IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,683,745
Granted Patent B2
US 12,683,745 · App. 18/272,227 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Systems and methods for linking PDCCH candidates

Inventors: Shiwei Gao (Nepean, CA); Mattias Frenne (Uppsala, SE); Siva Muruganathan (Stittsville, CA); Jianwei Zhang (Solna, SE)
Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
H04L5/0053H04W72/23
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,683,745
App. No.
18/272,227
Filed
Jul 13, 2023
Granted
Jul 14, 2026
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2462
USPC
370/252
Abstract

Systems and methods for linking Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) candidates are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method includes: receiving a configuration of a first and second Control Resource Set (CORESET) associated with a first and second Search Space (SS) set; determining that the first and second SS set are configured with a common set of parameters; activating the first and second CORESET with a first and second TCI state; linking a first PDCCH candidate in a first PDCCH monitoring occasion to a second PDCCH candidate in a second PDCCH monitoring occasion; receiving a PDCCH in the first PDCCH candidate and the PDCCH in the second PDCCH candidate; and detecting the PDCCH in the first and the second PDCCH candidates. Some embodiments might provide a simple way for linking PDCCH candidates in two SS sets to support both intra-slot and inter-slot PDCCH repetition in either TDM or FDM manner.

Claims (117)

1 . A method performed by a wireless device for monitoring Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, in two linked Search Space, SS, sets, the method comprising:

receiving, from a wireless node, a configuration of a first Control Resource Set, CORESET, associated with a first SS set and a second CORESET associated with a second SS set, wherein the first and second SS sets are linked, and the first SS set and the second SS set are configured with a common set of parameters comprising:

a PDCCH monitoring periodicity of k s slots;

a PDCCH monitoring offset of o s slots;

a number of PDCCH candidates

M

s

(

L

)

 per aggregation level L;

a duration of T_s slots;

a number of starting symbols or PDCCH monitoring occasions per slot;

a SS set type of either a Common Search Space, CSS, set or a user equipment, UE, Specific Search Space, USS, set; and

Downlink Control Information, DCI, formats to monitor;

receiving a command activating the first CORESET with a first TCI state and the second CORESET with a second TCI state;

determining, for each aggregation level, a first PDCCH candidate in the first CORESET in a first PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first SS set in a first slot and a second PDCCH candidate in the second CORESET in a second PDCCH monitoring occasion of the second SS set in a second slot, wherein the first slot and the second slot are the same;

receiving, from the wireless node, a PDCCH in the first PDCCH candidate and a repetition of the PDCCH in the second PDCCH candidate; and

detecting DCI carried by the PDCCH in the first and the second PDCCH candidates.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first and the second PDCCH candidates correspond to a same CCE aggregation level and have a same PDCCH candidate index in the respective CORESETs.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second PDCCH monitoring occasions have a same index according to each of the first and second SS sets in the first and second slot.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and second slots are the same slot.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

configuring the first and the second SS sets with one or more of:

a first and a second PDCCH monitoring slot offsets, O s1 and O s2 ;

a first and a second duration, T s1 and T s2 , indicating a number of consecutive slots for PDCCH monitoring; and

a first and a second PDCCH monitoring patterns or number of starting symbols within a PDCCH monitoring slot.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the first slot n 1 of the first SS set and the second slot n 2 of the second SS set satisfying n 1 =nK s +O s1 +i and n 2 =nK s +O s2 +i, where n is an integer and i=0, 1, . . . , min (T s1 , T s2 )−1.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first PDCCH monitoring pattern contains a set of starting symbols with symbol indices {l 1 , l 2 , . . . , l N s1 } and the second PDCCH monitoring pattern contains a set of starting symbols with symbol indices {s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s N s2 }, where N s1 and N s2 are integers.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first PDCCH monitoring occasion starts at symbol l i in the first slot of the first SS set and the second PDCCH monitoring occasion starts at symbol s i in the second slot of the second SS set, where i=1 . . . , min(N s1 , N s2 ).

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a time off set between reception of the PDCCH and a scheduled one of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, a Channel State Information Reference signal, CSI-RS, and a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, wherein the time offset is determined between a symbol of the first and the second PDCCH candidates occurring last in time and the first symbol of the corresponding one of PDSCH, PUSCH, CSI-RS, and SRS.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, resource for carrying a hybrid Automatic Repeat Request Acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information associated with a scheduled PDSCH, wherein the determining a PUCCH resource comprises determining a PDCCH candidate among the first and the second PDCCH candidates associated with a SS set having a lower SS ID or with an associated CORESET having a lower CORESET ID.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the PUCCH resource is determined based on the determined PDCCH candidate and the associated CORESET.

12 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining a starting symbol of the PDCCH carrying a DCI format 1_2 scheduling a PDSCH with mapping type B as the starting symbol of one of the first and the second PDCCH monitoring occasions occurring later in time.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first and the second SS sets are linked via an identifier.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless device operates in a New Radio, NR, communications network.

