Patent Description:
The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (<NUM>) mobile phone technology supported by the <NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

<CIT> discloses that the listen-before-talk procedure further includes performing a clear channel assessment, CCA, on CCs that do not serve as a backoff channel and transmitting on CCs for which a CCA indicates a clear channel. In some embodiments, only one CC serves as a backoff channel In some embodiments, the transmission feedback value is a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, transmission feedback value and the CW is increased only if a ratio of negative acknowledgments, NACKs, to acknowledgements, ACKs, on each component carrier, CC, exceeds a threshold. 3GPP Tdoc R1-<NUM> discloses if the eNB schedules UL transport blocks with <NUM> LBT in a shared channel occupancy without scheduling any DL transport blocks and if less than <NUM>% of the scheduled UL transport blocks have been received successfully, the eNB increases its contention window size, otherwise the eNB resets its contention window). It is different case for the AUL since even if the eNB allow AUL transmission within the indicated period, the AUL might not have data to transmit. In our view, only if the eNB detects the AUL transmission within the indicated UL transmission, the eNB may take the AUL transmission in consideration when updating the contention window).

This disclosure relates generally to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless communications systems, also referred to as wireless communications networks. In various embodiments, the techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, <NUM>th Generation (<NUM>) or new radio (NR) networks, as well as other communications networks. As described herein, the terms "networks" and "systems" may be used interchangeably.

An OFDMA network may implement a radio technology such as evolved UTRA. (E-UTRA), IEEE <NUM>, IEEE <NUM>, IEEE <NUM>, flash-OFDM and the like. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS and LIE are described in documents provided from an organization named "<NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named "<NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project <NUM>" (3GPP2). For example, the <NUM>rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations that aims to define a globally applicable third generation (<NUM>) mobile phone specification.

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

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

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating <NUM> network <NUM> including various base stations and UEs configured according to aspects of the present disclosure. The <NUM> network <NUM> includes a number of base stations <NUM> and other network entities. A base station may be a station that communicates with the UEs and may also be referred to as an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (gNB), an access point, and the like. Each base station <NUM> may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" can refer to this particular geographic coverage area of a base station and/or a base station subsystem serving the coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used.

A base station may provide communication coverage for a macro cell or a small cell, such as a pico cell or a femto cell, and/or other types of cell. A small cell, such as a femto cell, would also generally cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, may also provide restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group (CSO), UEs for users in the home, and the like). A base station for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro base station. A base station for a small cell may be referred to as a small cell base station, a pico base station, a femto base station or a home base station. In the example shown in <FIG>, the base stations 105d and 105e are regular macro base stations, while base stations 105a-105c are macro base stations enabled with one of <NUM> dimension (3D), full dimension (FD), or massive MIMO. Base stations <NUM> a-105c take advantage of their higher dimension MIMO capabilities to exploit 3D beamforming in both elevation and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station which may be a home node or portable access point. A base station may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and the like) cells.

The <NUM> network <NUM> may support synchronous or asynchronous operation.

The UEs <NUM> are dispersed throughout the wireless network <NUM>, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal, a mobile station, a subscriber unit, a station, or the like. A UE may be a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless modem, a wireless communication device, a handheld device, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a cordless phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, or the like. In one aspect, a UE may be a device that includes a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (DICC). In another aspect, a UE may be a device that does not include a UICC. In some aspects, UEs that do not include UICCs may also be referred to as internet of everything (IoE) or internet of things (IoT) devices. UEs 115a-115d are examples of mobile smart phone-type devices accessing <NUM> network <NUM>. A UE may also be a machine specifically configured for connected communication, including machine type communication (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and the like. UEs 115e-<NUM> are examples of various machines configured for communication that access <NUM> network <NUM>. A UE may be able to communicate with any type of the base stations, whether macro base station, small cell, or the like. In <FIG>, a lightning bolt (e.g., communication links) indicates wireless transmissions between a UE and a serving base station, which is a base station designated to serve the UE on the downlink and/or uplink, or desired transmission between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations.

In operation at <NUM> network <NUM>, base stations 105a-105c serve UEs 115a and 115b using 3D beamforming and coordinated spatial techniques, such as coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. Macro base station 105d performs backhaul communications with base stations 105a-105c, as well as small cell, base station 105f. Macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services which are subscribed to and received by UEs 115c and 115d.

<NUM> network <NUM> also support mission critical communications with ultra-reliable and redundant links for mission critical devices, such UE 115e, which is a drone. Redundant communication links with UE 115e include from macro base stations 105d and 105e, as well as small cell base station 105f. Other machine type devices, such as UE 115f (thermometer), UE <NUM> (smart meter), and UE <NUM> (wearable device) may communicate through <NUM> network <NUM> either directly with base stations, such as small cell base station 105f, and macro base station 105e, or in multi-hop configurations by communicating with another user device which relays its information to the network, such as UE 115f communicating temperature measurement information to the smart meter, UE <NUM>, which is then reported to the network through small cell base station 105f. <NUM> network <NUM> may also provide additional network efficiency through dynamic, low-latency TDD/FDD communications, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between lies 115i-<NUM> communicating with macro base station 105e.

<FIG> shows a block diagram of a design of a base station <NUM> and a UE <NUM>, which may be one of the base station and one of the UEs in <FIG>. At the base station <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive data from a data source <NUM> and control information from a controller/processor <NUM>. The control information may be for the PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH etc. The data may be for the PDSCH, etc. The transmit processor <NUM> may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmit processor <NUM> may also generate reference symbols, e.g., for the PSS, SSS, and cell-specific reference signal. A transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor <NUM> may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on the data symbols, the control symbols, and/or the reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the modulators (MODs) 232a through 232t. Downlink signals from modulators 232a through 232t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a through 234t, respectively.

At the UE <NUM>, the antennas 252a through 252r may receive the downlink signals from the base station <NUM> and may provide received signals to the demodulators (DEMODs) 254a through 254r, respectively. A MIMO detector <NUM> may obtain received symbols from all the demodulators 254a through 254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols.

