WO2018031068A1 - Partial symbol transmission - Google Patents

Abstract

Techniques for communication of a partial symbol and properties related to the partial symbol are discussed. A network device (e.g., an evolved NodeB, user equipment, or other network device) can generate a partial symbol transmission by generating time-domain repeated symbols with a partial symbol duration that is less than a symbol duration. Symbol blanking can be done for a first replica and further used to generate an LBT gap for UL access, or enable DL-to-UL / UL-to-DL switching. A starting indication can also be derived from the DL transmission comprising the partial symbol.

Description

PARTIAL SYMBOL TRANSMISSION

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Numbers 62/373,152 filed August 10, 2016, entitled "METHODS AND APPARATUSES TO

INDICATE STATING LOCATION OF UL TRANSMISSION FOR ENHANCED LICENSED ASSISTED ACCESS", and 62/374,614 filed August 12, 2016, entitled "PARTIAL SYMBOL TRANSMISSION", the contents of which are both herein

incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to wireless technology, and more specifically to techniques for signaling transmissions including a partial symbol transmission and a partial symbol transmission location in licensed assisted access.

BACKGROUND

[0003] The scarcity of licensed spectrum for cellular communications has driven interest in unlicensed bands for long term evolution (LTE) operation. In particular, the less crowded 5GHz bands (currently used mostly for WiFi) have been proposed for LTE deployment, offering the potential for a substantial increase in LTE throughput. Overall, the design principles for LTE-U (LTE in Unlicensed spectrum) include integration with the licensed spectrum, minimal change to the existing LTE air-interface, and guaranteed co-existence with other systems using unlicensed spectrum, such as WiFi. Licensed assisted access (LAA) is a relatively new technology being considered to meet the ever increasing demand for high data rate in wireless cellular networks by utilizing the carrier aggregation in downlink (DL) / uplink (UL) operation feature supported in LTE-A (LTE Advanced) to combine the data transmission over licensed primary carrier and unlicensed secondary component carriers. The 5 GHz band is of current interest in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). For fair coexistence with the incumbent systems at the 5 GHz band, such as IEEE (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.1 1 based wireless local area networks (WLAN), Listen-Before-Talk (LBT) at eNB is considered as a feature of an LAA system. Apart from the LTE operation for unlicensed spectrum considered, LTE could also be operated via dual connectivity (DC) or the standalone LTE mode, which does not necessarily utilize assistance from the licensed spectrum. Additionally, a LTE based technology "MuLTEfire" has been under consideration, which does not utilize assistance from the licensed spectrum to enable a leaner, self-contained network architecture that is suitable for neutral deployments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram illustrating an example wireless

communications network environment for a UE or eNB according to various aspects or embodiments.

[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a DL / UL transmission with an LBT gap, or switching gap with a partial / normal symbols in accordance with various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0006] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a transmitter chain employable in a network device (e.g., an eNB or UE) that facilitates listen before talk (LBT) for transmission based on a partial / regular symbol according to various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0007] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of an interlace or an interlaced resource block (RB) assignment from a resource element (RE) mapping in accordance with various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0008] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an RE mapping within one RB from an interleaving operation in accordance with various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0009] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a time domain transmission signal with a partial symbol from a blanking or pruning operation and options for fast Fourier transform (DFT) windowing as a window function in accordance with various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0010] FIG. 7 is another diagram illustrating an example of a time domain transmission signal with a partial symbol from a blanking or pruning operation and example operation for fast Fourier transform windowing in accordance with various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0011] FIG. 8 illustrates a process flow of processing or generating a partial symbol with a gap in (un)licensed spectrum according to various aspects or embodiments described herein.

[0012] FIG. 9 illustrates an example system or network device operable with one or more components configured for various aspects or embodiments described herein. [0013] FIG. 10 illustrates another example system or network device operable with one or more components configured for various aspects or embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elements throughout, and wherein the illustrated structures and devices are not necessarily drawn to scale. As utilized herein, terms "component," "system," "interface," and the like are intended to refer to a computer-related entity, hardware, software (e.g., in execution), and/or firmware. For example, a component can be a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, a controller, or other processing device), a process running on a processor, a controller, an object, an executable, a program, a storage device, a computer, a tablet PC and/or a user equipment (UE) (e.g., mobile / wireless phone, etc.) with a processing device. By way of illustration, an application running on a server and the server can also be a component. One or more components can reside within a process, and a component can be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers. A set of elements or a set of other components can be described herein, in which the term "set" can be interpreted as "one or more."

[0015] Further, these components can execute from various computer readable storage media having various data structures stored thereon such as with a module, for example. The components can communicate via local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network, such as, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, or similar network with other systems via the signal).

[0016] As another example, a component can be an apparatus with specific functionality provided by mechanical parts operated by electric or electronic circuitry, in which the electric or electronic circuitry can be operated by a software application or a firmware application executed by one or more processors. The one or more processors can be internal or external to the apparatus and can execute at least a part of the software or firmware application. As yet another example, a component can be an apparatus that provides specific functionality through electronic components without mechanical parts; the electronic components can include one or more processors therein to execute software and/or firmware that confer(s), at least in part, the functionality of the electronic components.

[0017] Use of the word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concrete fashion. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from context, "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied under any of the foregoing instances. In addition, the articles "a" and "an" as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless specified otherwise or clear from context to be directed to a singular form. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms "including", "includes", "having", "has", "with", or variants thereof are used in either the detailed description and the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term

"comprising."

OVERVIEW

[0018] According to various aspects / embodiments, a partial symbol can be transmitted, which occupies less than a one symbol duration. The LTE network system operates on a symbol by symbol structure, in which the symbol is a basic unit of transmission among the transmit and the receiver side. The symbol duration can be a function of the symbol subcarrier spacing. For an LTE method of subcarrier spacing of 15KHz, for example, then this symbol duration could be about 66.67 microseconds, which is the inverse of the subcarrier spacing, in which mathematically one over the subcarrier spacing results in the symbol duration. As such, a partial symbol

transmission can be, half of an LTE symbol duration such as 33 microseconds while rest of the duration could be blanketed or blanked. However, this can be a lot of time to waste and leave open possibilities of the channel no longer being idle due to the occupancy of a neighbor cell. Therefore, in order to avoid such deficiencies and enable an efficient use of resources for scheduling, a partial symbol transmission can be used and a shorter amount of the time enabled for listen before talk (LBT) operation. The rest of the time duration can then be blanked and used to enable LBT, or switching between UL and DL. The transmission can also be utilized to indicate one or more scheduling parameters (e.g., a starting point / position).

[0019] In addition, example embodiments can provide mechanisms of LBT to be performed at the scheduled user equipment (UE) for the transmission of Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or other UL control signals such as enhanced Physical Uplink Control Channel (ePUCCH), which can be outside of a transmission burst within a transmission opportunity. A transmission opportunity (TxOP) can be referred to as a bounded time interval, as defined by a standard or a standards body (e.g., 3GPP, or other). During this time interval, a network device (e.g., an eNB) can communicate or transmit as many frames or subframes as possible as long as the duration of the transmission does not extend beyond a maximum duration of the TxOP or a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT), for example.

[0020] According to standard agreement, a DL burst transmission can be preceded by a category (CAT) 4 LBT, which includes a clear channel assessment (CCA) and an exponential random back-off procedure at the eNB. Standards of LAA design restrict the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) or the transmission opportunity (TxOP) after completion of LBT at the eNB (e.g., about 8 ms, if LAA co-exists with WiFi, or 10 ms otherwise). An MCOT (or TxOP) can be expected to include the DL subframe(s) from the eNB and the UL transmissions from UEs associated with the corresponding eNB scheduling operations to the UE. However, UL performance in unlicensed spectrum can be significantly degraded, essentially starving out or preventing UL transmissions within the same TxOP. The main cause of this UL starvation can be due to the double LBT requirements at both eNB when sending the UL grant and at the scheduled UEs before transmission, whereby complete or longer LBT processes (e.g., category 4 LBT protocols) are being conducted twice for the same TxOP, at least once completely by the eNB and once by the UE. This can be a problem when a scheduled system (e.g., LTE) coexists with a non-scheduled autonomous system (e.g., Wi-Fi). A cross- scheduling-TxOP (scheduling from one Tx-OP to within another, different Tx-OP) for UL scheduling between the eNB and UEs of a network can serve to address the UL starvation issue and increase UL transmission opportunities more efficiently, similar to and in conjunction with partial symbol transmission operations. Additional aspects and details of the disclosure are further described below with reference to figures.

