WO2025160950A1

WO2025160950A1 - Method for physical downlink control channel coverage enhancement

Info

Publication number: WO2025160950A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/075511
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yushu Zhang; Kao-Peng Chou
Original assignee: Google LLC
Current assignee: Google LLC
Priority date: 2024-02-02
Filing date: 2024-02-02
Publication date: 2025-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 2026-08-02

Abstract

This disclosure provides systems, devices, apparatus, and methods, including computer programs encoded on storage media, for PDCCH transmission coverage enhancement. A UE (102) receives (304), from a network entity (104), a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The UE (102) receives (306), from the network entity (104), a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The UE (102) communicates (308), with the network entity (104), based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

Description

METHOD FOR PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL COVERAGE ENHANCEMENT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication, and more particularly, to physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission.

BACKGROUND

The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies a radio interface referred to as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) (5G NR) . An architecture for a 5G NR wireless communication system includes a 5G core (5GC) network, a 5G radio access network (5G-RAN) , a user equipment (5G UE) , etc. The 5G NR architecture seeks to provide increased data rates, decreased latency, and/or increased capacity compared to prior generation cellular communication systems.

Wireless communication systems, in general, provide various telecommunication services (e.g., telephony, video, data, messaging, etc. ) based on multiple-access technologies, such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) technologies, that support communication with multiple UEs. Improvements in mobile broadband continue the progression of such wireless communication technologies. For example, in some scenarios, e.g., small cell, the downlink transmission power may be limited. In some other scenarios, the coverage for the PDCCH transmission may be limited.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects. This summary neither identifies key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineates the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Currently, a network entity (NE) transmits the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission at time and frequency domain resources configured by a search space (SS) and its associated control resource set (CORESET) . The NE configures the time-domain (TD) resource by the SS and frequency-domain (FD) resource by the CORESET. Based on the TD/FD resource configured by the SS/CORESET, a UE may identify one or multiple PDCCH candidates. The UE performs blind detection for the PDCCH transmission based on a set of control channel element (CCE) aggregation levels (ALs) predefined or configured by the NE.

However, in some scenarios, e.g., small cell, the downlink transmission power may be limited. In some other scenarios, e.g., non-terrestrial network (NTN) , the coupling loss may be large. Accordingly, the downlink coverage may become a problem, and thus the coverage for the PDCCH transmission may be limited.

The present disclosure addresses the above-noted and other deficiencies by the NE transmitting the PDCCH transmission by multiple repetitions to enhance the coverage of the PDCCH transmission. The NE configures at least one of the followings: PDCCH on a SS/CORESET with multiple repetitions; multiple SSs linked for PDCCH repetitions; or multiple CORESET duplications. The NE may configure configuration of an orthogonal cover code (OCC) for PDCCH repetitions; configuration of TD bundling for PDCCH repetitions; configuration of PDCCH repetitions for radio link monitoring (RLM) or beam failure detection (BFD) . Then the NE transmits PDCCH repetitions in the TD/FD resource for one of the configured SS/CORESET or multiple linked SSs for PDCCH repetitions. Further, the NE may configure the PDCCH transmission with multiple repetitions based on OCC. In addition, if the NE uses the same precoder and beam to transmit the PDCCH and demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PDCCH in the repetitions, the UE may perform cross-repetition channel estimation to improve the PDCCH performance. Moreover, the NE may configure the UE to perform the RLM and BFD based on the hypothetical block error ratio (BLER) for the PDCCH transmission with multiple repetitions. In this way, the coverage of the PDCCH transmission is improved.

According to some aspects, a UE receives, from a network entity, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The UE receives, from the network entity, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The UE communicates, with the network entity, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

According to some aspects, a NE transmits, to a UE, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The NE transmits, to the UE, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The NE communicates, with the UE, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of a wireless communications system that includes a plurality of user equipments (UEs) and network entities in communication over one or more cells according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of PDCCH candidates according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating communications between a UE and a network entity with multiple PDCCH transmission repetitions for coverage enhancement according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an SS-level repetition in one SS according to embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an AL-level repetition in one SS according to an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with a PDCCH candidate-level repetition in one SS according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an SS-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an AL-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with a PDCCH candidate-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example for orphan PDCCH repetitions according to an embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetition bundling for cross-repetition channel estimation according to an embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a UE according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a method of wireless communication at a network entity according to an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a hardware implementation for an example UE apparatus according to some embodiments.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a hardware implementation for one or more example network entities according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram 100 of a wireless communications system associated with a plurality of cells 190. The wireless communications system includes user equipments (UEs) 102 and base stations/network entities 104. Some base stations may include an aggregated base station architecture and other base stations may include a disaggregated base station architecture. The aggregated base station architecture utilizes a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single radio access network (RAN) node. A disaggregated base station architecture utilizes a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed among two or more units (e.g., radio unit (RU) 106, distributed unit (DU) 108, central unit (CU) 110) . For example, a CU 110 is implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs 108 may be co-located with the CU 110, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed throughout one or multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs 108 may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs 106. Any of the RU 106, the DU 108 and the CU 110 can be implemented as virtual units, such as a virtual radio unit (VRU) , a virtual distributed unit (VDU) , or a virtual central unit (VCU) . The base station/network entity 104 (e.g., an aggregated base station or disaggregated units of the base station, such as the RU 106 or the DU 108) , may be referred to as a transmission reception point (TRP) .

Operations of the base station 104 and/or network designs may be based on aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base station architectures are utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open-radio access network (O-RAN) network, or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) , which may also be referred to a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) . Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across the two or more units at various physical locations, as well as distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network designs. The various units of the disaggregated base station architecture, or the disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit. For example, the base stations 104d, 104e and/or the RUs 106a, 106b, 106c, 106d may communicate with the UEs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, and/or 102s via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links based on a Uu interface. In examples, multiple RUs 106 and/or base stations 104 may simultaneously serve the UEs 102, such as by intra-cell and/or inter-cell access links between the UEs 102 and the RUs 106/base stations 104.

The RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110 may include (or may be coupled to) one or more interfaces configured to transmit or receive information/signals via a wired or wireless transmission medium. For example, a wired interface can be configured to transmit or receive the information/signals over a wired transmission medium, such as via the fronthaul link 160 between the RU 106d and the baseband unit (BBU) 112 of the base station 104d associated with the cell 190d. The BBU 112 includes a DU 108 and a CU 110, which may also have a wired interface (e.g., midhaul link) configured between the DU 108 and the CU 110 to transmit or receive the information/signals between the DU 108 and the CU 110. In further examples, a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver, such as an RF transceiver, configured to transmit and/or receive the information/signals via the wireless transmission medium, such as for information communicated between the RU 106a of the cell 190a and the base station 104e of the cell 190e via cross-cell communication beams 136-138 of the RU 106a and the base station 104e.

The RUs 106 may be configured to implement lower layer functionality. For example, the RU 106 is controlled by the DU 108 and may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or lower layer PHY functionality, such as execution of fast Fourier transform (FFT) , inverse FFT (iFFT) , digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc. The functionality of the RU 106 may be based on the functional split, such as a functional split of lower layers.

The RUs 106 may transmit or receive over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 102. For example, the RU 106b of the cell 190b communicates with the UE 102b of the cell 190b via a first set of communication beams 132 of the RU 106b and a second set of communication beams 134b of the UE 102b, which may correspond to inter-cell communication beams or, in some examples, cross-cell communication beams. For instance, the UE 102b of the cell 190b may communicate with the RU 106a of the cell 190a via a third set of communication beams 134a of the UE 102b and a fourth set of communication beams 136 of the RU 106a. DUs 108 can control both real-time and non-real-time features of control plane and user plane communications of the RUs 106.

Any combination of the RU 106, the DU 108, and the CU 110, or reference thereto individually, may correspond to a base station 104. Thus, the base station 104 may include at least one of the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110. The base stations 104 provide the UEs 102 with access to a core network. The base stations 104 may relay communications between the UEs 102 and the core network (not shown) . The base stations 104 may be associated with macrocells for higher-power cellular base stations and/or small cells for lower-power cellular base stations. For example, the cell 190e may correspond to a macrocell, whereas the cells 190a-190d may correspond to small cells. Small cells include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc. A network that includes at least one macrocell and at least one small cell may be referred to as a “heterogeneous network. ”

Transmissions from a UE 102 to a base station 104/RU 106 are referred to as uplink (UL) transmissions, whereas transmissions from the base station 104/RU 106 to the UE 102 are referred to as downlink (DL) transmissions. Uplink transmissions may also be referred to as reverse link transmissions and downlink transmissions may also be referred to as forward link transmissions. For example, the RU 106d utilizes antennas of the base station 104d of cell 190d to transmit a downlink/forward link communication to the UE 102d or receive an uplink/reverse link communication from the UE 102d based on the Uu interface associated with the access link between the UE 102d and the base station 104d/RU 106d.

