Enhanced user device capability signaling

Abstract

To provide user equipment that facilitates effective signal transmission and power utilization by adroit management of antennas and device configurations.SOLUTION: A wireless communication system includes user equipment (UE) for generating a first beam switch timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a first protocol set, generating a second beam switch timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a second protocol set, and generating one or more signals to transmit the first beam switch timing capability indicator and the second beam switch timing capability indicator to a base station.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various embodiments can generally relate to the field of wireless communication, including techniques for implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling.

Background Art

[0002] This section is intended to introduce the reader to various technical aspects that may be relevant to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and / or claimed below. This discussion is considered to be helpful in providing the reader with background art for facilitating a better understanding of various aspects of the present disclosure. Thus, it will be understood that these descriptions made in this section are not intended to admit prior art.

[0003] Various electrical devices use wireless communication systems to exchange data and / or form communication networks. For example, laptops, mobile phones, and other similar devices may have a wireless network adapter that can connect to a cellular network, a wireless Ethernet network, a Bluetooth network, etc. In some devices, the wireless communication system can use a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna setup that may include an array of individual antennas to access radio frequency (RF) channels. Fine management of the antenna and device configuration can facilitate effective signal transmission and power utilization.

Summary of the Invention

[0004] The embodiments relate to a technology for performing full power transmission in user equipment (UE). The embodiment of user equipment (UE) comprises an antenna array including a plurality of antenna elements, and a processor that causes the UE to establish a communication connection with a network entity and to cause the UE to transmit at least one of the following to the network entity: a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS) capability indicator, a beam switching timing capability indicator, or a cross-carrier scheduling capability indicator.

[0005] Detailed explanations are provided with reference to the attached drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0006] [Figure 1] This specification provides a high-level schematic block diagram of various components in a 3GPP NR (e.g., 5G) network environment that can be used in techniques for implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling in communication networks, as described in the various embodiments discussed herein. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of a method for enhancing user device capability signaling according to an embodiment. [Figure 3] This is a schematic diagram of parameter settings that may be used in implementing enhanced user device capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] This is a schematic diagram of parameter settings that may be used in implementing enhanced user device capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 5] This is a schematic diagram of a network system that may be used in implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] This is a schematic diagram of a system that may be used in implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] This is a schematic diagram of a system that may be used in implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 8]This is a schematic diagram of infrastructure equipment that may be used in implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] This is a schematic diagram of a platform that may be used in implementing enhanced user device capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 10] This is a schematic diagram of a baseband circuit that may be used in implementing enhanced user equipment capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 11] This is a schematic diagram of various protocol functions that may be used in implementing enhanced user device capability signaling according to the embodiment. [Figure 12] This is a schematic diagram of a component that can read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium, which may be used in implementing enhanced user device capability signaling according to an embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0007] The following detailed descriptions refer to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, specific details such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc., are described for illustrative purposes only, not to limit, in order to provide a complete understanding of the various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who are interested in this disclosure that various aspects of the various embodiments may be implemented in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary details. For the purposes of this disclosure, "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0008] Furthermore, various embodiments of the examples may be implemented using a variety of means, such as integrated semiconductor circuits ("hardware"), computer-readable instructions organized into one or more programs ("software"), or some combination of hardware and software. For the purposes of this disclosure, a reference to "logic" means either hardware, software, or some combination thereof.

[0009] Throughout this specification, any reference to “one embodiment” or “one embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in relation to that embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Therefore, references to the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in one embodiment” in various places throughout this specification do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, a particular feature, structure, or characteristic may be appropriately combined in one or more embodiments. In addition, the word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, case, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as “exemplary” should not necessarily be construed as being preferable or advantageous over other embodiments.

[0010] Various operations may be described as multiple distinct sequential operations in the manner most useful for understanding the claimed subject matter. However, the order of description should not be interpreted as meaning that these operations are necessarily order-dependent. In particular, these operations do not need to be performed in the order presented. The operations described may be performed in a different order than in the described embodiments. In additional embodiments, various additional operations may be performed, and / or the described operations may be omitted.

[0011] Further details and techniques will be described below with reference to the network architectures, devices, and methods described in Figures 1 to 10. Figure 1 is a high-level schematic block diagram of components in a 3GPP NR (or 5G) network environment 100 that may be used to implement coordinated IP packet filtering in a communication network according to various embodiments discussed herein.

[0012] Referring to Figure 1, in some examples, network 100 includes one or more Access and Mobility Management Function / User Plane Function (AMF / UPF) devices 110A, 110B, one or more gNBs 120A, 120B, and one or more ng-eNBs 120C, 120D. The AMF / UPF devices 110A, 110B are communicatively coupled to the gNBs 120A, 120B, and the ng-eNBs 120C, 120D via the NG interface. The gNBs 120A, 120B, and the ng-eNBs 120C, 120D are communicatively coupled to each other via the Xn interface. One or more user equipment (UEs) 130A, 130B can establish communication connections with one or more gNBs 120A, 120B, or the ng-eNBs 120C, 120D. A detailed description of the wireless network and UEs is provided below.

[0013] In some examples, a wireless network 100 may include, or be communicably coupled to, one or more cellular networks (e.g., 4G standards such as Long-Term Evolution or LTE, or 5G standards such as New Radio or 5G NR) and / or connectivity networks (e.g., IEEE 802.3 or WiFi, Bluetooth), and / or other connectivity networks, and may be implemented by establishing radio frequency (RF) connectivity between electronic devices. To establish wireless RF connectivity, UE 130A, 130B may include an RF communication system which may include transmit and receive circuits coupled to an antenna array containing one or more antennas. The circuit may include a transceiver module capable of performing coding / decoding and modulation / demodulation tasks, as well as digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversions. The transceiver module may be coupled to one or more antennas by a front-end module (FEM) or RF head and can provide filtering and / or power amplification capabilities to the RF communication system. The RF head circuit may be coupled to the antenna array. The transceiver circuit and / or RF head circuit may generate RF signals to drive the antenna array and / or decode signals received by the antenna array. Examples of UEs are discussed in more detail below.

[0014] The subject matter described herein relates to capability signal enhancement for user equipment (UE). In some examples, the subject matter described herein provides UE capability signaling enhancement in the following areas: (1) multi-user (MU) CSI enhanced capability reporting, (2) aperiodic (AP) CSI-RS beam switching timing capability reporting, and cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) related capability signaling.

[0015] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of operations in a method for enhancing user equipment capability signaling according to an embodiment. In some examples, the operations may be performed between a UE (e.g., UEs 130A, 130B) and a network element (e.g., gNBs 120A, 120B, or ng-eNBs 120C, 120D). The operations shown in Figure 2 enable the UE to provide enhanced capability signaling for features including multi-user (MU) channel state information (CSI) capability, aperiodic channel state information reference signal (AP-CSI-RS) capability, and cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) capability reports. The network element can send these instructions to the EU, which can use the reports to configure the EU and one or more network elements.

[0016] Referring to Figure 2, in operations 210 and 215, the UE and the network element establish a communication connection respectively. In operation 220, the UE sends a CSI-RS capability indicator, a beam switching capability indicator, and a CCS capability indicator to the network element. In operation 225, the network element receives the CSI-RS capability indicator, the beam switching capability indicator, and the CCS capability indicator sent by the UE. Thereafter, the network element can use one or more of the CSI-RS capability indicator, the beam switching capability indicator, and the CCS capability indicator to configure the UE and / or one or more network elements. Various indicators will be described in more detail below.

[0017] In the first set of embodiments, a MU-CSI enhancement capability report is provided. The UE can indicate a triplet list (e.g., supportedCSI-RS-ResourceList) to the network entity for each codebook type used to configure the UE. Each triplet SupportedCSI-RS-Resource includes a set of three parameters, namely, (1) the maximum number of ports per CSI-RS resource, (2) the maximum total number of CSI-RS resources, and (3) the maximum total number of ports, as shown below. In some examples, a maximum list of seven triplets can be reported. [Number]

[0018] Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, in some examples, eight different parameter settings are defined for CSI feedback. The UE can be commanded to support parameter settings 1 to 6, while parameter settings 7 and 8 are optional. In some examples, for each triplet, the UE is permitted to indicate the supported list of parameter settings. Across all signaled triplets, the UE is required to indicate parameter settings 1 to 6 at least once for each parameter setting.

[0019] In some examples, for each triplet, the UE can indicate the maximum supported number of beams (L) that can be selected from the set {2, 4, 6}. The UE supports all parameter settings that include some number of beams (L) less than or equal to the signaled maximum value L. For example, referring to FIG. 3, L = 2 in parameter settings 1 and 2, L = 4 in parameter settings 3, 4, 5, and 6, and L = 6 in parameter settings 7 and 8.

[0020] In some examples, the UE indicates the supported list of parameter settings for each maximum number of ports per CSI resource. The number of ports can be selected from a set of ports that includes {p2, p4, p8, p12, p16, p24, p32}.

[0021] In some examples, the UE indicates the maximum number of supported beams (L) selected from the set {2, 4, 6} for each maximum number of ports per CSI resource, which the UE is allowed to indicate. The UE supports all parameter settings that include several beams (L) less than or equal to the maximum number of signaled beams (L). Referring to Figure 3, L=2 in parameter settings 1 and 2, L=4 in parameter settings 3, 4, 5, and 6, and L=6 in parameter settings 7 and 8. In some examples, the UE reports a list of maximum values ​​L that map one-to-one for any number of ports for a CSI-RS resource, and the ports are selected from a list of ports including {p2, p4, p8, p12, p16, p24, p32}.

[0022] In another example, for a triplicate capability report, the UE may provide triplicates per frequency band, in the band of frequencies from which the UE can transmit and / or receive and / or report triplicates for each band combination (BC). In yet another example, the UE may provide a separate list of triplicates per codebook type, which may be indicated by the UE using the parameter R=1, indicating one PMI subband for each CSI subband, or R=2, indicating two PMI subbands for each CSI subband. For each triplicate in which the UE indicates it can support two PMI subbands for each CSI subband (i.e., R=2), the UE must also support one PMI subband for each CSI subband (i.e., R=1) for the same triplicate.

[0023] In another example, if a UE reports that it can support one PMI subband for each CSI subband (i.e., R=1), then the UE can send a bitmap to indicate whether it supports the corresponding triplets for two PMI subbands for each CSI subband (i.e., R=2). In some examples, the indicator may reside in a specific bit within the bitmap. For example, if the indicator for the nth bit of the bitmap is set to a value of 1, it means that the UE also supports two PMI subbands for each CSI subband (i.e., R=2) for the nth triplet reported in the triplet list. In contrast, if the indicator for the nth bit of the bitmap is set to a value of 0, it means that the UE does not support two PMI subbands for each CSI subband (i.e., R=2) for the nth triplet reported in the triplet list.

[0024] In the second set of examples, an AP-CSI-RS beam switching timing capability report is provided. In some existing protocols, the UE can report the following capabilities:

number

[0025] If a non-zero-output (NZP) CSI-RS resource consists of repetitions, for example, in a receive (Rx) beam sweep quotation, the UE requires 224 or 336 symbols reported for AP-CSI-RS. For all other NZP-CSI-RS resources, assume the UE requires 48 symbols.

[0026] For example, a UE may specify different beam switching timing values ​​based on its operating mode. For instance, a UE may specify a first beam switching timing value when operating in accordance with a first protocol set (e.g., release 15NR) and a second value when operating in accordance with a second protocol set (e.g., release 16NR). The second value should be greater than or equal to the first value.

[0027] In another example, if the UE indicates a beam switching timing value of either 224 or 336 symbols, and the NZP-CSI-RS resource consists of repetitions (e.g., for Rx beam sweep citations), the UE requires either 224 or 336 symbols reported to AP-CSI-RS. For all other NZP-CSI-RS resources, the network assumes the UE requires the capability indicated by the first beam switching timing value, which may be fewer than 48 symbols. If the UE does not transmit a beam switching timing indicator, a value of either 336 or 48 symbols is assumed.

[0028] In a third set of embodiments, the UE report may send one or more indicators to report cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) related capabilities. In some examples, the indicators may have different solutions that provide different degrees of flexibility in reporting capabilities. In a first solution, the indicator may include a first subcarrier interval (SCS) indicator that indicates whether a first subcarrier interval value associated with a first carrier is equal to a second subcarrier interval value associated with a second subcarrier.

