Polar codes for downlink control channels for wireless networks

An apparatus configured to decode downlink control information that was encoded using polar encoding, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

• attempt, based on an initial assumption by a user device of a segmented downlink control information, to decode a first codeword provided via a user device-specific resource, the first codeword including a first downlink control information segment, a pointer to a second downlink control information segment of a segmented downlink control information, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits;
• decode, in response to the attempting to decode being successful, based on the pointer, a second codeword that includes the second downlink control information segment of the segmented downlink control information;
• and
• otherwise, in response to the attempting to decode being unsuccessful, make an assumption of a non-segmented downlink control information and decoding a third codeword to obtain a non-segmented downlink control information.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium and storing executable code that, when executed by at least one data processing apparatus, is configured to cause the at least one data processing apparatus to perform a method, comprising:

• receiving, by a user device in a wireless network via a user device-specific resource, a first codeword;
• attempting to decode the first codeword to obtain a first information word that includes a first downlink control information segment of a segmented downlink control information, a pointer to a second resource to receive a second information word including a second downlink control information segment of the segmented downlink control information, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits;
• and
• performing the following in response to the attempting to decode the first codeword being successful:
• receiving, via the second resource included in the first information word, a second codeword;
• and
• decoding the second codeword to obtain a second information word including a second downlink control information segment of the segmented downlink control information.

An apparatus for decoding downlink control information that was encoded using polar encoding, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:

• receive, by a user device in a wireless network via a user device-specific resource, a first codeword;
• attempt to decode the first codeword to obtain a first information word that includes a first downlink control information segment of a segmented downlink control information, a pointer to a second resource to receive a second information word including a second downlink control information segment of the segmented downlink control information, and cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits;
• and
• perform the following in response to the attempting to decode the first codeword being successful:
• receive, via the second resource included in the first information word, a second codeword;
• and
• decode the second codeword to obtain a second information word including a second downlink control information segment of the segmented downlink control information.