Patent ID: 12237958

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the following, one or more embodiments of the present invention will be described with respect to the drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments described below are examples. Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the following embodiments.

In operations of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, conventional techniques will be used appropriately. With respect to the above, for example, the conventional techniques are related to, but not limited to, the existing LTF. Further, it is assumed that the term “LTE” used in the present specification has, unless otherwise specifically mentioned, a broad meaning including a scheme of LTE-Advanced and a scheme after LTE-Advanced (e.g., NR), or wireless LAN (Local Area Network).

Furthermore, in an embodiment of the present invention, the duplex method may be TOD (Time Division Duplex), FDD (Frequency Division Duplex), or other methods (e.g., Flexible Duplex, or the like).

Further, in an embodiment of the present invention, the expression, radio (wireless) parameters are “configured (set)” may mean that a predetermined value is pre-configured, or may mean that a radio parameter indicated by the base station10or the terminal20is configured.

FIG.1is a drawing illustrating V2X. In 3GPP, enhancing D2D functions to realize V2X (Vehicle to Everything) or eV2X (enhanced V2x) has been discussed and specifications are being developed. As illustrated inFIG.1, V2X is a part of ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) and is a generic name (collective name) for: V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle) referring to a form of communication performed between vehicles; V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure) referring to a form of communication performed between a vehicle and a road-side unit (RSU) that is installed on roadside; V2N (Vehicle to Network) referring to a form of communication performed between a vehicle and an ITS server; and V2P (Vehicle to Pedestrian) referring to a form of communication performed between a vehicle and a mobile terminal that is held by a pedestrian.

Further, in 3GPP, V2X using LTE/NR's cellular communication and communication between terminals has been discussed. V2X using cellular communication may be referred to as cellular V2X. In NR V2X, there have been discussions to realize higher system capacity, reduced latency, higher reliability, and QoS (Quality of Service) control.

With respect to LTE V2X or NR V2X, it is assumed that discussions may be not limited to 3GPP specifications in the future. For example, it is assumed to be discussed on: how to secure interoperability; how to reduce cost by implementing higher layers; how to use or how to switch multiple RATs (Radio Access Technologies); how to handle regulations of each country; how to obtain and distribute data of LTE/NR V2X platform; and how to manage and use databases.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a form of embodiment is mainly assumed in which communication apparatuses are mounted on vehicles. However, an embodiment of the present invention is not limited to such a form. For example, communication apparatuses may be terminals held by people, may be apparatuses mounted on drones or aircrafts, or may be base stations, RSUs, relay stations (relay nodes), terminals capable of scheduling, etc.

It should be noted that SL (Sidelink) may be distinguished from UL (Uplink) or DL (Downlink) based on any one of, or any combination of the following 1) through 4). Furthermore, SL may be referred to as a different name.

1) resource arrangement (allocation) in the time domain

2) resource arrangement (allocation) in the frequency domain

3) synchronization signal that should be referred to (including SLSS (Sidelink Synchronization Signal))

4) reference signal that is used for pass loss measurement used for transmission power control

Further, with respect to OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) of SL or UL, any of CP-OFDM (Cyclic-Prefix OFDM), DFT-S-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform-Spread-OFDM), OFDM without Transform precoding, and OFDM with Transform precoding may be applied.

In LTE SL, with respect to allocating SL resources to a terminal20, Mode 3 and Mode 4 are defined. In Mode 3, transmission resources are dynamically allocated using a DCI (Downlink Control information) that is transmitted from a base station10to a terminal20. Further, in Mode 3, SPS (Semi Persistent Scheduling) is enabled (available). In Mode 4, a terminal20autonomously selects transmission resources from a resource pool.

It should be noted that a slot in an embodiment of the present invention may be overwritten with (replaced with) a symbol, a mini slot, a subframe, a radio frame, or a TTI (Transmission Time Interval). Further, a cell in an embodiment of the present invention may be read on (replaced with) a cell group, a carrier component, a BWP (bandwidth part), a resource pool, a resource, a RAT (Radio Access Technology), a system (including a wireless LAN), etc.

FIG.2is a drawing illustrating an example (1) of a V2X transmission mode. In a transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.2, in step1, a base station10transmits a sidelink scheduling to a terminal20A. Next, the terminal20A transmits PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel) and PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel) to a terminal20B based on the received scheduling (step2). The transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.2may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode 3 in LIE. In the sidelink transmission mode 3 in LIE, Uu based sidelink scheduling is performed. Uu is a radio interface between UTRAN (Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) and UE (User equipment). It should be noted that the transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.2may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode 1 in NR.

FIG.3is a drawing illustrating an example (2) of a V2X transmission mode. In a transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.3, in step1, a terminal20A transmits PSCCH and PSSCH to a terminal20B using autonomously selected resources. The transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.3may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode 4 in LTE. In the sidelink transmission mode 4 in LTE, the UE itself performs resource selection.

FIG.4is a drawing illustrating an example (3) of a V2X transmission mode. In a transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.4, in step1, a terminal20A transmits PSCCH and PSSCH to a terminal20B using autonomously selected resources. Similarly, the terminal20B transmits PSCCH and PSSCH using autonomously selected resources to the terminal20A (step1). The transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.4may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode2ain NR. In the sidelink transmission mode 2 in NR, the terminal20itself performs resource selection.

FIG.5is a drawing illustrating an example (4) of a V2X transmission mode. In a transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.5, in step0, a base station10transmits a sidelink grant to a terminal20A via RRC (Radio Resource Control) configuration. Next, the terminal20A transmits PSSCH to the terminal20B based on the received resource pattern (step1). The transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.5may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode2cin NR.

FIG.6is a drawing illustrating an example (5) of a V2X transmission mode. In the side-link communication transmission mode illustrated inFIG.6, in step1, the terminal20A transmits sidelink scheduling to the terminal20B via PSCCH. Next, the terminal20B transmits PSSCH to the terminal20A based on the received scheduling (step2). The transmission mode of sidelink communication illustrated inFIG.6may be referred to as a sidelink transmission mode2din NR.

