BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE

1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method of wireless communication, which can provide a good communication performance and/or high reliability.

2. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Mobile communication systems provide subscribers with voice communication services on the move. With rapid technological advancements, the mobile communication systems can now also support high speed data communication services. However, there is a need for more sophisticated mobile communication systems to mitigate resource shortage and meet the high-speed service requirements of the subscribers.

[0003] Long term evolution (LTE) is a next generation broadband communication technology developed by the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) in order to meet such requirement. The LTE system is a technology for realizing highspeed packet-based downlink communication at up to 100 Mbps. In order to fulfill the requirements for the LTE system, discussions are being held on various aspects: one scheme for reducing the number of nodes located in a communication path by simplifying a configuration of the network, and another scheme for maximally approximating wireless protocols to wireless channels.

[0004] In the aforementioned wireless communication system, resource allocation is performed in unit of a subframe. A subframe includes a plurality of sub-carriers/resource elements (REs) across a plurality of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the sub-carriers can be contiguous or non-contiguous in frequency domain, and OFDM symbols can also be contiguous or non-contiguous in time domain. In order to maintain generality, the following description is made under assumption that a subframe consists of a plurality of contiguous sub-carriers across a plurality of contiguous OFDM symbols. The resources in a subframe can be further partitioned into resource blocks (RBs), and an RB can be assigned to one or more connected user equipments (UEs).

[0005] Communications include communication over unlicensed spectrum or unlicensed spectrum. For communication over unlicensed spectrum, in an unlicensed band, an unlicensed spectrum is a shared spectrum. Communication equipments in different communication systems can use the unlicensed spectrum as long as the unlicensed meets regulatory requirements set by countries or regions on a spectrum. There is no need to apply for a proprietary spectrum authorization from a government.

[0006] In order to allow various communication systems that use the unlicensed spectrum for wireless communication to coexist friendly in the spectrum, some countries or regions specify regulatory requirements that must be met to use the unlicensed spectrum. For example, a communication device follows a listen before talk (LBT) procedure, that is, the communication device needs to perform a channel sensing before transmitting a signal on a channel. When an LBT outcome illustrates that the channel is idle, the communication device can perform signal transmission; otherwise, the communication device cannot perform signal transmission. In order to ensure fairness, once a communication device successfully occupies the channel, a transmission duration cannot exceed a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT).

[0007] On an unlicensed carrier, for a channel occupation time obtained by a base station, it may share the channel occupation time to a user equipment (UE) for transmitting an uplink signal or an uplink channel. In other words, when the base station shares its own channel occupancy time with the UE, the UE can use an LBT mode with higher priority than that used by the UE itself to obtain the channel, thereby obtaining the channel with greater probability. LBT is also called channel access procedure. UE performs channel access procedure before the transmission, if the channel access procedure is successful, i.e. the channel is sensed to be idle, the UE starts to perform the transmission. If the channel access procedure is not successful, i.e. the channel is sensed to be not idle, the UE cannot perform the transmission.

[0008] In the aforementioned wireless communication system, a challenge is how to deal with an extremely high path loss due to physical characteristic of signal propagation loss at high frequency band.

[0009] Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus (such as a user equipment (UE) and/or a base station) and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB), provide small allocation overhead, flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

SUMMARY

[0010] An object of the present disclosure is to propose an apparatus (such as a user equipment (UE) and/or a base station) and a method of wireless communication, which can solve issues in the prior art, allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB), provide small allocation overhead, flexibly allocate contiguous or non- continuous RBs, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0011] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication, comprising being configured, by a base station, with a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for a user equipment (UE) in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs).

[0012] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication comprising configuring to a user equipment (UE) by a base station, a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for the UE in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs).

[0013] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipment comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to perform the above method.

[0014] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a base station comprises a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to perform the above method.

[0015] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above method.

[0016] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a chip includes a processor, configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory, to cause a device in which the chip is installed to execute the above method.

[0017] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium, in which a computer program is stored, causes a computer to execute the above method.

[0018] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product includes a computer program, and the computer program causes a computer to execute the above method.

