Patent Description:
A wireless communication system is illustrated in <FIG>. The system includes a UE <NUM> that communicates with one or more access nodes <NUM>, <NUM> using radio connections <NUM>, <NUM>. The access nodes <NUM>, <NUM> are connected to a core network node <NUM>. The access nodes <NUM>, <NUM> are part of a radio access network <NUM>.

Currently the 5th generation of cellular system, called New Radio ("NR") is being standardized in 3GPP. NR is developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple and substantially different use cases. Besides the typical mobile broadband use case, also machine type communication ("MTC"), ultra-low latency critical communications ("URLCC"), side-link device-to-device ("D2D") and several other use cases too.

In NR, the basic scheduling unit is called a slot. A slot can include <NUM> orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ("OFDM") symbols for the normal cyclic prefix configuration. NR supports many different subcarrier spacing configurations and at a subcarrier spacing of <NUM> the OFDM symbol duration is ~<NUM>. As an example, a slot with <NUM> symbols for the same subcarrier-spacing ("SCS") is <NUM> long (including cyclic prefixes).

NR also supports flexible bandwidth configurations for different UEs on the same serving cell. In other words, the bandwidth monitored by a UE and used for its control and data channels may be smaller than the carrier bandwidth. One or multiple bandwidth part configurations for each component carrier can be semi-statically signaled to a UE, where a bandwidth part consists of a group of contiguous PRBs. Reserved resources can be configured within the bandwidth part. The bandwidth of a bandwidth part equals to or is smaller than the maximal bandwidth capability supported by a UE.

NR is targeting both licensed and unlicensed bands and a work item named NR-based Access to Unlicensed Spectrum ("NR-U") was started in Jan. Allowing unlicensed networks, for example. , networks that operate in shared spectrum (or unlicensed spectrum) to effectively use the available spectrum is an attractive approach to increase system capacity. Although unlicensed spectrum does not match the qualities of the licensed regime, solutions that allow an efficient use of it as a complement to licensed deployments have the potential to bring great value to the 3GPP operators, and, ultimately, to the 3GPP industry as a whole. It is expected that some features in NR will need to be adapted to comply with the special characteristics of the unlicensed band as well as also different regulations. A subcarrier spacing of <NUM> or <NUM> are the most promising candidates for NR-U OFDM numerologies for frequencies below <NUM>.

When operating in an unlicensed spectrum many regions in the world require a device to sense the medium as free before transmitting, This, operation is often referred to as listen before talk or LBT for short. There are many different flavors of LBT, depending on which radio technology the device uses and which type of data it wants to transmit at the moment. Common for all flavors is that the sensing is done in a particular channel (corresponding to a defined carrier frequency) and over a predefined bandwidth. For example, in the <NUM> band, the sensing is done over <NUM> channels.

Many devices are capable of transmitting (and receiving) over a wide bandwidth including of multiple sub-bands/channels, for example, LBT sub-band (i.e., the frequency part with bandwidth equals to LBT bandwidth). A device is only allowed to transmit on the sub-bands where the medium is sensed as free. Again, there are different flavors of how the sensing should be done when multiple sub-bands are involved.

In principle, there are two ways a device can operate over multiple sub-bands. One way is that the transmitter/receiver bandwidth is changed depending on which sub-bands that were sensed as free. In this setup, there is only one component carrier ("CC") and the multiple sub-bands are treated as single channel with a larger bandwidth. The other way is that the device operates almost independent processing chains for each channel. Depending on how independent the processing chains are, this option can be referred to as either carrier aggregation ("CA") or dual connectivity ("DC").

Listen-before-talk ("LBT") is designed for unlicensed spectrum coexistence with other RATs. In this mechanism, a radio device applies a clear channel assessment ("CCA") check (e.g., channel sensing) before any transmission. The transmitter involves energy detection ("ED") over a time period compared to a certain threshold (ED threshold) in order to determine if a channel is idle. In case the channel is determined to be occupied, the transmitter performs a random back-off within a contention window before next CCA attempt. In order to protect the ACK transmissions, the transmitter must defer a period after each busy CCA slot prior to resuming back-off. As soon as the transmitter has grasped access to a channel, the transmitter is only allowed to perform transmission up to a maximum time duration (namely, the maximum channel occupancy time ("MCOT")). For quality of service ("QoS") differentiation, a channel access priority based on the service type has been defined. For example, there are four LBT priority classes are defined for differentiation of contention window sizes ("CWS") and MCOT between services.