FIG.7is a drawing illustrating an example (1) of a V2X communication type. The sidelink communication type illustrated inFIG.7is uni-cast. The terminal20A transmits PSCCH and PSSCH to terminal20. In an example illustrated inFIG.7, the terminal20A performs uni-cast to the terminal20B, and performs uni-cast to the terminal20C.

FIG.8is a drawing illustrating an example (2) of a V2X communication type. The sidelink communication type illustrated inFIG.8is group-cast. The terminal20A transmits PSCCH and PSSCH to a group to which one or more terminals20belong. In the example illustrated inFIG.8, the group includes a terminal20B and a terminal20C, and the terminal20A performs group--cast to the group.

FIG.9is a drawing illustrating an example (3) of a V2X communication type. The sidelink communication type illustrated inFIG.9is broad-cast. The terminal20A transmits PSCCH and PSSCH to one or more terminals20. In the example illustrated inFIG.9, the terminal20A performs broad-cast to terminal20B, terminal20C, and terminal20D. Note that the terminal20A shown inFIGS.7to9may be referred to as a header UE.

In addition, it is assumed that a HARQ (Hybrid automatic repeat request) is supported for unicast and groupcast of sidelink in NR-V2X. In addition, SFCI (Sidelink Feedback Control Information) containing a HARQ response is defined in NR-V2X. In addition, SFCI transmission via PSFCH (Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel) is under consideration.

Note that, in the following description, it is assumed that PSFCH is used in the transmission of HARQ-ACK on sidelink. However, this just an example. For example, PSCCH may be used to transmit HARQ-ACK on sidelink, PSSCH may be used to transmit HARQ-ACK on sidelink, or other channels may be used to transmit HARQ-ACK on sidelink.

Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, the overall information reported by the terminal20in the HARQ is referred to as HARQ-ACK. This HARQ-ACK may also be referred to as HARQ-ACK information. Further, more specifically, a codebook applied to the HARQ-ACK information reported from the terminal20to the base station10or the like is called a HARQ-ACK codebook. The HARQ-ACK codebook defines a bit string (sequence) of the HARQ-ACK information. Note that “HARQ-ACK” sends not only ACK but also NACK.

FIG.10is a drawing illustrating an example (1) of a configuration and an operation of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG.10, the wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a terminal20A and a terminal20B. Note that there are many user devices, butFIG.10shows a terminal20A and a terminal20B as examples.

Hereinafter, when the terminals20A,20B, or the like are not particularly distinguished, the term “terminal20” or “user device” will be used for the sake of simplicity.FIG.10shows, for example, a case where both the terminal20A and the terminal20B are within a coverage of a cell. However, the operation in an embodiment of the present invention can be applied to a case where the terminal20B is outside the coverage.

As described above, in an embodiment, the terminal20is, for example, a device mounted in a vehicle such as an automobile and has a cellular communication function as a UE in LTE or PR and a sidelink function. Terminal20may be a conventional portable terminal (such as a smartphone). Further, the terminal20may also be an RSU. The RSU may be a UE-type RSU having the function of a UE or a gNB-type RSU having the function of a base station device.

Note that the terminal20need not be a single housing device. For example, even when various sensors are arranged and distributed in a vehicle, a device including the various sensors is the terminal20.

Further, processing contents of sidelink transmission data of the terminal20are basically the same as those of UL transmission in LIE or NR. For example, the terminal20scrambles a codeword of the transmission data, modulates to generate complex-valued symbols, and maps the complex-valued symbols to one or two layers, and performs precoding. Further, the precoded complex-valued symbols are mapped to a resource element to generate a transmission signal (e.g., complex-valued time-domain SC-FDMA signal) and, and the generated signal is transmitted from each antenna port.

It is noted that the base station10has a function of cellular communication as a base station in LTE or NR and a function of enabling communication of the terminal20according to an embodiment of the present invention (e.g., resource pool setting, resource allocation, and the like). Further, the base station10may also be an RSU (gNB-type RSU).

Further, in the wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention, a signal waveform used by the terminal20for SL or UL may be OFDMA, SC-FDMA, or other signal waveforms.

In step S101, the terminal20A autonomously selects a resource to be used for PSCCH and PSSCH from a resource selection window having a predetermined period. The resource selection window may be configured to the terminal20by the base station10.

In step S102and step S103, the terminal20A transmits SCI (Sidelink Control Information) via PSCCH and transmits SL data via PSSCH using the resource autonomously selected in step S101. For example, the terminal20A may transmit the SCI (PSCCH) using a frequency resource adjacent to the PSSCH frequency resource with the same time resource as the time resource of the PSSCH.

The terminal20B receives the SCI (PSCCH) and the SL data (PSSCH) transmitted from the terminal20A. The SCI received via PSCCH may include information about a PSFCH resource for the terminal20B to send HARQ-ACK for receipt of the data. The terminal20A may include information of the autonomously selected resource in the SCI and transmit the included information.

In step S104, the terminal20B transmits a HARQ-ACK for the received data to the terminal20A using a PSFCH resource specified by the received SCI.

In step S105, when the HARQ-ACK received in step S104indicates a request for retransmission, that is, when the HARQ-ACK is a NACK (negative response), the terminal20A retransmits the PSCCH and the PSSCH to the terminal20B. The terminal20A may retransmit the PSCCH and the PSSCH using an autonomously selected resource.

It is noted that, if HARQ control is not performed, it is not necessary for step S104and step S105to be performed.

FIG.11is a drawing illustrating an example (2) of a configuration and an operation of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A non-HARQ-control-based blind retransmission may be performed to improve the transmission success rate or reach distance.

In step S201, the terminal20A autonomously selects a resource to be used for PSCCH and PSSCH from a resource selection window having a predetermined period. The resource selection window may be configured (set) to the terminal20by the base station10.

In step S202and step S203, the terminal20A transmits an SCI via PSCCH and transmits SL data via PSSCH using the resource autonomously selected in step S201. For example, the terminal20A may transmit the SCI (PSCCH) using a frequency resource adjacent to the PSSCH frequency resource with the same time resource as the time resource of the PSSCH.