On the uplink, at the UE <NUM>, a transmit processor <NUM> may receive and process data (e.g., for the PUSCH) from a data source <NUM> and control information (e.g., for the PUCCH) from the controller/processor <NUM>. The symbols from the transmit processor <NUM> may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor <NUM> if applicable, further processed by the modulators 254a through 254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station <NUM>. At the base station <NUM>, the uplink signals from the UE <NUM> may be received by the antennas <NUM>, processed by the demodulators <NUM>, detected by a MIMO detector <NUM> if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor <NUM> to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE <NUM>. The processor <NUM> may provide the decoded data to a data sink <NUM> and the decoded control information to the controller/processor <NUM>.

The controller/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the base station <NUM> may perform or direct the execution of various processes for the techniques described herein. The controllers/processor <NUM> and/or other processors and modules at the UE <NUM> may also perform or direct the execution of the functional blocks illustrated in <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG>, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The memories <NUM> and <NUM> may store data and program codes for the base station <NUM> and the UE <NUM>, respectively.

In some cases, UE <NUM> and base station <NUM> of the <NUM> network <NUM> (in <FIG>) may operate in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., contention-based) frequency spectrum. In an unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, UEs <NUM> or base stations <NUM> may traditionally perform a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to the frequency spectrum. For example, UE <NUM> or base station <NUM> may perform a listen before talk (LBT) procedure such as a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the shared channel is available. A CCA may include an energy detection procedure to determine whether there are any other active transmissions. For example, a device may infer that a change in a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a power meter indicates that a channel is occupied. Specifically, signal power that is concentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeds a predetermined noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. A CCA also may include detection of specific sequences that indicate use of the channel. For example, another device may transmit a specific preamble prior to transmitting a data sequence. In some cases, an LBT procedure may include a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on a channel and/or the acknowledge/negative-acknowledge (ACK/NACK) feedback for its own transmitted packets as a proxy for collisions.

Use of a medium-sensing procedure to contend for access to an unlicensed shared spectrum may result in communication inefficiencies. This may be particularly evident when multiple network operating entities (e.g., network operators) are attempting to access a shared resource. In the <NUM> network <NUM>, base stations <NUM> and UEs <NUM> may be operated by the same or different network operating entities. In some examples, an individual base station <NUM> or UE <NUM> may be operated by more than one network operating entity. In other examples, each base station <NUM> and UE <NUM> may be operated by a single network operating entity. Requiring each base station <NUM> and UE <NUM> of different network operating entities to contend for shared resources may result in increased signaling overhead and communication latency.

<FIG> illustrates an example of a timing diagram <NUM> for coordinated resource partitioning. The timing diagram <NUM> includes a superframe <NUM>, which may represent a fixed duration of time (e.g., <NUM>). The superframe <NUM> may be repeated for a given communication session and may be used by a wireless system such as <NUM> network <NUM> described with reference to <FIG>. The superframe <NUM> may be divided into intervals such as an acquisition interval (A-INT) <NUM> and an arbitration interval <NUM>. As described in more detail below, the A-INT <NUM> and arbitration interval <NUM> may be subdivided into sub-intervals, designated for certain resource types, and allocated to different network operating entities to facilitate coordinated communications between the different network operating entities. For example, the arbitration interval <NUM> may be divided into a plurality of sub-intervals <NUM>. Also, the superframe <NUM> may be further divided into a plurality of subframes <NUM> with a fixed duration (e.g., <NUM>). While timing diagram <NUM> illustrates three different network operating entities (e.g., Operator A, Operator B, Operator C), the number of network operating entities using the superframe <NUM> for coordinated communications may be greater than or fewer than the number illustrated in timing diagram <NUM>.

The A-INT <NUM> may be a dedicated interval of the superframe <NUM> that is reserved for exclusive communications by the network operating entities. In some examples, each network operating entity may be allocated certain resources within the A-INT <NUM> for exclusive communications. For example, resources <NUM>-a may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator A, such as through base station 105a, resources <NUM>-b may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator B, such as through base station 105b, and resources <NUM>-c may be reserved for exclusive communications by Operator C, such as through base station 105c. Since the resources <NUM>-a are reserved for exclusive communications by Operator A, neither Operator B nor Operator C can communicate during resources <NUM>-a, even if Operator A chooses not to communicate during those resources. That is, access to exclusive resources is limited to the designated network operator. Similar restrictions apply to resources <NUM>-b for Operator B and resources <NUM>-c for Operator C. The wireless nodes of Operator A (e. g, UEs <NUM> or base stations <NUM>) may communicate any information desired during their exclusive resources <NUM>-a, such as control information or data.

When communicating over an exclusive resource, a network operating entity does not need to perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g., listen-before-talk (LBT) or clear channel assessment (CCA)) because the network operating entity knows that the resources are reserved. Because the designated network operating entity may communicate over exclusive resources, there may be a reduced likelihood of interfering communications as compared to relying on medium sensing techniques alone (e.g., no hidden node problem). In some examples, the A-INT <NUM> is used to transmit control information, such as synchronization signals (e.g., SYNC signals), system information (e.g., system information blocks (SIBs)), paging information (e.g., physical broadcast channel (PBCH) messages), or random access information (e.g., random access channel (RACH) signals). In some examples, all of the wireless nodes associated with a network operating entity may transmit at the same time during their exclusive resources.

In some examples, resources may be classified as prioritized for certain network operating entities. Resources that are assigned with priority for a certain network operating entity may be referred to as a guaranteed interval (G-INT) for that network operating entity. The interval of resources used by the network operating entity during the G-INT may be referred to as a prioritized sub-interval. For example, resources <NUM>-a may be prioritized for use by Operator A and may therefore be referred to as a G-INT for Operator A (e.g., G-INT-OpA). Similarly, resources <NUM>-b may be prioritized for Operator B (e.g., G-INT-OpB), resources <NUM>-c may be prioritized for Operator C (e.g., G-INT-OpC), resources <NUM>-d may be prioritized for Operator A, resources <NUM>-e may be prioritized for Operator B, and resources <NUM>-f may be prioritized for Operator C.

The various G-INT resources illustrated in <FIG> appear to be staggered to illustrate their association with their respective network operating entities, but these resources may all be on the same frequency bandwidth. Thus, if viewed along a time-frequency grid, the G-INT resources may appear as a contiguous line within the superframe <NUM>. This partitioning of data may be an example of time division multiplexing (TDM). Also, when resources appear in the same sub-interval (e.g., resources <NUM>-a and resources <NUM>-b), these resources represent the same time resources with respect to the superframe <NUM> (e.g., the resources occupy the same sub-interval <NUM>), but the resources are separately designated to illustrate that the same time resources can be classified differently for different operators.

