WO2023211357A1

WO2023211357A1 - Carrier selection for single downlink control information scheduling multiple cells

Info

Publication number: WO2023211357A1
Application number: PCT/SE2023/050407
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ajit Nimbalker; Ravikiran Nory
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2022-04-29
Filing date: 2023-04-28
Publication date: 2023-11-02
Anticipated expiration: 2024-10-29
Also published as: AR129178A1

Abstract

A method (700) performed by a user equipment, UE (112), includes receiving (702), via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. The UE receives (704) a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, with a downlink control information, DCI. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

Description

CARRIER SELECTION FOR SINGLE DOWNLINK CONTROL INFORMATION

SCHEDULING MULTIPLE CELLS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates, in general, to wireless communications and, more particularly, systems and methods for carrier selection for single Downlink Control Information (DCI) scheduling multiple cells.

BACKGROUND

Carrier Aggregation (CA) is generally used in New Radio (NR) (5G) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) systems to improve user equipment (UE) transmit receive data rate. With CA, the UE typically operates initially on single serving cell called a primary cell (PCell). The PCell is operated on a component carrier in a frequency band. The UE is then configured by the network with one or more secondary serving cells (SCell(s)). Each SCell can correspond to a component carrier (CC) in the same frequency band (intra-band CA) or different frequency band (inter-band CA) from the frequency band of the CC corresponding to the PCell. For the UE to transmit/ receive data on the SCell(s) (e.g., by receiving Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) information on a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) or by transmitting Uplink Shared Channel (UL- SCH) on a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)), the SCell(s) need to be activated by the network. The SCell(s) can also be deactivated and later reactivated as needed via activation/deactivation signaling.

For NR CA, cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) has been specified using following framework:

1. UE has a PCell and can be configured with one or more secondary SCells.

2. For a given SCell with SCell index X: a. if the SCell is configured with a “scheduling cell” with cell index Y (CCS), i. SCell X is referred to as the “scheduled cell” ii. UE monitors downlink (DL) Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) on the scheduling cell Y for assignments/grants scheduling PDSCH/PUSCH corresponding to SCell X. iii. PDSCH/PUSCH corresponding to SCell X cannot be scheduled for the UE using a serving cell other than scheduling cell Y. b. Otherwise: i. SCell X is the scheduling cell for SCell X, which means samecarrier scheduling (SCC). ii. UE monitors DL PDCCH on SCell X for assignments/grants scheduling PDSCH/PUSCH corresponding to SCell X. iii. PDSCH/PUSCH corresponding to SCell X cannot be scheduled for the UE using a serving cell other than SCell X.

3. An SCell cannot be configured as a scheduling cell for the primary cell. The primary cell is always its own scheduling cell.

Dual Connectivity (DC) is generally used in NR (5G) and LTE systems to improve UE transmit receive data rate. With DC, the UE typically operates a master cell group (MCG) and a secondary cell group (SCG). Each cell group can have one or more serving cells. The MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure, is referred to as the PCell. The SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure is referred to as the primary SCG cell or PSCell.

The terms “primary cell” and “primary serving cell” can refer to PCell for a UE not configured with DC. The terms can also be used to refer to PCell of MCG or PSCell of SCG for a UE configured with DC.

In 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) NR standard, DCI is received over the PDCCH. The PDCCH may carry DCI in messages with different formats. DCI format 0 0 and 0 1 are DCI messages used to convey uplink grants to the UE for transmission of the PUSCH and DCI format 1 0 and 1 1 are used to convey downlink grants for transmission of the PDSCH. Other DCI formats (2_0, 2_1, 2_2 and 2 3) are used for other purposes such as transmission of slot format information, reserved resource, transmit power control information, etc.

A PDCCH candidate is searched within a common or UE-specific search space which is mapped to a set of time and frequency resources referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). The search spaces within which PDCCH candidates must be monitored are configured to the UE via radio resource control (RRC) signaling. A monitoring periodicity is also configured for different PDCCH candidates. In any particular slot the UE may be configured to monitor multiple PDCCH candidates in multiple search spaces which may be mapped to one or more CORESETs. PDCCH candidates may need to be monitored multiple times in a slot, once every slot, or once in multiple of slots.

The smallest unit used for defining CORESETs is a Resource Element Group (REG), which is defined as spanning 1 Physical Resource Block (PRB) x 1 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in frequency and time. Each REG contains demodulation reference signals (DM-RS) to aid in the estimation of the radio channel over which that REG was transmitted. When transmitting the PDCCH, a precoder could be used to apply weights at the transmit antennas based on some knowledge of the radio channel prior to transmission. It is possible to improve channel estimation performance at the UE by estimating the channel over multiple REGs that are proximate in time and frequency if the precoder used at the transmitter for the REGs is not different. To assist the UE with channel estimation, the multiple REGs can be grouped together to form a REG bundle, and the REG bundle size for a CORESET is indicated to the UE. The UE may assume that any precoder used for the transmission of the PDCCH is the same for all the REGs in the REG bundle. A REG bundle may consist of 2, 3 or 6 REGs.

A control channel element (CCE) consists of 6 REGs. The REGs within a CCE may either be contiguous or distributed in frequency. When the REGs are distributed in frequency, the CORESET is said to be using an interleaved mapping of REGs to a CCE and if the REGs are not distributed in frequency, a non-interleaved mapping is said to be used.

A PDCCH candidate may span 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 CCEs. The number of aggregated CCEs used is referred to as the aggregation level for the PDCCH candidate.