In step S204, the terminal20A retransmits the SCI via PSCCH and the SL data via PSSCH to the terminal20B using the resource autonomously selected in step S201. The retransmission in step S204may be performed multiple times.

It is noted that, if the blind retransmission is not performed, it is not necessary for step S204to be performed.

FIG.12is a drawing illustrating an example (3) of a configuration and an operation of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The base station10may perform scheduling of the sidelink. That is, the base station10may determine a sidelink resource to be used by the terminal20and transmit information indicating the resource to the terminal20. In addition, in a case where HARQ control is applied, the base station10may transmit information indicating a PSSCH resource to the terminal20.

In step S301, the base station10performs SL scheduling by sending DCI (Downlink Control Information) to the terminal20A via PDCCH. Hereafter, for the sake of convenience, the DCI for SL scheduling is called SL scheduling DCI.

Further, in step S301, it is assumed that the base station10also transmits DCI for DL scheduling (which may be referred to as DL assignment) to the terminal20A via the PDCCH. Hereafter, for the sake of convenience, the DCI for DL scheduling is called a DL scheduling DCI. The terminal20A, which has received the DL scheduling DCI, receives DL data via PDSCH using a resource specified by the DL scheduling DCI.

In step S302and step S303, the terminal20A transmits SCI (Sidelink Control Information) via PSCCH using the resource specified by the SL scheduling DCI and transmits SL data via PSSCH. Note that, in the SL scheduling DCI, only a PSSCH resource may be specified. In this case, for example, the terminal20A may transmit the SCI (PSCCH) using a frequency resource adjacent to the PSSCH frequency resource with the same time resource as the PSSCH time resource.

The terminal20B receives the SCI (PSCCH) and the SL data (PSSCH) transmitted from the terminal20A. The SCI received via the PSCCH includes information about a PSFCH resource for the terminal20B to send a HARD-ACK for receipt of the data.

The information of the resource is included in the DL scheduling DCI or SL scheduling DCI transmitted from the base station10in S301, and the terminal20A acquires the information of the resource from the DL scheduling DCI or the SL scheduling DCI and includes the acquired information in the SCI. Alternatively, the DCI transmitted from the base station10may not include the information of the resource, and the terminal20A may autonomously include the information of the resource in the SCI and transmit the SCI including the information.

In step S304, the terminal20B transmits a HARQ-ACK for the received data to the terminal20A using a PSFCH resource specified by the received SCI.

In step S305, the terminal20A transmits the HARQ-ACK using, for example, a PUCCH (Physical uplink control channel) resource specified by the DL scheduling DCI (or SL scheduling DCI) at the timing (e.g., slot-by-slot timing) specified by the DL scheduling DCI (or SL scheduling DCI), and the base station10receives the HARQ-ACK. In a codebook of the HARQ-ACK, the HARQ-ACK received from the terminal20B and the HARQ-ACK for DL data may be included. Note, however, the HARQ-ACK for DL data is not included if DL data is not allocated.

It is noted that, if HARQ control is not performed, it is not necessary for step S304and step S305to be performed.

FIG.13is a drawing illustrating an operation example (4) in an embodiment of the present invention. As described above, it is supported in the NR sidelink that the HARQ response is transmitted via PSFCH. It is noted that, with respect to the format of PSFCH, the same format as that of PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel) format 0 can be used. That is, the PSFCH format may be a sequence-based format with a PRB (Physical Resource Block) size of 1, ACK and NACK being identified by sequence differences. The format of PSFCH is not limited to the above-described format. PSFCH resources may be located at the last symbol of a slot or a plurality of last symbols of a slot. Further, a period N may be configured or predefined for the PSFCH resource. The period N may be configured or predefined in a unit of slot.

InFIG.13, the vertical axis corresponds to the frequency domain and the horizontal axis corresponds to the time domain. PSCCH may be arranged at the first symbol or a slot, may be arranged at a plurality of first symbols of a slot, or may be arranged at a plurality of symbols from a symbol other than the first symbol of a slot. PSFCH resources may be arranged at the last symbol of a slot, or may be arranged at a plurality of last symbols of a slot. In an example shown inFIG.13, three sub-channels are configured in a resource pool, and two PSFCHs are arranged in a slot three slots after a slot in which PSSCH is arranged. Arrows from PSSCH to PSFCH indicate an example of PSFCH associated with PSSCH.

In a case of option 2 where an ACK or HACK transmitted in a HARQ response in the NR-V2X group-cast, it is necessary to determine resources used for transmitting and receiving PSFCH. As shown inFIG.13, in step S401, the terminal20A, which is the transmitting side terminal20, performs groupcast, via SL-SCH, with respect to the terminal20B, the terminal20C, and the terminal20D, which are the receiving side terminals20. In the subsequent step S402, the terminal20B uses PSFCH#B, the terminal20C uses PSFCH#C, and the terminal20D uses PSFCH#D to transmit HARQ responses to the terminal20A. Here, as shown in an example ofFIG.13, in a case where the number of PSFCH resources available is less than the number of receiving side terminals20belonging to the group, it is necessary to determine how to allocate PSFCH resources. It is noted that the transmitting side terminal20may obtain the number of the receiving side terminals20in the groupcast.

Here, multiple PSFCH resources may be associated with a certain sidelink resource. The sidelink resource refers to sub-channels and/or slots. For example, multiple PSFCH resources may be associated with a certain sidelink resource according to Z PRBs and Y cyclic shifts or pairs of cyclic shifts (hereinafter referred to as “CS pairs”). In a groupcast shown inFIG.13, in a case where the HARQ response is option 2, i.e., in a case where an ACK or NACK is transmitted in the HARQ response in the groupcast, each of the receiving side terminals20uses a different PSFCH resource from among Z*Y resources. One receiving side terminal20uses one CS pair.

FIG.14is a drawing illustrating an example (1) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention.FIG.14shows an example of phase rotation amounts of cyclic shift on a complex plane that is applied to a PSECH resource. As shown inFIG.14, for example, when there are 12 patterns of cyclic shifts from α0 to α11, a CS pair may be α0 and α6 whose position is furthest from α0. In the CS pair, for example, it may be specified that α0 indicates ACK and α6 indicates NACK.