In NR-U, both configured scheduling and dynamic scheduling may be used.

In NR, configured scheduling is used to allocate semi-static periodic assignments or grants for a UE. For uplink, there are two types of configured scheduling schemes: Type <NUM> and Type <NUM>. For Type <NUM>, configured grants are configured via RRC signaling only. For Type <NUM>, similar configuration procedure as semi-persistent scheduling ("SPS") uplink ("UL") in long term evolution ("LTE") was defined, for example, some parameters are preconfigured via RRC signaling and some physical layer parameters are configured via media access control ("MAC") scheduling procedure. The detail procedures can be found in 3GPP TS <NUM> V15. The configured uplink scheduling will be also used in NR unlicensed operation. For NR-U, the configured scheduling can improve the channel access probability for physical uplink shared channel ("PUSCH") transmission due to additional LBT for physical downlink control channel ("PDCCH") transmission per UL grant is avoided and the UE can acquire channel for PUSCH transmission using a configured grant after LBT success. In this uplink transmission procedure, only single LBT procedure is needed compared to <NUM> LBT procedures (one for secure routing ("SR") transmission ("TX"), one for PDCCH for UL grant and one for PUSCH TX) relying on SR/BSR procedure. This can significantly improve the channel access probability for PUSCH transmission.

As captured in the 3GPP TR <NUM>, for both Type <NUM> and Type <NUM>, only initial hybrid automatic repeat request ("HARQ") transmission is allowed to use configured grant. The HARQ retransmission relies on dynamic grant which is indicated via PDCCH addressed to configured scheduling radio network temporary identifier ("CS-RNTI").

In NR Rel-<NUM>, it is desirable to introduce further enhanced licensed-assisted access ("feLAA") autonomous uplink transmission ("AUL") type behavior; however, it is important to recognize that the baseline is Type <NUM> and Type <NUM> configured grants ("CG"). Hence one should consider what enhancements are needed over and above this baseline to enable the desired behavior. Like for SPS in LTE, the CG periodicity is radio resource control ("RRC") configured, and this is specified in the ConfiguredGrantConfig information element ("IE"). Different periodicity values are supported in NR Rel-<NUM> depending on the subcarrier spacing. For example, for <NUM> and <NUM> SCS, the following periodicities are supported, expressed in a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing ("OFDM") symbols. For <NUM> SCS: <NUM>, <NUM>, and n*<NUM> OFDM symbols, where n ∈ {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}. For <NUM> SCS: <NUM>, <NUM>, and n*<NUM> OFDM symbols, where n ∈ {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}.

For Type <NUM> configured grants, in addition to the periodicity, the time domain allocation of PUSCH is configured purely via RRC signaling. A timeDomainOffset provides a slot offset with respect to system frame number ("SFN") <NUM>. A timeDomainAllocation provides an index into a table of <NUM> possible combinations of PUSCH mapping type (TypeA or TypeB), start symbol ("S") for the mapping (S = OFDM symbol <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> within a slot), and length ("L") of the mapping (L = <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> OFDM symbols).

For the case of Type <NUM> configured grants, the periodicity is configured by RRC in the same way as for Type <NUM>, but the slot offset is dynamically indicated and is given by the slot in which the UE receives the downlink control information ("DCI") that activates the Type <NUM> configured grant. In contrast to Type <NUM>, the time domain allocation of PUSCH is indicated dynamically by DCI via the time domain resource assignment field in the same way as for scheduled (non-CG) PUSCH. This DCI field indexes a table of start and length indicator values ("SLIVs"). The detailed configuration details of the RRC spec (i.e., 3GPP TS <NUM> v <NUM>. <NUM>) for configured grant as illustrated in <FIG>. The document <CIT> (<NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>), discloses advancements in multi carrier communication systems, focusing on carrier aggregation and the management of radio resources across multiple carriers.

The invention is disclosed by the independent claims. Further embodiment are described by the dependent claims.

Various embodiments described herein handle a timers and/or pending TBs associated with non-idle HARQ process during a CG activation, reactivation, or deactivation procedure to improve configuration flexibility of handling configured resource, improve use of configured resources, and improve satisfaction of QoS requirements of different services that share a configured resource.

