WO2023216235A1

WO2023216235A1 - Method and apparatus for semi-persistent scheduling

Info

Publication number: WO2023216235A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/092710
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ruixiang MA; Yu Zhang; Haipeng Lei; Haiming Wang
Original assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited
Priority date: 2022-05-13
Filing date: 2022-05-13
Publication date: 2023-11-16

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods and apparatuses for semi-persistent scheduling. According to some embodiments of the disclosure, a UE may: determine a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEMI-PERSISTENT SCHEDULING

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication technology, and more particularly to semi-persistent scheduling.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power) . Examples of wireless communication systems may include fourth generation (4G) systems, such as long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may also be referred to as new radio (NR) systems.

In a wireless communication system, data can be transmitted from a base station (BS) to a user equipment (UE) via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) . The PDSCH may be a dynamic PDSCH scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) via a corresponding physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH.

For example, the UE may be configured with one or more SPS PDSCH configurations, and may receive an activation DCI format to activate an SPS PDSCH configuration. The SPS PDSCH transmission may occur at predetermined time instances with predetermined parameters, before the UE receives deactivation DCI to deactivate or release the SPS PDSCH configuration. For each SPS PDSCH configuration, only one resource may be indicated and the size of the resource may be fixed in a relatively long time. The industry desires technologies for enhancing SPS PDSCH scheduling in a communication system.

SUMMARY

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a user equipment (UE) . The UE may include: a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the transceiver. The processor may be configured to: determine a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration, and the processor is configured to perform at least one of the following: receiving an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, wherein the activation DCI format indicates a group index for a PDSCH (s) of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration; or receiving the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration which indicates the group index; or receiving a list of states, wherein each state in the list is mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration and at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the at least one SPS PDSCH configuration belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the list is an SPS configuration deactivation state list.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration; and wherein at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with an SPS PDSCH configuration having the same periodicity belongs to the same PDSCH group; or wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a number of groups for the at least one PDSCH group, wherein each of the at least one PDSCH group corresponds to an SPS PDSCH configuration group; and determine to which PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs belongs based on at least one of the following: an index of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations in an SPS PDSCH configuration group; or the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups, wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments, the number of groups is configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, indicated in a downlink control information (DCI) format, predefined, or determined according to the size of data to be received by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is determined according to an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration, and at least one PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs determined according to the same activation DCI format belongs to the same PDSCH group.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format indicates a plurality of resources for the at least one PDSCHs. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the activation DCI format indicates a single resource, and resources for the at least one PDSCHs are determined based on the single resource and a supplement resource.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of resources for the at least one PDSCHs may include a plurality of start and length indicator values (SLIVs) in a row of a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a single start and length indicator value (SLIV) in a row of a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table, and the supplement resource indicates at least one SLIV or at least one number of symbols.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a frequency domain resource and the supplement resource indicates at least one frequency domain resource or at least one resource block (RB) number.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the supplement resource is configured by a base station (BS) or predefined.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: performing overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group to determine a set of PDSCH groups; and selecting a PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, performing the overlap handling may include: determining an overlap between a first and second PDSCH groups of the at least one PDSCH group in the case that any PDSCH in the first PDSCH group overlap any PDSCH in the second PDSCH group or in the case that a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in the first PDSCH group to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in the first PDSCH group overlap a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in the second PDSCH group to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in the second PDSCH group; and excluding one of the first and second PDSCH groups which has a lower group priority from the set of PDSCH groups.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups is based on group priorities of PDSCH groups in the set of PDSCH groups.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups may include: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups, (a) performing a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) detection for a first PDSCH in the first PDSCH group; and (b) in response to that the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH is successful, selecting the first PDSCH for decoding and excluding the remaining PDSCHs in the first PDSCH group from selection; or (c) in response to that the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH fails, selecting another PDSCH in the first PDSCH group for which an DMRS detection has not been performed as the first PDSCH, and performing (a) until no PDSCH in the first PDSCH group is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the DMRS detections for the PDSCHs in the first PDSCH group is performed according to a predefined order.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups may include: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups, selecting one or more PDSCHs from the first PDSCH group for decoding according to a predefined order; or selecting a PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for decoding based on indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for decoding is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: (a) performing a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) detection for a first PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs; (b) in response to the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH being successful, selecting the first PDSCH for decoding, excluding the remaining PDSCHs in the same PDSCH group as the first PDSCH from selection, excluding a PDSCH which is from a different PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; (c) selecting another available PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs for which an DMRS detection has not been performed as the first PDSCH; and (d) performing (a) - (c) until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the DMRS detections for the plurality of PDSCHs is performed according to a predefined order.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order; excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in the case that a PDSCH from a PDSCH group is excluded for selection, the remaining PDSCHs in the PDSCH group is excluded for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: selecting one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling; and selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the one or more PDSCHs according to a predefined order; excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor is further configured to receive the indication signaling in another time unit right before the time unit or in a number of starting symbols in the timer unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, different sequences of the indication signaling correspond to different PDSCHs in the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, different sequences of the indication signaling correspond to different PDSCH groups.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predefined order may include at least one of the following: order (1) : a PDSCH having a larger size precedes a PDSCH having a smaller size; order (2) : a PDSCH with an earlier starting symbol precedes a PDSCH with a later starting symbol, or a PDSCH with an earlier ending symbol precedes a PDSCH with a later ending symbol; order (3) : only including PDSCHs having a size larger than or equal to a size threshold, among which order (1) or order (2) is applied; order (4) : a PDSCH associated with a smaller semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration index precedes a PDSCH associated with a larger SPS PDSCH configuration index; or order (5) : a PDSCH associated with a higher PDSCH group priority precedes a PDSCH associated with a lower PDSCH group priority.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a group priority of a PDSCH group is determined based on at least one of the following: a group index of the PDSCH group; an index of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; a priority indicated in an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; or a priority configured for the PDSCH group by radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding may include selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, step (d) may include performing (a) - (c) until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs may include selecting the second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a base station (BS) . The BS may include: a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the transceiver. The processor may be configured to: determine a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of a user equipment (UE) , wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and transmit a set of PDSCHs among the plurality of PDSCHs to the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration, and the processor is configured to perform at least one of the following: transmitting, to the UE, an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, wherein the activation DCI format indicates a group index for a PDSCH (s) of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration; transmitting, to the UE, the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration which indicates the group index; or transmitting, to the UE, a list of states, wherein each state in the list is mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration and at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the at least one SPS PDSCH configuration belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the list is an SPS configuration deactivation state list.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration; and wherein at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with an SPS PDSCH configuration having the same periodicity belongs to the same PDSCH group; or wherein the processor is further configured to: determining a number of groups for the at least one PDSCH group, wherein each of the at least one PDSCH group corresponds to an SPS PDSCH configuration group; and determining to which PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs belongs based on at least one of the following: an index of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations in an SPS PDSCH configuration group; or the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups, wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor is further configured to transmit the number of groups to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor is further configured to transmit, to the UE, a downlink control information (DCI) format indicating the number of groups. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of groups is predefined or is determined according to the size of data to be transmitted to the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the supplement resource is configured by the BS or predefined.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, transmitting the set of PDSCHs may include: performing overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group to determine a set of PDSCH groups; and selecting a PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups may include: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups, selecting one or more PDSCHs from the first PDSCH group for transmission according to a predefined order; or selecting a PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for transmission based on indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for transmission is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order; excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission may include: selecting one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling; and selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the processor is further configured to transmit the indication signaling in another time unit right before the time unit or in a number of starting symbols in the timer unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission may include selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission until the number of PDSCHs selected for transmission is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs may include selecting the second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for transmission is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) . The method may include: determining a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and selecting a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication performed by a base station (BS) . The method may include: determining a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of a user equipment (UE) , wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and transmitting a set of PDSCHs among the plurality of PDSCHs to the UE.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the apparatus may include: at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions; at least one receiving circuitry; at least one transmitting circuitry; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one receiving circuitry and the at least one transmitting circuitry, wherein the at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium and the computer executable instructions may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform a method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to describe the manner in which the advantages and features of the disclosure can be obtained, a description of the disclosure is rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended drawings. These drawings depict only exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and are not therefore to be considered limiting of its scope.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary SPS PDSCH transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIGS. 3-13 illustrate exemplary SPS PDSCH configurations in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary procedure of wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary procedure of wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 16 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The detailed description of the appended drawings is intended as a description of the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure and is not intended to represent the only form in which the present disclosure may be practiced. It should be understood that the same or equivalent functions may be accomplished by different embodiments that are intended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

