Terminal and communication method

Abstract

This terminal comprises: a receiving unit that receives information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from a base station device; a control unit that determines a first parameter indicating a bandwidth combination set of dual connectivity (EN-DC) band combinations of the first RAT and the second RATE supported by components of the first RAT, a second parameter indicating a bandwidth combination set of the EN-DC band combinations supported by components of the second RAT, and a third parameter indicating a bandwidth combination set of the EN-DC band combinations supported by components of the first RAT and the second RAT, wherein the third parameter specifies a bandwidth combination set for an intra-band EN-DC pairing of the first and second RATs that is further aggregated, via carrier aggregation, with at least one additional carrier of the first RAT and the second RAT located in a different frequency band; and a transmission unit that transmits terminal capacity information that includes the first parameter, the second parameter, and the third parameter that have been determined to the base station device.

Description

Terminal and communication method

[0001] The present invention relates to a terminal (user equipment) and a communication method in a wireless communication system.

[0002] Currently, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is developing specifications for a new wireless communication system called a New Radio Access Technology (NR) system as a successor to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system and the LTE-Advanced system (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0003] In the NR system, similar to dual connectivity in the LTE system, data is divided between the base station (eNB) of the LTE system and the base station (gNB) of the NR system, and data is simultaneously transmitted and received by these base stations. The introduction of a technology called LTE-NR dual connectivity or multi-RAT dual connectivity (hereinafter referred to as "MR-DC") is being considered (for example, Non-Patent Document 2). Multi-RAT is an abbreviation for Multi Radio Access Technology.

[0004] 3GPP TS 38.300 V15.3.0 (2018-09) 3GPP TS 37.340 V15.3.0 (2018-09) 3GPP TS 36.101 V15.3.0 (2018-06) 3GPP TS 38.101-1 V15.3.0 (2018-09) 3GPP TS 38.101-2 V15.3.0 (2018-09) 3GPP TS 38.101-3 V15.3.0 (2018-09)

[0005] In MR-DC, a list containing a mixture of bands defined in E-UTRA (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access) and bands defined in NR is notified to the user equipment. The user equipment determines the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment from the list. Here, band combinations that are targets of the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment include E-UTRA and NR inter-band multi-RAT dual connectivity (inter-band EN-DC) and intra-band multi-RAT dual connectivity (intra-band EN-DC).

[0006] A method for notifying a base station apparatus of a bandwidth combination set (BWCS) for a band combination of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC from a user apparatus is not specified.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide a technology for notifying a base station device of a bandwidth combination for an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC band combination from a user device in a wireless communication system that uses multiple RATs (E-UTRA and NR).

[0008] According to the disclosed technology, a terminal has a receiving unit that receives information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from a base station device, a control unit that determines a first parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for a first RAT component of a dual connectivity (EN-DC) band combination of the first RAT and the second RAT, a second parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for the second RAT component of the EN-DC band combination, and a third parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for the first RAT and the second RAT components within a band of the EN-DC band combination, and a transmitting unit that transmits terminal capability information including the determined first parameter, the second parameter, and the third parameter to the base station device.

[0009] According to the disclosed technology, even in a wireless communication system using multiple RATs, a terminal (user device) can notify a base station device of information related to band combinations for dual connectivity.

[0010] 1 is a configuration example of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating a user equipment (20) according to an embodiment of the present invention notifying a base station apparatus (10) of its capabilities. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example (part 1) of a notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example (part 1) of a notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example (part 1) of a notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example (part 2) of a notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example (part 2) of a notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example (part 2) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example (part 2) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example (part 2) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example (part 3) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example (part 3) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example (part 3) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC. A figure showing an example (part 3) of notification of bandwidth combinations for band combinations of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC.FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example (part 3) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example (part 3) of notification of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a base station device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of a user equipment 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a base station device 10 and a user equipment 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a wireless communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the user equipment 20 is connected to and communicates with the base station device 10A and base station device 10B provided by the LTE system and the NR system, respectively (hereinafter, when the base station device 10A and the base station device 10B are not distinguished, they may be referred to as "base station device 10"). The base station device 10A is the master base station and the base station device 10B is the secondary base station. LTE-NR dual connectivity (also referred to as EN-DC) is supported. That is, the user equipment 20 can simultaneously use multiple component carriers provided by the master base station device 10A and the secondary base station device 10B to perform simultaneous transmission or reception with the master base station device 10A and the secondary base station device 10B. In the illustrated embodiment, the LTE system and the NR system each have only one base station, but generally, a large number of base stations are deployed to cover the service areas of the LTE system and the NR system.

[0014] Note that the following embodiments are described with respect to LTE-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC), but the user equipment according to the present disclosure is not limited to this and can also be applied to, for example, NR-LTE dual connectivity (also referred to as NE-DC) in which a base station device 10A of an NR system is the master base station and a base station device 10B of an LTE system is the secondary base station. It will be easily understood by those skilled in the art that the present disclosure can be applied to dual connectivity between multiple wireless communication systems using different RATs, i.e., MR-DC.

[0015] 2 is a sequence diagram showing a process in which a user device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention notifies a base station device 10 of its terminal capability. In FIG. 2, the base station device 10 transmits a terminal capability notification request to the user device 20, and the user device 20 transmits a terminal capability notification to the base station device 10 in response to the terminal capability notification request.