[0021] FIG. 1 illustrates an example non-limiting wireless communications

environment 100 that can enable a partial symbol transmission with cross-TxOP scheduling, in which one or more UL grants on a DL subframe can schedule UL subframes in another TxOP that is outside of the TxOP for the UL grants (e.g., a subsequent TxOP, a following TxOP, or a TxOP other than the DL subframes with UL grants). More particularly, a partial symbol transmission can be derived from the generation of time-domain repeated symbols through an interleaved subcarrier mapping. A symbol blanking can further be performed for a first replica of a symbol (e.g., an OFDMA symbol). The symbol blanking can then be utilized to generate an LBT gap for the UE to access the channel in UL access, or to enable a DL-to-UL switching / UL-to-DL switching, in which the UE or other network device switches from reception to transmission by a DL-to-UL operations, or vice versa.

[0022] Wireless communications environment 100 can include one or more cellular broadcast servers or macro cell network devices 102, 104 (e.g., base stations, eNBs, access points (APs) or the like) as well as one or more other network devices such as small cell network devices or APs (e.g., small eNBs, micro-eNBs, pico-eNBs, femto- eNBs, home eNBs (HeNBs), or Wi-Fi nodes) 106, 1 08 deployed within the wireless communications environment 100 and servicing one or more UE devices 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 1 6, 1 18 for wireless communications. Each wireless communications network (e.g., cellular broadcast servers 102, 104 and small cell network devices 106, 1 08) can comprise one or more network devices (e.g., a set of network devices (NDs)) that operate in conjunction in order to process network traffic for the one or more wireless / mobile devices or UE devices 1 1 0, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, or 1 18. For example, macro cell NDs 102, 104 can comprise a set of network devices that are cellular enabled network devices. In another example, the small cell network devices 106, 1 08 can include a set of network devices that operate with a smaller coverage zone than the macro cell network devices 1 02 and 102, for example, or control similar coverage zones as the macro cell devices. As one of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate, this disclosure is not limited to any one network environment architecture / deployment.

[0023] Although NDs 106 and 108 are described as small cell network devices, they can also be Wi-Fi enabled devices or wireless local area network (WLAN) devices, as well as macro cell network devices, small cell network devices, or some other type of ND operable as a base station, eNB, or secondary cell network device for example. Alternatively, one or more of the macro cell NDs 102 and 1 04 could be small cell network devices or other NDs of a different radio access technology (RAT) that operate with different frequency carriers, for example.

[0024] As illustrated, each of the one or more Wi-Fi access points 106, 1 08, for example, can have a corresponding service area 1 20, 122. Additionally, each of the one or more cellular broadcast servers or macro cell NDs 102, 104 can have a

corresponding service area 124, 126. However, it should be understood that the wireless communications environment 100 is not limited to this implementation. For example, any number of APs or NDs with respective service areas can be deployed within the wireless communications environment 100. Further, any number of cellular broadcast servers and respective service areas can be deployed within the wireless communications environment 100 as well.

[0025] Although only five UE devices 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 1 6, 1 18 are illustrated, any number of UE devices can be deployed within the wireless communications

environment 100 as well. A UE device can contain some or all of the functionality of a system, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, mobile, wireless terminal, network device, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, access terminal, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication device, wireless communication apparatus, user agent, user device, or other ND, for example.

[0026] In an example scenario, UE devices 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, 1 18 can be serviced by networks through one of the macro cell NDs 102, 104, or small cell NDs 106, 108. As a UE device moves within the wireless communications environment 100, the respective user equipment device could move in and out of the coverage area of the associated serving network. For example, as a user is sending / receiving

communications through their respective UE device, the user might be walking, riding in a car, riding on a train, moving around a densely populated urban area (e.g., a large city), wherein the movement could cause the mobile device to be moved between various wireless communication networks. In such cases, it can be beneficial for the UE to route the network traffic (e.g., handoff) from a serving ND to a target ND in order to continue the communication (e.g., avoid dropped calls) or facilitate offloading for load distribution or other efficiency purposes, such as via LAA to unlicensed bands.

[0027] Cellular broadcast servers or macro cell NDs 102, 104 and small cell NDs 106, 108 can operate to monitor their surrounding radio conditions (e.g., by employing respective measurement components). For example, each of the macro cell NDs 102, 104 and small cell NDs 106, 108 can determine network traffic load on its respective network by performing a network diagnostic process. As an example, during a network listen procedure, such as a listen before talk (LBT) protocol / procedure macro cell NDs 102, 104, small cell NDs 106, 108 or UE devices 1 10, 1 1 2, 1 14, 1 16, 1 18 can scan their radio environment to determine network performance statistics or network parameters (e.g., frequency, SNR, signal quality, QoS, QoE, load, congestion, signal rate, etc.). Various parameters associated with macro cell NDs 102, 104, small cell NDs 106, 108, or UE devices 1 10, 1 12, 1 14, 1 16, 1 18 can be detected during the network diagnostic or LBT procedure or measurements, such as, but not limited to, frequency bands, scrambling codes, common channel pilot power, bandwidth across respective networks, universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access receive signal strength indicator, as well as frequency carrier priorities for particular cell groups (e.g., a normal group or a reduced group) and so on. As referred to herein, a category 4 LBT protocol / procedure can be longer than a single interval LBT or just a clear channel assessment, and further include a back-off operation or procedure. For example, the category 4 LBT protocol can further include a random back-off procedure (e.g., an exponential random back-off procedure) as opposed to a clear channel assessment alone that can comprise a single interval LBT (or short Cat 4 LBT) operation whereby a puncturing of the first symbol of PUSCH transmission occurs as part of the channel assessment to determine a busy channel or an idle / available channel / band.

[0028] However, providing UL grants from the eNB 1 02 to a UE 1 16 for scheduling UL transmissions as part of a traffic flow on an unlicensed / licensed channel within the TxOP can currently degrade UL access, especially where a double LBT protocol occurs with a category 4 LBT protocol at both the eNB and the UE, resources can be squandered, or transmission opportunities missed. By enabling partial symbol transmission for UL transmission to be scheduled in an outside TxOP from UL grants of a different TxOP, or within the same TxOP, the UL transmissions can be enabled earlier and more efficient, resources can be further guaranteed / ensured and scheduling operations made more efficient with the available resources.

[0029] In an aspect, the UE 1 10 can operate to receive / process a DL transmission from the eNB (e.g., ND 102), in which the DL transmission comprises a partial symbol with a partial symbol duration that less than a normal symbol duration. For example, a normal symbol duration can be about 66 microseconds, or other duration that is set for a symbol duration. A partial symbol duration can be half of this duration (e.g., about 33 microseconds) or less than either a standard duration or other symbol duration scheduled for transmission. The partial symbol can then be utilized to derive a UL LBT gap by which to perform an LBT operation such as a single interval LBT that is shorter than a CAT 4 LBT. The partial symbol then enables the generation of the UL

transmission, including a PUSCH or PUCCH, which can be generated with a single interval LBT as well as in a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol (e.g., in DFTS-OFDM symbol # 0, or the partial symbol thereof).

[0030] In another aspect, the partial symbol can be utilized to generate a UL-to-DL switching, vice-versa in a DL-to-UL switching, or both. For example, UL-to-DL switching can include the time period between transmitting in UL to receiving in DL

communication, and DL-to-UL switching can be the time between receiving DL transmission(s) to transmitting in UL transmission. At the end of the UL resource it is possible to switch back to the DL operations in a network device. In such a scenario, the eNB (e.g., 102) for DL-UL switching, switches its RF circuitry from the transmission mode to the reception mode, and then also the UE needs to do the inverse operations from reception mode to transmission mode. This basically requires the RF turn-around time from the Tx mode to the Rx mode, and can also include a circuitry stabilization time. In one example, about 20 microseconds can be designated for any one switching time including the stabilization. As such, blanking of a remainder of a partial symbol can be utilized for UL-to-DL / DL-to-UL switching purposes, in addition to or alternatively to deriving an UL LBT gap for a single interval LBT operation.

[0031] Referring to FIG. 2, illustrated are examples of multi-user (multi-UE) signaling with cross-TxOP scheduling transmissions with a TxOP or MCOT 200. The LBT gap (e.g., 206, 208, 210, 212) created in UL subframes can start a transmission by a UE (e.g., 1 10) and allow multiplexing between different UEs (e.g., 1 10-1 18), if one UE is scheduled over multiple subframes, as shown in FIG. 2. As such, sharing of the obtained channel occupancy time, which is denoted as a Maximum Channel Occupancy Time or MCOT, can be enabled. The channel occupancy can be started by an initiating device (e.g., an eNB 102) performing a clear channel assessment (CCA) mechanism with prioritized and truncated exponential back-off, or a longer LBT operation (e.g., Category 4 LBT). A responding node (e.g., UE 214 or 1 10) can then proceed with transmissions without performing CCA if the gap is at most about 16 microseconds, for example or a certain duration. Otherwise, the responding node can perform a single interval CCA of 25 microseconds immediately before the granted transmission time (e.g., in an LBT gap 206-21 2) corresponding to each UE (e.g., UE1 , UE2, UE3).