Reference will now be made in detail to some embodiments of the present disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. To facilitate understanding, embodiments are provided under a specific network architecture (s) and new service scenarios, such as the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) 5G (NR) , 3GPP long-term evolution (LTE) Release 8, and so on. It is contemplated that along with the developments of network architectures and new service scenarios, all embodiments in the present disclosure are also applicable to similar technical problems; and moreover, the terminologies recited in the present disclosure may change, which should not affect the principles of the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, wireless communication system 100 may include some UEs 101 (e.g., UE 101a and UE 101b) and a base station (e.g., BS 102) . Although a specific number of UEs 101 and BS 102 is depicted in FIG. 1, it is contemplated that any number of UEs and BSs may be included in the wireless communication system 100.

The UE (s) 101 may include computing devices, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , tablet computers, smart televisions (e.g., televisions connected to the Internet) , set-top boxes, game consoles, security systems (including security cameras) , vehicle on-board computers, network devices (e.g., routers, switches, and modems) , or the like. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE (s) 101 may include a portable wireless communication device, a smart phone, a cellular telephone, a flip phone, a device having a subscriber identity module, a personal computer, a selective call receiver, or any other device that is capable of sending and receiving communication signals on a wireless network. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE (s) 101 includes wearable devices, such as smart watches, fitness bands, optical head-mounted displays, or the like. Moreover, the UE (s) 101 may be referred to as a subscriber unit, a mobile, a mobile station, a user, a terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a fixed terminal, a subscriber station, a user terminal, or a device, or described using other terminology used in the art. The UE (s) 101 may communicate with the BS 102 via uplink (UL) communication signals.

The BS 102 may be distributed over a geographic region. In certain embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS 102 may also be referred to as an access point, an access terminal, a base, a base unit, a macro cell, a Node-B, an evolved Node B (eNB) , a gNB, a Home Node-B, a relay node, or a device, or described using other terminology used in the art. The BS 102 is generally a part of a radio access network that may include one or more controllers communicably coupled to one or more corresponding BSs 102. The BS 102 may communicate with UE (s) 101 via downlink (DL) communication signals.

The wireless communication system 100 may be compatible with any type of network that is capable of sending and receiving wireless communication signals. For example, the wireless communication system 100 is compatible with a wireless communication network, a cellular telephone network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) -based network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) -based network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) -based network, an LTE network, a 3GPP-based network, a 3GPP 5G network, a satellite communications network, a high altitude platform network, and/or other communications networks.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the wireless communication system 100 is compatible with 5G NR of the 3GPP protocol. For example, BS 102 may transmit data using an orthogonal frequency division multiple (OFDM) modulation scheme on the DL and the UE (s) 101 may transmit data on the UL using a discrete Fourier transform-spread-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM) or cyclic prefix-OFDM (CP-OFDM) scheme. More generally, however, the wireless communication system 100 may implement some other open or proprietary communication protocols, for example, WiMAX, among other protocols.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS 102 and UE (s) 101 may communicate using other communication protocols, such as the IEEE 802.11 family of wireless communication protocols. Further, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS 102 and UE (s) 101 may communicate over licensed spectrums, whereas in some other embodiments, the BS 102 and UE (s) 101 may communicate over unlicensed spectrums. The present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the implementation of any particular wireless communication system architecture or protocol.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary SPS PDSCH transmission in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some examples, four SPS PDSCH configurations indexed from 0 to 3 may be configured for a UE. For each SPS PDSCH configuration, a period P may be provided. Referring to FIG. 2, the UE may receive a DCI in slot #n indicating that SPS PDSCH configuration 1 is activated. The activation DCI and the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration will provide information for receiving the corresponding SPS PDSCHs. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, according to the information, the UE may receive a first PDSCH associated with SPS PDSCH configuration 1 in slot #n+1. The UE may receive a subsequent PDSCH (s) associated with SPS PDSCH configuration 1 according to the period of SPS PDSCH configuration 1. For example, assuming that the period of SPS PDSCH configuration 1 is 1 slot (i.e., P ₁ =1 slot) , one SPS PDSCH reception may occur per slot, and the UE may receive a second PDSCH associated with SPS PDSCH configuration 1 in slot #n+2 as shown in FIG. 2, and so on.

Certain application scenarios in a communication system may require high throughput and low latency, and may have a big packet size, variable data packet size, or both. For example, extended reality (XR) is a broad term covering, for example, augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) . Along with cloud computing, XR applications typically require high throughput and low latency, and have a big packet size and variable data packet size.

Considering the characteristics (e.g., periodicity, multiple flows, traffic jitter, latency, reliability, packet variable size) of the above application scenarios (e.g., XR) , it would be beneficial to employ SPS in the above application scenarios since SPS can be used to exploit the quasi-periodic nature of video frame arrivals without the need for DCI. However, for each SPS configuration, only one resource may be indicated, and the size of the resource may be fixed in a relatively long time. An example is shown in FIG. 2. As a consequence, the indicated resource may not be adapted to the variable packet size. Embodiments of the present disclosure provide solutions for enhancing SPS PDSCH scheduling to adapt the variable packet size for services such as XR. More details on the embodiments of the present disclosure will be illustrated in the following text in combination with the appended drawings.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, to allow SPS PDSCH scheduling to adapt the variable packet size for services such as XR, an SPS PDSCH configuration group (hereinafter also referred to as “group scheduling scheme #1” ) may be supported. For example, a plurality of SPS PDSCH configurations may be grouped into one or more SPS PDSCH configuration groups, and each SPS PDSCH configuration group may include at least one SPS PDSCH configuration. The PDSCH resources of the SPS PDSCH configuration (s) in a specific SPS PDSCH configuration group can be different. In this way, a BS can use different PDSCHs from different SPS PDSCH configurations in the same group to transmit data with different sizes. As will be described later, the plurality of PDSCHs associated with the SPS PDSCH configurations in the same group may belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., SPS PDSCH configurations 1-3) may be activated and may belong to the same group. The resources associated with SPS PDSCH configurations 1-3 are different from each other. A BS can choose one of the resources to transmit data according to the packet size. It should be noted that although the periods of SPS PDSCH configurations 1-3 in FIG. 3 are the same, the periods of the SPS PDSCH configurations in the same group are not necessarily the same in some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

Various methods may be employed to determine the SPS PDSCH configuration group.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format may indicate a group index. The SPS PDSCH configurations with the same group index belong to the same group. The number of bits for indicating the group index in a DCI format may be dependent on the number of groups. For examiner, assuming M groups are supported, a DCI format may include at least

bits to indicate the group index.

For example, referring to FIG. 4, a plurality of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., Config 1 to Config 4) may be activated. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, two groups may be supported, and an activation DCI format may include 1 bit to indicate the corresponding group index. For example, the activation DCI for Config 1 may include a one-bit indicator indicating a group index of 0. The activation DCI for Config 2 may include a one-bit indicator indicating a group index of 1. The activation DCI for Config 3 may include a one-bit indicator indicating a group index of 0. The activation DCI for Config 4 may include a one-bit indicator indicating a group index of 1. Therefore, Config 1 and Config 3 belong to one group while Config 2 and Config 4 belong to another group. In addition, as will be described later, PDSCHs associated with Config 1 and Config 3 belong to one group while PDSCHs associated with Config 2 and Config 4 belong to another group.

It should be noted that although the periods of Config 1 to Config 4 in FIG. 4 are the same, the periods of the SPS PDSCH configurations in the same group are not necessarily the same in some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, RRC signaling may indicate which SPS PDSCH configurations belong to the same group.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, an SPS PDSCH configuration may include a group index. Therefore, the SPS PDSCH configurations with the same group index belong to the same group.

