CN120787420A - Indication for dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request feedback - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for indicating dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback. The method includes obtaining a configuration for dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in downlink control information (DCI); and determining a mode for HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and detection of the DCI.

Description

Indication for dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request feedback

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer readable storage medium for indication of dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, and more particularly, relate to Downlink Control Information (DCI) indication for dynamic HARQ feedback.

Background

HARQ may be implemented in Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and fifth generation (5G) New Radios (NR) for reliable transmission of transport blocks. For downlink and uplink, multiple HARQ processes may run in parallel depending on the capability of the User Equipment (UE).

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for indication of dynamic HARQ feedback.

In a first aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor, at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to obtain a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI, and determine a mode of HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and detection of the DCI.

In a second aspect, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes at least one processor, at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to transmit at least a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes obtaining a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI, and determining a mode of the HARQ feedback based on configuration information and detection of the DCI.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes transmitting a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for obtaining a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI, and means for determining a mode of the HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and detection of the DCI.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for transmitting a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of an apparatus, causes the apparatus to perform a method according to the third or fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following description of the particular embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the embodiments of the disclosure.

Drawings

Embodiments of the present disclosure are presented by way of example and their advantages are explained in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram showing an example of a process, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3A-3D illustrate examples of a process for determining a dynamic HARQ feedback mode according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for indication of dynamic HARQ feedback, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method for indication of dynamic HARQ feedback, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing the example embodiments of the present disclosure, and

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers may be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to assist those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and do not imply any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

In the following description and claims, unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein may have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first," "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, at least one of the following "list of two or more elements >" and "< at least one of the list of two or more elements >" and similar expressions, wherein the list of two or more elements is combined by "and" or "means at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

As used herein, unless explicitly stated otherwise, performing a step "in response to a" does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after "a" occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "having," "contains," "containing," and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) Hardware-only circuit implementations (such as analog-only and/or digital-circuit implementations) and

(B) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (if applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(Ii) A hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s), software and memory, working together to cause a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform any of a variety of functions), and

(C) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portions of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but software may not exist when not required for operation.

This definition of circuit applies to all uses of this term in the present application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also covers hardware circuitry or processor (or multiple processors) alone or a portion of hardware circuitry or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware implementations. The term circuitry also covers, for example, baseband integrated circuits or processor integrated circuits for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device, if applicable to the particular claim element.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), enhanced machine type communication (eMTC), and the like. Furthermore, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols and/or any other protocols currently known or developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered limited to the foregoing system only.

As used herein, the terms "network device," "radio network device," and/or "radio access network device" refer to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network devices may refer to Base Stations (BS) or Access Points (APs), e.g., node BS (Node BS or NB), evolved nodebs (enode BS or enbs), NR NB (also known as gNB), remote Radio Units (RRU), radio Headers (RH), remote Radio Heads (RRH), relay, integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes, low power nodes (such as femto, pico), non-terrestrial networks (NTN) or non-terrestrial network devices (such as satellite network devices, low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites), aircraft network devices, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, a Radio Access Network (RAN) split architecture includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). In some other example embodiments, part of the radio access network device or all of the radio access network device may be contained on an on-board or space-borne NTN vehicle.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a User Equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in the industrial and/or automated processing chain contexts), consumer electronic devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Terminal (MT) portion of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the terms "resource," "transmission resource," "resource block," "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource," or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communications, for example, communications between a terminal device and a network device, such as time domain resources, frequency domain resources, spatial domain resources, code domain resources, or any other communications-capable resource, and the like. Hereinafter, unless explicitly stated, resources in the frequency domain and the time domain will be used as examples of transmission resources describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110. Hereinafter, the terminal device 110 may also be referred to as a UE.

Communication network 100 may also include a network device 120. Hereinafter, the network device 120 may also be referred to as a gNB or eNB. Terminal device 110 may communicate with network device 120.

It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in fig. 1 is given for illustrative purposes and does not imply any limitation. Communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, the link from network device 120 to terminal device 110 may be referred to as a Downlink (DL), while the link from terminal device 110 to network device 120 may be referred to as an Uplink (UL). In DL, network device 120 is a Transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter) and terminal device 110 is a Receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, terminal device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and network device 120 is an RX device (or receiver).

