WO2025035279A1

WO2025035279A1 - Uplink control information for configured grant occasion usage

Info

Publication number: WO2025035279A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/112598
Authority: WO
Inventors: Carlos Santiago MOREJON GARCIA; Claudio Rosa; Boyan Yanakiev; Zexian Li; Chunli Wu; Benoist Pierre Sebire
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-08-11
Filing date: 2023-08-11
Publication date: 2025-02-20
Anticipated expiration: 2026-02-11

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to apparatuses, methods, and computer readable storage media for uplink control information (UCI) for configured grant (CG) occasion usage. In the methods, a first apparatus determines, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and determines status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used. In this way, unused CG occasions in a CG period can be efficiently reported.

Description

UPLINK CONTROL INFORMATION FOR CONFIGURED GRANT OCCASION USAGE

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for uplink control information (UCI) for configured grant (CG) occasion usage.

BACKGROUND

Extended reality (XR) refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments and associated human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. The XR includes representative forms such as augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) , and virtual reality (VR) and the areas interpolated among them.

Regarding XR enhancements for New Radio (NR) , it has been proposed multiple CG Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission occasions (hereafter also referred to as “CG PUSCH occasions” or “CG occasions” for brevity) in a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration. When a CG PUSCH transmission occasion is indicated as “unused” , a user equipment (UE) is not allowed to transmit traffic on that CG PUSCH transmission occasion. For any other CG PUSCH transmission occasion that is NOT indicated as “unused” , the UE is allowed to transmit or not to transmit data on that CG PUSCH transmission occasion.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: determine, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and determine status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: receive, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: determining, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and determining status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for determining, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and means for determining status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

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

FIG. 2 illustrates an example diagram for problem of impossibility to revert CG PUSCH occasion cancellation;

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart for UTO UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram for UTO UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart for UTO UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

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

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

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second, ” …, etc. in front of noun (s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun (s) . For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

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

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

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

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and/or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

As discussed above, the main XR related video traffic characteristics in Uplink (UL) that have been discussed include, but are not limited to: non-integer periodicity (e.g., 16.6 ms for 60 fps) ; packet delay budget (PDB) requirement of 30 ms as baseline and 10, 15 ms as optional; and varying video frame size with mean 20.8 kBytes for 60 fps and 10 Mbit/sfollowing Truncated Gaussian distribution.

In addition to video in UL, pose/control information can be sent as per TR 38.838 with the main characteristics include, but are not limited to, periodicity of 4 ms, stringent PDB requirement (10 ms) , and frame size of 100 bytes.

Some XR enhancements have been proposed in the following aspects.

1) Specify the enhancements related to power saving.

Such enhancements include, but are not limited to, Discontinuous Reception (DRX) support of XR frame rates corresponding to non-integer periodicities (through at least semi-static mechanisms e.g. Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling) .

2) Specify the enhancements related to capacity.

Such enhancements may include, but are not limited to, multiple Configured grant Physical uplink shared channel (CG PUSCH) transmission occasions in a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration, as well as dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH occasion (s) based on Uplink control information (UCI) by the User Equipment (UE) . In addition, such enhancements may also include BSR enhancements including at least new BSR Table (s) , delay reporting of buffered data in uplink, provision of XR traffic assistance information for both Downlink (DL) and UL directions (e.g. periodicity) , and discard operation of Packet data unit (PDU) sets.

3) Specify the enhancements for XR Awareness.

Regarding XR enhancements for New Radio (NR) , two items were proposed for capacity enhancement as follows:

Item 1: multiple CG PUSCH transmission occasions in a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration; and

Item 2: dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH occasion (s) based on UCI (e.g., CG-UCI or a new UCI) by the UE.

In addition, several solutions are proposed regarding how the Unused Transmission Occasion (s) UCI (UTO-UCI) indication is mapped to GC-PUSCH occasions.

In some solutions, when a CG PUSCH occasion is indicated as “unused” , the UE is not allowed to transmit CG PUSCH on that CG PUSCH occasion. For any other CG PUSCH occasion that is NOT indicated as “unused” , the UE is allowed to transmit or not to transmit CG PUSCH on that CG PUSCH occasion as per legacy specification.