Repetition of a transmission block ("TB") is also supported in new radio ("NR"), and the same resource configuration is used for K repetitions for a TB including the initial transmission. The higher layer configured parameters, repK and repK-RV, define the K repetitions to be applied to the transmitted transport block, and the redundancy version pattern to be applied to the repetitions. For the nth transmission occasion among K repetitions, n=<NUM>, <NUM>,. , K, it is associated with (mod(n-<NUM>,<NUM>)+<NUM>)th value in the configured redundancy version ("RV") sequence. The initial transmission of a transport block may start at: the first transmission occasion of the K repetitions if the configured RV sequence is {<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>}; any of the transmission occasions of the K repetitions that are associated with RV=<NUM> if the configured RV sequence is {<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>}; or any of the transmission occasions of the K repetitions if the configured RV sequence is {<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>,<NUM>}, except the last transmission occasion when K=<NUM>.

For any RV sequence, the repetitions can be terminated after transmitting K repetitions, or at the last transmission occasion among the K repetitions within the period, or when an uplink ("UL") grant for scheduling the same TB is received within the period, whichever is reached first. The communication device (also referred to herein as user equipment ("UE")) is not expected to be configured with the time duration for the transmission of K repetitions larger than the time duration derived by the periodicity.

For both Type <NUM> and Type <NUM> physical uplink shared channel ("PUSCH") transmissions with a configured grant, when the UE is configured with repK > <NUM>, the UE shall repeat the TB across the repK consecutive slots applying the same symbol allocation in each slot. If the UE procedure for determining slot configuration, as defined in subclause <NUM> of [TS <NUM>], determines symbols of a slot allocated for PUSCH as downlink symbols, the transmission on that slot is omitted for multi-slot PUSCH transmission.

Autonomous uplink transmission ("AUL") has been being developed in the third generation partnership project ("3GPP"). The AUL is to be designed based on the configured scheduling scheme in Rel-<NUM>. AUL will support autonomous retransmission using a configured grant. To support autonomous retransmission in uplink using a configured grant, in RAN2-105bis, it was determined to introduce a new timer to protect the hybrid automatic repeat request ("HARQ") procedure so that the retransmission can use the same HARQ process for retransmission as for the initial transmission.

R2 assumes that the configured grant timer is not started/restarted when configured grant is not transmitted due to listen before talk ("LBT") failure. Protocol data unit ("PDU") overwrite should be avoided.

The configured grant timer is not started/restarted when UL LBT fails on PUSCH transmission for grant received by PDCCH addressed to CS-RNTI scheduling retransmission for configured grant.

The configured grant timer is not started/restarted when the UL LBT fails on PUSCH transmission for UL grant received by PDCCH addressed to C-RNTI, which indicates the same HARQ process configured for configured uplink grant.

Retransmissions of a TB using configured grant resources, when initial transmission or a retransmission of the TB was previously done using dynamically scheduled resources, is not allowed.

A new timer is introduced for auto retransmission (i.e. timer expiry = HARQ NACK) on configured grant for the case of the TB previous being transmitted on a configured grant "CG retransmission timer.

The new timer is started when the TB is actually transmitted on the configured grant and stopped upon reception of HARQ feedback (e.g., downlink feedback information ("DFI")) or dynamic grant for the HARQ process.

The legacy configured grant timer and behavior is kept for preventing the configured grant from overriding the TB scheduled by dynamic grant, i.e. it is (re)started upon reception of the PDCCH as well as transmission on the PUSCH of dynamic grant.

For AUL, the serving gNB can also schedule retransmission for a UE when previous transmission using a configured grant fails.

In some examples, when configuredGrantTimer expires, the UE should stop the CG retransmission timer ("CGRT") if it is still running. Additionally, upon receiving CG activation command, the UE should stop the CG retransmission timer for HARQ processes configured for the CG. In addition, there is no special handling for HARQ process sharing between configured grant and dynamic grants (i.e. follow licensed specifications). In addition, HARQ process id selection is based on UE implementation. Ongoing retransmissions on HARQ processes should be prioritized. In addition, multiple active CG configurations should be allowed for NR-U. In addition, a single LCH can be mapped to multiple CG configurations. In addition, multiple LCHs can be mapped to a single CG configuration.

Based on the above, a UE can use configuredGrantTimer to limit the maximum retransmission attempts for a TB using a configured grant in case the UE supports autonomous HARQ retransmissions for the TB using a configured grant (i.e., CGRT is configured). Furthermore, a UE can be configured with multiple active CG configurations. Furthermore, The mapping relation between LCHs and CG configurations can be one to many or many to many.