A hashing function is used to determine the CCEs corresponding to PDCCH candidates that a UE must monitor within a search space set. The hashing can be done differently for different UEs so that the CCEs used by the UEs are randomized and the probability of collisions between multiple UEs for which PDCCH messages are included in a CORESET is reduced.

For a search space set s associated with CORESET p, the CCE indexes for aggregation level L corresponding to PDCCH candidate

of the search space set in slot

for an active DL bandwidth part (BWP) of a serving cell corresponding to carrier indicator field value n_CI are given by:

where,

• for any C

• for a US 39827 for

pmod3 = 0 , A_p = 39829 for pmod3 = 1 , A_p = 39839 for pmod3 = 2 , and

D = 65537;

• i = 0, - , L - l; • _{CCE p} is the number of CCEs, numbered from 0 to N_{CCE p} — 1, in CORESET p and, if any, per RB set;

• n_cl is the carrier indicator field value if the UE is configured with a carrier indicator field by CrossCarrierSchedulingConflg for the serving cell on which PDCCH is monitored; otherwise, including for any CSS, n_cl = 0;

•

is the number of PDCCH candidates the UE is configured to monitor for aggregation level L of a search space set s for a serving cell corresponding to n_CI

• for any

• for a USS, M^_ax is the maximum

over all configured n_CI values for a CCE aggregation level L of search space set s ; and

• the RNTI value used for n_RNTI is the C-RNTI.

Blind decoding of potential PDCCH transmissions is attempted by the UE in each of the configured PDCCH candidates within a slot. The complexity incurred at the UE to do this depends on number of blind decoding attempts and the number of CCEs which need to be processed.

There currently exist certain challenges, however. In the current CA framework with CCS, a single DCI can schedule PUSCH/PDSCH on one cell. There is a need for designs that can support single DCI scheduling PUSCH/PDSCH on multiple cells, related to how the set of multiple cells can be configured. There is a further need for DCI design for scheduling multiple cells that can be efficiently utilized to also schedule a subset of the multiple cells, particularly only one cell.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a UE includes receiving, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. The UE receives a PDCCH with a DCI. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells. According to certain embodiments, a UE is adapted to receive, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. The UE is adapted to receive a PDCCH with a DCI. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

According to certain embodiments, a method performed by a network node includes transmitting, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for a UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. The network node transmits a PDCCH with a DCI to the UE. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

According to certain embodiments, a network node is adapted to transmit, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for a UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. The network node is adapted to transmit a PDCCH with a DCI to the UE. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). As one example, carrier grouping/sets and use of carrier selector field in the DCI may allow efficient scheduling of multiple cells. As another example, being able to tunnel/pack a single cell “DCI format 1 1” via DCI x (that is used for scheduling multiple cells) advantageously increases flexibility while also reducing the number of combinations of DCI field sizes to accommodate for the multi-cell case.

Other advantages may be readily apparent to one having skill in the art. Certain embodiments may have none, some, or all of the recited advantages. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the disclosed embodiments and their features and advantages, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 illustrates an example scenario where a UE is configured with a first set of cells;

FIGURE 2 illustrates an example scenario where a UE is configured with a first set of cells and DCI x on different PDCCHs is used to schedule PDSCHs, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 3 illustrates an example DCIx that includes padding bits, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 4 illustrates an example DCI x that contains a carrier selector field associated with the first set of cells and indicates scheduling information for up to four cells, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 5 illustrates an example communication system, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 6 illustrates an example UE, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 7 illustrates an example network node, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 8 illustrates a block diagram of a host, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 9 illustrates a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 10 illustrates a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, according to certain embodiments;

FIGURE 11 illustrates a method by a UE, according to certain embodiments; and

FIGURE 12 illustrates a method by a network node, according to certain embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

According to one example embodiment, a method to efficiently configure carrier selection/ carrier grouping/carrier sets to enable a single DCI scheduling multiple cells (DCI x) is provided. In certain embodiments, the method may include configuring different sets for uplink and downlink, using a carrier selection field in the DCI x and scheduling different sets of cells (including a single cell) using a single DCI format. In some cases, the method may include tunneling/packing a DCI l_l/0_l/l_2/0_2 scheduling single cell into the DCI scheduling multiple cells when DCI x schedules only a single cell. The DCI x payload may be derived by concatenating carrier selector field, DCI 1 1 content for one cell and padding bits.

In certain embodiments, the method may involve enabling carrier grouping and using a carrier selection field in DCI scheduling multiple cells (DCI x) to indicate the set of cells scheduled by the DCI. In certain embodiments, the method may involve tunneling a DCI l_l/0_l/l_2/0_2 scheduling a single cell into the DCI scheduling multiple cells when DCI x schedules only a single cell. The DCI x payload may be derived by concatenating carrier selector field, DCI 1 1 contents for one cell and padding bits.

Carrier Selection into Sets

As discussed above, a UE can be configured with a PCell and at least one or more SCells. Note that, herein, the terms carrier, cell, and serving cell are used interchangeably.

According to certain embodiments, the UE is configured, by higher layers, with at least a first set of cells (i.e., a group of cells). The UE is configured to monitor a DCI x that can simultaneously schedule multiple cells in the first set of cells (DCI x). In other words, the UE is configured to monitor a single DCI that can schedule PDSCH/PUSCH on multiple cells. The DCI includes a carrier selector field that indicates the cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI. The cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI can be a subset of the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the UE can be configured with a DCI format (DCI x) that can schedule PDSCH/PUSCH for a first set of cells. The first set of cells that can be scheduled by the DCI format can be indicated by higher layers. The cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI can be a subset of the first set of cells.

