JP7763253B2 - Indicating uplink control channel repetition in wireless communications - Patents.com - Google Patents

Description

PRIORITY CLAIM This application claims priority to and the benefit of Patent Application No. 17/513,669, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on October 28, 2021, Provisional Patent Application No. 63/138,241, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 15, 2021, Provisional Patent Application No. 63/138,145, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 15, 2021, and Provisional Patent Application No. 63/138,265, filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 15, 2021, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.

The technology described below relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to techniques for indicating repetition of a physical uplink control channel in wireless communication.

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, and broadcasts. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth-generation (4G) systems, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth-generation (5G) systems, sometimes referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communication system may include one or more base stations or one or more network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, sometimes known as user equipment (UE).

In a wireless network, e.g., a 5G NR network, a user equipment (UE) can communicate with a network entity (e.g., a base station) using various uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) channels. An exemplary UL channel is the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). The UE can transmit various information to the network via the PUCCH. In one aspect, the PUCCH can carry uplink control information (UCI), which can include hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, channel state information (CSI), and scheduling requests (SR). Therefore, the PUCCH is important for maintaining communication between the UE and the network.

The following presents a summary of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

One aspect of the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication. The UE includes a communication interface for wireless communication, a memory, and a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory. The processor and memory are configured to receive control information from a base station via the communication interface. The processor and memory are further configured to determine a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message. The processor and memory are further configured to transmit repetitions of the uplink control message to the base station via the communication interface in accordance with the repetition count.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of wireless communication in a user equipment (UE). The method includes receiving control information from a base station. The method further includes determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message. The method further includes transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message to the base station in accordance with the repetition count.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a base station for wireless communication. The base station includes a communication interface for wireless communication, a memory, and a processor coupled to the communication interface and the memory. The processor and memory are configured to transmit control information to a UE via the communication interface, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message. The processor and memory are further configured to receive, via the communication interface, from the UE, an uplink control message that is repeated according to the repetition count.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communications in a base station. The method includes transmitting control information to a UE, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message. The method further includes receiving from the UE an uplink control message that is repeated according to the repetition count.

These and other aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood upon review of the detailed description below. Other aspects, features, and implementations will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reviewing the following description of certain exemplary implementations in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features may be discussed with respect to several examples and figures below, all implementations may include one or more of the advantageous features described herein. In other words, while one or more examples may be described as having several advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used in accordance with various implementations described herein. Similarly, while exemplary implementations may be described below as devices, systems, or methods, it should be understood that such exemplary implementations may be implemented in a variety of devices, systems, and methods.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to some aspects. FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example radio access network according to some aspects. 1 is a schematic diagram of an organization of wireless resources in an air interface utilizing Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), according to some aspects. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless communication system that supports multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication. FIG. 1 illustrates communication between a base station and a UE using beamformed signals, in accordance with some aspects. FIG. 1 illustrates a process for explicitly indicating a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) repetition factor, in accordance with some aspects. 1 illustrates example bit sequence values and corresponding PUCCH repetition factors in accordance with some aspects. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process for transmitting a request for a PUCCH repetition factor, in accordance with some aspects. 1 illustrates a process for implicitly indicating a PUCCH repetition factor, according to some aspects. 1 illustrates an example process for implicitly indicating a PUCCH repetition factor, in accordance with some aspects. 1 illustrates a process for dynamic indication of a PUCCH repetition factor, according to some aspects. FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduling entity, in accordance with some aspects. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for receiving a repetition of an uplink control message, according to some aspects. FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduled entity, in accordance with some aspects. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example process for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message, according to some aspects.

The detailed description set forth below with reference to the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to techniques for physical uplink control channel configuration and coverage enhancement in wireless communications networks. In some aspects, a base station may dynamically indicate a repetition factor for an uplink control channel to improve coverage of the uplink control channel. In some aspects, the base station may explicitly or implicitly indicate the repetition factor using various signaling techniques. In some aspects, the interpretation of the repetition factor indication may depend on one or more parameters, such as, for example, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) format, an uplink control information size, a code rate, and/or a PUCCH resource set used for the PUCCH.

While aspects and implementations are described herein by way of illustrating several examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that additional implementations and use cases may arise in many different configurations and scenarios. The innovations described herein may be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging configurations. For example, implementations and/or applications may arise via integrated chip examples and other non-modular component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communications devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Some examples may or may not be specifically targeted to a use case or application, but a wide variety of applicability of the described innovations may arise. Implementations may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and even to aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features in order to implement and practice the claimed and described implementations. For example, transmitting and receiving wireless signals necessarily includes several components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders/summers, etc.). It is intended that the innovations described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed configurations, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a wide variety of telecommunications systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Referring now to FIG. 1, by way of illustrative example and not limitation, various aspects of the present disclosure are shown with reference to a wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 includes three interacting domains: a core network 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a user equipment (UE) 106. The wireless communication system 100 may enable the UE 106 to conduct data communications with an external data network 110, such as (but not limited to) the Internet.

The RAN 104 may implement any suitable wireless communications technology or technologies for providing radio access to the UE 106. As one example, the RAN 104 may operate in accordance with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) New Radio (NR) specification, often referred to as 5G. As another example, the RAN 104 may operate under a hybrid of 5G NR and the evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN) standard, often referred to as LTE. 3GPP® refers to this hybrid RAN as Next Generation RAN, or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples may be used within the scope of this disclosure.

As shown, the RAN 104 includes multiple base stations 108. Broadly speaking, a base station is a network element in a radio access network responsible for radio transmission and reception in one or more cells to and from UEs. In different technologies, standards, or contexts, a base station may be variously referred to by those skilled in the art as a base transceiver station (BTS), radio base station, radio transceiver, transceiver function, basic service set (BSS), enhanced service set (ESS), access point (AP), Node B (NB), eNode B (eNB), gNode B (gNB), transmit/receive point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology. In some examples, a base station may include two or more TRPs, which may or may not be co-located. Each TRP may communicate on the same or different carrier frequencies within the same or different frequency bands.

Also shown is a radio access network 104 supporting wireless communications for multiple mobile devices. A mobile device may be referred to as user equipment (UE) in 3GPP® standards, but may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a mobile station (MS), subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal (AT), mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, terminal, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology. A UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides a user with access to network services.

As used herein, a "mobile" device does not necessarily have the capability to move and may be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment generally refers to a diverse range of devices and technologies. A UE may include several hardware structural components sized, shaped, and configured to facilitate communication, including electrically coupled antennas, antenna arrays, radio frequency (RF) chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, and the like. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobiles, cellular (cell) phones, smartphones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and a wide range of embedded systems, e.g., those supporting the "Internet of Things" (IoT). In addition, the mobile device may be an automobile or other transportation vehicle, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotics device, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, an object tracking device, a drone, a multicopter, a quadcopter, a remote control device, a consumer and/or wearable device, such as eyewear, a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, etc. In addition, the mobile device may be a home audio, video, and/or multimedia device, an appliance, a vending machine, a digital home device or a smart home device, such as an intelligent lighting, a home security system, a smart meter, etc. In addition, the mobile device may be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a city infrastructure device (e.g., a smart grid) that controls power, lighting, water, etc., an industrial automation and enterprise device, a logistics controller, agricultural equipment, etc. Still further, the mobile device may provide support for connected medicine or telemedicine, such as remote healthcare. Telehealth devices may include telehealth monitoring devices and telehealth management devices, whose communications may be given preferential treatment or priority access over other types of information, for example, with respect to priority access for the transport of critical service data and/or associated QoS for the transport of critical service data.

Wireless communications between the RAN 104 and the UE 106 may be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmissions over the air interface from a base station (e.g., base station 108) to one or more UEs (e.g., UE 106) may be referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. According to some aspects of the present disclosure, the term downlink may refer to point-to-multipoint transmissions originating at a scheduling entity (e.g., base station 108, described further below). Another way to describe this scheme may be to use the term broadcast channel multiplexing. Transmissions from a UE (e.g., UE 106) to a base station (e.g., base station 108) may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term uplink may refer to point-to-point transmissions originating at a scheduling entity (e.g., UE 106, described further below).

In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, with a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station 108) allocating resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its coverage area or cell. Within this disclosure, as described further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities. That is, for scheduled communication, a UE 106, which may be a scheduled entity, may utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity 108.

The base station 108 is not the only entity that can function as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE can function as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs).

As shown in FIG. 1, the scheduling entity 108 may broadcast downlink traffic 112 to one or more scheduled entities 106. Generally, the scheduling entity 108 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in a wireless communication network, including the downlink traffic 112 and, in some examples, uplink traffic 116 from one or more scheduled entities 106 to the scheduling entity 108. On the other hand, the scheduled entity 106 is a node or device that receives downlink control information 114, including scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information, from another entity in the wireless communication network, such as the scheduling entity 108. The scheduled entity 106 may further transmit uplink control information 118, including, but not limited to, scheduling requests or feedback information, or other control information, to the scheduling entity 108.

Additionally, uplink and/or downlink control information 114 and/or 118 and/or traffic information 112 and/or 116 may be transmitted on a waveform that may be time-divided into frames, subframes, slots, and/or symbols. As used herein, a symbol may refer to a unit of time that carries one resource element (RE) per subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) waveform. A slot may carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. A subframe may refer to a 1 ms duration. Multiple subframes or slots may be grouped together to form a single frame or radio frame. Within this disclosure, a frame may refer to a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) for wireless transmission, with each frame consisting of, for example, 10 subframes of 1 ms each. Of course, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme for organizing a waveform may be utilized, and the various time divisions of the waveform may have any suitable time length.

Generally, the base stations 108 may include a backhaul interface for communication with a backhaul portion 120 of the wireless communications system. The backhaul 120 may provide a link between the base stations 108 and the core network 102. Additionally, in some examples, the backhaul network may provide interconnection between each of the base stations 108. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as a direct physical connection using any suitable transport network, a virtual network, etc.

The core network 102 may be part of the wireless communications system 100 and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 104. In some examples, the core network 102 may be configured in accordance with a 5G standard (e.g., 5GC). In other examples, the core network 102 may be configured in accordance with 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC), or any other suitable standard or configuration.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of a RAN 200 is provided, by way of example and not limitation. In some examples, the RAN 200 may be the same as the RAN 104 described above and shown in FIG. 1. The geographic area covered by the RAN 200 may be divided into cellular regions (cells), which may be uniquely identified by user equipment (UE) based on an identification broadcast from an access point or base station. FIG. 2 shows macrocells 202, 204, and 206, and small cell 208, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a subarea of a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. Radio links within a sector may be identified by a single logical identification belonging to that sector. In a sectorized cell, multiple sectors within the cell may be formed by a group of antennas, with each antenna responsible for communication with UEs within a portion of the cell.

Various base station arrangements may be utilized. For example, in FIG. 2, two base stations, base station 210 and base station 212, are shown within cells 202 and 204. A third base station, base station 214, is shown controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 216 within cell 206. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna or may be connected to the antenna or RRH 216 by a feeder cable. In the example shown, cells 202, 204, and 206 may be referred to as macrocells because base stations 210, 212, and 214 support cells having large sizes. Additionally, base station 218 is shown within cell 208, which may overlap with one or more macrocells. In this example, because base station 218 supports a relatively small cell, cell 208 may be referred to as a small cell (e.g., a microcell, picocell, femtocell, home base station, home NodeB, home eNodeB, etc.). Cell sizing may be determined according to system design and component constraints.

It should be understood that the radio access network 200 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells. Additionally, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of a given cell. The base stations 210, 212, 214, 218 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices. In some examples, the base stations 210, 212, 214, and/or 218 may be the same as the base station/scheduling entity 108 described above and shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 further includes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 220, which may be a quadcopter or drone. The UAV 220 may be configured to function as a base station. That is, in some examples, a cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of the cell may move according to the location of a mobile base station, such as the quadcopter 220.