Here, for example, when PSFCH resources are defined by Z PRBs and Y CS pairs, it is necessary to define a method for selecting PSFCH resources. Z PRBs and Y CS pairs may be indexed and PSFCH resources may be defined in the order of PRBs or frequency and CS pairs.

For example, in a case where Z=4 (4 PRBs), Y=6 (6 CS pairs), and the number of receiving side terminals20is 10, the index for Z is {0, 1, 2, 3}, and the index for Y is {0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5}, and the PSECH used by each of the terminals 20 is as follows.

Terminal20#0=(index Z, index Y)=(0, 0)

Terminal20#1=(1,0)

Terminal20#2=(2,0)

Terminal20#3=(3,0)

Terminal20#4=(0,1)

Terminal20#5=(1,1)

Terminal20#6=(2,1)

Terminal20#7=(3,1)

Terminal20#8=(0,2)

Terminal20#9=(1,2)

In order to specify how to select PSFCH resources, it is necessary to further determine how to configure the index Y for the CS pair.

It should be noted that the index associated with the PSFCH resource used by one receiving side terminal20to transmit PSFCH may be defined as ((K+M) mod (Z*Y)). K is an L1source ID of the associated PSCCH/PSSCH. In the unicast and the groupcast feedback option 1, M may be 0, and in the groupcast feedback option 2, N may be a member ID of the receiving side terminals 20. The groupcast feedback option 1 is an option in which the receiving side terminal20transmits only NACK.

It is noted that the feedback option 2 of the groupcast is not required to be used in a case where, with respect to the number X of receiving side terminals20, X>Z*Y. In addition, it may be assumed that M is an integer from 0 to X−1.

FIG.15is a drawing illustrating an example (2) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention. As shown inFIG.15, it is assumed that there are 12 patterns of cyclic shifts that are applied to PSFCH resources. For example, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 of the CS pair (α3, α9)

Index 1 of the CS pair (α10, α4)

Index 2 of the CS pair (α5, α11)

Index 3 of the CS pair (α0, α6)

Index 4 of the CS pair (α1, α7)

Index 5 of the CS pair (α2, α8)

The indexing of the CS pairs shown inFIG.15is an example, and the indexes of the specific CS pairs may be specified in a specific order. For example, the index of the CS pair may be specified as follows a)-d).

a) As a method of determining a particular CS pair, the CS pair may be determined so that the phase rotation distance is greater in the indexes of adjacent CS pairs. In a case where the transmit channels of the terminal20are multiplexed by CDM (Code Division multiplexing), CS pairs with the farthest possible phase rotations can be selected. That is, the performance of the detection is improved.

b) As a method of determining a particular CS pair, the CS pair may be determined in ascending or descending order of phase rotation. The procedure for determining CS pairs can be simple.

c) As a method of determining a particular order, the CS pair may be indexed in the order in which the phase rotation distance is greater in the indexes of adjacent CS pairs. In a case where the transmission channels of the terminal20are multiplexed by CDM, CS pairs with the farthest possible phase rotations can be selected. That is, the performance of the detection is improved.

d) As a method of determining a particular order, the CS pair may be indexed in ascending or descending order of phase rotation in the indexes of adjacent CS pairs. The procedure for determining CS pairs can be simple.

FIG.16is a drawing illustrating an example (3) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention.FIG.16is an example of indexing CS pairs according to the method c) above.FIG.16shows an example in which six CS pairs can be used. As illustrated inFIG.16, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α3, α9)

Index 2 (α1, α7)

Index 3 (α4, α10)

Index 4 (α2, α8)

Index 5 (α5, α11)

FIG.17is a drawing illustrating an example (4) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention.FIG.17is an example of indexing CS pairs according to the method d) above.FIG.17shows an example in which six CS pairs can be used. As illustrated inFIG.17, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α1, α7)

Index 2 (α2, α8)

Index 3 (α3, α9)

Index 4 (α4, α10)

Index 5 (α5, α11)

FIG.18is a drawing illustrating an example (5) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention.FIG.18is an example of indexing CS pairs according to the methods a) and c) above.FIG.18shows an example in which three CS pairs can be used. As illustrated inFIG.18, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α4, α10)

Index 2 (α2, α8)

It is noted that in a case where the method of a) and d) above are applied, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α2, α8)

Index 2 (α4, α10)

FIG.19is a drawing illustrating an example (6) of PSFCH resources in an embodiment of the present invention.FIG.19is an example of indexing CS pairs according to the methods b) and c) above.FIG.19shows an example in which three CS pairs can be used. As illustrated inFIG.19, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α2, α8)

Index 2 (α1, α7)

It is noted that in a case where the method of b) and d) above are applied, indexes of CS pairs may be specified as follows.

Index 0 (α0, α6)

Index 1 (α1, α7)

Index 2 (α2, α8)

The index 0 of the CS pair may be a position corresponding to any phase rotation. Further, the CS pair may mean a pair of cyclic shifts used for one PSFCH resource, the name of which is not limited to the CS pair.

According to an embodiment the present invention described above, in a case where multiple PSFCH resources are associated with a sidelink resource by a pair of cyclic shifts, the terminal20may determine a PSFCH resource to be used based on the pair of indexed cyclic shifts.

That is, it is possible to determine a resource used for transmitting and receiving a HARQ (Hybrid automatic repeat request) response.

Device Configuration

Next, a functional configuration example of the base station10and the terminal20for performing the processes and operations described above will be described. The base station10and terminal20include functions for implementing the embodiments described above. It should be noted, however, that each of the base stations10and the terminal20may include l some of the functions in an embodiment.

Base Station10

FIG.20is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the base station10. As shown inFIG.20, the base station10includes a transmission unit110, a reception unit120, a configuration unit130, and a control unit140. The functional structure illustrated inFIG.20is merely an example. Functional divisions and names of functional units may be anything as long as it can perform operations according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The transmission unit110includes a function for generating a signal to be transmitted to the terminal20side and transmitting the signal wirelessly. The reception unit120includes a function for receiving various signals transmitted from the terminal20and acquiring, for example, information of a higher layer from the received signals. Further, the transmission unit110has a function to transmit NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL/UL control signals, DL reference signals, and the like to the terminal20.