Consider an example where the UE may be configured with a first set of cells containing cells cl, c2, c3, c4. The scheduling cell for this set may be a cell cyl. The scheduling cell can belong to the first set (i.e., cyl can be one of cl, c2, c3, c4) or not (i.e., cyl is not one of cl, c2, c3, c4).

FIGURE 1 illustrates an example scenario 50 where a UE is configured with a first set of cells and different respective PDCCHs are used to schedule PDSCHs and PUSCHs. . Specifically, as depicted, a first PDCCH (PDCCH1) on a cell 1 schedules PDSCHs on the first set of cells. Another PDCCH (PDCCH2) on cell 1 schedules PUSCHs on the first set of cells. In a first particular embodiment, the UE is configured to monitor a DCI on at least one serving cell, and the DCI schedules PDSCHs/PUSCHs on the four cells in the first set. The DCI may also schedule PDSCHs/PUSCHs on a subset of cells in the set. This can be done by introducing a carrier selector field in the DCI format, which for example could be a bitmap with one bit per cell in the set, in a further particular embodiment. If the bit is set to a first value (e.g., “1”) for a cell, the corresponding cell is scheduled by the DCI (e.g., aPDSCH/PUSCH is scheduled on that cell), and if the bit is set to a second value (e.g., “0”) for a cell, the corresponding cell is not scheduled by the DCI (e.g., a PDSCH/PUSCH is not scheduled on that cell). When the first set has four cells, the carrier selector field is 4 bits long with one bit per each of the cells cl, c2, c3, c4.

In another particular embodiment, the UE is configured to monitor a DCI on at least one serving cell, and the DCI schedules PDSCHs/PUSCHs on at least two cells belonging to the first set such as, for example, (cl, c2), (c2, c3), (c3, c4), (c4, cl). In a further particular embodiment, this is done by introducing a carrier selector field in the DCI format. In this example, the carrier selector field can be a 2-bit field, for example as shown in Table 1 :

Table 1

In a particular embodiment, the field size for the carrier selector field is determined based on the number of allowed cell combinations indicatable via the carrier selector field. For example, if C_cc cell combinations are allowed, the field size can be given by ceiling of log2(C_cc). If C_cc = 4, then a 2-bit indication is sufficient.

In some cases, the carrier selector field can be omitted. For example, in a particular embodiment, the DCI that can simultaneously schedule multiple cells in the first set of cells always includes fields for scheduling all the cells in the set. Then, if a cell in the set is deactivated, the UE ignores/discards the associated fields in the DCI (e.g., resource allocation for the cell, etc.) and processes the rest of the DCI (e.g., scheduling information for the activated cells).

Typically, in legacy CCS, a carrier indicator field (CIF) value can be associated with a single cell, and a DCI with CIF field can indicate PUSCH/PDSCH for a single cell only. According to certain embodiments disclosed herein, however, a CIF may be reused as a carrier selector field, and that field may indicate more than one cell. For example, at least one CIF value may schedule more than one cell. For example, CIF = 011 may correspond to PUSCH/PDSCH scheduling on multiple cells (e.g., cells 2 and 3), while other CIF values may correspond to PDSCH/PUSCH scheduling on single cell only.

In some particular embodiments, the UE is also configured to monitor another DCI that schedules PDSCH/PUSCH only on a single cell (e.g., using DCI l_l/l_2/0_l/0_2) in the set. The UE can be configured to monitor the DCI scheduling single cell using legacy CCS (e.g., DCI format with CIF field).

FIGURE 2 illustrates an example scenario 60 where a UE is configured with a first set of cells and DCI x on different PDCCHs is used to schedule PDSCHs. Specifically, a first PDCCH (PDCCH1) on a cell 1 schedules PDSCHs on the first set of cells (e.g., using DCI x). The DCI x is also used to schedule PDSCHs on a subset of cells, as shown by PDCCH2, wherein DCI x schedules PDSCH on cell 4 only. A third PDCCH, as shown by PDCCH3, carries the regular DCI 1 1/1 2 with CIF to schedule PDSCH on cell 4.

Details of Configuring the Set of Cells

According to certain embodiments, information indicating the first set of cells (e.g., carrier grouping information) can be carried in the scheduling cell configuration, scheduled cell configuration, or in both. In some cases, the grouping information may be partially distributed between the scheduled and scheduling cells.

A benefit of carrying this information in scheduling cell is that the association becomes simpler as each set can be configured and the explicit cell identifier for the cells belonging to that set can also be indicated. Moreover, if multiple sets are configured in a scheduling cell, then each set can have its own identifier and a corresponding associated DCI. For reduced overhead, the set can also be indicated by a bitmap corresponding to the number of configured cells (e.g., in the MCG or in the SCG), and each bit of the bit map indicates whether the corresponding cell is in the set or not.

A benefit of carrying this information in scheduled cell is that the current CCS framework can be utilized. A scheduled cell may be configured with CIF value, which denotes the CIF value is used for regular DCI scheduling of the scheduled cell from the scheduling cell. The scheduled cell may also be configured with set index, which denotes the set to which it belongs in scheduling cell, and which is used for DCI scheduling of the cells in the set from the scheduling cell. For example, the carrier sets/carrier selection field configuration may be configured in the scheduling cell that carries the DCI that can simultaneously schedule multiple cells in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, at least some information related to grouping of cells into sets for single DCI scheduling multiple cells can be explicitly configured in the RRC configuration associated with the corresponding scheduling cell, or it can be explicitly configured in the MCG configuration or the SCG configuration. The CellGroupConfig information element (IE) is used to configure a MCG or SCG. A cell group comprises of one MAC entity, a set of logical channels with associated Radio Link Control (RLC) entities and of a primary cell (SpCell) and one or more SCells.

