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US-20260128845-A1 - PHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL LIMIT HANDLING FOR ENHANCED CROSS-CARRIER SCHEDULING

US20260128845A1US 20260128845 A1US20260128845 A1US 20260128845A1US-20260128845-A1

Abstract

A communication device in a communications network can monitor physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a primary cell, PCell, for PCell assignments. The communication device can further determine a maximum number of monitoring elements based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to secondary cell, SCell, to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell. The communication device can further, responsive to determining the maximum number of monitoring elements, monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements.

Inventors

  • Ravikiran Nory
  • Ajit Nimbalker

Assignees

  • TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251218

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method of operating a communication device in a communications network, the method comprising: monitoring physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a primary cell, PCell, for PCell assignments; determining a maximum number of monitoring elements based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to secondary cell, SCell, to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell; and responsive to determining the maximum number of monitoring elements, monitoring PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for the PCell assignments, determining that the maximum number of monitoring elements is a first value; or responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for only SCell assignments, determining that the maximum number of monitoring elements is a second value, the first value being larger than the second value.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the maximum number of monitoring elements is a first maximum number of monitoring elements, wherein monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the PCell for the PCell assignments comprises monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the PCell for the PCell assignments based on a second maximum number of monitoring elements, and wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for the PCell assignments, determining that the second maximum number of monitoring elements is a third value; or responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for only SCell assignments, determining that the second maximum number of monitoring elements is a fourth value, the third value being larger than the fourth value by a transfer amount; and determining the first value or the second value based on the transfer amount, the first value being at least the transfer amount more than the second value.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining a first scaling factor based on a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the first scaling factor.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining a first scaling factor based on a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the PCell; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the first scaling factor.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: receiving an indication from a network node of the communications network; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the indication, and wherein the indication indicates at least one of: whether the higher layer configuration can be configured for the communication device; allowable values of the higher layer configuration that can be configured for the communication device; and applicable values for the coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on a PDCCH blind decoding capability supported by the communication device for carrier aggregation, CA.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining a second scaling factor based on a subcarrier spacing configuration, SCS, of the PCell and a SCS configuration of the SCell; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the second scaling factor.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell comprises monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for the PCell assignments based on the maximum number of monitoring elements, the method further comprising: detecting a PDCCH candidate on the SCell with a PCell assignment; and communicating with a network node on the PCell according to the PCell assignment.
  10. 10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell comprises monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for SCell assignments based on the maximum number of monitoring elements, the method further comprising: detecting a PDCCH candidate on the SCell with a SCell assignment; and communicating with a network node on the SCell according to the SCell assignment.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises a maximum number of PDCCH blind decoding candidates or a maximum number of non-overlapping control channel elements, wherein the PCell assignments comprise PCell physical downlink shared channel, PDSCH, and/or physical uplink shared channel, PUSCH, assignments, and wherein the SCell assignments comprise SCell PDSCH and/or PUSCH assignments.
  12. 12 . A method of operating a network node in a communications network, the method comprising: determining whether a communication device in the communications network is configured to monitor physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a secondary cell, SCell, for primary cell, PCell, assignments; determining a maximum number of monitoring elements that the communication device will use when monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to SCell to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell; determining a set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements; and transmitting SCell assignments or the PCell assignments on individual PDCCH candidates of the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell.
  13. 13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining a first scaling factor based on a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the first scaling factor.
  14. 14 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining a first scaling factor based on a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and a number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the PCell; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the first scaling factor.
  15. 15 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for the PCell assignments, determining that the maximum number of monitoring elements is a first value; or responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for only SCell assignments, determining that the maximum number of monitoring elements is a second value, the first value being larger than the second value.
