GNR transceivers <NUM> to the antennas <NUM> to facilitate various types of wireless communication. The antennas <NUM> of the base stations <NUM> may include an array of multiple antennas that are configured similar to or differently from each other. The antennas <NUM> and the RF front end <NUM> can be tuned to, and/or be tunable to, one or more frequency band defined by the 3GPP LTE and <NUM> NR communication standards, and implemented by the LTE transceivers <NUM>, and/or the <NUM> NR transceivers <NUM>. Additionally, the antennas <NUM>, the RF front end <NUM>, the LTE transceivers <NUM>, and/or the <NUM> NR transceivers <NUM> may be configured to support beamforming, such as Massive-MIMO, for the transmission and reception of communications with the UE <NUM>.

The base stations <NUM> also include processor(s) <NUM> and computer-readable storage media <NUM> (CRM <NUM>). The processor <NUM> may be a single core processor or a multiple core processor composed of a variety of materials, such as silicon, polysilicon, high-K dielectric, copper, and so on. CRM <NUM> may include any suitable memory or storage device such as random-access memory (RAM), static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or Flash memory useable to store device data <NUM> of the base stations <NUM>. The device data <NUM> includes network scheduling data, radio resource management data, beamforming codebooks, applications, and/or an operating system of the base stations <NUM>, which are executable by processor(s) <NUM> to enable communication with the user equipment <NUM>.

CRM <NUM> also includes a base station manager <NUM>. Alternately or additionally, the base station manager <NUM> may be implemented in whole or part as hardware logic or circuitry integrated with or separate from other components of the base stations <NUM>. In at least some aspects, the base station manager <NUM> configures the LTE transceivers <NUM> and the 5GNR transceivers <NUM> for communication with the user equipment <NUM>, as well as communication with a core network, such as the core network <NUM>.

The base stations <NUM> include an inter-base station interface <NUM>, such as an Xn and/or X2 interface, which the base station manager <NUM> configures to exchange user-plane and control-plane data between other base stations <NUM>, to manage the communication of the base stations <NUM> with the user equipment <NUM>. The base stations <NUM> include a core network interface <NUM> that the base station manager <NUM> configures to exchange user-plane and control-plane data with core network functions and/or entities.

<FIG> illustrates an air interface resource that extends between a user equipment and a base station and with which various aspects of reporting buffer status in wireless communication systems can be implemented. The air interface resource <NUM> can be divided into resource units <NUM>, each of which occupies some intersection of frequency spectrum and elapsed time. A portion of the air interface resource <NUM> is illustrated graphically in a grid or matrix having multiple resource blocks <NUM>, including resource blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. An example of a resource unit <NUM> therefore includes at least one resource block <NUM>. As shown, time is depicted along the horizontal dimension as the abscissa axis, and frequency is depicted along the vertical dimension as the ordinate axis. The air interface resource <NUM>, as defined by a given communication protocol or standard, may span any suitable specified frequency range and/or may be divided into intervals of any specified duration. Increments of time can correspond to, for example, milliseconds (mSec). Increments of frequency can correspond to, for example, megahertz (MHz).

In example operations generally, the base station <NUM> allocates portions (e.g., resource units <NUM>) of the air interface resource <NUM> for uplink and downlink communications. Each resource block <NUM> of network access resources may be allocated to support respective wireless communication link <NUM> of multiple user equipment <NUM>. In the lower left corner of the grid, the resource block <NUM> may span, as defined by a given communication protocol, a specified frequency range <NUM> and comprise multiple subcarriers or frequency sub-bands. The resource block <NUM> may include any suitable number of subcarriers (e.g., <NUM>) that each correspond to a respective portion (e.g., <NUM>) of the specified frequency range <NUM> (e.g., <NUM>). The resource block <NUM> may also span, as defined by the given communication protocol, a specified time interval <NUM> or time slot (e.g., lasting approximately one-half millisecond or <NUM> orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols). The time interval <NUM> includes subintervals that may each correspond to a symbol, such as an OFDM symbol. As shown in <FIG>, each resource block <NUM> may include multiple resource elements <NUM> (REs) that correspond to, or are defined by, a subcarrier of the frequency range <NUM> and a subinterval (or symbol) of the time interval <NUM>. Alternatively, a given resource element <NUM> may span more than one frequency subcarrier or symbol. Thus, a resource unit <NUM> may include at least one resource block <NUM>, at least one resource element <NUM>, and so forth.