Within the RAN 200, cells may include UEs that may be in communication with one or more sectors of each cell. Furthermore, each base station 210, 212, 214, 218, and 220 may be configured to provide an access point to the core network 102 (see FIG. 1) for all UEs in its respective cell. For example, UEs 222 and 224 may be in communication with base station 210, UEs 226 and 228 may be in communication with base station 212, UEs 230 and 232 may be in communication with base station 214 via RRH 216, UE 234 may be in communication with base station 218, and UE 236 may be in communication with mobile base station 220. In some examples, UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, and/or 242 may be the same as the UE/scheduled entity 106 described above and shown in FIG. 1.

In some examples, a UAV 220 (e.g., a quadcopter) may be configured to function as a UE. For example, the UAV 220 may operate within the cell 202 by communicating with the base station 210.

In a further aspect of the RAN 200, sidelink signals may be used between UEs without necessarily relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. For example, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 238, 240, and 242) may communicate with each other using peer-to-peer (P2P) or sidelink signals 237 without relaying their communications through a base station. In some examples, UEs 238, 240, and 242 may each function as a scheduling entity or transmitting sidelink device and/or a scheduled entity or receiving sidelink device to schedule resources and communicate sidelink signals 237 between themselves without relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. In other examples, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 226 and 228) within the coverage area of a base station (e.g., base station 212) may communicate sidelink signals 227 via a direct link (sidelink) without conducting their communications through base station 212. In this example, base station 212 may allocate resources to UEs 226 and 228 for sidelink communications. In any case, such sidelink signaling 227 and 237 may be implemented in a P2P network, a device-to-device (D2D) network, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, a mesh network, or other suitable direct link network.

In the radio access network 200, the ability of a UE to communicate while moving, regardless of its location, is referred to as mobility. The various physical channels between the UE and the radio access network are generally set up, maintained, and released under the control of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF, not shown, part of the core network 102 in FIG. 1), which may include a Security Context Management Function (SCMF) and a Security Anchor Function (SEAF), which performs authentication. The SCMF may manage security contexts, in whole or in part, for both control plane and user plane functionality.

In various aspects of the present disclosure, the wireless access network 200 may utilize DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility to enable mobility and handover (i.e., transfer of a UE's connection from one radio channel to another). In a network configured for DL-based mobility, during a call with a scheduling entity or at any other time, the UE may monitor various parameters of the signal from its serving cell as well as various parameters of neighboring cells. Depending on the quality of these parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more of the neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if the signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may undertake a handoff or handover from the serving cell to a neighboring (target) cell. For example, a UE 224 (shown as a vehicle, although any suitable form of UE may be used) may move from the geographical area corresponding to its serving cell 206 to the geographical area corresponding to a neighbor cell 202. When the signal strength or quality from a neighbor cell 202 exceeds that of its serving cell 206 for a given amount of time, the UE 224 may send a report message to its serving base station 216 indicating this condition. In response, the UE 224 may receive a handover command, and the UE may undergo a handover to the cell 202.

In a network configured for UL-based mobility, the UL reference signal from each UE may be utilized by the network to select a serving cell for each UE. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, and 214/216 may broadcast a combined synchronization signal (e.g., a combined primary synchronization signal (PSS), a combined secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a combined physical broadcast channel (PBCH)). UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, and 232 may receive the combined synchronization signal, derive carrier frequency and slot timing from the synchronization signal, and transmit uplink pilot or reference signals in response to the timing derivation. An uplink pilot signal transmitted by a UE (e.g., UE 224) may be received in parallel by two or more cells (e.g., base stations 210 and 214/216) in the radio access network 200. Each cell may measure the strength of the pilot signal, and the radio access network (e.g., base stations 210 and 214/216 and/or one or more central nodes in the core network) may determine the serving cell for UE 224. As UE 224 moves through radio access network 200, the network may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signal transmitted by UE 224. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by a neighboring cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, network 200 may handover UE 224 from the serving cell to the neighboring cell, with or without informing UE 224.

Although synchronization signals transmitted by base stations 210, 212, and 214/216 may be integrated, the synchronization signals may not identify a specific cell, but rather may identify a zone of multiple cells operating on the same frequency and/or at the same timing. The use of zones in 5G networks or other next-generation communication networks enables an uplink-based mobility framework, improving both UE and network efficiency as the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network may be reduced.

In various implementations, the air interface within the radio access network 200 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or shared spectrum. Licensed spectrum generally provides exclusive use of a portion of the spectrum by a mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government regulatory body. Unlicensed spectrum provides sharing of a portion of the spectrum without the need for a government-granted license. Compliance with some technical rules is generally still required to access unlicensed spectrum, but generally any operator or device can gain access. Shared spectrum may fall between licensed and unlicensed spectrum; while technical rules or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, the spectrum may still be shared by multiple operators and/or multiple RATs. For example, a holder of a license for a portion of the licensed spectrum may offer licensed shared access (LSA) to share that spectrum with other parties, e.g., with terms determined by a suitable license to gain access.

The air interface in the radio access network 200 may use one or more duplexing algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-point communication link in which both endpoints can communicate with each other in both directions. Full duplex means that both endpoints can communicate with each other simultaneously. Half duplex means that only one endpoint can send information to the other at a time. Half duplex emulation is frequently implemented for wireless links using time division duplexing (TDD). In TDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using time division multiplexing. That is, at some times, the channel is dedicated to transmission in one direction, while at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmission in the opposite direction, where the direction can change very rapidly, e.g., several times per slot. In wireless links, full duplex channels generally rely on physical separation of the transmitter and receiver and suitable interference cancellation techniques. Full duplex emulation is frequently implemented for wireless links by utilizing frequency division duplexing (FDD) or spatial division duplexing (SDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions may operate at different carrier frequencies (e.g., within paired spectrum). In SDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using spatial division multiplexing (SDM). In other examples, full-duplex communication may be implemented in unpaired spectrum (e.g., within a single carrier bandwidth), where transmissions in different directions occur in different sub-bands of the carrier bandwidth. This type of full-duplex communication may be referred to herein as sub-band full duplex (SBFD), also known as flexible duplex.

Furthermore, the air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more multiplexing and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification provides multiple access for UL transmissions from the UEs 222 and 224 to the base station 210, as well as for multiplexing DL transmissions from the base station 210 to one or more UEs 222 and 224, utilizing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with cyclic prefix (CP). In addition, for UL transmissions, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP (also known as single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)). However, within the scope of this disclosure, multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above schemes and may be performed using time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource spread multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes. Additionally, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 210 to UEs 222 and 224 may be performed using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

Various aspects of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the OFDM waveform shown generally in FIG. 3. Those skilled in the art will understand that various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described herein below. That is, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on OFDM links for clarity, it will be understood that the same principles may also be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an expanded view of an exemplary subframe 302 is illustrated, showing the OFDM resource grid. However, as one skilled in the art will readily appreciate, the physical layer (PHY) transmission structure for any particular application may differ from the example described herein depending on any number of factors. Here, time is horizontal in units of OFDM symbols, and frequency is vertical in units of subcarriers of a carrier.

The resource grid 304 may be used to roughly represent the time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation with multiple available antenna ports, a corresponding number of resource grids 304 may be available for communication. The resource grid 304 is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) 306. An RE, which is 1 subcarrier by 1 symbol, is the smallest individual portion of the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation utilized in a particular implementation, each RE may represent one or more bits of information. In some examples, a block of REs may be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) or more simply as a resource block (RB) 308, which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB may contain 12 subcarriers, a number independent of the numerology used. In some examples, based on the numerology, an RB may contain any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. Within this disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB, such as RB 308, corresponds entirely to a single direction of communication (either transmit or receive for a given device).

A set of contiguous or non-contiguous resource blocks may be referred to herein as a resource block group (RBG), subband, or bandwidth portion (BWP). A set of subbands or BWPs may span the entire bandwidth. Scheduling a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmission generally involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more subbands or bandwidth portions (BWPs). Thus, the UE generally uses only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest unit of resource that can be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE and the higher the modulation scheme chosen for the air interface, the higher the UE's data rate. RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity, such as a base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by the UE implementing D2D sidelink communication.

In this diagram, the RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of the subframe 302, with some subcarriers shown above and below the RB 308. In a given implementation, the subframe 302 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Furthermore, while the RB 308 is shown in this diagram as occupying less than the entire time duration of the subframe 302, this is just one possible example.

Each 1 ms subframe 302 may consist of one or more adjacent slots. In the example shown in FIG. 3, one subframe 302 includes four slots 310 as an illustrative example. In some examples, slots may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, a slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include minislots, sometimes referred to as reduced transmission time intervals (TTIs), which have a shorter duration (e.g., 1 to 3 OFDM symbols). These minislots or reduced transmission time intervals (TTIs) may be transmitted, possibly occupying resources scheduled for an ongoing slot transmission for the same UE or a different UE. Any number of resource blocks may be utilized within a subframe or slot.

The expanded view of one of the slots 310 shows the slot 310 including a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, the control region 312 may carry a control channel, and the data region 314 may carry a data channel. Of course, a slot may include all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. The structure shown in FIG. 3 is exemplary in nature, and different slot structures may be utilized and may include one or more of each of the control and data regions.

Although not shown in FIG. 3, various REs 306 within the RB 308 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including a control channel, a shared channel, a data channel, etc. Other REs 306 within the RB 308 may also carry pilot or reference signals. These pilot or reference signals may enable a receiving device to perform channel estimation of the corresponding channel, which may enable coherent demodulation/detection of the control channel and/or data channel within the RB 308.

In some examples, slot 310 may be utilized for broadcast, multicast, groupcast, or unicast communications. For example, broadcast, multicast, or groupcast communications may refer to a point-to-multipoint transmission by one device (e.g., a base station, UE, or other similar device) to other devices, where a broadcast communication is delivered to all devices, while a multicast or groupcast communication is delivered to multiple intended receiving devices. Unicast communications may refer to a point-to-point transmission by one device to a single other device.

In one example of cellular communication over a cellular carrier via a Uu interface, for DL transmissions, a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within the control region 312) to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) for carrying DL control information, including one or more DL control channels, such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI), including, but not limited to, power control commands (e.g., one or more open-loop power control parameters and/or one or more closed-loop power control parameters), scheduling information, grants, and/or RE allocations for DL and UL transmissions. The PDCCH may further carry HARQ feedback transmissions, such as acknowledgements (ACKs) or negative acknowledgements (NACKs). HARQ is a technique well known to those skilled in the art, and the integrity of packet transmissions may be checked at the receiving end using any suitable integrity checking mechanism, such as a checksum or cyclic redundancy check (CRC), to ensure accuracy. If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be sent; if not, a NACK may be sent. In response to the NACK, the transmitting device may send HARQ retransmissions, which may implement chase combining, incremental redundancy, etc.

The base station may further allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., in the control region 312 or the data region 314) to carry other DL signals, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS), a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS), and a synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSBs may be broadcast at regular intervals based on a periodicity (e.g., 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, or 160 ms). The SSBs include a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast control channel (PBCH). The UE may use the PSS and SSS to achieve radio frame, subframe, slot, and symbol synchronization in the time domain, identify the center of the channel (system) bandwidth in the frequency domain, and identify the physical cell identity (PCI) of the cell.

The PBCH within the SSB may further include a Master Information Block (MIB) containing various system information along with parameters for decoding the System Information Block (SIB). For example, the SIB may be System Information Type 1 (SIB1), which may contain various additional system information. The MIB and SIB1 together provide minimum system information (SI) for initial access. Examples of system information transmitted within the MIB may include, but are not limited to, subcarrier spacing (e.g., default downlink numerology), system frame number, PDCCH Control Resource Set (CORESET) configuration (e.g., PDCCH CORESET0), cell barred indicator, cell reselection indicator, raster offset, and search space for SIB1. Examples of remaining minimum system information (RMSI) transmitted within SIB1 may include, but are not limited to, random access search space, paging search space, downlink configuration information, and uplink configuration information. The base station may also transmit other system information (OSI).