Communication in communication environment 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), etc. cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc., and/or any other protocols currently known or developed in the future. In addition, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology including, but not limited to, code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), frequency Division Duplex (FDD), time Division Duplex (TDD), multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), and/or any other technology currently known or developed in the future.

As described above, for downlink and uplink, if the terminal device supports the scenario, a plurality of HARQ processes may run in parallel.

In the case of DL data transmission, the terminal device may transmit 1-bit HARQ feedback (acknowledgement (ACK) or unacknowledged (NACK)) to report the decoding result of the Transport Block (TB) received in the HARQ process. Based on the feedback, the network device may retransmit the previous TB or transmit a new TB for the same HARQ process.

In the case of UL data transmission, the network device may schedule a new TB or retransmission based on the decoding status of the previous transmission in the HARQ process. This stop-and-wait mechanism within the HARQ process allows a receiver at the terminal device or network device (i.e., eNB or gNB) to combine the previously received soft bits with the current retransmission for more reliable packet decoding.

Particularly in non-terrestrial network (NTN) networks, the signal Round Trip Time (RTT) is much longer than in terrestrial networks (e.g. 25.77ms for LEO of 600km and 541.46ms for GEO) due to the long distance between the network device (located in the satellite) and the terminal device. For simple internet of things (IoT) devices with few HARQ processes, data transmissions in parallel HARQ processes may not fill RTT, resulting in congestion of continuous transmissions, as all HARQ processes are occupied to wait for a response from the transmitter. Such "HARQ stall" problems may impact achievable user throughput. It has been proposed to eliminate the "HARQ stall" problem by disabling HARQ feedback for IoT over NTN.

Table 1 shows the effects of HARQ stalling and potential gain if HARQ feedback is disabled, taking into account deployment scenarios for the Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit (GEO) of NTN, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at 1200km, and the LEO at 600 km. Throughput gain is the result of not waiting for retransmissions and saving HARQ feedback transmission time in the case of half duplex UEs.

TABLE 1 DL throughput (in kbps) comparisons when HARQ feedback is enabled and disabled

The number of HARQ processes in the IoT device may be much smaller than the number of HARQ processes in the handheld device UE. For example, a low complexity machine type UE requires 8 HARQ processes to operate in Coverage Enhancement (CE) mode a, 4 HARQ processes to operate in CE mode B, while NB-IoT devices support only one or two processes. In contrast, NTN-capable UEs support 32 HARQ processes. If some HARQ processes are feedback disabled in enhanced machine type communications (eMTC) and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) to enhance data throughput, there may not be enough HARQ processes remaining for control message (e.g., MAC control element (MAC CE) and Radio Resource Control (RRC) message) transmissions, which require high reliability and acknowledgement for validating the signaling procedure.

Currently, for eMTC CE mode a (with 8 HARQ processes), the enablement or disablement of HARQ feedback may be semi-statically configured for each HARQ process through RRC signaling, while for CE mode B (4 HARQ processes) and NB-IoT (1 or 2 HARQ processes), DCI may be used to override default and dynamically enable or disable HARQ feedback in addition to default configuration.

For UL HARQ operations, such as HARQ feedback disabling/enabling in DL, the corresponding mechanisms supporting HARQ mode a and mode B in IoT NTN have been agreed.

In HARQ mode a, HARQ uplink retransmissions are always dependent on previous PUSCH transmission decoding results (e.g., retransmissions are triggered only if a previous transmission was decoded as failed), whereas in HARQ mode B, HARQ uplink retransmissions are blindly scheduled by the gNB (e.g., retransmissions scheduled before initial transmission decoding results are available).

However, the problem of how to dynamically enable and disable HARQ feedback and/or indicate HARQ feedback mode through DCI indication may still need to be discussed.

The scheme of the present disclosure proposes a mechanism for DCI indication for dynamic HARQ feedback. In this scheme, the terminal device acquires a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, which may be associated with at least one field included in the DCI. Based on the detection and configuration of DCI, the terminal device may determine a mode of HARQ feedback.

