Group-based hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement feedback

1. A method, comprising:

receiving at a user equipment (UE) first downlink control informations (DCIs) associated with first downlink transmissions belonging to a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback group, each of the first DCIs including a first field for carrying a first group indicator (GI) corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, one of the first DCIs including a second field for indicating whether one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups are to be acknowledged over a HARQ-ACK transmission opportunity (TxOP) in addition to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, a first value of the second field indicating the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups are to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, a second value of the second field indicating no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP;

determining whether the second field indicates the first value or the second value;

transmitting a first HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups over the HARQ-ACK TxOP if the second field indicates the first value; and

transmitting a second HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group only over the HARQ-ACK TxOP if the second field indicates the second value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups includes a set of downlink transmissions associated with DCIs each carrying a GI different from the first GI.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first value of the second field indicates one or more GI values of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups that are requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein when multiple HARQ-ACK feedback groups with the same GI value indicated by the second field are received at the UE, the most recently received HARQ-ACK feedback group is acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second field is a 1-bit field for indicating:

no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the second HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted only for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, or

one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the first HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

concatenating one or more HARQ-ACK codebooks corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups in the HARQ-ACK feedback in an increasing or decreasing order of corresponding group indicator (GI) values of the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first DCIs indicates a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission as the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

8. A method, comprising:

transmitting at a base station (BS) first downlink control informations (DCIs) associated with first downlink transmissions belonging to a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback group, each of the first DCIs including a first field for carrying a first group indicator (GI) corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, one of the first DCIs including a second field for indicating whether one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups are to be acknowledged over a HARQ-ACK transmission opportunity (TxOP) in addition to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, a first value of the second field indicating the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups are to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, a second value of the second field indicating no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP;

receiving a first HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups over the HARQ-ACK TxOP when the second field has the first value; and

receiving a second HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group only over the HARQ-ACK TxOP when the second field has the second value.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein each of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups includes a set of downlink transmissions associated with DCIs each carrying a GI different from the first GI.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first value of the second field indicates one or more GI values of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups that are requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second field is a 1-bit field for indicating:

no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the second HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted only for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, or

one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback group is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the first HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback group over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

12. An apparatus, comprising circuitry configured to:

receive first downlink control informations (DCIs) associated with first downlink transmissions belonging to a first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback group, each of the first DCIs including a first field for carrying a first group indicator (GI) corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, one of the first DCIs including a second field for indicating whether one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups to be acknowledged over a HARQ-ACK transmission opportunity (TxOP) in addition to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group, a first value of the second field indicating the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups are to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, a second value of the second field indicating no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP;

determine whether the second field indicates the first value or the second value;

transmit a first HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups over the HARQ-ACK TxOP if the second field indicates the first value; and

transmit a second HARQ-ACK feedback for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group only over the HARQ-ACK TxOP if the second field indicates the second value.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein each of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups includes a set of downlink transmissions associated with DCIs each carrying a GI different from the first GI.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the first value of the second field indicates one or more GI values of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups that are requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein when multiple HARQ-ACK feedback groups with the same GI value indicated by the second field are received at the UE, the most recently received HARQ-ACK feedback group is acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the second field is a 1-bit field for indicating:

no second HARQ-ACK feedback group is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the second HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted only for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, or

one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback group is requested to be acknowledged over the HARQ-ACK TxOP, and the first HARQ-ACK feedback is to be transmitted for the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one of the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback group over the HARQ-ACK TxOP.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the circuitry is further configured to:

concatenate one or more HARQ-ACK codebooks corresponding to the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups in the HARQ-ACK feedback in an increasing or decreasing order of corresponding group indicator (GI) values of the first HARQ-ACK feedback group and the one or more second HARQ-ACK feedback groups.

18. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein at least one of the first DCIs indicates a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission as the HARQ-ACK TxOP.