For UL transmissions, a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) may utilize one or more REs 306 to convey UL control information (UCI), including one or more UL control channels, such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), to the scheduling entity. The UCI may include various packet types and categories, including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding the uplink data transmission. Examples of uplink reference signals may include sounding reference signals (SRS) and uplink DMRS. In some examples, the UCI may include a scheduling request (SR), i.e., a request for the scheduling entity to schedule an uplink transmission. Here, in response to the SR transmitted on the UCI, the scheduling entity may transmit downlink control information (DCI), which may schedule resources for uplink packet transmissions. The UCI may also include HARQ feedback, channel state feedback (CSF), such as a CSI report, or any other suitable UCI. In some aspects, the UE may use various enhancement techniques described herein for PUCCH transmission to increase PUCCH coverage.

In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., in the data region 314) may be allocated for data traffic. Such data traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) for DL transmissions or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for UL transmissions. In some examples, one or more REs 306 in the data region 314 may be configured to carry one or more SIBs and other signals, such as DMRS. In some examples, the PDSCH is not limited to SIB1 discussed above and may carry multiple SIBs. For example, OSI may be provided in these SIBs, such as SIB2 and the SIBs mentioned above.

In the example of sidelink communication over a sidelink carrier via a ProSe PC5 interface, the control field 312 of the slot 310 may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) containing sidelink control information (SCI) transmitted by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device (e.g., a Tx V2X device or another Tx UE) to a set of one or more other receiving sidelink devices (e.g., an Rx V2X device or another Rx UE). The data field 314 of the slot 310 may include a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) containing sidelink data traffic transmitted by the initiating (transmitting) sidelink device within resources reserved on the sidelink carrier by the transmitting sidelink device via the SCI. Other information may also be transmitted on various REs 306 within the slot 310. For example, HARQ feedback information may be transmitted from the receiving sidelink device to the transmitting sidelink device within a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) within the slot 310. Additionally, one or more reference signals, such as a sidelink SSB, a sidelink CSI-RS, a sidelink SRS, and/or a sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS), may be transmitted within slot 310.

These physical channels described above are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for handling at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. Transport channels carry blocks of information called transport blocks (TBs). The transport block size (TBs), which may correspond to the number of bits of information, may be a controlled parameter based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the channels or carriers shown in Figures 1-3 are not necessarily all of the channels or carriers that may be utilized between devices, and that other channels or carriers, such as other traffic channels, control channels, and feedback channels, may be utilized in addition to those shown.

These physical channels described above are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for handling at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. Transport channels carry blocks of information called transport blocks (TBs). The transport block size (TBs), which may correspond to the number of bits of information, may be a controlled parameter based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the scheduling entity and/or the scheduled entity may be configured for beamforming and/or multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. FIG. 4 shows an example of a wireless communications system 400 that supports MIMO. In a MIMO system, a transmitter 402 includes multiple transmit antennas 404 (e.g., N transmit antennas) and a receiver 406 includes multiple receive antennas 408 (e.g., M receive antennas). Thus, there are N×M signal paths 410 from the transmit antennas 404 to the receive antennas 408. Each of the transmitter 402 and receiver 406 may be implemented, for example, within the scheduling entity 108, the scheduled entity 106, or any other suitable wireless communications device.

The use of such multi-antenna technologies enables wireless communication systems to exploit the spatial domain and support spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and transmit diversity. Spatial multiplexing can be used to simultaneously transmit different streams of data, also called layers, over the same time-frequency resources. Data streams can be transmitted to a single UE to increase the data rate, or to multiple UEs to increase overall system capacity, the latter being called multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO). This is achieved by spatially precoding each data stream (i.e., multiplexing the data streams with different weights and phase shifts) and then transmitting each spatially precoded stream via multiple transmit antennas on the downlink. The spatially precoded data streams arrive at the UEs with different spatial signatures, allowing each UE to recover one or more data streams intended for that UE. On the uplink, each UE transmits a spatially precoded data stream, allowing the base station to identify the source of each spatially precoded data stream.

The number of data streams or layers corresponds to the rank of the transmission. Generally, the rank of the MIMO system 400 is limited by the number of transmit antennas 404 or receive antennas 408, whichever is smaller. In addition, other considerations, such as channel conditions at the UE and available resources at the base station, may also affect the transmission rank. For example, the rank (and therefore the number of data streams) assigned to a particular UE on the downlink may be determined based on a rank indicator (RI) transmitted from the UE to the base station. The RI may be determined based on the antenna configuration (e.g., the number of transmit and receive antennas) and the measured signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) for each receive antenna. The RI may indicate, for example, the number of layers that can be supported under current channel conditions. The base station may use the RI, along with resource information (e.g., available resources and the amount of data to be scheduled for the UE), to assign a transmission rank to the UE.

In a time division duplex (TDD) system, the UL and DL are reciprocal in that they each use different time slots of the same frequency bandwidth. Thus, in a TDD system, the base station may assign a rank for a DL MIMO transmission based on an UL SINR measurement (e.g., based on a sounding reference signal (SRS) or other pilot signal transmitted from the UE). Based on the assigned rank, the base station may then transmit a CSI-RS with a separate C-RS sequence for each layer to perform multi-layer channel estimation. From the CSI-RS, the UE may measure the channel quality across layers and resource blocks and may feed back an RI and a channel quality indicator (CQI) to the base station indicating the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) to use for transmission to the UE for use in updating the rank and allocating REs for future downlink transmissions.

In the simplest case, as shown in FIG. 4, rank-2 spatial multiplexing transmission in a 2x2 MIMO antenna configuration transmits one data stream from each transmit antenna 404. Each data stream arrives at each receive antenna 408 along a different signal path 410. The receiver 406 can then reconstruct the data stream using the received signals from each receive antenna 408.

Beamforming is a signal processing technique that may be used at the transmitter 402 or receiver 406 to shape or steer an antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitter 402 and the receiver 406. Beamforming may be accomplished by combining signals communicated via the antennas 404 or 408 (e.g., antenna elements of an antenna array module) such that some of the signals experience constructive interference and other signals experience destructive interference. To create the desired constructive/destructive interference, the transmitter 402 or receiver 406 may apply amplitude and/or phase offsets to the signals transmitted or received from the respective antennas 404 or 408 associated with the transmitter 402 or receiver 406.

In 5G New Radio (NR) systems, particularly in FR2 (mmWave) systems, beamformed signals may be used for most downlink channels, including PDCCH and PDSCH. Furthermore, broadcast control information, such as SSB, slot format indicator (SFI), and paging information, may be transmitted in a beam-sweeping manner to enable all scheduled entities (UEs) within the coverage area of a transmit receiving point (TRP) (e.g., gNB) to receive the broadcast control information. Additionally, for UEs configured with beamforming antenna arrays, beamformed signals may also be used for uplink channels, including PUCCH and PUSCH. Additionally, beamformed signals may be further utilized in NR sidelink (SL) or D2D systems, such as V2X, that utilize FR2.

FIG. 5 illustrates communication between a base station 504 and a UE 502 using beamformed signals, according to some aspects. The base station 504 may be any of the base stations (e.g., gNBs) or scheduling entities shown in FIGS. 1 and/or 2, and the UE 502 may be any of the UEs or scheduled entities shown in FIGS. 1 and/or 2.

The base station 504 may generally be capable of communicating with the UE 502 using one or more transmit beams, and the UE 502 may be capable of communicating with the base station 504 using one or more receive beams. As used herein, the term transmit beam refers to a beam on the base station 504 that may be utilized for downlink or uplink communications with the UE 502. Additionally, the term receive beam refers to a beam on the UE 502 that may be utilized for downlink or uplink communications with the base station 504.

In the example shown in FIG. 5, the base station 504 is configured to generate multiple transmit beams 506a-506h, each associated with a different spatial direction. In addition, the UE 502 is configured to generate multiple receive beams 508a-508e, each associated with a different spatial direction. Note that while some beams are illustrated as adjacent to one another, such configuration may differ in different aspects. For example, the transmit beams 506a-506h transmitted during the same symbol may not be adjacent to one another. In some examples, the base station 504 and the UE 502 may each transmit more or fewer beams distributed in all directions (e.g., 360 degrees) and in three dimensions. In addition, the transmit beams 506a-506h may include beams of various beamwidths. For example, the base station 504 may transmit some signals (e.g., SSB) with wider beams and other signals (e.g., CSI-RS) with narrower beams.

The base station 504 and the UE 502 may use a beam management procedure to select one or more transmit beams 506a-506h on the base station 504 and one or more receive beams 508a-508e on the UE 502 for communication of uplink and downlink signals therebetween. In one example, during initial cell acquisition, the UE 502 may perform a P1 beam management procedure to scan the multiple transmit beams 506a-506h on the multiple receive beams 508a-508e to select a beam pair link (e.g., one of the transmit beams 506a-506h and one of the receive beams 508a-508e) for a physical random access channel (PRACH) procedure for initial access to the cell. For example, periodic SSB beam sweeping may be performed on the base station 504 at certain intervals (e.g., based on SSB periodicity). Thus, the base station 504 may be configured to sweep or transmit an SSB in each of multiple wider transmit beams 506a-506h during a beam sweep interval. The UE may measure the reference signal received power (RSRP) of each of the SSB transmit beams in each of the UE's receive beams and select a transmit beam and receive beam based on the measured RSRP. In one example, the selected receive beam may be the receive beam with the highest measured RSRP, and the selected transmit beam may have the highest measured RSRP on the selected receive beam.

After completing the PRACH procedure, the base station 504 and the UE 502 may perform a P2 beam management procedure for beam refinement at the base station 504. For example, the base station 504 may be configured to sweep or transmit CSI-RS in each of multiple narrower transmit beams 506a-506h. Each of the narrower CSI-RS beams may be a sub-beam of the selected SSB transmit beam (e.g., within a spatial direction of the SSB transmit beam). Transmission of the CSI-RS transmit beam may be periodic (e.g., as configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling by the gNB), semi-persistent (e.g., as configured via RRC signaling and activated/deactivated via medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) signaling by the gNB), or aperiodic (e.g., as triggered by the gNB via downlink control information (DCI)). The UE 502 is configured to scan the multiple CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h over the multiple receive beams 508a-508e. The UE 502 then performs beam measurements (e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc.) of the CSI-RS received in each of the receive beams 508a-508e to determine the respective beam quality of each of the CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h measured in each of the receive beams 508a-508e.

The UE 502 may then generate and transmit to the base station 504 a Layer 1 (L1) measurement report including a beam index (e.g., a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI)) of one or more of the CSI-RS transmit beams 506a-506h for one or more of the receive beams 508a-508e and a beam measurement (e.g., RSRP or SINR). The base station 504 may then select one or more CSI-RS transmit beams for communicating downlink and/or uplink control and/or data with the UE 502. In some examples, the selected CSI-RS transmit beam has the highest RSRP from the L1 measurement report. Transmission of the L1 measurement report may be periodic (e.g., as configured via RRC signaling by the gNB), semi-persistent (e.g., as configured via RRC signaling and activated/deactivated via MAC-CE signaling by the gNB), or aperiodic (e.g., as triggered by the gNB via DCI).

UE 502 may further select a corresponding receive beam on UE 502 for each selected serving CSI-RS transmit beam to form a respective beam pair link (BPL). For example, UE 502 may utilize beam measurements obtained during the P2 procedure or perform a P3 beam management procedure to obtain new beam measurements for the selected CSI-RS transmit beams and select a corresponding receive beam for each selected transmit beam. In some examples, the receive beam selected to pair with a particular CSI-RS transmit beam may be the receive beam for which the highest RSRP for the particular CSI-RS transmit beam is measured.