When resources are assigned with priority for a certain network operating entity (e.g., a G-INT), that network operating entity may communicate using those resources without having to wait or perform any medium sensing procedures (e.g., LBT or CCA). For example, the wireless nodes of Operator A are free to communicate any data or control information during resources <NUM>-a without interference from the wireless nodes of Operator B or Operator C.

A network operating entity may additionally signal to another operator that it intends to use a particular G-INT. For example, referring to resources <NUM>-a, Operator A may signal to Operator B and Operator C that it intends to use resources <NUM>-a. Such signaling may be referred to as an activity indication. Moreover, since Operator A has priority over resources <NUM>-a, Operator A may be considered as a higher priority operator than both Operator B and Operator C. However, as discussed above, Operator A does not have to send signaling to the other network operating entities to ensure interference-free transmission during resources <NUM>-a because the resources <NUM>-a are assigned with priority to Operator A.

Similarly, a network operating entity may signal to another network operating entity that it intends not to use a particular G-INT. This signaling may also be referred to as an activity indication. For example, referring to resources <NUM>-b, Operator B may signal to Operator A and Operator C that it intends not to use the resources <NUM>-b for communication, even though the resources are assigned with priority to Operator B, With reference to resources <NUM>-b, Operator B may be considered a higher priority network operating entity than Operator A and Operator C. In such cases, Operators A and C may attempt to use resources of sub-interval <NUM> on an opportunistic basis. Thus, from the perspective of Operator A, the sub-interval <NUM> that contains resources <NUM>-b may be considered an opportunistic interval (O-INT) for Operator A (e.g., O-INT-OpA). For illustrative purposes, resources <NUM>-a may represent the O-INT for Operator A. Also, from the perspective of Operator C, the same sub-interval <NUM> may represent an O-INT for Operator C with corresponding resources <NUM>-b. Resources <NUM>-a, <NUM>-b, and <NUM>-b all represent the same time resources (e.g., a particular sub-interval <NUM>), but are identified separately to signify that the same resources may be considered as a G-INT for some network operating entities and yet as an O-INT for others.

To utilize resources on an opportunistic basis, Operator A and Operator C may perform medium-sensing procedures to check for communications on a particular channel before transmitting data. For example, if Operator B decides not to use resources <NUM>-b (e.g., G-INT-OpB), then Operator A may use those same resources (e.g., represented by resources <NUM>-a) by first checking the channel for interference (e.g., LBT) and then transmitting data if the channel was determined to be clear. Similarly, if Operator C wanted to access resources on an opportunistic basis during sub-interval <NUM> (e.g., use an O-INT represented by resources <NUM>-b) in response to an indication that Operator B was not going to use its G-INT (e.g., resources <NUM>-b), Operator A or Operator C may perform a medium sensing procedure and access the resources if available. In some cases, two operators (e.g., Operator A and Operator C) may attempt to access the same resources, in which case the operators may employ contention-based procedures to avoid interfering communications. The operators may also have sub-priorities assigned to them designed to determine which operator may gain access to resources if more than operator is attempting access simultaneously. For example, Operator A may have priority over Operator C during sub-interval <NUM> when Operator B is not using resources <NUM>-b (e.g., G-INT-OpB). It is noted that in another sub-interval (not shown) Operator C may have priority over Operator A when Operator B is not using its G-INT.

In some examples, a network operating entity may intend not to use a particular G-INT assigned to it, but may not send out an activity indication that conveys the intent not to use the resources. In such cases, for a particular sub-interval <NUM>, lower priority operating entities may be configured to monitor the channel to determine whether a higher priority operating entity is using the resources. If a lower priority operating entity determines through LBT or similar method that a higher priority operating entity is not going to use its G-INT resources, then the lower priority operating entities may attempt to access the resources on an opportunistic basis as described above.

In some examples, access to a G-INT or O-INT may be preceded by a reservation signal (e.g., request-to-send (RTS)/clear-to-send (CTS)), and the contention window (CW) may be randomly chosen between one and the total number of operating entities.

In some examples, an operating entity may employ or be compatible with coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communications. For example, an operating entity may employ CoMP and dynamic time division duplex (TDD) in a G-INT and opportunistic CoMP in an O-INT as needed.

In the example illustrated in <FIG>, each sub-interval <NUM> includes a G-INT for one of Operator A, B, or C. However, in some cases, one or more sub-intervals <NUM> may include resources that are neither reserved for exclusive use nor reserved for prioritized use (e.g., unassigned resources). Such unassigned resources may be considered an O-INT for any network operating entity, and may be accessed on an opportunistic basis as described above.

In some examples, each subframe <NUM> may contain <NUM> symbols (e.g., <NUM>-µs for <NUM> tone spacing). These subframes <NUM> may be standalone, self-contained Interval-Cs (ITCs) or the subframes <NUM> may be a part of a long ITC. An ITC may be a self-contained transmission starting with a downlink transmission and ending with an uplink transmission. In some embodiments, an ITC may contain one or more subframes <NUM> operating contiguously upon medium occupation. In some cases, there may be a maximum of eight network operators in an A-INT <NUM> (e.g., with duration of <NUM>) assuming a <NUM>-µs transmission opportunity.

Although three operators are illustrated in <FIG>, it should be understood that fewer or more network operating entities may be configured to operate in a coordinated manner as described above. In some cases, the location of the G-INT, O-INT, or A-INT within the superframe <NUM> for each operator is determined autonomously based on the number of network operating entities active in a system. For example, if there is one network operating entity, each sub-interval <NUM> may be occupied by a G-INT for that single network operating entity, or the sub-intervals <NUM> may alternate between G-INTs for that network operating entity and O-INTs to allow other network operating entities to enter. If there are two network operating entities, the sub-intervals <NUM> may alternate between G-INTs for the first network operating entity and G-INTs for the second network operating entity. If there are three network operating entities, the G-INT and O-INTs for each network operating entity may be designed as illustrated in <FIG>. If there are four network operating entities, the first four sub-intervals <NUM> may include consecutive G-INTs for the four network operating entities and the remaining two sub-intervals <NUM> may contain O-INTs. Similarly, if there are five network operating entities, the first five sub-intervals <NUM> may contain consecutive G-INTs for the five network operating entities and the remaining sub-interval <NUM> may contain an Q-INT. If there are six network operating entities, all six sub-intervals <NUM> may include consecutive G-INTs for each network operating entity. It should be understood that these examples are for illustrative purposes only and that other autonomously determined interval allocations may be used.