[0029] In the second solution, the indicator may include a first subcarrier interval (SCS) indicator that shows whether a first subcarrier interval value associated with a first carrier is equal to a second subcarrier interval value associated with a second subcarrier, and a second SCS indicator that is set to a first value indicating that a small SCS cell schedules a large SCS cell, or a second value indicating that a large SCS cell schedules a small SCS cell.

[0030] In the third solution, the cross-carrier scheduling capability indicator includes a frequency range (FR) indicator that can be set to one of the following values: a first value indicating that an FR1 cell schedules an FR1 cell; a second value indicating that an FR1 cell schedules an FR2 cell; a third value indicating that an FR2 cell schedules an FR1 cell; or a fourth value indicating that an FR2 cell schedules an FR2 cell.

[0031] In the fourth solution, the cross-carrier scheduling capability indicator enables cross-carrier scheduling between frequency ranges including 15kHz, 30kHz, and 60kHz used for FR1, and 60kHz and 120kHz used for FR2.

[0032] In another example, for different numbers of CCSs, the UE may indicate physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring-related capabilities. In one example, the cross-carrier scheduling capability indicator may include a PDCCH monitoring indicator that can be set to one of two values: a first value indicating that physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring is performed at the start of the slot, and a second value indicating that PDCCH monitoring can be performed at any time. For example, the indicator may be set to the first value to indicate basic PDCCH monitoring, which performs a single PDCCH monitoring opportunity at the start of the slot. The indicator may be set to the second value to indicate span-based PDCCH monitoring opportunities (e.g., pdcch-MonitoringAnyOccasions=withDCI-gap). The indicator may be set to a third value to indicate span-based PDCCH monitoring opportunities (e.g., pdcch-MonitoringAnyOccasionsWithSpanGap=set1,set2,set3), where set1=(7,3), set2=(4,3) and (7,3), and set3=(2,2), (4,3) and (7,3).

[0033] In another example, the cross-carrier scheduling capability indicator includes a downlink (DL) unicast DCI indicator that shows the number of downlink control information (DCIs) that the UE can decode during PDCCH monitoring. For CCSs with different numbers, for each PDCCH monitoring capability, the UE can indicate the number of unicast DCIs that the UE can decode at each monitoring opportunity. This can be shown separately as the number of DL unicast DCIs and the number of UL unicast DLs. This can be shown as the total number of unicast DCIs, including DL unicast DCIs and UL unicast DLs. This can be shown as a list of combinations of {number of DL unicast DCIs, UL unicast DCIs}.

[0034] System and Implementation Figure 5 shows exemplary architectures of network system 500 in various embodiments. The following description is provided for exemplary system 500 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, exemplary embodiments are not limited in this respect, and the embodiments described may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., 6th generation (6G)) systems and IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.).

[0035] As shown in Figure 5, system 500 includes UE501a and UE501b (collectively referred to as "UE(plural)501" or "UE501"). In this example, UE501 is illustrated as a smartphone (e.g., a handheld touchscreen mobile computing device capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device such as consumer electronics, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), head-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dash-top mobile devices (DMEs), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic engine / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMSs), networked or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M devices, IoT devices, etc.

[0036] In some embodiments, one of the UE501 may be an IoT UE, which may have a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize ephemeral UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with MTC servers or devices via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be the exchange of machine activation data. The IoT network refers to interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) via ephemeral connections. The IoT UE may run background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity within the IoT network. In some of these embodiments, the UE501 may be an NB-IoT UE501. The NB-IoT provides access to network services using a physical layer optimized for very low power consumption (e.g., full carrier BW is 180 kHz and subcarrier spacing may be 3.75 kHz or 15 kHz). NB-IoT does not utilize some E-UTRA features and does not need to be supported by RAN node 511 and UE501 only when using NB-IoT. Examples of such E-UTRA features may include, among others, inter-RAT mobility, handover, measurement reporting, public alerting features, GBR, CSG, HeNB support, relay, carrier aggregation, dual connectivity, NAICS, MBMS, real-time services, interference avoidance for intra-device coexistence, RAN-assisted WLAN interaction, sidelink communication / discovery, MDT, emergency calls, CS fallback, and self-configuration / self-optimization. In NB-IoT operation, UE501 operates in DL with 12 subcarriers with a 15kHz subcarrier BW, and in UL with a single subcarrier with a 3.75kHz or 15kHz subcarrier BW, or alternatively, with 3, 6, or 12 subcarriers.

[0037] In various embodiments, the UE501 may be an MF UE501. An MF UE501 is an LTE-based UE501 that operates (exclusively) on unlicensed spectrums. These unlicensed spectrums are defined in the MF specification provided by the MulteFire Forum and may include, for example, 1.9 GHz (Japan), 3.5 GHz, and 5 GHz. MulteFire is strictly aligned with 3GPP standards, built on elements of the 3GPP specification for LAA / eLAA, and augments standard LTE to operate on global unlicensed spectrums. In some embodiments, LBT may be implemented to coexist with other unlicensed spectrum networks, such as WiFi, other LAA networks, etc. In various embodiments, some or all of the UE501 may be an NB-IoT UE501 that operates by MF. In such embodiments, these UE501s may be referred to as “MF NB-IoT UE501,” but the term “NB-IoT UE501” may refer to “MF UE501” or “MF and NB-IoT UE501” unless otherwise specified. Therefore, the terms “NB-IoT UE501,” “MF UE501,” and “MF NB-IoT UE501” may be used interchangeably throughout this disclosure.

[0038] UE501 may be configured to connect to RAN510 by, for example, a communicable link. In embodiments, RAN510 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN, MF RAN, or a legacy RAN such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, terms such as "NG RAN" may refer to RAN510 operating in an NR or 5G system 500, terms such as "E-UTRAN" may refer to RAN510 operating in an LTE or 4G system 500, and terms such as "MF RAN" may refer to RAN510 operating in an MF system 100. UE501 utilizes connections (or channels) 503 and 504, respectively, each comprising a physical communication interface or layer (described in further detail below). Connections 103 and 104 may include several different physical DL channels and several different physical UL channels. For example, physical DL channels include PDSCH, PMCH, PDCCH, EPDCCH, MPDCCH, R-PDCCH, SPDCCH, PBCH, PCFICH, PHICH, NPBCH, NPDCCH, NPDSCH, and / or any other physical DL channels mentioned herein. For example, physical UL channels include PRACH, PUSCH, PUCCH, SPUCCH, NPRACH, NPUSCH, and / or any other physical UL channels mentioned herein.

[0039] In this embodiment, connections 503 and 504 are shown as air interfaces to enable a communicable coupling and may correspond to cellular communication protocols such as the GSM protocol, CDMA network protocol, PTT protocol, POC protocol, UMTS protocol, 3GPP LTE protocol, 5G protocol, NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocols discussed herein. In this embodiment, UE 501 may directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505 may also be referred to as the SL interface 505 and may include one or more physical channels and / or logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0040] This indicates that UE501b is configured to access AP506 (also referred to as “WLAN node 506,” “WLAN506,” “WLAN terminal 506,” “WT506,” etc.) via connection 507. Connection 507 may have a local wireless connection such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP506 will have a Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)® router. In this embodiment, this indicates that AP506 is connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in more detail below). In various embodiments, UE501b, RAN510 and AP506 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may require UE501b in RRC_CONNECTED, which is configured by RAN nodes 511a-511b, to utilize LTE and WLAN radio resources. LWIP operation may require UE501b to use WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 507) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) transmitted over connection 507. The IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0041] RAN510 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 511a and 511b (collectively referred to as “RAN node(plural) 511” or “RAN node 511”) that enable connections 503 and 504. As used herein, the terms “access node,” “access point,” etc., may refer to equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between the network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, MF-AP, TRxP, or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., ground access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographical area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms “NG RAN node,” etc., may refer to a RAN node 511 operating in an NR or 5G system 500 (e.g., gNB), and the terms “E-UTRAN node,” etc., may refer to a RAN node 511 operating in an LTE or 4G system 500 (e.g., eNB). Depending on the implementation, RAN node 511 may be implemented as one or more dedicated physical devices, such as macrocell base stations and / or low-power (LP) base stations, to provide femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacities, or higher bandwidths compared to macrocells.

[0042] In some implementations, all or part of the RAN node 511 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network, which may be called CRAN and / or virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In those implementations, CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional partitioning such as PDCP partitioning, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN node 511; MAC / PHY partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN node 511; or "lower PHY" partitioning, where the upper part of the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY layers are operated by CRAN / vBBUP and the lower part of the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN node 511. This virtualized framework allows the freed processor cores of the RAN node 511 to run other virtualized applications. In some implementations, individual RAN nodes 511 may represent individual gNB-DUs connected to gNB-CUs via individual F1 interfaces (not shown in Figure 5). In these implementations, a gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 8), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server located in RAN 510 (not shown) or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 511 may be next-generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals toward UE 501 and are connected to 5GCs (e.g., CN720 in Figure 7) via the NG interface. In MF implementations, an MF-AP 511 is an entity that provides MulteFire radio services and may be similar to an eNB 511 in the 3GPP architecture. Each MF-AP 511 includes or provides one or more MF cells.

[0043] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 511 can be or may serve as an RSU. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” can refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE may be called a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be called an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be called a “gNB-type RSU,” and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to a roadside radio frequency circuit that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 501 (vUE 501). An RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map shapes, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can operate in the 5.9GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low-latency communication required for high-speed events such as collision avoidance and traffic warnings. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can operate in the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communication, as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communication. Some or all of the computing devices and the radio frequency circuits of the RSU can be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide wired connectivity (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0044] Any of the RAN nodes 511 may terminate the air interface protocol and become the first contact of the UE 501. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 511 may perform various logical functions for the RAN 510, including, but not limited to, a radio network controller (RNC) such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0045] In the embodiment, UE501 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 511 using OFDM communication signals via a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication technologies, the various communication technologies being, but not limited to, OFDMA communication technology (for example, for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication technology (for example, for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0046] Downlink and uplink transmissions may be organized into frames with a duration of 10ms, each frame containing 10 1ms subframes. Slot duration is typically 14 symbols with CP and 12 symbols with extended CP, scaled in time as a function of the subcarrier interval used, resulting in a subframe always having an integer number of slots. In LTE implementations, a DL resource grid can be used for DL ​​transmission from any of the RAN nodes 511 to UE501, while UL transmission from UE501 to RAN node 511 can utilize an appropriate UL resource grid in a similar manner. These resource grids refer to time-frequency grids and may indicate physical resources within DL or UL in each slot. Each column and row of the DL resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, and each column and row of the UL resource grid corresponds to one SC-FDMA symbol and one SC-FDMA subcarrier. The duration of a resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The resource grid contains several RBs that describe the mapping of a particular physical channel to an RE. In the frequency domain, this can represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Each RB contains a collection of REs. An RE is the minimum time-frequency unit in the resource grid. Each RE is uniquely identified by an index pair (k, l) in its slot, where,

number

number

number

[0047] In the NR / 5G implementation, DL and UL transmissions are organized into frames with a duration of 10 ms, each containing 10 subframes of 1 ms. The number of consecutive OFDM symbols per subframe is:

number

number

number

number

number

number

[0048]

number

number

number

[0049] For each value and carrier, a common RB is shown in the upper-layer signaling.

number

number

number

[0050] RB is in the frequency domain,

number

number

number

[0051] It is represented in resource block units assuming a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2, and absoluteFrequencyPointA is the absoluteFrequencyPointA in all other cases that represents the frequency position of point A represented in ARFCN.

[0052] The PRBμ for subcarrier configuration is defined within the BWP and starts from 0.