In example implementations, multiple user equipment <NUM> (one of which is shown) are communicating with the base station <NUM> through access provided by portions of the air interface resource <NUM>. The base station manager <NUM> (not shown in <FIG>) may determine a respective type or amount of information (e.g., data or control information) to be communicated (e.g., transmitted) by the user equipment <NUM>. For example, the base station manager <NUM> can determine that each user equipment <NUM> is to transmit a different respective amount of information. The base station manager <NUM> then allocates one or more resource blocks <NUM> to each user equipment <NUM> based on the determined amount of information.

Additionally or alternatively, to block-level resource grants, the base station manager <NUM> may allocate resource units at an element-level. Thus, the base station manager <NUM> may allocate one or more resource elements <NUM> or individual subcarriers to different UEs <NUM>. By so doing, one resource block <NUM> can be allocated to facilitate network access for multiple user equipment <NUM>. Accordingly, the base station manager <NUM> may allocate, at various granularities, one or up to all subcarriers or resource elements <NUM> of a resource block <NUM> to one user equipment <NUM> or divided across multiple user equipment <NUM>, thereby enabling higher network utilization or increased spectrum efficiency.

The base station manager <NUM> can therefore allocate air interface resource <NUM> by resource unit <NUM>, resource block <NUM>, frequency carrier, time interval, resource element <NUM>, frequency subcarrier, time subinterval, symbol, spreading code, some combination thereof, and so forth. Based on respective allocations of resource units <NUM>, the resource manager can transmit respective messages to the multiple user equipment <NUM> indicating the respective allocation of resource units <NUM> to each user equipment <NUM>. Each message may enable a respective user equipment <NUM> to queue the information or configure the LTE transceiver <NUM>, the 5GNR transceiver <NUM>, or both to communicate using the allocated resource units <NUM> of the air interface resource <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example of uplink preemption signaling in accordance with one or more aspects of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission. A wireless link <NUM> is illustrated as a downlink (DL) <NUM> and an uplink (UL) <NUM>, where the uplink <NUM> is a Physical Uplink Shard Channel (PUSCH). The downlink <NUM> and uplink <NUM> are divided into multiple time slots <NUM>. In the first time slot of the downlink, a base station <NUM> grants UL resources to the UE <NUM> at <NUM> for transmission of eMBB data in a third UL slot. In a second downlink time slot, the base station <NUM> transmits an uplink preemption indication, at <NUM>, that indicates that a second UE (the UE <NUM>) will preempt a portion of the granted uplink resources for the eMBB transmission of the UE <NUM> for an URLLC transmission by the UE <NUM> in the third uplink time slot. The base station <NUM> starts to receive the eMBB transmission from the UE <NUM> at <NUM>. The URLLC transmission received by the base station <NUM> from the UE <NUM> punctures the eMBB transmission at <NUM>, and the base station <NUM> receives the remainder of the eMBB transmission after the puncture at <NUM>. Using power division multiplexing instead of rescheduling the eMBB transmission to avoid puncturing or transmitting a portion of the eMBB data during non-preempted portions of the slot increases the utilization of the uplink resource while also accommodating the real-time, low-latency requirements for URLLC communication.

One approach to increasing the utilization of the uplink resource during preemption is the application of multi-user detection (MUD) techniques to non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) signals. A NOMA receiver can adopt bit level detectors, such as a Message Passing Algorithm (MPA), an Estimation Propagation Algorithm (EPA), and/or a Belief Propagation (BP), or symbol level detectors, such as a Matched Filter (MF), an Elementary Signal Estimator (ESE) and/or a Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) estimator.

