WO2024217089A1

WO2024217089A1 - Methods and apparatuses for sensing in a guard period

Info

Publication number: WO2024217089A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/072245
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yihua Ma; Shuqiang Xia; Yuxin Wang; Chen BAI; Zhongbin WANG; Songqian LI
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2024-01-15
Filing date: 2024-01-15
Publication date: 2024-10-24
Anticipated expiration: 2026-07-15

Abstract

Methods, apparatus, and systems that relate to sensing using a guard period that can be used in integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) or other wireless communication systems. One example method for wireless communication includes transmitting, by a first base station using a first antenna array, using at least part of a guard period, a sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR SENSING IN A GUARD PERIOD

TECHNICAL FIELD

This patent document is related to wireless communication and sensing.

BACKGROUND

Mobile telecommunication technologies are moving the world toward an increasingly connected and networked society. In comparison with the existing wireless networks, next generation systems and communication techniques will need to support a much wider range of use-case characteristics and provide a more complex and sophisticated range of access requirements and flexibilities.

SUMMARY

This patent document discloses techniques, among other things, related to processing signals in the transmitting side through adding a window function in either an Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) system or other wireless communication systems.

In one example aspect, a wireless communication method is disclosed. The method includes transmitting, by a first base station using a first antenna array, using at least part of a guard period, a sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.

In another example aspect, a wireless communication method is disclosed. The method includes receiving, from a second base station, using a second antenna array, during a guard period, a reflected sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.

In yet another example aspect, a wireless communication device comprising at least one processor that is configured or operable to perform the above-described methods is disclosed.

In yet another example aspect, a computer readable storage medium is disclosed. The computer-readable storage medium stores code that, upon execution by a processor, causes the processor to implement an above-described method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 show diagrams of examples involving a guard period providing a user equipment with time to switch between a downlink signal and an uplink signal.

FIGS. 2–4 show diagrams of examples involving in transmitting a sensing signal and receiving a reflected sensing signal.

FIGS. 5–8 shows diagrams of examples involving periodic slot configurations of sub-carrier spacings.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of an example involving configuring downlink flexible and uplink symbols via parameters of dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity, nrofDownlinkSlots, nrofDownlinkSymbols, nrofUplinkSymbols, and nrofUplinkSlots.

FIG. 10 shows a diagram of an example involving configuring sensing symbols based on tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated.

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary block diagram of a hardware platform that may be a part of a network device or a communication device.

FIG. 12 shows an example of network communication including a base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) based on some implementations of the disclosed technology.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart representation of methods for wireless communication in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart representation of another example of a wireless communication method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Headings for the various sections below are used to facilitate the understanding of the disclosed subject matter and do not limit the scope of the claimed subject matter in any way. Accordingly, one or more features of one section can be combined with one or more features of another section. Furthermore, 6G or integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) terminology is used for clarity of explanation. Still, the techniques disclosed in the present document are not limited to 6G or ISAC technology only and may be used in wireless systems that implement other protocols.

As a popular 6G technology, ISAC is expected to add considerable value to the wireless communication system. The widely deployed communication infrastructures can be enhanced to provide radar services like traffic control and surveillance, drone detection, and railway obstacle detection. The various mobile communication devices in the scenarios of autonomous driving, smart home, and health care can also realize ISAC.

The rapid development of ISAC has become very promising for 6G technology. ISAC empowers future communication systems to not only transmit data, but to also extract valuable information from the physical world.

ISAC has gained growing interest from both academic and industrial fields, leading to a rise in research efforts. For instance, an ISAC-related global standardization has been initiated. The feasibility study of ISAC has been started by 3GPP Release 19, and ITU has adopted ISAC as one of the six key usage scenarios for 6G. However, one of the challenges with ISAC is how to realize high-performance sensing without affecting communication performance.

Owing to the rapid development of wireless communications, integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) has become a very promising technology for 6G. It empowers future communication systems to not only transmit data but also extract valuable information from the physical world. ISAC has gained growing interest from both academic and industrial fields, leading to a rise in research efforts. Additionally, the ISAC related global standardization has begun. The feasibility study of ISAC has been started by 3GPP Release 19, and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has adopted ISAC as one of the six key usage scenarios for 6G. However, one of the challenges is how to reduce sensing overheads. Conventionally, the sensing signals are using communication resources, resulting in the communication performance to be affected. Alternatively, the communication signals can be reused for sensing, which cannot ensure the sensing performance.