[0019] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program causes a computer to execute the above method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or related art, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.

[0021] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one or more user equipments (UEs) and a base station (e.g., gNB) of communication in a communication network system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [0022] FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of wireless communication performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0025] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0028] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0029] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0030] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0031] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0032] FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0033] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0034] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0035] FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0036] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram illustrating a resource allocation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0037] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAIEED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0038] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure.

[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates that, in some embodiments, one or more user equipments (UEs) 10 and a base station (e.g., gNB) 20 for transmission adjustment in a communication network system 30 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are provided. The communication network system 30 includes the one or more UEs 10 and the base station 20. The one or more UEs 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 coupled to the memory 12, the transceiver 13. The base station 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 coupled to the memory 22, the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21 and stores a variety of information to operate the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the processor 11 or 21, and the transceiver 13 or 23 transmits and/or receives a radio signal.

[0040] The processor 11 or 21 may include application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The memory 12 or 22 may include read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), flash memory, memory card, storage medium and/or other storage device. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 can be implemented within the processor 11 or 21 or external to the processor 11 or 21 in which case those can be communicatively coupled to the processor 11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.

[0041] In some embodiments, the processor 11 is being configured, by the base station 20, with a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for the UE 10 in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs). This can solve issues in the prior art, reduce inter-beam interference, realize frequency division multiplexed (FDM) beams, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0042] In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to configuring, to the UE 10, with a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for the UE in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs). This can solve issues in the prior art, allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB), provide small allocation overhead, flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0043] FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 of wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 200 includes: a block 202, being configured, by a base station, with a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for a user equipment (UE) in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs). This can solve issues in the prior art, allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB), provide small allocation overhead, flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0044] FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 of wireless communication by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 300 includes: a block 302, configuring, to a user equipment (UE), a resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation is used to determine transmission or reception of a resource for the UE in frequency domain, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more resource elements (REs). This can solve issues in the prior art, allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB), provide small allocation overhead, flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs, provide a good communication performance, and/or provide high reliability.

[0045] In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates allocation of a bandwidth part (BWP) for the UE to perform a transmission or a reception in the BWP. In some embodiments, the BWP comprises a downlink BWP and/or an uplink BWP. In some embodiments, the BWP comprises an active BWP. In some embodiments, the BWP comprises a set of contiguous resource blocks (RBs)Zphysical RBs (PRBs), and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more RBs/PRBs in which the UE performs the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, each RB/PRB comprises 12 REs, and the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more REs in each RB/PRB in which the UE performs the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, the transmission comprises the UE transmitting at least one of the followings: a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a physical random access channel (PRACH). In some embodiments, the reception comprises the UE receiving at least one of the followings: a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH, or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a first indication and/or a second indication, the first indication indicates allocation of one or more RBs/PRBs and the second indication indicates allocation of one or more REs.

[0046] In some embodiments, the one or more REs in the one or more RBs/PRBs in the BWP are for the UE to perform the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, the one or more REs are for the UE to perform the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, the one or more RBs/PRBs are for the UE to perform the transmission or the reception, and the one or more allocated RBs/PRBs are contiguous or non-contiguous in frequency domain. In some embodiments, the BWP comprises N RBs/PRBs, and the N RBs/PRBs comprise an RB/PRB index from 0 to N-l, where N is an integer. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RB/PRB index and an allocated RB/PRB number for the UE to determine the allocated RB/PRB according to the starting RB index and the allocated RB/PRB number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RB/PRB index, and an allocated RB/PRB number is a pre-defined value, such that the UE determines the allocated RB/PRB according to the starting RB/PRB index and the pre-defined RB/PRB number. In some embodiments, the pre-defined value comprises at least 1.

[0047] In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a bit map allocation where a bit corresponds to an RB/PRB index, a value of the bit is used to determine allocation of the corresponding RB/PRB index. In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises one or more RB/PRB bundles, where an RB/PRB bundle comprises at least two RBs/PRBs. In some embodiments, the RB/PRB bundle comprises contiguous RBs/PRBs or non-contiguous RBs/PRBs in frequency domain. In some embodiments, the RB/PRB bundle comprises an RB/PRB bundle index. In some embodiments, the RB/PRB bundle is configured by the base station or pre-defined. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates an allocation of one or more RB/PRB bundles by allocating the RB/PRB bundle index.