In some examples, in addition to performing CSI-RS beam measurements, the base station 504 may configure the UE 502 to perform SSB beam measurements and provide an L1 measurement report including beam measurement values for the SSB transmit beams 506a-506h. For example, the base station 504 may configure the UE 502 to perform SSB beam measurements and/or CSI-RS beam measurements for beam failure detection (BRD), beam failure recovery (BFR), cell reselection, beam tracking (e.g., of the mobile UE 502 and/or the base station 504), or other beam optimization purposes.

In addition, when the channel is reciprocal, the transmit beam and receive beam may be selected using an uplink beam management scheme. In one example, the UE 502 may be configured to sweep or transmit on each of multiple receive beams 508a-508e. For example, the UE 502 may transmit an SRS on each beam in a different beam direction. In addition, the base station 504 may be configured to receive an uplink beam reference signal on multiple transmit beams 506a-506h. The base station 504 then performs beam measurements (e.g., RSRP, SINR, etc.) of the beam reference signal on each of the transmit beams 506a-506h to determine the respective beam quality of each of the receive beams 508a-508e measured on each of the transmit beams 506a-506h.

The base station 504 may then select one or more transmit beams for communicating downlink and/or uplink control and/or data with the UE 502. In some examples, the selected transmit beam has the highest RSRP. The UE 502 may then select a corresponding receive beam for each selected serving transmit beam to form a respective beam pair link (BPL) for each selected serving transmit beam, e.g., using a P3 beam management procedure, as described above.

In one example, a single CSI-RS transmit beam (e.g., beam 506d) at the base station 504 and a single receive beam (e.g., beam 508c) at the UE may form a single BPL used for communications between the base station 504 and the UE 502. In another example, multiple CSI-RS transmit beams (e.g., beams 506c, 506d, and 506e) at the base station 504 and a single receive beam (e.g., beam 508c) at the UE 502 may form respective BPLs used for communications between the base station 504 and the UE 502. In another example, multiple CSI-RS transmit beams (e.g., beams 506c, 506d, and 506e) at the base station 504 and multiple receive beams (e.g., beams 508c and 508d) at the UE 502 may form multiple BPLs used for communications between the base station 504 and the UE 502. In this example, the first BPL may include transmit beam 506c and receive beam 508c, the second BPL may include transmit beam 508d and receive beam 508c, and the third BPL may include transmit beam 508e and receive beam 508d.

In some cases, wireless communications may suffer from signal attenuation (e.g., path loss), which may be affected by various factors such as temperature, air pressure, diffraction, etc. As a result, signal processing techniques such as beamforming may be used to overcome path loss at these frequencies. Accordingly, transmissions from a base station (e.g., gNB) and/or UE may be beamformed, and a receiving device may configure its antenna and/or antenna array using beamforming techniques so that the transmission is received in a directional manner. In some cases, a UE (e.g., UE 502) may select an active beam for communicating with a network (e.g., base station 504) by selecting the strongest beam from among several candidate beams. In some cases, multiple UEs (e.g., UEs in a group) may use the same beam configuration.

In some cases, wireless communication systems, such as those operating in the millimeter wave frequency range (e.g., FR2), may experience loss of communication due to a beam becoming weak or partially blocked. When a beam becomes weak, the base station can perform a beam switching procedure to determine a stronger beam for communication. However, in some examples, the beam may be weak for a short period of time, such that performing the beam switching procedure may lead to inefficient use of processing resources or may take longer than the time the beam becomes temporarily weak. Furthermore, the base station may need to maintain communication with the UE even when the active beam is weak in order to determine a new beam for selection as needed. For example, it may be important for the base station to receive channel state information (CSI) feedback from the UE to determine a beam for selection. In some cases, maintaining communication with the UE may include maintaining a performance threshold or coverage in a unicast channel (e.g., PUCCH). To maintain communication when a beam becomes unreliable or weak, it may be beneficial to provide a method for uplink channel (e.g., PUCCH) coverage enhancement, which may be enabled dynamically, possibly in lieu of beam switching or other beam management procedures.

Explicit Repetition Factor Indication for PUCCH In some aspects, a base station may explicitly signal a UE to use repetition on the uplink control channel for coverage enhancement. For example, one or more repetitions of a PUCCH transmission may be transmitted within one slot and/or across multiple slots. FIG. 6 illustrates a process for explicitly indicating a PUCCH repetition factor in accordance with some aspects. Using a PUCCH repetition factor (e.g., a repetition count), a base station 602 (e.g., a gNB) may cause a UE 604 to transmit repetitions of a PUCCH transmission as needed. In some aspects, repeating a PUCCH transmission can increase coverage and/or reliability of the PUCCH. In some aspects, a UE can repeat a PUCCH transmission using the same or different communication resources (e.g., a PUCCH resource set).

In block 606, the UE 604 may determine one or more PUCCH resource sets for PUCCH transmission 608. The base station may configure communication resources (e.g., PUCCH resource sets) for PUCCH transmission in various formats and/or code rates. In one example, the base station may transmit a PUCCH resource configuration 607 to the UE using RRC signaling (e.g., a PUCCH_Config RRC message). In one aspect, the PUCCH resource configuration may define one or more PUCCH resource sets (e.g., time domain resources and frequency domain resources) that may be used by the UE for PUCCH transmission. The UE may store the PUCCH resource configuration (e.g., enhanced configuration 1415) in memory 1405 or computer-readable medium 1406 (see FIG. 14). Each PUCCH resource set may define a PUCCH format, first symbol, number of symbols, PRB offset, etc., of communication resources (e.g., one or more RBs 308) that may be used for PUCCH transmission. In some aspects, the PUCCH resource set may be predefined or predetermined in an applicable communications standard (e.g., the 3GPP NR standard), or may be preconfigured by the device manufacturer of the UE or base station. In one example, the base station may indicate the PUCCH resource set to be used by transmitting a PUCCH resource indicator in DCI or SIB1 if a predefined PUCCH resource set is to be used.

In some scenarios, the base station 602 may dynamically configure the UE 604 to repeat PUCCH transmissions (i.e., PUCCH repetitions), for example, to enhance PUCCH coverage as needed. By dynamically configuring or signaling PUCCH repetitions, the UE can start, stop, or change PUCCH repetitions without using RRC or semi-static signaling. When PUCCH repetitions are used, the UE 604 can repeat PUCCH transmissions in a predetermined number of slots or minislots. To do so, the base station 602 can transmit a first PUCCH repetition indication 610 to the UE 604 to explicitly indicate the PUCCH repetition factor. The base station 602 can transmit the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 using dynamic signaling. For example, the base station 602 can transmit the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 via DCI addressed to the UE 604. In one example, the base station 602 may transmit a first PUCCH repetition indication 610 via a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). In response to the first PUCCH repetition indication 610, the UE 604 may repeat the PUCCH transmission 612 (i.e., repeat the PUCCH transmission) in accordance with the first PUCCH repetition indication 610.

In some aspects, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may explicitly indicate a PUCCH repetition factor (PRF) that controls the PUCCH repetition, such that the UE 604 can determine the PRF directly from the repetition indication 610. In one aspect, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may indicate a value represented by a bit string (e.g., one or more bits) that corresponds to a value (e.g., a binary value) of the PRF. For example, if the PRF has a value of 2, the bit string may be "10," if the PRF has a value of 3, the bit string may be "11," and if the PRF has a value of 4, the bit string may be "100." FIG. 7 illustrates a table 700 illustrating exemplary bit string values and corresponding PUCCH repetition factor values according to one aspect. In this example, the bit string "000" is unused or reserved. Bit string values 001 through 111 indicate PRF values 1 through 7, respectively.

In some aspects, the first PUCCH repetition indication 610 may indicate a value, e.g., a bit string, that indicates an index value for identifying one PRF among a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors. For example, a plurality of predefined PUCCH repetition factors may be defined in a table, database, or list (e.g., repetition factor 1417 in FIG. 14) that may be stored in the UE, and the PUCCH repetition indication may indicate an index for identifying a desired PRF among the predefined PUCCH repetition factors (e.g., see table 700 in FIG. 7).

In some aspects, the UE may transmit a PUCCH repetition request 620 to the base station 602 for a UE-specific PUCCH repetition factor. In one aspect, the UE may transmit the repetition request 620 in the UCI. In another aspect, the UE may transmit the repetition request 620 in the MAC CE. In one aspect, the repetition request 620 may indicate the number of PUCCH repetitions desired by the UE. In one aspect, the repetition request 620 may indicate that the UE requests PUCCH repetitions, but does not indicate the number of PUCCH repetitions requested or desired. In one example, the repetition request 620 may indicate the need for PUCCH repetitions, and the base station 602 may determine a value for the PUCCH repetition factor or PUCCH repetition count. In one example, if the UE is already configured to repeat the PUCCH, the request 620 may indicate the need to increase or decrease the PUCCH repetition factor or repetition count.

In one aspect, in response to the request 620, the base station 602 may transmit a second PUCCH repetition indication 622 to the UE. In one aspect, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may explicitly indicate the PUCCH repetition factor, for example, using the bit sequence described above. In one aspect, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may indicate a confirmation (e.g., approval or disapproval) without explicitly indicating the PUCCH repetition factor if the request 620 explicitly indicates the desired PUCCH repetition factor. In response to the second PUCCH repetition indication 622, the UE may repeat the PUCCH transmission 624 in accordance with the second PUCCH repetition indication 622.

In some aspects, the base station 602 may indicate the PUCCH repetition factor with reference to the previous PUCCH repetition factor. For example, the second PUCCH repetition indication 622 may indicate that the UE can increase (e.g., increase by a factor of two) or decrease the PUCCH repetition factor with reference to the previous PUCCH repetition factor, e.g., as indicated by the first PUCCH repetition indication 610.

In one aspect, the PUCCH repetition indication may indicate that the PUCCH repetition factor is valid for a predetermined time interval (validity time interval). In one aspect, the base station may configure the UE to track the validity time of the PUCCH repetition factor using a timer (e.g., timer 1430 in FIG. 14). The PUCCH repetition factor is valid for the validity time. After the time interval has elapsed, the UE may stop repeating the PUCCH. For example, the predetermined time interval may include a predetermined number of slots or minislots. In one aspect, the PRF may remain valid until the UE receives another or next PUCCH repetition indication, which may change (e.g., increase, decrease, or stop) or cancel the PUCCH repetition factor.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process 800 for transmitting a request for a PUCCH repetition factor, according to some aspects. In one example, a UE (e.g., UE 604) can use process 800 to determine whether to transmit a repetition request (e.g., PUCCH repetition request 620) to a base station (e.g., base station 602).

In block 802, the UE may check one or more PUCCH repetition criteria to determine whether to send a PUCCH repetition request. In one aspect, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include UL and/or DL channel quality between the UE and the base station. For example, the channel quality may include a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), and/or a signal-to-noise-plus-distortion ratio (SNDR) of the communication channel between the UE and the base station. In one aspect, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include historical data regarding communication between the UE and the base station. For example, the historical data may indicate a communication failure if one occurred between the UE and the base station during a predetermined time interval. A high communication failure rate may indicate poor, unstable, or undesirable channel quality, and vice versa. In some aspects, the base station may provide the PUCCH repetition criteria to the UE using, for example, RRC signaling, DCI, and/or MAC CE.

In decision block 804, the UE may determine whether one or more of the PUCCH repetition criteria are met. In one example, the PUCCH repetition criteria are met when the channel quality (e.g., SNR, SINR, and/or SNDR) falls below a predetermined threshold. In one example, the PUCCH repetition criteria are met when historical data indicates a high communication failure rate between the UE and the base station. For example, the UE may meet the PUCCH repetition criteria if the UE fails to transmit HARQ feedback to the base station.