According to TS 38.211, 5G NR supports a slot configuration using tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and DCI format. If a user equipment (UE) is provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, the UE sets the slot format per slot over a number of slots as indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon. If the UE is additionally provided tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, the parameter tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated overrides only flexible symbols per slot over the number of slots as provided by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon. The flexible symbols will be further decided by DCI format. An SFI-index field value in a DCI format 2_0 indicates to a UE, a slot format for each slot of the available number of slots.

If the UE is not configured to monitor PDCCH for DCI format 2_0, for a set of symbols of a slot-indicated as flexible by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, when provided-or when tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon and tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated are not provided to the UE, then: (1) the UE receives PDSCH or CSI-RS in the set of symbols of the slot if the UE receives a corresponding indication by a DCI format; or (2) the UE transmits PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, or SRS in the set of symbols of the slot if the UE receives a corresponding indication by a DCI format, a RAR UL grant, fallbackRAR UL grant, or successRAR.

The TS 38.311 does not explicitly state the requirement of guard period (GP) , but it is required to allow a switch from a downlink (DL) signal to an uplink (UL) signal for distant UEs as shown in FIG. 1. Also, in current networks, tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated and DCI format are optional and hardly used. tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon is used to directly decide the uplink and the downlink, and the remaining flexible symbols are used for the GP.

This patent document proposes to reuse the guard period for sensing, which ensures the sensing performance without costing communication resources. As shown in FIG. 1, the GP is left blank in conventional communication, which gives time for a UE to switch from DL to UL under certain propagation delays.

Sending the sensing signal in the GP reuses these empty resources. Apart from the resource utilization improvement, another advantage is to avoid the interference between sensing and communications with BS transmission/receiving (TX/RX) timing adjustment.

In normal communication slots, the timing adjustment is done by UE, and BS transmission timing is fixed to avoid overlapping with symbol before and after. As the GP is empty and only used for sensing, it is more flexible to adjust TX/RX timing. Also, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) numerology can be adjusted to adapt the sensing requirements.

The proposed methods and schemes in the current application are beneficial to allow using a GP for sensing, thus ensuring performance without sacrificing communication performance.

The details of the proposed methods will be discussed in the following embodiments. Although different embodiments are captioned using enumeration, the disclosed techniques from one embodiments may be combined with techniques from the other embodiments.

Embodiment 1

This section discloses, among other things, examples of transmitting and receiving a sensing signal between a wireless node/devices using antenna arrays.

Here, the wireless node can be a base station (BS) ; the wireless device can be a user equipment (UE) .

In one example, as shown in FIG. 2, the BS (BS 1) uses a first antenna array (array 1) to transmit the sensing signal. On the receiver side, the BS receives the reflected sensing signal using a second antenna array (array 2) .

Here, the sensing signal 202 uses the entire GP band 204 between the DL signal 208 and the UL signal 206.

In other examples, base stations near BS 1 employ the same communication slot configuration, and sensing in GP helps to avoids the interference.

Embodiment 2

As illustrated in FIG. 3, a sensing function (SF) is a sensing related network element. The SF allocates sensing resources to a first BS (BS 1) and a second BS (BS 2) .

BS 1 will use a first antenna array (array 1) to transmit the sensing signal in the allocated sensing resource. BS 2 will use a second antenna array (array 2) to receive a reflected sensing signal.

In one example, the sensing signal 302 may use a partial GP band 304.

In other examples of this embodiment, a base station timing adjustment may take place. The base station timing adjustment is done by BS 2. A propagation delay of the line of sight (LOS) path occurs from BS1 to BS2. An objective of the timing adjustment is to push back the occurrence of Sensing RX 306. Moreover, the base station timing adjustment can reduce potential cyclic prefix (CP) overheads of the sensing symbol.

In further examples of this embodiment, the base stations near BS 1 and BS 2 may employ the same TDD slot configuration 300, thus sensing in GP will aid in avoiding signal interference.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a gap between the DL band and the sensing signal bands 302 exists. Such a configuration can illustrate an example for avoiding the interference from other base stations, which may be achieved by a certain amount of propagation delay.