For instance, SPS PDSCH configuration #0 may be configured with a group index of 0, SPS PDSCH configuration #1 may be configured with a group index of 1, SPS PDSCH configuration #2 may be configured with a group index of 0, and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 may be configured with a group index of 1. Accordingly, SPS PDSCH configuration #0 and SPS PDSCH configuration #2 belong to one group while PDSCH configuration #1 and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 belong to another group. In addition, as will be described later, PDSCHs associated with SPS PDSCH configuration #0 and SPS PDSCH configuration #2 belong to one group while PDSCHs associated with SPS PDSCH configuration #1 and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 belong to another group.

For example, a list of states may be configured. Each state in the list of states may be mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration. The SPS PDSCH configurations corresponding to the same state belong to the same group. As will be described later, PDSCHs associated with the SPS PDSCH configurations corresponding to the same state belong to the same group.

Table 1 below shows an example list of states. According table 1,

SPS PDSCH configurations

1 and 2 may belong to a group with a group index of 0,

SPS PDSCH configurations

3 and 4 may belong to a group with a group index of 1, and so on.

Table 1: SPS configuration state list

index	SPS configuration
0	1, 2
1	3, 4
2	5, 6
3	7, 8

In some embodiments, the list of states may be the SPS configuration deactivation state list. For example, the higher layer parameter sps-ConfigDeactivationStateList or ConfiguredGrantConfigType2DeactivationStateList as specified in 3GPP standard documents may be reused to indicate the SPS PDSCH configuration groups. In some embodiments, the list of states may be independent from the above SPS configuration deactivation state list. For example, a list of states specifically for indicating the SPS PDSCH configuration groups may be configured.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, SPS PDSCH configurations activated by the same DCI belong to the same group. For example, in some embodiments, an activation DCI may indicate that SPS PDSCH configuration#1 and SPS PDSCH configuration#3 are activated, then SPS PDSCH configuration #1 and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 belong to the same group.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, SPS PDSCH configuration groups may be determined according to a predefined rule. In addition, as will be described later, PDSCHs associated with SPS PDSCH configurations belonging to the same group belong to the same group.

For example, in some embodiments, the number of supported groups (denoted as Q for clarity) may be firstly determined and then the SPS PDSCH configuration groups are determined. In some examples, the number of supported groups may be indicated by a BS (e.g., via RRC signaling or DCI) . In some examples, the number of supported groups may be predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents. In some examples, the number of supported groups may be determined according to the size of data to be received by or transmitted to the UE. For example, the variable packet sizes for XR may be limited. A UE and BS can determine the number of supported groups based thereon.

A UE and BS may determine to which group an SPS PDSCH configuration belongs according to at least one of the following rules:

- Rule 1: based on an index (denoted as H) of the SPS PDSCH configuration and Q;

- Rule 2: based on the number of SPS PDSCH configurations (denoted as M) configured for the UE and Q;

- Rule 3: based on M and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations (denoted as P) in an SPS PDSCH configuration group; or

- Rule 4: based on M and Q, wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of any two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1.

According to an embodiment of Rule 1, a group index can be determined by (H mod Q) , and the SPS PDSCH configurations with the same group index belong to the same group.

According to Rule 2, the M SPS PDSCH configurations may be divided into Q groups. In some examples, each of the first Q-1 groups includes

SPS PDSCH configurations and the last group includes

SPS PDSCH configurations. In some examples, each of the last Q-1 groups includes

SPS PDSCH configurations and the first group includes

SPS PDSCH configurations. For example, assuming that 8 SPS PDSCH configurations are configured and Q = 3, then each of the first two groups may include 2 SPS PDSCH configurations and the last group may include 4 SPS PDSCH configurations.

The M SPS PDSCH configurations may be distributed into the Q groups in sequence. For example, the M SPS PDSCH configurations may be firstly arranged according to a predefined order (e.g., an ascending or descending order) of the indexes of the M configurations. Then, the first

configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the first group of the Q groups, and the second

configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the second group of the Q groups, and so on. In another example, the first

configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the first group of the Q groups, and subsequent

configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the second group of the Q groups, and so on. For instance, assuming that 4 SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., indexed from 1 to 4) are divided into 2 groups, the first group may include SPS PDSCH configurations indexed as 1 and 2, and the second group may include SPS PDSCH configurations indexed as 3 and 4.

In Rule 3, the value of P can be indicated by the BS (e.g., via RRC signaling or a DCI format) , predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents, or determined according to the size of data to be received by or transmitted to the UE. Thus, the value of Q can be determined according to the formula of

In some examples, each of the first Q-1 groups includes P SPS PDSCH configurations and the last group includes M-P× (Q-1) SPS PDSCH configurations. In some examples, each of the last Q-1 groups includes P SPS PDSCH configurations and the first group includes M-P× (Q-1) SPS PDSCH configurations. For example, assuming that 8 SPS PDSCH configurations are configured and P = 3, then each of the first two groups may include 3 SPS PDSCH configurations and the last group may include 2 SPS PDSCH configurations.

Similar to Rule 2, the M SPS PDSCH configurations may be distributed into the Q groups in sequence. For example, the M SPS PDSCH configurations may be firstly arranged according to a predefined order (e.g., an ascending or descending order) of the indexes of the M configurations. Then, the first P configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the first group of the Q groups, and the second P configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the second group of the Q groups, and so on. In another example, the first M-P× (Q-1) configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the first group of the Q groups, and subsequent P configurations of the M configurations may be distributed into the second group of the Q groups, and so on. For instance, assuming that 4 SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., indexed from 1 to 4) are divided into 2 groups, the first group may include SPS PDSCH configurations indexed as 1 and 2, and the second group may include SPS PDSCH configurations indexed as 3 and 4.

According to an embodiment of Rule 4, the M SPS PDSCH configurations may be divided into Q groups according to the following method:

- Define M ₁=mod (M, Q) ,

and

- If M ₁>0, SPS PDSCH configuration group m, where m=0, 1, ..., M ₁-1, may include SPS PDSCH configurations with indices m·K ₁+k, where k= 0, 1, ..., K ₁-1. SPS PDSCH configuration group m, where m=M ₁, M ₁+ 1, ..., Q-1, may include SPS PDSCH configurations with indices M ₁·K ₁+ (m-M ₁) ·K ₂+k, where k=0, 1, ..., K ₂-1.

For example, assuming that 8 SPS PDSCH configurations are provided and Q=3, then each of the first 2 groups may include 3 SPS PDSCH configurations and the last group may include 2 SPS PDSCH configurations.

In some embodiments, SPS PDSCH configurations having the same periodicity may belong to the same group. This is may be referred to as “Rule 5” for clarity. For example, the periodicity of SPS PDSCH configuration #0 and SPS PDSCH configuration #2 may be 1 slot and the periodicity of SPS PDSCH configuration #1 and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 may be 2 slots. Accordingly, SPS PDSCH configuration #0 and SPS PDSCH configuration #2 belong to one group while PDSCH configuration #1 and SPS PDSCH configuration #3 belong to another group.

It should be noted that the above rules (e.g., Rule 1-Rule 5) can be used alone or in any combination thereof.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, to allow SPS PDSCH scheduling to adapt the variable packet size for services such as XR, a single SPS PDSCH configuration may be associated with a plurality of resources (hereinafter also referred to as “group scheduling scheme #2” ) . For example, the plurality of resources (e.g., a plurality of PDSCHs in a time unit such as a slot) may be determined based on the DCI format activating the single SPS PDSCH configuration.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format may indicate the plurality of resources. The plurality of resources may include a plurality of start and length indicator values (SLIVs) in a row of a time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table. As an alternative, a SLIV may be replaced with a start symbol S and an allocation length L. For example, the DCI format may indicate a row index, which corresponds to a specific row of the TDRA table. The specific row may provide at least one of: a slot offset (e.g., K0 as specified in 3GPP standard documents) , a plurality of SLIVs, or a PDSCH mapping type to be assumed in the PDSCH reception. Since one SLIV can indicate the time domain resource of one PDSCH within one period of the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, a plurality of SLIVs can indicate a plurality of PDSCHs within one period. As will be described later, the plurality of PDSCHs may belong to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the resources determined by the plurality of SLIVs may overlap.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each SLIV of the plurality of SLIVs may independently determine a corresponding PDSCH. For example, referring to FIG. 5, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate a plurality of SLIVs (e.g., SLIVs 1-3) for the SPS PDSCH configuration, each of which may independently determine a corresponding PDSCH within a certain period.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a delta configuration may be applied to the SLIV indication. For example, a first SLIV of the plurality of SLIVs may independently determine a first PDSCH, the first SLIV and a second SLIV of the plurality of SLIVs may jointly determine a second PDSCH, and so on.