Communication links between the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may be based on multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be associated with one or more carriers. The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may utilize a spectrum bandwidth of Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, 800, 1600, 2000, etc. MHz) per carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to a total of Yx MHz, where x component carriers (CCs) are used for communication in each of the uplink and downlink directions. The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other along a frequency spectrum. In examples, uplink and downlink carriers may be allocated in an asymmetric manner, with more or fewer carriers allocated to either the uplink or the downlink. A primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers may be included in the component carriers. The primary component carrier may be associated with a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary component carrier may be associated with a secondary cell (SCell) .

Some UEs 102, such as the UEs 102a and 102s, may perform device-to-device (D2D) communications over sidelink. For example, a sidelink communication/D2D link utilizes a spectrum for a wireless wide area network (WWAN) associated with uplink and downlink communications. Such sidelink/D2D communication may be performed through various wireless communications systems, such as wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, Bluetooth systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, New Radio (NR) systems, etc.

The UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may each include a plurality of antennas. The plurality of antennas may correspond to antenna elements, antenna panels, and/or antenna arrays that may facilitate beamforming operations. For example, the RU 106b transmits a downlink beamformed signal based on a first set of communication beams 132 to the UE 102b in one or more transmit directions of the RU 106b. The UE 102b may receive the downlink beamformed signal based on a second set of communication beams 134b from the RU 106b in one or more receive directions of the UE 102b. In a further example, the UE 102b may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS) ) to the RU 106b based on the second set of communication beams 134b in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102b. The RU 106b may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102b in one or more receive directions of the RU 106b. The UE 102b may perform beam training to determine the best receive and transmit directions for the beamformed signals. The transmit and receive directions for the UEs 102 and the base stations 104/RUs 106 may or may not be the same.

In further examples, beamformed signals may be communicated between a first base station/RU 106a and a second base station 104e. For instance, the base station 104e of the cell 190e may transmit a beamformed signal to the RU 106a based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The RU 106a may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 104e of the cell 190e based on the RU communication beams 136 in one or more receive directions of the RU 106a. In further examples, the base station 104e transmits a downlink beamformed signal to the UE 102e based on the communication beams 138 in one or more transmit directions of the base station 104e. The UE 102e receives the downlink beamformed signal from the base station 104e based on UE communication beams 130 in one or more receive directions of the UE 102e. The UE 102e may also transmit an uplink beamformed signal to the base station 104e based on the UE communication beams 130 in one or more transmit directions of the UE 102e, such that the base station 104e may receive the uplink beamformed signal from the UE 102e in one or more receive directions of the base station 104e.

The base station 104 may include and/or be referred to as a network entity. That is, “network entity” may refer to the base station 104 or at least one unit of the base station 104, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, and/or the CU 110. The base station 104 may also include and/or be referred to as a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB) , a next generation NB (gNB) , an evolved NB (eNB) , an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS) , an extended service set (ESS) , a TRP, a network node, network equipment, or other related terminology. The base station 104 or an entity at the base station 104 can be implemented as an IAB node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station, or a disaggregated base station including one or more RUs 106, DUs 108, and/or CUs 110. A set of aggregated or disaggregated base stations may be referred to as a next generation-radio access network (NG-RAN) . In some examples, the UE 102a operates in dual connectivity (DC) with the base station 104e and the base station/RU 106a. In such cases, the base station 104e can be a master node and the base station/RU 160a can be a secondary node.

Uplink/downlink signaling may also be communicated via a satellite positioning system (SPS) 114. In an example, the SPS 114 associated with the cell 190c may be in communication with one or more UEs 102, such as the UE 102c, and one or more base stations 104/RUs 106, such as the RU 106c. The SPS 114 may correspond to one or more of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) , a global position system (GPS) , a non-terrestrial network (NTN) , or other satellite position/location system. The SPS 114 may be associated with LTE signals, NR signals (e.g., based on round trip time (RTT) and/or multi-RTT) , wireless local area network (WLAN) signals, a terrestrial beacon system (TBS) , sensor-based information, NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) techniques, downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) , downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) , uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) , uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA) , and/or other systems, signals, or sensors.

Still referring to FIG. 1, in certain aspects, any of the UEs 102 may include a repetition component 140 configured to receive, from a network entity, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The repetition component 140 is configured to receive, from the network entity, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The repetition component 140 is further configured to communicates, with the network entity, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

In certain aspects, any of the base stations 104 or a network entity of the base stations 104 may include a configuration component 150 configured to transmit, to a UE, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The configuration component 150 is configured to transmit, to the UE, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The configuration component 150 is further configured to communicates, with the UE, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

Accordingly, FIG. 1 describes a wireless communication system that may be implemented in connection with aspects of one or more other figures described herein. Further, although the following description may be focused on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas, such as 5G-Advanced and future versions, LTE, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , and other wireless technologies, such as 6G.

FIG. 2 is a diagram 200 illustrating an example of PDCCH candidates, when 2 symbols are configured for one SS, according to an embodiment. A UE may identify one or multiple PDCCH candidates based on the TD/FD resource configured by the NE.As shown in Figure 2, the UE detects one PDCCH candidate on M (M=1) control channel elements (CCEs) , where M indicates the CCE aggregation level (AL) . The UE performs blind detection based on a set of CCE ALs predefined or configured by the NE. One CCE (e.g., 211, 212, or 213) comprises G resource element groups (REGs) . The value of G is predefined, e.g., G=6, or configured by the NE (when REG interleaving is enabled) . One REG corresponds to one resource block (RB) .

In some scenarios, e.g., small cell, the downlink transmission power may be limited. In some other scenarios, e.g., NTN, the coupling loss may be large. The downlink coverage may become a problem. The downlink coverage may be improved by increasing the coverage for PDCCH transmission.

The coverage for the PDCCH transmission may be increased by transmitting the PDCCH transmission with multiple repetitions. Then how to configure the PDCCH transmission by multiple repetitions for both idle mode and connected mode UEs and how to perform the blind detection (BD) and receive the PDCCH transmission with multiple repetitions are of increased complexity.

Further, with regard to the PDCCH capacity, the NE may transmit the PDCCH transmission repetitions based on OCC. Then how to configure and transmit the PDCCH repetitions based on OCC is challenging.

In addition, if the NE uses the same precoder and beam to transmit the PDCCH transmission and DMRS for the PDCCH transmission in the repetitions, the UE may perform cross-repetition channel estimation to improve the PDCCH transmission performance. Then how to determine whether the UE can perform cross-repetition channel estimation could be of increased complexity.

Moreover, the UE may be configured to perform the RLM and BFD based on the BLER for the PDCCH by measuring synchronization signal block (SSB) or channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) quasi-co-located (QCLed) with the DMRS of the PDCCH. Then how to perform the hypothetical BLER measurement for the RLM/BFD could be challenging when the UE is configured with the PDCCH coverage enhancement.

FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling diagram 300 illustrating communications between a UE and a network entity with PDCCH repetitions for coverage enhancement according to an embodiment. The network entity 104 may correspond to a base station or a unit of a base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, the CU 110, etc.

In some implementations, the UE 102 may optionally transmit 302, to the network entity 104, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions. The NE 104 may receive 302, from the UE 102, the UE capability message indicating the UE capability on the supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions. The UE may report 302 the UE capabilities above for PDCCH in different types of SS, e.g., Type 0/0A/0B/1/1A/2/2A/3 common SS (CSS) and UE-specific SS (USS) , commonly or separately.

Based on the UE capability, the NE 104 transmits 304, to the UE 102, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs, and configuring the SS or the linked SSs associated with one or multiple CORESETs. The NE may configure the one or more CORESETs associated with the configured SS or linked SSs. The UE 102 receives 304, from the NE 104, the PDCCH repetition configuration configuring the PDCCH repetition scheme based on the at least one of the SS or the linked SSs, and configuring the SS or the linked SSs associated with one or multiple CORESETs. The NE 104 may configure 304 at least one of the followings: a PDCCH transmission with multiple repetitions on a SS/CORESET; multiple SSs linked for PDCCH repetitions; configuration of OCC for PDCCH repetitions; configuration of TD bundling for PDCCH repetitions; configuration of PDCCH repetitions for RLM/BFD. The NE 104 may transmit 304 the control signaling by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, e.g., RRCReconfiguration, master information block (MIB) , or system information block (SIB) . The NE 104 may configure PDCCH in different types of SS by different RRC signaling.

Then the NE 104 transmits 306, to the UE 102, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The UE 102 receives 306, from the network entity 104, the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The NE 104 transmits 306 PDCCH repetitions in the TD/FD resource for one of the configured SS/CORESET or multiple linked SSs for PDCCH repetitions. The UE/NE may determine the TD/FD resource for PDCCH repetitions for each PDCCH candidate. The NE 104 may transmit 306 multiple repetitions of one PDCCH candidate on the determined TD/FD resource in one of the configured SS/CORESET or multiple configured linked SSs. The UE 102 may receive 306 the multiple repetitions of one PDCCH candidate on the determined TD/FD resource in one of the configured SS/CORESET or multiple configured linked SSs. The UE may perform BD to detect the PDCCH transmission. The UE may perform RLM/BFD based on the hypothetical BLER of the PDCCH repetitions.