Embodiment 3

As described in the embodiments, through propagation delay, sensing in GP may avoid interference between signals, when the base stations employ the same TDD slot configuration. However, this may not always be the case.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 4, base stations (i.e. BS 3, BS 4) near a first base station (BS 1) and a second base station (BS 2) may not employ the same TDD slot configuration 400. Here, the sensing signal 402 may require transmitting the signal using an overlapping period of the GP bands 404 of different base stations. Such a configuration may improve flexibility of the system.

Embodiment 4

This embodiment discloses, among other things, examples of a periodic single-pattern slot configuration.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 5, a 5 ms-periodic single-pattern slot configuration may have 30kHZ sub-carrier spacing. Here, there are 4 symbols used for GP every 5ms.

As shown in FIG. 5, the middle two symbols may be used for sensing using GP. Here, the two sensing symbols may have a 30 kHz sub-carrier spacing and be transmitted. Alternatively, a single sensing symbol may have 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing and may also be transmitted.

Embodiment 5

This embodiment discloses, among other things, examples of a periodic double-pattern slot configuration.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 6, a 2.5 ms-periodic double-pattern slot configuration may have 30kHZ sub-carrier spacing. Here, there are two symbols used for GP every 2.5ms, with the second S symbol used for GP sensing.

Embodiment 6

In one example, as shown in FIG. 7, a 2.5 ms-periodic single-pattern slot configuration may have 30kHZ sub-carrier spacing. Here, there is one symbol used for GP every 2.5ms. In this alternative embodiment, the symbol S is used for GP sensing.

Embodiment 7

This embodiment discloses, among other things, examples of a double single-pattern slot configuration.

In one example, as shown in FIG. 8, a 2.5 ms-periodic single-pattern slot configuration may have 30kHZ sub-carrier spacing. Here, there are two symbols used for GP every 2.5ms.

In this embodiment, the sensing resource is not aligned with normal communication symbols, thus illustrating a gap that reflects the propagation delay used in avoiding interference.

Additionally, in one example, the normal communication symbols may be configured with different waveform numerology.

Embodiment 8

This embodiment discloses, among other things, examples of configuring a guide period.

As described in the above embodiments, GP aids in avoiding interference. As illustrated by FIG. 9, tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon configures the downlink, flexible, and uplink symbols via the parameters of dl-UL-TransmissionPeriodicity, nrofDownlinkSlots, nrofDownlinkSymbols, nrofUplinkSymbols, and nrofUplinkSlots. This configuration may directly configure the slot structures described in embodiments 4–7, where the flexible symbols act as the GP symbols.

The NR standard supports a more flexible configurations, which allows the tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated, and DCI format to further configure the flexible symbols into downlink or uplink.

Additionally, FIG. 9 illustrates one example, where the sensing symbols are configured based on the tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon. After, the flexible symbols arranged before the sensing symbols may be configured as a DL symbol or not be configured. Moreover, the flexible symbols arranged after the sensing symbols may be configured as a UL symbol or not be configured.

Also, as shown in FIG. 9, a single flexible symbol arranged before the sensing symbols may not configured. This will avoid the downlink interference from other base stations to the GP sensing with propagation delays.

Further, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the single flexible symbol arranged after the sensing symbols may not be configured. This will avoid the sensing interference to the UL bands of other base stations with propagation delays.

Embodiment 9

This embodiment discloses, among other things, examples of configuring sensing symbols based on the tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon, and then tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated.

Additionally, in this embodiment, a DCI format may further configure flexible symbols into DL symbols and UL symbols.

In one example, as illustrated in FIG. 10, after the flexible symbols have been configured as described herein, the remaining flexible symbols are not used by communications. Instead, the flexible symbols between downlink and uplink may be recognized as GP. Further, the sensing resource may be allocated using at least a partial of the GP.

In this embodiment, to avoid DL signal interference from other base stations to sensing with propagation delays, the first GP symbol may not be allocated to sensing. Also, to avoid the sensing interference to the UL of the other base stations with propagation delays, the last GP symbol may not be allocated to sensing.