The configuration unit130stores preset configuration information and various configuration information items to be transmitted to the terminal20in a storage device and reads the preset configuration information from the storage device if necessary. Contents of the configuration information are, for example, information related to configuration of D2D communication, etc.

As described in an embodiment, the control unit140performs processing related to the configuration in which the terminal20performs D2D communication. Further, the control unit140transmits scheduling of D2D communication and DL communication to the terminal20through the transmission unit110. Further, the control unit140receives information related to the HARQ response of the D2D communication and the DL communication from the terminal20via the reception unit120. The functional units related to signal transmission in the control unit140may be included in the transmission unit110, and the functional units related to signal reception in the control unit140may be included in the reception unit120.

Terminal20

FIG.21is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the terminal20. As shown inFIG.21, the terminal20includes a transmission unit210, a reception unit220, a configuration unit230, and a control unit240. The functional structure illustrated inFIG.21is merely an example. Functional divisions and names of functional units may be anything as long as it can perform operations according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The transmission unit210generates a transmission signal from transmission data and transmits the transmission signal wirelessly. The reception unit220receives various signals wirelessly and obtains upper layer signals from the received physical layer signals. Further, the reception unit220has a function for receiving NR-PSS, NR-SSS, NR-PBCH, DL/UL/SL control signals, or reference signals transmitted from the base station10. Further, for example, with respect to the D2D communications, the transmission unit210transmits, to another terminal20, PSCCH (Physical Sidelink Control Channel), PSSCH (Physical Sidelink Shared Channel), PSDCH (Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel), PSBCH (Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel), etc., and the reception unit220receives, from the another terminal20, PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, or PSBCH.

The configuration unit230stores various configuration information received from the base station10or the terminal20by the reception unit220in the storage device and reads them from the storage device as necessary. Further, the configuration unit230stores pre-configured configuration information. Contents of the configuration information are, for example, information related to configuration of D2D communication, etc.

The control unit240controls D2D communication with another terminal20as described in an embodiment of the present invention. Further, the control unit240performs HARQ related processing of the D2D communication and DL communication. Further, the control unit240transmits information related to the HARQ response of the D2D communication to the other terminal20and the DL communication scheduled by the base station10to the base station10. Further, the control unit240may perform scheduling of D2D communication for another terminal20. Further, the control unit240may autonomously select the resources used for D2D communication from the resource selection window. Further, the control unit240performs processing pertaining to MCS in transmission and reception of D2D communications. The functional units related to signal transmission in the control unit240may be included in the transmission unit210, and the functional units related to signal reception in the control unit240may be included in the reception unit220.

Hardware Structure

In the above functional structure diagrams used for describing an embodiment of the present invention (FIG.20andFIG.21), functional unit blocks are shown. The functional blocks (function units) are realized by a freely-selected combination of hardware and/or software. Further, realizing means of each functional block is not limited in particular. In other words, each functional block may be realized by a single apparatus in which multiple elements are coupled physically and/or logically, or may be realized by two or more apparatuses that are physically and/or logically separated and are physically and/or logically connected (e.g., wired and/or wireless). The functional blocks may be realized by combining the above-described one or more apparatuses with software.

Functions include, but are not limited to, judging, determining, calculating, processing, deriving, investigating, searching, checking, receiving, transmitting, outputting, accessing, resolving, selecting, establishing, comparing, assuming, expecting, and deeming; broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assigning, etc. For example, a functional block (component) that functions to transmit is called a transmitting unit or a transmitter. In either case, as described above, the implementation method is not particularly limited.

For example, the base station10, terminal20, etc., according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer for processing the radio communication method of the present disclosure.FIG.22is a drawing illustrating an example of hardware structures of the base station10and terminal20according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each of the above-described base station10and the terminal20may be physically a computer device including a processor1001, a storage device1002, an auxiliary storage device1003, a communication device1004, an input device1005, an output device1006, a bus1007, etc.

It should be noted that, in the descriptions below, the term “apparatus” can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware structures of the base station10and terminal20may include one or more of each of the devices illustrated in the figure, or may not include some devices.

Each function in the base station10and terminal20is realized by having the processor1001perform an operation by reading predetermined software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor1001and the storage device1002, and by controlling communication by the communication device1004and controlling at least one of reading and writing of data in the storage device1002and the auxiliary storage device1003.

The processor1001controls the entire computer by, for example, controlling the operating system. The processor1001may include a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with a peripheral apparatus, a control apparatus, a calculation apparatus, a register, etc. For example, the above-described control unit140, control unit240, and the like, may be implemented by the processor1001.

Further, the processor1001reads, to the storage device1002, a program (program code), a software module, or data from the auxiliary storage device1003and/or the communication device1004, and performs various processes according to the program, the software module, or the data. As the program, a program is used that causes the computer to perform at least a part of operations according to an embodiment of the present invention described above. For example, the control unit140of the base station10illustrated inFIG.20may be realized by control programs that are stored in the storage device1002and are executed by the processor1001. Further, for example, the control unit240of the terminal20illustrated inFIG.21may be realized by control programs that are stored in the storage device1002and are executed by the processor1001. The various processes have been described to be performed by a single processor1001. However, the processes may be performed by two or more processors1001simultaneously or sequentially. The processor1001may be implemented by one or more chips. It should be noted that the program may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunication line.

The storage device1002is a computer-readable recording medium, and may include at least one of a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable RPM), a RAN (Random Access Memory), etc. The storage device1002may be referred to as a register, a cache, a main memory, etc. The storage device1002is capable of storing programs (program codes), software modules, or the like, that are executable for performing communication processes according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The auxiliary storage device1003is a computer-readable recording medium, and may include at least one of, for example, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto optical disk (e.g., compact disk, digital versatile disk, Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., card, stick, key drive), a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The above recording medium may be a database including the storage device1002and/or the auxiliary storage device1003, a server, or any other appropriate medium.