[0032] Each gap (206-21 2) for a single interval CCA can be created with a blanking duration in a DL transmission. The DL scheduling subframe, which can be for a PDCCH or other physical channel, for example, can transmit a partial symbol that is less than a normal symbol and blank the remainder for a generation of the LBT gap for a single interval LBT by a corresponding UE. Blanking can be referred to as a portion of subframe or symbol duration where there is no information being transmitted during a particular interval (e.g., a half of a symbol duration or less). The difference from puncturing can be in a symbol range matching, where the transmission duration is being used. From the encoder perspective, it performs the time first mapping for the UL and maps the symbols as if its occupying the whole one subframe duration, but actually if there is no transmission of some part of the subframe it means that there is not data being transmitted; although when there is something that is supposed to be transmitted this is puncturing, in which a transmission bit can be lost. A symbol range matching, however, can be performed so a a shorter duration of the time that is intended to transmit can be utilized, and then there is no loss of any information by having a reduced duration transmission.

[0033] In another embodiment, the DL transmission can be created with the gap (e.g., gap 206-212) to enable DL-to-UL switching, or UL-to-DL switching. To facilitate the DL-to-UL switching in LTE TDD system, a special subframe can be introduced, which includes Downlink Pilot Time Slot (DwPTS), Guard Period (GP), and Uplink Pilot Time Slot (UpPTS). GP can be a short-hand notation for guard period and it is as short as one OFDM symbol duration, and up to 10 OFDM symbol durations depending on the Time division duplex (TDD) subframe configuration.

[0034] Accordingly, the partial symbol transmission mechanism described herein can be generated with blanking, or a blanking duration that enable one or more gaps that are LBT gaps, DL-to-UL switching gaps, or UL-to-DL switching gaps. The partial symbol transmission is attractive in the sense that the blanking duration for LBT gap creation or GP can be actually less than one full symbol duration, and thereby, the remaining partial symbol duration can be utilized for useful data transmission. Another advantage especially for LBT gap creation is that it can reduce the chance that a medium is taken away by other neighboring nodes by reducing the blanking duration.

[0035] In another embodiment, when multiple users are scheduled across subframes within a TxOP (e.g., of MCOT 8 ms), it can be advantageous for the scheduled UEs (e.g., 1 10-1 18) to generate the start of the UL burst transmission 214 with respect to the UL grant semi-statically or dynamically, in which the UL transmission can be scheduled outside of the TxOP (or MCOT 200). The UL transmission 214 can be allowed / enabled to begin at the start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 0 without an LBT, or with a gap of 25 microseconds before PUSCH transmission to allow a single interval LBT in the first DFTS-OFDM symbol, for example. Whether the PUSCH transmission occurs at the start of DFTM-OFDM symbol 0 or with a gap of at-least 25 microseconds can be dynamically indicated to the UE via a UL grant, for example.

[0036] In one example, a UL transmission (e.g., UL 214 for UE 1 , the other UL transmission for UE1 / UE2 / UE3, or other transmission) can begin at a start of DFTS- OFDM symbol 1 , which means one entire symbol (OFDM symbol zero) could be zeroed, or blanked, and transmission can begin at symbol one. This duration for example can be the 66 microsecond duration described above and can fail to utilize a lot of wasted time. As such, a range matching can be performed of the PUSCH DFT into a reduced subframe duration, so the number of bits that can be transmitted in this subframe would be reduced by this one symbol duration of time and not lost.

[0037] In another example, the start of the UL transmission can be enabled / granted to be at about 25 microseconds after a start of DFTS-OFDM symbol zero (DFTS-OFDM symbol # 0). Thus, DFTS-OFDM symbol zero is the start and after 25 microseconds from there transmission can occur, in which the 25 microseconds can be the LBT gap for LBT. In one aspect, this can be conveyed or enabled by a partial symbol

transmission, so that a partial symbol is translated and a blanking operation enables a remainder of the symbol to be a gap that enables / triggers an LBT, or switching operation to be generated at the UE.

[0038] In another aspect, a copy or replica of the symbol for the rest of the symbol duration 0 (DFTS-OFDM symbol # 0) could be transmitted as the extended cyclic prefix (CP) of symbol one, so the symbol is extended with the symbol one CP to fill in the empty time here. This can serve the intention of blocking the channel so that no neighboring node (or UE) can sense the channel to be idle and potentially collide transmission. This aspect can include an extension of the CP of symbol one 1 so that it delivers no additional information or zero information is additionally transmitted.

[0039] In another aspect, the start of the UL transmission can be enabled / granted to be at about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after a start of DFTS- OFDM symbol 0. Each user (e.g., UE 1 -3) can have a different TA value depending on its location and the distance to the eNB (e.g., 102). As such, an advantage to the multiple users transmitting after 25 microseconds of the symbol zero plus a TA is that UEs can be aligned and each user does not have a different TA or timing reference potentially causing the 25 microsecond LBT gap to be misaligned between the users. By adding a particular / set TA value to the 25 microseconds, this compensates for different TA values sent to each user, and thereby cancelling the different TA values and replacing them with the new TA value uniformly across different UEs. From the system perspective all the UEs 25 microsecond gap and the start point of the

transmission can then become better aligned.

[0040] Techniques to indicate / signal a start of a UL transmission form the eNB 102, for example, to a UE (e.g., UE 1 10, or UEs 1 -3) can be semi-static in the signalling of the indication. For example, where the UE starts a PUSCH transmission (or other UL transmission) can be in a system information block (SIB) message, or in a non-radio resource control (RRC) message, such as a SIB message. In another example, the starting position can be signalled in the RRC configuration such as media access control (MAC) control element (CE) (MAC CE). Additionally or alternatively, the TA value itself can be indicated dynamically (not pre-configured, and at the discretion of the eNB based on one or more network conditions / parameters) in the downlink control information (DCI) or the SIB.

[0041] In another embodiment, the eNB 1 02, for example, can signal the start of a UL transmission dynamically. For example, two bits in DCI format OA / 4A / 0B / 4B (UL grant format defined for the eLAA system) can indicate whether UE should use option 1 , option 2 or option 3 for transmission PUSCH when UE needs to perform single interval LBT. These options were discussed above, in which option 1 can indicate a start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 1 , option 2 can indicate the start to be about 25 microseconds after the start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 0, and 25 microseconds in addition to / plus the TA value after start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 0, for example.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 3, illustrated is an example system as part of, or

communicatively coupled to, components of network devices discussed herein for partial symbol transmission, in which a partial symbol (e.g., an OFDM symbol) is less than one symbol in duration. An example system 300 can be a part of or operatively coupled to an eNB (e.g., 102), a UE (e.g., 1 1 0) or other network device. Embodiments of the system 300 provide the means or components to generate time-domain repeated symbols, having a duration (e.g., a half-symbol duration, or other fraction) that is less than a regular symbol, in one regular, full symbol duration. The regular symbol duration can be a longer duration than the partial symbol, and could be transmitted / processed in a same transmission burst or a different transmission burst as the partial symbol transmission. Various embodiments are described in association with a repetition factor that equals two (indicating two repeated symbols), but embodiments are not limited by this number and can be two or greater, for example. Thus, the embodiments herein could include higher repetition factors as well.

[0043] The system 300 can embody a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) transmitter, for example, or another type transmitter as well. The system 300 can include an encoder 302 coupled to a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) component 304 connected to a serial-to-parallel (S/P) conversion component 306, which is further coupled to a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) component 314 (e.g., N R_E / 2 - point DFT). The DFT component 314 is coupled to an interleaved sub- carrier mapping component 316 and an M point mapped inverse fast Fourier transform (M-IFFT) component 318. A parallel-to-serial conversion component 320 receives the output of the M-IFFT component 318 and generates a serial output to a post-processing / pulse shaping component 322 for generating transmissions with symbols, which can be based on one or more partial symbol transmissions, through a digital-to-analog (DAC) / radio frequency (RF) transmitter / receiver 324.

