# US 10,873,423 B2 · Systems and methods for allocation of uplink control channel resources in unlicensed spectrum > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,873,423 B2 - Document ID: US10873423B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/203,030 - Filed: 2018-11-28 - Published: 2019-08-15 - Granted: 2020-12-22 - Earliest claimed: 2018-02-15 - Assignees: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Mohamed Adel Salem; Jiayin Zhang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10873423B2 ## CPC - H04L 1/1819: {with retransmission of additional or different redundancy} - H04L 1/1854: {Scheduling and prioritising arrangements} - H04L 1/1861: {Physical mapping arrangements (for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053)} - H04W 16/14: Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} - H04W 72/0453: Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA - H04W 72/23: in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal - H04W 74/0808: using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA] - H04W 74/0816: with collision avoidance - H04L 5/001: {the frequencies being arranged in component carriers} - H04L 5/0053: {Allocation of signalling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals} - H04L 5/0055: {Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK (for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861)} - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Wireless communication between a user equipment (UE) and a base station may occur on unlicensed spectrum. When wirelessly communicating on unlicensed spectrum, there is an expectation that there may be interference from others devices also transmitting on the same resources in the unlicensed spectrum. Systems and methods are therefore disclosed that aim to facilitate wireless communication in unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, systems and method are disclosed that are primarily directed to the uplink transmission of hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a downlink data transmission, and the downlink data transmission and the HARQ feedback are both sent on unlicensed spectrum. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a downlink transmission indicating a plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for uplink transmission of the UE, the plurality of time-frequency resources being in a plurality of uplink frequency partitions of an unlicensed spectrum that do not overlap with each other in a frequency domain; for each uplink frequency partition of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions: listening to a wireless channel in a frequency region of the uplink frequency partition to determine whether the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of the uplink frequency partition; and transmitting an uplink transmission in at least one of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions for which the frequency region of the wireless channel is unoccupied. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink transmission comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a downlink transport block (TB). ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the downlink transmission includes downlink control information (DCI) that indicates the plurality of time-frequency resources. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink transmission is scheduled on a control channel. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions overlap with each other in time. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions are in a same bandwidth part (BWP). ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising determining that the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions, and selecting one of the at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions on which to transmit the uplink transmission. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, comprising determining that the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions, and transmitting the uplink transmission comprising either additional uplink control information or uplink data or both on the at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, wherein the additional uplink control information comprises HARQ feedback corresponding to one or more downlink transmit blocks transmitted in one or more channel occupancy times (COTs) earlier than a COT in which the UE received the downlink transmission. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the downlink transmission includes a set of bits that indicate the plurality of time-frequency resources, wherein the set of bits comprises a plurality of bit subsets, and each bit subset of the plurality of bit subsets corresponds to a respective one of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions. ### Claim 11 A user equipment (UE) comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming comprising instructions to: receive a downlink transmission indicating a plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for uplink transmission of the UE, the plurality of time-frequency resources being in a plurality of uplink frequency partitions of an unlicensed spectrum that do not overlap with each other in a frequency domain; for each uplink frequency partition of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions: listen to a wireless channel in a frequency region of the uplink frequency partition to determine whether the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of the uplink frequency partition; and transmit an uplink transmission in at least one of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions for which the frequency region of the wireless channel is unoccupied. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the uplink transmission comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a downlink transport block (TB). ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the downlink transmission includes downlink control information (DCI) that indicates the plurality of time-frequency resources. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the uplink transmission is scheduled on a control channel. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions overlap with each other in time. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the programming further comprises instructions to: upon determining that the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions, select one of the at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions on which to transmit the uplink transmission. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The UE of claim 11, wherein the programming further comprises instructions to: upon determining that the wireless channel is unoccupied in the frequency region of at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions, transmit the uplink transmission comprising either additional uplink control information or uplink data or both on the at least two of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The UE of claim 17, wherein the additional uplink control information comprises HARQ feedback corresponding to one or more downlink transmit blocks transmitted in one or more channel occupancy times (COTs) earlier than a COT in which the UE received the downlink transmission. ### Claim 19 A method performed by a base station, the method comprising: transmitting to a user equipment (UE) a downlink transmission indicating a plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for uplink transmission of the UE, the plurality of time-frequency resources located in a plurality of uplink frequency partitions of an unlicensed spectrum that the UE listens to before uplink transmission, the plurality of uplink frequency partitions not overlapping with each other in a frequency domain; and performing blind decoding on the plurality of time-frequency resources to obtain an uplink transmission in at least one of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the uplink transmission comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a downlink transport block (TB). ### Claim 21 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the downlink transmission includes downlink control information (DCI) that indicates the plurality of time-frequency resources. ### Claim 22 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the uplink transmission is scheduled on a control channel. ### Claim 23 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions overlap with each other in time. ### Claim 24 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions are in a same bandwidth part (BWP). ### Claim 25 A base station comprising: a transmitter to transmit to a user equipment (UE) a downlink transmission indicating a plurality of time-frequency resources allocated for uplink transmission of the UE, the plurality of time-frequency resources located in a plurality of uplink frequency partitions of an unlicensed spectrum that the UE listens to before uplink transmission, the plurality of uplink frequency partitions not overlapping with each other in a frequency domain; and a decoder to perform blind decoding on the plurality of time-frequency resources to obtain an uplink transmission in at least one of the plurality of uplink frequency partitions. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The base station of claim 25, wherein the uplink transmission comprises hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback corresponding to a downlink transport block (TB). ### Claim 27 (depends on 25) The base station of claim 25, wherein the downlink transmission includes downlink control information (DCI) that indicates the plurality of time-frequency resources. ### Claim 28 (depends on 25) The base station of claim 25, wherein the uplink transmission is scheduled on a control channel. ### Claim 29 (depends on 25) The base station of claim 25, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions overlap with each other in time. ### Claim 30 (depends on 25) The base station of claim 25, wherein the plurality of uplink frequency partitions are in a same bandwidth part (BWP).