US-12628163-B2 - Systems and methods for managing multicast and unicast communications

US12628163B2US 12628163 B2US12628163 B2US 12628163B2US-12628163-B2

Abstract

A wireless communication method includes receiving, by a wireless communication device from a network, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource. The first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB). The first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device. The method further includes receiving, by the wireless communication device from the network, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource. The first TB is received by a plurality of wireless communication devices. The second downlink channel is common to the plurality of wireless communication devices.

Inventors

Xing Liu
Peng Hao
Tao Qi
Jing Shi
Xingguang WEI
Lin Chen

Assignees

ZTE CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230411

Claims (15)

1 . A wireless communication method, comprising: receiving, by a wireless communication device from a network, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource; wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), and the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device; and receiving, by the wireless communication device from the network, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, wherein the first TB is received by a plurality of wireless communication devices, and the second downlink channel is common to the plurality of wireless communication devices.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first downlink control information comprises a Downlink Control Information (DCI); the first downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); the second downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH); the first frequency resource is a first Bandwidth Part (BWP); and the second frequency resource is a second BWP.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first downlink control information comprises a BWP indicator indicating a value; and the method further comprises, in response to determining that the value is a predetermined value: determining, by the wireless communication device, that no BWP switching is needed from receiving the first downlink control information in the first frequency resource and receiving the first TB in the second frequency resource; or determining, by the wireless communication device, that no BWP switching delay is between receiving the first downlink control information in the first frequency resource and receiving the first TB in the second frequency resource.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the first TB on the second downlink channel in the second frequency resource comprises determining configurations of a second downlink resource according to the second frequency resource.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second frequency resource is within the first frequency resource; and the first frequency resource and the second frequency resource have a same Cyclic Prefix (CP) and a same subcarrier spacing (SCS).
6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the wireless communication device, a size for the first downlink control information according to configurations of the first frequency resource.
7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining, by the wireless communication device, a first size for each of formats of the first downlink control information according to configurations of the first frequency resource, the first size corresponding to scheduling unicast downlink resource; determining, by the wireless communication device, a second size for each of the formats of the first downlink control information according to configurations of the second frequency resource, the second size corresponding to scheduling multicast downlink resource; and aligning, by the wireless communication device, the first size and the second size.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein aligning the first size and the second size comprises one of: (1) aligning the first size for one of the formats with the second size for the same format; (2) aligning the second size for one of the formats with the first size for the same format; (3) aligning each of the first size and the second size with a maximum size for the same format; or (4) in response to determining that a number of the formats with different sizes exceeds a size budget, aligning the first size and the second size using one of (1), (2), or (3).
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency resource and a third frequency resource are used for unicast services; the second frequency resource and a fourth frequency resource are used for multicast services; and the method further comprises: switching from the first frequency resource to the third frequency resource for the unicast services; in response to determining that the second frequency resource is within the third frequency resource, using, by the wireless communication device, the second frequency resource for the multicast services; and in response to determining that at least a portion of the second frequency resource is not within the third frequency resource, switching, by the wireless communication device, from the second frequency resource to the fourth frequency resource for the multicast services, wherein, the fourth frequency resource is within the third frequency resource.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first frequency resource and a third frequency resource are used for unicast services; the second frequency resource and a fourth frequency resource are used for multicast services; and the method further comprises: in response to determining that the first frequency resource is switched to the third frequency resource for the unicast service, switching, by the wireless communication device, from the second frequency resource to the fourth frequency resource for the multicast services.
11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising continuously monitoring, by the wireless communication device, the first downlink channel in the first frequency resource in response to determining at least one of: the second frequency resource is within the first frequency resource; a subcarrier spacing of the second frequency resource is same as a subcarrier spacing of the first frequency resource; a Cyclic Prefix (CP) type of the second frequency resource is same as a CP type of the first frequency resource; a center frequency of the second frequency resource is same as a center frequency of the first frequency resource; or a bandwidth of the second frequency resource is same as a bandwidth of the first frequency resource.
