Methods of Efficient HARQ Operation for Low Latency and High Performance Services

A User Equipment (UE) comprising:

• a transmitter that transmitts hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) capability information in a wireless communication network, wherein the HARQ capability information comprises a supported HARQ-ACK timing capability associated with a list of parameters;
• a receiver that receives a higher-layer configuration from the network that configures a set of applicable HARQ-ACK timings, wherein the receiver also receives a physical-layer signaling from the network that configures an applied HARQ-ACK timing for a downlink data packet;
• and
• an HARQ controller that transmits an HARQ ACK or NACK in response to the downlink data packet based on the applied HARQ-ACK timing.

A method, comprising:

• receiving a higher-layer signaling by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, wherein the higher-layer signaling indicates a number of configured hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes;
• determining a nominal HARQ soft buffer size for a channel coding chain rate matching based on a UE category;
• determining an HARQ soft buffer size for each HARQ process by dividing the nominal HARQ soft buffer size with the number of configured HARQ processes;
• and
• performing HARQ operation based on the nominal HARQ soft buffer size and an actual HARQ soft buffer size of the UE.

A User Equipment (UE), comprising:

• a receiver that receives a higher-layer signaling in a wireless communication network, wherein the higher-layer signaling indicates a number of configured hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes;
• an HARQ buffer management circuit that determines a nominal HARQ soft buffer size for a channel coding chain rate matching based on a UE category, wherein the UE also determines an HARQ soft buffer size for each HARQ process by dividing the nominal HARQ soft buffer size with the number of configured HARQ processes;
• and
• an HARQ controller that performs HARQ operation based on the nominal HARQ soft buffer size and an actual HARQ soft buffer size of the UE.