[0048] In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates allocation of one or more RB/PRB bundles in which the UE performs transmission or reception, and the one or more allocated RB/PRB bundles are contiguous or non-contiguous in frequency domain. In some embodiments, the BWP comprises M RB/PRB bundles, and the P RB/PRB bundles comprise an RB/PRB bundle index from 0 to P-1, where P is an integer. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RB/PRB bundle index and an allocated RB/PRB bundle number for the UE to determine the allocated RB/PRB bundle according to the starting RB/PRB bundle index and the allocated RB/PRB bundle number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RB/PRB bundle index, and an allocated RB/PRB bundle number is a pre-defined value, such that the UE determines the allocated RB/PRB bundle according to the starting RB/PRB bundle index and the pre-defined RB/PRB bundle number. In some embodiments, the pre-defined value comprises at least 1. In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a bit map allocation where a bit corresponds to an RB/PRB bundle index, a value of the bit is used to determine allocation of the corresponding RB/PRB bundle index.

[0049] In some embodiments, in the RE level allocation, each RB comprises RE indexes. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RE index and an allocated RE number for the UE to determine the allocated RE according to the starting RE index and the allocated RE number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RE index, and an allocated RE number is a pre-defined or pre-configured value, such that the UE determines the allocated RE according to the starting RE index and the pre-defined RE number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a bit map allocation where each bit corresponds to a RE index, a value of the bit is used to determine allocation of the corresponding RE index. In some embodiments, the REs are grouped into one or more RE bundles, where an RE bundle comprises at least one RE. In some embodiments, the REs within a same RE bundle are contiguous or noncontiguous in frequency domain.

[0050] In some embodiments, the RE bundle comprises a RE bundle index for allocating the RE. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RE bundle index and an allocated RE bundle number for the UE to determine the allocated RE bundle according to the starting RE bundle index and the allocated RE bundle number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation indicates a starting RE bundle index, and an allocated RE bundle number is a pre-defined or preconfigured value, such that the UE determines the allocated RE bundle according to the starting RE bundle index and the pre-defined RE bundle number. In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a bit map allocation where a bit corresponds to a RE bundle index, a value of the bit is used to determine allocation of the corresponding RE bundle index. In some embodiments, the RE bundle groups at least two REs, such that the at least two REs are apart from each other by at least a frequency interval larger or equal to a first given frequency interval. In some embodiments, the first given frequency interval is in a unit of Hertz. In some embodiments, the first given frequency interval is pre-configured or pre-defined.

[0051] In some embodiments, the frequency interval between the at least two REs is calculated by a number of REs multiply with a corresponding subcarrier spacing (SCS). In some embodiments, the two REs are indicated by resource allocation for the UE to perform the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, the number is relevant to a number of RE between the two REs. In some embodiments, a frequency interval between two RE bundles is larger or equal to a second given frequency interval. In some embodiments, the two RE bundles are indicated by the resource allocation for the UE to perform the transmission or the reception. In some embodiments, the two RE bundles comprise a set of contiguous REs in frequency domain or non-contiguous REs in frequency domain. In some embodiments, the two RE bundles comprise a same RE bundle index or different RE bundle indexes. In some embodiments, the frequency interval between two RE bundles is calculated between a first RE in a first RE bundle to a second RE in a second RE bundle.

[0052] In some embodiments, the first RE is in lower or higher frequency than the second RE. In some embodiments, the first RE bundle is in lower or higher frequency than the second RE bundle. In some embodiments, the first RE bundle has smaller or higher RE bundle index than the second RE bundle. In some embodiments, the first RE is in the highest or the lowest frequency among a set of RE in the first RE bundle. In some embodiments, the second RE is in the highest or the lowest frequency among a set of RE in the second RE bundle. In some embodiments, the first RE is in the highest or the lowest RE index among a set of RE in the first RE bundle. In some embodiments, the second RE is in the highest or the lowest RE index among a set of RE in the second RE bundle. In some embodiments, the second given frequency interval is pre-configured or pre-defined. In some embodiments, the second given frequency interval comprises 1 MHz. In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a type 1 resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation comprises the first indication and the second indication.