In this way, the mode of HARQ feedback may be indicated through one or more existing fields included in the DCI without adding a new field, and thus the complexity of the terminal device decoding the DCI may not increase.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring now to fig. 2, a signaling diagram 200 for communication is shown in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 2, signaling diagram 200 relates to terminal device 110 and network device 120. For discussion purposes, the signaling diagram 200 is described with reference to fig. 1.

The terminal device 110 may acquire a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback associated with at least one field included in the DCI. For example, as shown in fig. 2, the network device 120 may transmit (202) the configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to the terminal device 110 via higher layer signaling, e.g., via RRC signaling.

As another option, the configuration may be predefined in the specification, which means that the terminal device 110 may be aware of such a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback without explicit signaling from the network device 120.

Terminal device 110 may detect DCI transmitted (204) from network device 120 and determine (206) a HARQ feedback mode based on the DCI and a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback associated with at least one field in the DCI.

It should be appreciated that the HARQ feedback mode used hereinafter may refer to whether dynamic HARQ feedback is to be enabled or disabled and/or which HARQ mode, i.e. HARQ mode a or HARQ mode B, is to be applied.

In particular, in the connected IoT with NTN, both DL and UL HARQ may use the solution of the present disclosure to override the default HARQ configuration and/or dynamically enable/disable stop-and-wait protocols in order to provide acknowledgements for control messages in DL and achieve higher data rates even with a small number of parallel HARQ processes (e.g., in the case of CE mode B and NB-IoT).

For DL HARQ, the HARQ feedback mode may switch between "feedback enabled" and "feedback disabled" for the HARQ process. For ul HARQ, the HARQ feedback mode may be selected between "HARQ mode a" (which follows the stall and wait mechanism described above) and "HARQ mode B" (which schedules retransmissions without waiting for decoding results of previous PUSCH transmissions).

Furthermore, it should be understood that the solution proposed by the present disclosure may also be applied to ground networks.

Embodiments of the present invention are further described below with reference to fig. 3A-3D.

The size and coding of the DCI is predetermined according to format, purpose and hypothesis. Existing fields in DCI formats for CE mode B and NB-IoT downlink and uplink data scheduling may be listed in tables 2-5 below.

TABLE 2 DCI Format 6-0B for PUSCH scheduling used in eMTC CE mode B

TABLE 3 DCI Format 6-1B for PDSCH scheduling used in eMTC CE mode B

TABLE 4 DCI Format N0 for NPUSCH scheduling in NB-IoT

TABLE 5 DCI Format N1 for NPDSCH scheduling in NB-IoT

As shown in tables 2-5, a plurality of existing fields, such as a modulation and coding scheme (MSC) field, a repetition number field, a HARQ-ACK resource field, a resource allocation field, and the like, are defined in the DCI format.

In some example embodiments, the configuration of the dynamic HARQ feedback may indicate that the dynamic HARQ indication bits are configured in a field included in the DCI.

For example, the dynamic HARQ indication bit may be configured in the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of the field or the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the field. As an example, the dynamic HARQ indication bit may be configured in the MSB or LBS of the MSC field. It should be appreciated that other suitable fields, such as a number of repetitions field, may also be used to indicate dynamic HARQ indication bits.

Based on the configuration, as shown in fig. 3A, terminal device 110 may detect (at block 301) the DCI and determine the value of a certain (e.g., MSB or LBS) bit in a field indicated in the configuration. Based on this value, terminal device 110 may determine (at block 302) whether HARQ feedback is enabled or disabled.

For example, if the value of the bit is equal to a first value, e.g., 1, the terminal device 110 may determine (at block 303) that HARQ feedback is enabled. If the value of the bit is equal to a second value (e.g., 0), the terminal device 110 may determine (at block 304) that HARQ feedback is disabled.