System Overview

FIG. 11 shows an exemplary block diagram of a hardware platform 1100 that may be a part of a network device (e.g., base station) or a communication device (e.g., a user equipment (UE) ) . The hardware platform 1100 includes at least one processor 1110 and a memory 1105 having instructions stored thereupon. The instructions upon execution by the processor 1110 configure the hardware platform 1100 to perform the operations described in FIGS. 1 to 10 and in the various embodiments described in this patent application document. The transmitter 1115 transmits or sends information or data to another device. For example, a network device transmitter can send a message to user equipment. The receiver 1120 receives information or data transmitted or sent by another device. For example, user equipment can receive a message from a network device.

The implementations as discussed above will apply to a network communication. FIG. 12 shows an example of a communication system (e.g., a 6G or NR cellular network) that includes a base station 1220 and one or more user equipment (UE) 1211, 1212 and 1213. In some embodiments, the UEs access the BS (e.g., the network) using a communication link to the network (sometimes called uplink direction, as depicted by dashed arrows 1231, 1232, 1233) , which then enables subsequent communication (e.g., shown in the direction from the network to the UEs, sometimes called downlink direction, shown by arrows 1241, 1242, 1243) from the BS to the UEs. In some embodiments, the BS send information to the UEs (sometimes called downlink direction, as depicted by arrows 1241, 1242, 1243) , which then enables subsequent communication (e.g., shown in the direction from the UEs to the BS, sometimes called uplink direction, shown by dashed arrows 1231, 1232, 1233) from the UEs to the BS. The UE may be, for example, a smartphone, a tablet, a mobile computer, a machine to machine (M2M) device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, and so on.

Example technical solutions

Under this section heading, some example technical features preferably implemented by embodiments are disclosed incorporating technical features from the previously disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 13 shows an example flowchart representation of a method for wireless communication in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. Operation 1302 includes transmitting, by a first base station using a first antenna array, using at least part of a guard period, a sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication. Further, each of the sensing transmission units may be configured to have a same duration as a data transmission unit comprising a data cyclic prefix and a data symbol. Moreover, a duration of the virtual cyclic prefix may be greater than a duration of the cyclic prefix and a duration of the shortened symbol may be smaller than a duration of the data symbol.

FIG. 14 shows another example of a wireless communication method in accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technology. Operation 1402 includes receiving, from a second base station, using a second antenna array, during a guard period, a reflected sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication. Further, each of the sensing transmission units may be configured to have a same duration as a data transmission unit comprising a data cyclic prefix and a data symbol. Moreover, a duration of the virtual cyclic prefix may be greater than a duration of the cyclic prefix and a duration of the shortened symbol may be smaller than a duration of the data symbol. In some embodiments, the second base station and the first base station may be a same base station. In some embodiments, upon receiving the reflected sensing signal, the second base station may perform further operations such as processing the sensing signal to derive information from the sensing signal, as described in the present document.

Various preferred embodiments and additional features of the above-described method of FIGS. 13–14 are as follows. Further examples are described with reference to embodiments 1 to 9.

In one example aspect, a wireless communication method is disclosed (e.g., method described with reference to FIG. 13) . The method comprising transmitting, by a first base station using a first antenna array, using at least part of a guard period, a sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication. In another example aspect, another wireless communication method is disclosed (e.g., method 1400 depicted in FIG. 14) . The method comprising receiving, from a second base station, using a second antenna array, during a guard period, a reflected sensing signal, wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.

In some embodiments, the first base station or the second base station processes the received reflected sensing signal to obtain sensing information.

In some embodiments, the guard period is the period between a slot configuration.

In some embodiments, the symbols in the sensing signal are not aligned with communication symbols.

In some embodiments, the sensing signal use different numerology from that of the communication symbols.

In some embodiments, the above discussed methods further comprising a timing adjustment by the second base station.

In some embodiments, the sensing signal uses first flexible symbols configured in tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon configuartion.

In some embodiments, the flexible symbols before and after the sensing signal are not configured for communications using other configurations.

In some embodiments, the flexible symbols before the sensing signal can only be configured for the downlink communication using other configurations.

In some embodiments, the flexible symbols after the sensing signal can only be configured for the uplink communication using other configurations.