Some problems arise based on the above that are addressed by embodiments herein. For example, there are some issues observed regarding UE behaviors when the UE has received a CG activation or deactivation command.

In a first example, the UE has already an active CG configuration while the UE receives a re-activation command to update the CG configuration. In this case, the UE may have several HARQ processes which are being occupied with the existing stored configured uplink grant. According to above agreement, the UE would stop the CGRT for all configured HARQ processes for the CG upon reception of a CG re-activation command. Such handling may lead to loss of a pending TB if the gNB is not aware of the transmission for this TB (e.g., the gNB may not have decoded the UCI for the TB or the UE may not have sent a prepared TB yet). The gNB would not be able to schedule a retransmission for this pending TB, while the UE will stop to retransmit the pending TB due to the CGRT timer has been stopped.

In a second example, the UE already has an active CG configuration while the UE receives a de-activation command for the CG configuration. For a configured grant Type <NUM>, the MAC entity shall clear the configured uplink grant immediately after first transmission of Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE triggered by the configured uplink grant deactivation. However, the UE doesn't stop the CGT and CGRT associated with the configured HARQ process for the CG configuration. This may cause an issue that a HARQ process occupied by a pending TB would not be used by other CG transmissions (if there is other active CG configurations configured to the UE) before the CGRT and CGT are expired.

In a third example, the UE is configured with multiple active CG configurations. When the UE receives a DCI activation/reactivation/deactivation command for a CG configuration, which has shared HARQ processes with another active CG configuration. It may be unclear how the UE handles the CGRT timers for configured HARQ processes. Issues may arise if the UE stops the CGRT timer for a HARQ process which is being used by another CG configuration.

For a UE configured with multiple active CG configurations, in order to make the functions of CG based TB repetitions to work properly, the above issues must be addressed.

Various embodiments described herein describe how to handle the timers (e.g., the CGT and the CGRT) in case a UE receives a CG activation/re-activation/deactivation command and how to handle the pending TBs in case a UE receives a CG activation/re-activation/deactivation command. Some embodiments, improve configuration flexibility of handling configured resources. Additional or alternative embodiments, improve use of configured resources considering service quality of service ("QoS") requirements. Additional or alternative embodiments, improve satisfaction of QoS requirements of different services that share the same configured resource.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating elements of a communication device UE <NUM> (also referred to as a mobile terminal, a mobile communication terminal, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a wireless terminal, mobile device, a wireless communication terminal, user equipment, UE, a user equipment node/terminal/device, etc.) configured to provide wireless communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (Communication device <NUM> may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to wireless device <NUM> of <FIG>, UE <NUM> of <FIG>, UEs <NUM>, <NUM> of <FIG>, and UE <NUM> of <FIG>. ) As shown, communication device UE <NUM> may include an antenna <NUM> (e.g., corresponding to antenna <NUM> of <FIG>), and transceiver circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to interface <NUM> of <FIG>; interfaces <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, transmitter <NUM>, and receiver <NUM> of <FIG>; and radio interface <NUM> of <FIG>) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with a base station(s) (e.g., corresponding to network node <NUM> of <FIG>, also referred to as a RAN node) of a radio access network. Communication device UE <NUM> may also include processing circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry <NUM> of <FIG>, processor <NUM> of <FIG>, and processing circuitry <NUM> of <FIG>) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium <NUM> of <FIG>) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry <NUM> may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry <NUM> causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry <NUM> may be defined to include memory so that separate memory circuitry is not required. Communication device UE <NUM> may also include an interface (such as a user interface) coupled with processing circuitry <NUM>, and/or communication device UE may be incorporated in a vehicle.