[0044] A UE 1 10 can use orthogonal codes (e.g., Zadoff-Chu sequences) to transmit on the same resources (e.g., scheduling resources, grants, bandwidth, physical resource blocks (PRBs), or the like). The encoder 302 can encode signals based on these resources. QAM symbols can be generated by the QAM modulator component 304, which can be spread symbols using a number of orthogonal codes. The serial-to- parallel conversion at the S/P component 306 generates parallel signal streams, which are directly mapped to M point DFTs at the DFT component 314. These DFTs are further mapped to certain PRBs assigned by the eNB 102, and these operations are then followed by subcarrier mapping 31 6 to N point to IFFT by the IFFT component 318. The subcarrier mapping component 316 can map the DFT-spread symbols to PRBs across a channel bandwidth, for example.

[0045] In the DFT component of FIG. 3, N_RE can represent the number of resource elements (REs) assigned to the UE (e.g., UE 1 10, one of UE1 -3, or other UEs). An RE can represent a smallest unit of resource that can be allocated to a user or UE (e.g., 180 KHz wide) that can be covered by one subcarrier and one symbol period. In the example of an LTE system with 20 MHz bandwidth (BW), the total number of REs can be 1 ,200. In an interlaced resource block (RB) assignment, or a physical resource block (PRB) assignment, an interlace can be the basic resource allocation unit, in which one interlace includes 10 RBs, and the number of REs in one interlace can be 120. [0046] Embodiments herein are not restricted to interlace based RB allocation alone and can be applied to any kind of resource allocation including single cluster, multi- cluster, interlaced RB allocation, or the like. In particular, a size of the input / output of the DFT component 314 can be N_RE / 2 for a partial symbol generation, in which the carried information is reduced by half as a partial symbol duration, with two as the divisor or some other positive integer as the divisor of N_RE. Other factors / divisors of reduction can also be envisioned, in which a partial symbol transmission is less than a full symbol duration.

[0047] In one embodiment at the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 31 6, the DFT output from the DFT component 314 can be mapped to the allocated / assigned REs in the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316. Referring briefly to FIG. 4 is a particular case of interlaced RB allocation, which can result from the operation of the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316. As stated above, an interlace can be the basic resource allocation unit, in which one interlace 400 includes 10 RBs 402, and the number of REs in one interlace can thus be about 120. However, as noted above, embodiments herein can be applicable more generally and not restricted to interlace based RB allocation alone. In the example of an interlaced RB allocation by the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316, zeros can be padded for RBs that are not assigned to the particular UE 1 10, for example. The symbol duration can be the inverse of the subcarrier spacing, and thus, by increasing the subcarrier spacing (e.g., doubling from the 15Khz to 30KHz), then the symbol duration is reduced (e.g., by half), which, for example, be about 33 microseconds from about 66 or 66.7 microseconds in a normal symbol duration.

[0048] The interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316 can also enable blanking operations to be performed so that in principle one of the reduced symbol durations (in the case of a half symbol duration symbol) can be muted or blanketed, while a different partial symbol duration is transmitted within 33 microseconds. As a result, room is provided as an empty 33 microsecond time gap for LBT, UL-to-DL switching, DL-to-UL switching, while one symbol is transmit as a replica symbol as a partial symbol transmission with a duration that is less than a larger, standard symbol. As such, from the subcarrier mapping a lessor number of subcarriers is utilized, so the information or number of information bits that we can carry in this scheme can also be reduced by half or the same amount also. [0049] Although in the LTE system the IFFT component 318 operates to generate the OFDM symbol(s) together with the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316, but in the case of uplink particularly it can be a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) operation. As such, embodiments and aspects described herein can be applicable to SC-FMD or OFDM systems, or any other multiple access operation for different UEs. As such, the IFFT component 318 can operate to map a symbol into the subcarrier through an IFFT point operation. In one embodiment, the IFFT component 31 8 can perform mapping operations at every other subcarrier, effectively doubling the subcarrier spacing so that in the time domain a reduced symbol can be enabled. The one symbol duration is now reduced by half, as an example, and so what is generated in the time domain is the replica of half symbol duration symbols. This is the same symbol appearing twice in the time domain within the symbol duration of the original subcarrier spacing.

[0050] FIG. 4 is an example of subcarrier mapping scheme within the interlace 400. For the enhanced LAA (eLAA) systems in particular, eLAA uses the so-called Block Interleaved RE assignment (BIRA) FMDA. Thus, in the eLAA system one interlace 400, for example, can be a basic resource allocation unit, wherein one interlace is in the 20 MHz system with 100 PRBs and one interlace is 10 PRBs. Each of the PRBs or RBs can be equally spaced at about 10 PRBs apart from each other so it is an interlaced kind of structure. Therefore, the RB 402 can be equally spaced in the frequency domain as one interlace 400. Zeros can be generated or used for blanking / blanketing for the REs that are not used by an intended UE, in which those REs the UE (e.g., UE 1 1 0) can map zeros at in the IFFT component 318. For the RBs that are assigned to the UE 1 10, for example, the UE 1 10 will map some information on the subcarriers assigned to these RBs 402, for example, that belong to the interlace 400.

[0051] Referring to FIG. 5, illustrates an example of an RE mapping 500 within one RB 402 in an interleaving / interleaved operation. Among one RB 402, for example, belonging to one interlace 400 a subcarrier mapping operation can be performed, where a zero and an information bit assignment is made in a repetitive sequence, zero and information bit assignment, zero, information bit assignment, etc., in sequence. Thus, off every other subcarrier is turned off or blanked / blanketed where a zero is present to generate alternating gaps.

[0052] An RE that is assigned to the UE, and not zeroed, can be represented by arrows Xi , X₂, X3, X_4, X5, and X_6, in which an RE can be referred to as or also represent a subcarrier. One RB or PRB 402 can comprise a grouping of 12 subcarriers, as represented by the 1 2 arrows of FIG. 5. Approximately 12 symbols can be mapped into each of the subcarriers, and in order to generate the half symbol duration symbol the mapping operations comprise mapping zero and information, zero and information, in an alternating manner. A zero assignment basically means turning off these subcarriers and assigning the information assignment in a partial-width subcarrier spacing manner. Thus, Xi , X₂, X3, X_4, X5, and X₆ represent the information symbols added to every other subcarrier.

[0053] In one embodiment, the symbols (OFDM symbols, or the like) can be mapped by the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316, for example, to the even numbered subcarriers, such as subcarrier zero, two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve.

Alternatively or additionally, the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 31 6 can map to odd numbered subcarriers (e.g., 1 , 3, 5, 7, 9). When the subcarriers are mapped to even numbered subcarriers, for example, then the output generated signal can be an exact replica of the original symbol or of two reduced symbols in the time domain.

However, if mapped to the odd number subcarriers, then the first replica symbol can have a reverse phase, and thus a reversal of the phase of the first symbol can be generated to transmit a part of it or the partial symbol. Thus, an additional operation, block or component (not shown) can be utilized to rotate a phase of the second repeated symbol or second replica, for example.

[0054] Referring to FIG. 6, illustrated is an example time domain transmission signal 600 in accordance with various aspects or embodiments, which can include 25 microsecond pruning and FFT windowing options to process / generate post processing of the allocated RBs for a partial symbol transmission processing by the post processing / pulse shaping component 322 of FIG. 3. In the post processing / pulse shaping component 322, symbol pruning can be performed for a desired amount of time. For example, pruning can be about 25 microseconds for the case of an UL LBT gap creation. In particular, the total duration of two repeated symbols can be approximately 66.67 microseconds, and thus, some portion of the first symbol, such as the front-end of the first symbol is pruned, blanketed, blanked, or zeroed, for example. The pruning can be done for 25 microseconds or for the desired amount (e.g., 25 με) plus an additional Timing Advance (TA) amount of time (e.g., 25 με + TA). In some embodiments, the blanking period can be extended up to around 33.335 microseconds, for example, without a loss of both throughput and error performance by leaving room for the first replica to operate or role as a Cyclic Prefix (CP) for at least about 5.2 microseconds, for example, as illustrated at 608.

[0055] The 25 microseconds can be used to provide a time gap to enable an LBT operation and ensure space for it. Then the remainder of the first replica 602 can be also used as the CP cyclic prefix of the second replica 604, in which the copy of the end portion of the symbol can be appended into the beginning of the next symbol replica as a redundancy. Thus, when the time multipath signal comes within a certain time, a circular convolution operation can be applied, for example, to recover the signal from the multipath signal. The way the partial symbols can be generated, which can involve two exact replicas of a normal symbol within a normal symbol duration, can be from cutting / pruning / blanking a front part.