It should be understood that the coordination framework described with reference to <FIG> is for illustration purposes only. For example, the duration of superframe <NUM> may be more or less than <NUM>. Also, the number, duration, and location of sub-intervals <NUM> and subframes <NUM> may differ from the configuration illustrated. Also, the types of resource designations (e.g., exclusive, prioritized, unassigned) may differ or include more or less sub-designations.

In LTE-license assisted access (LAA) and Multefire (MF) access technologies, the defined channel bandwidth is <NUM>, which may also be the minimum bandwidth at which WiFi contention occurs. However, in NR unlicensed (NR-U) and NR shared spectrum (NR-SS), the bandwidth allocation for transmissions could be larger than <NUM> and need not be an integer multiple of <NUM>. For example, a bandwidth part (BWP) configured for a UE could be <NUM>, <NUM>, and the like. Thus, there may be a mismatch between the listen before talk (LBT) bandwidth and autonomous uplink (AUL) resource blocks (RBs). The pre-allocated resources for AUL transmissions may provide for a transmission waveform that may be contiguous or interlace-based. With such alternatives, performing LBT in a typical <NUM> LBT bandwidth may present challenges.

In the traditional LBT procedure, a UE may perform LBT on all <NUM> channels on which the AUL resources are configured. Thus, for any AUL transmissions that span multiple <NUM> LBT channels, the UE would perform LBT on each of the <NUM> channels even though transmissions would only cover portions of those channels. Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to defining a smaller channel sensing bandwidth.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will also be described with respect to UE <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> is a block diagram illustrating UE <NUM> configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. UE <NUM> includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for UE <NUM> of <FIG>. For example, UE <NUM> includes controller/processor <NUM>, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory <NUM>, as well as controlling the components of UE <NUM> that provide the features and functionality of UE <NUM>, UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r. Wireless radios 1300a-r includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in <FIG> for UE <NUM>, including modulator/demodulators 254a-r, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, and TX MIMO processor <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, a UE determines to transmit uplink data with an autonomous uplink (AUL) transmission on a set of pre-allocated AUL resources of shared communication spectrum, wherein the set of pre-allocated AUL resources spans one or more transmission opportunities (TxOPs). For example, UE <NUM> recognized uplink data in data buffer <NUM> in memory <NUM>. Upon recognizing uplink data to be transmitted, UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM> executes AUL logic <NUM>. The execution environment of AUL logic <NUM> provides the functionality for UE <NUM> to transmit uplink transmissions via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r. The execution environment of AUL logic <NUM> uses the configured AUL transmission resources stored at AUL resources <NUM> received at UE <NUM> via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 1300a-r which allocates uplink resources for AUL transmissions.

At block <NUM>, the UE performs an LBT procedure on a plurality of sensing channels making up the set of pre-allocated AUL resources, wherein each of the sensing channels of the plurality of sensing channels has a bandwidth equal to the channel sensing bandwidth. UE <NUM> also receives via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 1300a-r a configuration signal from a serving base station that includes a sensing bandwidth that is smaller than wideband bandwidth for narrow LBT (nLBT) procedures over the pre-allocated AUL transmissions resources. UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes nLBT procedure <NUM>, stored in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of nLBT procedure <NUM> identifies the energy detection threshold associated with the narrow bandwidth of nLBT procedure <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE detects a success of the LBT procedure on one or more sensing channels of the plurality of sensing channels. Under control of controller/processor <NUM>, UE <NUM> monitors for energy detected in any transmission on the narrowband sensing channels of the nLBT procedures performing LBT over all of the allocated AUL resources. Where energy readings on the shared spectrum fall within the threshold, UE <NUM> is allowed to access the spectrum for communications.

At block <NUM>, the UE autonomously transmits the uplink data on the one or more sensing channels of the pre-allocated AUL resources. Within the execution environment of AUL logic <NUM>, UE <NUM> may autonomously transmit the data from uplink data buffer <NUM> via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an NR-U network <NUM> with communications between UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The shared communication spectrum for communications between UE <NUM> and base station <NUM> includes multiple <NUM> channels, such as channel <NUM> (Ch <NUM>) and channel <NUM> (Ch <NUM>). UE <NUM> is capable of performing autonomous uplink (AUL) transmission. Base station <NUM> transmits a configuration signal to UE <NUM> that configures AUL. resources <NUM> and <NUM> to UE <NUM> for AUL transmissions. The configured bandwidth for AUL resources <NUM> and <NUM> is <NUM>. Here, the AUL resources <NUM> and <NUM>, as allocated, span both Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>.

According to various aspects of the present disclosure, a small sensing bandwidth or narrow LBT (nLBT) procedure may be defined at a smaller channel sensing bandwidth (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, etc.). The smaller bandwidth of this nLBT procedure may be defined as a fraction of the current <NUM> LBT bandwidth, which corresponds to the legacy minimum bandwidth for LBT procedures. The fractional bandwidth implementation may be especially useful for contiguous AUL bandwidth allocations and in scenarios where WiFi transmissions are not expected to occur with a high level of confidence. In operation, UE <NUM> would sense the smaller sensing regions or sub-channels of nLBT <NUM>-<NUM> on which AUL resources <NUM> and <NUM> occur. Here, UE <NUM> detects successful nLBT procedures on nLBT <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. UE <NUM> would, thus, transmit AUL transmissions on each such sub-channel corresponding to nLBT <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> on AUL resources <NUM> and <NUM>.

It should be noted that the energy detection threshold for an nLBT procedure may be defined on a per MHz of sensing bandwidth and scaled up accordingly. Thus, based on an energy detection threshold rate and the bandwidth of any given nLBT, UE <NUM> may determine the energy detection threshold for determining the success or failure of an nLBT procedure. Additionally, an extra offset factor may be added to the energy detection threshold to account for the lower sensing accuracy at lower bandwidths.