For example, referring to FIG. 6, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate a plurality of SLIVs (e.g., SLIVs 1-3) for the SPS PDSCH configuration. SLIV 1 may determine PDSCH #1, the combination of SLIV 1 and SLIV 2 may determine PDSCH #2, and the combination of SLIV 1, SLIV 2 and SLIV 3 may determine PDSCH #3.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format may indicate a single resource. The plurality of resources associated with the activated SPS PDSCH configuration may be determined based on the single resource and a supplement resource. The supplement resource may be configured by a BS or predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format may indicate a single SLIV. As an alternative, a SLIV may be replaced with a start symbol S and an allocation length L. For example, the DCI format may indicate a row index, which corresponds to a specific row of a TDRA table. The specific row may provide at least one of: a slot offset (e.g., K0 as specified in 3GPP standard documents) , a SLIV, or a PDSCH mapping type to be assumed in the PDSCH reception. The supplement resource may indicate at least one SLIV or at least one number of symbols (e.g., at least one allocation length L) .

In some embodiments, each of at least one SLIV indicated by the supplement resource and the single SLIV indicated in the activation DCI format may independently determine a PDSCH. For example, referring to FIG. 7, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate SLIV 0 for the SPS PDSCH configuration. The supplement resource may indicate supplement SLIV 1 and supplement SLIV 2. Each of SLIV 0 to SLIV 2 may independently determine a corresponding PDSCH.

In some embodiments, the at least one number of symbols (e.g., at least one allocation length L) indicated by the supplement resource may be a delta configuration. For example, the single SLIV indicated by the activation DCI may independently determine a first PDSCH, the single SLIV and a first allocation length indicated by the supplement resource may jointly determine a second PDSCH, and so on.

For example, referring to FIG. 8, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate SLIV 0 for the SPS PDSCH configuration. The supplement resource may indicate allocation length L1 and allocation length L2. SLIV 0 may determine PDSCH #1, the combination of SLIV 0 and allocation length L1 may determine PDSCH #2, and the combination of SLIV 0, allocation length L1 and allocation length L2 may determine PDSCH #3.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a frequency domain resource (e.g., resource block (RB) numbers and the location) . The supplement resource may indicate at least one frequency domain resource or at least one RB number.

In some embodiments, each of the at least one frequency domain resource indicated by the supplement resource and the single frequency domain resource indicated in the activation DCI format may independently determine a PDSCH. For example, referring to FIG. 9, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate a frequency domain resource Freq Res 0 for the SPS PDSCH configuration. The supplement resource may indicate supplement frequency domain resources Freq Res 1 and Freq Res 2. Each of Freq Res 0 to Freq Res 2 may independently determine a corresponding PDSCH. The time domain information of these PDSCH may be determined by the activation DCI format and the period of the SPS PDSCH configuration.

In some embodiments, the at least one RB number indicated by the supplement resource may be a delta configuration. For example, the single frequency domain resource indicated by the activation DCI may independently determine a first PDSCH, the single frequency domain resource and a first RB number indicated by the supplement resource may jointly determine a second PDSCH, and so on.

For example, referring to FIG. 10, a DCI format may activate an SPS PDSCH configuration and may indicate a frequency domain resource Freq Res 0 for the SPS PDSCH configuration. The supplement resource may indicate RB number 1 and RB number 2. Freq Res 0 may determine PDSCH #1, the combination of Freq Res 0 and RB number 1 may determine PDSCH #2, and the combination of Freq Res 0, RB number 1 and RB number 2 may determine PDSCH #3.

In some embodiments, a UE may determine when to enable the above group scheduling (e.g., group scheduling scheme #1 or group scheduling scheme #2) , which may be indicated by a BS or can be determined when a certain condition is met. In some examples, when any two SLIVs overlap, it suggests that the group scheduling is enabled; otherwise, the group scheduling is disabled. In some examples, when all SLIVs are continuous in the time domain, it suggests that the group scheduling is enabled; otherwise, the group scheduling is disabled.

The procedure utilizing the above group scheduling schemes will be described in the following text. Although the following procedure may be described from the perspective of a UE, it should be noted that a BS may perform a similar procedure when a group scheduling scheme is enabled, especially when the BS determine a plurality of PDSCHs in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE and select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission to the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs on a serving cell of the UE within a timer unit. The time unit may be one slot, an arrival period, or X slots or symbols. In some examples, the value of X may be indicated by a BS (e.g., via RRC signaling or DCI) , or predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents. The plurality of PDSCHs may belong to at least one PDSCH group. Each of the plurality of PDSCHs may not correspond to a PDCCH transmission. For example, the plurality of PDSCHs may be SPS PDSCHs. Each of the plurality of PDSCHs may be associated with a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, group scheduling scheme #1 may be employed. The PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs which are associated with the SPS PDSCH configurations in the same group may belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, as described above, the activation DCI format for an SPS PDSCH configuration may indicate a group index to indicate the SPS PDSCH configuration group. Such group index may also be applied to determine the PDSCH groups. For example, the group index can indicate the PDSCH group of a PDSCH which is associated with the activated SPS PDSCH configuration.

For example, referring back to FIG. 4, the UE may determine four PDSCHs (e.g., PDSCHs #1 to #4) in time unit 410. As described above, based on the group indexes indicated in the activation DCI formats, Config 1 and Config 3 belong to one group while Config 2 and Config 4 belong to another group. Such group indexes may be applied to determine the PDSCH groups. For example, the UE may determine that PDSCHs #1 and #3 belong to one PDSCH group while PDSCHs #2 and #4 belong to another PDSCH group.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the RRC signaling indicating which SPS PDSCH configurations belong to the same group as described above may be applied to determine the PDSCH groups.

In some embodiments, the group index indicated in the SPS PDSCH configuration may also be applied to determine the PDSCH groups. For example, the group index can indicate the PDSCH group of a PDSCH which is associated with the activated SPS PDSCH configuration. The PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs which are associated with the SPS PDSCH configurations having the same group index may belong to the same PDSCH group.

In some embodiments, the list of states with each state mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration may also be applied to determine the PDSCH groups. For example, the PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs which are associated with the SPS PDSCH configurations corresponding to the same state may belong to the same PDSCH group. As described above, in some examples, the list of states may be the SPS configuration deactivation state list. In some other examples, the list of states may be independent from the SPS configuration deactivation state list.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the predefined rule (e.g., Rule 1-Rule 5) as described above may be applied to determine the PDSCH groups. For instance, the PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs which are associated with SPS PDSCH configurations having the same periodicity may belong to the same PDSCH group (corresponding to Rule 5 as described above) .

For instance, the UE may first determine the number of groups for the at least one PDSCH group, wherein each of the at least one PDSCH group corresponds to an SPS PDSCH configuration group. For example, the number of groups may be the number of supported groups Q as described above. That is, the method for determining Q may apply here and thus is omitted herein.

Then, the UE may determine to which PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs belongs based on at least one of the following:

- an index (e.g., H) of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH and the number of groups (e.g., Q) (corresponding to Rule 1 as described above) ;

- the number of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., M) configured for the UE and the number of groups (e.g., Q) (corresponding to Rule 2 as described above) ;

- the number of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., M) configured for the UE and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., P) in an SPS PDSCH configuration group (corresponding to Rule 3 as described above) ; or

- the number of SPS PDSCH configurations (e.g., M) configured for the UE and the number of groups (e.g., Q) , wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1 (corresponding to Rule 4 as described above) .