An example configuration at cell group level can be as follows:

First set of scheduled cells for single DCI scheduling multiple cells, scheduling cell for first set of scheduled cells 7/7 - {cl, c2, c3, c4}, cyl

Second set of scheduled cells for single DCI scheduling multiple cells scheduling cell for second set of scheduled cells 777- {c5, c6, c7, c8}, cy2

An example configuration at scheduling level can be as follows:

Configuration of scheduling cell cyl {

First set of cells for single DCI scheduling multiple cells- {cl, c2, c3, c4}

}

Configuration of scheduling cell cy2 {

Second set of cells for single DCI scheduling multiple cells- {c5, c6, c7, c8} }

An example configuration at scheduled cell level can be as follows:

Configuration of scheduled cell cl { scheduling cell for cell cl, set number for scheduled cell cl within scheduling cell }

Configuration of scheduled cell c2 { scheduling cell for cell c2, set number for scheduled cell c2 within scheduling cell }

According to certain embodiments, the sets may be configured differently for downlink and uplink DCI formats. For example, in a particular embodiment, a downlink DCI x may be configured to schedule PDSCH for four cells, while an uplink DCI x’ may schedule PUSCH for only two cells (e.g. PUSCH may not be configured on certain cells such as DL only cells). In another example embodiment, a downlink DCI x may be configured to schedule PDSCH for four cells, while regular CCS via DCI 0 1 (with CIF field) may be used for scheduling PUSCH for each cell individually.

DCI Format Interpretation for DCI Scheduling Multiple Cells

Typically, DCI x can schedule all the cells belonging to the set. However, in some cases, there may not be sufficient data (e.g., in buffer) to schedule all cells simultaneously. In an extreme case, the network may schedule only one cell using DCI x (e.g. cell 2). For example, the network might not have configured a normal DCI 1_1/1_2 for CCS cell 2 from cell 1 (e.g., no CIF value configured for cell 2), or the network might have configured a CIF value for cell 2, but due to scheduling capacity issues, it may be unable to schedule a regular DCI for scheduling cell 2 in a particular slot.

In such case, it is beneficial to ensure DCI x can still schedule single cell or a subset of cells efficiently.

The size of DCI x can be explicitly configured by higher layers. In a particular embodiment, the size can be explicitly and separately configured for DCI x carrying downlink DCI (i.e. for PDSCH(s)) and for DCI x carrying uplink DCI (i.e. for PUSCH(s)).

In example embodiment, if the DCI x schedules a single cell (e.g., cell 2), the DCI x content can be read/formatted as existing DCI format l_l/0_l/l_2/0_2 for that cell (cell 2). Note some contents such as CIF may or may not be included in the DCI x. Additionally, some padding bits may also be needed (padding can be placed anywhere within the DCI x). FIGURE 3 illustrates an example DCI x 70 that includes padding bits, according to certain embodiments. Specifically, as shown in FIGURE 3 the carrier selector field in DCI x indicates only cell 2 is scheduled, and then the cell 2 DCI 1 1 (e.g. in case of PDSCH scheduling) contents are appended, followed by padding to size match the DCI x size and obtain DCI x.

If DCI 1 1 is not configured for monitoring cell 2, then some fields may not be present such as CSI field. The DCI x then effectively appears like a DCI 1 1 with some extra fields like carrier selector field and padding bits.

In certain embodiments, DCI x may include a header field to identify whether the DCI contains information for one or more of the following: PDSCHs only, PUSCHs only, or both PDSCHs and PUSCHs.

Search Space Determination for DCI Scheduling Multiple Cells

To monitor PDCCH with DCI format DCI x (i.e., single DCI that can schedule PDSCH/PUSCH on multiple cells), a hashing function is used to determine the CCEs corresponding to PDCCH candidates that a UE must monitor within a search space set in which DCI x is monitored by the UE. For the single scheduled cell, scheduling cell combination, hashing can be generally based on a n_CI value as discussed above. However, instead of setting the n_CI value to carrier indicator field corresponding to the cell that is scheduled by a DCI format, an alternate definition is needed for DCI x since multiple cells are scheduled using DCI x.

In a particular embodiment, the DCI x is monitored in a search space based on a n_CI value applicable to DCI x. Such value can be explicitly configured by the higher layers.

In certain particular embodiments, this value can be an explicitly configured value. For example, it can be set to a reference value of a carrier selector field. For example, UE may be configured with n_CI = 2 for DCI x monitoring, and the UE monitors DCI x in search space based on n_CI =2, and the corresponding DCI x can include a carrier selector field or carrier indicator field that can be set to any of the allowable values (e.g., 00, 01, 10, 11).

In certain other embodiments, the n_CI value can be a pre-determined value such as, for example, based on the value for the CC with lowest cell index (or highest cell index) within the set of cells. For example, in one embodiment the n_CI value may be equal to the CIF value. In another example embodiment, if DCI x is used to schedule a first set of cells including the cell on which DCI x is monitored, the n_CI value can be set to ‘0’ which is the value typically used for self-scheduling. If DCI x is used to schedule a first set of cells not including the cell on which DCI x is monitored, the n_CI value can be set to CIF value configured for a specific cell within the first set of cells. For example, the specific cell can be the cell with lowest/highest cell index in the first set of cells.

