WO2025213455A1

WO2025213455A1 - Orthogonal cover code adjustment

Info

Publication number: WO2025213455A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/087494
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jingyuan Sun; Frank Frederiksen; Mads LAURIDSEN; Ping Yuan
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-04-12
Filing date: 2024-04-12
Publication date: 2025-10-16
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-12

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to orthogonal cover code (OCC) adjustment. A method comprises receiving an indication of OCC configuration; and performing, based on the indication of the OCC configuration, a transmission by using an OCC, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the OCC, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the OCC configuration.

Description

ORTHOGONAL COVER CODE ADJUSTMENT

FIELDS

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to apparatuses, methods and computer readable storage medium for orthogonal cover code adjustment.

BACKGROUND

In the third-generation partnership project (3GPP) Release 17 and Release 18, satellite access is introduced for New Radio (NR) users as well as enhanced machine-type communication (eMTC) and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices. The technical specifications in Release 17 and Release 18 are functional and enable the deployment of live satellite networks for these types of devices. However, due to limited spectrum available for deployments and large satellite footprints (for example, large cells) , the systems might quickly reach their capacity limit. Because of this, it is agreed that non-terrestrial network (NTN) systems require solutions that may enlarge the system capacity. The need for Uplink capacity enhancement for New Radio (NR) NTN and NB-IoT NTN are agreed. Based on orthogonal cover codes (OCCs) , transmissions from multiple UEs may be multiplexed on the same resources, where UE signals spread with different OCCs may be orthogonal after de-spreading.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus at least to: receive an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and perform, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus at least to: transmit, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and receive, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and performing, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and receiving, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and means for performing, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and means for receiving, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

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

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

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

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate example communication environments in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example processes of OCC spreading on the basis of symbols where a length of an OCC is four;

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram showing an example communication process between a first apparatus and a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates an example process of symbol-level OCC adjustment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates an example process of repetition-level OCC adjustment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example process of OCC adjustment in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second apparatus in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

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

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

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NB-IoT NTN is already being deployed live. In these early and upcoming deployments, it is clearly emerging that IoT-NTN, in particular NB-IoT, may have to support massive capacity in terms of number and types of user equipment (UE) , some of which have worse characteristics than others (e.g. low cost devices, wearables, and/or the like) . Thus, multiplexing of UEs by usage of OCCs for Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel (NPUSCH) format 1 and Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel (NPRACH) may be studied. Therefore, in order to unlock the additional UL capacity potential, there is a need to identify approaches to de-couple uplink (UL) from downlink (DL) as much as possible.

The objective for UL capacity enhancement may include support of capacity enhancements for uplink. The study may specify, if beneficial, enhancements to enable multiplexing of multiple UEs (e.g., up to the minimum of 4 and a maximum allowed by the existing UL and DL signalling) in a single 3.75 kHz or 15 kHz subcarrier via OCCs for NPUSCH format 1 and NPRACH. Multi-tone support for a 15 kHz sub-carrier space (SCS) is also considered. Impact of impairment needs to be taken into account.

Release 19 NR NTN also defines the study of the use of OCCs. In NR, the study is currently limited to PUSCH only, but in a future release it may also include a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) .

With OCC processing, one signal may be spread by an OCC sequence before transmission. A receiver may de-spread the received signal with the same OCC sequence. An OCC may be used in a time domain, a frequency domain, or both a time domain and a frequency domain. Based on OCCs, multiple UEs may be multiplexed on the same resource, where UE signals spread with different OCCs may be orthogonal after de- spreading.

For IoT NTN, OCC spreading may be performed on the basis of a symbol, a slot or a repetition. For example, in the case of symbol-based OCC spreading, if a length of an OCC (also referred to as an OCC length) is L (e.g., 2, or 4, or 6) , then one symbol may be spread to L symbols.

The scheduling of UE may be flexible considering the arrival of traffic, different channel status of different UEs and different status of available resources. A scheduler may allocate available resources (e.g., with a limited size in the time and frequency domain) to a UE according to a scheduling strategy and/or algorithm. Thus, in the scheduling, there may be a requirement for flexibility of scheduling, e.g., to allow the scheduler to schedule data transmission or reception of a UE in any slot. In some cases, a repetition requirement may also be considered for deep coverage e.g., in coverage level 2. If the flexibility of scheduling is reduced for any reason, there may be performance loss.