In some solutions, the UTO-UCI indication for a CG configuration is applicable to only valid CG PUSCH TOs, if any.

It is noted that a configured CG PUSCH is invalid if the CG PUSCH is cancelled due to collision with DL symbol (s) indicated by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated or SSB. Otherwise, it is valid.

In some solutions, a CG PUSCH occasion indicated as “unused” earlier, is not allowed to be indicated as “NOT unused” later. A CG PUSCH occasion indicated as “NOT unused” earlier, can be indicated as “unused” later.

In some solutions, indication of UTO-UCI by CG PUSCHs associated to a CG configuration, is enabled by configuration of an RRC parameter. The principle of the proposed solutions of UTO-UCI indication reporting can be extended to multiple CG configurations as well.

In some solutions, for a CG configuration with UTO-UCI indication enabled, to determine the indicated CG PUSCH by a UTO-UCI indication, consider the following options for further down-selection.

In one option (referred to as option A-1a) , the RRC parameter UTO_period is configured. For example, values in time unit (e.g., XR traffic periodicity) , or one or multiple of CG periodicity given by integer values (n=1, 2, . . ) may be configured. The starting time of the first period of UTO periodicity starts at the same as starting time of the first period of the CG configuration and ends after UTO_period. The next UTO period (s) are followed after the first UTO period. A transmitted CG PUSCH that is confined within a UTO period, carries UTO-UCI that is applicable to the CG PUSCH TOs within the UTO period.

In another option (referred to as option A-2a) , the RRC parameter UTO_period is configured. For example, values in time unit (e.g., XR traffic periodicity) , or one or multiple of CG periodicity given by integer values (n=1, 2, . . ) may be configured. The RRC parameter UTO_offset may be configured. The starting time of the first period of UTO periodicity starts at the same as starting time of the first period of the CG configuration and ends after UTO_period. The next UTO period (s) are followed after the first UTO period. A transmitted CG PUSCH that is confined within a UTO period, carries UTO-UCI that is applicable to the CG PUSCH TOs within the UTO period and after UTO_offset from the end of the transmitted CG PUSCH.

In a further option (referred to as option B-a) , the RRC parameter UTO_period are configured. For example, values in time unit (e.g., XR traffic periodicity) , or one or multiple of CG periodicity given by integer value (n=1, 2, . . ) may be configured. UTO_offset is the offset value. UTO_offset may be provided by configuration or UTO_offset = 0. A transmitted CG PUSCH carries UTO-UCI that is applicable to the valid CG PUSCH TOs that are confined within UTO_period starting with UTO_offset from the end of the transmitted CG PUSCH.

In a still further option (referred to as option B-b2) , the RRC parameter Nu (Nu is the size of bit-map) and an offset value, UTO_offset, are configured. The UTO_offset may be provided by configuration, or UTO_offset = 0. A transmitted CG PUSCH, carries UTO-UCI that is applicable to the Nu consecutive and valid CG PUSCH TOs, starting with UTO_offset from the end of the transmitted CG PUSCH. Whether and/or how to extend to multiple CG configurations needs to be considered.

However, discussions on dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH occasion (s) based on new UCI are currently ongoing and have not yet considered a detailed UE behavior for canceling CG PUSCH occasions in a CG period or cross multiple CG periods. So far, there are no discussions or solutions regarding such procedure, its criteria, and further details.

To at least solve the above problems or other potential issues, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for reporting unused CG PUSCH occasions in CG periods (UE-UTO determination procedure) . The proposed solution can be easily applied to the scenario where the cancellation indication is for CG PUSCH occasions over multiple periods and one CG PUSCH occasion may be configured in one period. Specifically, embodiments of the present disclosure propose a multiple-criteria UE behavior to notify the gNB about whether a specific CG PUSCH occasion is unused.

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

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. FIG. 1 shows a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120. The first apparatus 110 may communicate with the second apparatus 120.