In certain embodiments, the DCI x can be sent in the search spaces that are union of the search spaces corresponding to n_CI(s) of the cells within the first set of cells. For example, in one case the n_CI values may be equal to the CIF value configured for each cell in the first set of cells respectively. For example, if cl, c2, c3 are the first set of cells and cl CIF for cl=0, CIF for c2=l and CIF for c3=2 , then DCI x can be monitored by the UE for any CCE candidates given by the hashing function for any of n_CI values = 0, 1, 2.

In certain example embodiments, if the UE is also configured to monitor a DCI scheduling single cell using legacy CCS (e.g., DCI format with CIF field), the n_CI value for monitoring DCI x and for monitoring DCI scheduling single cell (e.g., DCI format with CIF field) may be distinct from each other.

FIGURE 4 illustrates an example DCI x 80 that contains a carrier selector field associated with the first set of cells and indicates scheduling information for up to four cells. The search space to monitor DCI x 80 is determined based on a first n_CI value. DCI 1 1 contains a carrier indicator field associated with one cell (e.g., from the first set of cells, c2), and it can indicate scheduling information for that cell. The search space to monitor DCI 1 1 is determined based on a second n_CI value. The first n_CI value (e.g., may be CIF value corresponding to a cell other than cell 2 or an explicitly configured parameter that may be separate from CIF value) may be distinct from the second n_CI value (e.g., may be CIF value corresponding to cell 2).

FIGURE 5 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.

In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and/or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

As a whole, the communication system 100 of FIGURE 5 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

The hub 114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

FIGURE 6 shows a UE 200, which may be an embodiment of the UE 112 of FIGURE 5, in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input/output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIGURE 6. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

In the example, the input/output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.

The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and/or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intemet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, amotion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or itemtracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in FIGURE 6. As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

FIGURE 7 shows a network node 300, which may be an embodiment of the network node 110 of FIGURE 5, in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).

Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., aNodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 300.

The processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.

In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

The memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and/or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated.

The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between anetwork node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio frontend circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio frontend circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and/or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port.

The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in FIGURE 7 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300.

FIGURE 8 is a block diagram of a host 400, which may be an embodiment of the host 116 of FIGURE 5, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

The host 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a network interface 408, a power source 410, and a memory 412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGURES 6 and 7, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 400.

The memory 412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 414 and data 416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FL AC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 400 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

FIGURE 9 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 500 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 508.

The VMs 508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 508, and that part of hardware 504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 508 on top of the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502.

Hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 502. In some embodiments, hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

FIGURE 10 shows a communication diagram of a host 602 communicating via a network node 604 with a UE 606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 112a of FIGURE 5 and/or UE 200 of FIGURE 6), network node (such as network node 110a of FIGURE 5 and/or network node 300 of FIGURE 7), and host (such as host 116 of FIGURE 5 and/or host 400 of FIGURE 8) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIGURE 10.

Like host 400, embodiments of host 602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 606 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 650.

The network node 604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 602 and UE 606. The connection 660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 106 of FIGURE 5) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet. The UE 606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 606 with the support of the host 602. In the host 602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 650 terminating at the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 650.

The OTT connection 650 may extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide the connection between the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 and wireless connection 670, over which the OTT connection 650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 650, in step 608, the host 602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 606 that shares data with the host 602 without explicit human interaction. In step 610, the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 606. The host 602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 606 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 606. The transmission may pass via the network node 604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 612, the network node 604 transmits to the UE 606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 614, the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 606 associated with the host application executed by the host 602.

In some examples, the UE 606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 602. Accordingly, in step 616, the UE 606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 606 initiates, in step 618, transmission of the user data towards the host 602 via the network node 604. In step 620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 604 receives user data from the UE 606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 602. In step 622, the host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 606.

One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 606 using the OTT connection 650, in which the wireless connection 670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may, for example, improve the data rate and/or latency and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time.

In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 602. As another example, the host 602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.

In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 650 between the host 602 and UE 606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 602 and/or UE 606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

FIGURE 11 illustrates a method 700 performed by a UE 112, according to certain embodiments. At step 702, the method includes receiving, via a higher layer signaling, e.g. from network node 110, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. At step 704, the UE 112 receives, e.g. from network node 110, a PDCCH with a DCI. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations and an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations. A field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells. The transmissions on each of the at least two cells may in some examples be transmissions by the network node, such as PDSCH transmissions, to be received by the UE. Put in other words, receptions are then scheduled for the UE on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. In other examples, the transmissions on each of the at least two cells may be transmissions by the UE, such as PUSCH transmissions.

In a particular embodiment, the DCI comprising the indicator is of a DCI format that is in addition to at least one DCI format that is configurable to comprise a carrier indicator field for indicating cross-carrier scheduling of a single cell in said first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the UE monitors for the PDCCH with the DCI on at least one serving cell of the UE.

In a particular embodiment, the at least one serving cell is a scheduling cell comprised in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the indicator comprises a carrier selector field indicating the at least one of the cell combinations for which scheduling information is included in the DCI.

In a particular embodiment, the carrier selector field is a 2-bit field and the allowed number of cell combinations is 4.

In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 receives another DCI, and the other DCI includes a CIF scheduling a transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, each of said respective fields includes respective scheduling information for a respective one of the transmissions.

In a particular embodiment, the respective scheduling information comprises respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the scheduled cell combination. For example, the respective scheduling information may include respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the at least one cell combination.

In a particular embodiment, each one of the different cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the different cell combinations include a cell combination comprising all of the cells in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PDSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises downlink cells.

In a particular embodiment, the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PUSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises uplink cells. In a particular embodiment, the UE 112 monitors for a PDCCH with another DCI that is configured to schedule another PDSCH transmission or another PUSCH transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the configuration received via the higher layer signaling comprises at least one of a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration.