In some embodiments, a sensing related network element transmits a sensing resource configuration to at least one of the first base station and the second base station, and wherein the configuration allocates the sensing resource as at least one portion of the guard period.

In some embodiments, the sensing resource configuration contains at least one of 1) starting slot indication, 2) periodicity and slot offset, 3) timing offset, 4) repetition factor, 5) SFN0 offset, 6) resource bandwidth, 7) start physical resource block, or 8) number of symbols within a slot.

It will be appreciated that the present document discloses methods and apparatus related to realizing high-performance sensing without affecting communication performance for use in ISAC or other wireless communication systems. Although ISAC attracts attention in academic area, none of the existing study for ISAC or other communication system, covers using GP for sensing for resource utilization improvement as well as BS timing adjustment. This patent application discloses multiple solutions regarding transmitting a transmitted sensing signal, during a guard period, on a communication channel The proposed methods and schemes will improve the communication efficiency and accuracy in ISAC and other wireless communication system due to at least realizing high-performance sensing.

The disclosed and other embodiments, modules and the functional operations described in this document can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structures disclosed in this document and their structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them. The disclosed and other embodiments can be implemented as one or more computer program products, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus. The computer readable medium can be a machine-readable storage device, a machine-readable storage substrate, a memory device, a composition of matter effecting a machine-readable propagated signal, or a combination of one or more of them. The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all apparatus, devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example a programmable processor, a computer, or multiple processors or computers. The apparatus can include, in addition to hardware, code that creates an execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g., code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operating system, or a combination of one or more of them. A propagated signal is an artificially generated signal, e.g., a machine-generated electrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, that is generated to encode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, software application, script, or code) can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a standalone program or as a module, component, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program does not necessarily correspond to a file in a file system. A program can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup language document) , in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules, sub programs, or portions of code) . A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are located at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this document can be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one or more computer programs to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) .

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, by way of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, and any one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, a processor will receive instructions and data from a read only memory or a random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for performing instructions and one or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive data from or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices for storing data, e.g., magnetic, magneto optical disks, or optical disks. However, a computer need not have such devices. Computer readable media suitable for storing computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, media and memory devices, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal hard disks or removable disks; magneto optical disks; and CD ROM and DVD-ROM disks. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, or incorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

While this document contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of an invention that is claimed or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in this document in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover, although features may be described above as acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or a variation of a subcombination. Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results.

Only a few examples and implementations are disclosed. Variations, modifications, and enhancements to the described examples and implementations and other implementations can be made based on what is disclosed.

Claims

A method of wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting, by a first base station using a first antenna array, using at least part of a guard period, a sensing signal,

wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.
A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, from a second base station, using a second antenna array, during a guard period, a reflected sensing signal,

wherein the guard period is a time period separating a downlink communication and an uplink communication.
The method of claims 1 or 2, wherein the first base station or the second base station processes the received reflected sensing signal to obtain sensing information.
The method of claim 2, wherein the guard period is the period between a slot configuration.
The method of claim 2, wherein symbols in the sensing signal are not aligned with communication symbols.
The method of claim 2, wherein the sensing signal use different numerology from that of communication symbols.
The method of claim 2, further comprising a timing adjustment by the second base station.
The method of claim 2, wherein the sensing signal uses first flexible symbols configured in tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon configuartion.
The method of claim 8, wherein the flexible symbols before and after the sensing signal are not configured for communications using other configurations.
The method of claim 8, wherein the flexible symbols before the sensing signal can only be configured for the downlink communication using other configurations.
The method of claim 8, wherein the flexible symbols after the sensing signal can only be configured for the uplink communication using other configurations.
The method of claim 2, wherein a sensing related network element transmits a sensing resource configuration to at least one of the first base station and the second base station, and wherein the configuration allocates the sensing resource as at least one portion of the guard period.
The method of claim 8, wherein a sensing resource configuration contains at least one of 1) starting slot indication, 2) periodicity and slot offset, 3) timing offset, 4) repetition factor, 5) SFN0 offset, 6) resource bandwidth, 7) start physical resource block, or 8) number of symbols within a slot.
An apparatus for communication network, comprising: a processor configured to implement a method recited in any of claims 1 to 13.
A computer-readable storage medium having code stored thereupon, the code, upon execution by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method recited in any of claims 1 to 13.