Granted Patent B2

US 12,490,280 · App. 17/802,136 · Granted Dec 2, 2025

Inventors: Seyed Ali Akbar Fakoorian (San Diego, CA); Chunhai Yao (Beijing, CN); Chunxuan Ye (San Diego, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Haijing Hu (Los Gatos, CA); Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Huaning Niu (San Jose, CA); Wei Zeng (Saratoga, CA); Weidong Yang (San Diego, CA); Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN)

Assignee: Apple Inc.

H04W72/25H04L5/0055H04W72/21H04W88/04

Abstract

Claims (54)

1 . One or more non-transitory, computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause processor circuitry to:

identify an assistant user equipment (UE);

generate information to be transmitted to the assistant UE, the information to enable the assistant UE to receive a downlink communication from a base station to a target UE;

generate a first request, to be transmitted to the base station, to enter an aggregation mode, wherein the first request includes an indication of a time required to process physical downlink shared channel transmissions received directly from base station and received from the assistant UE and provide an acknowledgment;

receive the downlink communication from the base station via the assistant UE; and

generate a second request for the downlink communication to be transmitted to the assistant UE, wherein the second request is to be transmitted as sidelink control information on a physical sidelink control channel or as negative-acknowledgment information on a physical uplink control channel.

2 . The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the information includes one or more radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs), a bandwidth part configured for a target UE; a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration for a target UE; a PDSCH configuration for a target UE; or an expected time to receive the downlink communication.

3 . The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein to identify the assistant UE, the processor circuitry is to:

determine the assistant UE and a target UE are associated with a same user;

determine the assistant UE is within a predefined range from a target UE;

determine the assistant UE has provided an indication that it is able to assist;

determine an expected proximity of the assistant UE to a target UE;

or

determine the assistant UE has sufficient capabilities to assist.

4 . The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the first request is uplink control information, an extended hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK), a scheduling request, or a physical random access channel transmission.

5 . The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein to transmit the first request the processor circuitry is to:

transmit an indication of a transmission configuration indicator requested for the downlink communication.

6 . The one or more non-transitory, computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the processor circuitry to:

transmit, to the assistant UE, an indication of preconfigured resources to be used for transmitting the downlink communication to a target UE.

7 . A method comprising:

identifying an assistant user equipment (UE);

generating information to be transmitted to the assistant UE, the information to enable the assistant UE to receive a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission from a base station to a target UE;

generating a request, to be transmitted to the base station, to enter an aggregation mode, wherein the request includes an indication of a time required to process PDSCH transmissions received directly from base station and received from the assistant UE and provide an acknowledgment;

receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission that schedules the PDSCH transmission;

receiving the PDSCH transmission from the assistant UE;

generating hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgment (ACK) information related to receiving the PDSCH transmission;

generating, for transmission in a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource allocated for the HARQ-ACK information, an indication that the HARQ-ACK information is not ready in time for transmission in the first PUCCH resource; and

outputting the HARQ-ACK information for transmission in a second PUCCH resource that is allocated for the HARQ-ACK information after the first PUCCH resource.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the indication is to provide an offset between the first PUCCH resource and the second PUCCH resource.

9 . A method comprising:

identifying an assistant user equipment (UE);

generating information to be transmitted to the assistant UE, the information to enable the assistant UE to receive a downlink communication from a base station to a target UE;

generating a first request, to be transmitted to the base station, to enter an aggregation mode, wherein the first request includes an indication of a time required to process physical downlink shared channel transmissions received directly from base station and received from the assistant UE and provide an acknowledgment;

receiving the downlink communication from the base station via the assistant UE; and

generating a second request for the downlink communication to be transmitted to the assistant UE, wherein the second request is to be transmitted as sidelink control information on a physical sidelink control channel or as negative-acknowledgment information on a physical uplink control channel.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the information includes one or more radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs), a bandwidth part configured for a target UE; a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration for a target UE; a PDSCH configuration for a target UE; or an expected time to receive the downlink communication.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein identifying the assistant UE comprises:

determining the assistant UE and a target UE are associated with a same user;

determining the assistant UE is within a predefined range from a target UE;

determining the assistant UE has provided an indication that it is able to assist;

determining an expected proximity of the assistant UE to a target UE;

or

determining the assistant UE has sufficient capabilities to assist.

12 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first request is uplink control information, an extended hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK), a scheduling request, or a physical random access channel transmission.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first request comprises an indication of a transmission configuration indicator requested for the downlink communication.

14 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

outputting, for transmission to the assistant UE, an indication of preconfigured resources to be used for transmitting the downlink communication to a target UE.

15 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the downlink communication is a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) transmission and the method further comprises:

receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission that schedules the PDSCH transmission;

receiving the PDSCH transmission from the assistant UE;

generating hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)-acknowledgment (ACK) information related to receiving the PDSCH transmission;

outputting, for transmission in a first physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource allocated for the HARQ-ACK information, an indication that the HARQ-ACK information is not ready in time for transmission in the first PUCCH resource; and

outputting the HARQ-ACK information for transmission in a second PUCCH resource that is allocated for the HARQ-ACK information after the first PUCCH resource.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the indication is to provide an offset between the first PUCCH resource and the second PUCCH resource.

Continuity (1)

References Cited (54)