In the communication environment 100 of FIG. 1, the first apparatus 110 may include a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 may include a network device in the RAN. The second apparatus 120 serves the first apparatus 110. The serving area of the second apparatus 120 may be called a cell. In the example embodiments, the term “network device” may be a network device in the RAN, which may also be referred to as a “network access device” . In some example embodiments as discussed below, the first apparatus 110 may discussed as a UE, and the second apparatus 120 may be discussed as a gNB, for example.

It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100. It is noted that, the second apparatus 120 may be another device than a network access device, and the first apparatus 110 may be a device other than a terminal device.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first apparatus 110 operating as a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

In some example embodiments, if the first apparatus 110 is a terminal device and the second apparatus 120 is a network device, a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) . In UL, the first apparatus 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second apparatus 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Scheduling in UL can be realized by employing configured grant (CG) . For CG based scheduling, the parameters may be configured via a RRC message. The actual uplink grant may either be configured via RRC (type1) or provided via the Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) (addressed to CS-RNTI) (type2) . The main characteristics of UL CG may include, for example, UL radio resources for sending one transport block with a regular time-periodicity is configured for a UE; the periodicities are: 2, 7, n*14 symbols, where the range for n depends on configured Subcarrier spacing (SCS) ; and up to 12 configured grant configurations per Bandwidth Part (BWP) , which may be configured through RRC signaling.

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) , Time Division Duplex (TDD) , Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

Currently, a UE can signal a UTO-UCI in each CG PUSCH occasion. As default, all CG PUSCH occasions are marked as used. However, the current solutions have not yet considered any rule (s) to the UE about reporting unused CG PUSCH occasions. If such rule (s) are not specified and left for UE’s implementation, the UE’s UTO-UCI could arrive at the gNB although gNB cannot reschedule the unused resources, so they cannot be reassigned.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example diagram 200 for problem of the impossibility to revert CG PUSCH occasion cancellation. In this solution, the UE uses the buffer status at a given instant (1^st CG PUSCH occasion 201 denoted as “1^st occasion in FIG. 2) to mark a CG PUSCH occasion (denoted as “3^rd occasion” 203 in FIG. 2) as unused or used and notifies such information to the gNB in the UTO-UCI. The gNB requires a minimum time 210 to take advantage of the cancellation and rescheduling. However, with the time between the cancellation indication and the minimum time 210 the gNB requires to reuse those resources, the UE might find out, at the 2^nd occasion 202, that it requires to use the previous canceled occasion by any means, for example, upon arrival of new data in the UE buffer.

Embodiments of the present disclosure solve the problem of avoiding the reclaim of previously canceled CG PUSCH occasion (s) , at least in some circumstances, by giving the UE more time to indicate an unused CG PUSCH occasion in the UTO-UCI.

In the following example embodiments described with respect to FIGs. 3 to 5, for the purpose of illustration, the first apparatus 110 is sometimes described as a terminal device, e.g., a UE and the second apparatus 120 is sometimes described as a network device, e.g., a gNB. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart 300 for UTO-UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling chart 300 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120.

First, the second apparatus 120 may configure (310) CG PUSCH resources to the first apparatus 110. For example, the second apparatus 120 may transmit a configuration for UTO uplink control information to the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may configure the UTO-UCI reporting threshold value, for example, denoted as X. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus 120 may configure the value of X in subframes, OFDM symbols, ms, and so on.

Accordingly, the first apparatus 110 may receive, from the second apparatus 120, the configuration for the UTO uplink control information, and thus can at least obtain the threshold value. By applying the configuration, the first apparatus 110 may provide information on an unused transmission occasion at least X (for example in subframes, OFDM symbols, ms, etc. ) before the starting point of the CG PUSCH occasion being canceled, so the second apparatus 120 can reschedule the unused resources. In some example embodiments, X may be set equal to a UTO offset value, e.g., UTO_offset.

In example embodiments of FIG. 3, an amount of data is to be transmitted at least in a first CG occasion, for example, CG occasion n or CG occasion n+1 in FIG. 4. In the signaling chart 300, based on the amount of data, the first apparatus 110 determines (321) at least one second CG occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data. For example, CG occasion n+2 and CG occasion n+3 in FIG. 4.