After receiving the PDCCH transmission, the UE 102 further communicates 308 with the NE 104 based on the received downlink control information (DCI) in the PDCCH transmission. The NE 104 and the UE 102 further communicate 308 with each other based on the received downlink control information (DCI) in the PDCCH transmission.

In this disclosure, unless specified, a RRC signaling may indicate a RRC reconfiguration message from the NE to UE, or a master information block (MIB) , or a system information block (SIB) , where the SIB can be an existing SIB (e.g., SIB1) or a new SIB (e.g., SIB J, where J is an integer above 21) transmitted by the network entity. In some other implementations, the NE receives the one or more capabilities from a core network (e.g., access and mobility management function (AMF) ) . In yet some other implementations, the network entity receives the one or more capabilities from another base station (e.g., gNB or eNB) .

FIGs. 4-6 illustrate examples for PDCCH repetitions in one SS according to embodiments. The PDCCH repetition scheme may be based on the SS. The PDCCH repetition configuration may configure the PDCCH repetition scheme based on the SS. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of the parameters: number of repetitions; intra-slot or inter-slot repetition; symbol offset between two repetitions; slot offset between two repetitions; time-domain and/or frequency-domain resource for the first repetition; time-domain and/or frequency-domain resource for other repetitions.

In some implementations, some of the parameters may be predefined. In one example, the symbol offset between repetitions may be predefined as 0, e.g., PDCCH repetitions are in consecutive symbols. The slot offset between two repetitions may be predefined as 0, e.g., PDCCH repetitions are in consecutive slots. The frequency-domain resource for all the repetitions may be the same.

In some implementations, if one of the PDCCH repetitions is dropped, e.g., UE does not monitor one of the PDCCH repetitions and/or the NE does not transmit one of the PDCCH repetitions, which may be due to collision, e.g., inter-slot PDCCH repetition in an uplink slot, the UE may perform one of the followings: UE still monitors other PDCCH repetitions; UE does not monitor other PDCCH repetitions; UE monitors the dropped PDCCH repetitions at the next available symbols/slots; UE receives a configuration for the NE to configure the UE behavior based on the above; or UE reports a UE capability indicating the UE behavior based on the above.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an SS-level repetition in an SS according to embodiments. The PDCCH repetitions may be associated with at least one of a search space-level (SS-level) repetition, an aggregation level-level (AL-level) repetition, or a PDCCH candidate-level repetition. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration based on the SS-level repetition for the SS. Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions on the resources for one PDCCH candidate. The UE monitors the PDCCH candidate based on the repetitions for the SS. As shown in FIG. 4, the NE may configure PDCCH repetitions 421, 422, and 423 based on the SS-level repetition for the SS. Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions 421, 422, and 423 on the resources 411, 412, 413 for PDCCH candidates 1, 2, and 3. The UE monitors the PDCCH candidates based on the repetitions for the SS. In some implementations, the NE provide the configuration by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI.

In one example, for SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure whether it is based on multiple number of repetitions or not by MIB. When the multiple number of repetitions is enabled, the number of repetitions may be predefined. In another example, the NE may configure the number of repetitions for PDCCH on SS0/CORESET0 by MIB. In another example, the number of repetitions for PDCCH on SS0/CORESET0 is predefined.

In another example, for SS/CORESET other than SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure the configuration for PDCCH repetitions by RRC signaling, e.g., SIB or RRCReconfiguration. The NE may update some of the configuration for PDCCH repetitions by MAC CE or DCI. The NE may update the configuration per SS/CORESET or across SS/CORESET in a bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell. Thus, the NE may indicate at least one of the followings in the MAC CE or DCI: serving cell index, BWP index, SS index, CORESET index, and the updated configuration for the PDCCH repetition.

In some implementations, if the CCE-REG mapping interleaving is enabled, e.g., cce-REG-MappingType is set as interleaved, the NE and UE may apply common or separate CCE-REG mapping interleaving operation.

In some implementations, the NE and UE may determine the CCE-REG mapping based on the repetition index.

In one example, the CCE-to-REG mapping for a control-resource set may be interleaved or non-interleaved and is described by REG bundles:

- REG bundle i is defined as REGs {iL, iL+1, ..., iL+L-1} where L is the REG bundle size, andis the number of REGs in the CORESET

- CCE j consists of REG bundles {f (6j/L) , f (6j/L+1) , ..., f (6j/L+6/L-1) } where f (·) is an interleaver

For interleaved CCE-to-REG mapping, L∈ {2, 6} forand forThe interleaver is defined by

x=cR+r
r=0, 1, …, R-1
c=0, 1, …, C-1

For a CORESET configured by the ControlResourceSet IE:

- is given by the higher-layer parameter frequencyDomainResources;

- is given by the higher-layer parameter duration, whereis supported only if the higher-layer parameter dmrs-TypeA-Position equals 3;

- interleaved or non-interleaved mapping is given by the higher-layer parameter cce-REG-MappingType;

- L equals 6 for non-interleaved mapping and is given by the higher-layer parameter reg-BundleSize for interleaved mapping;

- R is given by the higher-layer parameter interleaverSize;

- n_shift∈ {0, 1, …, 274} is given by the higher-layer parameter shiftIndex if provided, otherwise

- n_rep is the repetition (transmission occasion) index for the SS or determined based on the repetition (transmission occasion) index for the SS

In some other implementations, the NE may configure at least one of the following parameters for REG-CCE mapping interleaving for each repetition: REG bundle size (e.g., reg-BundleSize) , interleaver size (e.g., interleaverSize) , shift index for the interleaver (e.g., shiftIndex) .

In one example, The CCE-to-REG mapping for a control-resource set can be interleaved or non-interleaved and is described by REG bundles:

For a CORESET configured by the ControlResourceSet IE:

- is given by the higher-layer parameter frequencyDomainResources;

- L equals 6 for non-interleaved mapping and is given by the higher-layer parameter reg-BundleSize for interleaved mapping for the repetition (transmission occasion) ;

- R is given by the higher-layer parameter interleaverSize for the repetition (transmission occasion) ;

- n_shift∈ {0, 1, …, 274} is given by the higher-layer parameter shiftIndex for the repetition (transmission occasion) if provided, otherwise

FIG. 5 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an AL-level repetition in one SS according to an embodiment. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration for one or multiple ALs for one SS. Then the UE monitors a PDCCH candidate based on the PDCCH repetition configuration corresponding to its AL. In one example, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration for particular AL (s) , e.g., AL (s) higher than or smaller than a predefined or configured threshold, or the highest AL with at least one PDCCH candidate. In another example, the NE may configure some of or all the parameters for the PDCCH repetition configuration for each AL and other parameters for the PDCCH repetition configuration commonly for all Als.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, N_K indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL K. For example, N₄ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL 4, and N₈ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL 8. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions for one PDCCH candidate take the same CCE(s) . The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions 521 and 522 for PDCCH candidates 511 (e.g., 1 to N₄) based on AL 4. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions 521, 522, 523, and 524 for PDCCH candidates 512 (e.g., (N₄+1) to (N₄ +N₈) ) based on AL 8.

In some implementations, the NE provides the PDCCH repetition configuration for the AL (s) by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI.

In one example, for SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure whether it is based on multiple number of repetitions or not by MIB. When the multiple number of repetitions is enabled, the number of repetitions for one or multiple AL (s) may be predefined. In another example, the NE may configure the number of repetitions for PDCCH based on one or multiple AL (s) on SS0/CORESET0 by MIB. In another example, the number of repetitions for PDCCH on SS0/CORESET0 for each AL is predefined, e.g., 4 for AL=16 and 1 for other ALs.

In another example, for SS/CORESET other than SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration for one or multiple ALs by RRC signaling, e.g., SIB or RRCReconfiguration. The NE may update some of the configuration for PDCCH repetitions by MAC CE or DCI. The NE may update the configuration per SS/CORESET or across SS/CORESET in a bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell. Thus, the NE may indicate at least one of the followings in the MAC CE or DCI: serving cell index, BWP index, SS index, CORESET index, AL index (es) and the updated PDCCH repetition configuration for each AL.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with a PDCCH candidate-level repetition in one SS according to an embodiment. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration for each PDCCH candidate for one SS. The UE monitors each PDCCH candidate based on its PDCCH repetition configuration. In one example, the NE may configure the number of repetitions for each PDCCH candidate.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, N_R indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on R repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions for one PDCCH candidate take the same CCE (s) . For example, N₂ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on 2 repetitions, and N₄ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on 4 repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions for one PDCCH candidate take the same CCE (s) . The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions 621, 622 for PDCCH candidates 611 (e.g., 1 to N₂) based on 2 repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions 621, 622, 623, 624 for PDCCH candidates 612 (e.g., (N₂+1) to (N₂+N₄) ) based on 4 repetitions.

In some implementations, the NE provides the PDCCH repetition configuration for the PDCCH candidates by RRC signaling, MAC CE or DCI.

