| CPC H04W 72/02 (2013.01) [H04J 11/004 (2013.01); H04L 1/189 (2013.01); H04W 72/044 (2013.01); H04W 72/1263 (2013.01); H04W 84/042 (2013.01)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A method for performing grant-free uplink transmissions, the method comprising:
determining, by a user equipment (UE), data that is to be transmitted using a grant-free uplink transmission to a base station of a cellular network;
selecting, by the UE, a first grant-free resource block from a plurality of grant-free resource blocks, wherein:
each grant-free resource block defines a subcarrier frequency and timeslot for data to be transmitted by UE without a reservation;
selecting, by the UE, a second grant-free resource block from the plurality of grant-free resource blocks;
selecting, by the UE, a third grant-free resource block from the plurality of grant-free resource blocks;
transmitting, by the UE, a first grant-free transmission that comprises a data payload, a first pointer, and a second pointer at the first grant-free resource block, wherein:
the first pointer is indicative of a first end of a chain of linked grant-free transmissions;
the second pointer refers to the second grant-free resource block;
transmitting, by the UE, a second grant-free transmission that comprises the data payload, a third pointer, and a fourth pointer at the second grant-free resource block, wherein:
the third pointer refers to the first grant-free resource block;
the fourth pointer refers to the third grant-free resource block; and
transmitting, by the UE, a third grant-free transmission that comprises the data payload, a fifth pointer, at the third grant-free resource block, wherein:
the fifth pointer refers to the second grant-free resource block.
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