[0053] In some embodiments, the resource allocation comprises a type 2 resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation comprises the first indication or the second indication. In some embodiments, the type 1 resource allocation and/or the type 2 resource allocation is configured in radio resource control (RRC) signaling. In some embodiments, when the base station configures the type 1 resource allocation and/or the type 2 resource allocation, the base station uses an indication field in a downlink control information (DCI) format to indicate the resource allocation type. In some embodiments, the base station configures the type 1 resource allocation or the type 2 resource allocation, the base station selects a resource allocation type between the type 1 resource allocation or the type 2 resource allocation, wherein the resource allocation type selection information is carried in the DCI format or the indication field. In some embodiments, the base station uses one or more bits from the indication field to select the resource allocation type, and the rest of the bits in the indication field are used to indicate resource allocation according to the selected resource allocation type.

[0054] In some embodiments, the DCI format comprises at least one of the followings: DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_l, DCI format 0_2, DCI format l_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 1_2. In some embodiments, the indication field comprises at least frequency domain resource allocation. In some embodiments, for a PUCCH transmission with a given format, a frequency resource allocation for the PUCCH transmission comprises a number of RBs/PRBs, wherein the number of RBs/PRBs is relevant to a subcarrier spacing (SCS) corresponding to the PUCCH transmission. In some embodiments, the number of RBs/PRBs comprises 8 RBs/PRBs for SCS equal to 240KHz and/or 4 RBs/PRBs for SCS equal to 480KHz and/or 2 RBs/PRBs for SCS equal to 960KHz and/or 20 RBs/PRBs for SCS equal to 120KHz or 60KHz. In some embodiments, the given format comprises at least one of the followings: PUCCH format 0, PUCCH format 1, or PUCCH format 4.

[0055] In some embodiments, the PUCCH transmission is generated by a sequence of length being equal to total REs of the number of RBs/PRBs allocated for the PUCCH transmission. In some embodiments, the PUCCH transmission is general by a sequence of length 12. In some embodiments, the sequence is extended to the number of the RBs/PRBs allocated to the PUCCH transmission, by repeating the sequence to different RBs/PRBs, with a RB/PRB dedicated cyclic phase shift. In some embodiments, for an uplink transmission, when a RE level resource allocation and/or a RB/PRB level resource allocation is used, the total number of REs allocated, M, for the uplink transmission meets a condition, wherein the conditions is that a value of M is expressed as the following:

M = 2 ^a • 3 ^b • 5 ^C , where a, b, c are non-negative integers.

[0056] In some embodiments, the PUCCH transmission is generated by a sequence of length being equal to total REs of the number of RBs/PRBs allocated for the PUCCH transmission. In some embodiments, when the value of M selected by the base station does not meet the condition, the UE removes one or more REs, such that an eventual number after removing the one or more REs meets the condition. In some embodiments, the removing method comprises ignoring the RE following an ordering until the total number of REs after removing meets the condition. In some embodiments, when the uplink transmission is applied with a precoding, the precoder is operated on all the allocated REs at a given time symbol. In some embodiments, the precoder comprises a discrete Fourier transform. In some embodiments, the ordering starts from a highest frequency to a lowest frequency or from a lowest frequency to a highest frequency.

[0057] In some embodiments, in a current new radio system, for example in Release (Rel.) 15 and Rel. 16 of NR system, the resource allocation for downlink data (such as PDSCH-physical downlink shared channel) or uplink data or control transmissions (such as PUSCH-physical uplink shared channel or PUCCH-physical uplink control channel), is all based on resource block (RB) or physical RB (PRB) level. Moving towards Rel.17, we look at much higher carrier frequency, e.g. above 52.6 GHz. For communications at such high frequency, a challenge is how to deal with an extremely high path loss due to physical characteristic of signal propagation loss at high frequency band.