In scheduling of a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) with an OCC, PUSCHs from multiple UEs may start from different slots based on different incoming traffic of the UEs and different channel status of the UEs. In the case that UE A and UE B are scheduled on the same PRBs, when UE A’s PUSCH comes, UE B’s PUSCH may already be in transmission but not complete. If UE B uses an OCC sequence e.g. index 1, UE A may be scheduled with another OCC sequence e.g. index 2 so that the transmissions of UE A and UE B may be orthogonal between each other on the PRBs. UE A’s PUSCH may also be scheduled to be transmitted on some PRBs where UE B does not transmit, but UE C transmits. For example, both UE A’s PUSCH and UE C’s PUSCH may be scheduled on the same PRBs if UE A’s PUSCH using OCC index 2 is orthogonal with UE C’s PUSCH with OCC e.g. index 3 on the PRBs. It is desired that on all the resources, the starting points of OCC spreading from different UEs are aligned in the time domain if OCCs are used in the time domain.

PUSCHs from different UEs may start from different slot. The first symbol in a slot of some slots may be the first symbol of one OCC spreading duration, while the first symbol in a slot of some other slots may not be the first symbol but, e.g. the third symbol or another symbol in one OCC spreading duration. If one UE starts from one slot and another UE does not start from that slot but both the UEs are scheduled on the same resource, the transmissions from the two UEs may not be orthogonal to each other, which may induce inter-UE interference.

Therefore, there is a need to avoid inter-UE interferences due to non-orthogonality between transmissions from UEs, for example, which use OCC spreading on the same PRBs but start the OCC spreading from different symbols or slots.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for OCC adjustment. In this solution, a first apparatus (for example, a terminal device or a UE) receives an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration. Based on this, the first apparatus performs a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code. This transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code where at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

This solution provides more flexibility for scheduling multiple UEs where the transmissions from these UEs may be multiplexed on the same resources with OCCs. These transmissions from the multiple UEs may be scheduled to start from any time unit (e.g., a symbol, a slot or a subframe, and/or the like) . There is no need to always align the starting points of the transmissions. The orthogonality between the transmissions of UEs may be guaranteed in the case that the transmissions are not fully aligned.

It is to be noted that although the issue is originating from the inter-UE interferences due to non-orthogonality of UL transmissions with OCCs, the proposed solution may be applied in general for different purposes. For example, alternatively, or in addition, a network may adjust at least one spreading block with an OCC considering network capacity, resource efficiency and any other factors. In the following, some example embodiments will be described to avoid the inter-UE interferences. However, these example embodiments or designs for the OCC adjustment may be used in general for any other purpose.

FIG. 1A illustrates an example communication environment 100A in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication environment 100A, which may be a part of a terrestrial network, includes a first apparatus 110 and a second apparatus 120 which may communicate with each other. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may operate as a terminal device such as a UE, and the second apparatus 120 may operate as a network device, for example, a gNB.

The communication environment 100A further includes a third apparatus 130 which may operate as a terminal device such as a UE. The third apparatus 130 may communicate with the second apparatus 120. The third apparatus 130 may also communicate with the first apparatus 110 directly or via the second apparatus 120.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example communication environment 100B in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the communication environment 100B as shown in FIG. 1B, which may be a part of a non-terrestrial network, the second apparatus 120 may provide services to a coverage area 135 together with a satellite 140. The satellite 140 can be connected to the second apparatus 120 via a gateway 150. The first and third apparatuses 110 and 130 may communicate with the second apparatus 120 via the satellite 140. When the second apparatus 120 is located on Earth and the satellite 140 is relaying signals between the second apparatus 120 and the first and third apparatuses 110 and 130 the architecture is known as transparent architecture. In another example, the second apparatus 120 may be onboard the satellite 140. This architecture is known as a regenerative architecture and it also facilitates communication between the second apparatus 120 and the first and third apparatuses 110 and 130.

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

It is to be understood that the number and types of apparatuses are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. For example, the communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of first apparatuses and second apparatuses.