15 . A method performed by a base station for transmitting Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, in two linked Search Space, SS, sets, the method comprising:

configuring, a wireless node, with a configuration of a first Control Resource Set, CORESET, associated with a first SS set and a second CORESET associated with a second SS set, wherein the first and second SS sets are linked;

configuring the first SS set and the second SS set with a common set of parameters comprising:

a PDCCH monitoring periodicity of k s slots;

a PDCCH monitoring offset of o s slots;

a duration of T_s slots;

a number of starting symbols or PDCCH monitoring occasions per slot;

a number of PDCCH candidates

M

s

(

L

)

 per aggregation level L;

a SS set type of either a Common Search Space, CSS, set or a user equipment, UE, Specific Search Space, USS, set; and

Downlink Control Information, DCI, formats to monitor;

activating the first CORESET with a first TCI state and the second CORESET with a second TCI state;

determining, for each aggregation level, a first PDCCH candidate in the first CORESET in a first PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first SS set in a first slot and a second PDCCH candidate in the second CORESET in a second PDCCH monitoring occasion of the second SS set in a second slot, wherein the first slot and the second slot are the same; and

transmitting, to the wireless node, a PDCCH in the first PDCCH candidate and the same PDCCH in the second PDCCH candidate.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the first and the second PDCCH candidates correspond to a same CCE aggregation level and have a same PDCCH candidate index in the respective CORESETs.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first and second PDCCH monitoring occasions have a same index according to each of the first and second SS sets in the first and second slot.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first and second slots are the same slot.

19 . The method of claim 15 further comprising:

configuring the first and the second SS sets with one or more of:

a first and a second PDCCH monitoring slot offsets, O_s1 and O_s2;

a first and a second duration, T_s1 and T_s2, indicating a number of consecutive slots for PDCCH monitoring; and

a first and a second PDCCH monitoring patterns or number of starting symbols within a PDCCH monitoring slot.

20 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first slot n 1 of the first SS set and the second slot n 2 of the second SS set satisfying n 1 =nK s +O s1 +i and n 2 =nK s +O s2 +i, where n is an integer and i=0, 1, . . . , min (T s1 , T s2 )−1.

21 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first PDCCH monitoring pattern contains a set of starting symbols with symbol indices {l 1 , l 2 , . . . , l N s1 } and the second PDCCH monitoring pattern contains a set of starting symbols with symbol indices {s 1 , s 2 , . . . , s N s2 }, where N s1 and N s2 are integers.

22 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first PDCCH monitoring occasion starts at symbol l i in the first slot of the first SS set and the second PDCCH monitoring occasion starts at symbol s i in the second slot of the second SS set, where i=1 . . . , min (N s1 , N s2 ).

23 . The method of claim 15 further comprising:

determining a time off set between reception of the PDCCH and a scheduled one of a Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH, a Physical Uplink Shared Channel, PUSCH, a Channel State Information Reference signal, CSI-RS, and a Sounding Reference Signal, SRS, wherein the time offset is determined between a symbol of the first and the second PDCCH candidates occurring last in time and the first symbol of the corresponding one of PDSCH, PUSCH, CSI-RS, and SRS.

24 . The method of claim 15 further comprising:

determining a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, resource for carrying a hybrid Automatic Repeat Request Acknowledgement, HARQ-ACK, information associated with a scheduled PDSCH, wherein the determining a PUCCH resource comprises determining a PDCCH candidate among the first and the second PDCCH candidates associated with a SS set having a lower SS ID or with an associated CORESET having a lower CORESET ID.

25 . A wireless device comprising:

one or more transmitters;

one or more receivers; and

processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers, the processing circuitry configured to cause the wireless device to:

receive, from a wireless node, a configuration of a first Control Resource Set, CORESET, associated with a first SS set and a second CORESET associated with a second SS set, wherein the first and second SS sets are linked, and the first SS set and the second SS set are configured with a common set of parameters comprising:

a PDCCH monitoring periodicity of k s slots;

a PDCCH monitoring offset of o s slots;

a number of PDCCH candidates

M

s

(

L

)

 aggregation level L;

a duration of T_s slots;

a number of starting symbols or PDCCH monitoring occasions per slot;

a SS set type of either a Common Search Space, CSS, set or a user equipment, UE, Specific Search Space, USS, set; and

Downlink Control Information, DCI, formats to monitor;

receive a command activating the first CORESET with a first TCI state and the second CORESET with a second TCI state;

determine, for each aggregation level, a first PDCCH candidate in the first CORESET in a first PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first SS set in a first slot and a second PDCCH candidate in the second CORESET in a second PDCCH monitoring occasion of the second SS set in a second slot, wherein the first slot and the second slot are the same;

receive, from the wireless node, a PDCCH in the first PDCCH candidate and a repetition of the PDCCH in the second PDCCH candidate; and

detect DCI carried by the PDCCH in the first and the second PDCCH candidates.