As discussed herein, operations of communication device UE <NUM> may be performed by processing circuitry <NUM> and/or transceiver circuitry <NUM>. For example, processing circuitry <NUM> may control transceiver circuitry <NUM> to transmit communications through transceiver circuitry <NUM> over a radio interface to a radio access network node (also referred to as a base station) and/or to receive communications through transceiver circuitry <NUM> from a RAN node over a radio interface. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory circuitry <NUM>, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> performs respective operations.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating elements of a radio access network RAN node <NUM> (also referred to as a network node, base station, eNodeB/eNB, gNodeB/gNB, etc.) of a Radio Access Network (RAN) configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. (RAN node <NUM> may be provided, for example, as discussed below with respect to network node <NUM> of <FIG>, base stations 4412a-c of <FIG>, and/or base station <NUM> of <FIG>, all of which should be considered interchangeable in the examples and embodiments described herein and be withing the intended scope of this disclosure, unless otherwise noted. ) As shown, the RAN node <NUM> may include transceiver circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a transceiver, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface <NUM> of <FIG> and/or portions of radio interface <NUM> of <FIG>) including a transmitter and a receiver configured to provide uplink and downlink radio communications with mobile terminals. The RAN node <NUM> may include network interface circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a network interface, e.g., corresponding to portions of interface <NUM> of <FIG> and/or portions of communication interface <NUM> of <FIG>) configured to provide communications with other nodes (e.g., with other base stations) of the RAN and/or core network CN. The RAN node <NUM> may also include processing circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a processor, e.g., corresponding to processing circuitry <NUM> and/or processing circuitry <NUM> of <FIG>) coupled to the transceiver circuitry, and memory circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as memory, e.g., corresponding to device readable medium <NUM> of <FIG>) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry <NUM> may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry <NUM> causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry <NUM> may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the RAN node <NUM> may be performed by processing circuitry <NUM>, network interface <NUM>, and/or transceiver <NUM>. For example, processing circuitry <NUM> may control transceiver <NUM> to transmit downlink communications through transceiver <NUM> over a radio interface to one or more mobile terminals UEs and/or to receive uplink communications through transceiver <NUM> from one or more mobile terminals UEs over a radio interface. Similarly, processing circuitry <NUM> may control network interface <NUM> to transmit communications through network interface <NUM> to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory <NUM>, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to network nodes).

According to some other embodiments, a network node may be implemented as a core network CN node without a transceiver. In such embodiments, transmission to a wireless communication device UE may be initiated by the network node so that transmission to the wireless communication device UE is provided through a network node including a transceiver (e.g., through a base station or RAN node). According to embodiments where the network node is a RAN node including a transceiver, initiating transmission may include transmitting through the transceiver.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating elements of a core network CN node <NUM> (e.g., an SMF node, an AMF node, etc.) of a communication network configured to provide cellular communication according to embodiments of inventive concepts. As shown, the CN node <NUM> may include network interface circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a network interface) configured to provide communications with other nodes of the core network and/or the RAN. The CN node <NUM> may also include a processing circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as a processor) coupled to the network interface circuitry, and memory circuitry <NUM> (also referred to as memory) coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory circuitry <NUM> may include computer readable program code that when executed by the processing circuitry <NUM> causes the processing circuitry to perform operations according to embodiments disclosed herein. According to other embodiments, processing circuitry <NUM> may be defined to include memory so that a separate memory circuitry is not required.

As discussed herein, operations of the CN node <NUM> may be performed by processing circuitry <NUM> and/or network interface circuitry <NUM>. For example, processing circuitry <NUM> may control network interface circuitry <NUM> to transmit communications through network interface circuitry <NUM> to one or more other network nodes and/or to receive communications through network interface circuitry from one or more other network nodes. Moreover, modules may be stored in memory <NUM>, and these modules may provide instructions so that when instructions of a module are executed by processing circuitry <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> performs respective operations (e.g., operations discussed below with respect to Example Embodiments relating to network nodes).

Some embodiments are described in the context of NR unlicensed spectrum ("NR-U"). However, various embodiments described herein are applicable to non-NR-U scenarios. For example, some embodiments are applicable to other unlicensed operation scenarios such as LTE license assisted access ("LAA")/enhanced LAA ("eLAA")/further eLAA ("feLAA")/MulteFire, and licensed spectrum scenarios. The term ConfiguredGrantTimer ("CGT") is used herein to represent a timer which is defined for controlling the maximum retransmission attempts of a TB using a configured grant. The term CGretransmissionTimer ("CGRT") is used herein to represent a timer for triggering a UE's autonomous retransmission of a TB using a configured grant. However, discussions on the timer names are still ongoing in the 3GPP, the eventual names may be different. The below embodiments are not restricted to the terms used to represent the timers. Other terms used to refer to timers are equally applicable.

In various embodiments described herein, a non-idle HARQ process is a HARQ process whose associated MAC PDU has been submitted to lower layers for transmission, but for which successful reception acknowledgment has not been received yet from the gNB.