Then, the first apparatus 110 determines (322) status information of the at least one second CG occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first CG occasion and the at least one second CG occasion with a threshold value, for example, the value of “X” obtained in the configuration procedure 310. The status information indicates whether the at least one second CG occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

As shown in the example of FIG. 4, if the first CG occasion is “CG occasion n” and the second CG occasion is “CG occasion n+2” , the first time interval is “T_n, _n+2” , which is larger than the threshold value, X. If the first CG occasion is “CG occasion n” and the second CG occasion is “CG occasion n+3” , the first time interval is “T_n, _n+3” , which is also larger than the threshold value, X. In another example, if the first CG occasion is “CG occasion n+1” and the second CG occasion is “CG occasion n+2” , the first time interval is “T_n+1, _n+2” , which is less than the threshold value, X.

In some example embodiments, during the determination (321) of the at least one second CG occasion, the first apparatus 110 may determine a subset of CG occasions that are needed to transmit the data from CG occasions in a time period. Then, the first apparatus 110 may determine, from the CG occasions in a time period, at least one CG occasion that is not part of the first subset of CG occasions as the at least one second CG occasion.

As for the time period discussed above, it may be preconfigured or predetermined. For example, the time period may be a UTO period.

In some example embodiments, during the determination (322) of the status information, the first apparatus 110 may determine the status information based on two comparisons, that is, a first comparison of the first time interval with the threshold value, and a second comparison of at least one second time interval between a third configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with the threshold value. The third configured grant occasion may be a used configured grant occasion subsequent to the first configured grant occasion.

Specifically, in an implementation, if the first time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, e.g., X, the first apparatus 110 may determine a second time interval between the third CG occasion and one of the at least one second CG occasion. If the second time interval is less than the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 may set the status of the one of the at least one second CG occasion to be unused. Otherwise, if the second time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the status of the one of the at least one second CG occasion is used. More details in this regard will be further discussed with respect to FIGs. 4 and 5 below.

On the other hand, if the first time interval is less than the threshold value, the first apparatus 110 may determine that the status of the at least one second CG occasion is unchanged. That is to say, the status of the at least one second CG occasion is “used” .

Additionally, in some embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may transmit (330) the status information of the at least one second CG occasion to the second apparatus 120. The status information may be transmitted, for example, via UTO-UCI or other suitable signaling (s) to the second apparatus 120. The second apparatus 120 receives (340) the status information from the first apparatus 110 and will thus have the knowledge of which second CG occasion is unused.

In view of the above, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for reporting unused CG PUSCH occasions in CG periods, which is a multiple- criteria UE behavior to notify the gNB about whether a specific CG PUSCH occasion is unused.

More specifically, the proposed solutions are addressing case (s) where UTO_period may be configured equal to (or at least based on) the XR traffic periodicity, and therefore may be significantly larger than the minimum time required for the second apparatus 120 to process the UTO-UCI and reassign unused resources (which is substantially equivalent to UTO_offset in the 3GPP RAN1 agreements) . The proposed solutions are in principle compatible with any of the options currently under discussion, in particular with options A-1a and A1-2a (i.e., options that assume a non-sliding UTO window) , as with such option (s) the first TO within the UTO may never be signaled as unused. As such, it is more natural to set the UTO_period equal to the XR traffic periodicity.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example diagram 400 for UTO UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In some example embodiments, at the CG PUSCH occasion n, the first apparatus 110 may check the buffer status. It is done after the Transport Block (TB) is constructed. Based on the buffer status (denoted as B (n) ) at CG PUSCH occasion n and the transport block size allocated in the subsequent CG occasion (s) , the first apparatus 110 may determine that e.g., it may require only one additional CG PUSCH occasions (n+1) to transmit the remaining data in the buffer B (n) . Then, it may consider that the (potentially) unused CG PUSCH occasions should be the CG occasion n+2 and the CG occasion n+3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart 500 for UTO UCI transmission according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purposes of discussion, the signaling chart 500 will be discussed with reference to FIG. 1, for example, by using the first apparatus 110, as well as FIG. 4.