The descriptions with respect to Rules 1-5 as described above can be applied here and thus are omitted herein.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, group scheduling scheme #2 may be employed. As described above, under this scheme, a single SPS PDSCH configuration may be associated with a plurality of resources. For example, within a certain period of an SPS PDSCH configuration, more than one PDSCH may be associated with the SPS PDSCH configuration. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the same SPS PDSCH configuration may belong to the same PDSCH group. Or put another way, at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs determined according to the same activation DCI format may belong to the same PDSCH group since the plurality of resources for a specific SPS PDSCH configuration is determined based on the activation DCI.

For example, the UE may receive one or more activation DCI formats for corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration (s) . The UE may determine the plurality of PDSCHs in a time unit according to the received one or more activation DCI formats. At least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs determined according to the same activation DCI format belongs to the same PDSCH group.

As described above, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format may indicate a plurality of resources (e.g., a plurality of SLIVs) . The PDSCHs among the plurality of PDSCHs determined based on the plurality of resources indicated in the same activation DCI format may belong to the same group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 5, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 510. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 6, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 610. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

As described above, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the combination of an activation DCI format and a supplement resource may indicate a plurality of resources. The PDSCHs determined based on the plurality of resources may belong to the same group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 7, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 710. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 8, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 810. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 9, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 910. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

For example, referring back to FIG. 10, the UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 in time unit 1010. Since, as described above, PDSCHs #1 to #3 are determined based on the same activation DCI format (or the same SPS PDSCH configuration) , PDSCHs #1 to #3 belong to the same PDSCH group.

The descriptions for determining resources for PDSCHs based on an activation DCI format (e.g., based on the activation DCI format alone or based on the combination of the activation DCI format and the supplement resource) as described above can be applied here and thus is omitted herein.

After the UE determines the plurality of PDSCHs in the time unit according to the various methods as described above, the UE may select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of PDSCHs may belong to the same group. Since there is only one group in the time unit, the UE may select the set of PDSCHs for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs directly. Various methods can be employed for selecting the set of PDSCHs. This case may be referred to as “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection. ”

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may select the set of PDSCHs for decoding based on DMRS detection. For example, the UE may perform DMRS detection for a specific PDSCH (denoted as PDSCH #A1) of the plurality of PDSCHs. In response to the DMRS detection being successful, which may suggest that PDSCH #A1 is transmitted by the BS, the UE may select PDSCH #A1 for decoding. The UE may stop the PDSCH selection. Therefore, at most one PDSCH among the plurality of PDSCHs may be selected for decoding. In response to the failure of the DMRS detection, the UE may perform the same process on another PDSCH for which DMRS detection has not been performed until a successful DMRS detection or until no PDSCH in the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. For example, the UE may select PDSCH #A2 of the plurality of PDSCHs for which DMRS detection has not been performed, and perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #A2. In response to the DMRS detection being successful, the UE may select PDSCH #A2 for decoding; otherwise, the UE may try another remaining PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs.

For example, referring to FIG. 11, a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #3 may be determined in time unit 1110 and may belong to the same group. The UE may select a PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH #2) of the plurality of PDSCHs for DMRS detection. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #2 for decoding, and may stop selecting the remaining PDSCHs (e.g., PDSCH #1 and PDSCH #3) . If the DMRS detection fails, the UE may try DMRS detection for a remaining PDSCH. For example, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #1. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding, and may stop selecting the remaining PDSCH (s) (e.g., PDSCH #3) . Otherwise, if the DMRS detection fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #3. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #3 for decoding. Otherwise, if the DMRS detection fails, the UE may not decode any PDSCH in time unit 1110 since no PDSCH is available for selection.

In some embodiments, the DMRS detections for the plurality of PDSCHs may be performed according to a predefined order, including but not limited to the following:

- order (1) : a PDSCH having a larger size may precede a PDSCH having a smaller size;

- order (2) : a PDSCH with an earlier starting symbol may precede a PDSCH with a later starting symbol, or a PDSCH with an earlier ending symbol may precede a PDSCH with a later ending symbol;

- order (3) : only the PDSCHs having a size larger than or equal to a size threshold may be considered, and order (1) or order (2) is applied to these PDSCHs;

- order (4) : a PDSCH associated with a smaller (or larger) SPS PDSCH configuration index may precede a PDSCH associated with a larger (or smaller) SPS PDSCH configuration index; or

- order (5) : a PDSCH associated with a higher PDSCH group priority may precede a PDSCH associated with a lower PDSCH group priority.

The size of a PDSCH may be determined based on the number of OFDM symbols, the RB number, or a combination thereof. The size threshold can be indicated by the BS (e.g., via RRC signaling or a DCI format) , or predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents.

Although order (5) may not be employed in this “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection” case, it may be applied to the case where the plurality of PDSCHs belongs to a plurality of PDSCH groups. For convenience, order (5) is described herein. Various methods may be employed to determine the priority of a PDSCH group.

For example, the priority of a PDSCH group may be determined based on at least one of the following group priority determination criteria:

- (i) a group index of the PDSCH group, where the PDSCH group may correspond to the group index of the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group, and in some examples, the smaller the group index, the higher the PDSCH group priority;

- (ii) an index of the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group, where in some examples, the smaller the configuration index, the higher the PDSCH group priority;

- (iii) a priority indicated in an activation DCI format for the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; or

- (iv) a priority configured for the PDSCH group by RRC signaling.

For example, still referring to FIG. 11, it is assumed that order (4) is applied and PDSCHs #1 to #3 are associated with SPS PDSCH configurations with configuration indexes of 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The UE may perform DMRS detection according to the order of “PDSCH #1 -> PDSCH #2 -> PDSCH #3” , if needed. For example, the UE may first perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #1. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding, and may stop selecting the remaining PDSCHs (e.g., PDSCH #2 and PDSCH #3) . If the DMRS detection fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #2. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #2 for decoding, and may stop selecting the remaining PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH #3) . If the DMRS detection fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #3.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may select the PDSCHs for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on DMRS detection according to the above predefined order (e.g., one of order (1) to order (4) ) until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may select the PDSCHs for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on DMRS detection according to the above predefined order (e.g., one of order (1) to order (4) ) until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs (unicast, multicast or both) supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some example, two of the selected PDSCHs may overlap each other.

For example, still referring to FIG. 11, it is assumed that order (1) is applied and the number of PDSCHs in a time unit supportable by the UE is 2. Assuming that the size of PDSCH #3 > the size of PDSCH #2 > the size of PDSCH #1, the UE may perform DMRS detection according to the order of “PDSCH #3 -> PDSCH #2 ->PDSCH #3” , if needed. For example, the UE may first perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #3. If the DMRS detection is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding, and may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #2 since the number of PDSCHs in a time unit supportable by the UE is 2. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #2 fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #1. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may select the PDSCHs for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling. The indication signaling may be transmitted by a BS to the UE and can be carried by DCI or RRC. In some examples, the indication signaling may be the wake-up signaling.

In some examples, the indication signaling may be received by the UE in another time unit right before the time unit of the plurality of PDSCHs. In some examples, the indication signaling may be received by the UE in a number of starting symbols (e.g., starting N symbols) in the timer unit of the plurality of PDSCHs. The value of N can be indicated by the BS (e.g., via RRC signaling or a DCI format) , or predefined, for example, in 3GPP standard documents.

The UE may select a PDSCH for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on a sequence of the indication signaling. For example, different sequences of the indication signaling may correspond to different PDSCHs in the same PDSCH group. For example, different sequences of the indication signaling may correspond to different PDSCH groups.

For example, still referring to FIG. 11, the UE may receive indication signaling indicating which PDSCH should be selected for decoding. For example, assuming that the UE receives indication signaling with a sequence corresponding to PDSCH #2, the UE may receive PDSCH #2 among the plurality of PDSCHs.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of PDSCHs may belong to a plurality of PDSCH groups.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, overlap handling among the plurality of PDSCH groups may be performed first to determine a set of PDSCH groups from the plurality of PDSCH groups. Then, a PDSCH (s) may be selected from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding. In some embodiments, the PDSCH (s) may be selected from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit. This method may be referred to as the “overlap handling first” method.