[0058] A possible way to fight against the high propagation loss is to use smaller transmission bandwidth, which can allow to focus all transmission power to the transmission bandwidth, sometimes also called power spectrum density boosting. Thus, in order to extent the power boosting to its ultimate limit, the transmission bandwidth shall be flexibly reduced to as small as possible. Due to the RB or PRB level resource allocation in the current NR system, the transmission bandwidth can only be reduced at the RB/PRB level. Some embodiments of the present disclosure present a sub-PRB level resource allocation method, which allows a network (such as base station) to allocate a transmission bandwidth smaller than an RB/PRB. [0059] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, in a new radio (NR) system, a network such as base station may configure a bandwidth part (BWP) such as an active BWP for a user equipment (UE), and the UE performs a transmission or a reception in the BWP such as the active BWP. In some embodiments, the active BWP may comprise a set of contiguous RB/PRB, as illustrated in FIG. 4, and the network may further indicate or configure one or more RB/PRB in which the UE performs the transmission or the reception. For one RB/PRB, it comprises 12 resource element (RE) as illustrated in FIG. 4. The network may further indicate one or more RE in which the UE performs transmissions or receptions, leading to a resource allocation granularity smaller than RB/PRB level. More detailed transmission resource allocation methods are presented in the following examples. It is to note that in this disclosure, RB and PRB may be inter-changed. Moreover, the transmission comprises the UE transmitting at least one of the followings: a PUSCH, a PUCCH, an SRS or a PRACH. The reception comprises the UE receiving at least one of the followings: a PDSCH, a PDCCH or a CSI-RS.

[0060] Example:

[0061] In this example, the resource allocation method comprises two layers, at the first layer, a network may allocate one or more RB, and at the second layer, the network may further allocate one or more RE. A UE may determine the resource allocation for transmission or reception as the allocated one or more RE in the allocated one or more RB, as illustrated in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, the network allocates the first two RBs and further allocates the first 6 RE. Thus, the UE determines that the allocated resources allocated are the first 6 RE in the first 2 RBs in the active BWP for a transmission or a reception.

[0062] Example:

[0063] In this example, the resource allocation method comprises one RE level allocation, thus, a network allocates directly one or more RE for the transmission or the reception.

[0064] Example:

[0065] In this example, we present some methods for RB level resource allocation which may be applied together with example 1. The method may allocate one or more RB, where the one or more allocated RB may be contiguous in frequency domain or non-contiguous. There may be different options for RB level allocation.

[0066] Option 1: Assuming that an active BWP contains N RB, where N is an integer. Thus, the N RB comprise RB index from 0 to N-l, the network may indicate a starting RB index and a number of allocated RBs, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the UE determines the allocated RB according to the starting RB index and the allocated RB number. Optionally, the number of RB may be a pre-defined value, thus the network may only need to indicate a starting RB index. Optionally, the predefined value is 1, leading to 1 RB allocation. This option has an advantage of resulting in small allocation overhead, e.g. the number of bits used for resource allocation is small.

[0067] Option 2: This option uses a bit map allocation where each bit corresponds to an RB index, when the bit indicates a value of ‘1’, the corresponding RB index is allocated, as illustrated in FIG. 7. This option has an advantage that the network can flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs.

[0068] Option 3: In this option, we introduce a concept of RB bundle, which contains at least one RB. The RB bundle may contain contiguous RBs in frequency domain or non-contiguous RBs as illustrated in FIG. 8. The RB bundle comprises an index, e.g. RB bundle index. Optionally, the RB bundle may be configured by the network or pre-defined.

[0069] The network may allocate one or more RB bundle by allocating the RB bundle index. Similar allocation method to option 1 and/or option 2 may be applicable for RB bundle allocation.

[0070] Example: [0071] In this example, we present some methods for RE level resource allocation. The method may allocate one or more RE in the allocated RB, where the RB allocation may use the method presented in example 3. For RE level allocation, there are also different options.