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[0053] Each element of the resource grid for the antenna port p and subcarrier spacing configuration μ is called RE, and

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[0054] BWP is BWP on a given carrier i Given numerology μ in i This is a subset of contiguous common resource blocks as defined in section 4.4.4.3 of 3GPP TS38.211. Starting position in BWP

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[0055] An NB is defined as six non-overlapping consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain. The total number of DL NBs in the DL transmit BW configured within a cell is:

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[0056]

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[0057] There are several different physical channels and physical signals that are carried using RBs and / or individual REs. A physical channel corresponds to a set of REs that carry information originating from higher layers. Physical UL channels may include PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and / or other physical UL channels (one or more) discussed herein, and physical DL channels may include PDSCH, PBCH, PDCCH, and / or any other physical DL channels (one or more) discussed herein. Physical signals are used by the physical layer (e.g., PHY1110 in Figure 11) but do not carry information originating from higher layers. Physical UL signals may include DMRS, PTRS, SRS, and / or other physical UL signals (one or more) discussed herein, and physical DL signals may include DMRS, PTRS, CSI-RS, PSS, SSS, and / or any other physical DL signals (one or more) discussed herein.

[0058] The PDSCH carries user data and upper-layer signaling to the UE501. Typically, DL scheduling (allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE501 within a cell) may be performed on one of the RAN nodes 511 based on channel quality information fed back from one of the UE501s. Downlink resource allocation information may be transmitted on the PDCCH used for each of the UE501s (e.g., the allocated PDCCH). The PDCCH uses CCEs to transmit control information (e.g., DCI), and a set of CCEs may be called a “control region”. A control channel is formed by the aggregation of one or more CCEs, and different code rates for a control channel are achieved by aggregating different numbers of CCEs. CCEs range from 0 to

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[0059] Some embodiments may use a concept for resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that uses a PDSCH resource for transmitting control information. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. As above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as EREGs. In some situations, an ECCE may have a different number of EREGs.

[0060] As described above, PDCCH can be used to schedule PDSCH on PUSCH and DL transmission on UL transmission, where DCI on PDCCH includes, among other things, downlink allocation including at least modulation and encoding format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to DL-SCH, and / or uplink scheduling permission including at least modulation and encoding format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to UL-SCH. In addition to scheduling, PDCCH may be used to activate and deactivate configured PUSCH transmissions (one or more) by configured authorization, activate and deactivate PDSCH semi-permanent transmissions, notify one or more UE501s of slot formats, notify one or more UE501s of PRBs (one or more) and OFDM symbols (one or more) that the UE501s can assume are not intended to be transmitted to the UE, send TPC commands for PUCCH and PUSCH, send one or more TPC commands for SRS transmissions by one or more UE501s, switch to active BWP for UE501s, and initiate random access procedures.

[0061] In the NR implementation, the UE501 monitors (or attempts to decode) each set of PDCCH candidates in one or more configured monitoring opportunities in one or more configured CORESETs, according to the corresponding search space configuration. A CORESET may contain a set of PRBs with time durations of 1 to 3 OFDM symbols. Additionally or alternatively, in the frequency domain, the CORESET may monitor (or attempt to decode)

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[0062] According to various embodiments, UE501 and RAN node 511 communicate data (e.g., transmitted and received) over an authorized medium (also referred to as the “authorized spectrum” and / or “authorized band”) and an unauthorized shared medium (also referred to as the “unauthorized spectrum” and / or “unauthorized band”). The authorized spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unauthorized spectrum may include a 5 GHz band.

[0063] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, UE501 and RAN node 511 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, UE501 and RAN node 511 may perform one or more known medium detection and / or carrier detection operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier detection operations may be performed according to the Listen Before Talk (LBT) protocol.

[0064] LBT is a mechanism that a device (e.g., UE501, RAN node 511, etc.) uses to detect a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when it detects that the medium is idle (or when it detects that a particular channel within the medium is not occupied). The medium detection operation may include a CCA (Controlled Censor Assessment) that uses at least an ED (Evaluation Device) to determine the presence or absence of other signals on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or free. This LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with currently occupied systems and with other LAA networks in the unlicensed spectrum. The ED may include detecting RF energy over an intended transmission bandwidth over a period of time and comparing the detected RF energy to a predetermined or set threshold.

[0065] Typically, the systems currently occupying the 5GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs employ a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, if a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE501, AP506, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmitting. Furthermore, in situations where two or more WLAN nodes simultaneously detect a channel as idle and intend to transmit, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly drawn within the CWS, which is exponentially incremented when a collision occurs and reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. LBT mechanisms designed for LAA are somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLANs. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL ​​or UL transmit bursts, including PDSCH or PUSCH transmits respectively, may have an LAA conflict window of variable length between the X ECCA slot and the Y ECCA slot, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS for LAA. For example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs), but the size of the CWS and MCOT (e.g., transmit burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0066] The LAA mechanism is built upon the CA technology of the LTE Advanced System. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers may differ between DL and UL, with the number of UL CCs being less than or equal to the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs may have different bandwidths than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are usually the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0067] A CA also includes individual serving cells that provide individual CCs. For example, CCs in different frequency bands experience different path losses, so the coverage of serving cells may differ. A primary service cell, or PCell, can provide PCCs to both UL and DL and can handle RRC and NAS-related activities. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell can provide individual SCCs to both UL and DL. SCCs can be added and removed as needed, while changing the PCC requires the UE501 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all SCells can operate on the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and LAA SCells are supported by PCells operating on the licensed spectrum. If a UE consists of two or more LAA SCells, the UE can receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start locations within the same subframe.

[0068] RAN nodes 511 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 512. In embodiments where system 500 is an LTE system (for example, when CN520 is EPC620 in Figure 6), interface 512 may be an X2 interface 512. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 511 (e.g., two or more eNBs) connected to EPC520, and / or between two eNBs connected to EPC520. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user data packets transmitted over the X2 interface and may be used to communicate information regarding the distribution of user data between eNBs. For example, X2-U can provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from MeNB to SeNB, information regarding the success of sequential provision of PDCP PDUs from SeNB to UE501 for user data, information regarding PDCP PDUs not provided to UE501, information regarding the current minimum desired buffer size in SeNB for sending user data to UE, and so on. X2-C can provide in-LTE access mobility functions, load management functions, and inter-cell interference adjustment functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transport control, and so on. In embodiments where system 100 is an MF system (e.g., CN520 is NHCN520), interface 512 may be an X2 interface 512. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 511 connected to NHCN520 (e.g., two or more MF-APs) and / or between two MF-APs connected to NHCN520. In these embodiments, the X2 interface may operate in the same or similar manner as described above.

[0069] In embodiments where System 500 is a 5G or NR system (for example, when CN520 is 5GC720 in Figure 7), Interface 512 may be an Xn interface 512. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 511 connected to 5GC520 (e.g., two or more gNBs), between a RAN node 511 connected to 5GC520 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB, and / or between two eNBs connected to 5GC520. In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide unguaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data transfer and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide mobility support for UE501 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED), including management and error handling functions, functions to manage the Xn-C interface, and functions to manage UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 511. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 511 to the new (target) serving RAN node 511 and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 511 and the new (target) serving RAN node 511. To carry user plane PDUs, the Xn-U protocol stack may include a transport network layer built on the Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer and a GTP-U layer on UDP and / or the IP layer(s). The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (called the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. Point-to-point transmission is used in the transport IP layer to deliver signaling PDUs.In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or Xn-C protocol stack may be the same as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stack(s) described herein.

[0070] RAN510 is shown to be communicatively coupled to the core network, in this embodiment, CN520. CN520 may comprise a plurality of network elements 522 configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE501) connected to CN520 via RAN510. The components of CN520 may be implemented on one or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from machine-readable or computer-readable media (e.g., non-temporary machine-readable storage media). In some embodiments, NFV can be used to virtualize any or all of the above network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in more detail below). Logical instantiations of CN520 may be called network slices, and some logical instantiations of CN520 may be called network subslices. The NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions on physical resources, including a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches, or may be run on dedicated hardware. In other words, an NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0071] Generally, the application server 530 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data service, etc.). The application server 530 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP session, PTT session, group communication session, social networking service, etc.) for the UE501 via the EPC520.

[0072] In this embodiment, CN520 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC520," etc.), and RAN510 may be connected to CN520 via NG interface 513. In this embodiment, NG interface 513 can be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 514 that carries traffic data between RAN node 511 and UPF, and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 515 that is a signaling interface between RAN node 511 and AMF. An embodiment in which CN520 is a 5GC520 will be described in detail with reference to Figure 7.

[0073] In some embodiments, CN520 may be a 5GCN (referred to as "5GC520," etc.), and in other embodiments, CN520 may be an EPC. When CN520 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC520," etc.), RAN510 may be connected to CN520 via S1 interface 513. In some embodiments, S1 interface 513 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 514 that carries traffic data between RAN node 511 and S-GW, and an S1-MME interface 515 that is a signaling interface between RAN node 511 and MME.

[0074] In embodiments where CN520 is an MF NHCN 520, one or more network elements 522 may include or be able to operate one or more NH-MMEs, local AAA proxies, NH-GWs, and / or other similar elements such as MF NHCN elements. An NH-MME provides similar functionality to an MME in an EPC520. A local AAA proxy is an AAA proxy that is part of the NHN and provides the AAA functionality necessary for interaction with PSP AAA and 3GPP AAA. A PSP AAA is an AAA server (or pool of servers) that uses non-USIM credentials associated with a PSP and may be either internal or external to the NHN, while 3GPP AAA is discussed in more detail in 3GPP TS23.402. An NH-GW provides similar functionality to an S-GW / P-GW combined for non-EPC routed PDN connections. In the case of EPC routing PDN connections, the NHN-GW provides similar functionality to the aforementioned S-GW in its interaction with the MF-AP via the S1 interface 513, and similar functionality to the TWAG in its interaction with the PLMN PDN-GW on the S2a interface. In some embodiments, the MF AP 511 can be connected to the aforementioned EPC 520. In addition, the RAN 510 (referred to as "MF RAN 510," etc.) can be connected to the NHCN 520 via the S1 interface 513. In these embodiments, the S1 interface 513 can be divided into two parts: the S1-U interface 514, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 511 (e.g., "MF-AP 511") and the NH-GW, and the S1-MME-N interface 515, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 511 and the NH-MME. The S1-U interface 514 and the S1-MME-N interface 515 have the same or similar functions as the S1-U interface 514 and the S1-MME interface 515 of the EPC520 discussed herein.

[0075] Figure 6 shows an exemplary architecture of system 600 including a first CN620 in various embodiments. In this embodiment, system 600 may implement an LTE standard in which CN620 is EPC620 corresponding to CN520 in Figure 5. Furthermore, UE601 may be the same as or similar to UE501 in Figure 5, and E-UTRAN610 may be the same as or similar to RAN510 in Figure 5, and may be a RAN that includes the aforementioned RAN node 511. CN620 may comprise MME621, S-GW622, P-GW623, HSS624, and SGSN625.

[0076] The MME621 may have functions similar to the control plane of the legacy SGSN and may perform MM functions to track the current location of the UE601. The MME621 may perform various MM procedures to manage access mobility modes such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also called "EPS MM" or "EMM" in the E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc., used to maintain knowledge about the current location of the UE601, provide confidentiality of user identity, and / or perform other similar services to the user / subscriber. Each UE601 and MME621 may include an MM or EMM sub-layer, and an MM context may be established in the UE601 and MME621 when the attachment procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information for the UE601. MME621 may be connected to HSS624 via the S6a reference point, to SGSN625 via the S3 reference point, or to S-GW622 via the S11 reference point.

[0077] SGSN625 may be a node that services the UE601 by tracking the location of individual UE601s and performing security functions. Furthermore, SGSN625 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks, PDN and S-GW selection specified by MME621, processing of time zone functions of UE601 specified by MME621, and MME selection for handover to the E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. An S3 reference point between MME621 and SGSN625 enables the exchange of user and bearer information for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and / or active states.

[0078] The HSS624 may have a database of network users and include subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions of network entities. The EPC620 may have one or more HSS624s depending on the number of mobile subscribers, equipment capacity, network organization, etc. For example, the HSS624 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / address resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS624 and the MME621 enables the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the EPC620 between the HSS624 and the MME621.

[0079] S-GW622 can terminate the S1 interface 513 ("S1-U" in Figure 6) to RAN610 and route data packets between RAN610 and EPC620. In addition, S-GW622 may be a local mobility anchor point for RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for 3GPP inter-node mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, billing, and certain policy enforcement. The S11 reference point between S-GW622 and MME621 may provide a control plane between MME621 and S-GW622. S-GW622 may be connected to P-GW623 via the S5 reference point.