In block 806, the UE may send a PUCCH repetition request (e.g., request 620) to the base station when one or more PUCCH repetition criteria are met (i.e., a YES path from decision block 804). A PUCCH repetition request may cause the base station to send a PUCCH repetition indication to the UE, as described above in connection with FIG. 6. In some aspects, the PUCCH repetition criteria may include conditions of communication between the UE and the base station. For example, the conditions may include the SNR, SINR, and/or SNDR of the communication channel between the UE and the base station. In this case, the PUCCH repetition criteria are met when any of the SNR, SINR, and/or SNDR falls below a predetermined threshold.

9 illustrates an example of implicit indication of a repetition factor for an uplink control channel, according to some aspects. The wireless network 900 may implement aspects of the RAN 200. The wireless network 900 may include a base station 905 and/or a UE 910, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein.

The wireless network 900 may support various PUCCH enhancement techniques for coverage enhancement. In some aspects, the wireless network 900 may use signaling mechanisms that support DMRS bundling across PUCCH repetitions and some coverage enhancements. Some wireless networks may use a group-common DCI to indicate PUCCH coverage enhancements, such as preconfigured PUCCH repetitions. However, such mechanisms cannot dynamically indicate the repetition factor for PUCCH transmissions with repetitions. The repetition factor may indicate the number, count, or quantity of repetitions of a PUCCH transmission, such as a PUCCH transmission, and the same PUCCH transmission (e.g., an instance or occurrence of a single PUCCH message) may be transmitted one or multiple times according to the repetition factor (e.g., the repetition count).

Aspects of the described techniques may provide a mechanism for implicitly indicating a correspondence or mapping between each of the base station 905's available transmit beams and a repetition factor (e.g., a repetition count) for an uplink control channel (e.g., a PUCCH). That is, the base station 905 may be performing wireless communications with the UE 910 using one or more transmit beams (e.g., beams described in FIG. 5). A transmit beam, in this context, may generally refer to any beam/transmission performed in a directional manner and may correspond to a particular transmit beam, antenna configuration, antenna port, antenna array, etc. (e.g., based on a beam index or other identifier). In some aspects, each transmit beam of the base station 905 may be associated with a uniquely identified or otherwise identifiable feature and/or parameter (e.g., a transmission configuration indicator (TCI) configuration, part of a resource configuration, etc.).

The base station 905 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 910 may receive or otherwise acquire) a configuration signal that identifies or otherwise indicates a correspondence between the base station's 905 transmit beams and certain PUCCH repetition factors. For example, the base station 905 may transmit a configuration (e.g., Tx beam-PUCCH repetition configuration 912) to the UE 910 to indicate the correspondence or mapping using RRC signaling, higher layer signaling (e.g., L3 signaling), MAC CE signaling, etc. For example, the configuration may generally map each transmit beam of the base station 905 to a corresponding repetition factor for PUCCH transmissions. For example, each transmit beam of the base station 905 may be mapped to a unique or different repetition factor for PUCCH transmissions with repetition (e.g., uplink control messages). In another example, a subset or group of the base station's 905 transmit beams may each be mapped to a unique repetition factor for PUCCH repetition. The configuration 912 may be initially indicated (e.g., when the UE 910 establishes a connection with the base station 905 during a connection establishment/re-establishment/update procedure) and/or may be updated by the base station 905 (e.g., according to a periodic schedule, an aperiodic schedule, and/or as needed). Thus, the association or correspondence between transmit beams (or TCI states) and PUCCH repetition factors may be dynamically changed using downlink MAC CE, DCI, etc. The UE 910 may store or otherwise maintain (e.g., store in memory, store in a lookup table 914, etc.) the correspondence between the transmit beams of the base station 905 and the PUCCH repetition factors. The configuration indicating the correspondence may map one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 905 to two or more repetition counts, and in some circumstances may map one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 905 to one repetition factor (e.g., one or more transmit beams of the base station 905 may be mapped to no repetition).

Thus, the UE 910 may identify or otherwise determine that it has a first uplink control message (e.g., a PUCCH message) for transmission with repetition. For example, the UE 910 may determine to have an uplink control message transmission with repetition based on receiving a downlink shared channel transmission (e.g., a PDSCH message), and the first uplink control message may be used to provide HARQ-ACK feedback (e.g., a feedback message). In another example, the UE 910 may determine to have an uplink control message transmission with repetition based on the UE 910's buffer status (e.g., based on having a buffer status report (BSR), a scheduling request (SR), etc., for transmission). In another example, the UE 910 may determine to have an uplink control message transmission with repetition based on channel state information (CSI) feedback to provide to the base station 905. Other examples of uplink control information/data may also be the basis for the first uplink control message transmission with repetition.

Based on the first uplink control message, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify, select, or otherwise implicitly determine a first repetition factor for the first uplink control message based on the base station 905's active transmit beam or transmit configuration indicator status (e.g., TCI status). For example, the base station 905's active transmit beam may include one transmit beam of the base station 905's one or more transmit beams. The base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify the first repetition factor for the first uplink control message using a configuration 914 (e.g., a look-up table) indicating a correspondence between the base station 905's transmit beam and a repetition factor for uplink control channel transmissions with repetition. That is, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may use the correspondence or mapping to determine a corresponding first repetition factor, and therefore a corresponding first repetition count, for transmitting repetitions of the first uplink control message based on the base station 905's active transmit beam. Thus, the UE 910 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the base station 905 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first uplink control message as indicated by the first repetition factor. For example, the UE 910 may transmit three repetitions 920 of the first uplink control message corresponding to the first repetition count. In other examples, the repetition count may be one, two, four, or more.

Aspects of the described techniques may therefore provide for the base station 905 and/or UE 910 to know, identify, or otherwise determine the active transmit beam of the base station 905 to implicitly identify the associated repetition factor. As described above, each transmit beam of the base station 905 may correspond to a beam index, antenna configuration, antenna port, transmit direction, etc. The transmit beam may be based on various configurations/parameters, such as TCI state, resource configuration, etc.

In one example, the active transmission beam of the base station 905 may be the current (active) control beam of the base station 905. For example, the active control beam of the base station 905 may be considered the active transmission beam for repetition factor determination. In one example, the active control beam of the base station 905 may correspond to the transmission beam used for control message transmission (e.g., PDCCH transmission) from the base station 905. Thus, in one example, the PUCCH repetition factor may be associated with the current control beam of the base station 905.

In another example, the active transmission beam of the base station 950 may be based on a PDSCH transmission. For example, the base station 905 may allocate or otherwise schedule a downlink shared channel (e.g., PDSCH) transmission to the UE 910. The downlink shared channel transmission may be configured in an acknowledgement mode (e.g., with HARQ-ACK feedback) such that the UE 910 is expected to provide a feedback message (e.g., an ACK or NACK) indicating whether the UE 910 was able to receive and decode the downlink shared channel transmission. In this example, the transmission beam used for the downlink shared channel transmission may be the active transmission beam of the base station 905 for purposes of repetition factor determination. That is, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may determine the transmission beam used by the base station 905 to perform the downlink shared channel transmission, access a configuration indicating a correspondence between the transmission beam and the corresponding repetition factor, and use this correspondence to determine a repetition count for transmitting the feedback message with repetition. Thus, the repetition factor for a PUCCH transmission carrying ACK/NACK information may be associated with the beam or TCI state (e.g., beam configuration) of the associated PDSCH or downlink message.

As described above, in some instances, the active transmit beam of the base station 905 may be based on or otherwise identified using the TCI state, resource configuration, etc. For example, the base station 905 may configure various TCI state configurations in higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC signaling) that may be used by the UE 910 to decode PDSCH transmissions. The active transmit beam of the base station 905 may be determined or otherwise identified based on the TCI state configured for the UE 910.

In some examples, the active transmit beam of the base station 905 may be identified or otherwise determined based on a quasi-co-location (QCL) relationship. For example, the base station 905 may transmit a DCI message to the UE 910 that configures various parameters, such as a QCL relationship between a downlink reference signal in one CSI-RS set and a PDSCH DMRS port. The QCL relationship may identify two antenna ports that are considered quasi-co-located if the characteristics of the channel through which symbols on one antenna port are conveyed can be inferred from the channel through which symbols on the other antenna port are conveyed. Thus, the base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify a second transmit beam of the base station 905. The second transmit beam may be used for various signals transmitted by the base station 905. For example, the second transmission beam of the base station 905 may be used for transmissions such as broadcast transmissions (e.g., SSB transmissions), synchronization signal transmissions (e.g., PSS/SSS, such as PSS/SSS of SSB), reference signal transmissions (e.g., CSI-RS), tracking signal transmissions (position tracking signals, location tracking signals, etc.), etc. The base station 905 and/or the UE 910 may identify or otherwise determine the active transmission beam of the base station 905 based on the QCL relationship between the second transmission beam and the active transmission beam to identify or otherwise determine the active transmission beam.

In some examples, the base station 905 may dynamically override the correspondence between one or more transmit beams of the base station 905 and their corresponding repetition coefficients. That is, the base station 905 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 910 may receive or otherwise acquire) an instruction to override the correspondence of the active transmit beams of the base station 905 from a first repetition coefficient to an updated repetition coefficient associated with the updated repetition count. Accordingly, the UE 910 may use the updated repetition count to transmit repetitions of the first uplink control message based on the override instruction. In some examples, the dynamic override instruction may be signaled using DCI signaling, MAC CE signaling, etc.

Thus, the UE 910 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the base station 905 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first uplink control message based on the first (or updated) repetition factor/count. The PUCCH repetitions may be transmitted using inter-slot repetition and/or intra-slot repetition. The techniques described above may allow the base station 905 to implicitly indicate the PUCCH repetition factor to the UE 910 via beam selection (e.g., by associating a beam with the PUCCH repetition factor).

FIG. 10 illustrates an example process 1000 for supporting implicit indication of a repetition factor for an uplink control channel in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Process 1000 may be implemented in or by wireless network 200. Aspects of process 1000 may be implemented by base station 1002 and/or UE 1004, which may be examples of corresponding devices described herein.

At 1010, the base station 1002 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 1004 may receive or otherwise obtain) a configuration indicating a correspondence between one or more transmit beams of the base station 1002 and a repetition factor for uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH) transmissions. In some aspects, the repetition factor may identify or otherwise indicate a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message on the uplink control channel (e.g., PUCCH). In some aspects, the base station 1002 may transmit the configuration 1010 indicating the correspondence via upper layer signaling, RRC signaling, etc. In some aspects, the configuration may indicate a correspondence between one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 1002 and a repetition count of one (e.g., no repetitions). In some aspects, the configuration may indicate a correspondence between one or more of the transmit beams of the base station 1002 and a repetition count of two or more repetitions. In one example, the base station 1002 may configure a first subset of transmit beams with a repetition count of 2 or more and a second subset of transmit beams with a repetition count of 1 (which may be referred to in some examples as no repetition). Thus, the configured correspondence may map the transmit beams of the base station 1002 to one or more repetition counts for PUCCH transmissions with repetition.

At 1015, the base station 1002 may identify or otherwise determine a first repetition factor for a first uplink control message from the UE 1004 based on an active transmission beam of the base station 1002 from one or more transmission beams according to the correspondence relationship. For example, the base station 1002 may identify an active transmission beam based on a QCL relationship between a TCI state configuration, a broadcast beam, a synchronization signal beam, a tracking signal beam, a reference signal beam, etc. provided to the UE 1004 and the active transmission beam. In some aspects, the base station 1002 may identify or otherwise determine an active transmission beam based on a current control beam being used by the base station 1002.