In some example embodiments, a link from the first apparatus 110 to the second apparatus 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) , and a link from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) . In UL, the second apparatus 120 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) and the first apparatus 110 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) . In DL, the second apparatus 120 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the first apparatus 110 is a RX device (or a receiver) . A link between the first apparatus 110 and the third apparatus 130 may be referred to as a sidelink (SL) . In SL, one of the first apparatus 110 and the third apparatus 130 is a TX device (or a transmitter) , and the other of the first apparatus 110 and the third apparatus 130 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

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

In the communication environment, the first apparatus 110 and the third apparatus 130 may use OCCs for UL transmission. FIGS. 2A and 2B show example processes of OCC spreading on the basis of symbols where an OCC length is four. In the example as shown in FIG. 2A, a data symbol 201 may be spread with an OCC to four transmission symbols 203. The four transmission symbols 203 are corresponding to a spreading block with the OCC, which includes four components. In the context of the present disclosure, a spreading block with an OCC will also be referred to as an OCC grid. A component of a spreading block with an OCC is corresponding to an OCC element or unit of an OCC sequence. In the example as shown in FIG. 2B, a slot 205 includes 14 symbols 201. The slot 205 may be spread to four slots 205-1, 205-2, 205-3 and 205-4, and 14 symbols 207 may be spread to 56 symbols 201 where each symbol is spread into 4 consecutive symbols.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the OCC spreading of the first apparatus 110 is adjusted based on an indication of an OCC configuration from the second apparatus 120. Some example implementations may be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5.

FIG. 3 is a signaling diagram showing an example communication process 300 between the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the process 300, the second apparatus 120 transmits (310) , to the first apparatus 110, an indication of OCC configuration. The indication may be transmitted (310) from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 in any suitable way.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the OCC configuration may be transmitted (310) from the second apparatus 120 to the first apparatus 110 via downlink control information (DCI) . The DCI may be used to schedule a transmission from the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the indication may be carried in a field or state of DCI. For example, a field may indicate two states where the “0” bit may indicate one of the states and the “1” bit may indicate the other one of the states. In some example embodiments, a new field or state, or a separate field or state in a DCI message may be used to carry the indication of the OCC configuration. In some example embodiments, a legacy field or state of the DCI may be reused to carry the indication. The reused field or state may be also referred to as a joint field or state.

The OCC configuration may include any configuration related to OCCs. In some example embodiments, the OCC configuration may include OCC sequences that are available or configured for the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the OCC configuration may include a configuration of OCC adjustment. For example, the indication of the OCC configuration may include one or more rules for the OCC adjustment.

After the first apparatus 110 receives (320) the indication of the OCC configuration from the second apparatus 120 or a network, the first apparatus 110 performs (330) , a transmission by using an OCC, based on the indication of the OCC configuration. Correspondingly, the second apparatus 120 receives (340) the transmission from the first apparatus 110. This transmission may include a PUSCH transmission, a NPUSCH transmission, a PRACH transmission, a NPRACH transmission, and/or any other transmissions that may be initiated by the first apparatus 110. In the following, some example embodiments may be described by using a PUSCH transmission as an example.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may select an OCC from the indicated or configured OCCs. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus 110 may select the OCC based on configuration from the second apparatus 120. In various example embodiments, the transmission from the first apparatus 110 includes one or more spreading blocks with the OCC (or OCC grids) . At least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the OCC configuration. In some example embodiments, the at least one spreading block may include a starting spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the OCC configuration may include an indication that OCC adjustment is allowed or enabled for the first apparatus 110. Accordingly, after the first apparatus 110 receives (320) this indication, the first apparatus 110 may know that OCC adjustment is allowed or enabled and then adjust at least one spreading block based on some rules that may be predefined or hardcoded in the 3GPP standards, or indicated or configured by a network, e.g., via the second apparatus 120.

In some example embodiments, the OCC configuration may include one or more rules for the OCC adjustment. For example, the OCC configuration may indicate adjustment of a starting position of at least one spreading block in the transmission from the first apparatus 110.

In an example, the indication of the OCC configuration may include an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission. The resource may comprise a time and/or frequency resource, which, for example, may include one or more PRBs and one or more slots or subframes. Alternatively, or in addition, the indication of the OCC configuration may include an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission. Based on such indications, the first apparatus 110 may adjust the position or offset (e.g., a symbol, a slot, a subframe, and/or the like) of the at least one spreading block in the resources scheduled for the transmission.