In one example, for SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure whether it is based on multiple number of repetitions or not by MIB. When the multiple number of repetitions is enabled, the number of repetitions for each PDCCH candidate may be predefined. In another example, the NE may configure the number of repetitions for each PDCCH candidate on SS0/CORESET0 by MIB. In another example, the number of repetitions for each PDCCH candidate on SS0/CORESET0 for each AL is predefined, e.g., 4 for the last PDCCH candidate and 1 for other PDCCH candidate.

In another example, for SS/CORESET other than SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration for each PDCCH candidate by RRC signaling, e.g., SIB or RRCReconfiguration. The NE may update some of the configuration for PDCCH repetitions by MAC CE or DCI. The NE may update the configuration per PDCCH candidate for a SS/CORESET in a bandwidth part (BWP) or serving cell. Thus, the NE may indicate at least one of the followings in the MAC CE or DCI: serving cell index, BWP index, SS index, CORESET index, PDCCH candidate index (es) and the updated PDCCH repetition configuration for the PDCCH candidate (s) .

FIGs. 7-9 illustrate examples for PDCCH repetitions in linked SSs according to embodiments. The PDCCH repetition scheme may be based on the linked SSs. The PDCCH repetition configuration may configure the PDCCH repetition scheme based on the linked SSs. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetitions by configuring multiple linked SSs. In some implementations, the NE and UE may determine the PDCCH candidates on the same CCEs within a time window are PDCCH repetitions. In some other implementations, the NE and UE may determine the PDCCH candidates based on the same PDCCH candidate index within a time window are PDCCH repetitions.

In some implementations, the time window may be predefined, e.g., in a slot or in multiple consecutive slots. In some other implementations, the time window may be configured by the NE. In one example, the NE may configure the slot offset and periodicity for the first slot and the number of slots for one time window.

In some implementations, the NE provide the configuration of linked SSs by RRC signaling, MAC CE, or DCI. In one example, for SS/CORESET other than SS0/CORESET0, the NE may configure the configuration of linked SSs by RRC signaling, e.g., SIB or RRCReconfiguration. The NE may update configuration of the linked SSs or activate/deactivate some of the SSs by MAC CE or DCI. The NE may update the configuration per BWP or serving cell. Thus, the NE may indicate at least one of the followings in the MAC CE or DCI: serving cell index, BWP index, SS indexes for linked SSs, activation/deactivation status for each SS.

In some implementations, the NE may configure the same value for the linked SSs for at least one of the following parameters: associated CORESET ID (e.g., controlResourceSetId) ; monitoring periodicity (e.g., monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset) ; number of slots (e.g., duration) ; monitoring slot offset (e.g., monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset) ; monitoring symbols (e.g., monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot) ; number of candidate for one or multiple ALs (e.g., nrofCandidates) ; search space type (e.g., searchSpaceType) . Thus, the UE may expect the NE configure the same value for the linked SSs for at least one of the following parameters: associated CORESET ID (e.g., controlResourceSetId) ; monitoring periodicity (e.g., monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset) ; number of slots (e.g., duration) ; monitoring slot offset (e.g., monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset) ; monitoring symbols (e.g., monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot) ; number of candidate for one or multiple ALs (e.g., nrofCandidates) ; search space type (e.g., searchSpaceType) .

In some implementations, if one of the linked SSs is dropped, e.g., UE does not monitor the SS and/or the NE does not transmit PDCCH on the SS, which may be due to collision or overbooking, e.g., the SS is in an uplink slot or the total number of BDs or CCEs in a slot or span with the SS is above the maximum number of BDs or CCEs, the UE may perform one of the followings: UE still monitors PDCCH in other linked SS (s) in the time window; UE does not monitor PDCCH in other linked SS (s) in the time window; UE monitors the PDCCH in the dropped SS at the next available symbols/slots; UE receives a configuration for the NE to configure the UE behavior based on the above; or UE reports a UE capability indicating the UE behavior based on the above.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an SS-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment. The PDCCH repetitions may be associated with at least one of an SS-level linkage, an AL-level linkage, or a PDCCH candidate-level linkage. In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration based on the SS-level linkage in the linked SSs. The NE may configure the linked SS (s) for each SS or configure at least a set of linked SSs. Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions on the resources for one PDCCH candidate on the linked SSs. The UE monitors the PDCCH candidate based on the repetitions for the linked SSs.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the NE may configure a set of linked SSs 721 (SS 1) , 722 (SS 2) , 723 (SS 3) , and 724 (SS 4) . Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions on the resources for one PDCCH candidate (PDCCH candidate 1, 2, …, or N) on the linked SSs 721, 722, 723, and 724. The UE monitors the PDCCH candidate (PDCCH candidate 1, 2, …, or N) based on the repetitions for the linked SSs 721, 722, 723, and 724.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with an AL-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment. The NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration based on the AL-level linkage in the linked SSs. In some examples, the NE may configure the linked SS (s) for each SS or configure a set of linked SSs for one or multiple ALs. Then the UE monitors one PDCCH candidate based on the linked SSs corresponding to its AL. In one example, the NE may configure the linked SS (s) for each SS or configure a set of linked SSs for particular AL (s) , e.g., AL (s) higher than or smaller than a predefined or configured threshold, or the highest AL with at least one PDCCH candidate.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, N_K indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL K. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions for one PDCCH candidate take the same CCE (s) . For example, N₄ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL 4, and N₈ indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on AL 8. The NE may configure a set of linked SSs 821 (SS 1) , 822 (SS 2) , 823 (SS 3) , and 824 (SS 4) for AL 4 and AL 8. Then the UE monitors a PDCCH candidate 811 based on the linked SSs 821 and 822 based on AL 4, and a PDCCH candidate 812 based on the linked SSs 821, 822, 823 and 824 based on AL 8.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetitions associated with a PDCCH candidate-level linkage in linked SSs according to an embodiment. The NE may configure the PDCCH repetition configuration based on the PDCCH candidate-level linkage in the linked SSs. In some examples, the NE may configure the linked SS (s) for each SS or configure a set of linked SSs for each PDCCH candidate for one SS. The UE monitors one PDCCH candidate on its linked SS (s) .

As illustrated in FIG. 9, N_L indicates the number of PDCCH candidates based on L linked SSs. The NE and UE may determine the PDCCH repetitions for one PDCCH candidate take the same CCE (s) . For example, the NE may configure a set of linked SSs 921 (SS 1) and 922 (SS 2) for each of PDCCH candidates 911 (e.g., 1 to N₂) based on 2 linked SSs, and a set of linked SSs 921 (SS 1) , 922 (SS 2) , 923 (SS 3) , and 924 (SS 4) for each of PDCCH candidates 912 (e.g., (N₂+1) to (N₂+N₄) ) based on 4 linked SSs. The UE monitors each of PDCCH candidates 911 (e.g., 1 to N₂) on the linked SSs 921 and 922, and each of PDCCH candidates 912 (e.g., (N₂+1) to (N₂+N₄) ) on the linked SSs 921, 922, 923 and 924.

In some examples, the NE may configure the PDCCH repetitions by configuring multiple linked SSs (as described in connection with FIG. 7-9) , and configure PDCCH repetition configurations for one or multiple of the linked SSs (as described in connection with FIG. 4-6) . Then the NE can transmit the PDCCH repetitions in the repetitions of each of the linked SSs. The UE monitors PDCCH on the PDCCH candidate (s) repetitions in the linked SSs and the repetitions of each SSs.

In some examples, the PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions are associated with a CORESET with one or more duplications. The PDCCH repetition configuration may further configure an SS configuration including a CORESET identification (ID) associated with the CORESET, and a frequency resource indication. The PDCCH repetitions may be associated with the CORESET with one or more duplications. The NE may configure the PDCCH repetitions by configuring duplicated CORESETs to the UE. For example, the NE configures an associated CORESET for an SS, and configures one or multiple duplications of the CORESET. Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions in different CORESET duplications. In some examples, a NE sends, to a UE, an SS configuration, where the SS configuration includes a CORESET ID (associated with a reference CORESET) and a frequency resource (e.g., RB or RB group (RBG) ) indication.

In some implementations, the frequency resource indications include at least one of following information: a frequency resource offset and a number of CORESET duplications (if the UE supports more than 2 duplications) . In accordance with the search space configuration, the UE can determine a first frequency resource of a first CORESET duplication according to the first frequency resource of the reference CORESET and the frequency resource offset. If the NE configures more than 2 CORESET duplications, the UE multiplies the frequency resource offset by the duplication index (e.g., multiplies the frequency resource offset by 1 for the first duplication, and by 2 for the second duplication, etc…) .