At 1020, the UE 1004 may identify or otherwise determine a first repetition factor for a first uplink control message to the base station 1002 based on the active transmission beams of the base station 1002 in accordance with the correspondence relationship. For example, the UE 1004 may identify an active transmission beam at the base station 1002 based on a QCL relationship between the active transmission beam and a TCI state configuration, broadcast beam, synchronization signal beam, reference signal beam, tracking signal beam, etc. provided by the base station 1002. In some examples, this may include the UE 1004 identifying or otherwise determining an active transmission beam based on a current control beam being used by the base station 1002.

At 1025, the UE 1004 may transmit or otherwise provide (and the base station 1002 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of a first uplink control message (e.g., UCI/PUCCH) as indicated by a first repetition factor; three repetitions 1026 are shown by way of example only. For example, the UE 1004 may transmit repetitions of the first uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH) with the number of repetitions transmitted corresponding to a first repetition factor (e.g., a first repetition count) based on an active transmit beam of the base station 1002. In some aspects, the repetitions of the first uplink control message may be transmitted using intra-slot repetition and/or inter-slot repetition.

At 1030, the base station 1002 may optionally transmit or otherwise provide (and the UE 1004 may receive or otherwise acquire) an instruction to override the correspondence of the base station 1002's active transmit beams from the first repetition factor to an updated repetition factor. In general, the updated repetition factor (e.g., the second repetition factor) may have a different iteration count than the first repetition factor. That is, the updated repetition factor may indicate or otherwise be associated with an updated iteration count that differs from the first iteration count associated with the first repetition factor.

Thus, at 1035, the UE 1004 may optionally transmit or otherwise provide (and the base station 1002 may receive or otherwise obtain) repetitions of the first uplink control message and/or the second uplink control message to the base station 1002 in accordance with the updated repetition factors, with the two exemplary repetitions 1036 shown by way of example only. That is, the override indication 1030 may provide a mechanism by which the base station 1002 may dynamically (e.g., using an indication in DCI signaling, MAC CE, etc.) change or update the correspondence between the base station 1002's transmit beam and the repetition factor for uplink control messages transmitted over the uplink control channel using repetition.

Interpretation of Repetition Factor Based on PUCCH Parameters In some aspects, the PUCCH repetition factor or indication may be applied or interpreted differently depending on the PUCCH repetition parameter. The PUCCH repetition factor may be indicated explicitly or implicitly, for example, using the methods described above in FIGS. 6-10. In some aspects, the PUCCH parameters may include the PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, and/or code rate of the PUCCH transmission. By dynamically indicating the PUCCH repetition factor, the configuration for PUCCH repetition may be adapted to improve the chances of receiving a PUCCH repetition. As a result, some aspects of the techniques and apparatus described herein may positively impact network performance.

In some aspects, the UE may determine or select one PUCCH resource set from one or more (e.g., up to four) configured PUCCH resource sets based on the UCI payload size (e.g., excluding a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)). Each PUCCH resource set includes several communication resources (e.g., time and frequency resources or RBs 308) that may be used for PUCCH transmission. In some cases, the selection of the PUCCH resource set may be based on a comparison between the UCI payload size (O _UCI ) and a threshold associated with each PUCCH resource set. The PUCCH resource sets may have different thresholds. For example, the threshold for PUCCH resource set 0 may be 2 bits, meaning that the UE can select PUCCH resource set 0 for a 1-bit or 2-bit O _UCI . If _{O UCI} > 2, the UE may select a PUCCH resource set with a higher threshold (e.g., greater than 2 bits).

In one example, PUCCH resource sets 1, 2, and 3 may each be separately configured with a threshold value (e.g., up to 1706 bits, a limit selected for the coding chain to ensure good performance). If the threshold parameter for a PUCCH resource set (1, 2, or 3) is not configured, the threshold value may be assumed to be 1706, meaning that the PUCCH resource set can support up to 1706 bits. A UE with _{a UCI} > 2 may continuously compare the _UCI with the threshold values for PUCCH format sets 1, 2, and 3, respectively, to determine the appropriate PUCCH resource set for PUCCH transmission.

FIG. 11 illustrates a process 1100 associated with dynamic indication of a PUCCH repetition factor in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. For example, process 1100 may be used between a base station and a UE to interpret a PUCCH repetition factor or indication, which may be explicitly or implicitly indicated as described above in connection with FIGS. 6-10.

In block 1102, the UE may receive from the base station a configuration including one or more rules associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining or interpreting a PUCCH repetition factor indication. For example, the UE may receive a radio resource control (RRC) message providing a configuration (e.g., control information) for dynamic interpretation of a PUCCH repetition factor or indication, as described below. In some aspects, the configuration may provide one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with a PUCCH format, a UCI size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate, among others, for interpreting the PUCCH repetition factor indication. In some aspects, the one or more rules may be specified in a wireless communication standard (e.g., 5G NR) governing communication between the UE and the base station. In some aspects, the UE may use the one or more rules to dynamically determine a value for a PUCCH repetition factor that may be explicitly indicated by the base station (e.g., an explicit indication as described in FIG. 6) or implicitly indicated by the base station (e.g., an implicit indication as described in FIG. 10). For example, one or more rules may define the interpretation of values associated with one or more PUCCH parameters with respect to the value of the repetition factor. In some aspects, the PUCCH parameters may include at least one of a PUCCH format, a UCI size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate for the PUCCH.

In block 1104, the UE may determine one or more PUCCH parameters currently configured in the UE. For example, the one or more PUCCH parameters may include a PUCCH format, a UCI size, a PUCCH resource set, and/or a code rate for PUCCH transmission. In block 1106, the UE may determine a PUCCH repetition factor based on the one or more PUCCH parameters and one or more rules for interpreting an indication of the PUCCH repetition factor, which may be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the base station.

In one aspect, the UE may determine a PUCCH format and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on rules associated with the PUCCH format (e.g., PUCCH formats 0-4). If the UE receives an explicit or implicit indication of a PUCCH repetition factor from the base station, the UE may interpret the indication (e.g., a first value) based on the associated rule to arrive at a second value, which becomes an actual or effective value (e.g., count) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling the repetition of PUCCH transmissions. In one aspect, the PUCCH repetition factor may be restricted to one or more PUCCH formats. For example, the indication of a PUCCH repetition factor may be valid (or limited) only for one or more PUCCH formats according to a configured rule. If the UE determines that the PUCCH repetition factor is not effective, the UE does not repeat the PUCCH.

In another aspect, the UE may determine a UCI size and/or code rate for PUCCH transmission and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on rules associated with the UCI size and/or code rate. For example, the UE may interpret an explicit or implicit PUCCH repetition factor indication (e.g., a first value) based on rules associated with the UCI size and/or code rate to arrive at an actual or valid value (e.g., a second value) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling the repetition of the PUCCH transmission. In one example, the PUCCH repetition factor indication may be valid only for (or limited to) one or more UCI sizes and/or code rates according to the configured rules. If the UE determines that the PUCCH repetition factor is not valid, the UE does not repeat the PUCCH.

In another aspect, the UE may determine a PUCCH resource set for PUCCH transmission and determine a PUCCH repetition factor based at least in part on a rule associated with the PUCCH resource set. For example, the UE may interpret an explicit or implicit PUCCH repetition factor indication (e.g., a first value) based on a rule associated with the PUCCH resource set to arrive at an actual or effective value (e.g., a second value) of the PUCCH repetition factor for controlling the repetition of the PUCCH transmission. In one example, the PUCCH repetition factor indication may be valid only for (or limited to) one or more PUCCH resource sets according to the configured rule.

After determining the PUCCH repetition factor, the UE may transmit at least one PUCCH repetition (e.g., a repeated PUCCH transmission in one or more slots) based at least in part on the dynamically determined PUCCH repetition factor, if it is valid. As discussed above, FIG. 11 provides an example in which a UE can dynamically determine and apply an explicit or implicit PUCCH repetition factor that may be interpreted differently based on one or more PUCCH parameters and one or more rules for interpreting the repetition factor. The rules may be preconfigured or configured by the base station.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduling entity 1200 employing a processing system 1214. For example, the scheduling entity 1200 may be a base station, a gNB, or an RRH, such as those illustrated in any one or more of FIGS. 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, and/or 10.

The scheduling entity 1200 may be implemented with a processing system 1214 that includes one or more processors 1204. Examples of the processor 1204 include a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor (DSP), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a state machine, gate logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform the various functions described throughout this disclosure. In various examples, the scheduling entity 1200 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, the processor 1204 used within the scheduling entity 1200 may be used to implement any one or more of the processes and procedures described below and illustrated in FIG. 13.

The processor 1204 may, in some cases, be implemented via a baseband chip or a modem chip, while in other implementations, the processor 1204 may include several devices that are separate and distinct from the baseband chip or modem chip (e.g., in scenarios that may work in concert to achieve the examples described herein). As noted above, various hardware arrangements and components external to the baseband modem processor may be used in implementations, including RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, interleavers, adders/summers, etc.

In this example, processing system 1214 may be implemented with a bus architecture, generally represented by bus 1202. Bus 1202 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of processing system 1214. Bus 1202 communicatively couples various circuits, including one or more processors (represented generally by processor 1204), memory 1205, and computer-readable media (represented generally by computer-readable media 1206). Bus 1202 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits; these circuits are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further. Bus interface 1208 provides an interface between bus 1202 and transceiver 1210. Transceiver 1210 and antenna array 1220 may provide a communications interface, or a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. Also, depending on the nature of the device, a user interface 1212 (e.g., keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, touch screen) may be provided. Of course, such a user interface 1212 is optional and may be omitted in some instances, such as a base station.

The processor 1204 is responsible for managing the bus 1202 and for general processing, including executing software stored on the computer-readable medium 1206. The software, when executed by the processor 1204, causes the processing system 1214 to perform various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable medium 1206 and memory 1205 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1204 when executing the software. For example, the scheduling entity may store uplink control enhancement configuration information 1215 in the memory 1205.

One or more processors 1204 in the processing system may execute software. Software, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise, should be interpreted broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc. The software may reside on computer-readable medium 1206. Computer-readable medium 1206 may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. Non-transitory computer-readable media include, by way of example, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs) or digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, or key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, and any other suitable medium for storing software and/or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. Computer-readable medium 1206 may reside within processing system 1214, external to processing system 1214, or may be distributed across multiple entities, including processing system 1214. Computer-readable medium 1206 may be embodied in a computer program product. By way of example, the computer program product may include the computer-readable medium in packaging materials. Those skilled in the art will recognize how best to implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1204 may include circuitry configured for various functions, including, for example, indicating a repetition factor for uplink control information. For example, the circuitry may be configured to implement one or more of the functions described below in connection with FIG. 13.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1204 may include communication and processing circuitry 1240 configured for various functions, including, for example, communicating with a network core (e.g., a 5G core network), a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE), or any other entity that communicates with the scheduling entity 1200 over the Internet, such as, for example, a local infrastructure or a network provider. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may include one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure for performing processes related to wireless communication (e.g., signal reception and/or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and/or processing signals for transmission). For example, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may include one or more transmit/receive chains. Furthermore, the communication and processing circuitry 1240 may be configured to receive and process uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to uplink traffic 116 and uplink control 118 of FIG. 1) and to transmit and process downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to downlink traffic 112 and downlink control 114). The communication and processing circuitry 1240 may be further configured to execute communication and processing software 1250 stored on the computer-readable medium 1206 to implement one or more functions described herein.

In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may obtain the information from a component of the scheduling entity 1200 (e.g., from the transceiver 1210, which receives the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling appropriate for the applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may output the information to another component of the processor 1204, to the memory 1205, or to the bus interface 1208. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may receive one or more signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may include functionality for a means for receiving. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may include functionality for a means for processing, including means for demodulating, means for decoding, etc.