[0080] The P-GW623 may terminate the SGi interface to the PDN630. The P-GW623 may route data packets between the EPC620 and an external network, such as the network containing the application server 530 (alternatively referred to as "AF"), via the IP interface 525 (see, for example, Figure 5). In embodiments, the P-GW623 may be communicably connected to the application server (application server 530 in Figure 5 or PDN630 in Figure 6) via the IP communication interface 525 (see, for example, Figure 5). The S5 reference point between the P-GW623 and the S-GW622 may provide user-plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW623 and the S-GW622. The S5 reference point may also be used for the relocation of the S-GW622 when, due to the mobility of the UE601, it is necessary to connect to a non-juxtaposed P-GW623 for the PDN connectivity required by the S-GW622. P-GW623 may further include nodes for policy enforcement and billing data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). In addition, the SGi reference point between P-GW623 and the Packet Data Network (PDN) 630 may be, for example, an external public, private PDN, or an internal packet data network to provide IMS services. P-GW623 may be connected to PCRF626 via a Gx reference point.

[0081] PCRF626 is the policy and billing control element of EPC620. In a non-roaming scenario, a single PCRF626 may exist within the Home Terrestrial Public Mobile Communications Network (HPLMN) associated with the IP-CAN access network (IP-CAN) session of UE601. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, two PCRFs may exist associated with the IP-CAN session of UE601: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within the HPLMN and a Destination PCRF (V-PCRF) within the Destination Terrestrial Public Mobile Communications Network (VPLMN). PCRF626 may be communicably connected to the application server 630 via P-GW623. The application server 630 may signal PCRF626 to instruct a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and billing parameters. PCRF626 may provision this rule to a PCEF (not shown) with appropriate TFT and QCI, thereby initiating the QoS and billing specified by the application server 630. The Gx reference point between PCRF626 and P-GW623 enables the transfer of QoS policies and billing rules from PCRF626 to the PCEF of P-GW623. The Rx reference point may exist between PDN630 (or "AF630") and PCRF626.

[0082] Figure 7 shows the architecture of system 700 including a second CN720 in various embodiments. System 700 is shown to include UE701, which may be identical or similar to UE501 and UE601 discussed earlier; (R)AN710, which may be identical or similar to RAN510 and RAN610 discussed earlier and may include the RAN node 511 discussed earlier; DN703, which may be, for example, operator services, internet access, or third-party services; and 5GC720. 5GC720 may include AUSF722, AMF721, SMF724, NEF723, PCF726, NRF725, UDM727, AF728, UPF702, and NSSF729.

[0083] UPF702 may function as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnecting to DN703, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. UPF702 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane portion of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing on the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., flow mapping from SDF to QoS), perform transport-level packet marking on uplinks and downlinks, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggers. UPF702 may include uplink classifiers to support routing traffic flows to the data network. DN703 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third-party services. DN703 may include, or be similar to, the application server 530 described above. UPF702 can interact with SMF724 via the N4 reference point between SMF724 and UPF702.

[0084] The AUSF722 can store data for authentication of the UE701 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF722 can facilitate a general authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF722 can communicate with the AMF721 via the N12 reference point between the AMF721 and the AUSF722, and with the UDM727 via the N13 reference point between the UDM727 and the AUSF722. In addition, the AUSF722 can represent a Nausf service-based interface.

[0085] AMF721 may be involved in registration management (e.g., registering UE701), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, as well as access authentication and authorization. AMF721 may be the endpoint of the N11 reference point between AMF721 and SMF724. AMF721 may provide transport for SM messages between UE701 and SMF724 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF721 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE701 and SMSF (not shown in Figure 7). AMF721 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with AUSF722 and UE701 and receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the authentication process of UE701. If USIM-based authentication is used, AMF721 may obtain security material from AUSF722. AMF721 may also include SCM functionality to receive keys from the SEA used to derive access network-specific keys. Furthermore, AMF721 may be the termination point of the RAN CP interface, and may include or be the N2 reference point between (R)AN710 and AMF721, and AMF721 may be the termination point of NAS(N1) signaling, and may perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0086] The AMF721 may also support NAS signaling with the UE701 via the N3IWF interface. The N3IWF can be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3IWF may be the termination point of the N2 interface between the (R)AN710 of the control plane and the AMF721, or the termination point of the N3 reference point between the (R)AN710 of the user plane and the UPF702. Thus, the AMF721 may handle N2 signaling from the SMF724 and AMF721 for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPsec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets on the uplink, and implement QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking, taking into account the QoS requirements associated with such marking received via N2. The N3IWF can also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE701 and AMF721 via the N1 reference point between the UE701 and AMF721, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE701 and UPF702. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE701. The AMF721 represents a Namf service-based interface and may be the endpoint of the N14 reference point between two AMF721s, and the N17 reference point between the AMF721 and the 5G-EIR (not shown in Figure 7).

[0087] UE701 may need to register with AMF721 to receive network services. RM is used to register or unregister UE701 with the network (e.g., AMF721) and to establish a UE context within the network (e.g., AMF721). UE701 can operate in either the RM-REGISTERED or RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE701 is not registered with the network, and the UE context within AMF721 does not hold valid location or routing information for UE701, so that UE701 is not reachable by AMF721. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE701 is registered with the network, and the UE context within AMF721 may hold valid location or routing information for UE701, so that UE701 is reachable by AMF721. In the RM-REGISTERED state, among other things, UE701 may perform mobility registration update procedures, periodic registration update procedures triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that UE701 is still active), update UE capability information, or perform registration update procedures to renegotiate network and protocol parameters.

[0088] The AMF721 can store one or more RM contexts for the UE701, each RM context associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may, among other things, be a data structure, database object, etc., that indicates or stores registration status and periodic update timers for each access type. The AMF721 may also store a 5GC MM context, which may be the same as or similar to the (E)MM context described above. In various embodiments, the AMF721 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE701 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF721 may also, if necessary, derive values ​​from UE usage configuration parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context).

[0089] CM can be used to establish and release signaling connections between UE701 and AMF721 via the N1 interface. The signaling connections are used to enable NAS signaling exchange between UE701 and CN720 and include both a signaling connection between UE and AN (e.g., RRC connection for non-3GPP access or UE-N3IWF connection) and an N2 connection for UE701 between AN (e.g., RAN710) ​​and AMF721. UE701 can operate in one of two CM states: CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When UE701 is operating in the CM-IDLE state / mode, UE701 does not need to have an established NAS signaling connection with AMF721 via the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN710 signaling connections for UE701 (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connections). When UE701 is operating in CM-CONNECTED state / mode, UE701 may have an established NAS signaling connection with AMF721 via the N1 interface, and may also have (R)AN710 signaling connections for UE701 (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connections). The establishment of an N2 connection between (R)AN710 and AMF721 may cause UE701 to transition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and UE701 may transition from CM-CONNECTED mode to CM-IDLE mode when the N2 signaling between (R)AN710 and AMF721 is released.

[0090] SMF724 may be involved in and perform the following: SM (e.g., establishing, modifying, and releasing sessions, including maintaining tunnels between UPF and AN nodes), UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization), selection and control of UP functions, configuring traffic steering in UPF to route traffic to appropriate destinations, terminating interfaces to policy control functions, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, lawful interception (in the case of SM events and interfaces to LI systems), termination of the SM portion of NAS messages, notification of downlink data, initiation of AN-specific SM information transmitted to AN via AMF on N2, and determination of the session's SSC mode. SM refers to the management of PDU sessions, and PDU session or “session” may refer to PDU connectivity services that provide or enable the exchange of PDUs between UE701 and data network (DN) 703 identified by a data network name (DNN). PDU sessions are established upon UE701 requests, modified upon UE701 and 5GC720 requests, and released upon UE701 and 5GC720 requests using NAS SM signaling exchanged via the N1 reference point between UE701 and SMF724. 5GC720 may trigger a specific application in UE701 upon request from an application server. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE701 may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications within UE701. These identified applications may establish PDU sessions to a specific DNN. SMF724 may check whether the UE701 request conforms to the user subscription information associated with UE701. In this regard, SMF724 may request and / or receive update notifications for SMF724-level subscription data from UDM727.

[0091] The SMF724 may include the following roaming capabilities: processing of local enforcement for applying a QoS SLA (VPLMN), collection of billing data and billing interface (VPLMN), lawful interception (of SM events and interfaces to the LI system within the VPLMN), and support for interaction with external DNs for transmitting signaling for authorization / authentication of PDU sessions by external DNs. An N16 reference point between two SMF724s may be included in system 700, which may be between another SMF724 in a visited network and an SMF724 in the home network in a roaming scenario. In addition, the SMF724 may represent an Nsmf service-based interface.

[0092] NEF723 may provide means for securely disclosing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal disclosure / redisclosure, application functions (e.g., AF728), edge computing, or fog computing systems. In such embodiments, NEF723 may authenticate, authorize, and / or coordinate AFs. NEF723 may also translate information exchanged with AF728 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF723 may translate between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF723 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the capabilities disclosed by those other network functions. This information may be stored in NEF723 as structured data or in data storage NFs using standardized interfaces. The stored information may then be redisclosed by NEF723 to other NFs and AFs and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. Furthermore, NEF723 may represent Nnef service-based interfaces.

[0093] The NRF725 supports service discovery functionality, can receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and can provide information about discovered NF instances to those NF instances. The NRF725 also maintains information about available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiate,” etc., can refer to the creation of an instance, and “instance” can refer to the specific occurrence of an object that may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. In addition, the NRF725 can represent an Nnrf service-based interface.

[0094] The PCF726 can provide policy rules to control plane functions (one or more) to enforce them and support an integrated policy framework to control network behavior. The PCF726 can also implement a FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM727. The PCF726 communicates with the AMF721 via the N15 reference point between the PCF726 and the AMF721, and in roaming scenarios, may include the PCF726 and AMF721 in the visited network. The PCF726 can communicate with the AF728 via the N5 reference point between the PCF726 and the AF728, and with the SMF724 via the N7 reference point between the PCF726 and the SMF724. System 700 and / or CN720 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF726 (in the home network) and the PCF726 in the visited network. Furthermore, the PCF726 may represent an Npcf service-based interface.

[0095] UDM727 may process subscriber-related information to support the processing of network entities in a communication session and store subscriber data for UE701. For example, subscriber data may be communicated between UDM727 and AMF721 via an N8 reference point between UDM727 and AMF. UDM727 may include two parts: application FE and UDR (FE and UDR are not shown in Figure 7). The UDR may store subscriber and policy data for UDM727 and PCF726, and / or structured data for disclosure and application data for NEF723 (including PFD for application discovery and application request information for multiple UE701). A Nudr service-based interface may be presented by UDR221 so that UDM727, PCF726, and NEF723 can access specific sets of stored data and further read notifications of relevant data changes in the UDR, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe. The UDM may include a UDM FE responsible for processing credentials, location management, and enrollment management. Several different frontends can serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access permission, enrollment / mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF724 via an N10 reference point between the UDM727 and the SMF724. The UDM727 may also support SMS management, and the SMS-FE implements application logic similar to that described above. In addition, the UDM727 may represent a Nudm service-based interface.

[0096] AF728 can influence traffic routing applications, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism through the NEF723 that allows 5GC720 and AF728 to exchange information with each other, which can be used in edge computing implementations. In such an implementation, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the attachment point of the UE701 to achieve efficient service delivery through reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. In the edge computing implementation, 5GC may select a UPF702 adjacent to the UE701 and perform traffic steering from the UPF702 to the DN703 via the N6 interface. This may be based on UE join data, UE location, and information provided by AF728. In this way, AF728 can influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. When AF728 is considered a trusted entity based on the operator's deployment, the network operator may allow AF728 to directly interact with the relevant NF. Furthermore, AF728 may represent a Naf service-based interface.

[0097] NSSF729 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE701. NSSF729 may also determine mappings to authorized NSSAIs and subscribed S-NSSAIs, as needed. NSSF729 may also determine a set of AMFs to be used to serve UE701, or a list of candidate AMFs (single or multiple), by querying NRF725, depending on a preferred configuration. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE701 may be triggered by an AMF721, which UE701 registers with by interacting with NSSF729, potentially leading to a change in the AMF721. NSSF729 may interact with AMF721 via the N22 reference point between AMF721 and NSSF729, and may communicate with another NSSF729 in the visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown in Figure 7). Furthermore, NSSF729 may represent an Nnssf service-based interface.