26 . A radio access node comprising:

one or more transmitters;

one or more receivers; and

processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers, the processing circuitry configured to cause the radio access node to:

configure, a wireless node, with a configuration of a first Control Resource Set, CORESET, associated with a first SS set and a second CORESET associated with a second SS set, wherein the first and second SS sets are linked;

configure the first SS set and the second SS set with a common set of parameters comprising:

a PDCCH monitoring periodicity of k s slots;

a PDCCH monitoring offset of o s slots;

a duration of T_s slots;

a number of starting symbols or PDCCH monitoring occasions per slot;

a number of PDCCH candidates

M

s

(

L

)

 per aggregation level L;

a SS set type of either a Common Search Space, CSS, set or a user equipment, UE, Specific Search Space, USS, set; and

Downlink Control Information, DCI, formats to monitor;

activate the first CORESET with a first TCI state and the second CORESET with a second TCI state;

determine, for each aggregation level, a first PDCCH candidate in the first CORESET in a first PDCCH monitoring occasion of the first SS set in a first slot and a second PDCCH candidate in the second CORESET in a second PDCCH monitoring occasion of the second SS set in a second slot, wherein the first slot and the second slot are the same; and

transmit, to the wireless node, a PDCCH in the first PDCCH candidate and the same PDCCH in the second PDCCH candidate.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2023
From: GAO, SHIWEI; FRENNE, MATTIAS; MURUGANATHAN, SIVA; ZHANG, JIANWEI
To: TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)
Reel/Frame 064245/0071 →
Continuity (3)
Provisional Application 63138725 · Jan 18, 2021
Provisional Application 63138192 · Jan 15, 2021
Related Publication 20240089061A1 · Mar 14, 2024
References Cited (34)
US 9924502B2 · Choi et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20180279360A1 · Park et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20200412515A1 · Xu · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20210195600A1 · Khoshnevisan · 2021 [cited by examiner]
US 20220038207A1 · Frenne et al. · 2022 [cited by applicant]
US 20220225301A1 · Khoshnevisan · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20220225378A1 · Khoshnevisan · 2022 [cited by examiner]
US 20230363005A1 · Cirik · 2023 [cited by examiner]
US 20230403720A1 · Song · 2023 [cited by examiner]
CN 114499784A · 2022 [cited by examiner]
WO 2018228487A1 · 2018 [cited by applicant]
WO 2019208994A1 · 2019 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020091574A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020192440A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 15),” Technical Specification 38.211, Version 15.6.0, Jun. 2019, 3GPP Organizational Partners, 97 pages. [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 15),” Technical Specification 38.213, Version 1.0.2, Oct. 2017, 3GPP Organizational Partners, 23 pa… [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 15),” Technical Specification 38.331, Version 15.1.0, Mar. 2018, 3GPP Organizational … [cited by applicant]
Ericsson, “R1-1900728: On multi-TRP and multi-panel,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Ad-Hoc Meeting 1901, Jan. 21-25, 2019, Taipei, Taiwan, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
Interdigital, Inc., “R1-2007627: Reliability Enhancements for PDCCH, PUCCH, and PUSCH,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e, Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 2020, Electronic Meeting, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
Notice of Reasons for Refusal for Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-541835, mailed Jul. 5, 2024, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]
Non-Final Office Action for U.S. Appl. No. 17/279,656, mailed Dec. 7, 2023, 18 pages. [cited by applicant]
OPPO, “R1-2008218: Enhancements on multi-TRP for PDCCH, PUCCH, and PUSCH,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 #103-e, Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 2020, Electronic Meeting, 9 pages. [cited by applicant]
Decision to Grant for Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-541835, mailed Feb. 25, 2025, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for control (Release 16),” Technical Specification 38.213, Version 16.4.0, Dec. 2020, 3GPP Organizational Partners, 181 … [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16),” Technical Specification 38.214, Version 16.4.0, Dec. 2020, 3GPP Organizational Partners, 169 pag… [cited by applicant]
CATT, “R1-2007825: Discussion on enhancements on multi-TRP/panel for PDCCH, PUCCH and PUSCH,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #103-e, Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 2020, Electronic Meeting, 15 pages. [cited by applicant]
Ericsson, “R1-2009223: On PDCCH, PUCCH and PUSCH enhancements with multiple TRPs,” 3GPP TSG-RAN WG1 Meeting #103, Oct. 26-Nov. 13, 2020, Electronic Meeting, 25 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report and Written Opinion for International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2022/050331, mailed Apr. 19, 2022, 14 pages. [cited by applicant]
Author Unknown, “Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16),” Technical Specification 38.331, Version 16.3.1, Jan. 2021, 3GPP Organizational … [cited by applicant]
CATT, “R1-1801750: Discussion on enhanced PDCCH for NR URLLC,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #92, Feb. 26-Mar. 2, 2018, Athens, Greece, 3 pages. [cited by applicant]
NTT DOCOMO, Inc., et al., “R1-1805063: Necessity of PDCCH repetition,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #92bis, Apr. 16-20, 2018, Sanya, China, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
Vivo, “R1-1803847: Discussion on PDCCH repetition for URLLC,” 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Meeting #92bis, Apr. 16-20, 2018, Sanya, China, 6 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report and Written Opinion for International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2019/075223, mailed Jan. 8, 2020, 10 pages. [cited by applicant]
Office Action for Colombian Patent Application No. NC2023/0009190, mailed Apr. 22, 2026, 37 pages. [cited by applicant]