NOMA signal signatures can lower the interference among signals transmitted on a shared physical resource, thus increasing the channel capacity. MPA, EPA, and BP estimators can jointly cancel the interference, and ESE can suppress the interference (e.g., performing soft interference cancellation) by iteratively updating the log-likelihood-ratio (LLR) of the bit streams that have not successively decoded. In addition to the estimator, outer iterative algorithms such as Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC), Parallel Interference Cancellation (PIC), and/or Hybrid Interference Cancellation (HIC) can also enhance interference cancellation.

<FIG> illustrates an example of coding a transport block for transmission in accordance with one or more aspects of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by
shared grant-free transmission. In <FIG> for example, a transport block <NUM> is longer than the maximum length of a code block <NUM>. The transport block <NUM> and a CRC block <NUM> for the transport block <NUM> are segmented into a number of code blocks <NUM>, illustrated as code blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Although the transport block <NUM> is illustrated as being segmented into three code blocks <NUM> in <FIG>, any suitable number of code blocks <NUM> can be used to segment a transport block. If after segmenting the transport block <NUM>, the code block <NUM> is shorter than the other code blocks <NUM>, padding bits are prepended to the code block <NUM>, at <NUM>, so that all the code blocks <NUM> are the same length. Then a CRC is calculated for, and appended to, each code block <NUM> before sending the code blocks <NUM> to a channel coder.

<FIG> illustrates an example transmitter <NUM> for NOMA-assisted uplink multiplexing using two cyclical redundancy checks in a UE <NUM>. The transmitter receives the TB <NUM> or the CB <NUM> and, at <NUM>, inserts a first CRC into the TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>. In other words, the first CRC represents the CRC <NUM>, or a CRC attached to CB <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>, depending on the length of the TB <NUM>. The TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>, including the CRC, is passed to a Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoder <NUM> to produce a codeword (CW) illustrated in <FIG> as "X. " The codeword that is passed to a rate matching block <NUM>. When the transmitter receives a preemption indication in the rate matching block <NUM>, the bits in the CW are split into a first part ("Xp" in <FIG>) and a second part ("Xs" in <FIG>). The length of the first part of the CW is based upon the preemption indicator for rate matching. The first part includes the bits in the CW before the point of preemption and the second part of the CW includes the remaining bits of the CW.

The transmitter then transmits the first part of the CW ("Xp") in the preempted first physical resource <NUM>. The transmission includes bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the first part of the of the CW.

The UE <NUM> transmitter selects the second part of the CW ("Xs") and inserts a second CRC, at <NUM>, for transmission using a shared grant-free resource (a second physical resource <NUM>) according to a NOMA process. The transmitter passes the second part of the codeword and its associated CRC to a NOMA signature generator <NUM> and transmits the second portion of the CW based on the NOMA signature on a second physical resource <NUM>. The NOMA signature generator <NUM> includes a FEC encoder <NUM>, rate matching <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the second part of the of the CW.

The UE <NUM> can select an arbitrary starting point and length of the second part of the CW; however, the base station <NUM> has to know the starting point and the length of the second part of the CW to perform soft-combining. By the UE <NUM> selecting the preempted tail part from a circular buffer in the rate matching block, no additional information transmission is needed, otherwise, the UE <NUM> provides an explicit or implicit control signal to the base station <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example receiver <NUM> for NOMA-assisted uplink multiplexing using two cyclical redundancy checks in the base station <NUM>. At the base station <NUM>, the first and second parts of the CW are received by the receiver. The first part of the CW is received using the first physical resource <NUM> and is processed through symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, and the decoded bits (shown as "X'p" in <FIG>) are held in a decoding buffer <NUM> for soft combining with a decoded second part of the CW.

The second part of the CW is received using the second physical resource <NUM> and is processed using MUD in the multi-user detector <NUM>. The multi-user detector <NUM> includes interference cancellation <NUM> (interference canceler <NUM>) and a NOMA detector <NUM> to produce decoded bits (shown as "X's" in <FIG>) of the second part of the CW. The NOMA detector <NUM> includes symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, buffering of the decoded bits in a decoding buffer <NUM>, and FEC decoding <NUM>. Successive interference cancellation feedback is provided to the interference cancellation block <NUM>, as shown by the dashed lines in <FIG>, after removal of the second CRC, to produce multiple MUD outcomes. Successive passes through the NOMA detector <NUM> are used to cancel interference to recover the second part of the CW.