In a particular embodiment, the DCI includes: a carrier selector field indicating that only a single cell is scheduled; a DCI format for the single cell (wherein the DCI format for the single cell comprising a CIF associated with the single cell); and one or more padding bits to size match the DCI size and obtain the DCI.

In a particular embodiment, when the scheduled cell combination, i.e. the at least one of the cell combinations, includes a cell in the first set of cells that is deactivated, the UE ignores and/or discards the associated fields in the DCI (e.g., resource allocation for the cell, etc.) and processes the rest of the DCI (e.g., scheduling information for the activated cells).

FIGURE 12 illustrates a method 800 performed by a network node 110, according to certain embodiments. At step 802, the network node 110 transmits, e.g. to a UE 112, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE 112. The configuration defines different cell combinations, and at least one of the cell combinations includes at least two of the cells in the first set of cells. At step 804, the network node 110 transmits a PDCCH with a DCI to the UE 112. The DCI includes respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE 112, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. The DCI also includes an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations. A field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells. The transmissions on each of the at least two cells may in some examples be transmissions by the network node, such as PDSCH transmissions, to be received by the UE. Put in other words, receptions are then scheduled for the UE on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations. In other examples, the transmissions on each of the at least two cells may be transmissions by the UE, such as PUSCH transmissions.

In a particular embodiment, the DCI comprising the indicator is of a DCI format that is in addition to at least one DCI format that is configurable to comprise a CIF for indicating crosscarrier scheduling of a single cell in said first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 110 transmits the PDCCH with the DCI on at least one serving cell of the UE.

In a particular embodiment, the at least one serving cell is a scheduling cell comprised in the first set of cells. In a particular embodiment, the indicator comprises a carrier selector field indicating the at least one of the cell combinations for which scheduling information is included in the DCI.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 110 transmits another DCI, and the other DCI comprises a CIF scheduling a transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the respective scheduling information includes respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the scheduled cell combination. For example, the respective scheduling information may include respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the at least one cell combination.

In a particular embodiment, the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PUSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises uplink cells.

In a particular embodiment, the network node 110 transmits, to the UE 112, a PDCCH with another DCI that is configured to schedule another PDSCH transmission or another PUSCH transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

In a particular embodiment, the configuration transmitted via the higher layer signaling comprises at least one of a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration.

In a particular embodiment, when the scheduled cell combination, i.e. the at least one of the cell combinations, includes a cell in the first set of cells that is deactivated, the UE ignores and/or discards the associated fields in the DCI (e.g., resource allocation for the cell, etc.) and processes the rest of the DCI (e.g., scheduling information for the activated cells).In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.

EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Group A Embodiments

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: obtaining a downlink control information (DCI), the DCI scheduling one or more Physical

Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmissions on multiple cells configured for the UE.

2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the multiple cells configured for the UE comprise a first set of cells configured for the user equipment, and the DCI schedules the one or more PUSCH and/or PDSCH transmissions on the first set of cells configured for the UE.

3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein the first set of cells is configured for the UE by higher layers.

4. The method of any of embodiments 1-3, wherein the DCI is DCI x.

5. The method of any of embodiments 1 -4, further comprising the step of: monitoring the DCI on at least one serving cell.

6. The method of any of embodiments 1-5, wherein the DCI simultaneously schedules the multiple cells.

7. The method of any of embodiments 2-6, wherein the DCI comprises a carrier selector field, the carrier selector field indicating cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI.

8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein the carrier selector field comprises a bitmap.

9. The method of embodiment 8, wherein the bitmap comprises a bitmap with one bit per cell in the first set of cells. 10. The method of embodiment 9, wherein: a bit corresponding to a first value indicates that a corresponding cell is scheduled by the DCI; and a bit corresponding to a second value indicates that a corresponding cell is not scheduled by the DCI.

11. The method of any of embodiments 8-10, wherein a length of the bitmap is equal to a number of cells in the first set of cells.

12. The method of any of embodiments 7-11, wherein the cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI comprise a subset of the first set of cells.

13. The method of any of embodiments 7-11, wherein the cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI comprise all of the cells in the first set of cells.

14. The method of any of embodiments 1-13, wherein the multiple cells configured for the UE comprise a scheduling cell.

15. The method of any of embodiments 2-14, wherein: the DCI is obtained from a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); and the DCI schedules PDSCH transmissions on the first set of cells, wherein the first set of cells comprises one of uplink cells, downlink cells, or a combination of uplink and downlink cells.

16. The method of any of embodiments 2-14, wherein: the DCI is obtained from a second PDCCH; and the DCI schedules PUSCH transmissions on the first set of cells, wherein the first set of cells comprises one of uplink cells, downlink cells, or a combination of uplink and downlink cells.

17. The method of any of embodiments 2-16, wherein the DCI schedules PDSCH and/or PUSCH on at least two cells belonging to the first set of cells.

18. The method of any of embodiments 7-17, wherein the carrier selector field is a 2-bit field.

19. The method of any of embodiments 7-18, wherein a field size for the carrier selector field is determined based on a number of allowed cell combinations indicatable via the carrier selector field.

20. The method of any of embodiments 7-19, wherein the carrier selector field is a carrier indicator field, the carrier indicator field indicating more than one cell.

21. The method of any of embodiments 1-20, further comprising the step of: monitoring another DCI that can schedule PDSCH and/or PUSCH on a single cell.