[0072] Option 1: Allocation with RE index, where the RE index is defined in a RB, as illustrated in FIG. 9. The RE allocation may use a starting RE index and RE number to determine the allocated RE, as illustrated in FIG. 10. Optionally, the RE number may be pre-configured or pre-defined. Optionally, the RE allocation may use bit-map with each bit corresponding to a RE index. The bit value of ‘ 1’ indicates the corresponding RE is allocated, as shown in FIG. 11.

[0073] Option 2: In this option, the REs are grouped into RE bundle, i.e. a RE bundle contains at least one RE. The RE within a same RE bundle may be contiguous in frequency domain, as illustrated in FIG. 12 where RE index 0-3 are grouped in RE bundle index 0, and RE index 4-7 are grouped into RE bundle index 1, and RE index 8-11 are grouped into RE bundle index 2; or non-contiguous in frequency domain as illustrated in FIG. 14, where RE index 0,3, 6, 9 are grouped into RE bundle index 0, and RE index 1,4,7,10 are grouped into RE bundle index 1, and RE index 2,5,8,11 are grouped into RE bundle 2. The RE bundle comprises a RE bundle index as illustrated in FIG. 12 or FIG. 13. The network may use RE bundle index to allocate RE.

[0074] The RE allocation may use a starting RE bundle index and RE bundle number to determine the allocated RE, similar to FIG. 10. Optionally, the RE bundle number may be pre-configured or pre-defined. Optionally, the RE allocation may use bit-map with each bit corresponding to a RE bundle index. The bit value of ‘1’ indicates the RE within the corresponding RE bundle are allocated.

[0075] Example:

[0076] In some examples, a RE bundle may group at least two REs in a way that the two RE are apart from each other by at least an frequency interval, as illustrated in FIG. 15, where the RE index 0 and RE index 4 are grouped into a same RE bundle 0, and the interval between RE index 0 and RE index 4 is larger or equal to a given frequency interval. Optionally, the given frequency interval is in a unit of Hertz. Optionally, the given frequency interval may be pre-configured or predefined. Optionally, the frequency interval between two RE is calculated by a number of RE multiply with the corresponding subcarrier spacing (SCS). For instance, as illustrated in FIG. 15, where for SCS=240KHz, the frequency interval between RE index 0 and RE index 4 is 3*240KHz=720 KHz.

[0077] Optionally, in some examples, a frequency interval between two RE bundles is requested to be larger or equal to the given frequency interval. The two RE bundles may contain a set of contiguous RE in frequency domain as illustrated in FIG. 16, or non-contiguous RE in frequency domain as illustrated in FIG.15. Optionally, the two RE bundles may comprises a same RE bundle index or different RE bundle index. The frequency interval between two RE bundles is calculated between a RE with the largest RE index of a first RE bundle to a RE with the smallest RE index of a second RE bundle. In FIG. 15, the network allocates RB 0 and RB 2 and further the network allocates RE bundle 0. Assuming the RE bundle 0 contains RE index 0, 3, 6, 9. Thus, the frequency interval between these two RE bundles is the interval between the RE index 9 in RB 0 and the RE index 0 in RB 2. From the figure, we see that there are 14 RE in between, thus the frequency interval is 14*SCS, which leads to 3360KHz with SCS=240KHz. Similar calculation may be applied for FIG. 16. Optionally, the given frequency interval may be pre-configured or pre-defined. The advantage of requesting the frequency interval being greater or equal to a given frequency interval is to allow a power boosting, which is mostly suitable for resource allocation for an uplink transmission, e.g. a PUSCH and/or a PUCCH and/or a SRS and/or a PRACH. Optionally, the given frequency interval is 1 MHz.

[0078] Example: [0079] Assuming the previously presented two layer resource allocation (RA), i.e. RB level and RE level, is a type 1 RA; and assume only one layer RA, i.e. RB level or RE level, is a type 2 RA. In some examples, a network may configure the RA type is type 1 and/or type 2 in RRC signaling. When the network configures the type 1 or type 2 RA, the network may use an indication field in a DCI format to inform the UE about the resource allocation, and the indication field is interpreted according to the configured RA type. When the network configures the type 1 and type 2 RA, the network may select a RA type between the type 1 or type 2 RA, wherein the RA type selection information is carried in the DCI format. Optionally, the RA type selection information is carried in the indication field. Optionally, the network may use one or more bits from the indication field to select the RA type, and the rest of the bits in the indication field are used to indicate resource allocation according to the selected RA type. Optionally, the DCI format comprises at least one of the followings: DCI format 0_0, DCI format 0_l, DCI format 0_2, DCI format l_0, DCI format 1_1, or DCI format 1_2. Optionally, the indication field comprises at least frequency domain resource allocation.