[0098] As mentioned above, CN720 may include an SMSF that is involved in SMS join checks and verification and can relay SM messages between UE701 and other entities such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF721 and UDM727 for procedures to notify UE701 that it is available for SMS forwarding (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM727 that UE701 is available for SMS).

[0099] CN520 may also include other elements not shown in Figure 7, such as a data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, and SEPP. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may store unstructured data in and retrieve it from a UDSF (e.g., UE context) via an N18 reference point (not shown in Figure 7) between any NF and a UDSF. Individual NFs may share a UDSF to store each piece of unstructured data, or each individual NF may have its own UDSF in or near its individual NF. Furthermore, a UDSF may represent a Nudsf service-based interface (not shown in Figure 7). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of a PEI to determine whether a particular device / entity is on the network's blacklist, and the SEPP may be an opaque proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the PLMN-to-control plane interface.

[0100] In addition, many further reference points and / or service-based interfaces may exist between NF services within an NF, but these interfaces and reference points are omitted in Figure 7 for clarity. In one embodiment, CN720 may include the Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME621) and AMF721, to enable interworking between CN720 and CN620. Other exemplary interfaces / reference points may include the N5g-EIR service-based interface presented by the 5G-EIR, the N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network, and the N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network.

[0101] Figure 8 shows one embodiment of the infrastructure equipment 800 according to various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 800 (or "System 800") may be implemented as a base station, a radio head, RAN nodes such as the aforementioned RAN nodes 511 and / or AP506, one or more application servers 530, and / or any other elements / devices described herein. In other embodiments, System 800 may be implemented in or by the UE.

[0102] System 800 includes an application circuit 805, a baseband circuit 810, one or more radio front-end modules (RFEMs) 815, a memory circuit 820, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825, a power tee circuit 830, a network controller circuit 835, a network interface connector 840, a satellite positioning circuit 845, and a user interface 850. In some embodiments, device 800 may include additional elements such as memory / storage, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be contained in two or more devices. For example, the circuit may be contained separately in two or more devices for a CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementation.

[0103] Application circuit 805 may include, but is not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and low-dropout regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, SPI, I 2The application circuit 805 includes one or more circuits such as a serial interface (C, or Universal Programmable Serial Interface Module), a real-time clock (RTC), a timer counter including interval and watchdog timers, general-purpose input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller (such as a Secure Digital (SD) Multimedia Card (MMC)), a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Mobile Industrial Processor Interface (MIPI) interface, and a Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 805 may be coupled to or include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 800. In some implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit, which may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology as described herein.

[0104] The processor(s) of the application circuit 805 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC machine (ARM) processors, one or more composite instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any preferred combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 805 may include, or may not include, a dedicated processor / controller operating according to various embodiments herein. For example, the processor(s) of application circuit 805 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processors(s), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processors(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or ARM-based processors(s) licensed from ARM Holdings Ltd., such as Epyc® processors or ARM Cortex-A family processors, and MIPS-based design processors provided by MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as ThunderX2® and MIPS Warrior P-class processors provided by Cavium®, Inc. In some embodiments, system 800 may not utilize application circuit 805 and instead include, for example, a dedicated processor / controller for processing IP data received from EPC or 5GC.

[0105] In some implementations, the application circuit 805 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. One or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more of the following: field programmable devices (FPDs) such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs) and high-capacitance PLDs (HCPLDs), ASICs such as structured ASICs, programmable SoCs (PSoCs), etc. In such implementations, the circuitry of the application circuit 805 may include logic blocks or logic fabrics, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as procedures, methods, and functions of the various implementations described herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), antifuse, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc., in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0106] The baseband circuit 810 may be implemented, for example, as a soldering board containing one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Various hardware electronic elements of the baseband circuit 810 are described below with reference to Figure 10.

[0107] The user interface circuit 850 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system 800, or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system 800. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light-emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0108] The wireless front-end module (RFEM) 815 may include a millimeter-wave (millimeter-wave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter-wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, one or more sub-millimeter-wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter-wave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, antenna array 10111 in Figure 10 below), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave radio functions may be implemented within the same physical RFEM 815 incorporating both millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave antennas.

[0109] The memory circuit 820 may include one or more volatile memories, including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and non-volatile memories (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly called flash memory), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate Intel® and Micron® three-dimensional (3D) crosspoint (XPOINT) memory. The memory circuit 820 may be implemented as one or more solder-packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules, and plug-in memory cards.

[0110] The PMIC825 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of the brownout (undervoltage) and surge (overvoltage) conditions. The power T circuit 830 can draw power from a network cable that provides both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment 800 using a single cable.

[0111] The network controller circuit 835 can provide network connectivity using standard network interface protocols such as Ethernet, Ethernet over a GRE tunnel, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or any other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to and from infrastructure equipment 800 via the network interface connector 840 using physical connections (commonly referred to as "copper wiring"), which may be electrical, optical, or wireless. The network controller circuit 835 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 835 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0112] The positioning circuit 845 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcast by a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning network. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the US Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems, or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., navigation by Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio Positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS)). The positioning circuit 845 includes various hardware elements for communicating with components of the positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes (e.g., hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, and antenna elements to facilitate OTA communication). In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 845 may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC for performing position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance using a master timing clock. The positioning circuit 845 may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuit 810 and / or RFEM 815 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 845 may also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuit 805, which can use the data to synchronize its operation with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 511, etc.).

[0113] The components shown in Figure 8 can communicate with each other using interface circuits that may include numerous bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), extended peripheral component interconnect (PCIx), PCI Express (PCIe), or many other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus used, for example, in an SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems, in particular, 2 This may include C interfaces, SPI interfaces, point-to-point interfaces, and power buses, etc.

[0114] Figure 9 shows an example of platform 900 (or "device 900") according to various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform 900 may be suitable for use as UE501, 601, 701, application server 530, and / or any other elements / devices described herein. Platform 900 may include any combination of the components shown in the embodiments. The components of platform 900 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs) adapted for computer platform 900, parts thereof, individual electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof, or as components otherwise incorporated into the chassis of a larger system. The block diagram in Figure 9 is intended to show a high-level diagram of the components of computer platform 900. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other embodiments.

[0115] The application circuit 905 is not limited to these, but may include one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more LDOs, interrupt controllers, SPIs, and I 2The application circuit 905 includes circuits such as a serial interface (C or Universal Programmable Serial Interface Module), a timer counter including an RTC, interval and watchdog timers, general-purpose I / O, a memory card controller such as an SD MMC, a USB interface, a MIPI interface, and a JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 905 may be coupled to or include memory / storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in memory / storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 900. In some implementations, the memory / storage elements may be on-chip memory circuits, which may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology as described herein.

[0116] The processor(s) of the application circuit 805 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multithreaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, several other known processing elements, or any preferred combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 805 may include, or may not include, a dedicated processor / controller operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0117] For example, the processor(s) of application circuit 905 may include an Intel® Architecture Core®-based processor such as Quark®, Atom®, i3, i5, i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel® Corporation in Santa Clara, California. The processors in application circuit 905 may also include one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processors or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); Apple® Inc.'s A5-A9 processors; Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc.'s Snapdragon® processors; Texas Instruments, Inc.'s Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)® processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; and ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family processors. In some implementations, the application circuit 905 and other components may be part of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) formed in a single integrated circuit or a single package such as an Edison® or Galileo® SoC board manufactured by Intel® Corporation.

[0118] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 905 may include, but is not limited to, one or more field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as composite PLDs (CPLDs) and high-capacitance PLDs (HCPLDs), ASICs such as structured ASICs, and programmable SoCs (PSoCs). In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 905 may include logic blocks or logic fabrics and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as procedures, methods, and functions of the various embodiments described herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 905 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random-access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabrics, data, etc., in lookup tables (LUTs), etc.

[0119] The baseband circuit 910 may be implemented, for example, as a soldering board containing one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Various hardware electronic elements of the baseband circuit 910 are discussed below with respect to Figure 10.

[0120] The RFEM915 may include a millimeter-wave RFEM and one or more submillimeter-wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, one or more submillimeter-wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter-wave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, antenna array 1011 in Figure 10 below), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter-wave and submillimeter-wave radio functions may be implemented within the same physical RFEM915 incorporating both millimeter-wave and submillimeter-wave antennas.

[0121] The memory circuit 920 may include any number and types of memory devices used to provide a given amount of system memory. For example, the memory circuit 920 may include one or more volatile memories, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), as well as non-volatile memories (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly called flash memory), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 920 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low-power double data rate (LPDDR) based designs, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 920 may be implemented as one or more soldered-on integrated circuits, single-die packages (SDP), dual-die packages (DDP) or quad-die packages (Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or miniDIMMs, and / or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In low-power implementations, the memory circuit 920 may be an on-die memory or register associated with the application circuit 905. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, and operating systems, the memory circuit 920 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among other things, solid-state disk drives (SSDDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), micro HDDs, resistive random-access memory, phase-change memory, holographic memory, or chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 900 may incorporate three-dimensional (3D) crosspoint (XPOINT) memory from Intel® and Micron®.

[0122] The removable memory circuit 923 may include devices, circuits, enclosures / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., used to couple portable data storage devices with the platform 900. These portable data storage devices can be used for high-capacity storage purposes and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD Image cards, etc.), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, etc.

[0123] Platform 900 may also include interface circuits (not shown) used to connect external devices to Platform 900. External devices connected to Platform 900 via the interface circuits include sensor circuits 921 and electromechanical components (EMC) 922, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuits 923.

[0124] The sensor circuit 921 may include a device, module, or subsystem intended to detect an event or change in the environment and transmit information about the detected event (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, in particular, an inertial measuring unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, gyroscope, and / or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a 3-axis accelerometer, 3-axis gyroscope, and / or magnetometer; a level sensor, a flow sensor, a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor, a barometric pressure sensor; a gravimeter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared detector); a depth sensor; an ambient light sensor; an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device, etc.

[0125] The EMC922 includes devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable the platform 900 to change its state, position, and / or orientation, or to move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Furthermore, the EMC922 may be configured to generate and transmit messages / signals to other components of the platform 900 to indicate the current state of the EMC922. Examples of the EMC922 include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In embodiments, the platform 900 is configured to operate one or more EMC922s based on one or more captured events and / or commands or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0126] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 900 to the positioning circuit 945. The positioning circuit 945 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcast by the GNSS positioning network. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the US GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou navigation satellite system, regional navigation systems, or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.). The positioning circuit 945 includes various hardware elements for communicating with components of the positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes (e.g., hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, and antenna elements to facilitate OTA communication). In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 945 may include a Micro-PNT IC for performing position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance using a master timing clock. The positioning circuit 945 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 810 and / or RFEM 915 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 945 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 905, which can use the data to synchronize its operation with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations) for turn-by-turn navigation applications.

[0127] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 900 to a Near Field Communication (NFC) circuit 940. The NFC circuit 940 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) standard, and magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 940 and an NFC-enabled device outside the platform 900 (e.g., an "NFC touchpoint"). The NFC circuit 940 comprises an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 940 by running NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be run by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be run by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to radiate a near-range RF signal. The RF signal can power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuit 940, or it can initiate data transmission between the NFC circuit 940, which is close to the platform 900, and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal).

[0128] The driver circuit 946 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control specific devices that are incorporated into, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 900. The driver circuit 946 may include individual drivers that enable other components of the platform 900 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that are present in or may be connected to the platform 900. For example, the driver circuit 946 may include a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touchscreen driver for controlling and allowing access to the touchscreen interface of the platform 900, a sensor driver for acquiring sensor readings from the sensor circuit 921 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 921, an EMC driver for acquiring actuator positions from the EMC 922 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 922, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0129] The power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 925 (also called the “power management circuit 925”) may manage the power supplied to various components of the platform 900. In particular, with respect to the baseband circuit 910, the PMIC 925 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. If the platform 900 is powered by a battery 930, for example, if the device is included in UE501, 601, or 701, the PMIC 925 is often included.