22. The method of any of embodiments 1-21, wherein information indicating the first set of cells is carried in one or more of a scheduling cell configuration, a scheduled cell configuration, or both a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration. 23. The method of any of embodiments 1-2, wherein: the DCI is DCI x; the DCI x is capable of scheduling the multiple cells simultaneously; and the DCI is also capable of scheduling a single cell. 24. The method of embodiment 23, wherein: a size of the DCI is configured by higher layers.

25. The method of any of embodiments 23-24, wherein: the DCI x schedules a single cell.

26. The method of embodiment 25, wherein content of the DCI x is read and/or formatted as an existing DCI format for the single cell.

27. The method of any of embodiments 25-26, wherein the DCI x comprises a carrier selector field.

28. The method of any of embodiments 25-27, wherein the DCI x comprises one or more padding bits.

29. The method of any of embodiments 23-26, wherein the DCI x comprises: a carrier selector field, the carrier selector field indicating that only the single cell is scheduled; a DCI format for the single cell, the DCI format for the single cell comprising a carrier indicator field (CIF) associated with the single cell; and one or more padding bits to size match the DCI x and obtain DCI x.

30. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.

Group B Embodiments

31. A method performed by a network node, the method comprising: transmitting a downlink control information (DCI) to a user equipment (UE), the DCI scheduling one or more Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) and/or Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmissions on multiple cells configured for the UE.

32. The method of embodiment 31, wherein the multiple cells configured for the UE comprise a first set of cells configured for the UE, and the DCI schedules the one or more PUSCH and/or PDSCH transmissions on the first set of cells configured for the UE.

33. The method of embodiment 32, further comprising the step of configuring the UE with the first set of cells, wherein the first set of cells is configured for the UE by higher layers.

34. The method of any of embodiments 31-33, wherein the DCI is DCI x.

35. The method of any of embodiments 31-34, further comprising the step of: configuring the UE to monitor the DCI on at least one serving cell.

36. The method of any of embodiments 31-35, wherein the DCI simultaneously schedules the multiple cells. 37. The method of any of embodiments 32-36, wherein the DCI comprises a carrier selector field, the carrier selector field indicating cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI.

38. The method of embodiment 37, wherein the carrier selector field comprises a bitmap.

39. The method of embodiment 38, wherein the bitmap comprises a bitmap with one bit per cell in the first set of cells.

40. The method of embodiment 39, wherein: a bit corresponding to a first value indicates that a corresponding cell is scheduled by the DCI; and a bit corresponding to a second value indicates that a corresponding cell is not scheduled by the DCI.

41. The method of any of embodiments 38-40, wherein a length of the bitmap is equal to a number of cells in the first set of cells.

42. The method of any of embodiments 37-41, wherein the cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI comprise a subset of the first set of cells.

43. The method of any of embodiments 37-41, wherein the cells in the first set of cells for which scheduling information is present in the DCI comprise all of the cells in the first set of cells.

44. The method of any of embodiments 31-43, wherein the multiple cells configured for the UE comprise a scheduling cell.

45. The method of any of embodiments 32-44, wherein: the DCI is transmitted on a first Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); and the DCI schedules PDSCH transmissions on the first set of cells, wherein the first set of cells comprises one of uplink cells, downlink cells, or a combination of uplink and downlink cells.

46. The method of any of embodiments 32-44, wherein: the DCI is transmitted on a second PDCCH; and the DCI schedules PUSCH transmissions on the first set of cells, wherein the first set of cells comprises one of uplink cells, downlink cells, or a combination of uplink and downlink cells.

47. The method of any of embodiments 32-46, wherein the DCI schedules PDSCH and/or PUSCH on at least two cells belonging to the first set of cells.

48. The method of any of embodiments 37-47, wherein the carrier selector field is a 2-bit field.

49. The method of any of embodiments 37-48, wherein a field size for the carrier selector field is determined based on a number of allowed cell combinations indicatable via the carrier selector field.

50. The method of any of embodiments 37-49, wherein the carrier selector field is a carrier indicator field, the carrier indicator field indicating more than one cell. 51. The method of any of embodiments 31-50, further comprising the step of: configuring the UE to monitor another DCI that can schedule PDSCH and/or PUSCH on a single cell.

52. The method of any of embodiments 31-51, wherein information indicating the first set of cells is carried in one or more of a scheduling cell configuration, a scheduled cell configuration, or both a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration.

53. The method of any of embodiments 31-32, wherein: the DCI is DCI x; the DCI x is capable of scheduling the multiple cells simultaneously; and the DCI is also capable of scheduling a single cell.

54. The method of embodiment 53, wherein: a size of the DCI is configured by higher layers.

55. The method of any of embodiments 53-54, wherein: the DCI x schedules a single cell.

56. The method of embodiment 55, wherein content of the DCI x is read and/or formatted as an existing DCI format for the single cell.

57. The method of any of embodiments 55-56, wherein the DCI x comprises a carrier selector field.

58. The method of any of embodiments 55-57, wherein the DCI x comprises one or more padding bits.

59. The method of any of embodiments 53-56, wherein the DCI x comprises: a carrier selector field, the carrier selector field indicating that only the single cell is scheduled; a DCI format for the single cell, the DCI format for the single cell comprising a carrier indicator field (CIF) associated with the single cell; and one or more padding bits to size match the DCI x and obtain DCI x.

60. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

Group C Embodiments

61. A user equipment, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

62. A network node, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

63. A user equipment (UE), the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

64. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

65. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.

66. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

67. A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

68. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

69. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application. 70. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

71. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.

72. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

73. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

74. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.

75. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

76. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

77. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.

78. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

79. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

80. The method of any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

81. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

82. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.

83. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

84. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

85. The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data. 86. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

87. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

Claims

1. A method (700) performed by a user equipment, UE (112), the method comprising: receiving (702), via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE, the configuration defining different cell combinations, at least one of the cell combinations comprising at least two of the cells in the first set of cells; and receiving (704) a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, with a downlink control information, DCI, the DCI comprising respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE, transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations and an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and wherein a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

2. The method of Claim 1, wherein the DCI comprising the indicator is of a DCI format that is in addition to at least one DCI format that is configurable to comprise a carrier indicator field for indicating cross-carrier scheduling of a single cell in said first set of cells.

3. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 2, comprising monitoring for the PDCCH with the DCI on at least one serving cell of the UE.

4. The method of Claim 3, wherein the at least one serving cell is a scheduling cell comprised in the first set of cells.

5. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the indicator comprises a carrier selector field indicating the at least one of the cell combinations for which scheduling information is included in the DCI.

6. The method of Claim 5, wherein the carrier selector field is a 2-bit field and the allowed number of cell combinations is 4.

7. The method of any one of Claims 5 to 6, comprising: receiving another DCI, and wherein the other DCI comprises a carrier indicator field scheduling a transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

8. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 7, wherein each of said respective fields comprises respective scheduling information for a respective one of the transmissions.

9. The method of Claim 8, wherein the respective scheduling information comprises respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the scheduled cell combination.

10. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 9, wherein the different cell combinations include a cell combination comprising all of the cells in the first set of cells.

11. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 10, wherein: the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PDSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises downlink cells.

12. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 10, wherein: the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PUSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises uplink cells.

13. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 12, comprising monitoring for a PDCCH with another DCI that is configured to schedule another PDSCH transmission or another PUSCH transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

14. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 13, wherein the configuration received via the higher layer signaling comprises at least one of a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration.

15. The method of any one of Claims 1 to 14, wherein the DCI comprises: a carrier selector field indicating that only a single cell is scheduled; a DCI format for the single cell, the DCI format for the single cell comprising a carrier indicator field, CIF, associated with the single cell; and one or more padding bits to size match the DCI size and obtain the DCI.

16. A method (800) performed by a network node (110), the method comprising: transmitting (802), via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for a User Equipment, UE (112), the configuration defining different cell combinations, at least one of the cell combinations comprising at least two of the cells in the first set of cells; and transmitting (804) a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, with a downlink control information, DCI, to the UE (112), the DCI comprising respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE (112), transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations and an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and wherein a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

17. The method of Claim 16, wherein the DCI comprising the indicator is of a DCI format that is in addition to at least one DCI format that is configurable to comprise a carrier indicator field for indicating cross-carrier scheduling of a single cell in said first set of cells.

18. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 17, wherein the PDCCH with the DCI is transmitted on at least one serving cell of the UE.

19. The method of Claim 18, wherein the at least one serving cell is a scheduling cell comprised in the first set of cells.

20. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 19, wherein the indicator comprises a carrier selector field indicating the at least one of the cell combinations for which scheduling information is included in the DCI.

21. The method of Claim 20, wherein the carrier selector field is a 2 -bit field and the allowed number of cell combinations is 4.

22. The method of any one of Claims 20 to 21, comprising: transmitting another DCI, and wherein the other DCI comprises a carrier indicator field scheduling a transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

23. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 22, wherein each of said respective fields comprises respective scheduling information for a respective one of the transmissions.

24. The method of Claim 23, wherein the respective scheduling information comprises respective resource allocations for the at least two cells in the scheduled cell combination.

25. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 24, wherein the different cell combinations include a cell combination comprising all of the cells in the first set of cells.

26. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 25, wherein: the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PDSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises downlink cells.

27. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 25, wherein: the transmissions scheduled by the DCI are PUSCH transmissions, and the first set of cells comprises uplink cells.

28. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 27, comprising transmitting, to the UE, a PDCCH with another DCI that is configured to schedule another PDSCH transmission or another PUSCH transmission on a single cell in the first set of cells.

29. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 28, wherein the configuration transmitted via the higher layer signaling comprises at least one of a scheduling cell configuration and a scheduled cell configuration.

30. The method of any one of Claims 16 to 29, wherein the DCI comprises: a carrier selector field indicating that only a single cell is scheduled; a DCI format for the single cell, the DCI format for the single cell comprising a carrier indicator field, CIF, associated with the single cell; and one or more padding bits to size match the DCI size and obtain the DCI.

31. A user equipment, UE (112), adapted to: receive, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for the UE (112), the configuration defining different cell combinations, at least one of the cell combinations comprising at least two of the cells in the first set of cells; and receive a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, with a downlink control information, DCI, the DCI comprising respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE (112), transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations and an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and wherein a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

32. The UE of Claim 31, adapted to perform the method of any one of Claims 2 to 15.

33. A network node (HO) adapted to : transmit, via a higher layer signaling, a configuration of a first set of cells for a User Equipment, UE (112), the configuration defining different cell combinations, at least one of the cell combinations comprising at least two of the cells in the first set of cells; and transmit a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, with a downlink control information, DCI, to the UE (112), the DCI comprising respective fields for simultaneously scheduling, for the UE (112), transmissions on each of the at least two cells in the at least one of the cell combinations and an indicator indicating the at least one of the cell combinations, and wherein a field size of the indicator is based on a number of allowed cell combinations for the first set of cells.

34. The network node of Claim 33, adapted to perform the method of any one of Claims 17 to