[0056] In the example of Fig. 6, the transmitted partial portion 602 of the first symbol (partially being transmitted) can serve as the CP 602 for the second repeated symbol 604. With the role of the CP 602, the receiver can be robust with respect to the Inter- Symbol Interference (ISI), which can mean it is less susceptible to a fast Fourier Transform (FFT) window misalignment in time domain for processing / generating transmissions. The determination of FFT window can be implementation specific, in which FIG. 6 is only one example configuration of symbol transmissions.

[0057] In the receiver side (e.g., the UE 1 10), two possible choices for an FFT window or FFT windowing can be generated / processed (e.g., by the post processing / pulse shaping component 322 at the receiver, or other component). In one aspect, a reduced FFT window 610 can be used to capture only the second replica 604 of a symbol. In this case, the portion of the first symbol 602 that was pruned from the first symbol, which partially remains as 602, can serve as the CP 602 for the second replica 604. For the second replica 604, the reduced size FFT window can be applied for processing / generation by the post processing / pulse shaping component 322. In another aspect or a second option, the post processing / pulse shaping component 322 or other component can discard the portion of the first replica 602, make a copy of the second replica and append it to the front, which is further detailed below with reference to FIG. 7 in additional detail.

[0058] Referring to FIG. 7, illustrated is an example post-processing operation 700 generated by the post processing / pulse shaping component 322 in accordance with various aspects or embodiments being described. The mechanisms described in this disclosure can have a variety of use cases, including, but not limited to, the creation of the gap for UL LBT and creating a gap in UL subframe to facilitate the DL-UL switching with reduced GP overhead. For embodiments applied to UL-DL switching, the last symbol of the preceding UL subframe can be pruned using the mechanisms described in this disclosure. In this case, the symbol can be pruned from the end, rather than from the beginning.

[0059] For example, in a first (1 .) phase 702 of pruning operation there is essentially a blanketed / blanked / zeroing, which is similar to the first part of the first replica being pruned in FIG. 6. At a second phase (2.) 704, the remaining replica of part of the first replica serves as the CP of the second replica part. A multi path CP itself can by design be a buffer to such a multi path signal, and thus, why there is assumption that this part is "corrupted by channel" for such buffering to be assumed. A third phase (3.) of processing discards this end part in the receiver or UE.

[0060] As such, from the Rx side the second option of discarding the portion of the first replica 602, make a copy of the second replica and append it to the front is performed. This can be performed by generating the symbol whose length is equal to the original system symbol duration, instead of the reduced symbol duration. Then the symbols can be reconstructed so that this part is deleted from the first replica and then the second part of the symbol can be copied to the first part in a fourth phase (4.) 708. This will then result in the post processed symbol to be entered into the FFT block to be demodulated, and then in the decoder side it will remove the zeros that are mapped to every other subcarrier, extract the information mapped to every other subcarrier and discard the zeros mapped in between, as processed at a decoder component of a receiver circuitry at the UE, as one example.

[0061] Advantages of embodiments herein can include no additional

transmitter/receiver complexity, robustness to ISI and no performance loss expected for transport block size (TBS) decoding error performance compared to legacy operations. In addition, a symbol can be exploited to half of its original capacity. The efficiency loss over one subframe can be minimal (e.g., about 3.5%) compared to a full subframe transmission for example.

[0062] In other embodiments, as described above in general, the UL transmission can be enabled to begin / initiate at the start of an OFDM symbol zero (e.g., a Discrete Fourier Transformation Spread (DFTS)- OFDM symbol 0) without LBT, or with a gap of 25 microseconds (με) before an UL transmission (e.g., a PUSCH or other physical channel) to allow a single interval LBT in the first DFTS-OFDM symbol. Whether the PUSCH transmission occurs at the start of DFTM-OFDM symbol 0 or with a gap of at- least 25 με can be dynamically indicated to the UE via or by a UL grant.

[0063] When UE 1 10, for example, is expected to start with a gap of 25 με, transmission on UL can be allowed to start at the following times in a UL subframe: option 1 : start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 1 ; option 2: 25 microseconds after start of DFTS- OFDM symbol 0; or option 3: 25 microseconds + TA value after start of DFTS-OFDM symbol 0.

[0064] In some embodiments, the process to indicate / enable the start of a UL transmission can be semi-static. In second example, 2 bits in an SIB can indicate that UE should use option 1 , option 2 or option 3 for UL transmission (e.g., PUSCH) when the UE performs a single interval LBT, such as when the eNB 102 has performed a CAT 4 LBT beforehand or in a prior TxOP. In a second example, a radio resource control (RRC) configuration can indicate to the UE whether to use option 1 , option 2 or option 3 for transmission when the UE 1 10 is enabled to perform a single interval LBT. In a third example, the value of the TA can be indicated dynamically via a DCI or an SIB.

[0065] In other embodiments, the start of a UL transmission can be indicated dynamically. For example, 2 bits in DCI format OA / 4A / 0B / 4B (e.g., in a UL grant) can indicate to the UE 1 1 0 whether the UE 1 10 should use option 1 , option 2 or option 3 for UL transmission (e.g., PUSCH transmission) when the UE is enabled to perform a single interval LBT.

[0066] The choice of different options at the eNB 102 can be a design choice during network operation. Option 1 (initiating transmission at the start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol 1 ) can be a simpler option from the UE implementation perspective as the UE 1 10, for example, simply blanks / prunes the first symbol before PUSCH symbol mapping. With option 1 , other incumbent transmitters can grab the channel in the remaining duration of the first Discrete Fourier Transformation Modulated (DFTM)- OFDM symbol, even if the UE has completed LBT for 25 με and thus deteriorating the UL performance. Option 2 or option 3 can also be helpful to improve UL performance by reducing the blanking duration, and thus helping UE to access the channel with higher probability than option 1 .

[0067] Option 2 and 3, for example, can have a stricter timing constraint at the UE 1 10 compared to option 1 . Specifically, if a UE 1 10 is scheduled to perform LBT between two consecutive UL subframes, the UE should be capable to perform Tx -> Rx and Rx^Tx switching within 25 με. This requirement can be stricter compared to the legacy LTE. Additional scheduling constraints at the eNB 1 02 can still enable option 2 or option 3 even if it cannot be guaranteed that associated UEs are able to perform switching within 25us.

[0068] While the methods described within this disclosure are illustrated in and described herein as a series of acts or events, it will be appreciated that the illustrated ordering of such acts or events are not to be interpreted in a limiting sense. For example, some acts may occur in different orders and/or concurrently with other acts or events apart from those illustrated and/or described herein. In addition, not all illustrated acts may be required to implement one or more aspects or embodiments of the description herein. Further, one or more of the acts depicted herein may be carried out in one or more separate acts and/or phases.

[0069] Referring to FIG. 8, illustrated is an example process flow for transmitting a partial symbol that is less than a symbol duration, and enabling a gap as an LBT gap, or a switching gap.

[0070] At 802, one or more processing components operate to process at a UE 1 10 (or generate at an eNB 102) a DL transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol. At 804, a UL transmission can be generated or enabled based on the partial symbol of the DL transmission.

[0071] The UE 1 1 0, for example, can generate a determination of whether an unlicensed band is idle before transmitting with a physical UL shared channel

("PUSCH") or a physical UL control channel ("PUCCH"). In response to the unlicensed band being idle, generate the UL transmission as a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission based on the DL transmission and during a PUSCH / PUCCH scheduling. A single interval LBT operation can be performed to generate the UL transmission that is within a transmission opportunity preceded by a regular Cat 4 LBT operation.

[0072] In some embodiments, a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe can be generated at a starting position that comprises a start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or at about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance ("TA") value after the another start of the DFTS- OFDM symbol zero. The TA value, for example, can be received from the eNB 1 02, for example, via a DCI or by a SIB. Alternatively or additionally, an indication of the starting position can be received from two bits in a DCI format OA / 4A / 0B / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission. Alternatively or additionally, the indication of a start can be from two or more bits in a SIB, or an RRC configuration. [0073] In another embodiment, a gap can be received or derived that is associated with at least one of: a UL LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol. A switching operation from UL

transmission to DL reception, vice versa, or a single interval LBT can thus be generated in correspondence with the gap. For example, a single interval LBT in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero of a UL subframe within a transmit opportunity preceded by a regular Cat 4 LBT operation can be performed with the gap. A PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission can then be performed in the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol after performing the single LBT.

[0074] As part of processing or generating the partial symbol transmission, a discrete Fourier transform ("DFT") of size NRE / K over one or more input modulated symbols can be performed (e.g., via the DFT component 314), wherein N_RE comprises a number of assigned resource elements ("REs") and K is a positive integer that is at least two. Further, a DFT output can then be mapped by the interleaved subcarrier mapping component 316 to assigned REs and a padding / zeroing / blanking can be done in the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more PRBs not assigned to the UE 1 10, for example. The DFT output can be mapped, for example, by generating an

interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs. The every other RE can comprise even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs, for example.

