Methods and apparatus for an uplink control channel in NOMA asynchronous transmissions

1. A method for communicating with a base station by a user equipment, the method comprising:

receiving a non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message from the base station, the non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message including a plurality of multiple access signatures and available time-frequency resources for uplink transmissions;

deriving a group user equipment identifier (a group UE-ID) from at least a user equipment-specific identifier (a UE-specific ID) assigned to the user equipment, the group UE-ID corresponding to a group of user equipments that includes the user equipment;

while operating in a radio resource control inactive (RRC inactive) state or a radio resource control idle (RRC idle) state, selecting, for at least a first uplink transmission, a multiple access signature from the plurality of multiple access signatures;

transmitting, using an uplink control channel, uplink control information in the first uplink transmission using a first time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources and the selected multiple access signature; and

transmitting, using an uplink data channel, uplink data in a second uplink transmission using a second time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources and at least based on the uplink control information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the deriving the group UE-ID comprises:

selecting a subset or segment of the UE-specific ID as the group UE-ID.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting the uplink control information further comprises:

scrambling the uplink control information using the group UE-ID; and

transmitting the scrambled uplink control information in the first uplink transmission.

4. The method as recited in claim 3 , wherein scrambling the uplink control information using the group UE-ID further comprises:

generating a sequence based on the group UE-ID; and

scrambling the uplink control information with the generated sequence.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

selecting, by the user equipment, one or more link adaptive parameters for transmitting the uplink data; and

indicating the one or more link adaptive parameters in the uplink control information.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein transmitting the uplink data in the second uplink transmission further comprises:

transmitting the second uplink transmission using the link adaptive parameters.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

including, in the uplink control information, at least one of:

the UE-specific ID assigned to the user equipment;

a modulation and coding scheme parameter;

a rate matching parameter;

a power control parameter;

a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier; or

a transport size.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting, on the uplink control channel and as part of the first uplink transmission, a random access preamble sequence or demodulation reference signal associated with the group UE-ID.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising:

generating the random access preamble sequence by joining two random access preamble sequences into a single preamble, wherein one of the two random access preamble sequences has a one-to-one mapping with the group UE-ID.

10. A method for managing communications with user equipments by a base station over a wireless link, the method comprising:

establishing a group user equipment-identifier (a group UE-ID) for a subset of user equipments included in a plurality of user equipments by deriving the group UE-ID from at least a user equipment-specific identifier (a UE-specific ID) assigned to a user equipment included in the plurality of user equipments;

transmitting a non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message to the plurality of user equipments using the wireless link, the non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message including a plurality of multiple access signatures and available time-frequency resources for uplink transmissions from the plurality of user equipments;

detecting a non-orthogonal multiple access uplink transmission in a first time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources and based on the group UE-ID, the non-orthogonal multiple access uplink transmission including a multiple access signature from the plurality of multiple access signatures and uplink control information; and

receiving a non-orthogonal multiple access uplink data transmission, from the user equipment, in a second time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources based at least on the uplink control information.

11. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein the deriving the group UE-ID comprises:

selecting a subset or segment of the UE-specific ID as the group UE-ID.

12. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:

descrambling the uplink control information using the group UE-ID.

13. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising assigning the group UE-ID to a subset of the plurality of user equipments.

14. The method as recited in claim 10 , further comprising:

obtaining, from the uplink control information, at least one of:

the UE-specific ID assigned to the user equipment;

a modulation and coding scheme parameter;

a rate matching parameter;

a power control parameter;

a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process identifier; or

a transport size.

15. The method as recited in claim 10 , wherein detecting the non-orthogonal multiple access uplink transmission in the first time-frequency resource and based on the group UE-ID further comprises:

detecting a preamble or demodulation reference signal, transmitted by the user equipment, associated with the group UE-ID; and

using the preamble or demodulation reference signal to locate the uplink control information.

16. A user equipment comprising:

a processor; and

a memory system storing processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, direct the user equipment to perform operations comprising:

receiving a non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message from a base station, the non-orthogonal multiple access configuration message including a plurality of multiple access signatures and available time-frequency resources for uplink transmissions;

deriving a group user equipment identifier (a group UE-ID) from at least a user equipment-specific identifier (a UE-specific ID) assigned to the user equipment, the group UE-ID corresponding to a group of user equipments that includes the user equipment;

while operating in a radio resource control inactive (RRC inactive) state or a radio resource control idle (RRC idle) state, selecting, for at least a first uplink transmission, a multiple access signature from the plurality of multiple access signatures;

transmitting, using an uplink control channel, uplink control information in the first uplink transmission using a first time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources and the selected multiple access signature; and

transmitting, using an uplink data channel, uplink data in a second uplink transmission using a second time-frequency resource of the available time-frequency resources and at least based on the uplink control information.

17. The user equipment as recited in claim 16 , wherein the memory system stores additional processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, direct the user equipment to perform further operations comprising:

scrambling the uplink control information using the group UE-ID; and

transmitting the scrambled uplink control information in the first uplink transmission.

18. The user equipment as recited in claim 16 , wherein the memory system stores additional processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, direct the user equipment to perform operations comprising:

deriving the group UE-ID by selecting a subset or segment of the UE-specific ID as the group UE-ID.

19. The user equipment as recited in claim 16 , wherein the memory system stores additional processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, direct the user equipment to perform operations comprising:

selecting, by the user equipment, one or more link adaptive parameters for transmitting the uplink data; and

indicating the one or more link adaptive parameters in the uplink control information.

20. The user equipment as recited in claim 16 , wherein the memory system stores additional processor-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by the processor, direct the user equipment to perform operations comprising:

transmitting, on the uplink control channel and as part of the first uplink transmission, a random access preamble sequence or demodulation reference signal associated with the group UE-ID.