When the NOMA detection is successful, as indicated by "X's" in <FIG>, the decoded first part and second part of the CW are soft-combined in the decoding buffer <NUM>. The decoding buffer <NUM> passes combined, decoded bits (shown as "X'" in <FIG>) to a FEC decoder <NUM>, the first CRC is removed by a first CRC check <NUM>, and the data (shown as "S'") is passed to upper layers of the protocol stack in the base station <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates an example transmitter <NUM> for NOMA assisted uplink multiplexing using one cyclical redundancy check in a UE <NUM>. In another aspect, a UE with a preempted transport block (TB) of eMBB data retransmits or parallel transmits a code block (CB) through a NOMA-shared resource using a single CRC. If the TB is longer than the length of a maximum code block, the TB is segmented into multiple CBs for transmission, as illustrated in <FIG>. In this case, the single CRC represents the CRC <NUM>, or a CRC attached to CB <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>, depending on the length of the TB <NUM>.

The transmitter receives the TB <NUM> or the CB <NUM> and, at <NUM>, inserts a first CRC into the TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>. The TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>, including the CRC, is passed to a Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoder <NUM> to produce a codeword (CW) illustrated in <FIG> as "X. " The codeword is passed to a rate matching block <NUM>. When the transmitter receives a preemption indication in the rate matching block <NUM>, the bits in the CW are split into a first part ("Xp" in <FIG>) and a second part ("Xs" in <FIG>). The length of the first part of the CW is based upon the preemption indicator for rate matching. The first part includes the bits in the CW before the point of preemption and the second part of the CW includes the remaining bits of the CW.

The transmitter then transmits the first part of the CW ("Xp") in a preempted first physical resource <NUM>. The transmission includes bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the first part of the of the CW.

The UE <NUM> transmitter selects the second part of the CW ("Xs") for transmission using a shared grant-free resource (a second physical resource <NUM>) according to a NOMA process. The transmitter passes the second part of the codeword to a NOMA signature generator <NUM> and transmits the second portion of the CW based on the NOMA signature on the second physical resource <NUM>. The transmitter generates a NOMA signature and transmits the second portion of the CW based on the NOMA signature. The NOMA signature generator <NUM> includes a FEC encoder <NUM>, rate matching <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the second part of the of the CW.

<FIG> illustrates an example receiver <NUM> for NOMA-assisted uplink multiplexing using one cyclical redundancy check in the base station <NUM>. At the base station <NUM>, the first and second parts of the CW are received by the receiver. The first part of the CW is received using the first physical resource <NUM> and is processed through symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, and the decoded bits (shown as "X'p" in <FIG>) are held in a decoding buffer <NUM> for soft combining with the decoded second part of the CW.

The second part of the CW is received using the second physical resource <NUM> is processed using multi-user detection (MUD) in the multi-user detector <NUM> that includes interference cancellation <NUM> (interference canceler <NUM>) and a NOMA detector <NUM> to produce decoded bits (shown as "X's" in <FIG>) of the second part of the CW. The NOMA detector <NUM> includes symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, buffering of the decoded bits in a decoding buffer <NUM>, and FEC decoding <NUM>.

Successive interference cancellation feedback is provided to the interference cancellation block, as shown by the dashed lines in <FIG>, to produce multiple MUD outcomes. Successive passes through the NOMA detector <NUM> are used to cancel interference to recover the second part of the CW. The FEC-decoded bits of the second part of the CW are soft-combined with the decoded bits of the first part of the CW in the decoding buffer <NUM>. The decoding buffer <NUM> passes combined, decoded bits (shown as "X'" in <FIG>) to a FEC decoder <NUM>, the first CRC is removed by a first CRC check <NUM>, and the result is supplied as successive interference cancellation feedback to the interference cancellation block <NUM> (as shown by the dashed lines in <FIG>) to produce multiple MUD outcomes. When the NOMA detection is successful, the data (shown as "S'" in <FIG>) is passed to upper layers of the protocol stack in the base station <NUM>.