[0075] As part of processing or generating partial symbol transmissions, a pruning can be performed with a DFTS-OFDM symbol within a duration that is based on a gap that is associated with at least one of: an UL LBT gap for performing an LBT operation, a TA, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation. A PUSCH transmission as the UL transmission, for example, can be processed or generated in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced FFT window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero. Then a portion of the DFTS- OFDM symbol zero can be utilized to provide a cyclic prefix to the second replica as one option, or this portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero can be discarded and a copy of the second replica can be appended to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[0076] Embodiments described herein can be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 9 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a network device such as an eNB, a User Equipment (UE), or other similar network device 900. In some embodiments, the network device 900 can include application circuitry 902, baseband circuitry 904, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 908 and one or more antennas 910, coupled together at least as shown.

[0077] The application circuitry 902 can include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 902 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) can include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors can be coupled with and/or can include memory/storage and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system.

[0078] The baseband circuitry 904 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 904 can include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906. Baseband processing circuity 904 can interface with the application circuitry 902 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 906. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 can include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 904a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 904b, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 904c, and/or other baseband processor(s) 904d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 904 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 904a-d) can handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 906. The radio control functions can include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 904 can include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping / demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 904 can include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and can include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0079] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 can include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 904e of the baseband circuitry 904 can be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry can include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 904f. The audio DSP(s) 904f can be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and can include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry can be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 904 and the application circuitry 902 can be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0080] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 can provide for

communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 can support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 904 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol can be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0081] RF circuitry 906 can enable communication with wireless networks

using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 906 can include a receive signal path which can include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 904. RF circuitry 906 can also include a transmit signal path which can include circuitry to up- convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 904 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 908 for transmission. [0082] In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 can include mixer circuitry 906a, amplifier circuitry 906b and filter circuitry 906c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906 can include filter circuitry 906c and mixer circuitry 906a. RF circuitry 906 can also include synthesizer circuitry 906d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path can be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 906d. The amplifier circuitry 906b can be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 906c can be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals can be provided to the baseband circuitry 904 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals can be zero- frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path can comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0083] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 906d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 908. The baseband signals can be provided by the baseband circuitry 904 and can be filtered by filter circuitry 906c. The filter circuitry 906c can include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0084] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906a of the transmit signal path can include two or more mixers and can be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906a of the transmit signal path can include two or more mixers and can be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906a can be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906a of the transmit signal path can be configured for super-heterodyne operation. [0085] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals can be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals can be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 can include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 904 can include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 906.

[0086] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry can be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the

embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0087] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906d can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers can be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 906d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0088] The synthesizer circuitry 906d can be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906a of the RF circuitry 906 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906d can be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

[0089] In some embodiments, frequency input can be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input can be provided by either the baseband circuitry 904 or the applications processor 902 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 902.

[0090] Synthesizer circuitry 906d of the RF circuitry 906 can include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider can be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator can be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD can be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL can include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip- flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements can be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0091] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 906d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be a LO frequency (f_Lo)- In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 can include an IQ/polar converter.

[0092] FEM circuitry 908 can include a receive signal path which can include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 910, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 906 for further processing. FEM circuitry 908 can also include a transmit signal path which can include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 910.

[0093] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 908 can include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry can include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 906). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 908 can include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 906), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 91 0.

[0094] In some embodiments, the device 900 can include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or an input/output (I/O) interface. In addition, the device 900 can include the components discussed herein to further generate or process partial symbol transmission via the generation of time- domain repeated symbols through interleaved subcarrier mapping. Components can further process or generate symbol blanking for the first replica of a symbol, the LBT gap for UL access in unlicensed operation (e.g., in MultiFire or other systems), or to facilitate / enable DL-UL, UL-DL switching. [0095] To provide further context for various aspects of the disclosed subject matter, FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of access (or user) equipment related to access of a network (e.g., network device, base station, wireless access point, femtocell access point, and so forth) that can enable and/or exploit features or aspects disclosed herein.

[0096] Access equipment (e.g., eNB, network entity, or the like), UE or software related to access of a network can receive and transmit signal(s) from and to wireless devices, wireless ports, wireless routers, etc. through segments 1002 1002_B (B is a positive integer). Segments 1002 1002_B can be internal and/or external to access equipment and/or software related to access of a network, and can be controlled by a monitor component 1004 and an antenna component 1006. Monitor component 1004 and antenna component 1006 can couple to communication platform 1008, which can include electronic components and associated circuitry that provide for processing and manipulation of received signal(s) and other signal(s) to be transmitted.

[0097] In an aspect, communication platform 1008 includes a receiver/transmitter 1010 that can convert analog signals to digital signals upon reception of the analog signals, and can convert digital signals to analog signals upon transmission. In addition, receiver/transmitter 1010 can divide a single data stream into multiple, parallel data streams, or perform the reciprocal operation. Coupled to receiver/transmitter 1010 can be a multiplexer / demultiplexer 1012 that can facilitate manipulation of signals in time and frequency space. Multiplexer / demultiplexer 1 012 can multiplex information (data/traffic and control/signaling) according to various multiplexing schemes such as time division multiplexing, frequency division multiplexing, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, code division multiplexing, space division multiplexing. In addition, multiplexer/ demultiplexer component 1012 can scramble and spread information (e.g., codes, according to substantially any code known in the art, such as Hadamard-Walsh codes, Baker codes, Kasami codes, polyphase codes, and so forth).

[0098] A modulator/demodulator 1014 is also a part of communication platform 1008, and can modulate information according to multiple modulation techniques, such as frequency modulation, amplitude modulation (e.g., M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation, with M a positive integer); phase-shift keying; and so forth).

[0099] Access equipment and/or software related to access of a network also includes a processor 1016 configured to confer, at least in part, functionality to substantially any electronic component in access equipment and/or software. In particular, processor 101 6 can facilitate configuration of access equipment and/or software through, for example, monitor component 1004, antenna component 1006, and one or more components therein. Additionally, access equipment and/or software can include display interface 101 8, which can display functions that control functionality of access equipment and/or software or reveal operation conditions thereof. In addition, display interface 101 8 can include a screen to convey information to an end user. In an aspect, display interface 1018 can be a liquid crystal display, a plasma panel, a monolithic thin-film based electrochromic display, and so on. Moreover, display interface 1018 can include a component (e.g., speaker) that facilitates communication of aural indicia, which can also be employed in connection with messages that convey operational instructions to an end user. Display interface 1018 can also facilitate data entry (e.g., through a linked keypad or through touch gestures), which can cause access equipment and/or software to receive external commands (e.g., restart operation).

[00100] Broadband network interface 1020 facilitates connection of access equipment and/or software to a service provider network (not shown) that can include one or more cellular technologies (e.g., third generation partnership project universal mobile telecommunication system, global system for mobile communication, and so on) through backhaul link(s) (not shown), which enable incoming and outgoing data flow. Broadband network interface 1 020 can be internal or external to access equipment and/or software and can utilize display interface 1018 for end-user interaction and status information delivery.

[00101 ] Processor 1016 can be functionally connected to communication platform 1008 and can facilitate operations on data (e.g., symbols, bits, or chips) for

multiplexing/demultiplexing, such as effecting direct and inverse fast Fourier transforms, selection of modulation rates, selection of data packet formats, inter-packet times, and so on. Moreover, processor 1016 can be functionally connected, through data, system, or an address bus 1022, to display interface 1018 and broadband network interface 1020, to confer, at least in part, functionality to each of such components.

[00102] In access equipment and/or software memory 1024 can retain location and/or coverage area (e.g., macro sector, identifier(s)) access list(s) that authorize access to wireless coverage through access equipment and/or software sector intelligence that can include ranking of coverage areas in the wireless environment of access equipment and/or software, radio link quality and strength associated therewith, or the like. Memory 1024 also can store data structures, code instructions and program modules, system or device information, code sequences for scrambling, spreading and pilot transmission, access point configuration, and so on. Processor 1016 can be coupled (e.g., through a memory bus), to memory 1024 in order to store and retrieve information used to operate and/or confer functionality to the components, platform, and interface that reside within access equipment and/or software.