Some example embodiments in this regard will be described below with reference to FIG. 4A which shows an example process 400A of symbol-level OCC adjustment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the process 400A, an OCC scheme is applied in a symbol level, and a starting position (or symbol) of a plurality of spreading blocks with an OCC (e.g., with a length of 4) is adjusted in the scheduled resources (e.g., 4 slots) . As shown in FIG. 4A, 4 slots 401-1, 401-2, 401-3 and 401-4 are scheduled for UE 2 (as an example of the first apparatus 110) , and each slot includes 14 symbols. A spreading block of a plurality of spreading blocks 405-1, …, 405-N with the OCC (also referred to as an OCC grid) includes 4 symbols. N represents a positive integer. The value of N may be dependent from the number of scheduled resources (e.g., the number of scheduled slots) , the length of the OCC and the indication of the OCC adjustment, as will be detailed in the following paragraphs. In this example, N = 13.

For example, the network may indicate a starting position of the first OCC grid (or the starting OCC grid) 405-1 in a UL transmission (e.g., a PUSCH transmission) . For example, a gNB (as an example of the second apparatus 120) may indicate to UE 2 the first available symbol 407 for a PUSCH with an OCC in the first slot 401-1. Accordingly, the first available symbol 407 in the first slot 401-1 for the PUSCH with the OCC may be determined by UE 2 based on the indication of the OCC configuration (e.g., a DCI indication) from the network.

In some example embodiments, the first available symbol 407 in the first slot 401-1 may be adjusted to align a starting point of the following OCC grid 405-2 with the first symbol 409 in the following slot 401-2 for the same PUSCH with the OCC. As shown in FIG. 4A, the first available symbol 407 in the first slot 401-1 is not the first symbol 411 but the third symbol in the first slot 401-1 so that the first available symbol in the following slot 401-2 for the PUSCH is the first symbol 409 in the slot 401-2.

The symbol-level OCC adjustment may be triggered by the network when needed. For example, in some cases, there may be already some apparatuses (such as the third apparatus 130) scheduled in some resources, with one or more but not all available OCC sequences. When UE 2 has new traffic, the network may schedule UE 2 to transmit on the same resources of the already scheduled PRBs with an OCC sequence that is not utilized, starting from any slot.

If the starting symbol 407 of the starting slot 402-1 for UE 2 is not the starting symbol 411 of OCC grids for the already scheduled UE 1 (as an example of the third apparatus 130) , then when the network schedules the new UE 2 to transmit UL traffic, the network may indicate adjustment of the position for the first OCC grid 405-1 of the UL transmission.

Based on the process 400A, if there are already PUSCHs, e.g., if UE 1’s PUSCH has already been scheduled to start from a slot 413 prior to the slot 401-1, the network may schedule the OCC adjustment for UE 2. Based on the OCC adjustment, UE 2’s PUSCH may be scheduled in the slot 401-1 with the first OCC grid 405-1 starting from the third symbol 407 of the slot 401-1, so that the following OCC grid 405-1 is aligned with an OCC grid 415 of UE 1’s PUSCH with the same PRBs.

In this way, UE 2 may be scheduled in the slot 401-1 based on the OCC adjustment indicated by the network although the first available symbol 407 for UE 2 is not aligned with the first available symbol 417 for UE 1 in the slot 413. There is no need to wait for UE 1 to complete the PUSCH transmission or wait for a slot in which the first symbol is aligned with the first element of an OCC grid of UE 1. Thus, the network may schedule a UE in any slot based on traffic status and channel status of UE, which achieves much flexibility in UL scheduling.

It is to be understood that the process 400A are described with reference to symbol-level OCC adjustment for the PUSCH transmission only for the purpose of illustration, without suggesting any limitation. Similar processes may be used for slot-level and/or subframe-level OCC adjustment and applied for a NPUSCH transmission, a PRACH transmission, a NPRACH transmission, and any other UL transmission. The PRACH and/or NPRACH transmission may be scheduled or ordered via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) .

Still with reference to FIG. 3, in some example embodiments, an end position of the one or more spread blocks for the transmission performed (330) by the first apparatus 110 may be adjusted based on the indication of the OCC configuration received (320) from the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the transmission may include a number of repetitions for a transmission block. In an example, a transmission block may be corresponding to a PUSCH transmission in a slot, a subframe and/or other time periods. In this case, the end position of the one or more spread blocks may be determined based on a length of the OCC, the number of repetitions and the indication of the OCC configuration.