In some implementations, the frequency resource indication includes a list of frequency resource starting indexes. In some examples, the list of frequency resource starting indexes is a bitmap, where the NE can set a bit in the bitmap as ‘1’ or ‘0’ to indicate whether an RB/RBG is a starting frequency resource of a CORESET duplication. In some examples, the list of frequency resource starting indexes includes the frequency resource starting index of the reference CORESET. In some examples, the list of frequency resource starting indexes does not include the frequency resource starting index of the reference CORESET. In accordance with the search space configuration, the UE determines the frequency resource allocation of each CORESET duplication by using the list of frequency resource starting indexes and the frequency resources allocation of the reference CORESET. For example, the NE allocates frequency resource indexes {1, 2, 4, 7} to the reference CORESET, and indicates a frequency resource index 10 as a starting index of a CORESET duplication, then the UE can determine that a CORESET duplication occupies frequency resource indexes {10, 11, 13, 16} .

In some implementations, the NE configures, to the UE, multiple frequency resource allocations in a CORESET configuration. In some examples, the NE configures, to the UE, multiple frequency resource bitmaps (e.g., RRC parameter frequencyDomainResources) . In some examples, the NE indicates, to the UE, multiple frequency resource starting indexes in a first bitmap, and indicates the frequency resource allocation of the reference CORESET in a second bitmap. Then the UE determine the allocated frequency resource of a CORESET or duplication by using previous introduced method (the one with frequency resource staring indexes and reference CORESET configuration) .

Once the UE determines the frequency resources of a CORESET and its duplications, the UE can receive DCI by detecting PDCCH candidates from at least one of the CORESET duplications, the combined signal of CORESET duplications, or after decodes OCC from CORESET duplications.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example for orphan PDCCH repetition (s) according to an embodiment. In some examples, the NE transmits the PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on OCC. A set of candidate OCCs may be predefined or configured by the NE. The NE may transmit the PDCCH repetitions based on one of the candidate OCCs. The NE may transmit the OCC for PDCCH repetitions including or excluding the DMRS for PDCCH. In this example, the OCC is {1, -1, 1, -1) . Accordingly, the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions 1011 with a completed OCC {1, -1, 1, -1} applied. However, the NE transmits the orphan PDCCH repetitions 1012, which may be PDCCH repetitions without a completed OCC applied, and thus, there is an unused resource 1013.

In some implementations, for orphan PDCCH repetition (s) , e.g., PDCCH repetition (s) without a completed OCC applied (as shown in FIG. 10) , the UE may perform one of the followings:

● monitoring the PDCCH repetition (s) other than orphan PDCCH repetition (s) ;

● monitoring all the PDCCH repetition (s) , and the UE may perform OCC despreading based on orphan PDCCH repetition (s) and previous PDCCH repetition (s) ;

● reporting a UE capability indicating whether the UE supports monitoring the PDCCH repetition (s) on the orphan PDCCH repetition (s) ; or

● receiving a configuration from the NE configuring whether the UE should monitor the PDCCH repetition (s) on the orphan PDCCH repetition (s) .

As illustrated in FIG. 10, the UE may monitor PDCCH repetitions 1011 with the completed OCC applied other than orphan PDCCH repetitions 1012 without the completed OCC applied; the UE may monitor all the PDCCH repetitions 1011 and 1012, and the UE may perform OCC despreading based on orphan PDCCH repetitions 1012 and previous PDCCH repetitions 1011; the UE may report a UE capability indicating whether the UE supports monitoring the PDCCH repetitions on the orphan PDCCH repetitions 1012; or the UE may receive a configuration from the NE configuring whether the UE should monitor the PDCCH repetitions on the orphan PDCCH repetitions 1012.

In some implementations, if the UE does not support monitoring the orphan PDCCH repetition (s) , the UE may not expect the NE configure the PDCCH repetition (s) with OCC comprising orphan PDCCH repetition (s) . Thus, the NE may refrain from configuring the PDCCH repetition (s) with OCC comprising orphan PDCCH repetition (s) .

In some implementations, the NE may configure the OCC hopping. Then the NE and UE may determine different OCCs for every K PDCCH repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the OCC for each hop based on a pre-defined or configured candidate OCC for each hop, timing for one or multiple of the PDCCH repetitions, e.g., symbol/slot/subframe/frame index; physical cell identifier (PCI) ; an ID configured by the NE, e.g., virtual cell ID, scramble ID for PDCCH or DMRS of PDCCH and so on.

In some examples, the NE may configure one parameter to enable the OCC for the PDCCH repetitions. The NE may configure the parameter per SS, per CORESET, per BWP, or per serving cell. The NE may provide the configuration by RRC signaling, MAC CE or DCI.

In some implementations, if the OCC is enabled, the UE may determine the OCC for each PDCCH repetitions based on at least one of the followings: search space type; radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the PDCCH; number of PDCCH repetitions; timing for one or multiple of the PDCCH repetitions, e.g., symbol/slot/subframe/frame index; physical cell identifier (PCI) ; an ID configured by the NE, e.g., virtual cell ID, scramble ID for PDCCH or DMRS of PDCCH and so on.

In one example, N_OCC, K candidate OCCs with OCC length K may be predefined or configured for the PDCCH repetitions. Then the OCC for the PDCCH repetitions may be selected as the OCC (f (n_ID, t, n_RNTI) mod N_OCC, _K) + 1, where f (n_ID, t, n_RNTI) indicates a hash function, n_ID indicates an ID configured by the NE, t indicates the timing for the PDCCH repetitions, n_RNTI indicates the RNTI associated with the PDCCH.

In some examples, the NE may configure the OCC for the PDCCH repetitions. The NE may configure the OCC per PDCCH candidate, per AL, per SS, per CORESET, per BWP, or per serving cell. The NE may provide the configuration by RRC signaling, MAC CE or DCI. Then the NE transmits the PDCCH repetitions in the SS/CORESET based on the configured OCC. The UE monitors the PDCCH candidates based on the PDCCH repetitions in the SS/CORESET based on the configured OCC.

In some implementations, the NE may configure to enable the OCC hopping and the OCC with length K for the first K PDCCH repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the OCC for other PDCCH repetitions based on at least one of the followings: RNTI associated with the PDCCH; timing for one or multiple of the PDCCH repetitions, e.g., symbol/slot/subframe/frame index; an ID configured by the NE, e.g., PCI, virtual cell ID, scramble ID for PDCCH or DMRS of PDCCH and so on.

In some examples, if the OCC is enabled, the UE may perform blind detection of the OCC for the PDCCH repetitions based on a subset of or all the candidate OCCs predefined or configured OCCs for the PDCCH repetitions. The NE and UE may determine the number of BDs based on the number of PDCCH candidates and the number of candidate OCCs.

In one example, the NE and UE may determine the number of BDs as where N_PDCCH is the number of PDCCH candidates andis the number of candidate OCCs for PDCCH candidate j.

In some implementations, the NE may refrain from configuring the PDCCH in a slot or span (multiple symbols in a slot) that require a greater number of BDs than the maximum number of BDs predefined or reported by the UE capability. This may apply for secondary cell (SCell) .

In some other implementations, if the total number of BDs is greater than the maximum number of BDs, the UE may monitor the PDCCHs in the search space with high priority. Thus, the UE may not monitor the PDCCHs in the SS with lowest priority until the total number of BDs is equal to or smaller than the maximum number of BDs. The UE may determine the priority of the SS based on at least one of the SS type, SS periodicity and SS index. This may apply for primary cell (PCell) and primary secondary cell (PSCell) .

In some examples, the NE and UE may determine the number of BDs for the SS (s) with the PDCCH repetitions within a slot or a span based on at least one of the followings: the number of PDCCH candidates in one or each PDCCH repetition; the number of PDCCH repetitions for each PDCCH candidate.

In one example, the NE and UE may determine the number of BDs for the SS (s) as the number of PDCCH candidates in the first PDCCH repetition. In another example, the NE and UE may determine the number of BDs for the SS (s) as the maximum number of PDCCH candidates across the PDCCH repetitions. In another example, the NE and UE may determine the number of BDs for the SS (s) as the total number of PDCCH candidates across all the repetitions.

In some examples, the NE and UE may determine the number of CCEs for the SS (s) with the PDCCH repetitions within a slot or a span based on one of the followings: the number of CCEs in the first PDCCH repetition; the maximum number of CCEs across the PDCCH repetitions, the total number of CCEs across all PDCCH repetitions.

In some examples, the NE may refrain from configuring the PDCCH in a slot or span (multiple symbols in a slot) that require a greater number of BDs/CCEs than the maximum number of BDs/CCEs predefined or reported by the UE capability. This may apply for SCell

In some other implementations, if the total number of BDs/CCEs is greater than the maximum number of BDs/CCEs, the UE may monitor the PDCCH repetition (s) in the search space with high priority. Thus, the UE may not monitor all the PDCCH repetition (s) or some of the PDCCH repetition (s) in the SS with lowest priority until the total number of BDs/CCEs is equal to or smaller than the maximum number of BDs/CCEs. The UE may determine the priority of the SS based on at least one of the SS type, SS periodicity and SS index. The UE may determine the priority of the PDCCH repetitions in a SS based on the timing of the PDCCH repetition (e.g., the first repetition > the second repetition) , and/or the index for the PDCCH repetition, and/or the number of PDCCH candidates in the PDCCH repetition. This may apply for primary cell (PCell) and primary secondary cell (PSCell) .