In some embodiments, a UE receives a DCI command to activate/reactivate a CG configuration and then the UE handles timers for each non-idle HARQ process which is configured for the CG configuration.

In some embodiments, the UE doesn't stop the CGT and/or the CGRT if they are running for a non-idle HARQ process on the concerned CG configuration. When the CGRT timer is expired, the UE would then retransmit the corresponding TB using another selected CG resource associated to any active CG configuration (e.g., the re-activated CG configuration or another active CG configuration). For example, at reception of the DCI command to activate/re-activate a CG configuration, the HARQ buffer of the corresponding HARQ process is not flushed (e.g., the HARQ buffer includes pending TBs), the NDI is not toggled, and the HARQ process is considered as non-idle. In some examples, the selected active CG configuration is such that the corresponding CG resource which can accommodate the same TBS as the CG configuration in which the TB was initially transmitted, for example, the selected configured UL grant is of the same size as the configured UL grant in which the TB was initially transmitted.

In additional or alternative examples, if an active configured UL grant of the same size as the configured UL grant in which the TB was initially transmitted is not available, the UE may select a CG resource which gives different TBS as the CG configuration in which the TB was initially transmitted. In this case, the UE may perform rate matching for the TB to fit the new TBS. When the CGT timer is expired, the UE flushes the buffer of corresponding HARQ process.

In additional or alternative embodiments, the above procedure applies to each running CGT and CGRT associated to each non-idle HARQ process. In additional or alternative embodiments, the above procedure applies to only a subset of non-idle HARQ processes whose HARQ process IDs are indicated in the DCI command indicating (re)activation of the CG configuration.

In some embodiments, the UE stops the CGT and/or the CGRT for the HARQ process if they are running. For the pending TB occupying the HARQ process, the UE may either drop the TB and trigger upper layer retransmission or inform the gNB that there is a pending TB, so the gNB may schedule retransmissions for this TB. For example, at reception of the DCI command to activate/re-activate a CG configuration, the HARQ buffer of the corresponding HARQ process is flushed (cleared of pending TBs), the new data indicator ("NDI") is considered to be toggled, and the HARQ process is considered as idle (no pending TBs). The UE may send signaling to the gNB via a dedicated RRC signaling, MAC CE, or a layer <NUM> ("L1")/layer <NUM> ("L2") control signaling such as physical random access channel ("PRACH") or PUCCH. The signaling can convey the information such as what HARQ process have pending TBs and the transport block size ("TBS") associated with each pending TB.

In additional or alternative embodiments, the procedure above applies to each running CGT and CGRT associated to each non-idle HARQ process. In additional or alternative embodiments, the procedure applies to only a subset of non-idle HARQ processes whose HARQ process IDs are indicated in the DCI command indicating (re)activation of the CG configuration.

In some embodiments, the UE already has an active CG configuration and the UE receives a de-activation command for the CG configuration. In some embodiments, a MAC entity of the UE can clear the configured uplink grant immediately after first transmission of Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE triggered by the configured uplink grant deactivation. In additional or alternative embodiments, the UE stops the CGT and/or CGRT associated for each non-idle HARQ process which is configured for the CG configuration, immediately after first transmission of Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE triggered by the configured uplink grant deactivation.

In additional or alternative embodiments, for the pending TB occupying each non-idle HARQ process, the UE may either drop the TB and trigger upper layer retransmission or inform the gNB that there is a pending TB, so the gNB may schedule retransmissions for this TB. The UE may send signaling to the gNB via a dedicated RRC signaling, MAC CE, or a L1/L2 control signaling such as PRACH or PUCCH. The signaling shall be able to convey the information such as what HARQ process have pending TBs and the TBS associated with each pending TB.

In additional or alternative embodiments, before transmission of Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE triggered by the configured uplink grant deactivation, the UE MAC will first transmit pending TBs. In additional or alternative embodiments, the pending TBs and Configured Grant Confirmation MAC CE may be transmitted together using the same grant. Accordingly, the configured uplink grant can be kept active until the pending TBs are transmitted. In additional or alternative embodiments, an additional timer may be set for the UE. The timer is started when the UE receives the CG deactivation command. When the timer is running, the UE will try to transmit the pending TBs with the configured grant. When the timer is expired, the UE clears the configured uplink grant and stop the CGT and/or the CGRT for each non-idle HARQ processes. The pending TBs are also cleared. Buffers of all non-idle HARQ processes configured for the CG configuration are flushed.

