Semi-Static and Dynamic TDD Configuration for 5G-NR

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018367289-A1
Application number	US-201815950368-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 11, 2018
Priority date	Jun 15, 2017
Publication date	Dec 20, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

TDD configuration may be dynamically and/or semi-statically signaled to user equipment devices by a base station. Semi-static TDD configuration may include: an initial portion for downlink transmission; a flexible portion; and a terminal portion for uplink transmission. TDD structure of the flexible portion may be determined later by transmission of dynamic physical layer configuration information such as downlink control information (DCI) and/or slot format indicator (SFI). (The SFI may be included in a group common PDCCH of a slot.) The downlink portion and/or the uplink portion may include subsets whose nominal transmit direction is subject to override by transmission of dynamic physical layer configuration information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An apparatus configured for implementation in a user equipment device, the apparatus comprising:
one or more processing elements, wherein the one or more processing elements are configured to: receive TDD configuration information, wherein the TDD configuration information includes parameters that define a semi-static TDD configuration for a frame structure, wherein the parameters include:
a frame length specifying a duration of the frame structure;
a first length specifying a duration of a downlink portion of the frame structure, wherein the downlink portion occupies an initial position within the frame structure; and
a second length specifying a duration of an uplink portion of the frame structure, wherein the uplink portion occupies a terminal position within the frame structure;
wherein an intermediate portion of the frame structure occurs after the downlink portion and before the uplink portion, wherein TDD structure of the intermediate portion is not determined by the TDD configuration information.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processing elements are further configured to:
in response to receiving the TDD configuration information, perform TDD operation including: receiving, by the radio, downlink data from within the downlink portion of the frame structure; and transmitting, by the radio, uplink data within the uplink portion of the frame structure.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processing elements are further configured to:
receive one or more physical layer signals that dynamically determine the TDD structure of the intermediate portion; and perform TDD operation over the intermediate portion based on the dynamically determined TDD structure.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processing elements are further configured to:
perform TDD operation for each frame in a sequence of frames based on the semi-static TDD configuration, wherein, for each of the frames of the sequence, the TDD structure of the intermediate portion of the frame is determined by corresponding dynamic configuration information provided in one or more slots of the frame.

5 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein the downlink portion includes an initial subportion and a following subportion; wherein the initial subportion is configured for downlink transfer with no possibility of dynamic override to different TDD status; wherein the following subportion is configured for downlink transfer with possibility of dynamic override to different TDD status.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TDD configuration information is received from a first base station that operates on a first frequency channel, wherein the one or more processing elements are further configured to:
apply a time shift to slots of a current radio frame, wherein the time shift depends on an indicator of a TDD configuration being used by a second base station that operates on a second frequency channel that is frequency adjacent to the first frequency channel, wherein, after the time shift, a current semi-static TDD configuration of radio frame conforms to a TDD configuration of 3GPP LTE.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 ,
wherein said first length is specified in terms of a first number of whole slots and a non-negative number x of symbols in a transition slot, wherein said second length is specified in terms of a second number of whole slots and a non-negative number z of symbols in the transition slot, wherein symbols of the transition slot not occurring in either the first x symbols of the transition slot or the last z symbols of the transition slot are gap symbols.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the first number, the number x, the second number and the number z are configured to achieve agreement with a TDD configuration of 3GPP LTE.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TDD configuration information does not conflict with transmission direction indicated by dynamic downlink control information (DCI).

10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the TDD configuration information further indicates cancellation of one or more periodic transmissions configured by RRC.

11 . A method for operating a user equipment device, the method comprising:
receiving, by a radio of the user equipment device, TDD configuration information, wherein the TDD configuration information includes parameters that define a semi-static TDD configuration for a frame structure, wherein the parameters include:
a frame length specifying a duration of the frame structure;
a first length specifying a duration of a downlink portion of the frame structure, wherein the downlink portion occupies an initial position within the frame structure; and
a second length specifying a duration of an uplink portion of the frame structure, wherein the uplink portion occupies a terminal position within the frame structure;

wherein an intermediate portion of the frame structure occurs after the downlink portion and before the uplink portion, wherein TDD structure of the intermediate portion is not determined by the TDD configuration information.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
in response to receiving the TDD configuration information, performing TDD operation including:
receiving, by the radio, downlink data from within the downlink portion of the frame structure; and
transmitting, by the radio, uplink data within the uplink portion of the frame structure.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving one or more physical layer signals that dynamically determine the TDD structure of the intermediate portion; and performing TDD operation over the intermediate portion based on the dynamically determined TDD structure.

14 . The method of claim 11 , the method further comprising:
performing TDD operation for each frame in a sequence of frames based on the semi-static TDD configuration, wherein, for each of the frames of the sequence, the TDD structure of the intermediate portion of the frame is determined by corresponding dynamic configuration information provided in one or more slots of the frame.

15 . The method of claim 11 ,
wherein the downlink portion includes an initial subportion and a following subportion; wherein the initial subportion is configured for downlink transfer with no possibility of dynamic override to different TDD status; wherein the following subportion is configured for downlink transfer with possibility of dynamic override to different TDD status.

16 . A user equipment device (UE), comprising:
a radio; one or more processing elements coupled to the radio, wherein the one or more processing elements are configured to:
receive, by the radio of the user equipment device, TDD configuration information, wherein the TDD configuration information includes parameters that define a semi-static TDD configuration for a frame structure, wherein the parameters include:
a frame length specifying a duration of the frame structure;
a first length specifying a duration of a downlink portion of the frame structure, wherein the downlink portion occupies an initial position within the frame structure; and
a second length specifying a duration of an uplink portion of the frame structure, wherein the uplink portion occupies a terminal position within the frame structure;

wherein an intermediate portion of the frame structure occurs after the downlink portion and before the uplink portion, wherein TDD structure of the intermediate portion is not determined by the TDD configura

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kim Yuchul
• Zeng Wei
• Yang Xiangying
• Zhang Dawei

Classifications

• H04L5/1469 Primary

  using time-sharing · CPC title

• H04L5/14 Primary

  Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex · CPC title

• H04L5/0092

  Indication of how the channel is divided · CPC title

• H04W72/0446 Primary

  Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames · CPC title

• H04L5/0078

  Timing of allocation · CPC title