FIG. 11 illustrates an example for PDCCH repetition bundling for cross-repetition channel estimation according to an embodiment. In some examples, the NE may configure the time domain and frequency domain precoder granularity of the PDCCH repetitions. The NE may configure the time domain precoder granularity as number of PDCCH repetitions (X) . The NE may configure the frequency domain precoder granularity as per REG bundle or all RBs. Then the NE transmits a REG bundle or all RBs for every X PDCCH repetitions based on the same precoder. The NE may also maintain the phase continuity for every X PDCCH repetitions.

Then the UE can perform the channel estimation for every X PDCCH repetitions per REG bundle or for all RBs as shown in FIG. 11. Thus, the UE may determine the DMRS of every X PDCCH repetitions are quasi-co-located with one or multiple of the parameters: delay spread, average delay, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, spatial reception parameters, and average gain. The NE may transmit every X PDCCH repetitions based on the same transmission power, e.g., the same energy per resource element (EPRE) .

As illustrated in FIG. 11, the NE may configure the time domain precoder granularity as 2 PDCCH repetitions (e.g., 1121 and 1122, 1123 and1124) . The NE may configure the frequency domain precoder granularity as per REG bundle. Then the NE transmits a REG bundle for every 2 PDCCH repetitions based on the same precoder. The NE transmits REGs and repetitions 1111 with a first precoder, REGs and repetitions 1112 with a second precoder, REGs and repetitions 1113 with a third precoder, and REGs and repetitions 1114 with a fourth precoder. The UE may perform the channel estimation for every 2 PDCCH repetitions per REG bundle. Thus, the UE may determine the DMRS of every 2 PDCCH repetitions are quasi-co-located with one or multiple of the parameters: delay spread, average delay, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, spatial reception parameters and average gain.

In some implementations, if the OCC is enabled, the value of X may be the same as one or multiple of the OCC length.

In some other implementations, if there is a gap within the X PDCCH repetitions, which is used for UL, the NE and UE may determine the X PDCCH repetitions should not be bundled for cross-repetition channel estimation, since the NE may not be able to maintain the phase continuity. Alternatively, the NE may configure whether the X PDCCH repetitions can be bundled for cross-repetition channel estimation or not.

In some examples, the UE performs the RLM/BFD based on one or multiple SSB/CSI-RS resources, where the SSB/CSI-RS resources are QCLed with the DMRS of PDCCH. The UE measures the hypothetical BLER based on a predefined PDCCH configuration as defined in 38.133 sections 8.1 and 8.5 (e.g., DCI format, number of control OFDM symbols, AL, EPRE ratio between the PDCCH and SSS or CSI-RS, EPRE ratio between DMRS and SSS or CSI-RS, number of RBs for PDCCH, subcarrier spacing, DMRS precoder granularity, REG bundle size, CP length, REG to CCE mapping) and at least one of the followings: a number of PDCCH repetitions; a DMRS bundling size; whether OCC for PDCCH repetitions is enabled or not. The parameters, e.g., number of PDCCH repetitions, DMRS bundling size and whether OCC for PDCCH repetition is enabled or not, for BLER measurement for out-of-sync/in-sync for SSB/CSI-RS based RLM and BLER for SSB/CSI-RS based BFD may be predefined or configured by the NE.

Table 1 illustrates one example for PDCCH assumption for SSB based hypothetical BLER detection for out-of-sync for RLM.

Table 1: An example for PDCCH assumption for the hypothetical BLER detection for out-of-sync

Table 2 illustrates one example for PDCCH assumption for SSB based hypothetical BLER detection for in-sync for RLM.

Table 2: An example for PDCCH assumption for the hypothetical BLER detection for in-sync

In some examples, if the PDCCH repetitions are configured, the UE performs the hypothetical BLER detection based on the PDCCH repetitions, but based on a different threshold for RLM/BFD compared to the situation when the PDCCH repetitions are not configured. The NE may configure a first threshold for RLM/BFD for a first CORESET associated with an SS without PDCCH repetitions configured and a second threshold for RLM/BFD for a second CORESET associated with at least one SS with PDCCH repetitions configured. Then the UE may perform the RLM/BFD based on the first threshold for the first CORESET and RLM/BFD based on the second threshold for the second CORESET. The UE may receive separate or common thresholds for out-of-sync detection, in-sync detection and BFD.

FIGs. 3-11 illustrate PDCCH repetitions for coverage enhancement. FIGs. 12-13 show methods for implementing one or more aspects of FIGs. 3-11. In particular, FIG. 12 shows an implementation by the UE 102 of the one or more aspects of FIGs. 3-11. FIG. 13 shows an implementation by the network entity 104 of the one or more aspects of FIGs. 3-11.

FIG. 12 illustrates a flowchart 1200 of a method of wireless communication at a UE. With reference to FIGs. 1-11, the method may be performed by the UE 102. In embodiments, the UE 102 may transmit 1202, to a network entity 104, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports TD bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the UE 102 may transmit 302, to the network entity 104, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions.

The UE 102 receives 1204, from the network entity 104, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the UE 102 receives 304, from the NE 104, the PDCCH repetition configuration configuring the PDCCH repetition scheme based on the at least one of the SS or the linked SSs.

The UE 102 receives 1206, from the network entity 104, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the UE 102 receives 306, from the network entity 104, the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme.

The UE 102 communicates 1208, with the network entity 104, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the UE 102 further communicates 308 with the NE 104 based on the received downlink control information (DCI) in the PDCCH transmission. FIG. 12 describes a method from a UE-side of a wireless communication link, whereas FIG. 13 describes a method from a network-side of the wireless communication link.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart 1300 of a method of wireless communication at a network entity. With reference to FIGs. 1-11, the method may be performed by one or more network entities 104, which may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, and/or the CU 110. In embodiments, the NE 104 may receive 1302, from a UE 102, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports TD bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions. For example, referring to FIG. 3, The NE 104 may receive 302, from the UE 102, the UE capability message indicating the UE capability on the supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross- repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions..

The NE 104 transmits 1304, to the UE 102, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the NE 104 transmits 304, to the UE 102, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs.

The NE 104 transmits 1306, to the UE 102, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. For example, referring to FIG. 3, then the NE 104 transmits 306, to the UE 102, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme.

The NE 104 communicates 1308, with the UE 102, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission. For example, referring to FIG. 3, the NE 104 and the UE 102 further communicate 308 with each other based on the received DCI) in the PDCCH transmission. A UE apparatus 1402, as described in FIG. 14, may perform the method of flowchart 1200. The one or more network entities 104, as described in FIG. 15, may perform the method of flowchart 1300.

FIG. 14 is a diagram 1400 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a UE apparatus 1402. The UE apparatus 1402 may be the UE 102, a component of the UE 102, or may implement UE functionality. The UE apparatus 1402 may include an application processor 1406, which may have on-chip memory 1406’. In examples, the application processor 1406 may be coupled to a secure digital (SD) card 1408 and/or a display 1410. The application processor 1406 may also be coupled to a sensor (s) module 1412, a power supply 1414, an additional module of memory 1416, a camera 1418, and/or other related components.

The UE apparatus 1402 may further include a wireless baseband processor 1426, which may be referred to as a modem. The wireless baseband processor 1426 may have on-chip memory 1426'. Along with, and similar to, the application processor 1406, the wireless baseband processor 1426 may also be coupled to the sensor (s) module 1412, the power supply 1414, the additional module of memory 1416, the camera 1418, and/or other related components. The wireless baseband processor 1426 may be additionally coupled to one or more subscriber identity module (SIM) card (s) 1420 and/or one or more transceivers 1430 (e.g., wireless RF transceivers) .

Within the one or more transceivers 1430, the UE apparatus 1402 may include a Bluetooth module 1432, a WLAN module 1434, an SPS module 1436 (e.g., GNSS module) , and/or a cellular module 1438. The Bluetooth module 1432, the WLAN module 1434, the SPS module 1436, and the cellular module 1438 may each include an on-chip transceiver (TRX) , or in some cases, just a transmitter (TX) or just a receiver (RX) . The Bluetooth module 1432, the WLAN module 1434, the SPS module 1436, and the cellular module 1438 may each include dedicated antennas and/or utilize antennas 1440 for communication with one or more other nodes. For example, the UE apparatus 1402 can communicate through the transceiver (s) 1430 via the antennas 1440 with another UE (e.g., sidelink communication) and/or with a network entity 104 (e.g., uplink/downlink communication) , where the network entity 104 may correspond to a base station or a unit of the base station, such as the RU 106, the DU 108, or the CU 110.