Furthermore, the configuration may also indicate two subsets of field values. The first subset may be used for "feedback enabled" and the second subset may be used for "feedback disabled". Since one bit in the field is used as a dynamic HARQ indication bit, the size of the subset will be reduced from the original set by half. That is, the first subset and the second subset may be read from the remaining bits in the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bits. For example, there are 4 bits in the MSC field, and if one bit (e.g., MSB or LBS) in the MSC field is used to indicate the dynamic HARQ indication bit, the values of the first and second subsets of the MSC field may be indicated by the remaining 3 bits in the MSC field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

To configure the subset, the desired link reliability may be considered when HARQ feedback is dynamically enabled for signaling acknowledgements, and the desired channel conditions may be considered when HARQ feedback may be disabled for higher data rates. For example, disabling HARQ feedback may not result in throughput gain when channel conditions are poor and a low MCS and a large number of repetitions are required.

After determining from the dynamic HARQ indication bits that HARQ feedback is enabled or disabled, if the bits indicate that feedback is enabled, terminal device 110 may use (at block 305) the first subset to find the value of the field, and if the bits indicate that feedback is disabled, terminal device 110 may use (at block 306) the second subset to find the value of the field. The value of the field is indexed by the remaining bits in the field except for the dynamic HARQ indication bit. Taking the MCS field as an example, the value of this field is indexed by the remaining 3 bits of the MCS field, except for the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

It should be appreciated that the dynamic HARQ indication bit may alternatively signal whether the default feedback configuration is covered. In that case, the decision whether feedback is enabled or disabled is determined by the indication bits and the default configuration.

In some other example embodiments, the configuration of the dynamic HARQ feedback may indicate a set of ranges of DCI field values that are enabled for HARQ feedback or disabled for HARQ feedback. For example, the DCI field used may include an MCS field, a repetition number field, and/or a resource assignment field (i.e., the number of subframes or the number of resource units for a TB).

When HARQ feedback is enabled and when HARQ feedback is disabled, the required resource allocation for data transmission reliability, as well as the flexibility of the resource allocation, may be considered. For example, the effective range of the DCI field may be configured to be I _MCS >6 for MCS, N _Rep <128 for the number of repetitions, and N _SF <5 for the number of subframes per TB for HARQ feedback to be disabled. Terminal device 110 may simply determine whether HARQ feedback should be enabled or disabled based on whether the configured feedback disabled or feedback enabled conditions are met.

As shown in fig. 3B, terminal device 110 may detect (at block 311) the DCI and determine a respective one or more values corresponding to at least one field in the DCI. After comparison of the respective one or more values to the set of ranges of DCI field values, if the terminal device 110 determines (at block 312) that the respective one or more values satisfy the set of ranges of DCI field values, e.g., are within the set of ranges of DCI field values, the terminal device 110 may determine (at block 313) that HARQ feedback is to be enabled. If none, for example, the corresponding one or more values exceeds the set of ranges of DCI field values, terminal device 110 may determine (at block 314) that HARQ feedback is to be disabled.

In addition to the set of ranges of DCI field values, optionally or alternatively, when a condition is not met, the configuration may indicate that individual bits in other fields may be used to explicitly indicate that HARQ feedback is enabled or feedback is disabled. For example, when the condition for the field range in which HARQ feedback is disabled is not satisfied, 1 bit in the scheduling delay field (as shown in tables 4 and 5) is used to indicate that HARQ feedback is enabled or that HARQ feedback is disabled. In that case, terminal device 110 may use a default value of the scheduling delay configured by the network, or a subset of the scheduling delay values indexed by the remaining bits in the field.

In some other example embodiments, the configuration of the dynamic HARQ feedback may indicate whether HARQ feedback is to be enabled based on the value of the HARQ-ACK resource field.

For DL data transmission, the DCI has one field indicating HARQ-ACK resource allocation (as shown in table 3 and table 5). Since HARQ-ACK resources are only needed when HARQ feedback is enabled, the HARQ feedback disabled condition may be considered when a field is set to some specific value. For example, if the HARQ-ACK resource field in DCI format N1 has a first value (e.g., value "0000") for NB-IoT DL transmission, HARQ feedback is disabled. In that case, the terminal device may not report HARQ feedback (i.e., HARQ-ACK). Otherwise, for example, if the HARQ-ACK resource field in DCI format N1 has a value other than the first value, HARQ feedback may be enabled and HARQ-ACK is transmitted in UL resources indicated by the HARQ-ACK field.