In some example embodiments, a size of the transmission may be determined based on the indication of the OCC configuration. The size may be the number of symbols, slots, subframes and/or other time periods for the transmission (e.g., the PUSCH transmission) .

By way of example, as shown in FIG. 4A, a transmission block of UE 1 includes a PUSCH transmission in a slot, e.g., including 14 symbols which may include one or more symbols for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) transmission. The number of repetitions for UE 1’s PUSCH is 1. The total number of allocated slots may be equal to the number of repetitions multiple the length of the OCC (e.g., 4) , which, for example, is 4 slots.

For UE 2, the number of repetitions for the PUSCH transmission is 1, and the total number of allocated slots are 4 slots. As the first 2 symbols in the first slot 401-1 are not available for the PUSCH transmission of UE 2 based on the OCC adjustment, the last 2 symbols of the last slot 401-4 are also not available. In this case, the PUSCH transmission of UE 2 occupies 13 symbols where each of the symbols are spread to 4 symbols with the OCC. The 13 symbols may include one or more symbols for a DMRS transmission. Accordingly, UE 2 may map the OCC grid of the PUSCH transmission based on the determination about the positions of the starting and end positions of the OCC grids and the number of symbols for the PUSCH transmission.

In some example embodiments, the OCC configuration may indicate adjustment of a number of components in at least one spreading block of one or more spreading blocks in the transmission from the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the indication of the OCC configuration received (320) by the first apparatus 110 from the second apparatus 120 may include an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the OCC. Alternatively, or in addition, the indication of the OCC configuration may include an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the OCC. The at least one reference spreading block may be at least one spreading block generated by using the OCC with no adjustment.

Accordingly, based on such indications, the first apparatus 110 may adjust the position or offset of the at least one spreading block based on the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block. In some example embodiments, to achieve such adjustment, the first apparatus 110 may adjust a number of components in the at least on spreading block to adjust the position or offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block.

Some example embodiments in this regard will be described below with reference to FIG. 4B which shows an example process 400B of repetition-level OCC adjustment according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the process 400B, an OCC scheme is applied in a repetition level. A PUSCH transmission in a subframe, which may be scheduled via a PDCCH, is spread by using an OCC sequence with an OCC length of 4, e.g., OCC elements #1, #2, #3 and #4. One repetition for the PUSCH transmission with the OCC may be corresponding to one OCC element.

In this example, the OCC configuration may be indicated by DCI. If the number of repetitions is larger than the length of the OCC, DCI may indicate configuration of an OCC grid and elements of the OCC grid for the first repetition of the PUSCH transmission. Accordingly, a starting position of the first spreading block (or the first OCC grid) may be adjusted according to the indication of OCC configuration.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4B, 8 subframes are scheduled for UE 2 as the number of repetitions are 8 and the OCC length is 4. The first component in the first OCC grid 420-1 for UE 2’s PUSCH transmission may be adjusted to be the second subframe 422 of the 8 subframes. In this case, one OCC element (e.g., OCC element #1) is dropped in the first OCC grid. Thus, the total number of transmitted repetitions may be the scheduled number of repetitions minus the number of dropped repetitions, i.e., 7. The end position of the spreading block for UE 2’s PUSCH is corresponding to OCC element #4.

There may be different OCC grids from different UEs in the same allocated PRBs. For example, in the same PRBs, UE 1 may have 8 repetitions of the PUSCH transmission and use another available OCC with the OCC length of 4 in a repetition level. The first component of the spreading blocks for UE 2’s PUSCH is not aligned with the first component 424 of spreading blocks for UE 1’s PUSCH. In each of the subframes for UE 2’s PUSCH transmission, UE 2 may obtain a combination of the repetition of its own PUSCH transmission and the repetition of UE 1’s PUSCH transmission. Thus, the orthogonality of PUSCH transmissions from different UEs may be guaranteed by OCC multiplexing.

As an alternative example, in the case that the number of repetitions for UE 2’s PUSCH transmission is 4, the last three OCC elements (e.g., OCC elements #2, #3 and #4) in the following OCC grid 420-2 may also be dropped. In this case, the OCC elements used for the OCC spreading are OCC elements #2, #3, #4 and #1. Accordingly, the receiver may perform de-spreading using an OCC sequence including OCC elements #2, #3, #4 and #1. As such, the orthogonality between UE 1 and UE 2 may be guaranteed.