In some implementations where communication involves sending (e.g., transmitting) information, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may obtain information (e.g., from the processor 1204, the memory 1205, or another component of the bus interface 1208), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may output information to the transceiver 1210 (e.g., which transmits the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling appropriate for the applicable communication medium). In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may send one or more of a signal, a message, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may send information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may include functionality for a means for sending (e.g., a means for transmitting). In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may include functionality for a means for generating, including a means for modulating, a means for encoding, etc.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1204 may include an uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 configured for various functions, e.g., uplink control channel coverage enhancement as described herein. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 may be configured to manage and provide configuration or control information for the repetition of uplink control information transmissions (e.g., UCI/PUCCH transmissions). In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to explicitly indicate a repetition factor for the uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above in connection with FIGS. 6-8. In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to implicitly indicate a repetition factor for the uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above in connection with FIGS. 9-10. In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1242, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1240, may be configured to dynamically indicate a repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), which may be interpreted differently according to one or more PUCCH parameters, for example, as described above in connection with FIG. 11. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1242 may further be configured to execute uplink control enhancement software 1252 stored on the computer-readable medium 1206 to implement one or more functions described herein.

In one configuration, the apparatus 1200 for wireless communication includes means for configuring, controlling, and receiving repetition of uplink control information. In one aspect, the aforementioned means may be the processor 1204 shown in FIG. 12 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or any device configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Of course, in the above examples, the circuitry included in processor 1204 is provided by way of example only, and other means for performing the described functionality may be included within various aspects of the present disclosure, including, but not limited to, instructions stored on computer-readable storage medium 1206, or any other suitable device or means utilizing the processes and/or algorithms described in any one of Figures 1, 2, 4-6, 9, and/or 10, and described herein with respect to, for example, Figures 6-8, 10, and/or 11.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 1300 for receiving repetitions of an uplink control message according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not be necessary for all example implementations. In some examples, process 1300 may be performed by base station 1200 shown in FIG. 12. In some examples, process 1300 may be performed by any suitable device or means for performing the functions or algorithms described below.

In block 1302, the base station (e.g., a gNB or a scheduling entity) may transmit control information to the UE. For example, the control information may include an indication of a repetition factor (e.g., a PUCCH repetition factor) corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH repetitions 612 or 920) from the UE. In one aspect, the uplink control reinforcing circuit 1242 may provide means for determining and providing the control information. The control information allows the base station to explicitly or implicitly indicate the repetition factor to the UE. In one aspect, the communication and processing circuit 1240 (see FIG. 12) may provide means for transmitting the control information to the UE via the transceiver 1210 and antenna array 1220.

In one aspect, the control information may include an explicit indication of a repetition factor for repeating the uplink control message. The explicit indication may indicate the actual number or count of repetitions. For example, the indication may include a bit string indicating the value of the PUCCH repetition factor or an index value for identifying one PUCCH repetition factor among multiple predefined PUCCH repetition factors (e.g., table 700). In one example, the explicit indication of the PUCCH repetition factor may be carried in DCI or MAC CE. In response to the control information, the UE may transmit repetitions of the PUCCH transmission according to the PUCCH repetition factor to improve PUCCH coverage and/or quality.

In one aspect, the control information may enable implicit indication of a repetition factor, for example, for the PUCCH. For example, the control information may provide a configuration indicating a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors of the uplink control message. In one example, the UE may determine or select a repetition factor based at least in part on a current or active transmit beam, a TCI state, a control beam, or another beam related to an active transmit beam of the base station. In one example, the base station may transmit the configuration indicating the correspondence via higher layer signaling, RRC signaling, semi-persistent signaling, etc.

In some aspects, the control information may include a configuration indicating one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining the repetition factor. For example, the configuration may indicate one or more rules associated with a PUCCH format, a UCI size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate, among others. The UE may use the rules to dynamically determine the PUCCH repetition factor based on interpretation of the repetition indication in accordance with the rules and the one or more PUCCH parameters.

In block 1304, the base station may receive an uplink control message that is repeated according to a repetition count. For example, the base station may receive multiple PUCCH transmissions (uplink control messages) that are repeated according to a PUCCH repetition factor. In one aspect, the communication and processing circuit 1240 may provide means for receiving an uplink control message from a UE. In some aspects, the base station may receive repetitions of an uplink control message (e.g., two or more repetitions of a PUCCH transmission) using the same communication resource. In some aspects, the base station may receive different transmissions of the repeated PUCCH transmission using different communication resources.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for an exemplary scheduled entity 1400 employing a processing system 1414. According to various aspects of the present disclosure, the elements, or any portion of the elements, or any combination of the elements, may be implemented using a processing system 1414 including one or more processors 1404. For example, the scheduled entity 1400 may be a user equipment (UE) such as those shown in any one or more of FIGS. 1, 2, 4-6, 9, and/or 10.

The processing system 1414 may be substantially similar to the processing system 1214 shown in FIG. 12 and includes a bus interface 1408, a bus 1402, a memory 1405, a processor 1404, and a computer-readable medium 1406. Additionally, the scheduled entity 1400 may include a user interface 1412, a transceiver 1410, and an antenna array 1420 substantially similar to those described above in FIG. 12. That is, the processor 1404, when used in the scheduled entity 1400, may be used to implement any one or more of the processes described below and illustrated in FIG. 15.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1404 may include a communication and processing circuit 1440 configured for various functions, including, for example, communicating with a base station (e.g., the scheduling entity 1200). In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure for performing processes related to wireless communication (e.g., signal reception and/or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and/or processing signals for transmission). For example, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include one or more transmit/receive chains. Furthermore, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may be configured to transmit and process uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to the uplink traffic 116 and uplink control 118 of FIG. 1) and receive and process downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to the downlink traffic 112 and downlink control 114). The communication and processing circuitry 1440 may be further configured to execute communication and processing software 1450 stored on the computer-readable medium 1406 to implement one or more functions described herein.

In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may obtain the information from a component of the scheduled entity 1400 (e.g., from the transceiver 1410, which receives the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling appropriate for the applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may output the information to another component of the processor 1404, to the memory 1405, or to the bus interface 1408. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may receive one or more signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include functionality for a means for receiving. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include functionality for a means for processing, including means for demodulating, means for decoding, etc.

In some implementations where communication involves sending (e.g., transmitting) information, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may obtain information (e.g., from the processor 1404, the memory 1405, or another component of the bus interface 1408), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may output information to the transceiver 1410 (e.g., which transmits the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling appropriate for the applicable communication medium) using the antenna array 1420. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may send one or more of a signal, a message, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may send information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include functionality for a means for sending (e.g., a means for transmitting). In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may include functionality for a means for generating, including a means for modulating, a means for encoding, etc.

In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1404 may include an uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 configured for various functions, e.g., uplink control channel coverage enhancement as described herein. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may be configured to receive and process configuration or control information for repetition of uplink control information transmissions (e.g., UCI/PUCCH transmissions). In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1440, may be configured to determine an explicitly indicated repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above in connection with FIGS. 6-8. In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1440, may be configured to determine an implicitly indicated repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above in connection with FIGS. 9-10. In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442, in conjunction with the communication and processing circuit 1440, may be configured to dynamically determine a repetition factor for uplink control information (e.g., PUCCH), e.g., as described above in connection with FIG. 11. For example, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may interpret a repetition factor indicator to determine the value of the repetition factor based on one or more rules associated with one or more PUCCH parameters. The uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may further be configured to execute uplink control enhancement software 1452 stored on the computer-readable medium 1406 to implement one or more functions described herein.

In one configuration, an apparatus 1400 for wireless communication includes means for providing and transmitting repetitions of uplink control information. In one aspect, the aforementioned means may be the processor 1404 shown in FIG. 14 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. In another aspect, the aforementioned means may be a circuit or any device configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

Of course, in the above examples, the circuitry included in processor 1404 is provided by way of example only, and other means for implementing the described functionality may be included within various aspects of the present disclosure, including, but not limited to, instructions stored on computer-readable storage medium 1406 or any other suitable device or means that utilizes the processes and/or algorithms described in any one of Figures 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, and/or 10, e.g., as described herein with respect to Figures 6-11.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example process 1500 for transmitting repetitions of uplink control messages for coverage enhancement according to some aspects of the present disclosure. As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some illustrated features may not be necessary for all example implementations. In some examples, process 1500 may be performed by scheduled entity 1400 shown in FIG. 14. In some examples, process 1500 may be performed by any suitable device or means for implementing the functions or algorithms described below.

At block 1502, the UE may receive control information from the base station. The control information may be used to determine a repetition factor (e.g., a PUCCH repetition factor) indicating a repetition count of an uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH repetitions 612 or 920). In some aspects, the control information may explicitly indicate the repetition factor to the UE, as described above in connection with FIGS. 6-8. In some aspects, the control information may enable the UE to implicitly determine the repetition factor, as described above in connection with FIGS. 9-10. In one aspect, the communication and processing circuit 1440 (see FIG. 14) may provide means for receiving control information from the base station. In some aspects, the UE may receive the control information via DCI, MAC CE, and/or RRC signaling.

In block 1504, the UE may determine a repetition factor based on the control information. The repetition factor may indicate a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message (e.g., a PUCCH). In one aspect, the uplink control enhancement circuit 1442 may provide means for determining the repetition factor based on control information received from the base station. In one example, the control information may include an explicit indication of a repetition factor for repeating the uplink control message. The explicit indication may directly indicate the actual number of repetitions (e.g., count). For example, the indication may be a bit string indicating the value of the PUCCH repetition factor, or may be an index value for identifying one PUCCH repetition factor among multiple predefined PUCCH repetition factors (e.g., table 700 of FIG. 7). In one example, the explicit indication of the PUCCH repetition factor may be conveyed in a DCI or MAC CE.

In one aspect, the control information may enable implicit indication of, for example, a repetition factor for PUCCH transmission. For example, the control information may provide a configuration indicating a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors of the uplink control message. In this case, the UE may determine or select a repetition factor based at least in part on a current or active transmit beam, a TCI state, an active control beam, or a beam associated with an active beam of the base station. In one example, the UE may receive the configuration indicating the correspondence via higher layer signaling, RRC signaling, semi-persistent signaling, etc.

In some aspects, the control information may include a configuration indicating one or more rules (e.g., restrictions) associated with one or more PUCCH parameters for dynamically determining the repetition factor. For example, the configuration may indicate one or more rules associated with a PUCCH format, a UCI size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate, among others. The UE may use the rules to dynamically determine or interpret a PUCCH repetition factor indication, which may be explicitly or implicitly indicated by the base station, as described herein. For example, the UE may interpret one value of a PUCCH repetition factor indication into different repetition factors depending on the PUCCH format, UCI size, PUCCH resource set, or code rate in use.

In block 1506, the UE may transmit repetitions of the uplink control message according to a repetition count or repetition factor. For example, the UE may transmit multiple PUCCH transmissions repeated according to the PUCCH repetition factor determined in block 1504. In one example, the communication and processing circuit 1440 may provide means for transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message (e.g., PUCCH transmissions) to the base station. In some aspects, the UE may transmit repetitions of the uplink control message (e.g., two or more repetitions of a PUCCH transmission) using the same communication resource. In some aspects, the UE may transmit different transmissions of the repeated PUCCH transmissions using different communication resources.

A first aspect of the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, comprising: a communication interface for wireless communication; a memory; and a processor operably coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: receive control information from a base station via the communication interface; determine a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message; and transmit, via the communication interface, the repetitions of the uplink control message to the base station in accordance with the repetition count.

In a second aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the control information includes a value indicating at least one of a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors or a repetition factor relative to a previous repetition factor.

In a third aspect, either alone or in combination with any of the first and second aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition coefficient.

In a fourth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the first to second aspects, the processor and memory are further configured to send a request for a repetition factor to the base station, the request configured to indicate the number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a fifth aspect, alone or in combination with the first aspect, the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and the processor and memory are further configured to determine a repetition factor for transmitting an uplink control message based at least in part on an active transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams in accordance with the correspondence.