The wireless baseband processor 1426 and the application processor 1406 may each include a computer-readable medium /memory 1426', 1406', respectively. The additional module of memory 1416 may also be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory 1426', 1406', 1416 may be non-transitory. The wireless baseband processor 1426 and the application processor 1406 may each be responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory 1426', 1406', 1416. The software, when executed by the wireless baseband processor 1426 /application processor 1406, causes the wireless baseband processor 1426 /application processor 1406 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the wireless baseband processor 1426 /application processor 1406 when executing the software. The wireless baseband processor 1426 /application processor 1406 may be a component of the UE 102. The UE apparatus 1402 may be a processor chip (e.g., modem and/or application) and include just the wireless baseband processor 1426 and/or the application processor 1406. In other examples, the UE apparatus 1402 may be the entire UE 102 and include the additional modules of the apparatus 1402.

As discussed in FIG. 1 and implemented with respect to FIG. 12, the repetition component 140 is configured to receive, from a network entity, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The repetition component 140 is configured to receive, from the network entity, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The repetition component 140 is further configured to communicates, with the network entity, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission. The repetition component 140 may be within the application processor 1406 (e.g., at 140a) , the wireless baseband processor 1426 (e.g., at 140b) , or both the application processor 1406 and the wireless baseband processor 1426. The repetition component 140a-140b may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors, or a combination thereof.

FIG. 15 is a diagram 1500 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for one or more network entities 104. The one or more network entities 104 may be a base station, a component of a base station, or may implement base station functionality. The one or more network entities 104 may include, or may correspond to, at least one of the RU 106, the DU, 108, or the CU 110. The CU 110 may include a CU processor 1546, which may have on-chip memory 1546'. In some aspects, the CU 110 may further include an additional module of memory 1556 and/or a communications interface 1548, both of which may be coupled to the CU processor 1546. The CU 110 can communicate with the DU 108 through a midhaul link 162, such as an F1 interface between the communications interface 1548 of the CU 110 and a communications interface 1528 of the DU 108.

The DU 108 may include a DU processor 1526, which may have on-chip memory 1526'. In some aspects, the DU 108 may further include an additional module of memory 1536 and/or the communications interface 1528, both of which may be coupled to the DU processor 1526. The DU 108 can communicate with the RU 106 through a fronthaul link 160 between the communications interface 1528 of the DU 108 and a communications interface 1508 of the RU 106.

The RU 106 may include an RU processor 1506, which may have on-chip memory 1506'. In some aspects, the RU 106 may further include an additional module of memory 1516, the communications interface 1508, and one or more transceivers 1530, all of which may be coupled to the RU processor 1506. The RU 106 may further include antennas 1540, which may be coupled to the one or more transceivers 1530, such that the RU 106 can communicate through the one or more transceivers 1530 via the antennas 1540 with the UE 102.

The on-chip memory 1506', 1526', 1546' and the additional modules of memory 1516, 1536, 1556 may each be considered a computer-readable medium /memory. Each computer-readable medium /memory may be non-transitory. Each of the processors 1506, 1526, 1546 is responsible for general processing, including execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium /memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor (s) 1506, 1526, 1546 causes the processor (s) 1506, 1526, 1546 to perform the various functions described herein. The computer-readable medium /memory may also be used for storing data that is manipulated by the processor (s) 1506, 1526, 1546 when executing the software. In examples, the configuration component 150 may sit at any of the one or more network entities 104, such as at the CU 110; both the CU 110 and the DU 108; each of the CU 110, the DU 108, and the RU 106; the DU 108; both the DU 108 and the RU 106; or the RU 106.

As discussed in FIG. 1 and implemented with respect to FIG. 13, the configuration component 150 is configured to transmit, to a UE, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs. The configuration component 150 is configured to transmit, to the UE, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme. The configuration component 150 is further configured to communicates, with the UE, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission. The configuration component 150 may be within one or more processors of the one or more network entities 104, such as the RU processor 1506 (e.g., at 150a) , the DU processor 1526 (e.g., at 150b) , and/or the CU processor 1546 (e.g., at 150c) . The configuration component 150a-150c may be one or more hardware components specifically configured to carry out the stated processes/algorithm, implemented by one or more processors 1506, 1526, 1546 configured to perform the stated processes/algorithm, stored within a computer-readable medium for implementation by the one or more processors 1506, 1526, 1546, or a combination thereof.

The specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts disclosed herein is an illustration of example approaches. Hence, the specific order or hierarchy of blocks in the processes and flowcharts may be rearranged. Some blocks may also be combined or deleted. Dashed lines may indicate optional elements of the diagrams. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various blocks in an example order, and are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented in the claims, processes, and flowcharts.

The detailed description set forth herein describes various configurations in connection with the drawings and does not represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough explanation of various concepts. However, these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

Aspects of wireless communication systems, such as telecommunication systems, are presented with reference to various apparatuses and methods. These apparatuses and methods are described in the following detailed description and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, call flows, systems, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as “elements” ) . These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system.

An element, or any portion of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a “processing system” that includes one or more processors. Examples of processors include microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs) , central processing units (CPUs) , application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems-on-chip (SoC) , baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other similar hardware configured to perform the various functionality described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in the processing system may execute software, which may be referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, or any combination thereof.

If the functionality described herein is implemented in software, the functions may be stored on, or encoded as, one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Computer-readable media includes computer storage media and can include a random-access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of these types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer.

Aspects, implementations, and/or use cases described herein may be implemented across many differing platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, the aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may come about via integrated chip implementations and other non-module-component based devices, such as end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail/purchasing devices, medical devices, artificial intelligence (AI) -enabled devices, machine learning (ML) -enabled devices, etc. The aspects, implementations, and/or use cases may range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular or non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregate, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more techniques described herein.

Devices incorporating the aspects and features described herein may also include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claimed and described aspects and features. For example, transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily includes a number of components for analog and digital purposes, such as hardware components, antennas, RF-chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor (s) , interleavers, adders/summers, etc. Techniques described herein may be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc., of varying configurations.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not limited to the aspects described herein, but are to be interpreted in view of the full scope of the present disclosure consistent with the language of the claims.

Reference to an element in the singular does not mean “one and only one” unless specifically stated, but rather “one or more. ” Terms such as “if, ” “when, ” and “while” do not imply an immediate temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, e.g., “when, ” do not imply an immediate action in response to or during the occurrence of an action, but simply imply that if a condition is met then an action will occur, but without requiring a specific or immediate time constraint for the action to occur. The terms “may” , “might” , and “can” , as used in this disclosure, often carry certain connotations. For example, “may” refers to a permissible feature that may or may not occur, “might” refers to a feature that probably occurs, and “can” refers to a capability (e.g., capable of) . The phrase “For example” often carries a similar connotation to “may” and, therefore, “may” is sometimes excluded from sentences that include “for example” or other similar phrases.

Unless specifically stated otherwise, the term “some” refers to one or more. Combinations such as “at least one of A, B, or C” or “one or more of A, B, or C” include any combination of A, B, and/or C, such as A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, and may include multiples of A, multiples of B, and/or multiples of C, or may include A only, B only, or C only. Sets should be interpreted as a set of elements where the elements number one or more. Terms or articles such as “a” , “an” , and/or “the” may refer to one of an item, feature, element, etc., that the term or article precedes, or may refer to more than one of said item, feature, element, etc. that the term or article precedes. For example, the recitation “a widget” does not preclude reference to multiples of said widget, as “multiple widgets” necessarily includes “a widget” . Hence, the recitation “a widget” may be interpreted as “at least one widget” or, similarly, interpreted as “one or more widgets” .

Unless otherwise specifically indicated, ordinal terms such as “first” and “second” do not necessarily imply an order in time, sequence, numerical value, etc., but are used to distinguish between different instances of a term or phrase that follows each ordinal term.

Reference numbers, as used in the specification and figures, are sometimes cross-referenced among drawings to denote same or similar features. A feature that is exactly the same in multiple drawings may be labeled with the same reference number in the multiple drawings. A feature that is similar among the multiple drawings, but not exactly the same, may be labeled with reference numbers that have different leading numbers but have one or more of the same trailing numbers (e.g., 206, 306, 406, etc., may refer to similar features in the drawings) . Hence, like numbers may refer to like actions.

Structural and functional equivalents to elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are known or later come to be known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are encompassed by the claims. The words “module, ” “mechanism, ” “element, ” “device, ” and the like may not be a substitute for the word “means. ” As such, no claim element is to be construed as a means plus function unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for. ” As used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, or the like. In other words, the phrase “based on A” , where “A” may be information, a condition, a factor, or the like, shall be construed as “based at least on A” unless specifically recited differently.

The following examples are illustrative only and may be combined with other examples or teachings described herein, without limitation.

Example 1 is a method of wireless communication at a UE, including: receiving, from a network entity, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs; receiving, from the network entity, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme; and communicating, with the network entity, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

Example 2 may be combined with Example 1 and includes that transmitting, to the network entity, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with OCC; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions.

Example 3 may be combined with any of Examples 1-2 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring at least one of: a number of repetitions; whether a repetition is an intra-slot or inter-slot repetition; a symbol offset between two repetitions; a slot offset between two repetitions; at least one of a time-domain resource or a frequency-domain resource for a first repetition; or at least one of the time-domain resource or the frequency-domain resource for other repetitions.