In this case, the network may configure terminal device 110-specific HARQ-ACK resource values for the HARQ feedback disabled indication in order to preserve the flexibility of UL resource allocation for HARQ feedback. Since the designated HARQ-ACK resource value used to indicate that HARQ feedback is disabled cannot be used for HARQ-ACK resource indication, it will limit UL resource allocation for HARQ feedback. By configuring different values of the disabled indication for HARQ feedback for different terminal devices, the network can make full use of UL capacity for HARQ feedback transmission.

As shown in fig. 3C, terminal device 110 may detect (at block 321) DCI and determine the value of the HARQ-ACK resource field. After comparing the value of the HARQ-ACK resource field with the reference value indicated in the configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, if the terminal device 110 determines (at block 322) that the value of the HARQ-ACK resource field matches the first reference value, the terminal device 110 may determine (at block 323) that HARQ feedback is to be enabled. If terminal device 110 determines (at block 322) that the value of the HARQ-ACK resource field matches the second reference value, terminal device 110 may determine (at block 324) that HARQ feedback is to be disabled.

In some other example embodiments, the configuration of the dynamic HARQ feedback may indicate a scaling factor for the transmission time that may control its tolerance to HARQ dead time. For example, the scaling factor K may be configured to K >1.

Based on the scaling factor K and the data transmission time and RTT estimated by the terminal device 110, the terminal device 110 may determine a mode for HARQ feedback.

As shown in fig. 3D, terminal device 110 may detect (at block 331) DCI and determine a scaling factor for the transmission time. Also from the DCI, the terminal device may estimate (at block 332) the data transmission time. For example, in NB-IoT DL, NPDSCH transmission time is t=n _TBN_RepN_SF, where N _TB is the number of TBs scheduled, N _Rep is the number of repetitions, N _SF is the number of subframes used by one TB, which can be determined based on the corresponding indication in the DCI.

With parallel HARQ process N _HARQ, if RTT is less than N _HARQ ·t+δ, the data transmission will not be stalled by the stop-and-wait protocol, where δ takes into account the overhead time and processing delay for the PDCCH.

For example, for IoT devices supporting NTN connections, as shown in fig. 3D, one option is that the terminal device may estimate (at block 333) an RTT based on ephemeris broadcast from the network device 120 and the terminal device's 110 own GNSS location data for synchronization and scheduling purposes. Another option is that the terminal device may estimate (at block 333) the RTT based on the sum of the UE's timing advance value (see TS 36.211, clause 8.1) and k-Mac, and the terminal device 110 may need to report its RTT estimate to the network device 120 in units of subframes (e.g., timing Advance (TA) reports) for data scheduling. The network device 120 may use the TA report to determine whether HARQ feedback for the scheduled TB should be expected from the terminal device. When the terminal device 110 determines (at block 334) that RTT > k·n _HARQ ·t, the terminal device 110 may determine (at block 336) that HARQ feedback is disabled or that HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode B. Otherwise, terminal device 110 may determine (at block 335) that HARQ feedback is enabled or that HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode a.

Some embodiments as described above may also be combined to cause the terminal device 110 to determine a mode for HARQ feedback. For example, if the terminal device 110 determines that the condition that HARQ feedback is disabled is not satisfied based on RTT, scaling factor K, and data transmission, the terminal device 110 may check HARQ feedback indication bits in a field (e.g., MSC field) in DCI to determine whether HARQ feedback is enabled or whether HARQ feedback is performed based on HARQ mode a, or whether HARQ feedback is disabled or whether HARQ feedback is performed based on HARQ mode B.

In this way, the mode of HARQ feedback may be indicated through one or more existing fields included in the DCI without adding a new field, and thus the complexity of the terminal device decoding the DCI may not increase.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 for indication of dynamic HARQ feedback, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at the terminal device 110 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described with reference to fig. 1.

At 410, the terminal device 110 obtains a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback. The configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI.

At 420, the terminal device 110 determines a mode of HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and the detection of DCI.

In some example embodiments, the configuration of HARQ feedback is obtained via RRC signaling.