In a sixth aspect, alone or in combination with the fifth aspect, the processor and memory are further configured to determine an active transmit beam based on at least one of a downlink shared channel transmission associated with a feedback message included in the uplink control message, an active control beam of the base station, or a transmit configuration indicator state of the downlink message.

In a seventh aspect, alone or in combination with any of the fifth to sixth aspects, the processor and memory are further configured to receive an indication from the base station to override a correspondence between a repetition factor and an active transmit beam of the base station, and to transmit repetitions of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor based at least in part on the indication.

In an eighth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the first, second, fifth, and sixth aspects, the processor and memory are further configured to determine physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters and determine a repetition factor based on the PUCCH parameters and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameters, where the PUCCH parameters include at least one of a PUCCH format, an uplink control information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

A ninth aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communication in a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving control information from a base station; determining a repetition factor based on the control information, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of an uplink control message; and transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message to the base station according to the repetition count.

In a tenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, the control information includes a value indicating at least one of a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors or a repetition factor relative to a previous repetition factor.

In an eleventh aspect, alone or in combination with any of the ninth and tenth aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition coefficient.

In a twelfth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the ninth to tenth aspects, the method further includes transmitting a request for a repetition factor to the base station, the request configured to indicate the number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a thirteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, and further includes determining a repetition factor for transmitting an uplink control message based at least in part on an active transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams in accordance with the correspondence.

In a fourteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the ninth aspect, the method further includes determining an active transmission beam based on at least one of a downlink shared channel transmission associated with a feedback message included in the uplink control message, an active control beam of the base station, or a transmission configuration indicator state of the downlink message.

In a fifteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the thirteenth to fourteenth aspects, the method further includes receiving an indication from the base station to override the correspondence between the repetition factor and the active transmit beam of the base station, and transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor based at least in part on the indication.

In a sixteenth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the ninth, tenth, thirteenth, and fourteenth aspects, the method further includes determining physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters; and determining a repetition factor based on the PUCCH parameters and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameters, where the PUCCH parameters include at least one of a PUCCH format, an uplink control information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

A seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure provides a base station for wireless communication, comprising: a communication interface for wireless communication; a memory; and a processor operably coupled to the communication interface and the memory, wherein the processor and the memory are configured to: transmit control information to a user equipment (UE) via the communication interface, the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and receive from the UE via the communication interface an uplink control message that is repeated according to the repetition count.

In an eighteenth aspect, alone or in combination with the seventeenth aspect, the control information includes a value indicating at least one of a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors or a repetition factor relative to a previous repetition factor.

In a 19th aspect, alone or in combination with any of the 17th and 18th aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition coefficient.

In a twentieth aspect, alone or in combination with any of the seventeenth to eighteenth aspects, the processor and memory are further configured to receive a request for a repetition factor from the UE, the request configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a 21st aspect, alone or in combination with the 17th aspect, the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition coefficients, and the processor and memory are further configured to receive repetitions of the update control message according to a repetition coefficient determined at least in part based on an active transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams.

In a 22nd aspect, alone or in combination with the 21st aspect, the processor and memory are further configured to: send an instruction to the UE to override the correspondence between the repetition factor and the base station's active transmit beam; and receive repetitions of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor based at least in part on the instruction.

In a 23rd aspect, alone or in combination with any of the 17th, 18th, 21st, and 22nd aspects, the control information includes one or more rules for determining a repetition factor based at least in part on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters, the PUCCH parameters including at least one of a PUCCH format, an uplink control information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

A 24th aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for wireless communications in a base station, the method including: transmitting control information to a user equipment (UE), the control information including an indication of a repetition factor corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message; and receiving from the UE an uplink control message that is repeated according to the repetition count.

In a 25th aspect, alone or in combination with the 24th aspect, the control information includes a value indicating at least one of a repetition factor of a plurality of predetermined repetition factors or a repetition factor relative to a previous repetition factor.

In a 26th aspect, alone or in combination with any of the 24th to 25th aspects, the control information indicates a valid time interval for the repetition coefficient.

In a 27th aspect, alone or in combination with any of the 24th to 25th aspects, the method further includes receiving a request for a repetition factor from the UE, the request configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message.

In a 28th aspect, alone or in combination with the 24th aspect, the control information indicates a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition coefficients, and further includes receiving repetitions of the update control message according to the repetition coefficient determined at least in part based on an active transmit beam of the one or more transmit beams.

In a 29th aspect, alone or in combination with the 28th aspect, the method further includes transmitting an instruction to the UE to override the correspondence between the repetition factor and the active transmit beam of the base station, and receiving, based at least in part on the instruction, a repetition of the uplink control message using the updated repetition factor.

In a 30th aspect, alone or in combination with any of the 24th, 25th, 28th, and 29th aspects, the control information includes one or more rules for determining a repetition factor based at least in part on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters, the PUCCH parameters including at least one of a PUCCH format, an uplink control information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station.

Several aspects of wireless communication networks have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. As one skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunications systems, network architectures, and communication standards.

By way of example, various aspects may be implemented within other systems defined by 3GPP®, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Packet System (EPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and/or Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). Various aspects may also be extended to systems defined by 3GPP2, such as CDMA2000 and/or Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems utilizing Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and/or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunications standard, network architecture, and/or communications standard employed will depend on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

Within this disclosure, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects of the disclosure. Likewise, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation. The term "coupled" is used herein to refer to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically contacts object B, and object B contacts object C, then object A and object C may still be considered coupled to each other even though they are not in direct physical contact with each other. For example, a first object may be coupled to a second object even though the first object is not in direct physical contact with the second object at all. The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used broadly and are not limited with respect to types of electronic circuits, but are intended to include both hardware implementations and conductors of electrical devices that, when connected and configured, enable the performance of the functions described in this disclosure, as well as software implementations of information and instructions that, when executed by a processor, enable the performance of the functions described in this disclosure.

One or more of the components, steps, features, and/or functions shown in FIGS. 1-15 may be rearranged and/or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or embodied in several components, steps, or functions. Also, additional elements, components, steps, and/or functions may be added without departing from the novel features disclosed herein. The apparatuses, devices, and/or components shown in FIGS. 1-15 may be configured to perform one or more of the methods, features, or steps described herein. Also, the novel algorithms described herein may be efficiently implemented in software and/or incorporated into hardware.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods disclosed represents an example process. Based on design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not intended to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented, unless specifically recited herein.

The above description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various embodiments described herein. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments. Accordingly, the claims are not limited to the embodiments set forth herein but are to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the language of the claims. References to elements in the singular are intended to mean "one or more," rather than "one and only one," unless expressly stated otherwise. Unless expressly stated otherwise, the term "some" refers to one or more. A phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. By way of example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, and a, b, and c. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various embodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known, or that later become known, to those skilled in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the claims. Moreover, nothing disclosed herein is made available to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112(f) unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase "means for," or, in the case of a method claim, unless the element is recited using the phrase "step for."

100 Wireless Communication System
102 Core Network
104 Radio Access Network (RAN)
106 User Equipment (UE)
106 Scheduled Entities
108 Base Station
108 Scheduling Entities
110 External Data Network
112 Downlink Traffic
114 Downlink Control Information
116 uplink traffic
118 Uplink Control Information
120 Backhaul section
200 Wireless Access Network
202 Macrocell
204 Macrocell
206 Macrocell
208 small cells
210 base station
212 Base Station
214 Base Station
216 Remote Radio Head (RRH)
218 Base Station
220 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)
222 UE
224 UE
226 UE
227 Sidelink Signal
228 UE
230 UE
232 UE
234 UE
236 UE
237 Sidelink Signal
238 UE
240 UE
242 UE
302 subframe
304 Resource Grid
306 Resource Element (RE)
308 Resource Blocks (RB)
310 Slots
312 Control Area
314 Data Area
400 Wireless Communication System
402 Transmitter
404 transmitting antenna
406 Receiver
408 Receiving Antenna
410 Signal Path
502UE
504 base station
506a to 506h Transmit beam
508a to 508e receiving beams
602 base station
604 UE
607 PUCCH resource configuration
608 PUCCH transmission
610 PUCCH repeat indication
612 PUCCH transmission
620 Repeat request
622 Second PUCCH Repetition Indication
624 PUCCH transmission
700 tables
800 processes
900 Wireless Network
905 base station
910 UE
912 Tx beam-PUCCH repetition configuration
914 Lookup Table
914 Configuration
920 iterations
1000 processes
1002 Base station
1004 UE
1010 Configuration
1026 iterations
1030 Override Instruction
1100 processes
1200 Scheduling Entities
1202 Bus
1204 processor
1205 memory
1206 Computer-readable medium
1208 bus interface
1210 transceiver
1212 User Interface
1214 Processing System
1215 Uplink Control Enhancement Configuration Information
1220 Antenna Array
1240 Communication and Processing Circuits
1242 Uplink Control Enhancement Circuit
1250 Communications and Processing Software
1252 Uplink Control Enhancement Software
1300 processes
1400 Scheduled Entities
1402 Bus
1404 processor
1405 memory
1406 Computer-readable medium
1408 bus interface
1410 Transceiver
1412 User Interface
1414 Processing System
1415 Enhanced configuration
1417 Repetition Factor
1420 Antenna Array
1430 Timer
1440 Communication and Processing Circuits
1442 Uplink Control Enhancement Circuit
1450 Communications and Processing Software
1452 Uplink Control Enhancement Software
1500 processes

Claims (14)

1. A method of wireless communication in a user equipment (UE), comprising:
receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station , the DCI configured to indicate a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors;
determining a repetition factor among the one or more repetition factors for transmitting an uplink control message based at least in part on an active transmit beam among the one or more transmit beams in accordance with the correspondence, the repetition factor indicating a repetition count for transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message;
transmitting repetitions of the uplink control message to the base station according to the repetition count. The DCI:
The method of claim 1 , including a value indicative of at least one of the iteration factor of a plurality of predetermined iteration factors or the iteration factor relative to a previous iteration factor. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI indicates a valid time interval for the repetition factor. 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a request for the repetition factor to a base station, the request configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message. a downlink shared channel transmission associated with a feedback message included in the uplink control message;
The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining the active transmission beam based on at least one of an active control beam of the base station or a transmission configuration indicator state of a downlink message. receiving an indication from the base station to override the correspondence between the repetition factor and the active transmit beam of the base station;
and transmitting the repetitions of the uplink control message using an updated repetition factor based at least in part on the indication . determining physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) parameters;
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining the repetition factor based on the PUCCH parameters and one or more rules associated with the PUCCH parameters, wherein the PUCCH parameters include at least one of a PUCCH format, an uplink control information (UCI) size, a PUCCH resource set, or a code rate used by the base station. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising means adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 . 1. A method for wireless communication in a base station, comprising:
transmitting downlink control information (DCI) to a user equipment (UE), the DCI configured to indicate a correspondence between each of one or more transmit beams of the base station and one or more repetition factors, the DCI including an indication of a repetition factor of the one or more repetition factors corresponding to a repetition count of an uplink control message;
and receiving a repetition of the uplink control message from the UE according to the repetition factor determined at least in part based on an active transmit beam among the one or more transmit beams . The DCI:
The method of claim 9 , including a value indicative of at least one of the iteration factor of a plurality of predetermined iteration factors or the iteration factor relative to a previous iteration factor. The method of claim 9 , wherein the DCI indicates a valid time interval of the repetition factor. 10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: receiving a request for the repetition factor from the UE, the request configured to indicate a number of repetitions of the uplink control message. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising means adapted to perform the method according to any one of claims 9 to 12 . A computer program comprising program instructions which, when executed by a computer, perform all the steps of the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 or claims 9 to 12 .