In contention-based access technologies, such as NR-U and NR-SS, the contention window has traditionally been updated for AUL transmissions independently for each <NUM> channel. This procedure works well for <NUM> band transmissions with the WiFi/LAA/MF contention bandwidth granularity of <NUM>. Various aspects of the present disclosure, when operating with a fractional sensing bandwidth, as described above with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>, provide for all acknowledgement information (e.g., ACK, NACK) to be considered for contention window updates when the transmission is fully contained within a single <NUM> channel, and a fixed or scalable fraction of acknowledgement information to be considered for contention window update when the transmission spans multiple <NUM> channels. This contention window updating procedure may apply whether the transmissions are autonomous or scheduled or whether the transmissions are uplink or downlink (e.g., AUL, scheduled uplink (SUL), scheduled downlink (SDL), downlink control information (DCI)-based PUSCH, PDSCH channels, or the like).

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will be described with respect to UE <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>. The example blocks will also be described with respect to base station <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> is a block diagram illustrating base station <NUM> configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Base station <NUM> includes the structure, hardware, and components as illustrated for base station <NUM> of <FIG>. For example, base station <NUM> includes controller/processor <NUM>, which operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory <NUM>, as well as controlling the components of base station <NUM> that provide the features and functionality of base station <NUM>. Base station <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 1400a-t and antennas 234a-t. Wireless radios 1400a-t includes various components and hardware, as illustrated in <FIG> for base station <NUM>, including modulator/demodulators 232a-t, MIMO detector <NUM>, receive processor <NUM>, transmit processor <NUM>, and TX MIMO processor <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, a transmitter transmits data in a transmission on shared communication spectrum using a set of allocated resources spanning one or more transmission channels within one or more transmission opportunities. In an aspect where UE <NUM> is the transmitter, UE <NUM> may recognize uplink data for transmission in data buffer <NUM> in memory <NUM>, and transmits the data via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r. UE <NUM> may use pre-allocated or pre-configured transmission resources, such as AUL resources <NUM> for the transmission. In some scenarios, the pre-configured transmission resources or transmissions are fully contained within a single channel (e.g., a single <NUM> channel). Other scenarios may reflect the pre-configured transmission resources and resulting transmissions spanning multiple channels across one or more transmission opportunities. Each transmission may first require the transmitter to perform an LBT procedure. According to the various aspects of the present disclosure, transmitter - UE <NUM> and transmitter - base station <NUM> may perform a narrow bandwidth LBT procedure by executing, under control of controller/processor <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, nLBT procedure <NUM> and nLBT procedure <NUM>.

In an aspect where base station <NUM> is the transmitter, base station <NUM> may recognize downlink data for transmission stored at data buffer <NUM> in memory <NUM>. Base station <NUM> may use pre-allocated or pre-configured transmission resources to transmit the data stored at data buffer <NUM>. Similarly, some scenarios may find that the pre-configured transmission resources or transmissions are fully contained within a single channel (e.g., a single <NUM> channel), while other scenarios may reflect the pre-configured transmission resources and resulting transmissions spanning multiple channels across one or more transmission opportunities. Each such transmission from base station <NUM> may first require base station <NUM> to perform an LBT procedure. Thus, base station <NUM> may perform a narrow bandwidth LBT procedure by executing, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, nLBT procedure <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the transmitter adjusts a contention window size of one or more of the transmission channels for subsequent transmission opportunities based on acknowledgement information from a serving base station for each of the transmission channels on which transmit data has been transmitted. For example, in the scenario where UE <NUM> is the transmitter and the pre-configured transmission resources are fully contained within a single channel, the negative acknowledgement (NACK) rate (e.g., the rate of NACK to acknowledgement (ACK) feedback for the transmissions) for all of the transmissions may be considered when updating the contention window. UE <NUM> would receive the acknowledgement information from the receiver node via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 1300a-r and store at transmission status <NUM>, in memory <NUM>. Otherwise, where the transmission resources and transmissions span multiple channels of one or more transmission opportunities, a fixed or scalable fraction of the acknowledgement information, the ACK and NACK information, for the corresponding channel may be used by UE <NUM> for contention window updates. Here, UE <NUM> would, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, execute contention window adjustment logic <NUM> to update the contention window value at contention window <NUM> using the acknowledgement information from transmission status <NUM>.

In the scenario where base station <NUM> is the transmitter and the pre-configured transmission resources are fully contained within a single channel, the NACK rate for all of the transmissions may be considered when updating the contention window. Here, base station <NUM> would receive the acknowledgement information from the receiver node via antennas 234a-t and wireless radios 1400a-t and store at transmission status <NUM>, in memory <NUM>. Base station <NUM> would, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, execute contention window adj ustment logic <NUM> to update the contention window value at contention window <NUM> using the acknowledgement information from transmission status <NUM>.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating NR-U network <NUM> having UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The bandwidth part allocated for shared communication spectrum includes two channels (Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>), each of which <NUM> in bandwidth. In one example operation, as illustrated in <FIG>, a transmission is configured with transmit resources <NUM>-<NUM>, each of which includes resource blocks over <NUM> that span both channels. The example aspects illustrated in <FIG> may be applicable for AUL transmissions, SUL transmissions, and downlink transmissions as well. In describing the various optional aspects of <FIG>, the transmitter may be identified as UE <NUM> for uplink transmissions or base station <NUM> for downlink transmissions, while the receiver may be the receiving node, either base station <NUM> in uplink transmissions or UE <NUM> in downlink transmissions.

In a first optional implementation illustrated in <FIG>, the contention window may be updated on both channels, Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>, assuming full acknowledgement information for both channels. Thus, as transmissions are made by UE <NUM> or base station <NUM>, some transmissions on transmit resources <NUM>-<NUM> will be successful and some unsuccessful, either because the transmitter detected an unsuccessful nLBT over a particular sub-channel or because the receiver was unable to successfully decode die transmission. The receiver (either UE <NUM> or base station <NUM>) will transmit acknowledgement information indicating ACKs for successful transmissions and NACKs for unsuccessful transmissions. A NACK rate will be determined based on a ratio or relationship of NACKs to attempted transmissions or to ACKs. If the NACK rate exceeds a predetermined threshold, the contention window for the subsequent transmission opportunity may be increased in Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>, up to a maximum length of time. Otherwise, if the NACK rate remains within the predetermined threshold, the contention window may either remain the same or be reduced in Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>, down to a minimum length of time. The transmitter would gather all of the acknowledgement information for the transmissions over TxOPs <NUM>-<NUM> in order to calculated the NACK rate and determine any update to the contention window of Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM> for the subsequent TxOP (not shown) after TxOP <NUM>.