In some embodiments, for each of the set of PDSCH groups, the above embodiments described with respect to the “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection” method may be applied. In a sense, the plurality of PDSCHs belonging to the same group can be regarded as a special case of the “overlap handling first” method. That is, “the plurality of PDSCHs belonging to the same group” case can be covered by the “overlap handling first” method. For example, the plurality of PDSCHs within the timer unit may belong to at least one PDSCH group; the UE may perform overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group and determine no overlap (since the at least one PDSCH group only includes one PDSCH group) . Thus, the set of PDSCH groups may be the single PDSCH group. The UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding from the set of PDSCH groups (which is the plurality of PDSCHs within the timer unit in this special case) according to the “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection” method.

An overlap may be determined between two PDSCH groups (denoted as group #A1 and group #A2) in the case that (1) any PDSCH in group #A1 overlaps any PDSCH in group #A1 or (2) a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in group #A1 to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in group #A1 overlaps a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in group #A2 to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in group #A2.

For example, referring to FIG. 12, a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #4 may be determined in time unit 1210. PDSCHs #1 to #4 may be associated with SPS PDSCH configurations Config 1 to Config 4, respectively. For example assuming that Config 1 and Config 3 belong to one group while Config 2 and Config 4 belong to another group, PDSCHs #1 and #3 belong to one PDSCH group while PDSCHs #2 and #4 belong to another PDSCH group. The UE may determine that the two PDSCH groups overlap in the time domain.

In some embodiments, when two PDSCH groups overlap (e.g., group #A1 and group #A2) , the PDSCH group which has a lower group priority may be excluded. That is, the set of PDSCH groups does not include this PDSCH group. The method for determining the group priority of a PDSCH group described above may apply here and thus is omitted herein.

For example, referring to FIG. 13, a plurality of PDSCHs including PDSCHs #1 to #6 may be determined in time unit 1310. PDSCHs #1 to #6 may be associated with SPS PDSCH configurations Config 1 to Config 6, respectively. Assuming that Config 1 and Config 3 belong to a group with a group index of 1, Config 2 and Config 4 belong to another group with a group index of 2, and Config 5 and Config 6 belong to yet another group with a group index of 3, PDSCHs #1 and #3 belong to a PDSCH group (denoted as group #B1) , PDSCHs #2 and #4 belong to another PDSCH group (denoted as group #B2) , and PDSCHs #5 and #6 belong to yet another PDSCH group (denoted as group #B3) .

The UE may determine that group #B1 and group #B3 overlap group #B2 in the time domain. Assuming that group priority determination criterion (i) (e.g., the smaller the group index, the higher the PDSCH group priority) , the UE may exclude group #B2 from the set of PDSCH groups during the overlap handling process. The set of PDSCH groups may thus include group #B1 and group #B3.

After the overlap handling process, the UE may determine the set of PDSCH groups without any overlap. The UE may then select the PDSCH (s) for decoding from the set of PDSCH groups based on the group priorities of the PDSCH groups in the set of PDSCH groups, for example, until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit. For a specific group of the set of PDSCH groups, the “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection” method may be applied to select a PDSCH (s) for decoding from the specific group.

For example, still referring to FIG. 13, among the set of PDSCH groups (e.g., group #B1 and group #B3) , the UE may first perform the “single-PDSCH-group PDSCH selection” method on group #B1 and then on group #B3, if needed, since the group #B1 has a higher group priority.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding based on DMRS detection. For example, the UE may perform DMRS detection for a PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH #1) of group #B1, and if the DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding and stop selecting PDSCH #3. If the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is not reached, the UE may perform DMRS detection for the remaining group (s) in the set of PDSCH groups. For example, assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may perform DMRS detection for a PDSCH (e.g., PDSCH #5) of group #B3. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #5 for decoding and stop selecting PDSCH #6. For example, assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 1, the UE may not perform DMRS detection for group #B3 since PDSCH #1 is already selected for decoding.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding based on DMRS detection according to a predefined order (e.g., one of order (1) to order (4) ) . For example, it is assumed that order (1) is employed. The UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #3 of group #B1 since the size of PDSCH #3 is larger than that of PDSCH #1. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #3 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #3 for decoding. If the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is not reached, the UE may perform DMRS detection for the remaining PDSCH (s) in group #B1. For example, assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 of group #B1. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding. The UE may not perform DMRS detection for group #B3 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for group #B3 since no PDSCH is available for selection in group #B1 and only PDSCH #3 is selected for decoding. For example, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 of group #B3 since the size of PDSCH #6 is larger than that of PDSCH #5. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #6 for decoding. The UE may not perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached. Otherwise, if the DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is not reached.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding based on indication signaling. For example, it is assumed that the UE receives the indication signaling indicating that PDSCHs from Config 3 and Config 5 can be selected. Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 1, the UE may select PDSCH #3 for decoding in group #B1 since the group #B1 has a higher group priority. The UE may not decode PDSCH #5 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached. Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may select both PDSCH #3 and PDSCH #5 for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may not perform the overlap handling process and may handle the plurality of PDSCHs belonging to the plurality of PDSCH groups directly. It should be noted that, to a certain extent, the plurality of PDSCHs belonging to the same group can also be regarded as a special case of this method.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on DMRS detection according to a predefined order (e.g., at least one of order (1) to order (5) ) .

For example, the UE may perform DMRS detection for a specific PDSCH (denoted as PDSCH #B1) of the plurality of PDSCHs. In response to the DMRS detection being successful, which may suggest that PDSCH #B1 is transmitted by the BS, the UE may select PDSCH #B1 for decoding. The UE may exclude the PDSCH (s) in the same group as the same PDSCH group as PDSCH #B1 from selection. The UE may also exclude the PDSCH (s) which is from a different PDSCH group and overlaps PDSCH #B1 from selection. In some embodiments, the UE may perform DMRS detection among the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments, the UE may perform DMRS detection among the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. The DMRS detection for the plurality of PDSCHs may be performed according to a predefined order (e.g., at least one of order (1) to order (5) ) .

For example, referring again to FIG. 13, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding among PDSCH #1-PDSCH #6 based on DMRS detection according to a predefined order without performing the overlap handling beforehand.

It is assumed that order (4) is employed and the indexes of Config 1 to Config 6 are 1-6, respectively. Then, the DMRS detection order of PDSCH #1-PDSCH #6 is: PDSCH #1 -> PDSCH #2 -> PDSCH #3 -> PDSCH #4 -> PDSCH #5 ->PDSCH #6, if needed. The UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #1. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #1 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding and exclude PDSCH #3 which is also from group #B1. The UE may also exclude PDSCH #2 and PDSCH #4 from group #B2 since they overlap PDSCH #1. Therefore, PDSCH #5 and PDSCH #6 are the remaining PDSCHs available for selection.

Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 1, the UE may stop the procedure since after selecting PDSCH #1 for decoding, the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached.

Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 according to the predefined order. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #5 for decoding. The UE may not perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached. Otherwise, if the DMRS detection for PDSCH #5 fails, the UE may perform DMRS detection for PDSCH #6. If the DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 fails, the UE may stop the selection procedure since no PDSCH is available for selection. Otherwise, if the DMRS detection for PDSCH #6 is successful, the UE may select PDSCH #6 for decoding.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order (e.g., at least one of order (1) to order (5) ) .

For example, the UE may select a specific PDSCH (denoted as PDSCH #C1) of the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding according to the predefined order. The UE may exclude the PDSCH (s) which is from a PDSCH group different from that of PDSCH #C1 and overlaps PDSCH #C1 from selection. In some embodiments, the UE may select, according to the predefined order, another PDSCHs for decoding from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments, the UE may select, according to the predefined order, another PDSCHs for decoding from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in the case that a PDSCH from a certain PDSCH group is excluded for selection, the remaining PDSCHs in the PDSCH group is excluded for selection. That is, the whole PDSCH group is excluded.

For example, referring again to FIG. 13, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding among PDSCH #1-PDSCH #6 according to a predefined order without performing the overlap handling beforehand.