In some embodiments, the UE is configured with multiple active CG configurations. When the UE receives a DCI activation/reactivation/deactivation command for a CG configuration, which has shared HARQ processes with another active CG configuration, the UE doesn't stop the timers (CGT and/or CGRT) for each HARQ process if it is being used for transmission by another CG configuration.

In some embodiments, the DCI activation/re-activation/deactivation command comprises a HARQ process ID field. In this case, the UE only stops the timers (CGT and/or CGRT) for the signaled HARQ process if the timers are running.

In some embodiments, in addition to the proposed UE actions on how to handle the HARQ process, the UE may also perform an additional action to set the NDI bits to zero for all HARQ processes (optionally, all non-idle HARQ processes) in a CG configuration when the UE receives a DCI activation/re-activation/deactivation command for the CG configuration.

Operations of the wireless device <NUM> (implemented using the structure of the block diagram of <FIG>) will now be discussed with reference to the flow chart of <FIG> according to some embodiments of inventive concepts. For example, modules may be stored in memory <NUM> of <FIG>, and these modules may provide instructions so that when the instructions of a module are executed by respective wireless device processing circuitry <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> performs respective operations of the flow chart.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a process performed by the wireless device. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> receives, via transceiver <NUM>, a DCI command to activate or reactivate a CG configuration. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> controls at least one timer associated with a non-idle HARQ process. In some embodiments, the at least one timer includes a configured grant timer, CGT, and a configured grant retransmission timer, CGRT. The CGT can be configured to limit a maximum number of retransmission attempts of the TB using the CG. The CGRT can be configured to trigger autonomous retransmission of the TB using the CG. In additional or alternative embodiments, the non-idle HARQ process can include a process of retransmitting a transmission block, TB, using the CG for which an associated media access control, MAC, protocol data unit, PDU, has been submitted to lower layers for transmission to a network node, but for which successful reception acknowledgment has not been received from the network node. In some embodiments, processing circuitry <NUM> controls the at least one timer in response to receiving the DCI command.

In additional or alternative embodiments, the non-idle HARQ process comprises a subset of a plurality of HARQ processes and the DCI command includes an indication of the subset of the plurality of HARQ processes.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a process of controlling the at least one timer associated with the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> determines whether the non-idle HARQ process is shared by multiple CG configurations. In response to the non-idle HARQ process being shared by multiple CG configurations, at block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> maintains the at least one timer. In response to the non-idle HARQ process not being shared by multiple CG configurations, at block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> stops the at least one timer.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process of controlling the at least one timer associated with the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> maintains a first timer and a second timer. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> maintains a value of a NDI bit associated with the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, responsive to the first timer expiring, processing circuitry <NUM> retransmits, via transceiver <NUM>, the TB associated with the non-idle HARQ process.

<FIG> illustrates an example of retransmitting the TB associated with the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> determines a TBS of an original CG configuration in which the TB was initially transmitted. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> selects a CG configuration from a plurality of CG configurations based on the TBS of a CG resource. In some embodiments, selecting the CG configuration from the plurality of active CG configurations includes selecting the active CG configuration. At block <NUM>, responsive to the TBS of the CG resource being different than the TBS of the original CG configuration, processing circuitry <NUM> performs rate matching.