12 . A wireless communication device, comprising: at least one processor configured to: receiving, via a receiver from a network, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource; wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), and the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device; and receiving, via the receiver from the network, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, wherein the first TB is received by a plurality of wireless communication devices, and the second downlink channel is common to the plurality of wireless communication devices.
13 . A network device, comprising: at least one processor configured to: transmit, via a transmitter to a wireless communication device, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource, wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), and the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device; and transmit, via the transmitter to a plurality of wireless communication devices comprising the wireless communication device, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, wherein the second downlink channel is common to the plurality of wireless communication devices.
14 . A wireless communication method, comprising: transmitting, by a network to a wireless communication device, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource, wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), and the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device; and transmitting, by the network to a plurality of wireless communication devices comprising the wireless communication device, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, wherein the second downlink channel is common to the plurality of wireless communication devices.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the first downlink control information comprises a Downlink Control Information (DCI); the first downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH); the second downlink channel is a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH); the first frequency resource is a first Bandwidth Part (BWP); and the second frequency resource is a second BWP.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of PCT Patent Application No. PCT/CN2020/121087, filed on Oct. 15, 2020, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The disclosure relates generally to wireless communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for simultaneous unicast and multicast transmission. BACKGROUND Under multicast mode, the same transmission mechanism is used by the network node (e.g., base station) for transmitting the same information to a group of User Equipment (UEs). The multicast transmission can be carried on a Physical Data Shared Channel (PDSCH), which is received by the group of UEs. This PDSCH carrying the multicast Transport Block (TB) can be referred to as group common PDSCH or multicast PDSCH. Specifically, there are various network environments (e.g., channel conditions) for different UEs. In order to improve the efficiency of multicast transmission, UEs with similar network environments are expected to be classified into one UE group. Then, the transmission mechanism selected is better matched to the network environment of each UE in the UE group. There are different ways for scheduling the PDSCH for a group of UEs receiving the same PDSCH for a multicast TB. One way is to use a group common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), such that all UEs in the group will detect the same PDCCH, and the PDSCH will be scheduled by the PDCCH. Another way is to use a UE-specific PDCCH for each of the UEs in the group, such that each of the UEs will detect its own PDCCH, and the different PDCCHs will schedule the same PDSCH. For multicast TB/PDSCH scheduled by a Downlink Control Information (DCI) carried on UE-specific PDCCH, there will be different configuration parameters for unicast transmission and multicast transmission. Therefore, it is important to distinguish a unicast or multicast transmission scheduled by a DCI carried on UE-specific PDCCH, which rule should be followed on the DCI size determination, and how to descramble the group common PDSCH, among other issues. SUMMARY The example embodiments disclosed herein are directed to solving the issues relating to one or more of the problems presented in the prior art, as well as providing additional features that will become readily apparent by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings. In accordance with various embodiments, example systems, methods, devices and computer program products are disclosed herein. It is understood, however, that these embodiments are presented by way of example and are not limiting, and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who read the present disclosure that various modifications to the disclosed embodiments can be made while remaining within the scope of this disclosure. In some embodiments, a wireless communication method includes receiving, by a wireless communication device from a network, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource; wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device, and receiving, by the wireless communication device from the network, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, the first TB received by a plurality of wireless communication devices, the second downlink channel being common to the plurality of wireless communication devices. In other embodiments, a wireless communication method includes transmitting, by a network to a wireless communication device, first downlink control information on a first downlink channel in a first frequency resource, wherein the first downlink control information schedules a first Transport Block (TB), the first downlink channel is specific to the wireless communication device, and transmitting, by the network to a plurality of wireless communication devices comprising the wireless communication device, the first TB on a second downlink channel in a second frequency resource, and the second downlink channel being common to the plurality of wireless communication devices. The above and other aspects and their implementations are described in greater detail in the drawings, the descriptions, and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Various example embodiments of the present solution are described in detail below with reference to the following figures or drawings. The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict example embodiments of the present solution to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present solution. Therefore, the drawings should not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of the present solution. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of i