Example methods <NUM>-<NUM> is described with reference to <FIG> in accordance with one or more aspects of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission. The order in which the method blocks are described are not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be skipped or combined in any order to implement a method, or an alternate method. Generally, any of the components, modules, methods, and operations described herein can be implemented using software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manual processing, or any combination thereof. Some operations of the example methods may be described in the general context of executable instructions stored on computer-readable storage memory that is local and/or remote to a computer processing system, and implementations can include software applications, programs, functions, and the like. Alternatively or additionally, any of the functionality described herein can be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components, such as, and without limitation, Field-programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application-specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SoCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and the like.

<FIG> illustrates example method(s) <NUM> of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission as generally related to encoding a transport block or code block for transmission by a user equipment. At block <NUM>, a user equipment receives an uplink grant to transmit a transport block using a first physical resource. For example, the user equipment <NUM> receives an uplink grant from the base station <NUM> to transmit eMBB data using a first physical resource.

At block <NUM>, a first CRC is inserted into the transport block. For example, a CRC <NUM> is calculated for the TB <NUM> and inserted into the TB <NUM> as shown in <FIG>.

At <NUM>, the UE determines if the TB is too large for a forward error correction (FEC) encoder and if the TB is too large for the forward error correction (FEC) encoder, the TB is fragmented into multiple code blocks (CB) at <NUM>. For example, the user equipment determines that the TB <NUM> of eMBB data is too large for the FEC encoder <NUM> and fragments the TB <NUM> into multiple CBs <NUM> for the FEC encoder <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE inserts a second CRC into each CB. For example, the user equipment inserts a CRC into each CB <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, the UE encodes the TB or CB, including the CRC, into a codeword (CW). For example, the user equipment encodes the TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>, including the CRC, of the eMBB data into a CW.

At block <NUM>, the UE receives a preemption indicator for part of the first physical resource. For example, the user equipment receives a preemption indicator from the base station that an URLLC transmission will preempt part of the first physical resource <NUM> granted for the eMBB transmission.

At block <NUM>, the UE selects a first part of the CW for rate matching with a length based on the UL grant and the preemption indicator. For example, based on the UL grant and the preemption indicator received from the base station <NUM>, the user equipment <NUM> selects a first part of the CW for rate matching.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits the first part of the CW in the preempted first physical resource. For example, the UE <NUM> transmits the first part of the CW, the transmitting including bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the first part of the of the CW.

At block <NUM>, the UE selects a second part of the CW and inserts a second CRC for the second part of the CW. For example, based on the UL grant and the preemption indicator received from the base station <NUM>, the user equipment <NUM> selects a second part of the CW and generates a CRC for the second part and inserts the second CRC for rate matching. The UE <NUM> can select an arbitrary starting point and length for the second part of the CW or select the tail part from the circular buffer, in the rate matching block <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits the second part of the CW in the second physical resource. For example, the UE transmits the second part of the CW that includes bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the second part of the of the CW.

<FIG> illustrates example method(s) <NUM> of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission as generally related to decoding a transport block or code block by a base station.