[0130] In some embodiments, the PMIC925 may control, or be part of, various power-saving mechanisms of the platform 900. For example, if the platform 900 is in an RRC connected state and is still connected to a RAN node because it is expected to receive traffic soon, after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as intermittent receive mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 900 may reduce power at short intervals to conserve energy. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period, the platform 900 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, where the platform disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback or handover. The platform 900 enters an extremely low-power state, performs paging, then periodically restarts, listens to the network, and powers down again. The platform 900 cannot receive data in this state and must transition to an RRC connected state to receive data. In further power-saving modes, the device may be allowed to be unavailable from the network for longer periods than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device may be completely unable to reach the network and may be completely powered off. Any data transmitted during this period will experience significant delays, but these delays are considered acceptable.

[0131] The battery 930 may supply power to the platform 900, but in some examples the platform 900 may be deployed and mounted in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 930 may be a lithium-ion battery, a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, or the like. In some implementations such as V2X applications the battery 930 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0132] In some implementations, the battery 930 may include a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit, or be a “smart battery” coupled thereto. The BMS may be included in the platform 900 and track the charge state (SoCh) of the battery 930. The BMS may also monitor other parameters of the battery 930 to provide fault predictions such as the health state (SoH) and functional state (SoF) of the battery 930. The BMS may communicate information about the battery 930 to the application circuit 905 or other components of the platform 900. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 905 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 930 or the current from the battery 930. Battery parameters may be used to determine operations that the platform 900 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, and sensing frequency.

[0133] A power block, or other power source coupled to the electric grid, may be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 930. In some examples, the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver, which can obtain power wirelessly, for example, via a loop antenna in a computer platform 900. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected may depend on the size of the battery 930 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using, among other things, the Airfuel standard published by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Alliance for Wireless Power.

[0134] The user interface circuit 950 includes various input / output (I / O) devices located within or connected to the platform 900, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform 900, and / or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the platform 900. The user interface circuit 950 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes, among other things, any physical or virtual means for receiving input, including one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information, such as sensor readings, actuator positions (one or more), or other similar information, or for conveying information in other ways. The output device circuit includes any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, in particular one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (e.g., light-emitting diodes (LEDs))), and multi-character visual outputs or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), which can output characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc., generated or created from the operation of platform 900. The output device circuit may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers (one or more), and / or similar. In some embodiments, the sensor circuit 921 may be used as an input device circuit (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.), and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuits (e.g., actuators for providing haptic feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included for reading electronic tags and / or connecting to another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces include, but are not limited to, non-volatile memory ports, USB ports, audio jacks, and power interfaces.

[0135] Although not shown, the components of platform 900 can communicate with each other using appropriate bus or interconnection (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, Time Trigger Protocol (TTP) systems, FlexRay systems, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX used, for example, in an SoC-based system. 2 Other bus / IX systems may include C interfaces, SPI interfaces, point-to-point interfaces, and power buses.

[0136] Figure 10 shows components of the baseband circuit 100 and the radio front-end module (RFEM) 1015 according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 1010 corresponds to the baseband circuits 810 and 910 in Figures 8 and 9, respectively. The RFEM 1015 corresponds to the RFEMs 815 and 915 in Figures 8 and 9, respectively. As shown, the RFEM 1015 may include, at least, a coupled radio frequency (RF) circuit 1006, a front-end module (FEM) circuit 1008, and an antenna array 1011.

[0137] The baseband circuit 1010 includes circuitry and / or control logic configured to perform various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 1006. Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, coding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuit 1010 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the coding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuit 1010 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these embodiments, and other embodiments may include other suitable functions. The baseband circuit 1010 is configured to process the baseband signal received from the receiving signal path of the RF circuit 1006 and generate a baseband signal for the transmitting signal path of the RF circuit 1006. The baseband circuit 1010 is configured to interface with application circuits 805 / 905 (see Figures 8 and 9) to control the operation of the RF circuit 1006 for the generation and processing of baseband signals. The baseband circuit 1010 can handle various radio control functions.

[0138] The aforementioned circuitry and / or control logic of the baseband circuit 1010 may include one or more single or multicore processors. For example, one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 1004A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 1004B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 1004C, or several other baseband processors (one or more) 1004D of other existing, developing, or future generations (e.g., 6th generation (6G)). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1004A to 1004D may be contained in modules stored in memory 1004G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 1004E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1004A to 1004D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) equipped with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in their respective memory cells. In various embodiments, memory 1004G can store program code for a real-time operating system (RTOS) that, when executed by the CPU 1004E (or other baseband processor), causes the CPU 1004E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources, schedule tasks, etc., of the baseband circuit 1010. Examples of RTOS include Operating System Embedded (OSE) (trademark) provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS (trademark) provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX (trademark) provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK)Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS as described herein. Furthermore, the baseband circuit 1010 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 1004F.The audio DSP(s) 1004F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo removal, and in other embodiments, may include other suitable processing elements.

[0139] In some embodiments, each of the processors 1004A to 1004E includes its respective memory interface for sending and receiving data to and from memory 1004G. The baseband circuit 1010 may further include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as interfaces for sending and receiving data to and from memory outside the baseband circuit 1010; application circuit interfaces for sending and receiving data to and from application circuits 805 / 905 in Figures 8 to 10; RF circuit interfaces for sending and receiving data to and from RF circuit 1006 in Figure 10; wireless hardware connection interfaces for sending and receiving data to and from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near-field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® / Bluetooth® low-energy components, WiFi® components, etc.); and a power management interface for sending and receiving power or control signals to and from PMIC 925.

[0140] In alternative embodiments (which may be combined with the embodiments described above), the baseband circuit 1010 comprises one or more digital baseband systems coupled to one another via interconnect subsystems and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include several other preferred bus or interconnect technologies, such as bus systems, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and / or those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuits, buffer memory, program memory, audio processing accelerator circuits, data conversion circuits such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, analog circuits including one or more amplifiers and filters, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 1010 may include a protocol processing circuit having one or more instances of a control circuit (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or radio frequency circuit (e.g., radio front-end module 1015).

[0141] Although not shown in Figure 10, in some implementations, the baseband circuit 1010 includes one or more individual processing devices for executing one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a "multiprotocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") and one or more individual processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the radio control functions described above. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In the first embodiment, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities when the baseband circuit 1010 and / or RF circuit 1006 are part of a millimeter-wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit. In the first embodiment, the protocol processing circuit operates MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In the second embodiment, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuit 1010 and / or RF circuit 1006 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In a second embodiment, the protocol processing circuit operates the WiFi MAC and Logical Link Control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuit may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 1004G) for storing program code and data for operating the protocol functions, and one or more processing cores that execute the program code and perform various operations using the data. The baseband circuit 1010 may also support wireless communication regarding two or more radio protocols.

[0142] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 1010 discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a soldering board containing one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single package IC soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 1010 may be suitably combined within a single chip or chipset, or they may be arranged on the same circuit board. In another embodiment, some or all of the components constituting the baseband circuit 1010 and the RF circuit 1006 may be implemented together, for example, as a system-on-chip SoC or system-in-package (SiP). In yet another embodiment, some or all of the components constituting the baseband circuit 1010 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled with the RF circuit 1006 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 1006). In yet another embodiment, some or all of the components constituting the baseband circuit 1010 and the application circuits 805 / 905 may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted on the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0143] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 1010 can provide communication compatible with one or more wireless technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 1010 can support communication with E-UTRAN or other WMAN, WLAN, or WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 1010 is configured to support wireless communication of two or more wireless protocols may be referred to as a multimode baseband circuit.

[0144] The RF circuit 1006 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 1006 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc., to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuit 1006 may include a received signal path which may include a circuit for down-converting the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1008 and providing the baseband signal to the baseband circuit 1010. The RF circuit 1006 may also include a transmitted signal path which may include a circuit for up-converting the baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 1010 and providing the RF output signal to the FEM circuit 1008 for transmission.

[0145] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1006 may include a mixer circuit 1006a, an amplifier circuit 1006b, and a filter circuit 1006c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1006 may include a filter circuit 1006c and a mixer circuit 1006a. The RF circuit 1006 may also include a combiner circuit 1006d for combining the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1008 based on the combined frequency provided by the combiner circuit 1006d. The amplifier circuit 1006b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 1006c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to produce an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 1010 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero-frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1006a of the received signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0146] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1006a in the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert the input baseband signal based on the combined frequency provided by the combiner circuit 1006d to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 1008. The baseband signal may also be provided by the baseband circuit 1010 and may be filtered by the filter circuit 1006c.

[0147] In some embodiments, the receive signal path mixer circuit 1006a and the transmit signal path mixer circuit 1006a may include two or more mixers, which may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the receive signal path mixer circuit 1006a and the transmit signal path mixer circuit 1006a may include two or more mixers, which may be arranged for image removal (e.g., Hartley image removal). In some embodiments, the receive signal path mixer circuit 1006a and the transmit signal path mixer circuit 1006a may be configured for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the receive signal path mixer circuit 1006a and the transmit signal path mixer circuit 1006a may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0148] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 1006 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 1010 may include a digital baseband interface for communicating with the RF circuit 1006.

[0149] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate wireless IC circuits may be provided to process the signals of each spectrum, but the scope of embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0150] In some embodiments, the combiner circuit 1006d may be a fractional N combiner or a fractional N / N+1 combiner, but the scope of this embodiment is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency combiners may be preferred. For example, the combiner circuit 1006d may be a combiner with a phase-locked loop having a delta-sigma combiner, a frequency multiplier, or a frequency divider.

[0151] The combiner circuit 1006d may be configured to combine the output frequencies used by the mixer circuit 1006a of the RF circuit 1006 based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, the combiner circuit 1006d may be a fractional N / N+1 combiner.

[0152] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuit 1010 or the application circuits 805 / 905, depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuits 805 / 905.

[0153] The combiner circuit 1006d of the RF circuit 1006 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal into either N or N+1 (e.g., based on performance) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some exemplary embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to divide the VCO period into Nd packets of equal phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to contribute to ensuring that the total delay across the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0154] In some embodiments, the combiner circuit 1006d may be configured to generate the carrier frequency as the output frequency, and in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency), and can be used in conjunction with the quadrature generator and divider circuits to generate multiple signals with multiple different carrier frequencies relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 1006 may include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0155] The FEM circuit 1008 may include a receive signal path that operates on the RF signal received from the antenna array 1011, amplifies the received signal, and provides an amplified version of the received signal to the RF circuit 1006 for further processing. The FEM circuit 1008 may also include a transmit signal path that may include a circuit configured to amplify a signal for transmission, which is provided by the RF circuit 1006 for transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1011. In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit or receive signal path may occur in the RF circuit 1006 alone, in the FEM circuit 1008 alone, or in both the RF circuit 1006 and the FEM circuit 1008.

[0156] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 1008 may include a TX / RX switch for switching between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 1008 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1008 may include an LNA for amplifying the received RF signal and providing the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 1006). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1008 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1006) and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1011.

[0157] The antenna array 1011 comprises one or more antenna elements, each configured to convert electrical signals into radio waves so that they travel through the air, and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 1010 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform) which is amplified and transmitted through the antenna elements of the antenna array 1011, which includes one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in multiple arrays as known and / or as described herein. The antenna array 1011 may include microstrip antennas or printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 1011 may be formed as patches of metal foils of various shapes (e.g., patch antennas) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 1006 and / or FEM circuit 1008 using metal transmission wires or the like.

[0158] The processors of application circuits 805 / 905 and baseband circuit 1010 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processors of baseband circuit 1010 may be used alone or in combination to execute layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processors of application circuits 805 / 905 may utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further execute layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, layer 3 may include the RRC layer, which is described in more detail below. As referred to herein, layer 2 may include the MAC layer, RLC layer, and PDCP layer, which are described in more detail below. As referred to herein, layer 1 may include the PHY layer of the UE / RAN node, which is described in more detail below.

[0159] Figure 11 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. In particular, Figure 11 includes arrangement 1100, which shows the interconnections between various protocol layers / entities. The following description of Figure 11 is provided for various protocol layers / entities that operate in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the embodiments of Figure 11 may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems, etc.