The communication device1004is hardware (transmission and reception device) for communicating with computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and may be referred to as a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, etc. The communication device1004may comprise a high frequency switch, duplexer, filter, frequency synthesizer, or the like, for example, to implement at least one of a frequency division duplex (FDD) and a time division duplex (TDD). For example, the transmitting/receiving antenna, the amplifier unit, the transmitting/receiving unit, the transmission line interface, and the like, may be implemented by the communication device1004. The transmitting/receiving unit may be physically or logically divided into a transmitting unit and a receiving unit.

The input device1005is an input device that receives an external input (e.g., keyboard, mouse, microphone, switch, button, sensor). The output device1006is an output device that outputs something to the outside (e.g., display, speaker, LED lamp). It should be noted that the input device1005and the output device1006may be integrated into a single device (e.g., touch panel).

Further, the apparatuses including the processor1001, the storage device1002, etc., are connected to each other via the bus1007used for communicating information. The bus1007may include a single bus, or may include different buses between the apparatuses.

Further, each of the base station10and terminal20may include hardware such as a micro-processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a PLD (Programmable Logic Device), a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), etc., and a part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor1001may be implemented by at least one of the above hardware elements.

Embodiment Summary

As described above, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a terminal is provided. The terminal includes a reception unit configured to receive data from another terminal, a control unit configured to identify, based on a pair of cyclic shifts, a resource in which a channel is arranged, the channel being used for transmitting and receiving a response related to a retransmission control corresponding to the data, and a transmission unit configured to transmit the response related to the retransmission control corresponding to the data using the identified resource. The pair of the cyclic shifts or an index given to the pair of cyclic shifts is determined based on a phase rotation.

According to the arrangement described above, in a case where multiple PSFCH resources are associated with a sidelink resource by a pair of cyclic shifts, the terminal20can determine a PSFCH resource to be used based on the pair of indexed cyclic shifts. That is, it is possible for the terminal20to determine a resource used for transmitting and receiving a HARQ (Hybrid automatic repeat request) response.

The pair of cyclic shifts may be determined so that the phase rotation distance is greater in the pairs of cyclic shifts corresponding to adjacent indexes of the available pairs of cyclic shifts. According to the above arrangement, in a case where the transmission channels of the terminal20are multiplexed by CDM, the detection related performance is improved by selecting a pair of cyclic shifts whose phase rotation distance is the farthest.

The index given to the pair of cyclic shifts may be determined such that the distance of the phase rotation in the pairs of cyclic shifts corresponding to adjacent indexes in the available pairs of cyclic shifts is greater. According to the above arrangement, in a case where the transmission channels of the terminal20are multiplexed by CDM, the detection related performance is improved by selecting a pair of cyclic shifts whose phase rotation distance is the farthest.

The pair of cyclic shifts may be determined such that the distance of phase rotations in the pairs of cyclic shifts corresponding to adjacent indexes is in ascending or descending order among the available pairs of cyclic shifts. According to the above arrangement, the procedure for determining pairs of cyclic shifts can be simple.

The index given to the pair of cyclic shifts may be determined such that the distances of the phase rotations in the pairs of cyclic shifts corresponding to adjacent indexes are in ascending or descending order among the available pairs of cyclic shifts. According to the above arrangement, the procedure for determining pairs of cyclic shifts can be simple.

Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a communication method is provided. The communication method includes a reception procedure of receiving data from another terminal, a control procedure of identifying, based on a pair of cyclic shifts, a resource in which a channel is arranged, the channel being used for transmitting and receiving a response related to a retransmission control corresponding to the data, and a transmission procedure of transmitting the response related to the retransmission control corresponding to the data using the identified resource. The pair of the cyclic shifts or an index given to the pair of cyclic shifts is determined based on a phase rotation.

According to the arrangement described above, in a case where multiple PSFCH resources are associated with a sidelink resource by a pair of cyclic shifts, the terminal20can determine a PSFCH resource to be used based on the indexed pair of cyclic shifts. That is, it is possible for the terminal20to determine a resource used for transmitting and receiving a HARQ (Hybrid automatic repeat request) response.

Supplement of Embodiment

As described above, one or more embodiments have been described. The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. A person skilled in the art should understand that there are various modifications, variations, alternatives, replacements, etc., of the embodiments. In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, specific values have been used in the description. However, unless otherwise specified, those values are merely examples and other appropriate values may be used. The division of the described items may not be essential to the present invention. The things that have been described in two or more items may be used in a combination if necessary, and the thing that has been described in one item may be appropriately applied to another item (as long as there is no contradiction). Boundaries of functional units or processing units in the functional block diagrams do not necessarily correspond to the boundaries of physical parts. Operations of multiple functional units may be physically performed by a single part, or an operation of a single functional unit may be physically performed by multiple parts. The order of sequences and flowcharts described in an embodiment of the present invention may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For the sake of description convenience, the base station10and the terminal20have been described by using functional block diagrams. However, the apparatuses may be realized by hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The software executed by a processor included in the base station10according to an embodiment of the present invention and the software executed by a processor included in the terminal20according to an embodiment of the present invention may be stored in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read only memory (ROM), an EPROM, an EEPROM, a register, a hard disk (HDD), a removable disk, a CD-ROM, a database, a server, or any other appropriate recording medium.

Further, information indication (transmission, notification) may be performed not only by methods described in an aspect/embodiment of the present specification but also a method other than those described in an aspect/embodiment of the present specification. For example, the information transmission may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI (Downlink Control Information), UCI (Uplink Control Information)), upper layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, MAC signaling, broadcast information (MIB (Master Information Block), SIB (System Information Block))), other signals, or combinations thereof. Further, RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message. The RRC signaling may be, for example, an RRC connection setup message, an RRC connection reconfiguration message, or the like.

Each aspect/embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of a system using LIE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-A (LTE-Advanced), SUPER 3G, IMI-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (new Radio), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-WideBand), Bluetooth (registered trademark), and other appropriate systems, and a next generation system enhanced therefrom. Further, multiple systems may also be applied in combination (e.g., at least one of LIE and LTE-A combined with 5G, etc.).

The order of processing steps, sequences, flowcharts or the like of an aspect/embodiment described in the present specification may be changed as long as there is no contradiction. For example, in a method described in the present specification, elements of various steps are presented in an exemplary order. The order is not limited to the presented specific order.