At block <NUM>, a base station decodes a first part of a codeword received from a UE. For example, the base station <NUM> receives a first part of a codeword that was transmitted by the user equipment <NUM> using a first physical resource <NUM>. The reception and decoding includes symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, and storage in a decoding buffer <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station detects a second part of the received codeword using multi-user detection. For example, the base station <NUM> receives a second part of the codeword that was transmitted by the user equipment using a second physical resource <NUM>. The multi-user detector <NUM> applies Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) using the result of decoding the second part of the CW after the second CRC is removed. The reception and decoding includes symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, buffering <NUM>, FEC decoding <NUM>, and removal of a second CRC at the second CRC check <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station determines if the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful. For example, the base station <NUM> uses the first CRC to determine if the decoding of the first part of the CW was successful. Alternatively or additionally, the base station <NUM> drops the second part of the CW.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines that the decoding of the first part of the CW was successful, the base station can send an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE. For example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the first part of the CW, the base station <NUM> transmits an Ack to the UE to indicate that the CW was successfully decoded. In an alternative example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the first part of the CW, the base station <NUM> determines the CW was successfully decoded and goes to the next transmission without sending an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines that the decoding of the second part of the CW was successful, the base station combines the first part and the second part of the CW to form a combined CW and decodes the combined codeword. For example, if the base station <NUM> determines that the decoding of the second part of the CW was successful, the first part and the second part of the CW are combined in the decoding buffer <NUM>, and the combined codeword is FEC-decoded by the FEC decoder <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station determines whether the decoding of the combined codeword is successful or not. For example, the base station <NUM> uses the first CRC to determine if the decoding of the CW was successful.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines that the decoding of the combined CW was successful, the base station can send an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE. For example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the combined CW, the base station <NUM> transmits an Ack to the UE <NUM> to indicate that the combined CW was successfully decoded. In an alternative example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the combined CW, the base station <NUM> determines the CW was successfully decoded and goes to the next transmission without sending an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE.

At block <NUM>, if the decoding of the first part of the CW or the detection of the second part of the CW fails, the base station drops the second part of the CW. For example, if based on the first CRC, the decoding of the first part of the CW failed, and based on the second CRC, the detection of the second part of the CW failed, the base station <NUM> drops the second part of the CW.

At block <NUM>, if the decoding of the combined CW failed, the base station can send a negative acknowledgement (Nck) to the UE. For example, if the first CRC does not validate the decoding of the combined CW or if the second CRC does not validate the detection of the second part of the CW, the base station <NUM> sends a Nck to the UE <NUM>. In an alternative example, if the first CRC does not validate the decoding of the combined CW or if the second CRC does not validate the detection of the second part of the CW, the base station <NUM> sends an UL grant to the UE <NUM> for retransmission of the CW.

<FIG> illustrates example method(s) <NUM> of fifth generation new radio uplink multiplexing assisted by shared grant-free transmission as generally related to encoding a transport block or code block for transmission by a user equipment.

At block <NUM>, a user equipment (UE) receives an uplink (UL) grant to transmit a transport block (TB) using a first physical resource. For example, the user equipment <NUM> receives an uplink grant from a base station <NUM> to transmit eMBB data using a first physical resource <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE determines if the TB is too large for a forward error correction (FEC) encoder, and if the TB is too large for the forward error correction (FEC) encoder, the TB is fragmented into multiple code blocks (CB) at <NUM>. For example, the user equipment <NUM> determines that the TB <NUM> of eMBB data is too large for the FEC encoder <NUM> and fragments the TB <NUM> into multiple CBs <NUM> for the FEC encoder <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE inserts a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) into the TB or CB. For example, the user equipment <NUM> inserts a CRC into the TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, the UE encodes the TB or CB, including the CRC, into a codeword (CW). For example, the user equipment <NUM> encodes the TB <NUM> or CB <NUM>, including the CRC <NUM>, of the eMBB data into a CW.

At block <NUM>, the UE receives a preemption indicator for part of the first physical resource. For example, the user equipment <NUM> receives a preemption indicator from the base station <NUM> that an URLLC transmission will preempt part of the first physical resource <NUM> granted for the eMBB transmission.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits the first part of the CW in the preempted first physical resource. For example, the UE transmits the first part of the CW, the transmitting including bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the first part of the of the CW.

At block <NUM>, the UE selects a second part of the CW. For example, based on the UL grant and the preemption indicator received from the base station <NUM>, the user equipment <NUM> selects a second part of the CW for rate matching. The UE can select an arbitrary starting point and length for the second part of the CW or select the tail part from the circular buffer in the rate matching block.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits the second part of the CW in the second physical resource. For example, the UE <NUM> transmits the second part of the CW that includes bit level processing <NUM>, modulation <NUM>, symbol level processing <NUM>, and resource allocation <NUM> for the second part of the of the CW.