[0160] The protocol layer of array 1100 may include one or more of the following: PHY1110, MAC1120, RLC1130, PDCP1140, SDAP1147, RRC1155, and NAS layer 1157, in addition to other higher-layer functions not shown. The protocol layer may include one or more service access points (e.g., items 1159, 1156, 1150, 1149, 1145, 1135, 1125, and 1115 in Figure 11) that can provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

[0161] The PHY1110 can send and receive physical layer signals 1105 that can be received or transmitted to and from one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals 1105 may include one or more physical channels, as described herein. The PHY1110 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers such as the RRC1155. The PHY1110 may also further perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance of the PHY1110 may process requests from instances of the MAC1120 via one or more PHY-SAP1115 and provide indications. According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP1115 may include one or more transport channels.

[0162] One or more instances of MAC1120 can process requests from instances of RLC1130 via one or more MAC-SAP1125s and provide indications to the instances. These requests and indications communicated via MAC-SAP1125s may include one or more logical channels. MAC1120 can perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto the TB delivered to PHY1110 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from the TB to one or more logical channels delivered to PHY1110 via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto the TB, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0163] An instance(s) of RLC1130 can process requests from an instance of PDCP1140 via one or more Radio Link Control Service Access Points (RLC-SAP)1135 and provide indications to the PDCP instance. These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP1135 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC1130 can operate in multiple operating modes, including transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC1130 can perform forwarding of upper-layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction via automatic retransmission requests (ARQs) for AM data forwarding, and concatenation, splitting, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data forwarding. The RLC1130 can also perform RLC data PDU repartition for AM data transfer, sort RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfer, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfer, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfer, detect protocol errors for AM data transfer, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0164] One or more instances of PDCP1140 may process requests to one or more instances of RRC1155 and / or instances of SDAP1147, and provide indications via one or more Packet Data Integration Protocol Services Access Points (PDCP-SAP) 1145. These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP 1145 may involve one or more radio bearers. PDCP1140 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper-layer PDUs in lower-layer re-establishment, remove duplicates of lower-layer SDUs in lower-layer re-establishment for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, perform encryption and decryption of control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based data discarding, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0165] An instance(s) of SDAP1147 can process requests and provide indications from one or more upper-layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP1149s. These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP1149s may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP1147 can map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and can also mark QFIs within DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1147 may be configured for individual PDU sessions. In the UL direction, NG-RAN510 can control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs(s) in two different ways: reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, SDAP1147 in UE501 can monitor the QFI of DL packets for each DRB and apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. Regarding DRBs, the SDAP1147 of the UE501 can map QoS flows (one or more) corresponding to QoS flow IDs (one or more) and UL packets belonging to PDU sessions observed within DL packets related to that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN710 can mark DL packets on the Uu interface with QoS flow IDs. Explicit mapping may include the RRC1155 configuring the SDAP1147 to map rules to the DRB using explicit QoS flows, which the SDAP1147 may remember and follow. In some embodiments, the SDAP1147 may be used only in NR implementations and not in LTE implementations.

[0166] RRC1155 can constitute one or more protocol layer configurations, which may include one or more instances of PHY1110, MAC1120, RLC1130, PDCP1140, and SDAP1147 via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In embodiments, an instance of RRC1155 can process requests from one or more NAS entities 1157 and provide indications via one or more RRC-SAPs 1156. The main services and functions of RRC1155 may include broadcasting system information (e.g., contained in MIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcasting system information related to the Access Layer (AS), paging, establishing, maintaining, and releasing RRC connections between UE 501 and RAN 510 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, RRC connection release), establishing, configuring, maintaining, and releasing point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, RAT-to-RAT mobility, and measurement configurations for UE measurement reporting. MIBs and SIBs may each contain one or more IEs that can include individual data fields or data structures.

[0167] The NAS1157 can form the top layer of the control plane between the UE501 and the AMF721. The NAS1157 can support the mobility and session management procedures of the UE501 to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE501 and the P-GW of the LTE system.

[0168] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of 1100 may be implemented in the UE501, RAN node 511, NR implementation AMF721 or LTE implementation MME621, NR implementation UPF702 or LTE implementation S-GW622 and P-GW623, etc., which are used in the control plane or user plane communication protocol stack between the devices described above. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that can be implemented in one or more of the UE501, gNB511, AMF721, etc., can communicate with their respective peer protocol entities that can be implemented in or on another device that uses the services of their respective lower-layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB511 may host the RRC1155, SDAP1147, and PDCP1140 of the gNB, which control the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DU of gNB511 may host the RLC1130, MAC1120, and PHY1110 of gNB511, respectively.

[0169] In the first example, the control plane protocol stack may comprise, from top to bottom, NAS1157, RRC1155, PDCP1140, RLC1130, MAC1120, and PHY1110. In this embodiment, the upper layer 1160 may be built on top of NAS1157, including IP layer 1161, SCTP1162, and application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1163.

[0170] In the NR implementation configuration, AP1163 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1163 for an NG interface 513 defined between an NG-RAN node 511 and an AMF721, or AP1163 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1163 for an Xn interface 512 defined between two or more RAN nodes 511.

[0171] NG-AP1163 supports the functionality of NG interface 513 and may have an Elementary Procedure (EP). An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between NG-RAN node 511 and AMF721. The NG-AP1163 service may consist of two groups: UE-related services (e.g., services associated with UE501) and non-UE-related services (e.g., services associated with the entire NG interface instance between NG-RAN node 511 and AMF721). These services include a paging function for sending paging requests to NG-RAN node 511 involved in a specific paging area, a UE context management function to enable AMF721 to establish, modify, and / or release UE contexts in AMF721 and NG-RAN node 511, a mobility function for UE501 in ECM-CONNECTED mode to enable in-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility to / from EPS systems, and a NAS signaling function for transferring or rerouting NAS messages between UE501 and AMF721. The functions may include, but are not limited to, a signaling transfer function, a NAS node selection function for determining the association between AMF721 and UE501, an NG interface management function (one or more) for configuring NG interfaces and monitoring errors on NG interfaces, a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages via NG interfaces or to cancel the broadcast of warning messages, a configuration transfer function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 511 via CN520, and / or other similar functions.

[0172] XnAP1163 supports the functionality of Xn Interface 512 and may include XnAP Basic Mobility Procedures and XnAP Global Procedures. XnAP Basic Mobility Procedures may include procedures used to handle UE mobility within NG RAN 511 (or E-UTRAN 610), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context lookup and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and dual connectivity-related procedures. XnAP Global Procedures may include procedures not specific to a particular UE 501, such as Xn Interface Setup and Reset Procedures, NG-RAN Update Procedures, and Cell Activation Procedures.

[0173] In an LTE implementation, AP1163 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1163 for an S1 interface 513 defined between an E-UTRAN node 511 and an MME, or AP1163 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1163 for an X2 interface 512 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 511.

[0174] The S1 Application Protocol Layer (S1-AP) 1163 can support the functionality of the S1 interface, and, similar to the aforementioned NG-AP, the S1-AP can include an S1-APEP. The S1-AP EP may be the unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node 511 and the MME621 within the LTE CN520. The S1-AP 1163 service may comprise two groups: UE-related services and non-UE-related services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to, E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0175] X2AP1163 supports the functionality of X2 interface 512 and may include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. X2AP basic mobility procedures may include procedures used to handle UE mobility within E-UTRAN520, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context lookup and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and dual connectivity-related procedures. X2AP global procedures may include procedures not related to a specific UE501, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, and cell activation procedures.

[0176] The SCTP layer (or SCTP / IP layer) 1162 can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in an NR implementation, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in an LTE implementation). SCTP 1162 can guarantee reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 511 and the AMF 721 / MME 621, partially based on the IP protocol supported by IP 1161. The Internet Protocol Layer (IP) 1161 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1161 can use point-to-point transmission to deliver and propagate PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 511 may have L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF for exchanging information.

[0177] In a second embodiment, the user plane protocol stack may comprise, from top layer to bottom layer, SDAP1147, PDCP1140, RLC1130, MAC1120, and PHY1110. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE501 and RAN node 511 and UPF702 in an NR implementation, or for communication between S-GW622 and P-GW623 in an LTE implementation. In this embodiment, the upper layer 1151 may be built on top of SDAP1147 and may include User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and IP Security Layer (UDP / IP) 1152, General-Purpose Packet Radio Services (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for User Plane Layer (GTP-U) 1153, and User Plane PDU Layer (UP PDU) 1163.

[0178] The transport network layer 1154 (also called the “transport layer”) may be built on top of the IP transport, and GTP-U 1153 may be used to carry user-plane PDUs (UP-PDUs) on top of the UDP / IP layer 1152 (including the UDP and IP layers). The IP layer (also called the “Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer can assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in IPv4, IPv6, or PPP format.

[0179] The GTP-U1153 can be used to transport user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The transmitted user data may be packets in any of the following formats: IPv4, IPv6, or PPP. The UDP / IP1152 can provide data integrity checksums, port numbers to handle different functions at source and destination, and encryption and authentication on selected data flows. RAN nodes 511 and S-GW622 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising L1 layer (e.g., PHY1110), L2 layer (e.g., MAC1120, RLC1130, PDCP1140, and / or SDAP1147), UDP / IP layer 1152, and GTP-U1153. The S-GW622 and P-GW623 can exchange user-plane data via a protocol stack comprising L1, L2, UDP / IP 1152, and GTP-U 1153 using the S5 / S8a interface. As mentioned above, the NAS protocol can support the mobility and session management procedures of the UE501 in order to establish and maintain the IP connection between the UE501 and the P-GW623.

[0180] Furthermore, although not shown in Figure 11, an application layer may exist on top of AP1163 and / or the transport network layer 1154. The application layer may be a layer in which users of UE501, RAN node 511, or other network elements interact with software applications, respectively, executed by application circuit 805 or application circuit 905. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system of UE501 or RAN node 511, such as baseband circuit 1010. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7 or parts thereof of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI layer 7 - Application layer, OSI layer 6 - Presentation layer, and OSI layer 5 - Session layer).

[0181] Figure 12 is a block diagram showing a configuration that, according to several exemplary embodiments, can read instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-temporary machine-readable storage medium) and execute one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 12 shows a schematic representation of hardware resources 1200 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memory / storage devices 1220, and one or more communication resources 1230, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240. In embodiments utilizing node virtualization (e.g., NFV), a hypervisor 1202 may be configured to provide execution environments for one or more network slices / subslice that utilize the hardware resources 1200.

[0182] Processor 1210 may include, for example, processors 1212 and 1214. Processor 1210 (one or more) may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a composite instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP, such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a high-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any preferred combination thereof.

[0183] The memory / storage device 1220 may include main memory, disk storage, or any preferred combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1220 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, or solid-state storage.

[0184] The communication resource 1230 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 1204 or one or more databases 1206 via the network 1208. For example, the communication resource 1230 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, WiFi® components, and other communication components.

[0185] Instruction 1250 may include software, programs, applications, applets, apps, or other executable code to cause at least one of the processors 1210 to execute any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Instruction 1250 may reside, whole or in part, in the processor 1210 (e.g., in the processor's cache memory), the memory / storage device 1220, or at least one of any preferred combination thereof. Furthermore, any part of instruction 1250 may be transferred to the hardware resource 1200 from any combination of peripheral device 1204 or database 1206. Thus, the memory of the processor 1210, the memory / storage device 1220, the peripheral device 1204, and the database 1206 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0186] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the aforementioned figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the following exemplary section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in relation to one or more of the aforementioned figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. As another example, a circuit associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc., as described above in relation to one or more of the aforementioned figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below in the embodiment section.

[0187] Technical terms For the purposes of this specification, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0188] The term “circuit” refers to a circuit or a system of circuits configured to perform a specific function within an electronic device. A circuit or system of circuits may be part of, or include, one or more hardware components configured to provide the described functionality, such as logic circuits, processors (shared, dedicated, or grouped), and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or grouped), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacitance PLDs (HCPLDs), system-on-a-chip (SoCs), system-in-packages (SiPs), system chip packages (MCPs), and digital signal processors (SDPs). In addition, the term “circuit” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code used to perform the functions of their program code. Some types of circuits may run one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. Such combinations of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0189] As used herein, the term “processor circuit” means, part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and / or transferring digital data. The term “processor circuit” can also mean one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes. The terms “application circuit” and / or “baseband circuit” are considered to be synonymous with “processor circuit” and are sometimes referred to as “processor circuit.”