It is assumed that order (4) is employed and the indexes of Config 1 to Config 6 are 1-6, respectively. Thus, the selection order of PDSCH #1-PDSCH #6 is: PDSCH #1 -> PDSCH #2 -> PDSCH #3 -> PDSCH #4 -> PDSCH #5 -> PDSCH #6, if needed. The UE may select PDSCH #1 for decoding according to the predefined order. Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 1, the UE may stop selecting any other PDSCHs since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached.

Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may exclude PDSCH #2 and PDSCH #4 from group #B2 since they overlap PDSCH #1. Therefore, PDSCH #3, PDSCH #5 and PDSCH #6 are the remaining PDSCHs available for selection. The UE may select PDSCH #3 for decoding according to the predefined order. The UE may stop selecting PDSCH #5 and PDSCH #6 since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached.

In some embodiments, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling. The above descriptions with respect to the indication signaling may apply here and thus is omitted herein.

For example, the UE may select one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling, and then select the set of PDSCHs for decoding from the one or more PDSCHs. In some examples, the UE may select a PDSCH for decoding from the one or more PDSCHs according to a predefined order (e.g., at least one of order (1) to order (5) ) .

For example, the UE may select a specific PDSCH (denoted as PDSCH #D1) of the one or more PDSCHs for decoding according to the predefined order. The UE may exclude the PDSCH (s) which is from a PDSCH group different from that of PDSCH #D1 and overlaps PDSCH #D1 from selection. In some embodiments, the UE may select, according to the predefined order, another PDSCHs for decoding from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments, the UE may select, according to the predefined order, another PDSCHs for decoding from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in the case that a PDSCH from a certain PDSCH group is excluded for selection, the remaining PDSCHs in the PDSCH group is excluded for selection.

For example, referring again to FIG. 13, the UE may select a PDSCH (s) for decoding among PDSCH #1-PDSCH #6 based on indication signaling without performing the overlap handling beforehand.

For example, it is assumed that the UE receives indication signaling indicating that PDSCHs from Config 3, Config 4 and Config 5 can be selected. Therefore, the UE may select PDSCH #3, PDSCH #4, and PDSCH #5 based on the indication signaling. It is assumed that order (4) is employed and the indexes of Config 1 to Config 6 are 1-6, respectively. Therefore, the selection PDSCH selection order according to the predefine order (4) is: PDSCH #3 -> PDSCH #4 ->PDSCH #5, if needed. The UE may first select PDSCH #3 for decoding. Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 1, the UE may stop selecting any other PDSCHs since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached.

Assuming that the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is 2, the UE may exclude PDSCH #4 from the remaining available PDSCHs (e.g., PDSCH #4 and PDSCH #5) since PDSCH #4 overlap PDSCH #3. Therefore, PDSCH #5 is the remaining PDSCHs available for selection. The UE may select PDSCH #5 for decoding according to the predefined order. The UE may stop the selection procedure since the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit is reached or since no PDSCH is available for selection.

FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary procedure 1400 for wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Details described in all of the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in FIG. 14. In some examples, the procedure may be performed by a UE, for example, UE 101 in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 14, in operation 1411, a UE may determine a plurality of PDSCHs in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a PDCCH transmission. In operation 1413, the UE may select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration. The UE may perform at least one of the following: receiving an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, wherein the activation DCI format indicates a group index for a PDSCH (s) of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration; receiving the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration which indicates the group index; or receiving a list of states, wherein each state in the list is mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration and at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the at least one SPS PDSCH configuration belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the list is an SPS configuration deactivation state list.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration. In some embodiments, at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with an SPS PDSCH configuration having the same periodicity belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the UE may: determine a number of groups for the at least one PDSCH group, wherein each of the at least one PDSCH group corresponds to an SPS PDSCH configuration group; and determine to which PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs belongs based on at least one of the following: an index of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations in an SPS PDSCH configuration group; or the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups, wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of groups is configured by RRC signaling, indicated in a DCI format, predefined, or determined according to the size of data to be received by the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is determined according to an activation DCI format for a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, and at least one PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs determined according to the same activation DCI format belongs to the same PDSCH group.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an activation DCI format indicates a plurality of resources for the at least one PDSCHs. In some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the activation DCI format indicates a single resource, and resources for the at least one PDSCHs are determined based on the single resource and a supplement resource.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the plurality of resources for the at least one PDSCHs may include a plurality of SLIVs in a row of a TDRA table.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a single SLIV in a row of a TDRA table, and the supplement resource indicates at least one SLIV or at least one number of symbols.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a frequency domain resource and the supplement resource indicates at least one frequency domain resource or at least one RB number.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the supplement resource is configured by a BS or predefined.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: performing overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group to determine a set of PDSCH groups; and selecting a PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding. In some embodiments, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding may include selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups may include: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups, (a) performing a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) detection for a first PDSCH in the first PDSCH group; and (b) in response to that the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH is successful, selecting the first PDSCH for decoding and excluding the remaining PDSCHs in the first PDSCH group from selection; or (c) in response to that the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH fails, selecting another PDSCH in the first PDSCH group for which an DMRS detection has not been performed as the first PDSCH, and performing (a) until no PDSCH in the first PDSCH group is available for selection. In some embodiments, the DMRS detections for the PDSCHs in the first PDSCH group is performed according to a predefined order.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups may include: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups, selecting one or more PDSCHs from the first PDSCH group for decoding according to a predefined order; or selecting a PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for decoding based on indication signaling. In some embodiments, selecting the PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for decoding is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: (a) performing a DMRS detection for a first PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs; (b) in response to the DMRS detection for the first PDSCH being successful, selecting the first PDSCH for decoding, excluding the remaining PDSCHs in the same PDSCH group as the first PDSCH from selection, excluding a PDSCH which is from a different PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; (c) selecting another available PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs for which an DMRS detection has not been performed as the first PDSCH; and (d) performing (a) - (c) until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments, step (d) may include performing (a) - (c) until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection. In some embodiments, the DMRS detections for the plurality of PDSCHs is performed according to a predefined order.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order; and excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may further include: selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection; or selecting the second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit. In some embodiments, in the case that a PDSCH from a PDSCH group is excluded for selection, the remaining PDSCHs in the PDSCH group is excluded for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding may include: selecting one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling; and selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs. In some embodiments, selecting the one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the one or more PDSCHs according to a predefined order; and excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs may further include: selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection; or selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for decoding is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE may receive the indication signaling in another time unit right before the time unit or in a number of starting symbols in the timer unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a group priority of a PDSCH group is determined based on at least one of the following: a group index of the PDSCH group; an index of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; a priority indicated in an activation DCI format for the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; or a priority configured for the PDSCH group by RRC signaling.

It should be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the sequence of the operations in exemplary procedure 1400 may be changed and some of the operations in exemplary procedure 1400 may be eliminated or modified, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary procedure 1500 for wireless communications in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Details described in all of the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable for the embodiments shown in FIG. 15. In some examples, the procedure may be performed by a BS, for example, BS 102 in FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 15, in operation 1511, a BS may determine a plurality of PDSCHs in a time unit on a serving cell of a UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a PDCCH transmission. In operation 1513, the BS may transmit a set of PDSCHs among the plurality of PDSCHs to the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration. The BS may perform at least one of the following: transmitting, to the UE, an activation DCI format for the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, wherein the activation DCI format indicates a group index for a PDSCH (s) of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration; transmitting, to the UE, the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration which indicates the group index; or transmitting, to the UE, a list of states, wherein each state in the list is mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration and at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the at least one SPS PDSCH configuration belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the list is an SPS configuration deactivation state list.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration. In some embodiments, at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with an SPS PDSCH configuration having the same periodicity belongs to the same PDSCH group. In some embodiments, the BS may: determining a number of groups for the at least one PDSCH group, wherein each of the at least one PDSCH group corresponds to an SPS PDSCH configuration group; and determining to which PDSCH group of the at least one PDSCH group a PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs belongs based on at least one of the following: an index of an SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups; the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and a maximum number of SPS PDSCH configurations in an SPS PDSCH configuration group; or the number of SPS PDSCH configurations configured for the UE and the number of groups, wherein a difference between the numbers of SPS PDSCH configurations of two SPS PDSCH configuration groups is less than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS may transmit the number of groups to the UE via RRC signaling. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS may transmit, to the UE, a DCI format indicating the number of groups. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of groups is predefined or is determined according to the size of data to be transmitted to the UE.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the single resource may include a SLIV in a row of a TDRA table, and the supplement resource indicates at least one SLIV or at least one number of symbols.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, transmitting the set of PDSCHs may include: performing overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group to determine a set of PDSCH groups; and selecting a PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission. In some embodiments, selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission may include selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for transmission until the number of PDSCHs selected for transmission is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order; and excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission may further include: selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection; or selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for transmission is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for transmission may include: selecting one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling; and selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs. In some embodiments, selecting the one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs is based on a sequence of the indication signaling.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs may include: selecting a first PDSCH from the one or more PDSCHs according to a predefined order; excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until the number of PDSCHs selected for transmission is equal to the number of PDSCHs supportable by the UE in the time unit or none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the BS may transmit the indication signaling in another time unit right before the time unit or in a number of starting symbols in the timer unit.

