Two-stage grant for uplink data transmission in new radio-unlicensed (nr-u)

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a transceiver in communication with the processor configured to:
• transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first-stage scheduling grant;
• transmit, to the UE, an additional first-stage scheduling grant, wherein the additional first-stage scheduling grant is associated with the first-stage scheduling grant;
• transmit, to the UE, a second-stage scheduling grant including at least one of a start slot index (SSI) or a slot format indicator (SFI), wherein the second-stage scheduling grant corresponds to one of the first-stage scheduling grant or the additional first-stage scheduling grant;
• and
• receive, from the UE, an uplink communication signal based on the second-stage scheduling grant and the one of the first-stage scheduling grant or the additional first-stage scheduling grant.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising:

• code for causing a base station (BS) to transmit, to a user equipment (UE), a first-stage scheduling grant;
• code for causing the BS to transmit, to the UE, an additional first-stage scheduling grant, wherein the additional first-stage scheduling grant is associated with the first-stage scheduling grant;
• code for causing the BS to transmit, to the UE, a second-stage scheduling grant including at least one of a start slot index (SSI) or a slot format indicator (SFI), wherein the second-stage scheduling grant corresponds to one of the first-stage scheduling grant or the additional first-stage scheduling grant;
• and
• code for causing the BS to receive, from the UE, an uplink communication signal based on the second-stage scheduling grant and the one of the first-stage scheduling grant or the additional first-stage scheduling grant.