In some example embodiments, the configuration indicates that the dynamic HARQ indication bit is configured in a field of at least one field included in the DCI, and the terminal device may determine a mode of HARQ feedback based on a value of the dynamic HARQ indication bit, wherein the mode of HARQ feedback includes that HARQ feedback is to be enabled or HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode a, or that HARQ feedback is to be disabled or HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode B.

In some example embodiments, terminal device 110 may obtain a reference value for a field of the HARQ resource in at least one field in the DCI from the configuration, and determine a mode of HARQ feedback based on the value of the field for the HARQ resource detected in the DCI and the reference value.

In some example embodiments, the dynamic HARQ indication bits are indicated by the most significant bits or the least significant bits of the field.

In some example embodiments, if terminal device 110 determines that HARQ feedback is to be enabled, the terminal device may determine the value of the field based on a first subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines that HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the terminal device may determine the value of the field based on a second subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

In some example embodiments, the configuration indicates a range of respective one or more values for at least one field in the DCI, the terminal device may determine that HARQ feedback is to be enabled if the terminal device 110 determines that the value of the at least one field satisfies the range of respective one or more values, or the terminal device may determine that HARQ feedback is to be disabled if the terminal device 110 determines that the value of the at least one field does not satisfy the range of respective one or more values.

In some example embodiments, the at least one field in the DCI includes at least one of an MCS field, a number of repetitions field, a resource allocation field, or a HARQ-acknowledgement resource field.

In some example embodiments, the configuration indicates a scaling factor for a transmission time, the terminal device may determine the transmission time based on the DCI, and determine a mode of HARQ feedback based on a comparison of RTT between the apparatus and the network device with a product of the transmission time, the number of HARQ, and the scaling factor.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines that RTT exceeds the product, the terminal device may determine that HARQ feedback is to be disabled or that HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode B.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 determines that RTT does not exceed the product, the terminal device may determine that HARQ feedback is to be enabled or that HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode a.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 for indication of dynamic HARQ feedback, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at the network device 120 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described with reference to fig. 1.

At 510, the network device 120 transmits a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to the terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI.

In some example embodiments, the configuration of the HARQ feedback is transmitted via RRC signaling.

In some example embodiments, the configuration indicates at least one of a dynamic HARQ indication bit configured in a field of at least one field included in the DCI, a range of corresponding one or more values for the at least one field in the DCI, or a scaling factor for a transmission time.

In some example embodiments, the dynamic HARQ indication bits are configured in a field of at least one field included in the DCI, the configuration indicating that if the HARQ feedback is to be enabled, a value of the field is determined based on a first subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bits, and if the HARQ feedback is to be disabled, a value of the field is determined based on a second subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bits.

In some example embodiments, the configuration indicates that HARQ feedback is to be disabled if the value of the at least one field does not satisfy the range of the corresponding one or more values for the at least one field in the DCI.

In some example embodiments, the at least one field in the DCI includes at least one of an MCS field, a number of repetitions field, a resource allocation field, or a HARQ-acknowledgement resource field.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 400 (e.g., implemented at the terminal device 110) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI, and means for determining a mode of HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and the detection of the DCI.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 500 (e.g., implemented at the network device 120) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for transmitting a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI.

Fig. 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 600 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as terminal device 110 or network device 120 shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processors 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processors 610.

The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communications with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

By way of non-limiting example, the processor 610 may be of any type suitable to a local technology network and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 600 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to the clock of the synchronous master processor.

Memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact Disk (CD), digital Video Disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memory that will not last for the duration of the power outage.

The computer program 630 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of program 630 may include instructions for performing the operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Program 630 may be stored in a memory such as ROM 624. Processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 630 into RAM 622.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of program 630 such that device 600 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to fig. 2-5. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or other storage device accessible to the device 600. Device 600 may load program 630 from a computer readable medium into RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, rather than signal), rather than a limitation of data storage persistence (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

Fig. 7 shows an example of a computer readable medium 700, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD or other optical storage disc. The computer-readable medium 700 has stored thereon the program 630.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The computer program product comprises computer executable instructions, such as those included in program modules executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to perform any of the methods described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. Program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the functions/operations specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Moreover, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment unless explicitly stated otherwise. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims (21)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor, and

At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least:

Acquiring a configuration of dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in downlink control information, DCI;

And determining the mode of the HARQ feedback based on the configuration information and the detection of the DCI.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration of the HARQ feedback is obtained via radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the configuration indication dynamic HARQ indication bit is configured in a field of the at least one field included in the DCI, and wherein the apparatus is caused to:

Determining the mode of the HARQ feedback based on a value of the dynamic HARQ indication bit, wherein the mode of the HARQ feedback comprises that the HARQ feedback is to be enabled or that the HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode a, or that the HARQ feedback is to be disabled or that the HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ mode B.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the dynamic HARQ indication bit is indicated by a most significant bit or a least significant bit of the field.

5. The device of claim 3 or 4, wherein the device is caused to:

If it is determined that the HARQ feedback is to be enabled, determining a value of the field based on a first subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit, or

If it is determined that the value of the field is to be disabled according to the HARQ feedback, the value of the field is determined based on a second subset of field values in the remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the configuration indicates a range of respective one or more values for the at least one field in the DCI, and wherein the apparatus is caused to:

If it is determined that the value of the at least one field satisfies the range of the corresponding one or more values, determining that the HARQ feedback is to be enabled or performed based on HARQ mode A, or

If it is determined that the value of the at least one field does not satisfy the range of the corresponding one or more values, determining that the HARQ feedback is to be disabled or performed based on HARQ mode B.

7. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the device is caused to:

Obtaining a reference value for a field of HARQ resources in the at least one field in the DCI from the configuration;

The mode of the HARQ feedback is determined based on the value of the field for the HARQ resource detected in the DCI and the reference value.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1-7, wherein the at least one field in the DCI comprises at least one of:

modulation and coding scheme MCS field,

The number of repetitions field,

A resource allocation field, and

HARQ-acknowledgement resource field.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the configuration indicates a scaling factor for a transmission time, and wherein the apparatus is caused to:

Determining the data transmission time based on the DCI;

The mode of the HARQ feedback is determined based on a comparison of a round trip time RTT between the apparatus and a network device with a product of the data transmission time, the number of HARQ and the scaling factor.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

If it is determined that the RTT exceeds the product, determining that the HARQ feedback is to be disabled or performed based on HARQ mode B, or

If it is determined that the RTT does not exceed the product, determining that the HARQ feedback is to be enabled or the HARQ feedback is to be performed based on HARQ pattern A.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor, and

At least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device to at least:

transmitting a configuration of dynamic hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in downlink control information, DCI.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback is transmitted via radio resource control, RRC, signaling.

13. The apparatus of claims 11 to 12, wherein the configuration indicates at least one of:

a dynamic HARQ indication bit is configured in a field of the at least one field included in the DCI;

for a corresponding range of one or more values of the at least one field in the DCI,

Scaling factor for transmission time, and

Reference value for field of HARQ resource.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the dynamic HARQ indication bit is configured in the one of the at least one field included in the DCI, and wherein the configuration indicates:

if the HARQ feedback is to be enabled, the value of the field is determined based on a first subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit, and

If the HARQ feedback is to be disabled, the value of the field is determined based on a second subset of field values in remaining bits of the field other than the dynamic HARQ indication bit.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the configuration indicates that the HARQ feedback is to be disabled if a value of the at least one field does not satisfy a range of the respective one or more values for the at least one field in the DCI.

16. The apparatus of any one of claims 11-15, wherein the at least one field in the DCI comprises at least one of:

modulation and coding scheme MCS field,

The number of repetitions field,

A resource allocation field, and

HARQ-acknowledgement resource field.

17. A method, comprising:

acquiring a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, the configuration being associated with at least one field included in the DCI:

determining a mode of the HARQ feedback based on configuration information and detection of the DCI.

18. A method, comprising:

and transmitting a configuration of the dynamic HARQ feedback to the terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in the DCI.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

an apparatus for acquiring a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI, and

Means for determining a mode of the HARQ feedback based on configuration information and detection of the DCI.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for transmitting a configuration of dynamic HARQ feedback to a terminal device, wherein the configuration is associated with at least one field included in DCI.

21. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 17 or the method of claim 18.