Acknowledgment information for groupcast communications

1. A method for transmitting a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) with first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information bits, the method comprising:

receiving information for a set of PUCCH resources, wherein:

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a first configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are associated only with receptions of multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a second configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are also associated with receptions of unicast PDSCHs when the first configuration is not provided;

determining:

values for the first HARQ-ACK information bits, wherein the first HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to receptions of the multicast PDSCHs, and

a PUCCH resource from the set of PUCCH resources according to a combination of positive acknowledgement values and negative acknowledgement values for the first HARQ-ACK information bits; and

transmitting the first PUCCH using the PUCCH resource.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first HARQ-ACK information bits has a negative acknowledgement value.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that all values of second HARQ-ACK information bits are positive acknowledgement values; and

suspending transmission of a second PUCCH for the second HARQ-ACK information bits.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving a downlink control information (DCI) format that activates receptions of semi-persistently scheduled physical downlink shared channels (SPS PDSCHs) for a SPS PDSCH configuration; and

transmitting a third PUCCH with a third HARQ-ACK information bit having a positive acknowledgement value in response to the DCI format reception, wherein the second HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to SPS PDSCH receptions.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits is predetermined based on a number of PUCCH resources in the set of PUCCH resources.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

a HARQ-ACK information bit from the first HARQ-ACK information bits is in response to a reception of a multicast physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by a downlink control information (DCI) format,

the DCI format does not include a transmit power control (TPC) command field and a DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a multicast PDSCH reception, and

the DCI format includes the TPC command field and the DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a unicast PDSCH reception.

7. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive information for a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources, wherein:

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a first configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are associated only with receptions of multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a second configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are also associated with receptions of unicast PDSCHs when the first configuration is not provided; and

a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine:

values for first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information bits, wherein the first HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to receptions of the multicast PDSCHs, and

a PUCCH resource from the set of PUCCH resources according to a combination of positive acknowledgement values and negative acknowledgement values for the first HARQ-ACK information bits,

wherein the transceiver is further configured to transmit a first PUCCH using the PUCCH resource.

8. The UE of claim 7 , wherein at least one of the first HARQ-ACK information bits has a negative acknowledgement value.

9. The UE of claim 7 , wherein:

the processor is further configured to determine that all values of second HARQ-ACK information bits are positive acknowledgement values, and

the transceiver is further configured to suspend transmission of a second PUCCH for the second HARQ-ACK information bits.

10. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

receive a downlink control information (DCI) format that activates receptions of semi-persistently scheduled physical downlink shared channels (SPS PDSCHs) for a SPS PDSCH configuration; and

transmit a third PUCCH with a third HARQ-ACK information bit having a positive acknowledgement value in response to the DCI format reception, wherein the second HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to SPS PDSCH receptions.

11. The UE of claim 7 , wherein a number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits is predetermined based on a number of PUCCH resources in the set of PUCCH resources.

12. The UE of claim 7 , wherein:

a HARQ-ACK information bit from the first HARQ-ACK information bits is in response to a reception of a multicast physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by a downlink control information (DCI) format,

the DCI format does not include a transmit power control (TPC) command field and a DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a multicast PDSCH reception, and

the DCI format includes the TPC command field and the DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a unicast PDSCH reception.

13. A base station comprising:

a transceiver configured to:

transmit information for a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources, wherein:

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a first configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are associated only with receptions of multicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs), and

the information for the set of PUCCH resources is included in a second configuration for PUCCH transmissions that are also associated with receptions of unicast PDSCHs when the first configuration is not provided; and

receive a first PUCCH based on a PUCCH resource from the set of PUCCH resources; and

a processor operably coupled to the transceiver, the processor configured to determine a combination of positive acknowledgement values and negative acknowledgement values for first hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) information bits according to the PUCCH resource, wherein the first HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to receptions of the multicast PDSCHs.

14. The base station of claim 13 , wherein at least one of the first HARQ-ACK information bits has a negative acknowledgement value.

15. The base station of claim 13 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify an absence of a second PUCCH reception with second HARQ-ACK information bits in all PUCCH resources from the set of PUCCH resources; and

determine that all values of second HARQ-ACK information bits are positive acknowledgement values.

16. The base station of claim 15 , wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

transmit a downlink control information (DCI) format that activates transmissions of semi-persistently scheduled physical downlink shared channels (SPS PDSCHs) for a SPS PDSCH configuration; and

receive a third PUCCH with a third HARQ-ACK information bit having a positive acknowledgement value in response to the DCI format transmission, wherein the second HARQ-ACK information bits are in response to SPS PDSCH transmissions.

17. The base station of claim 13 , wherein a number of the first HARQ-ACK information bits is predetermined based on a number of PUCCH resources in the set of PUCCH resources.

18. The base station of claim 13 , wherein:

a HARQ-ACK information bit from the first HARQ-ACK information bits is in response to a transmission of a multicast physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduled by a downlink control information (DCI) format,

the DCI format does not include a transmit power control (TPC) command field and a DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a multicast PDSCH transmission, and

the DCI format includes the TPC command field and the DCI format identifier field when the DCI format schedules a unicast PDSCH transmission.