Harq handling for nodes with variable processing times

A transmitter, comprising:

• one or more interfaces;
• memory;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, whereby the transmitter is configured to:
• send a transmission comprising a transport block (TB) comprising a plurality of code blocks (CBs) arranged in one or more code block groups (CBGs), each code block group comprising one or more code blocks and each code block comprising a plurality of coded bits, wherein the transmission is sent to a receiver configured to use multi-bit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback per transport block;
• receive HARQ ACK or NACK feedback from the receiver for one or more of the one or more code block groups of the transport block;
• and
• determine a number of code blocks or code block groups to send to the receiver in a retransmission based on at least the received HARQ ACK or NACK feedback;
• wherein HARQ NACK feedback is received for each of the one or more CBGs when the TB fails a TB cyclic redundancy check in the receiver.

A method for use in a receiver, the method comprising:

• configuring the receiver to use multi-bit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback per transport block (TB);
• and
• receiving a transmission comprising a TB that is composed of a plurality of code blocks (CBs) arranged in one or more code block groups (CBGs);
• sending HARQ ACK or NACK feedback for one or more of the one or more CBGs of the TB, based on the decoding status of the TB;
• wherein sending HARQ ACK or NACK feedback comprises sending HARQ NACK feedback for each of the CBGs when the TB fails a TB cyclic redundancy check in the receiver.

A receiver, comprising:

• one or more interfaces;
• memory;
• and
• processing circuitry configured to execute instructions stored in the memory, whereby the receiver is configured to:
• configure the receiver to use multi-bit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback per transport block (TB);
• and
• receive a transmission comprising a TB that is composed of a plurality of code blocks (CBs) arranged in one or more code block groups (CBGs);
• send HARQ ACK or NACK feedback for one or more of the one or more CBGs of the TB, based on the decoding status of the TB;
• and
• wherein the receiver configured to send the HARQ ACK or NACK feedback comprises sending HARQ NACK feedback for each of the CBGs when the TB fails a TB cyclic redundancy check in the receiver.