In example embodiments of the present disclosure, the considered criterion (at a given time instant) may include, but not limited to, the buffer status (at a given time instant) , the transport block size (TBS) of the next available CG occasions within a period (e.g., UTO_period) , the time of the next available CG occasions with UTO-UCI within a period (e.g., UTO_period) , the minimum required time interval between the UTO-UCI indication of unused CG PUSCH resources and the CG occasion being signaled as unused (e.g., X OFDM symbols) .

In some example embodiments, X could be configured by the network, for example, by the second apparatus 120, or it could be a fixed value in the specification. In any case, the first apparatus 110 shall notify the second apparatus 120 that a CG occasion is unused at least X OFDM symbols before the CG occasion is canceled.

It is noted that X has the same functionality as parameter UTO_offset (to be further discussed in 3GPP) . So, X could be equal to UTO_offset in the preferred embodiments of this idea.

As shown in the flow chart 500 of FIG. 5, at 510, at CG occasion n, the first apparatus 110 may check the buffer status (after the TB is constructed) and may determine, based on the estimated buffer status (B (n) ) and the TBS of the next available CG occasions (within UTO_period) , the first (and subsequent) unused CG occasion (s) within UTO_period. It is assumed these are CG occasions m, m+1, . . ., M. (m>n) . M corresponds to the number of the last CG PUSCH occasion within a CG period. Alternatively, the second apparatus 120 may configure such value for CG configuration, for example, in case no multi-PUSCH occasions within a CG period. In some example embodiments, CG occasions m, m+1, . . ., M may be one or more second CG occasions discussed with respect to the above FIG. 4.

At block 520, a variable i is set to be m. That is, i = m. This is an initialization operation and means that the current determined CG occasion i is initialized to be CG occasion m.

At block 530, the first apparatus 110 may determine whether the CG occasion i is the first CG occasion n, or is beyond the last CG occasion M. That is, it is determined whether i equals to n or is larger than M. If yes, the process of the flow chart 500 ends. Otherwise, the process goes to block 540.

At 540, the first apparatus 110 may determine the first time interval (T_n, _i) between the current CG occasion n and CG occasion i.

Then, the first apparatus 110 compare the first time interval with the threshold value X at block 550. If T_n, _i < X, the process of the flow chart 500 goes to block 551 where the first apparatus 110 determines the status of CG occasion i in UTO-UCI is not changed (i.e., CG occasion i is used) .

If T_n, _i ≥ X, the process of the flow chart 500 goes to block 560. At block 560, the first apparatus 110 may determine the second time interval (T_k, _i) between the next used CG occasion k (k ≤ M) , e.g., k = n+1, and CG occasion i.

At block 570, the first apparatus 110 may compare the second time interval (T_k, _i) with the threshold value X. If it is determined at block 570 that the second time interval (T_k, _i) is not less than X, i.e., T_k, _i ≥ X, the process goes to block 571 where the first apparatus 110 determines the status of CG occasion i in UTO-UCI is not changed (i.e., CG PUSCH occasion is used) .

If it is determined at block 570 that the second time interval (T_k, _i) is less than X, i.e., T_k, _i < X, then the process goes to block 572. At block 572, the first apparatus 110 determines that Occasion i indicator in the UTO-UCI is marked as unused. For example, the first apparatus 110 sets the status of CG occasion i to “unused” .

At block 580, the first apparatus 110 increases i by setting i = i + 1 and the process returns to block 530 for the next iteration.

More details will discussed by referring to FIG. 4. In example embodiments described with reference , it is assumed that i represents an index of a CG occasion whose status is to be determined. For example, i = m = n+2 and goes until i=M=n+3.

For i = n+2, the first apparatus 110 may determine the time interval (T_n, _i) between CG PUSCH occasion n and n+2. Then, the following procedure is performed.

In some example embodiments, the UTO-UCI indicator remains unchanged for CG PUSCH occasion i (where i= n+2) if the time interval (T_n, _i) is less than the time equivalent to X. As the CG occasion cannot be rescheduled by the second apparatus 120, there is no reason to change the status for CG occasion i to “unused” . In an alternative example embodiment, the UTO-UCI indicator status for CG occasion i could be changed to “unused” even if the second apparatus 120 does not have the time to reallocate the unused resources for the purpose of the first apparatus 110 power saving and overall reduced interference.