[00103] In addition, the memory 1024 can comprise one or more machine-readable medium / media including instructions that, when performed by a machine or component herein cause the machine to perform acts of the method or of an apparatus or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to embodiments and examples described herein. It is to be understood that aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, functions can be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium (e.g., the memory described herein or other storage device). Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media or a computer readable storage device can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD- ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and/or non-transitory medium, that can be used to carry or store desired information or executable instructions. Also, any connection can also be termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.

[00104] As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware.

[00105] As it employed in the subject specification, the term "processor" can refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device including, but not limited to including, single-core processors; single-processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multithread execution capability; multi-core processors with hardware multithread technology;

parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributed shared memory. Additionally, a processor can refer to an integrated circuit, an application specific integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic controller, a complex programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions and/or processes described herein. Processors can exploit nano-scale architectures such as, but not limited to, molecular and quantum-dot based transistors, switches and gates, in order to optimize space usage or enhance performance of mobile devices. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units.

[00106] In the subject specification, terms such as "store," "data store," data storage," "database," and substantially any other information storage component relevant to operation and functionality of a component and/or process, refer to "memory

components," or entities embodied in a "memory," or components including the memory. It is noted that the memory components described herein can be either volatile memory or nonvolatile memory, or can include both volatile and nonvolatile memory.

[00107] By way of illustration, and not limitation, nonvolatile memory, for example, can be included in a memory, non-volatile memory (see below), disk storage (see below), and memory storage (see below). Further, nonvolatile memory can be included in read only memory, programmable read only memory, electrically programmable read only memory, electrically erasable programmable read only memory, or flash memory.

Volatile memory can include random access memory, which acts as external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, random access memory is available in many forms such as synchronous random access memory, dynamic random access memory, synchronous dynamic random access memory, double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory, enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory, Synchlink dynamic random access memory, and direct Rambus random access memory. Additionally, the disclosed memory components of systems or methods herein are intended to include, without being limited to including, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[00108] Examples can include subject matter such as a method, means for performing acts or blocks of the method, at least one machine-readable medium including instructions that, when performed by a machine cause the machine to perform acts of the method or of an apparatus or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to embodiments and examples described herein.

[00109] Example 1 is an apparatus configured to be employed in a user equipment (UE) comprising: one or more processors configured to: process a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol; generate an uplink (UL) transmission based on the partial symbol of the DL

transmission; and a radio frequency communication interface, coupled to the one or more processors, configured to receive or transmit the DL transmission or the UL transmission.

[00110] Example 2 includes the subject matter of Example 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine whether an unlicensed band is idle before transmitting with a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical UL control channel (PUCCH); and in response to the unlicensed band being idle, generate the UL transmission as a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission based on the DL transmission and during a PUSCH / PUCCH scheduling.

[00111 ] Example 3 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -2, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: generate the UL transmission by performing a single interval listen before talk (LBT) operation within a transmission opportunity preceded by a regular Category 4 LBT operation.

[00112] Example 4 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -3, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: generate a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe at a starting position that comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[001 13] Example 5 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -4, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the TA value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB).

[001 14] Example 6 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -5, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive an indication of the starting position from two bits in a DCI format OA / 4A / 0B / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, wherein the UL transmission comprises a PUSCH transmission with a single interval LBT operation.

[001 15] Example 7 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -6, including or omitting any elements as optional,, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive the starting position corresponding to the UL transmission start of the UL transmission in the DL transmission from at least one of: two or more bits in a SIB, or a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, wherein the UL transmission comprises a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission with a single interval LBT operation.

[001 16] Example 8 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -7, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: derive a gap associated with at least one of: a UL LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol.

[001 17] Example 9 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -8, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: perform a single interval LBT in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero of a UL subframe within a transmit opportunity preceded by a regular Category 4 LBT operation, wherein the UL transmission includes at least one of: a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission, wherein the PUSCH transmission is performed in the DFTS- OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol after performing the single LBT.

[001 18] Example 10 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -9, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: perform a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of size NRE / K over one or more input modulated symbols, wherein N_RE comprises a number of assigned resource elements (REs) and K is a positive integer that is at least two. [00119] Example 1 1 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -10, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: map a DFT output to assigned REs and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) not assigned to the UE.

[00120] Example 12 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -1 1 , including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: map the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

[00121 ] Example 13 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -12, including or omitting any elements as optional,, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: prune a DFTS-OFDM symbol within a duration that is based on a gap that is associated with an UL LBT gap for performing an LBT operation, a TA, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

[00122] Example 14 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 -3, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: generate a PUSCH transmission as the UL transmission in a DFTS- OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero; and utilize a portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero to provide a cyclic prefix (CP) to the second replica, or discard the portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero and append a copy of the second replica to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00123] Example 15 is an apparatus configured to be employed in an evolved NodeB (eNB) comprising: one or more processors configured to: generate a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol duration; and a communication interface, coupled to the one or more processors, configured to transmit the DL transmission to enable a communication.

[00124] Example 16 includes the subject matter of Example 15, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: generate a timing advance (TA) value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB); communicate an indication of a starting position with a DCI format OA / 4A / 0B / 4B of an uplink (UL) grant of the DL transmission, with the SIB, or with a radio resource control (RRC); and perform a regular Category 4 listen before talk (LBT) operation before transmitting the DL transmission; wherein the starting position comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus the TA value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00125] Example 17 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 5-16, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the partial symbol enables a gap to be derived that is associated with at least one of: a UL LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

[00126] Example 18 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 15-17, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: map a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output to assigned resource elements (REs) and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) that are unassigned to a user equipment (UE).

[00127] Example 19 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 5-18, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: map the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

[00128] Example 20 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 1 5-19, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: receive a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission at a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol; and utilize a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00129] Example 21 is a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to perform operations, comprising: processing a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol; and generating an uplink (UL) transmission based on the DL transmission.

[00130] Example 22 includes the subject matter of Example 21 , including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe at a starting position that comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS- OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, wherein the starting position is indicated in a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, a system information block (SIB), or a radio resource control (RRC).

[00131 ] Example 23 includes the subject matter of Examples 21 -22, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: deriving a gap associated with at least one of: a UL listen before talk (LBT) gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol.

[00132] Example 24 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 21 -23, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other resource element (RE) of assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd- indexed REs.

[00133] Example 25 includes the subject matter of Examples 21 -24, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission as the UL transmission in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced FFT window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero; and utilizing a portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero to provide a cyclic prefix (CP) to the second replica, or discard the portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero and append a copy of the second replica to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00134] Example 26 is a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more processors of an evolved NodeB (eNB) to perform operations, comprising: generating a downlink (DL)

transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol duration; and transmitting the DL transmission to enable a communication.

[00135] Example 27 includes the subject matter of Example 26, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a timing advance (TA) value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB); communicating an indication of a starting position with a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, with the SIB, or with a radio resource control (RRC); and performing a regular Category 4 listen before talk (LBT) operation before transmitting the DL transmission; wherein the starting position comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS- OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus the TA value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00136] Example 28 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 26-27, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the partial symbol enables a gap to be derived that is associated with at least one of: an uplink (UL) LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

[00137] Example 29 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 26-28, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output to assigned resource elements (REs) and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) that are unassigned to a user equipment (UE).

[00138] Example 30 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 26-29, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: mapping the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

[00139] Example 31 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 26-30, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission at a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol; and utilizing a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00140] Example 32 is an apparatus of an evolved NodeB (eNB), comprising: means for generating a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol duration; and means for transmit the DL transmission to enable a communication.

[00141 ] Example 33 includes the subject matter of Example 32, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for generating a timing advance (TA) value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB); means for communicating an indication of a starting position with a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, with the SIB, or with a radio resource control (RRC); and means for performing a regular Category 4 listen before talk (LBT) operation before transmitting the DL transmission; wherein the starting position comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus the TA value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00142] Example 34 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 32-33, including or omitting any elements as optional, wherein the partial symbol enables a gap to be derived that is associated with at least one of: an uplink (UL) LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

[00143] Example 35 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 32-34, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for mapping a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output to assigned resource elements (REs) and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) that are unassigned to a user equipment (UE).

[00144] Example 36 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 32-35, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for mapping the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

[00145] Example 37 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 32-36, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for receiving a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission at a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol; and means for utilizing a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00146] Example 38 is an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising: means for processing a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol; and means for generating an uplink (UL) transmission based on the DL transmission.

[00147] Example 39 includes the subject matter of Example 38, comprising: means for generating a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe at a starting position that comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, wherein the starting position is indicated in a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, a system information block (SIB), or a radio resource control (RRC).

[00148] Example 40 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 38-39, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for deriving a gap associated with at least one of: a UL listen before talk (LBT) gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol.