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example process 500 of OCC adjustment at a UE (as an example of the first apparatus 110) in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 5, at block 510, the UE receives an indication of OCC configuration from DCI which is used for the scheduling of the transmission. One new field or state in DCI or reused legacy field or state in DCI may be used indicate the OCC configuration. In some example embodiments, DCI may indicate the OCC adjustment (such as a relative relation between the first symbol, slot or subframe of the OCC grid and the first resource for the transmission) for the allocated resources (e.g., PRBs) by new DCI element or reuse legacy DCI element.

In some example embodiments, DCI may indicate that the OCC adjustment is allowed for the first apparatus 110. The first apparatus 110 may perform the OCC adjustment only when DCI indicated that this adjustment is allowed. The network (e.g., gNB) may know different OCC mapping of different UEs on different resources for scheduling. Accordingly, the network may decide when the OCC adjustments needs to be activated. The OCC adjustment based on the indication from the network may reduce inter-UE interference more efficiently.

At block 520, the UE decides a transmission on the UE channel (e.g., the PUSCH based on the OCC adjustment indicated from DCI. For example, the UE may decide the PUSCH mapping based on the indication from DCI and map the PUSCH transmission on allocated resource accordingly. The UE may also decide the size of a PUSCH (e.g., number of symbols for the PUSCH transmission) based on the indication from DCI.

At block 530, the UE performs the transmission on the UL channel based on the OCC adjustment indicated by DCI, where the OCC spreading is adjusted based on the DCI.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for OCC adjustment based on DCI scheduling so that the starting position of OCC spreading of the scheduled transmission may be flexibly adjusted according to the already scheduled transmission on the same resources (e.g. PRBs) from other UEs. Thus, the solution may provide more flexibility of scheduling of multiple UEs, transmissions of which are multiplexed on the same resource with OCCs. The transmissions from the multiple UEs may be scheduled to start from any slot with no need to always have aligned starting points.

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

At block 610, the first apparatus 110 receives an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration.

At block 620, the first apparatus 110 performs, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code. The transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration may be received from the second apparatus 120 via downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication may be carried in a field or state of downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration may include one or more of: an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the first apparatus; an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.

In some example embodiments, the orthogonal cover code configuration may indicate one or more of: adjustment of a starting position of the at least one spreading block, or adjustment of a number of components in the at least one spreading block.

In some example embodiments, the at least one spreading block may include a starting spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks.

In some example embodiments, the transmission may include a number of repetitions for a transmission block. An end position of the one or more spreading blocks may be determined based on a length of the orthogonal cover code, the number of repetitions, and the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, a size of the transmission may be determined based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

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

At block 710, the second apparatus 120 transmits, to the first apparatus 110, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration.

At block 720, the second apparatus 120 receives, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code. The transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration may be transmitted to the first apparatus 110 via downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication is carried in a field or state of downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration may include one or more of: an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the second apparatus; an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.

All operations and features related to the first apparatus 110 and the second apparatus 120 as described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 are likewise applicable to the methods 600 and 700 and have similar effects.

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

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for receiving an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and means for performing, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration is received from a second apparatus via downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration includes one or more of: an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the first apparatus; an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.

In some example embodiments, the orthogonal cover code configuration indicates one or more of: adjustment of a starting position of the at least one spreading block, or adjustment of a number of components in the at least one spreading block.

In some example embodiments, the at least one spreading block includes a starting spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks.

In some example embodiments, the transmission includes a number of repetitions for a transmission block, and an end position of the one or more spreading blocks is determined based on a length of the orthogonal cover code, the number of repetitions, and the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, a size of the transmission is determined based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

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

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and means for receiving, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code, wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration is transmitted to the first apparatus via downlink control information.

In some example embodiments, the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration includes one or more of: an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the second apparatus; an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission; an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.