In another example embodiment, if the time interval (T_n, _i) is greater or equal than the time equivalent to X, the first apparatus 110 may determine the time interval between the next used CG PUSCH occasion with UTO-UCI (in this case, the next used CG PUSCH occasion is CG PUSCH occasion n+1 in FIG. 4) and the CG PUSCH occasion i. This time interval is denoted as T_n+1, _i.

As discussed above, if T_n+1, _i is less than the time equivalent to X, the CG PUSCH occasion i (where i = n+2) may be marked as “unused” in the UTO-UCI. This is illustrated in FIG. 4, where CG occasion n+2 is marked as “unused” , since the time interval between the next used CG occasion n+1 and CG occasion n+2 is less than X. Otherwise (i.e., T_n+1, _i ≥ X) , the CG PUSCH occasion i remains unchanged.

As discussed above, in example embodiments of FIG. 4, i may be initially equal to n+2 and go until i=n+3. Then, after determining the status of CG occasion i=n+2, the value of i is increased by 1 (580) and the process of the flow chart 500 goes to block 530. That is, now i=n+3 and the process goes again through blocks 530, 540, 560, 570 bit now it ends in 571 since (T_n+1, _n+3) is larger than X, i.e. CG occasion i=n+3 is remain unchanged and marked as used.

That is, the outcome at CG occasion n may include:

CG occasion n+2 = “unused” ,

CG occasion n+3 = “used” .

Thus, it can be determined that the status of CG occasion n+2 is “unused” and the status of CG occasion n+3 is “used” .

At CG occasion n+1, the whole process of FIG. 5 is repeated for n=n+1. In this situation, the outcome at CG occasion n+1 may include:

CG occasion n+2 = “unused” ,

CG occasion n+3 = “unused” if no new data arrives between CG occasions n and n+1, or new data can be fit into CG occasion n+1, CG occasion n+3 = “used” otherwise” .

In some embodiments, the UTO-UCI may be transmitted together with data.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

At block 610, the first apparatus 110 determines, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data.

At block 620, the first apparatus 110 determines status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: determining, from CG occasions in a time period, a subset of CG occasions that are needed to transmit the data; and determining, from the CG occasions in a time period, at least one CG occasion that is not part of the first subset of CG occasions as the at least one second CG occasion.

In some example embodiments, the time period is an Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, period.

In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: determining the status information based on the comparison of the first time interval with the threshold value and a comparison of at least one second time interval between a third configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with the threshold value, the third configured grant occasion being a used configured grant occasion subsequent to the first configured grant occasion.

In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: in accordance with a determination that the first time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining a second time interval between the third configured grant occasion and one of the at least one second configured grant occasion; in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is less than the threshold value, set the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion to be unused; and in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion is used.

In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: receiving, from a second apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising the threshold value.

In some example embodiments, the threshold value is a UTO offset.

In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: transmitting, to a second apparatus, the status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion.

In some example embodiments, the status information is transmitted via UTO uplink control information to the second apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a second device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

At block 710, the second apparatus 120 receives, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.

In some example embodiments, the method 700 further comprises: transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising a threshold value for determining the status information.

In some example embodiments, the threshold value is a UTO offset.

In some example embodiments, the status information is received from UTO uplink control information.

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for determining, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and means for determining status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining, from CG occasions in a time period, a subset of CG occasions that are needed to transmit the data; and means for determining, from the CG occasions in a time period, at least one CG occasion that is not part of the first subset of CG occasions as the at least one second CG occasion.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining the status information based on the comparison of the first time interval with the threshold value and a comparison of at least one second time interval between two of the at least one second configured grant occasion with the threshold value.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for in accordance with a determination that the first time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining a second time interval between the third configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion; means for, in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is less than the threshold value, setting the status of the at least one second configured grant occasion to be unused; and means for in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determining that the status of the at least one second configured grant occasion is used.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a second apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising the threshold value.

In some example embodiments, the threshold value is a UTO offset.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to a second apparatus, the status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 600 or the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising a threshold value for determining the status information.