Returning to <FIG>, at block <NUM>, responsive to the second timer expiring, processing circuitry <NUM>, clears a buffer of the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, responsive to the second timer expiring, processing circuitry <NUM>, toggles the NDI bit.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process of controlling the at least one timer associated with the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> stops the at least one timer. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> removes the TB from the buffer of the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> triggers upper layer retransmission of the TB.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process of controlling the at least one timer. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> stops the at least one timer. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> notifies, via transceiver <NUM>, the network node that the TB associated with the non-idle HARQ process is pending. In some embodiments, notifying the network node includes transmitting a message via one of: a dedicated radio resource control, RRC, signaling, MAC control element, CE, or a layer <NUM>, L1,/layer2, L2, control signaling.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional operation that can be performed. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> sets a NDI bit to zero for the non-idle HARQ process on the CG configuration.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process performed by the wireless device. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM>, receives, via transceiver <NUM>, the DCI command to deactivate an active CG configuration. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM>, transmits, via transceiver <NUM>, a CG MAC CE. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> stops at least one timer associated with a non-idle HARQ process on the active CG configuration. In some embodiments, the at least one timer includes a configured grant timer, CGT, and a configured grant retransmission timer, CGRT. The CGT can be configured to limit a maximum number of retransmission attempts of the TB using the CG. The CGRT can be configured to trigger autonomous retransmission of the TB using the CG. In additional or alternative embodiments, the non-idle HARQ process can include a process of retransmitting a transmission block, TB, using the CG for which an associated media access control, MAC, protocol data unit, PDU, has been submitted to lower layers for transmission to a network node, but for which successful reception acknowledgment has not been received from the network node. In some embodiments, processing circuitry <NUM> stops the at least one timer in response to receiving the DCI command. In additional or alternative embodiments, the non-idle HARQ process comprises a subset of a plurality of HARQ processes and the DCI command includes an indication of the subset of the plurality of HARQ processes. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> causes the MAC entity to clear the active CG configuration.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative operations performed by the wireless device. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> removes the TB from a buffer of the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> triggers upper layer retransmission of the TB.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process performed by the wireless device. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM>, receives, via transceiver <NUM>, the DCI command to deactivate an active CG configuration. At block <NUM>, responsive to receiving the DCI command to deactivate the active CG configuration, processing circuitry <NUM> transmits, via transceiver <NUM>, a pending TB.

<FIG> illustrates an example of transmitting the pending TB. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM> starts a timer defining a time period. At block <NUM>, during the time period, processing circuitry <NUM>, transmits the pending TB via the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, responsive to the timer expiring, processing circuitry <NUM> clears a buffer of the non-idle HARQ process. At block <NUM>, responsive to the timer expiring, processing circuitry <NUM> stops at least one timer associated with the non-idle HARQ process. In some embodiments, the at least one timer includes a configured grant timer, CGT, and a configured grant retransmission timer, CGRT. The CGT can be configured to limit a maximum number of retransmission attempts of the TB using the CG. The CGRT can be configured to trigger autonomous retransmission of the TB using the CG. In additional or alternative embodiments, the non-idle HARQ process can include a process of retransmitting a transmission block, TB, using the CG for which an associated media access control, MAC, protocol data unit, PDU, has been submitted to lower layers for transmission to a network node, but for which successful reception acknowledgment has not been received from the network node.

Returning to <FIG>, At block <NUM>, responsive to transmitting the pending TB, processing circuitry <NUM>, transmits, via transceiver <NUM>, CG confirmation MAC CE.

<FIG> illustrates an example of an additional or alternative process performed by the wireless device. At block <NUM>, processing circuitry <NUM>, receives, via transceiver <NUM>, the DCI command to deactivate an active CG configuration. At block <NUM>, responsive to receiving the DCI command to deactivate the active CG configuration, processing circuitry <NUM> transmits, via transceiver <NUM>, a pending TB and a CG confirmation MAC CE using a common CG.

Various operations from the flow charts of <FIG> may be optional with respect to some embodiments of wireless devices and related methods. Regarding methods of example embodiment <NUM> (set forth below), for example, operations of block <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; and blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> may be optional.

Regarding methods of example embodiment <NUM> (set forth below), for example, operations of blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; and blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> may be optional.

Regarding methods of example embodiment <NUM> (set forth below), for example, operations of blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; block <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; and blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> may be optional.

Regarding methods of example embodiment <NUM> (set forth below), for example, operations of blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; blocks <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of <FIG>; and blocks <NUM> of <FIG> may be optional.

Explanations are provided below for various abbreviations/acronyms used in the present disclosure.

Claim 1:
A method of operating a wireless device in a communication network, the method comprising:
responsive to receiving a downlink control indication, DCI, command to activate or reactivate a configured grant, CG, configuration, controlling (<NUM>) at least one timer associated with a non-idle hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, process on the CG configuration,
wherein the non-idle HARQ process comprises a process of retransmitting a transmission block, TB, using the CG for which an associated media access control, MAC, protocol data unit, PDU, has been submitted to lower layers for transmission to a network node, but for which successful reception acknowledgment has not been received from the network node,
wherein responsive to the non-idle HARQ process being shared by multiple CG configurations, controlling the at least one timer comprises maintaining (<NUM>) the at least one timer, and
wherein responsive to the non-idle HARQ process not being shared by multiple CG configurations, controlling the at least one timer comprises stopping (<NUM>) the at least one timer.