In a second optional implementation illustrated in <FIG>, the contention window may be updated on both channels but by using a portion of the acknowledgement information that contributes to the transmission portion of each of Ch <NUM> and Ch <NUM>. The NACK rate for each channel will contribute at a weight of <NUM>/N (where N = number of channels used). For example, where a transmission spans two transmission opportunities (TxOP <NUM> and TxOP <NUM>), and the contention window value is <NUM> for TxOP <NUM>, in TxOP <NUM>, as the transmitter would not have received any downlink feedback indication (DFI) from the TxOP <NUM> transmissions, the contention window for TxOP <NUM> would remain <NUM>. The transmitter would eventually receive the AUL-DFI indicating the acknowledgement information and success/failure indication for both TxOPs.

As illustrated, in TxOP <NUM>, Ch <NUM> has experienced two NACKs to six ACKs for a NACK rate of <NUM>, while Ch <NUM> has experienced four NACKs to four ACKs for a NACK rate of <NUM>. With two channels used, each NACK rate contributes <NUM>% of the combined NACK rate for contention window update consideration. Thus, the combined NACK rate for TxOP <NUM> would be approximately <NUM> (<NUM>/<NUM> + <NUM>/<NUM>). UE <NUM> may round up or down, as configured. For TxOP <NUM>, Ch <NUM> experiences three NACKs to one ACK for a NACK rate of <NUM>, while Ch <NUM> experiences nine NACKs to three ACKs for a NACK rate of <NUM>. Again, as each channel contributes <NUM>% of the combined NACK rate for TxOP <NUM>, the combined NACK rate would be approximately <NUM>.

In determining the contention window update for TxOP <NUM>, the transmitter may determine a composite number to represent the NACK rates of TxOP <NUM> and TxOP <NUM>, by which to increase the contention window size. For example, the composite may be calculated by adding the two NACK rates of TxOP <NUM> and TxOP <NUM> (<NUM> + <NUM> = <NUM>) and increasing the contention window for TxOP <NUM> by the composite amount. Thus, <NUM>,<NUM> * <NUM> = <NUM> ~ rounded to <NUM>. If <NUM> were to exceed the maximum contention window size, the contention window for TxOP <NUM> would be capped at the maximum size value. This composite number may be referred to as a composite adjustment number. The transmitter may round or set to a floor or ceiling value for the composite contention window size before arriving at the final contention window adjustment for TxOP <NUM>.

In a third optional aspect illustrated by <FIG>, the contention window may be updated for both channels, but using the acknowledgement information contributing a weight that is proportional to the ratio of resource blocks in each channel. In TxOP <NUM>, <NUM>% of the resource blocks are in Ch <NUM> and <NUM>% of the resource blocks are in Ch <NUM>. Thus, the NACK rate for each channel contributes <NUM>% of the acknowledgement information for TxOP <NUM>. Similarly, in TxOP <NUM>, <NUM>% of the resource blocks are in Ch <NUM> and <NUM>% of the resource blocks are in Ch. Thus, the NACK rate for each channel will l contribute acknowledgement information at different rates for TxOP <NUM> for considering a contention window update.

In a fourth optional aspect illustrated by <FIG>, the transmitter can select one of Ch <NUM> or Ch <NUM> as the primary channel (either picking semi-statically or dynamically) and then update the contention window only on that primary channel. The selection of primary channel may occur semi-statically or dynamically every TxOP. Various considerations may be applied for determining which of the channels is the primary channel. For example, the channel having the most transmit resource blocks may be selected as the primary channel, such as the transmitter selecting Ch <NUM> as the primary channel in TxOP <NUM> based on the majority of resource blocks for transmission being located in Ch <NUM>. Alternatively, the channel having the least interference may be selected as the primary channel, such as the transmitter selecting Ch <NUM> as the primary channel in TxOP <NUM>, as measurements or signals from the receiver indicate that Ch <NUM> experiences less interference than Ch <NUM>. Once selected as the primary channel, then the contention window may be updated on the primary channel based on acknowledgement information either only for the primary channel or based on all acknowledgement information received for all transmissions over both channels.

In NR for configured uplink grants (e.g., Type <NUM> & Type <NUM> PUSCH transmission), a repetition factor, K, can be configured, such that a UE can transmit up to K repetitions of the same transport block (TB) contingent upon various early termination conditions. Termination conditions may include simply providing for transmission of all K repetitions, terminating repetition transmissions at the last transmission occasion of the K repetitions within a period, P, or terminating repetition transmissions once an uplink grant for the same TB is received within the period, P. Such NR-U K-repetition procedures can be configured for UE AUL transmissions. Various additional aspects of the present disclosure are directed to considering contention window update procedure for NR-U AUL transmissions repeated over K repetitions.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will be described with respect to UE <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, a UE receives a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station identifying a number of transmission repetitions for AUL transmissions. For example, UE <NUM> receives a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station via antennas 234a-t and wireless radios 1400a-t. The repetition configuration signal populates the K- repetition value at K-repetition <NUM>, in memory <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits AUL transmission data in a plurality of uplink transmission slots across one or more transmission opportunities of a shared communication spectrum, wherein the number of uplink transmissions correspond to the number of transmission repetitions. For example, the UE <NUM> uses the data from data buffer <NUM> to transmit in AUL transmissions. UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes AUL logic <NUM>, in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of AUL logic <NUM>, pulls the resources for AUL transmission from AUL resources <NUM> and then autonomously transmit the data via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r.

At block <NUM>, the UE receives acknowledgement information associated with AUL transmission data. After transmitting the AUL transmission data on the pre-configured AUL resources, UE <NUM> receives acknowledgement information from its serving base station as to the success or failure of any decoding or receipt of the AUL transmissions. The acknowledgement information is received via antennas 252a-r and wireless radios 1300a-r.

