IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,615,112
Granted Patent B2
US 12,615,112 · App. 17/917,901 · Granted Apr 28, 2026

Radio-unlicensed (NR-U) virtual component carrier (CC) for improved link budget

Inventors: Luanxia Yang (Beijing, CN); Changlong Xu (Beijing, CN); Jing Sun (San Diego, CA); Xiaoxia Zhang (San Diego, CA); Hao Xu (Beijing, CN)
Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
H04L5/001H04L5/0044H04L5/0053H04W72/0453
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,615,112
App. No.
17/917,901
Granted
Apr 28, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless device includes aggregating a number of component carriers (CCs) to generate a virtual CC. The method also includes allocating data channel resources in the virtual CC based on a virtual bandwidth part (BWP) and allocating control channel resources in the virtual CC based on the virtual BWP. The method further includes communicating on a data channel based on the allocated data channel resources and communicating on a control channel based on the allocated control channel resources.

Claims (55)

1 . A method for wireless communication performed by a wireless device, comprising:

aggregating a plurality of component carriers (CCs) to generate a virtual CC, the virtual CC representing a unified CC comprising a respective physical resource block (PRB) of each CC of the plurality of CCs;

allocating data channel resources to one or more first resource allocation areas of a plurality of resource allocation areas of a virtual bandwidth part (BWP) defined within the virtual CC, each resource allocation area of the plurality of resource allocation areas being defined by a starting PRB and a number of contiguous PRBs;

allocating control channel resources to one or more second resource allocation areas of the plurality of resource allocation areas of the virtual BWP;

communicating on a data channel based on the allocated data channel resources; and

communicating on a control channel based on the allocated control channel resources.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising defining the virtual CC at a cell level by a list of CCs.

3 . The method of claim 1 , in which the plurality of CCs share a single common reference point or each CC of the plurality of CCs includes a common reference point.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising defining the virtual CC at a BWP level.

5 . The method of claim 1 , in which:

the PRBs of the plurality of CCs are contiguous or noncontiguous; and

a guard band defined between adjacent CCs of the plurality of CCs comprises a resource block level grid when the PRBs are noncontiguous.

6 . The method of claim 1 , in which the PRBs of the plurality of CCs are defined on a same resource block grid.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating the data channel resources according to a type-0 bitmap-based allocation scheme.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating the data channel resources according to a type-1 resource indicator value (RIV).

9 . An apparatus for wireless communications performed by a wireless device, comprising:

at least one processor,

at least one memory coupled with the processor; and

instructions stored in the at least one memory and operable, when executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus:

to aggregate a plurality of component carriers (CCs) to generate a virtual CC, the virtual CC representing a unified CC comprising a respective physical resource block (PRB) of each CC of the plurality of CCs;

to allocate data channel resources to one or more first resource allocation areas of a plurality of resource allocation areas of a virtual bandwidth part (BWP) defined within the virtual CC, each resource allocation area of the plurality of resource allocation areas being defined by a starting PRB and a number of contiguous PRBs;

to allocate control channel resources to one or more second resource allocation areas of the plurality of resource allocation areas of the virtual BWP; and

to communicate on a control channel based on the allocated control channel resources.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to define the virtual CC at a cell level by a list of CCs.

11 . The apparatus of claim 10 , in which

the plurality of CCs share a single common reference point or each CC of the plurality of CCs includes a common reference point.

12 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to define the virtual CC at a BWP level.

13 . The apparatus of claim 12 , in which the processor causes the apparatus:

to define a BWP per CC of the plurality of CCs; and

to define the virtual BWP as a concatenation of the BWP defined per CC.

14 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which:

the PRBs of the plurality of CCs are contiguous or noncontiguous; and

a guard band defined between adjacent CCs of the plurality of CCs comprises a resource block level grid when the PRBs are noncontiguous.

15 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the PRBs of the plurality of CCs are defined on a same resource block grid.

16 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to allocate the data channel resources according to a type-0 bitmap-based allocation scheme.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to concatenate allocation bitmaps of each CC of the plurality of CCs to generate a data channel allocation bitmap for the virtual CC.

18 . The apparatus of claim 16 , in which the processor causes the apparatus:

to increase a size of each resource block group (RBG);

to renumber RBGs from the virtual BWP in ascending order;

to determine a nominal RBG size based on a received configuration or the received configuration and a number of CCs, in which the RBG comprises physical resource blocks from one or more CCs.

19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to bundle resource block groups (RBGs) of the plurality of CCs based on an RBG index number, in which each CC in the plurality of CCs has a same number of RBGs.

20 . The apparatus of claim 19 , in which a bit in a data channel allocation bitmap assigns one RBG per component BWP in the virtual BWP.

21 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to allocate the data channel resources according to a type-1 resource indicator value (RIV).

22 . The apparatus of claim 21 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to renumber physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the virtual BWP in ascending order.

23 . The apparatus of claim 22 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to exclude PRBs in a guard band from the renumbered PRBs.

24 . The apparatus of claim 22 , in which a length of a contiguously allocated resource block is based on used PRBs and unused PRBs of the virtual BWP.

25 . The apparatus of claim 21 , in which the processor causes the apparatus:

to generate an RBG based a number of CCs in the plurality of CCs; and

to allocate the data channel resources to the RBG.

26 . The apparatus of claim 21 , in which:

the RIV allocates the data channel resources for one BWP, in which the processor causes the apparatus to repeat the allocation for the one BWP to other BWPs in the virtual BWP; and

each CC in the plurality of CCs has a same number of physical resource blocks.

27 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to allocate the control channel resource and allocate frequency domain resources for a control resource set (CORESET) based on a radio resource control (RRC) configuration.

28 . The apparatus of claim 27 , in which the processor causes the apparatus to allocate the frequency domain resource based on a first bitmap.

29 . The apparatus of claim 9 , in which the wireless device is a user equipment or a base station.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 17, 2023
From: YANG, LUANXIA; XU, CHANGLONG; SUN, JING; ZHANG, XIAOXIA; XU, HAO
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 062399/0536 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 17, 2023
From: YANG, LUANXIA; XU, CHANGLONG; SUN, JING; ZHANG, XIAOXIA; XU, HAO
To: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 062399/0761 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230198690A1 · Jun 22, 2023
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