The particular operations, that are supposed to be performed by the base station10in the present specification, may be performed by an upper node in some cases. In a network including one or more network nodes including the base station10, it is apparent that various operations performed for communicating with the terminal20may be performed by the base station10and/or another network node other than the base station10(for example, but not limited to, MME or S-GW). According to the above, a case is described in which there is a single network node other than the base station10. However, a combination of multiple other network nodes may be considered (e.g., MME and S-GW).

The information or signals described in this disclosure may be output from a higher layer (or lower layer) to a lower layer (or higher layer). The information or signals may be input or output through multiple network nodes.

The input or output information may be stored in a specific location (e.g., memory) or managed using management tables. The input or output information may be overwritten, updated, or added. The information that has been output may be deleted. The information that has been input may be transmitted to another apparatus.

A decision or a determination in an embodiment of the present invention may be realized by a value (0 or 1) represented by one bit, by a boolean value (true or false), or by comparison of numerical values (e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

Software should be broadly interpreted to mean, whether referred to as software, firmware, middle-ware, microcode, hardware description language, or any other name, instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, executable threads, procedures, functions, and the like.

Further, software, instructions, information, and the like may be transmitted and received via a transmission medium. For example, in the case where software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using at least one of wired line technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) and wireless technologies (infrared, microwave, etc.), at least one of these wired line technologies and wireless technologies is included within the definition of the transmission medium.

Information, a signal, or the like, described in the present specification may represented by using any one of various different technologies. For example, data, an instruction, a command, information, a signal, a bit, a symbol, a chip, or the like, described throughout the present application, may be represented by a voltage, an electric current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields, a magnetic particle, optical fields, a photon, or a combination thereof.

It should be noted that a term used in the present specification and/or a term required for understanding of the present specification may be replaced by a term having the same or similar meaning. For example, a channel and/or a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Further, a signal may be a message. Further, the component carrier (CC) may be referred to as a carrier frequency, cell, frequency carrier, or the like.

As used in the present disclosure, the terms “system” and “network” are used interchangeably.

Further, the information, parameters, and the like, described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, relative values from predetermined values, or they may be expressed using corresponding different information. For example, a radio resource may be what indicated by an index.

The names used for the parameters described above are not used as limitations. Further, the mathematical equations using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in the present disclosure. Because the various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not used as limitations.

In the present disclosure, the terms “BS: Base Station”, “Radio Base Station”, “Base Station”, “Fixed Station”, “NodeB”, “eNodeB (eNB)”, “gNodeB (qNB)”, “Access Point”, “Transmission Point”, “Reception Point”, “Transmission/Reception Point”, “Cell”, “Sector”, “Cell Group”, “Carrier”, “Component Carrier”, and the like, may be used interchangeably. The base station may be referred to as a macro-cell, a small cell, a femtocell, a picocell and the like.

The base station may accommodate (provide) one or more (e.g., three) cells. In the case where the base station accommodates a plurality of cells, the entire coverage area of the base station may be divided into a plurality of smaller areas, each smaller area may provide communication services by means of a base station subsystem (e.g., an indoor small base station or a remote Radio Head (RRH)). The term “cell” or “sector” refers to a part or all of the coverage area of at least one of the base station and base station subsystem that provides communication services at the coverage.

In the present disclosure, terms such as “mobile station (MS)”, “user terminal”, “user equipment (UE)”, “terminal”, and the like, may be used interchangeably.

There is a case in which the mobile station may be referred to, by a person skilled in the art, as a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other appropriate terms.

At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmission apparatus, reception apparatus, communication apparatus, or the like. The at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on the mobile station, the mobile station itself, or the like. The mobile station may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile body (e.g., a drone, an automated vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may include an apparatus that does not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

Further, the base station in the present disclosure may be read as the user terminal. For example, each aspect/embodiment of the present disclosure may be applied to a configuration in which communications between the base station and the user terminal are replaced by communications between multiple terminals20(e.g., may be referred to as D2D (Device-to-Device), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything), etc.). In this case, the function of the base station10described above may be provided by the terminal20. Further, the phrases “up” and “down” may also be replaced by the phrases corresponding to terminal-to-terminal communication (e.g., “side”). For example, an uplink channel, an downlink channel, or the like, may be read as a sidelink channel.

Further, the user terminal in the present disclosure may be read as the base station. In this case, the function of the user terminal described above may be provided by the base station.

The term “determining” used in the present specification may include various actions or operations. The “determining” may include, for example, a case in which “judging”, “calculating”, “computing”, “processing”, “deriving”, “investigating”, “looking up, search, inquiry” (e.g., looking up a table, database, or other data structures), or “ascertaining” is deemed as “determining”. Further, the “determining” may include a case in which “receiving” (e.g., receiving information), “transmitting” (e.g., transmitting information), “inputting”, “outputting”, or “accessing” (e.g., accessing data in a memory) is deemed as “determining”. Further, the “determining” may include a case in which “resolving”, “selecting”, “choosing”, “establishing”, “comparing”, or the like is deemed as “determining”. In other words, the “determining” may include a case in which a certain action or operation is deemed as “determining”. Further, “decision” may be read as “assuming,” “expecting,” or “considering,” etc.

The term “connected” or “coupled” or any variation thereof means any direct or indirect connection or connection between two or more elements and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between the two elements “connected” or “coupled” with each other. The coupling or connection between the elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, “connection” may be read as “access”. As used in the present disclosure, the two elements may be thought of as being “connected” or “coupled” to each other using at least one of the one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections and, as a number of non-limiting and non-inclusive examples, electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, the microwave region, and the light (both visible and invisible) region.

The reference signal may be abbreviated as RS or may be referred to as a pilot, depending on the applied standards.

The description “based on” used in the present specification does not mean “based on only” unless otherwise specifically noted. In other words, the phrase “base on” means both “based on only” and “based on at least”.

Any reference to an element using terms such as “first” or “second” as used in the present disclosure does not generally limit the amount or the order of those elements. These terms may be used in the present disclosure as a convenient way to distinguish between two or more elements. Therefore, references to the first and second elements do not imply that only two elements may be employed or that the first element must in some way precede the second element.