[0190] As used herein, the terms “memory” and / or “memory circuit” refer to one or more hardware devices for storing data, including random access memory (RAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), phase-change random access memory (PRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), core memory, read-only memory (ROM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other machine-readable media for data storage. The term “computer-readable media” may include, but is not limited to, memory, portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, containing, or transporting instructions or data.

[0191] As used herein, the term “interface circuit” refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuit” may also refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, I / O interface, peripheral component interface, network interface card, and / or similar.

[0192] As used herein, the terms “User Equipment” or “UE” refer to a device having wireless communication capabilities and may represent a remote user of network resources within a communication network. The terms “User Equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous with, and may be referred to as, a client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, wireless equipment, reconfigurable wireless equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the terms “User Equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device including a wireless communication interface.

[0193] As used herein, the term “Network Element” refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless network services. The term “Network Element” may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as networked computers, networked hardware, network equipment, network nodes, routers, switches, hubs, bridges, wireless network controllers, RAN devices, RAN nodes, gateways, servers, virtualized VNFs, NFVIs, etc.

[0194] As used herein, the term “computer system” refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Furthermore, the terms “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are interconnected in a communicative manner. Furthermore, the terms “computer system” and / or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are interconnected in a communicative manner and configured to share computing resources and / or networking resources.

[0195] As used herein, terms such as “device” and “computer device” refer to computer devices or computer systems having program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. “Virtual device” is a virtual machine image implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer device or is dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0196] The term "element" refers to a unit that is indivisible at a given level of abstraction and has clearly defined boundaries. An element can be any type of entity, or a combination thereof, including, for example, one or more devices, systems, controllers, network elements, modules, etc.

[0197] The term "device" refers to a physical entity that is embedded in or attached to another physical entity in its vicinity and has the ability to transmit digital information to and from that physical entity.

[0198] The term "entity" refers to a distinct component of an architecture or device, or information transmitted as a payload.

[0199] The term "controller" refers to an element or entity that has the ability to influence a physical entity by changing its state or moving the physical entity.

[0200] As used herein, the term “resource” means physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components within a computing environment, and / or physical or virtual components within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or usage, power, I / O operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, networks, databases and applications, workload units, etc. “Hardware resource” may refer to computing resources, storage resources, and / or network resources provided by one or more physical hardware elements. “Virtualization resource” may refer to computing resources, storage resources, and / or network resources provided to applications, devices, systems, etc., by a virtualization infrastructure. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources accessible by computer devices / systems via a communication network. The term “system resource” may refer to any kind of shared entity providing services, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources can be thought of as a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services that reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are accessible via a clearly identifiable server.

[0201] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to either a tangible or intangible transmission medium used to communicate data or a data stream. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to any other similar terms indicating a path or medium through which "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio carrier", and / or data is communicated. Further, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices via a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

[0202] As used herein, the term "communication protocol" refers to a standardized set of rules or instructions implemented by a communication device and / or system to communicate with other devices and / or systems, including instructions for packetized / non-packetized data, modulation / demodulation signals, implementation of protocol stacks, etc.

[0203] As used herein, terms such as "instantiate" and "instantiation" refer to the creation of an instance. An "instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object that may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0204] The terms "coupled" and "communicatively coupled", along with their derivatives, are used herein. The term "coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other and yet cooperate or interact with each other, and / or that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" can mean that two or more elements can contact each other by means of communication means including wired or other interconnection means, wireless communication channels or means via ink, etc.

[0205] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that includes one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual content of an information element or a data element that includes content.

[0206] The term "admission control" refers to a verification process in a communication system where a check is performed before a connection is established to confirm whether the current resources are sufficient for the proposed connection.

[0207] The term "SMTC" refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0208] The term "SSB" refers to an SS / PBCH block.

[0209] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, and the UE executes an initial connection establishment procedure or starts a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0210] A "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell that the UE randomly accesses when reconfiguring using the synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0211] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell configured for a CA (Critical Aggregation) for a UE (Union Entrant).

[0212] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells that include PSCells and zero or more secondary cells for a UE composed of DCs.

[0213] The term "serving cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED that is not composed of a CA / DC, and there is only one serving cell composed of primary cells.

[0214] The term "serving cell" refers to a set of cells that includes one or more special cells and all secondary cells for UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA / .

[0215] The term "special cell" refers to a PCell in an MCG or a PSCell in an SCG for DC operation. Otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to a P cell.

[0216] In the above specification, the present invention is described with reference to specific embodiments. However, it will be apparent that various modifications and changes can be made to those embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the specification and drawings should be considered illustrative, not restrictive. Details in the description and examples provided may be used anywhere in one or more embodiments. Various features of different embodiments or examples may be combined in various ways with some of the features included, and other features may be excluded to suit various different applications. Examples may include subject matter such as methods, means for performing the operation of the method, and at least one machine-readable medium containing instructions for causing a machine to perform the operation of the method, or the operation of an apparatus or system according to the embodiments and examples described herein, when executed by a machine. In addition, various components described herein may be means for performing an operation or function described by one embodiment.

[0217] Embodiments described herein provide a user equipment (UE) comprising a processor that configures the UE to receive one or more repetitions of transport blocks (TB) using a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam and to acquire downlink control information (DCI) including one or more transmit configuration indicator (TCI) states, and to switch from the first PDSCH beam to a second PDSCH beam different from the first PDSCH beam, at least in part based on one or more TCI states.

[0218] Other embodiments described herein provide a computer-operated method comprising: configuring a UE to receive one or more repetitions of a transport block (TB) using a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam; acquiring downlink control information (DCI) including one or more transmit configuration indicator (TCI) states; and configuring the UE to switch from the first PDSCH beam to a second PDSCH beam different from the first PDSCH beam, at least in part based on one or more TCI states.

[0219] Other embodiments described herein provide a non-temporary computer-readable medium including instructions, wherein when an instruction is executed by a processor, the UE is configured to receive one or more repetitions of transport blocks (TB) using a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam and obtain downlink control information (DCI) including one or more transmit configuration indicator (TCI) states, and the processor is configured to configure the UE to switch from the first PDSCH beam to a second PDSCH beam different from the first PDSCH beam, at least in part based on one or more TCI states.

[0220] In some examples, the UE may be configured to receive one or more repetitions of a transport block (TB) using a second physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) beam. In some examples, the processor may determine a first PDSCH target code rate and a first PDSCH duration for a first set of repetitions of the transport block (TB), and a second PDSCH target code rate and a second PDSCH duration for a second set of repetitions of the transport block (TB). In some examples, the process may process or determine a sequence of transmission configuration indicator (TCI) states representing downlink (DL) beam repetitions based on received downlink control information (DCI), where one or more individual TCI states in the sequence of TCI states represent the corresponding downlink (DL) beam, and the UE is configured to receive one or more DL transmits (Tx) over one or more DL channels according to the sequence of TCI states.

[0221] In some examples, the processor can configure the UE to receive a first set of downlink transmissions (DL Tx) according to a default repetition, and a second set of DL Tx according to one or more repetitions of a sequence of TCI states. In some examples, the processor can configure the UE to receive a first set of downlink transmissions (DL Tx) with a first modulation order, a first target code rate, a first transport block (TB) size, and a first DL channel duration, and a second set of downlink transmissions (DL Tx) with a second modulation order, a second target code rate, a second transport block (TB) size, and a second DL channel duration DL. Tx has a modulation order that is n times the target code rate, a TB size, and 1 / n times the DL channel duration. In some examples, the second target code rate is a multiple of the first target code rate, and the second DL channel duration is a part of the first DL channel duration.

[0222] Other features of the present invention will become apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the above-described "Modes for Carrying Out the Invention." Therefore, the true scope of this embodiment will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon studying the drawings, the specification, and the following claims.

Claims

1. A first beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a first protocol set, which generates the first beam switching timing capability indicator showing a first number of symbols for beam switching related to non-periodic channel state information (CSI)-reference signal (RS) transmission, A second beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a second protocol set, which generates a second beam switching timing capability indicator that shows a second number of symbols for beam switching associated with aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, To generate one or more signals and transmit the first beam switching timing capability indicator and the second beam switching timing capability indicator to the base station, Determining whether a user device (UE) requires a second number of symbols for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission or a third number of symbols for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, based on whether the CSI-RS resource is configured repeatedly, wherein the third number is smaller than the second number. Methods that include...

2. The second number is greater than or equal to the first number. The method according to claim 1.

3. The symbols of the second number mentioned above are 224 symbols or 336 symbols. The method according to claim 1.

4. The second beam switching timing capability indicator indicates a second number of symbols for beam switching associated with CSI-RS transmission using the first subcarrier interval, and a fourth number of symbols for beam switching associated with aperiodic CSI-RS transmission using the second subcarrier interval. The method according to claim 1.

5. The first protocol set relates to the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) Release 15 technical specification, and the second protocol set relates to the 3GPP Release 16 technical specification. The method according to claim 1.

6. A first beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a first protocol set, which generates a first beam switching timing capability indicator showing a first number of symbols for beam switching related to non-periodic channel state information (CSI)-reference signal (RS) transmission, A second beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a second protocol set, which generates a second beam switching timing capability indicator showing a second number of symbols for beam switching associated with aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, One or more signals are generated and transmitted to the base station the first beam switching timing capability indicator and the second beam switching timing capability indicator. Based on whether the CSI-RS resource is configured repeatedly, it is further determined whether the user equipment (UE) requires the second number of symbols for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, or a third number of symbols smaller than the second number for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission. A computer program for that purpose.

7. The second number is greater than or equal to the first number. The computer program according to claim 6.

8. The symbols of the second number mentioned above are 224 symbols or 336 symbols. The computer program according to claim 6.

9. The second beam switching timing capability indicator indicates a second number of symbols for beam switching associated with CSI-RS transmission using the first subcarrier interval, and a fourth number of symbols for beam switching associated with aperiodic CSI-RS transmission using the second subcarrier interval. The computer program according to claim 6.

10. The first protocol set relates to the 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) Release 15 technical specification, and the second protocol set relates to the 3GPP Release 16 technical specification. The method according to claim 6.

11. The system includes a processing circuit that generates one or more signals from a user device (UE), the one or more signals including a first beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a first protocol set and a second beam switching timing capability indicator for operation compliant with a second protocol set. The first beam switching timing capability indicator displays a first number of symbols for beam switching related to non-periodic channel state information (CSI)-reference signal (RS) transmission, The second beam switching timing capability indicator indicates a second number of symbols for beam switching related to aperiodic CSI-RS transmission. The system is configured to further determine, based on whether the CSI-RS resource is configured repetitively, whether the user equipment (UE) requires the second number of symbols for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission, or a third number of symbols smaller than the second number for aperiodic CSI-RS transmission. Device.

12. The second number is greater than or equal to the first number. The apparatus according to claim 11.

13. The symbols of the second number mentioned above are 224 symbols or 336 symbols. The apparatus according to claim 11.

14. Establishing a communication connection with a network entity, The method involves generating cross-carrier scheduling (CCS) capability information, wherein the CCS capability information indicates at least one of the following: a first capability, whether CCS is supported when a scheduling cell has an SCS value greater than the subcarrier interval (SCS) value of a scheduled cell; or a second capability, whether CCS is supported when the scheduling cell has an SCS value smaller than the SCS value of the scheduled cell. Methods that include...

15. The CCS capability information indicates the first capability and the second capability. The method according to claim 14.

16. The CCS capability information further indicates a third capability: whether or not CCS is supported when the scheduling cell has the same SCS value as the scheduled cell. The method according to claim 14.

17. Further includes providing an indication of the number of unicast downlink control information (DCIs) that a user device (UE) can decrypt for each monitoring opportunity, The method according to claim 14.

18. The number of unicast DCIs includes the number of uplink unicast DCIs or the number of downlink unicast DCIs. The method according to claim 17.

19. The indication includes a first indication, and the number of unicast DCIs is the number of downlink unicast DCIs. The method further includes providing a second indication of the number of uplink unicast DCIs that the UE can decrypt for each monitoring opportunity. The method according to claim 17.

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