It should be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the sequence of the operations in exemplary procedure 1500 may be changed and some of the operations in exemplary procedure 1500 may be eliminated or modified, without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

FIG. 16 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus 1600 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the apparatus 1600 may include at least one processor 1606 and at least one transceiver 1602 coupled to the processor 1606. The apparatus 1600 may be a UE or a BS.

Although in this figure, elements such as the at least one transceiver 1602 and processor 1606 are described in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless a limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. In some embodiments of the present application, the transceiver 1602 may be divided into two devices, such as a receiving circuitry and a transmitting circuitry. In some embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 1600 may further include an input device, a memory, and/or other components.

In some embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 1600 may be a UE. The transceiver 1602 and the processor 1606 may interact with each other so as to perform the operations with respect to the UE described in FIGS. 1-15.

In some embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 1600 may be a BS. The transceiver 1602 and the processor 1606 may interact with each other so as to perform the operations with respect to the BS described in FIGS. 1-15.

In some embodiments of the present application, the apparatus 1600 may further include at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may have stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause the processor 1606 to implement the method with respect to the UE as described above. For example, the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the processor 1606 interacting with transceiver 1602 to perform the operations with respect to the UE described in FIGS. 1-15.

For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may have stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause the processor 1606 to implement the method with respect to the BS as described above. For example, the computer-executable instructions, when executed, cause the processor 1606 interacting with transceiver 1602 to perform the operations with respect to the BS described in FIGS. 1-15.

Those having ordinary skill in the art would understand that the operations or steps of a method described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Additionally, in some aspects, the operations or steps of a method may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

While this disclosure has been described with specific embodiments thereof, it is evident that many alternatives, modifications, and variations may be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, various components of the embodiments may be interchanged, added, or substituted in other embodiments. Also, all of the elements of each figure are not necessary for the operation of the disclosed embodiments. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art of the disclosed embodiments would be enabled to make and use the teachings of the disclosure by simply employing the elements of the independent claims. Accordingly, embodiments of the disclosure as set forth herein are intended to be illustrative, not limiting. Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.

In this document, the terms "includes, " "including, " or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that includes a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by "a, " "an, " or the like does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that includes the element. Also, the term "another" is defined as at least a second or more. The term "having" and the like, as used herein, are defined as "including. " Expressions such as "A and/or B" or "at least one of A and B" may include any and all combinations of words enumerated along with the expression. For instance, the expression "A and/or B" or "at least one of A and B" may include A, B, or both A and B. The wording "the first, " "the second" or the like is only used to clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application, but is not used to limit the substance of the present application.

Claims

A user equipment (UE) , comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and

select a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.
The UE of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of PDSCHs is associated with a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration, and the processor is configured to perform at least one of the following:

receiving an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration, wherein the activation DCI format indicates a group index for a PDSCH (s) of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration; or

receiving the corresponding SPS PDSCH configuration which indicates the group index; or

receiving a list of states, wherein each state in the list is mapped to at least one SPS PDSCH configuration and at least one PDSCH of the plurality of PDSCHs which is associated with the at least one SPS PDSCH configuration belongs to the same PDSCH group.
The UE of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of PDSCHs is determined according to an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for a corresponding semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration, and at least one PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs determined according to the same activation DCI format belongs to the same PDSCH group.
The UE of claim 3, wherein an activation DCI format indicates a plurality of resources for the at least one PDSCHs; or

wherein the activation DCI format indicates a single resource, and resources for the at least one PDSCHs are determined based on the single resource and a supplement resource.
The UE of claim 1, wherein selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding comprises:

performing overlap handling among the at least one PDSCH group to determine a set of PDSCH groups; and

selecting a PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups for decoding.
The UE of claim 5, wherein performing the overlap handling comprises:

determining an overlap between a first and second PDSCH groups of the at least one PDSCH group in the case that any PDSCH in the first PDSCH group overlap any PDSCH in the second PDSCH group or in the case that a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in the first PDSCH group to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in the first PDSCH group overlap a symbol from a starting symbol of an earliest PDSCH in the second PDSCH group to an ending symbol of a last PDSCH in the second PDSCH group; and

excluding one of the first and second PDSCH groups which has a lower group priority from the set of PDSCH groups.
The UE of claim 5, wherein selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups is based on group priorities of PDSCH groups in the set of PDSCH groups.
The UE of claim 5, wherein selecting the PDSCH (s) from the set of PDSCH groups comprises: for a first PDSCH group of the set of PDSCH groups,

selecting one or more PDSCHs from the first PDSCH group for decoding according to a predefined order; or

selecting a PDSCH from the first PDSCH group for decoding based on indication signaling.
The UE of claim 1, wherein selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding comprises:

selecting a first PDSCH from the plurality of PDSCHs according to a predefined order;

excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and

selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the plurality of PDSCHs until none of the plurality of PDSCHs is available for selection.
The UE of claim 1, wherein selecting the set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding comprises:

selecting one or more PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs based on indication signaling; and

selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs.
The UE of claim 10, wherein selecting the set of PDSCHs from the one or more PDSCHs comprises:

selecting a first PDSCH from the one or more PDSCHs according to a predefined order;

excluding a PDSCH which is from a PDSCH group different from that of the first PDSCH and overlaps the first PDSCH from selection; and

selecting, according to the predefined order, a second PDSCH from the remaining available PDSCHs of the one or more PDSCHs until none of the one or more PDSCHs is available for selection.
The UE of any of claim 8, 9 and 11, wherein the predefined order comprises at least one of the following:

order (1) : a PDSCH having a larger size precedes a PDSCH having a smaller size;

order (2) : a PDSCH with an earlier starting symbol precedes a PDSCH with a later starting symbol, or a PDSCH with an earlier ending symbol precedes a PDSCH with a later ending symbol;

order (3) : only including PDSCHs having a size larger than or equal to a size threshold, among which order (1) or order (2) is applied;

order (4) : a PDSCH associated with a smaller semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration index precedes a PDSCH associated with a larger SPS PDSCH configuration index; or

order (5) : a PDSCH associated with a higher PDSCH group priority precedes a PDSCH associated with a lower PDSCH group priority.
The UE of claim 6, 7 or 12, wherein a group priority of a PDSCH group is determined based on at least one of the following:

a group index of the PDSCH group;

an index of a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group;

a priority indicated in an activation downlink control information (DCI) format for the SPS PDSCH configuration associated with the PDSCH group; or

a priority configured for the PDSCH group by radio resource control (RRC) signaling.
A base station (BS) , comprising:

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to:

determine a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of a user equipment (UE) , wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and

transmit a set of PDSCHs among the plurality of PDSCHs to the UE.
A method performed by a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

determining a plurality of physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) in a time unit on a serving cell of the UE, wherein the plurality of PDSCHs is from at least one PDSCH group and each of the plurality of PDSCHs does not correspond to a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission; and

selecting a set of PDSCHs from the plurality of PDSCHs for decoding.