IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,621,827
Granted Patent B2
US 12,621,827 · App. 17/442,342 · Granted May 5, 2026

PUCCH and cell grouping capability for NR-CA and NR-DC

Inventors: Haitong Sun (Cupertino, CA); Hong He (San Jose, CA); Dawei Zhang (Saratoga, CA); Wei Zeng (Saratoga, CA); Yushu Zhang (Beijing, CN); Amir Aminzadeh Gohari (Sunnyvale, CA); Leilei Song (Sunnyvale, CA); Mariam Motamed (Redwood City, CA)
Assignee: APPLE INC.
H04W72/1268H04L5/14H04W72/51
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,621,827
App. No.
17/442,342
Granted
May 5, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for providing an enhancement for PUCCH and Cell Grouping Capability for NR-CA and NR-DC. A wireless device may transmit, to a base station, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) capability report comprising at least one of PUCCH grouping capability information and a PUCCH location capability information.

Claims (48)

1 . A wireless device, comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and

a processor coupled to the at least one radio,

wherein the wireless device is configured to:

transmit, to a base station, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) capability report comprising at least one of PUCCH grouping capability information and a PUCCH location capability information,

wherein the PUCCH grouping capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable in a same PUCCH group, wherein the bands include at least one normal downlink (DL) band and at least one supplementary downlink (SDL) band,

wherein the PUCCH location capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable to transmit the PUCCH, wherein the bands include at least one normal uplink (UL) band and at least one supplementary uplink (SUL) band,

wherein the carrier types for the at least one normal DL band or the at least one normal UL band comprise frequency range (FR) 1 licensed time division duplex (TDD), FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed frequency division duplex (FDD), and FR2, and

wherein the at least one SDL band is indicated by a data field indicating at least one extended carrier type independent of the FR1 licensed TDD, FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed FDD and FR2.

2 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one extended carrier type comprises SDL.

3 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one extended carrier type comprises FR1 SDL and FR2 SDL.

4 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one SDL band is determined by the configurable carrier types for the at least one normal DL band indicated by the PUCCH grouping capability information and a predefined mapping rule which maps the at least one SDL band to the carrier types for the at least one normal DL band.

5 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one SDL band is determined in accordance with a carrier type of a normal DL band which the at least one SDL band overlaps among the configurable carrier types for the at least one normal DL band indicated by the PUCCH grouping capability information.

6 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one SUL band is indicated by a data field indicating at least one extended carrier type independent of the FR1 licensed TDD, FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed FDD and FR2.

7 . The wireless device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one extended carrier type comprises SUL.

8 . The wireless device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one extended carrier type comprises FR1 SUL and FR2 SUL.

9 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one SUL band is determined in accordance with a carrier type of a normal UL band with which the at least one SUL band is associated among the configurable carrier types for the at least one normal UL band indicated by the PUCCH location capability information.

10 . The wireless device of claim 9 , wherein a duplex mode of the at least one SUL band is determined in accordance with a duplex mode of the normal UL band with which the at least one SUL band is associated, and wherein the PUCCH location capability information is capable of indicating that the wireless device does not support an SUL band which has different FR or type of license from that of the normal UL band with which the SUL band is associated.

11 . The wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the PUCCH capability report is transmitted per band combination (BC) comprising a first number of bands with a second number of carrier types.

12 . The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the first number of bands is counted by not taking the SDL bands and the SUL bands into consideration or taking the SDL bands and the SUL bands into consideration according to one of the following:

only SDL bands are counted, but SUL bands are not counted;

only SUL bands are counted, but SDL bands are not counted; or

all of SDL and SUL bands are counted.

13 . The wireless device of claim 12 , wherein the second number of carrier types is counted by not taking the SDL bands and the SUL bands into consideration or taking the SDL bands and the SUL bands into consideration according to one of the following:

only SDL bands are counted, but SUL bands are not counted;

only SUL bands are counted, but SDL bands are not counted; or

all of SDL and SUL bands are counted.

14 . The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the PUCCH grouping capability information or the PUCCH location capability information indicates the carrier types of bands for a primary PUCCH group and a secondary PUCCH group, respectively, and

wherein the carrier types of bands are indicated by using a bitmap including a number of bits included in the PUCCH capability report, the number of bits in the bitmap being determined in accordance with the second number of carrier types contained in the band combination (BC).

15 . The wireless device of claim 14 , wherein the carrier types of bands are indicated by using an index into a list of bitmaps independently for the primary PUCCH group and the secondary PUCCH group for each BC.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the SUL band is a FDD band.

17 . A processor configured to:

transmit, to a base station, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) capability report comprising at least one of PUCCH grouping capability information and a PUCCH location capability information,

wherein the PUCCH grouping capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable in a same PUCCH group, wherein the bands include at least one normal downlink (DL) band and at least one supplementary downlink (SDL) band,

wherein the PUCCH location capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable to transmit the PUCCH, wherein the bands include at least one normal uplink (UL) band and at least one supplementary uplink (SUL) band,

wherein the carrier types for the at least one normal DL band or the at least one normal UL band comprise frequency range (FR) 1 licensed time division duplex (TDD), FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed frequency division duplex (FDD), and FR2, and

wherein the at least one SDL band is indicated by a data field indicating at least one extended carrier type independent of the FR1 licensed TDD, FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed FDD and FR2.

18 . A base station, comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna; and

a processor coupled to the at least one radio,

wherein the base station is configured to:

receive, from a wireless device, a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) capability report comprising at least one of PUCCH grouping capability information and a PUCCH location capability information,

wherein the PUCCH grouping capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable in a same PUCCH group, wherein the bands include at least one normal downlink (DL) band and at least one supplementary downlink (SDL) band,

wherein the PUCCH location capability information indicates carrier types of bands which are configurable to transmit the PUCCH, wherein the bands include at least one normal uplink (UL) band and at least one supplementary uplink (SUL) band,

wherein the carrier types for the at least one normal DL band or the at least one normal UL band comprise frequency range (FR) 1 licensed time division duplex (TDD), FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed frequency division duplex (FDD), and FR2, and

wherein the at least one SDL band is indicated by a data field indicating at least one extended carrier type independent of the FR1 licensed TDD, FR1 unlicensed TDD, FR1 licensed FDD and FR2.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 28, 2025
From: SUN, HAITONG; HE, HONG; ZHANG, DAWEI; ZENG, WEI; ZHANG, YUSHU; GOHARI, AMIR; SONG, LEILEI; MOTAMED, MARIAM
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 070956/0935 →
Priority Claims (1)
WO PCT/CN2021/072046 · Jan 15, 2021 · international
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230362919A1 · Nov 9, 2023
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