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

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

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

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

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

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 830 so that the device 800 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 7. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing the method 800 (for example, the first apparatus 110 in FIGS. 1A and 1B may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for transmitting a first message of a random access procedure, using a random access preamble of one or more random access preambles and an orthogonal cover code of one or more orthogonal cover codes; means for receiving a second message of the random access procedure, wherein the second message includes a first set of random access responses, a random access response of the first set of random access responses is mapped to both a random access preamble of the one or more random access preambles and an orthogonal cover code of the one or more orthogonal cover codes; and means for receiving information about mapping of the first set of random access responses to the one or more random access preambles and the one or more orthogonal cover codes.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing the method 900 (for example, the second apparatus 120 in FIGS. 1A and 1B may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 900. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second apparatus 120 in FIGS. 1A and 1B.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a first apparatus, a first message of a random access procedure, the first message transmitted by the first apparatus using a random access preamble of one or more random access preambles and an orthogonal cover code of one or more orthogonal cover codes; means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a second message of the random access procedure, wherein the second message includes a first set of random access responses, and a random access response of the first set of random access responses is mapped to both a random access preamble of the one or more random access preambles and an orthogonal cover code of the one or more orthogonal cover codes; and means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, information about mapping of the first set of random access responses to the one or more random access preambles and the one or more orthogonal cover codes.

FIG. 10 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1000 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1000 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first apparatus 110 or the second apparatus 120 as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B. As shown, the device 1000 includes one or more processors 1010, one or more memories 1020 coupled to the processor 1010, and one or more communication modules 1040 coupled to the processor 1010.

The communication module 1040 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1040 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 1040 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 1010 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1000 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 1020 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 1024, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random-access memory (RAM) 1022 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 1030 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1010. The instructions of the program 1030 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 1030 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 1024. The processor 1010 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1030 into the RAM 1022.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1030 so that the device 1000 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 1A to FIG. 7. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 1030 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 1000 (such as in the memory 1020) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1000. The device 1000 may load the program 1030 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 1022 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 11 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1100 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1100 has the program 1030 stored thereon.

Claims

A first apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

receive an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and

perform, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
The first apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration is received from a second apparatus via downlink control information.
The first apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the indication is carried in a field or state of downlink control information.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration includes one or more of:

an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the first apparatus;

an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission;

an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission;

an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or

an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the orthogonal cover code configuration indicates one or more of:

adjustment of a starting position of the at least one spreading block, or

adjustment of a number of components in the at least one spreading block.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the at least one spreading block includes a starting spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the transmission includes a number of repetitions for a transmission block, and an end position of the one or more spreading blocks is determined based on a length of the orthogonal cover code, the number of repetitions, and the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
The first apparatus of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein a size of the transmission is determined based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A second apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

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

transmit, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and

receive, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
The second apparatus of claim 9, wherein the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration is transmitted to the first apparatus via downlink control information.
The second apparatus of claim 9 or 10, wherein the indication is carried in a field or state of downlink control information.
The second apparatus of any of claims 9 to 11, wherein the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration includes one or more of:

an indication that orthogonal cover code adjustment is allowed or enabled for the second apparatus;

an indication of a position of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission;

an indication of an offset of the at least one spreading block with respect to a starting resource for the transmission;

an indication of a position of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to a reference starting component of at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code; or

an indication of an offset of a starting component of the at least one spreading block with respect to the reference starting component of the at least one reference spreading block with the orthogonal cover code.
The second apparatus of any of claims 9 to 12, wherein the orthogonal cover code configuration indicates one or more of:

adjustment of a starting position of the at least one spreading block, or

adjustment of a number of components in the at least one spreading block.
The second apparatus of any of claims 9 to 13, wherein the at least one spreading block includes a starting spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks.
The second apparatus of any of claims 9 to 14, wherein the transmission includes a number of repetitions for a transmission block, and an end position of the one or more spreading blocks is determined based on a length of the orthogonal cover code, the number of repetitions, and the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
The second apparatus of any of claims 9 to 15, wherein a size of the transmission is determined based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A method comprising:

receiving an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration. and

performing, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A method comprising:

transmitting, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration. and

receiving, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A first apparatus comprising:

means for receiving an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and

means for performing, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A second apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a first apparatus, an indication of orthogonal cover code configuration; and

means for receiving, based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration, a transmission from the first apparatus by using an orthogonal cover code,

wherein the transmission includes one or more spreading blocks with the orthogonal cover code, and at least one spreading block of the one or more spreading blocks is adjusted based on the indication of the orthogonal cover code configuration.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 17 or the method of claim 18.