At block <NUM>, the base station detects a second part of a received codeword using multi-user detection to produce multiple MUD outcomes. For example, the base station <NUM> receives a second part of the codeword that was transmitted by the user equipment <NUM> using a second physical resource <NUM>. The multi-user detector <NUM> applies Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) using the result of decoding the combined first part and second part of the CW. The reception and decoding includes symbol level processing <NUM>, demodulation <NUM>, bit level processing <NUM>, buffering <NUM>, and FEC decoding <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station determines if the decoding of the first part of the CW is successful. For example, the base station <NUM> uses the cyclical redundancy check (CRC) to determine if the decoding of the first part of the CW was successful.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines that the decoding of the first part of the CW was successful, the base station <NUM> can send an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE, at block <NUM>. For example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the first part of the CW, the base station <NUM> transmits an Ack to the UE <NUM> to indicate that the CW was successfully decoded. In an alternative example, if the first CRC validates the decoding of the first part of the CW, the base station <NUM> determines the CW was successfully decoded and proceeds to decoding the next transmission without sending an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines the decoding of the first part of the CW was not successful (at block <NUM>), the base station combines the first part and the second part of the CW to form a combined CW and decodes the combined codeword. For example, if the base station <NUM> determines that the decoding of the first part of the CW was not successful, the first part and the second part of the CW are combined in the decoding buffer, and the combined codeword is FEC-decoded.

At block <NUM>, the base station determines if the decoding of the combined codeword is successful and if the decoding was successful, the base station can send an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE, at the block <NUM>. For example, the base station <NUM> uses the CRC to determine if the decoding of the combined CW was successful and transmits the Ack to the UE <NUM> to indicate that the CW was successfully decoded. In an alternative example, if the CRC validates the decoding of the combined CW, the base station <NUM> determines the combined CW was successfully decoded and proceeds to decoding the next transmission without sending an acknowledgement (Ack) to the UE.

At block <NUM>, if the base station determines that the decoding of the combined CW was not successful at <NUM>, the base station determines if an additional MUD outcome is available. For example, if the CRC does not validate the decoding of the combined CW, the base station <NUM> determines if another MUD outcome is available, such as another attempt at successive interference cancellation.

At block <NUM>, if another MUD outcome is available, the base station combines the first part and the second part of the CW, produced by the other MUD outcome, to form a combined CW and decodes the combined codeword. For example, if the base station <NUM> determines that the decoding of the first part of the CW was successful, the first part and the second part of the CW from the other MUD outcome are combined in the decoding buffer <NUM> and the combined codeword is FEC-decoded by the FEC decoder <NUM>. The process of blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> is repeated until no additional MUD outcomes are available.

At block <NUM>, if decoding of the combined CWs from all of the MUD outcomes has failed, the base station can send a negative acknowledgement (Nck) to the UE. For example, if the CRC does not validate any of the decodings of the combined CWs, the base station <NUM> sends a Nck to the UE <NUM>. In an alternative example, if the CRC does not validate any of the decodings of the combined CWs, the base station <NUM> sends an UL grant to the UE <NUM> for retransmission of the CW.

Claim 1:
An electronic device configured as a user equipment for communication, the UE configured to:
insert (<NUM>), into a transport block, a first cyclical redundancy check calculated for the transport block;
forward error correction encode (<NUM>, <NUM>) the transport block, including the first cyclical redundancy check, into a codeword;
receive (<NUM>) a preemption indicator for part of a first physical resource (<NUM>);
select (<NUM>) a first part (Xp) of the codeword for rate matching with a length based on a received uplink grant and the received preemption indicator;
transmit (<NUM>) the first part of the codeword using the first physical resource;
select (<NUM>) a second part (Xs) of the codeword, the second part including bits of the transport block remaining after selecting the first part;
insert (<NUM>), in the selected second part of the codeword, a second cyclical redundancy check calculated for the second part of the codeword; and
transmit (<NUM>) the second part of the codeword using a second physical resource (<NUM>).