“Means” included in the configuration of each of the above apparatuses may be replaced by “parts,” “circuits,” “devices,” etc.

In the case where the terms “include”, “including” and variations thereof are used in the present disclosure, these terms are intended to be comprehensive in the same way as the term “comprising”. Further, the term “or” used in the present specification is not intended to be an “exclusive or”.

A radio frame may include one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be referred to as a subframe. The subframe may further include one or more slots in the time domain. The subframe may be a fixed length of time (e.g., 1 ms) independent from the numerology.

The numerology may be a communication parameter that is applied to at least one of the transmission and reception of a signal or channel. The numerology may indicate at least one of, for example, SubCarrier Spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame configuration, specific filtering processing performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, and specific windowing processing performed by the transceiver in the time domain.

The slot may include one or more symbols in the time domain, such as OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access) symbols, and the like. The slot may be a time unit based on the numerology.

The slot may include a plurality of mini slots. Each mini slot may include one or more symbols in the time domain. Further, the mini slot may be referred to as a sub-slot. The mini slot may include fewer symbols than the slot PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in time units greater than a mini slot may be referred to as PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a mini slot may be referred to as PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

A radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot and a symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals. Different terms may be used for referring to a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot and a symbol, respectively.

For example, one subframe may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be referred to as a TTI, and one slot or one mini slot may be referred to as a TTI. In other words, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in an existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (e.g., 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. It should be noted that the unit representing the TTI may be referred to as a slot, a mini slot, or the like, rather than a subframe.

The TTI refers to, for example, the minimum time unit for scheduling in wireless communications. For example, in an LTE system, a base station schedules each terminal20to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth, transmission power, etc. that can be used in each terminal20) in TTI units. The definition of TTI is not limited to the above.

The TTI may be a transmission time unit, such as a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), code block, codeword, or the like, or may be a processing unit, such as scheduling or link adaptation. It should be noted that, when a TTI is provided, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) during which the transport block, code block, codeword, or the like, is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

It should be noted that, when one slot or one mini slot is referred to as a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more mini slots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling. Further, the number of slots (the number of mini slots) constituting the minimum time unit of the scheduling may be controlled.

A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be referred to as a normal TTI (a TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), a long TTI, a normal subframe, a long subframe, a slot, and the like. A TTI that is shorter than the normal TTI may be referred to as a shortened TTI, a short TTI, a partial TTI (or fractional TTI), a shortened subframe, a short subframe, a mini slot, a subslot, a slot, or the like.

It should be noted that the long TTI (e.g., normal TTI, subframe, etc.,) may be replaced with a TTI having a time length exceeding 1 ms, and the short TTI (e.g., shortened TTI, etc.,) may be replaced with a TTI having a TTI length less than the TTI length of the long TTI and a TTI length greater than 1 ms.

A resource block (RB) is a time domain and frequency domain resource allocation unit and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in a RB may be the same, regardless of the numerology, and may be 12, for example. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined on the basis of numerology.

Further, the time domain of a RB may include one or more symbols, which may be 1 slot, 1 mini slot, 1 subframe, or 1 TTI in length. One TTI, one subframe, etc., may each include one or more resource blocks.

It should be noted that one or more RBs may be referred to as physical resource blocks (PRBs, Physical RBs), sub-carrier groups (SCGs), resource element groups (REGs), PRB pairs, RE pairs, and the like.

Further, a resource block may include one or more resource elements (RE). For example, 1 RE may be a radio resource area of one sub-carrier and one symbol.

The bandwidth part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a partial bandwidth, etc.) may represent a subset of consecutive common RBS (common resource blocks) for a given numerology in a carrier. Here, a common RB may be identified by an index of RB relative to the common reference point of the carrier. A PRB may be defined in a BWP and may be numbered within the BWP.

BWP may include BWP for UL (UL BWP) and BWP for DL (DL BWP). For a terminal20, one or more BWPs may be configured in one carrier.

At least one of the configured BWPs may be activated, and the terminal20may assume that the terminal20will not transmit and receive signals/channels outside the activated BWP. It should be noted that the terms “cell” and “carrier” in this disclosure may be replaced by “BWP.”

Structures of a radio frame, a subframe, a slot, a mini slot, and a symbol described above are exemplary only. For example, the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of mini slots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or mini slot, the number of subcarriers included in a RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, and the like, may be changed in various ways.

In the present disclosure, where an article is added by translation, for example “a”, “an”, and “the”, the disclosure may include that the noun following these articles is plural.

In this disclosure, the term “A and B are different” may mean “A and B are different from each other.” It should be noted that the term “A and B are different” may mean “A and B are different from C.” Terms such as “separated” or “combined” may be interpreted in the same way as the above-described “different”.

An aspect/embodiment described in the present specification may be used independently, may be used in combination, or may be used by switching according to operations. Further, notification (transmission/reporting) of predetermined information (e.g., notification (transmission/reporting) of “X”) is not limited to an explicit notification (transmission/reporting), and may be performed by an implicit notification (transmission/reporting) (e.g., by not performing notification (transmission/reporting) of the predetermined information).

It is noted that the HARQ response in an embodiment of the present invention is an example of a response related to retransmission control. PSSCH is an example of a physical shared channel. PSFCH is an example of a channel used for transmitting and receiving a response related to retransmission control PSCCH and is an example of a physical control channel. The CS pair is an example of a pair of cyclic shifts.

As described above, the present invention has been described in detail. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to one or more embodiments of the present invention described in the present specification. Modifications, alternatives, replacements, etc., of the present invention may be possible without departing from the subject matter and the scope or the present invention defined by the descriptions of claims. Therefore, the descriptions of the present specification are for illustrative purposes only, and are not intended to be limitations to the present invention.

The present international patent application is based on and claims priority to Japanese patent application No. 2019-212724 filed on Nov. 25, 2019, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

10Base station110Transmission unit120Reception unit130Configuration unit140Control unit20Terminal210Transmission unit220Reception unit230Configuration unit240Control unit1001Processor1002Storage device1003Auxiliary storage device1004Communication device1005Input device1006Output device