Downlink control information (DCI) transmission and reception

A base station comprising:

• a transceiver configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE);
• and
• one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
• transmit, to the UE, physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration information comprising repetitions for PDCCH candidates that comprise Downlink Control Information (DCI), wherein the repetitions for the PDCCH candidates comprise a same DCI transmitted in a first symbol of each of multiple spans within a same slot, wherein each span comprises at least two symbols;
• encoding, based on at least the PDCCH configuration information, PDCCH candidates comprising multiple repetitions;
• and
• transmitting, to the UE, the encoded PDCCH candidates.

A method comprising:

• at a base station:
• transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) configuration information comprising repetitions for PDCCH candidates that comprise Downlink Control Information (DCI), wherein the repetitions for the PDCCH candidates comprise a same DCI transmitted in a first symbol of a first span of symbols in a first slot and in a first symbol of a second span of symbols in a second slot;
• encoding, based on at least the PDCCH configuration information, PDCCH candidates comprising multiple repetitions;
• and
• transmitting, to the UE, the encoded PDCCH candidates.