[0080] Example:

[0081] For a PUCCH transmission with a given format, the frequency resource allocated for the PUCCH transmission comprises a number of RBs, wherein the number of RBs is relevant to a subcarrier spacing (SCS) corresponding to the PUCCH. Optionally, the number of RB comprises 8 RB for SCS=240KHz and/or 4 RB for SCS=480KHz and/or 2 RB for SCS=960KHz and/or 20 RB for SCS=120KHz or 60KHz. Optionally the given format comprises at least one of the followings: PUCCH format 0, PUCCH format 1, PUCCH format 4.

[0082] Optionally, the PUCCH is generated by a sequence of length being equal to total RE of the number of RB allocated for the PUCCH. For instance, with SCS = 240, the PUCCH resource is allocated with 8 RB, leading to a total RE number being 8*12=96. Thus, the PUCCH sequence length is 96. Optionally, the PUCCH is general by a sequence of length 12. Then the sequence is extended to the number of the RBs allocated to the PUCCH, by repeating the sequence to different RBs, with RB dedicated cyclic phase shift according to section 6.3.2.2 and 6.3.2.3 of TS 38.211.

[0083] Example:

For an uplink transmission, e.g. PUCCH and/or PUSCH, in some examples, when a RE level and/or RB level resource allocation, as presented in previous examples, is used, the total number of RE allocated, say M, for the uplink transmission shall meet a condition, wherein the condition may be that the value of M can be expressed as

M = 2“ • 3 ^b • 5 ^C

[0084] Where a, b, c are non-negative integers. Optionally, when the value of M selected by the network does not meet the condition, the UE may remove one or more RE so that the eventual number after removing can meet the condition. Optionally, the removing method may be ignoring the RE following a given ordering, e.g. starting from the highest frequency to lowest frequency, until the total number of RE after removing meets the condition. The advantage is that when the uplink transmission is applied with a precoding, the precoder is operated on all the allocated RE at a given time symbol. Moreover, the precoder may be a discrete Fourier transform. Thus, with the above condition on the number of allocated RE, the precoding can be realized with low complexity.

[0085] Commercial interests for some embodiments are as follows. 1. Solving issues in the prior art. 2. Allocating a transmission bandwidth smaller than a resource block (RB)Zphysical RB (PRB). 3. Providing small allocation overhead. 4. Flexibly allocate contiguous or non-continuous RBs. 5. Providing a good communication performance. 5. Providing high reliability. 7. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are used by 5G-NR chipset vendors, V2X communication system development vendors, automakers including cars, trains, trucks, buses, bicycles, moto-bikes, helmets, and etc., drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), smartphone makers, communication devices for public safety use, AR/VR device maker for example gaming, conference/seminar, education purposes. Some embodiments of the present disclosure are a combination of “techniques/processes” that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product. Some embodiments of the present disclosure could be adopted in the 5G NR licensed and non-licensed or shared spectrum communications. Some embodiments of the present disclosure propose technical mechanisms.

[0086] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 17 illustrates the system 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a baseband circuitry 720, an application circuitry 730, a memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with each other at least as illustrated. The application circuitry 730 may include a circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors, application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

[0087] The baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multicore processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enables communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WEAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0100] In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency. The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

[0101] In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, the baseband circuitry, and/or the application circuitry. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the application circuitry, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC). The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), and/or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory.

[0102] In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface. In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

[0103] In various embodiments, the display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, an AR/VR glasses, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

[0104] A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan. A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.

[0105] It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms.

[0106] The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units.

[0107] If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present disclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.

[0108] While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.