In some example embodiments, the threshold value is a UTO offset.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 700 or the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processor 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processor 810.

The communication module 840 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 840 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 840 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 824, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. The instructions of the program 830 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 830 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 824. The processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 830 into the RAM 822.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 830 so that the device 800 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 7. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 822 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 9 shows an example of the computer readable medium 900 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 900 has the program 830 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

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

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

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

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

Further, although operations are depicted 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. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

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

Claims

A first apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

determine, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and

determine status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.
The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

determine, from CG occasions in a time period, a subset of CG occasions that are needed to transmit the data; and

determine, from the CG occasions in a time period, at least one CG occasion that is not part of the first subset of CG occasions as the at least one second CG occasion.
The first apparatus of claim 2, wherein the time period is an Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, period.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

determine the status information based on the comparison of the first time interval with the threshold value and a comparison of at least one second time interval between a third configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with the threshold value, the third configured grant occasion being a used configured grant occasion subsequent to the first configured grant occasion.
The first apparatus of claim 4, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

in accordance with a determination that the first time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determine a second time interval between the third configured grant occasion and one of the at least one second configured grant occasion;

in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is less than the threshold value, set the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion to be unused; and

in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determine that the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion is used.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

receive, from a second apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising the threshold value.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the threshold value is a UTO offset.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the first apparatus is caused to:

transmit, to a second apparatus, the status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion.
The first apparatus of claim 8, wherein the status information is transmitted via UTO uplink control information to the second apparatus.
The first apparatus of any of claims 6 to 9, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A second apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

receive, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.
The second apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second apparatus is caused to:

transmit, to the first apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising a threshold value for determining the status information.
The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the threshold value is a UTO offset.
The second apparatus of any of claims 11 to 13, wherein the status information is received from UTO uplink control information.
The second apparatus of any of claims 11 to 14, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

determining, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and

determining status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.
The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining, from CG occasions in a time period, a subset of CG occasions that are needed to transmit the data; and

determining, from the CG occasions in a time period, at least one CG occasion that is not part of the first subset of CG occasions as the at least one second CG occasion.
The method of claim 17, wherein the time period is an Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, period.
The method of any of claims 16 to 18, further comprising:

determining the status information based on the comparison of the first time interval with the threshold value and a comparison of at least one second time interval between a third configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with the threshold value, the third configured grant occasion being a used configured grant occasion subsequent to the first configured grant occasion.
The method of claim 19, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that the first time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determine a second time interval between the third configured grant occasion and one of the at least one second configured grant occasion;

in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is less than the threshold value, set the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion to be unused; and

in accordance with a determination that the second time interval is larger than or equal to the threshold value, determine that the status of the one of the at least one second configured grant occasion is used.
The method of any of claims 16 to 20, further comprising:

receiving, from a second apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising the threshold value.
The method of any of claims 16 to 21, wherein the threshold value is a UTO offset.
The method of any of claims 16 to 22, further comprising:

transmitting, to a second apparatus, the status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion.
The method of claim 23, wherein the status information is transmitted via UTO uplink control information to the second apparatus.
The method of any of claims 21 to 24, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A method comprising:

receiving, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.
The method of claim 26, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first apparatus, a configuration for Unused Transmission Occasions, UTO, uplink control information, the configuration at least comprising a threshold value for determining the status information.
The method of claim 27, wherein the threshold value is a UTO offset.
The method of any of claims 26 to 28, wherein the status information is received from UTO uplink control information.
The method of any of claims 26 to 29, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.
A first apparatus comprising:

means for determining, based on an amount of data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion, at least one second configured grant occasion that is not needed for transmitting the data; and

means for determining status information of the at least one second configured grant occasion at least based on a comparison of a first time interval between the first configured grant occasion and the at least one second configured grant occasion with a threshold value, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is to be signaled as unused or used.
A second apparatus comprising:

means for receiving, from a first apparatus, status information of at least one second configured grant occasion, the status information indicating whether the at least one second configured grant occasion is unused, wherein the at least one second configured grant occasion is not needed for transmitting data that is to be transmitted at least in a first configured grant occasion.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 16-25 or the method of any of claims 26-30.