[00149] Example 41 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 38-40, including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for mapping a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other resource element (RE) of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

[00150] Example 42 includes the subject matter of any one of Examples 38-41 , including or omitting any elements as optional, further comprising: means for generating a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission as the UL transmission in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero; and means for utilizing a portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero to provide a cyclic prefix (CP) to the second replica, or discard the portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero and append a copy of the second replica to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

[00151 ] It is to be understood that aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, functions can be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media or a computer readable storage device can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD- ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and/or non-transitory medium, that can be used to carry or store desired information or executable instructions. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.

Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer- readable media.

[00152] Various illustrative logics, logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other

programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform functions described herein. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but, in the alternative, processor can be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least one processor can comprise one or more modules operable to perform one or more of the s and/or actions described herein.

[00153] For a software implementation, techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform functions described herein. Software codes can be stored in memory units and executed by processors. Memory unit can be implemented within processor or external to processor, in which case memory unit can be communicatively coupled to processor through various means as is known in the art. Further, at least one processor can include one or more modules operable to perform functions described herein.

[00154] Techniques described herein can be used for various wireless communication systems such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA1800, etc. UTRA includes Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and other variants of CDMA. Further, CDMA1800 covers IS-1800, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system can implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile

Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system can implement a radio technology such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.1 1 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.18, Flash-OFDML , etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a release of UMTS that uses E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on downlink and SC-FDMA on uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). Additionally, CDMA1 800 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). Further, such wireless communication systems can additionally include peer-to-peer (e.g., mobile-to-mobile) ad hoc network systems often using unpaired unlicensed spectrums, 802. xx wireless LAN, BLUETOOTH and any other short- or long- range, wireless communication techniques.

[00155] Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), which utilizes single carrier modulation and frequency domain equalization is a technique that can be utilized with the disclosed aspects. SC-FDMA has similar performance and essentially a similar overall complexity as those of OFDMA system. SC-FDMA signal has lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) because of its inherent single carrier structure. SC-FDMA can be utilized in uplink communications where lower PAPR can benefit a mobile terminal in terms of transmit power efficiency.

[00156] Moreover, various aspects or features described herein can be implemented as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques. The term "article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier, or media. For example, computer-readable media can include but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk, floppy disk, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROM, card, stick, key drive, etc.). Additionally, various storage media described herein can represent one or more devices and/or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" can include, without being limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing, and/or carrying instruction(s) and/or data. Additionally, a computer program product can include a computer readable medium having one or more instructions or codes operable to cause a computer to perform functions described herein.

[00157] Communications media embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as a modulated data signal, e.g., a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery or transport media. The term "modulated data signal" or signals refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

[00158] Further, the actions of a method or algorithm described in connection with aspects disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or a combination thereof. A software module can 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. An exemplary storage medium can be coupled to processor, such that processor can read information from, and write information to, storage medium. In the alternative, storage medium can be integral to processor. Further, in some aspects, processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. Additionally, ASIC can reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, processor and storage medium can reside as discrete components in a user terminal. Additionally, in some aspects, the s and/or actions of a method or algorithm can reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/or instructions on a machine-readable medium and/or computer readable medium, which can be incorporated into a computer program product.

[00159] The above description of illustrated embodiments of the subject disclosure, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible that are considered within the scope of such embodiments and examples, as those skilled in the relevant art can recognize.

[00160] In this regard, while the disclosed subject matter has been described in connection with various embodiments and corresponding Figures, where applicable, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments can be used or modifications and additions can be made to the described embodiments for performing the same, similar, alternative, or substitute function of the disclosed subject matter without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims below.

[00161 ] In particular regard to the various functions performed by the above described components (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), the terms (including a reference to a "means") used to describe such components are intended to correspond, unless otherwise indicated, to any component or structure which performs the specified function of the described component (e.g., that is functionally equivalent), even though not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure which performs the function in the herein illustrated exemplary implementations of the disclosure. In addition, while a particular feature may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus configured to be employed in a user equipment (UE) comprising: one or more processors configured to:

process a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol;

generate an uplink (UL) transmission based on the partial symbol of the DL transmission; and

a radio frequency communication interface, coupled to the one or more processors, configured to receive or transmit the DL transmission or the UL

transmission.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate a determination of whether an unlicensed band is idle before transmitting with a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or a physical UL control channel (PUCCH); and

in response to the unlicensed band being idle, generate the UL transmission as a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission based on the DL transmission and during a PUSCH / PUCCH scheduling.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate the UL transmission by performing a single interval listen before talk (LBT) operation within a transmission opportunity preceded by a regular category (Cat) 4 LBT operation.

4. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -3, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe at a starting position that comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive the TA value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB).

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive an indication of the starting position from two bits in a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, wherein the UL transmission comprises a PUSCH transmission with a single interval LBT operation.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive the starting position corresponding to the UL transmission start of the UL transmission in the DL transmission from at least one of: two or more bits in a system information block (SIB), or a radio resource control (RRC) configuration, wherein the UL transmission comprises a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission with a single interval LBT operation.

8. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -7, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

derive a gap associated with at least one of: a UL LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

perform a single interval LBT in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero of a UL subframe within a transmit opportunity preceded by a regular Cat 4 LBT operation, wherein the UL transmission includes at least one of: a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission, wherein the PUSCH transmission is performed in the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol after performing the single LBT.

10. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

perform a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) of size NRE / K over one or more input modulated symbols, wherein N_RE comprises a number of assigned resource elements (REs) and K is a positive integer that is at least two.

1 1 . The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -10, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

map a DFT output to assigned REs and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) not assigned to the UE.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

map the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs.

13. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

prune a DFTS-OFDM symbol within a duration that is based on a gap that is associated with an UL LBT gap for performing an LBT operation, a TA, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

14. The apparatus of any one of claims 1 -13, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate a PUSCH transmission as the UL transmission in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero; and

utilize a portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero to provide a cyclic prefix (CP) to the second replica, or discard the portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero and append a copy of the second replica to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

15. An apparatus configured to be employed in an evolved NodeB (eNB) comprising: one or more processors configured to:

generate a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol duration; and

a communication interface, coupled to the one or more processors, configured to transmit the DL transmission to enable a communication.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

generate a timing advance (TA) value via a downlink control information (DCI) or by a system information block (SIB);

communicate an indication of a starting position with a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, with the SIB, or with a radio resource control (RRC); and

perform a regular category Cat 4 listen before talk (LBT) operation before transmitting the DL transmission;

wherein the starting position comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25

microseconds plus the TA value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

17. The apparatus of any one of claims 15-16, wherein the partial symbol enables a gap to be derived that is associated with at least one of: a uplink (UL) LBT gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation.

18. The apparatus of any one of claims 15-17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

map a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output to assigned resource elements (REs) and padding the DFT output with one or more zeros to one or more physical resource blocks (PRBs) that are unassigned to a user equipment (UE).

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

map the DFT output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other RE of the assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd-indexed REs

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) transmission at a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol; and

utilize a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.

21 . A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to perform operations, comprising:

processing a downlink (DL) transmission comprising a partial symbol with a duration that is less than a symbol; and

generating an uplink (UL) transmission based on the DL transmission.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a start of the UL transmission in a UL subframe at a starting position that comprises a start of a discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFTS-OFDM) symbol one, about 25 microseconds after another start of a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, or about 25 microseconds plus a timing advance (TA) value after the another start of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero, wherein the starting position is indicated in a DCI format OA / 4A / OB / 4B of an uplink grant of the DL transmission, a system information block (SIB), or a radio resource control (RRC).

23. The computer-readable storage medium of any one of claims 21 -22, wherein the operations further comprise:

deriving a gap associated with at least one of: a UL listen before talk (LBT) gap, a DL to UL switching operation, or a UL to DL switching operation, from the partial symbol.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of any one of claims 21 -23, wherein the operations further comprise:

mapping a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) output by generating an interleaving operation that comprises mapping every other resource element (RE) of assigned REs to the DFT output and padding the one or more zeros between the every other RE of the assigned REs, wherein the every other RE comprises even-indexed REs or odd- indexed REs.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of any one of claims 21 -24, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) transmission as the UL transmission in a DFTS-OFDM symbol zero within the partial symbol to enable a reduced fast Fourier transform (FFT) window to capture a second replica of the DFTS- OFDM symbol zero; and

utilizing a portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero to provide a cyclic prefix (CP) to the second replica, or discard the portion of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero and append a copy of the second replica to a front of the DFTS-OFDM symbol zero.