  16. 16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the maximum number of monitoring elements is a first maximum number of monitoring elements, and wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: determining that the communication device is configured to monitor the PDCCH, candidates on a PCell for the PCell assignments based on a second maximum number of monitoring elements; responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for the PCell assignments, determining that the second maximum number of monitoring elements is a third value; or responsive to determining that the communication device will monitor the PDCCH candidates on the SCell for only SCell assignments, determining that the second maximum number of monitoring elements is a fourth value, the third value being larger than the fourth value by a transfer amount; and determining the first value or the second value based on the transfer amount, the first value being at least the transfer amount more than the second value.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the maximum number of monitoring elements comprises: transmitting an indication to the communication device; and determining the maximum number of monitoring elements based on the indication, wherein the indication indicates at least one of: whether the higher layer configuration can be configured for the communication device; allowable values of the higher layer configuration that can be configured for the communication device; and applicable values for the number of coreset pools configured for PDCCH monitoring.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell comprises determining the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on a PDCCH blind decoding capability supported by the communication device for carrier aggregation, CA.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell comprises: determining a second scaling factor based on a subcarrier spacing configuration, SCS, of the PCell and a SCS configuration of the SCell; and determining the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the second scaling factor.
  20. 20 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising: responsive to transmitting PCell assignments on the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell, communicating with the communication device on the PCell according to the PCell assignment; or responsive to transmitting SCell assignments on the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell, communicating with the communication device on the SCell according to the SCell assignment.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/032,656 filed on Apr. 19, 2023, which is a 35 U.S.C. § 371 national stage application of PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2021/079489 filed on Oct. 25, 2021, which in turn claims domestic priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/104,759 filed on Oct. 23, 2020, the disclosures and content of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure is related to wireless communication systems and more particularly to cross-carrier scheduling. BACKGROUND FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a 5th Generation (“5G”) network (also referred to as a new radio (“NR”) network) including a network node 102 (e.g., a 5G base station (“gNB”)), multiple communication devices 104 (also referred to as user equipment (“UE”)). Carrier aggregation (“CA”) can be used in NR and LTE systems to improve UE transmit receive data rate. With CA, the UE can operate initially on a single serving cell called a primary cell (“PCell”). The PCell can be operated on a component carrier (“CC”) in a frequency band. The UE can then be configured by the network with one or more secondary serving cells (“SCells”). Each SCell can correspond to a CC in the same frequency band (intra-band CA) or different frequency band (inter-band CA) from the frequency band of the CC corresponding to the PCell. For the UE to transmit/receive data on the SCells, for example, by receiving downlink shared channel (“DL-SCH”) information on a physical downlink shared channel (“PDSCH”) or by transmitting uplink shared channel (“UL-SCH”) on a physical uplink shared channel (“PUSCH”), the SCells need to be activated by the network. The SCells can also be deactivated and later reactivated as needed via activation/deactivation signaling. SUMMARY According to some embodiments, a method of operating a communication device in a communications network is provided. The method includes monitoring physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a primary cell, PCell, for PCell assignments. The method can further include determining a maximum number of monitoring elements based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to secondary cell, SCell, to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell. The method can further include responsive to determining the maximum number of monitoring elements, monitoring PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements. According to other embodiments, a method of operating a network node in a communications network is provided. The method includes determining whether a communication device in the communications network is configured to monitor physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a secondary cell, SCell, for primary cell, PCell, assignments. The method can further include determining a maximum number of monitoring elements that the communication device will use when monitoring the PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to SCell to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell. The method can further include determining a set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements. The method can further include transmitting SCell assignments or the PCell assignments on the set of PDCCH candidates on the SCell. According to other embodiments, a communication device configured to operate in a communications network is provided. The communication device includes processing circuitry and memory coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory can have instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the communication device to perform operations. The operations include monitoring physical downlink control channel, PDCCH, candidates on a primary cell, PCell, for PCell assignments. The operations can further include determining a maximum number of monitoring elements based on at least one of a higher layer configuration related to secondary cell, SCell, to PCell scheduling and a number of control resource set, coreset, pools configured for PDCCH monitoring on the SCell and/or the PCell. The operations can further include, responsive to determining the maximum number of monitoring elements, monitoring PDCCH candidates on the SCell based on the maximum number of monitoring elements. According to other embodiments, a network node configured to operate in a communications is provided. The network node includes processing circuitry and memory coupled to the processing circuitry. The memory can have instructions stored therein that are executable by the processing circuitry to cause the network node to perform operations. The operations