At block <NUM>, the UE updates a contention window size for subsequent transmission opportunities based on the acknowledgement information. After obtaining the acknowledgement information, UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes contention window adjustment logic <NUM>, stored in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of contention window adjustment logic <NUM> calculates a NACK rate of the acknowledgement information for the transmission repetitions and compares the NACK rate against a predetermined threshold. According to the various aspects of the present disclosure, the execution environment of contention window adjustment logic <NUM> uses different methods for determining the NACK rate and final contention window adjustment. When all K repetitions are within the same TxOP, UE <NUM> may consider updates to the contention window after the last transmission using the acknowledgement information for all of the K repetitions. Otherwise, when the K repetitions are spread across or across and outside of multiple TxOPs, UE <NUM> may update each TxOP using the acknowledgement information for the AUL repetitions within that TxOP or may not update the contention window until after all K repetitions have been transmitted and acknowledgement information received. In such cases, the contention window for the initial TxOPs that occur prior to the final AUL transmission repetition may either remain fixed or may be scaled by a scaling factor, which may be fixed or associated with a factor of the network.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating NR-U network <NUM> with UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. In a first scenario for AUL transmissions transmitted at K repetitions, all K repetitions may be within the same TxOP, TxOP <NUM>. Base station <NUM> has signaled a configuration message to UE <NUM> identifying, among other things, AUL resources for uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, and a repetition factor, K = <NUM>. In such an aspect, the reference transmission for the contention window update may be the last transmission, repetition <NUM> - uplink transmission <NUM>, within TxOP <NUM>. Base station <NUM> would update the contention window after combining all of acknowledgement information on uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of the K-repetitions. Base station <NUM> can update UE <NUM> on the status (success/failure) of AUL transmissions, uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> within the downlink portions, downlink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> of TxOP <NUM> in between two uplink portions designated for AUL transmissions, uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>. Depending on the common PDCCH (CPDCCH)/slot format indicator (SFI) indication, some repetitions may be subject to an abbreviated <NUM> or category <NUM> LBT procedure and some repetitions may be transmitted without LBT.

It should be noted that, in practice, a repetition factor of K = <NUM> or K = <NUM> may be applicable for sub-<NUM> communications, while K = <NUM> may be applicable for mmW transmissions above <NUM> due to processing time line considerations.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating NR-U network <NUM> with UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. In a second scenario of AUL transmissions transmitted at K repetitions, some repetitions may be within a TxOP, while others in a different TxOP. In aspects where repetitions are transmitted across different TxOPs, a first case may provide for all repetitions to be split between multiple TxOPs, while in a second case, some repetitions may be located within multiple TxOPs of base station <NUM> and some repetitions are outside of the TxOPs of base station <NUM>. In a third case, all repetitions may be located outside of the TxOPs of base station <NUM>. In a first optional aspect of the present disclosure according to any of the various cases of splitting the repetitions, the contention window may be updated by taking into account only the repetitions from that TxOP, such that a new contention window value is generated for each new TxOP based on combining repetitions within the corresponding TxOP.

For example, in TxOP <NUM>, two repetitions (Rep <NUM> & <NUM>) of AUL transmissions at uplink transmission <NUM> and <NUM> are transmitted, the acknowledgement information may be received from base station <NUM> through DFI signals received at downlink transmissions <NUM> and <NUM>. In determining a contention window update for TxOP <NUM>, UE <NUM> considers the acknowledgement information for Rep <NUM> and Rep <NUM>. In TxOP <NUM>, with the updated contention window, UE <NUM> transmits AUL transmissions for Rep <NUM> and Rep <NUM> at uplink transmissions <NUM> and <NUM>. UE <NUM> will determine the contention window update for the following TxOP (not shown) based on the acknowledgement information received from base station <NUM> associated with the Rep <NUM> and Rep <NUM> AUL. transmissions.

It should be noted that currently there is generally no ACK/NACK signaling in between repetition transmissions. Thus, according to the presently described aspect, the AUL-DFI transmitted from base station <NUM> would include information on the success or failure of any intermediate decoding of the AUL transmission repetitions.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating NR-U network <NUM> with UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Base station <NUM> configures multiple AUL resources across TxOP <NUM> and <NUM>, in addition to resources outside of TxOPs <NUM> and <NUM>. Base station <NUM> further configures K = <NUM> for repetition of AUL transmissions. According to the illustrated aspect of the present disclosure, UE <NUM> may update the contention window at the end of all the repetitions, even where the repetition transmissions are spread across multiple downlink and uplink TxOPs. In a first alternative of such aspect, the contention window for a new TxOP which carries some of the repetitions may be frozen, such that the information about any grant-free transmission is not used to update the contention window size, For example, in TxOP <NUM>, a contention window may be a value of <NUM>. Before receiving any acknowledgement information on the AUL transmission of Rep <NUM> at uplink transmission <NUM>, UE <NUM> determines to main the contention window for TxOP <NUM> at <NUM>. Only until the transmission of Rep <NUM> at uplink transmission <NUM> would UE <NUM> combine the acknowledgement information for all of the repetitions for considering contention window updates for subsequent TxOPs.

In a second alternative of such aspect illustrated in <FIG>, the contention window for each new TxOP which carries some of the repetitions may be scaled by a fixed amount, which can be configured by the base station. For example, in TxOP <NUM>, with Rep <NUM> of the AUL transmission at uplink transmission <NUM>, the contention window is <NUM>. In TxOP <NUM>, which includes Rep <NUM> and Rep <NUM> of the AUL transmissions at uplink transmissions <NUM> and <NUM>, UE <NUM> may increase the contention window to <NUM> (with a scale factor = <NUM>). Once all the repetitions are transmitted at Rep <NUM> of uplink transmission <NUM>, UE <NUM> may determine the actual contention window update to be performed.

