IP Library Granted Patent US 12,342,345
Granted Patent B2
US 12,342,345 · App. 17/441,854 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

Scheduling multiple downlink transmissions using a single downlink control transmission

Inventors: Hong He (Cupertino, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Haitong Sun (Irvine, CA); Wei Zeng (San Diego, CA); Chunhai Yao (Beijing, CN); Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN); Oghenekome Oteri (San Diego, CA); Huaning Niu (San Jose, CA); Chunxuan Ye (San Diego, CA); Seyed Ali Akbar Fakoorian (San Diego, CA); Weidong Yang (San Diego, CA); Jie Cui (San Jose, CA); Yang Tang (Cupertino, CA); Sigen Ye (Whitehouse Station, NJ)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
H04W72/23
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,342,345
App. No.
17/441,854
Granted
Jun 24, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

This disclosure relates to techniques for scheduling multiple downlink transmissions using a single downlink control transmission in a wireless communication system. A wireless device may determine a beam configuration for use for receiving multiple downlink transport blocks scheduled by a single downlink control transmission. In some instances, the wireless device may be configured to skip one or more control channel monitoring occasions that overlap with the downlink transport blocks. The wireless device may provide hybrid automatic repeat request feedback for the downlink transport blocks.

Claims (63)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to cause a wireless device to:

establish a wireless link with a cellular base station;

receive first downlink control information during a first control channel monitoring occasion, wherein the first downlink control information schedules multiple downlink transport blocks;

determine that one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information are configured as virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities; and

monitor the one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks for virtual downlink control information.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

determine that a virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity is present in each of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

receive information configuring a set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations; and

receive information in the first downlink control information that indicates a periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration, wherein the indicated periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration is one of the configured set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

receive information configuring a set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps; and

receive information in the first downlink control information that indicates a first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap, wherein the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is one of the configured set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

truncate the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap if a number of bits in the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is greater than a number of downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information; and

extend the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap if a number of bits in the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is less than a number of downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information, wherein the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is repeated to extend the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

receive virtual downlink control information format information in the first downlink control information, wherein the virtual downlink control information format information indicates one or more downlink control information formats associated with virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

determine virtual downlink control information format information indicating one or more downlink control information formats associated with virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information based at least in part on a scrambling sequence used to scramble cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits of the first downlink control information.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

determine that virtual downlink control information included in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information are quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) modulated; and

receive information indicating an amount of resources associated with virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

determine that for a downlink transport block scheduled by the first downlink control information that includes a virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity, the virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity is mapped to one or more of:

resource elements of the downlink transport block that are not reserved for other purposes in increasing order of frequency first and time second;

resource elements distributed at edges of bandwidth of the downlink transport block; or

resource elements that are interleaved with resources not associated with the virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the wireless device to:

determine that a modulation order for virtual downlink control information included in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information matches a modulation order for the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information;

receive an indication of a scaling factor associated with virtual downlink control information; and

determine a number of coded modulation symbols per layer for virtual downlink control information based at least in part on the indicated scaling factor.

11. A wireless device, comprising:

a radio; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the radio, wherein the wireless device is configured to:

establish a wireless link with a cellular base station;

receive first downlink control information during a first control channel monitoring occasion, wherein the first downlink control information schedules multiple downlink transport blocks,

determine that one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information are configured as virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities; and

monitor the one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks for virtual downlink control information.

12. The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to:

determine that a virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity is present in each of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

13. The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to:

receive information configuring a set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations; and

receive information in the first downlink control information that indicates a periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration, wherein the indicated periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration is one of the configured set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations.

14. The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to:

receive information configuring a set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps; and

receive information in the first downlink control information that indicates a first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap, wherein the first virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is one of the configured set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps.

15. The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the wireless device is further configured to:

receive virtual downlink control information format information in the first downlink control information, wherein the virtual downlink control information format information indicates one or more downlink control information formats associated with virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

16. A method, comprising:

establish a wireless link with a wireless device;

transmit, to the wireless device, first downlink control information during a first control channel monitoring occasion, wherein the first downlink control information schedules multiple downlink transport blocks in a downlink shared channel, wherein one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information are configured as virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities; and

transmit, to the wireless device, second downlink control information during one of the one or more portions of the downlink transport blocks in the downlink shared channel.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity is present in each of the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

transmit information configuring a set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations; and

transmit information in the first downlink control information that indicates a periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration, wherein the indicated periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configuration is selected from the configured set of periodic virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity configurations.

19. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

transmit information configuring a set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps; and

transmit information in the first downlink control information that indicates a virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap, wherein the indicated virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmap is selected from the configured set of virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunity pattern bitmaps.

20. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

transmit virtual downlink control information format information in the first downlink control information, wherein the virtual downlink control information format information indicates one or more downlink control information formats associated with virtual downlink control information monitoring opportunities in the downlink transport blocks scheduled by the first downlink control information.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 29, 2021
From: HE, HONG; ZHANG, DAWEI; SUN, HAITONG; ZENG, WEI; YAO, CHUNHAI; ZHANG, YUSHU; OTERI, OGHENEKOME; NIU, HUANING; YE, CHUNXUAN; FAKOORIAN, SEYED ALI AKBAR; YANG, WEIDONG; CUI, JIE; TANG, YANG; YE, SIGEN
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 057958/0440 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20220361218A1 · Nov 10, 2022
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