Example 4 may be combined with any of Examples 1-3 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration further indicates one or more CORESETs associated with the SS or the linked SSs.

Example 5 may be combined with any of Examples 1-4 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS; wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of a search space-level (SS-level) repetition, an aggregation level-level (AL-level) repetition, or a PDCCH candidate-level repetition.

Example 6 may be combined with any of Examples 1-5 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs, where the PDCCH repetition configuration further configures a same value for the linked SSs for at least one of: an associated CORESET ID; a monitoring periodicity; a number of slots; a monitoring slot offset; monitoring symbols; a number of PDCCH candidates for one or multiple aggregation levels (ALs) ; or a search space type.

Example 7 may be combined with any of Examples 1-6 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs; where the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of an SS-level linkage, an AL-level linkage, or a PDCCH candidate level SS linkage.

Example 8 may be combined with any of Examples 1-7 and further includes the one or more repetitions are associated with a CORESET with one or more duplications, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring an SS configuration including a CORESET identification (ID) associated with the CORESET, and a frequency resource indication.

Example 9 may be combined with any of Examples 1-8 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration indicates one or more orthogonal cover codes (OCCs) for the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions, for each repetition of the one or more repetitions, an OCC being based on at least one of: a search space type; a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with a PDCCH transmission repetition; a number of the one or more repetitions; a timing for the one or more repetitions; a physical cell identifier (PCI) ; or a configured ID.

Example 10 may be combined with Example 9 and further includes performing one or more BDs of the one or more OCCs based on one or more candidate OCCs for the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions, where a number of the one or more BDs is based on a number of the one or more OCCs.

Example 11 may be combined with any of Examples 1-10 and further includes detecting a hypothetical BLER for at least one of an RLM or a BFD based on at least one: a number of the one or more repetitions; a DMRS bundling size; or whether one or more OCCs for the one or more repetitions are enabled.

Example 12 may be combined with any of Examples 1-11 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration indicates a first BLER threshold for at least one of a RLM or a BFD without the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions being enabled and a second BLER threshold for the at least one of the RLM or the BFD with PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions being enabled.

Example 13 is a method of wireless communication at a network entity and includes transmitting, to a UE, a PDCCH repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of an SS or linked SSs; transmitting, to the UE, a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme; and communicating, with the UE, based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.

Example 14 may be combined with Examples 13 and further includes receiving, from the UE, a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of: whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions; whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition; a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate; whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with orthogonal cover code (OCC) ; a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC; whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation; a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions.

Example 15 may be combined with any of Examples 13-14 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring at least one of: a number of repetitions; whether a repetition is an intra-slot or inter-slot repetition; a symbol offset between two repetitions; a slot offset between two repetitions; at least one of a time-domain resource or a frequency-domain resource for a first repetition; or at least one of the time-domain resource or the frequency-domain resource for other repetitions.

Example 16 may be combined with any of Examples 13-15 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration further indicates one or more CORESETs associated with the SS or the linked SSs.

Example 17 may be combined with any of Examples 13-16 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS; where the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of a search space-level (SS-level) repetition, an aggregation level-level (AL-level) repetition, or a PDCCH candidate-level repetition.

Example 18 may be combined with any of Examples 13-17 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs, where the PDCCH repetition configuration further configures a same value for the linked SSs for at least one of: an associated CORESET ID; a monitoring periodicity; a number of slots; a monitoring slot offset; monitoring symbols; a number of PDCCH candidates for one or multiple aggregation levels (ALs) ; or a search space type.

Example 19 may be combined with any of Examples 13-18 and further includes the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs; where the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of an SS-level linkage, an AL-level linkage, or a PDCCH candidate level SS linkage.

Example 20 may be combined with any of Examples 13-19 and further includes the one or more repetitions are associated with a CORESET with one or more duplications, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring an SS configuration including a CORESET identification (ID) associated with the CORESET, and a frequency resource indication.

Example 21 may be combined with any of Examples 13-20 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration indicates one or more orthogonal cover codes (OCCs) for the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions, for each repetition of the one or more repetitions, an OCC being based on at least one of: a search space type; a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with a PDCCH transmission repetition; a number of the one or more repetitions; a timing for the one or more repetitions; a physical cell identifier (PCI) ; or a configured ID.

Example 22 may be combined with any of Examples 13-21 and further includes the PDCCH repetition configuration indicates a first BLER threshold for at least one of a RLM or a BFD without the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions being enabled and a second BLER threshold for the at least one of the RLM or the BFD with PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions being enabled.

Example 23 is an apparatus for wireless communication comprising a transceiver, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the apparatus being configured to implement a method as in any of claims 1-22.

Example 24 is an apparatus for wireless communication including means for implementing a method as in any of examples 1-22.

Example 25 is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, the code when executed by a processor causes the processor to implement a method as in any of examples 1-22.

Claims

A method of wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) (102) , comprising:

receiving (304) , from a network entity (104) , a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of a search space (SS) or linked SSs;

receiving (306) , from the network entity (104) , a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme; and

communicating (308) , with the network entity (104) , based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting (302) , to the network entity (104) , a UE capability message indicating a UE capability on a supported PDCCH repetition configuration including at least one of:

whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions;

whether the UE supports at least one of intra-slot repetition or inter-slot repetition;

a maximum number of repetitions for one PDCCH candidate;

whether the UE supports PDCCH repetitions with orthogonal cover code (OCC) ;

a supported OCC length for the PDCCH repetitions with OCC;

whether the UE supports time domain (TD) bundling for a cross-repetition channel estimation;

a supported maximum number of TD bundles for the cross-repetition channel estimation; or

whether the UE supports monitoring of orphan PDCCH repetitions.
The method of any of claims 1-2, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring at least one of:

a number of repetitions;

whether a repetition is an intra-slot or inter-slot repetition;

a symbol offset between two repetitions;

a slot offset between two repetitions;

at least one of a time-domain resource or a frequency-domain resource for a first repetition; or

at least one of the time-domain resource or the frequency-domain resource for other repetitions.
The method of any of claims 1-3, wherein the PDCCH repetition configuration further indicates one or more control resource sets (CORESETs) associated with the SS or the linked SSs.
The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS; wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of a search space-level (SS-level) repetition, an aggregation level-level (AL-level) repetition, or a PDCCH candidate-level repetition.
The method of any of claims 1-5, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs, wherein the PDCCH repetition configuration further configures a same value for the linked SSs for at least one of:

an associated CORESET ID;

a monitoring periodicity;

a number of slots;

a monitoring slot offset;

monitoring symbols;

a number of PDCCH candidates for one or multiple aggregation levels

(ALs) ; or

a search space type.
The method of any of claims 1-6, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs; wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of an SS-level linkage, an AL-level linkage, or a PDCCH candidate-level linkage.
The method of any of claims 1-7, wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with a CORESET with one or more duplications, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring an SS configuration including a CORESET identification (ID) associated with the CORESET, and a frequency resource indication.
The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein the PDCCH repetition configuration indicates one or more orthogonal cover codes (OCCs) for the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions, for each repetition of the one or more repetitions, an OCC being based on at least one of:

a search space type;

a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with a PDCCH transmission repetition;

a number of the one or more repetitions;

a timing for the one or more repetitions;

a physical cell identifier (PCI) ; or

a configured ID.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

performing one or more blind detections (BDs) of the one or more OCCs based on one or more candidate OCCs for the PDCCH transmission with the one or more repetitions, wherein a number of the one or more BDs is based on a number of the one or more OCCs.
The method of any of claims 1-10, further comprising:

detecting a hypothetical block error ratio (BLER) for at least one of a radio link monitoring (RLM) or a beam failure detection (BFD) based on at least one:

a number of the one or more repetitions;

a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling size; or

whether one or more OCCs for the one or more repetitions are enabled.
A method of wireless communication at a network entity (104) , comprising:

transmitting (304) , to a user equipment (UE) (102) , a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) repetition configuration configuring a PDCCH repetition scheme based on at least one of a search space (SS) or linked SSs;

transmitting (306) , to the UE (102) , a PDCCH transmission with one or more repetitions based on the PDCCH repetition scheme; and

communicating (308) , with the UE (102) , based on downlink control information in the PDCCH transmission.
The method of claim 12, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the SS; wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of a search space-level (SS-level) repetition, an aggregation level-level (AL-level) repetition, or a PDCCH candidate-level repetition.
The method of any of claims 12-13, wherein the PDCCH repetition scheme is based on the linked SSs; wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with at least one of an SS-level linkage, an AL-level linkage, or a PDCCH candidate-level SS linkage.
The method of any of claims 12-14, wherein the one or more repetitions are associated with a control resource set (CORESET) with one or more duplications, the PDCCH repetition configuration further configuring an SS configuration including a CORESET identification (ID) associated with the CORESET, and a frequency resource indication.
An apparatus for wireless communication comprising a transceiver, a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the apparatus being configured to implement a method as in any of claims 1-15.