The configuration of AUL in LAA and MF networks provides for uplink control information (UCI) that may be transmitted in each AUL transmission to enable the base station to decode the transmissions from the UE. This UCI carries the UE identifier (ID), hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) ID, redundancy version (RV), new data indicator (NDI), etc. Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to handling of UCI transmission in NR-U networks configured for K-repetition based AUL transmissions.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed by a UE to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will be described with respect to UE <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, a UE receives a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station, wherein the repetition configuration signal identifies a number of transmission repetitions for AUL transmissions. For example, UE <NUM> receives a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station via antennas 234a-t and wireless radios 1400a-t. The repetition configuration signal populates the K- repetition value at K-repetition <NUM>, in memory <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits AUL transmission data in a plurality of uplink transmission slots across one or more transmission opportunities of a shared communication spectrum, wherein the number of uplink transmissions correspond to the number of transmission repetitions. For example, the UE <NUM> uses the data from data buffer <NUM> to transmit in AUL transmissions. UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes AUL logic <NUM>, in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of AUL logic <NUM>, pulls the resources for the AUL transmission from AUL resources <NUM> and then autonomously transmits the data via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r according to the number of repetitions at K-repetition <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the UE transmits an uplink control indicator signal along with the AUL transmission data in one or more of the uplink transmission slots. In addition to the uplink data for the AUL transmissions, UE <NUM> will transmit a UCI signal. Within the execution environment of AUL logic <NUM>, UE <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes UCI generator <NUM>. The execution environment of UCI generator <NUM> creates the UCI signal including UE ID, HARQ ID, RV, NDI, and the like. The generated UCI signal is added to one or more of the AUL transmissions via wireless radios 1300a-r and antennas 252a-r.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating NR-U network <NUM> with UE <NUM> and base station <NUM>, each configured according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Base station <NUM> configures multiple AUL resources at uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Base station <NUM> further configures K = <NUM> for repetition of AUL transmissions. In a first optional implementation of the illustrated aspect, UE <NUM> includes a UCI to be carried with the AUL transmissions in each of the repetitions, Rep <NUM>-<NUM>, at uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Thus, should base station <NUM> fail to decode one or two or even three of Reps <NUM>-<NUM>, the UCI information would remain in the other successfully received repetition(s). Base station <NUM> would perform blind detection on transmissions from UE <NUM> to detect the UCI in Rep <NUM> at uplink transmission <NUM>.

It should be noted that due to data arrival time or LBT failure some repetitions may not be transmitted. UE <NUM> can either drop or postpone an RV index if it cannot transmit one repetition due to LBT failure. Thus, where an LBT procedure fails at uplink transmission <NUM>, the RV index that would have been included in the UCI of Rep <NUM> at uplink transmission <NUM> would be either dropped or postponed until the UCI of Rep <NUM> at uplink transmission <NUM>.

In a second optional implementation of the aspect illustrated at <FIG>, UE <NUM> may transmit the UCI in only one of the repetitions. For example, base station <NUM> may derive the location of the next transmission based on transmission/demodulation reference signal (DMRS) detection at the next designated instances. In a first alternative, UE <NUM> may transmit the UCI with Rep <NUM> of the AUL transmission at uplink transmission <NUM>. In a second alternative, UE <NUM> may transmit the UCI with Rep <NUM>, the last repetition, of AUL transmission at uplink transmission <NUM>. In both cases, if base station <NUM> misses the repetition that carries the UCI, it would likely lose the entire transmission. Accordingly, the aspect that transmits a UCI with only a single repetition may have a better opportunity for success when UE <NUM> is guaranteed to transmit all repetitions within the same TxOP without intervening slots that would cause UE <NUM> to perform an LBT procedure. The UCI can also be used to indicate to base station <NUM> how many repetitions have been transmitted in this scenario. Thus, at either the first repetition, Rep <NUM>, or the last repetition, Rep <NUM>, the UCI may include an indication that four repetitions of AUL transmissions are transmitted at uplink transmissions <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating example blocks executed by a base station to implement one aspect of the present disclosure. The example blocks will also be described with respect to base station <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, a base station signals a repetition configuration signal to one or more served UEs, wherein the repetition configuration signal identifies a number of transmission repetitions for AUL transmissions of the one or more served UEs. For example, base station <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes K-repetition logic <NUM>, stored in memory <NUM>. The execution environment of K-repetition logic <NUM> determines how many repetitions receives a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station via antennas 234a-t and wireless radios 1400a-t. The repetition configuration signal populates the K-repetition value at K-repetition <NUM>, in memory <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the base station detects one or more AUL transmissions from a served UE across one or more transmission opportunities of a shared communication spectrum. When performing communications with various served UEs, base station <NUM>, under control of controller/processor <NUM>, executes signal detection logic <NUM>. The execution environment of signal detection logic <NUM> provides the functionality for base station <NUM> to receive signals via antennas 234a-t and wireless radios 1400a-t and decode the signals in order to detect the content of the signal or determine whether the signal is intended for base station <NUM> at all. Base station <NUM> uses the execution environment of signal detection logic <NUM> to detect the AUL transmissions for one or more of the served UEs.

At block <NUM>, the base station detects an uplink control indicator signal along with the one or more AUL transmissions in one uplink transmission slot of a plurality of uplink transmission slots available for AUL transmissions. Within the execution environment of signal detection logic <NUM>, base station <NUM> not only will detect the AUL transmissions, but detect whether a UCI has been included with the AUL transmission. When included in the first repetition transmission, the execution environment of signal detection logic <NUM> causes base station <NUM> to perform blind detection of the signal for any UCI. Once the UCI is detected, however, base station <NUM> will use the information contained within the UCI to inform of the remaining K repetition transmissions. Where the UCI is included in the final repetition transmission, base station <NUM> will be buffering the transmissions received from the served UE. Once the UCI has been detected, the information included in the UCI will identify the previously-transmitted AUL repetitions. Base station <NUM> may then pull the AUL transmissions from the data buffers for processing.

It should be noted that, instead of using the actual RV ID, various aspects of the present disclosure configure several possible RV ID sequences. UE <NUM> may indicate which sequence it is using via bits in the UCI. For example, UE <NUM> may store UCI bits which also allows for soft combining of the UCI which is not possible if the RV ID is different in each UCI transmission.

The functional blocks and modules in <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> may comprise processors, electronics devices, hardware devices, electronics components, logical circuits, memories, software codes, firmware codes, etc., or any combination thereof.

Claim 1:
A method of wireless communication, comprising:
receiving (<NUM>), by a user equipment, UE, a repetition configuration signal from a serving base station, wherein the repetition configuration signal identifies a number of transmission repetitions for autonomous uplink, AUL, transmissions of the UE;
transmitting (<NUM>), by the UE, AUL transmission data in a plurality of uplink transmission slots across one or more transmission opportunities of a shared communication spectrum, wherein the plurality of uplink transmission slots correspond to the number of transmission repetitions;
receiving (<NUM>), by the UE, acknowledgement information associated with the AUL transmission data transmitted in the plurality of uplink transmission slots across the one or more transmission opportunities of the shared communication spectrum; and
updating (<NUM>), by the UE, a contention window size for a subsequent transmission opportunity based on the acknowledgement information.