[0016] In step S1, the base station device 10 transmits an RRC (Radio Resource Control) message "UECapabilityEnquiry" to the user equipment 20 as a terminal capability notification request. The UECapabilityEnquiry is used to obtain information about the radio access capability of the user equipment 20 from the network. The base station device 10 can specify the type of radio access capability included in the information to be notified to the user equipment 20 using the UECapabilityEnquiry. For example, the base station device 10 may request notification of radio access capabilities related to bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20. Furthermore, the base station device 10 may request notification of bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20 for band combinations consisting of bands included in a list "requestedFreqBandList" to be notified to the user equipment 20.

[0017] Next, in step S2, the user equipment 20 transmits an RRC message "UECapabilityInformation" as a terminal capability notification to the base station apparatus 10. The UECapabilityInformation is used to notify the network of information related to the radio access capability of the user equipment 20. Based on the UECapabilityEnquiry received from the base station apparatus 10 in step S1, the user equipment 20 transmits information related to the radio access capability supported by the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10.

[0018] In step S3, the base station apparatus 10 performs normal communication adapted to the terminal capability according to the UECapabilityInformation received in step S2 from the user equipment 20. For example, if the UECapabilityInformation received from the user equipment 20 in step S2 includes a supported bandwidth combination, the base station apparatus 10 performs scheduling within the range of the supported bandwidth combination.

[0019] (Embodiment 1) FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and 3D are diagrams showing a notification example (part 1) of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC.

[0020] 3A , 3B , 3C , and 3D , one of the information elements of the terminal capability transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10 includes a BandCombinationList, which is a parameter for notifying the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20. The BandCombinationList includes a supportedBandwidthCombinationSet, which is a field for notifying the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20. The supportedBandwidthCombinationSet is a bitmap of up to 32 bits, and the user equipment 20 can notify up to 32 bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20.

[0021] For NR alone (NR SA (standalone)) and inter-band EN-DC, this field "supportedBandwidthCombinationSet" is set to the bandwidth combination for the NR part of the band combination.

[0022] Also, for intra-band EN-DC, the field "supportedBandwidthCombinationSet" is set to a bandwidth combination (or bandwidth combination set) (supported BWCS) supported by the user equipment 20 that is applicable to the band combination of NR and LTE. For example, the first bit (leftmost bit) of the bitmap of supportedBandwidthCombinationSet corresponds to bandwidth combination #0 (BWCS #0), and the second bit corresponds to bandwidth combination #1 (BWCS #1). If the bit is set to 1, the user equipment 20 supports the corresponding bandwidth combination.

[0023] For inter-band EN-DC band combinations, the user equipment 20 may support any combination of the NR part of the bandwidth combination indicated by this field and the E-UTRA part of the bandwidth combination indicated by the parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA.

[0024] The parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA is a field included in CA-ParametersEUTRA, which is one of the terminal capability information elements transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10.

[0025] For EN-DC band combinations consisting of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC, this field indicates the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20 across all of the inter-band and intra-band EN-DC bands (all bands considered).

[0026] (Embodiment 2) Figs. 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4E are diagrams showing a notification example (part 2) of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC.

[0027] As shown in Figures 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, and 4E, BandCombinationList, which is a parameter for notifying the bandwidth combinations supported by the user device 20, includes supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC, which is a field for notifying the bandwidth combinations for the band combinations of intra-band MR-DC supported by the user device 20.

[0028] For intra-band EN-DC, this field is set to a bandwidth combination supported by the user equipment 20 that is applicable to the band combination of NR and LTE. For example, the first bit (leftmost bit) of the bitmap supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC corresponds to bandwidth combination #0 (BWCS #0), and the second bit corresponds to bandwidth combination #1 (BWCS #1). If a bit is set to 1, the user equipment 20 supports the corresponding bandwidth combination.

[0029] For EN-DC band combinations consisting of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC, this field indicates the bandwidth combinations supported by the user equipment 20 across all of the inter-band and intra-band EN-DC bands (all bands considered).

[0030] For inter-band EN-DC band combinations, the supported bandwidth combinations are any combination of the NR part of the bandwidth combination indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR and the E-UTRA part of the bandwidth combination indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA.

[0031] The parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationEUTRA is a field included in CA-ParametersEUTRA, which is one of the terminal capability information elements transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10.

[0032] The parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR is a field included in CA-ParametersNR, which is one of the terminal capability information elements transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10. The name of the parameter is not limited to supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR and may be another name.

[0033] (Embodiment 3) Figures 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, and 5G are diagrams showing a notification example (part 3) of a bandwidth combination for a band combination of inter-band EN-DC and intra-band EN-DC.

[0034] 5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E, 5F, and 5G, BandCombinationList, which is a parameter for notifying the user device 20 of bandwidth combinations supported, includes supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC, which is a field for notifying the bandwidth combination set for the intra-band MR-DC band combinations supported by the user device 20. Note that the name of the parameter is not limited to supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC and may be another name.

[0035] This supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC field indicates the bandwidth combination set supported by the user equipment 20, which is applied to the intra-band E-UTRA and NR component of the EN-DC band combination (i.e., the component consisting of the same E-UTRA and NR bands in the supported carrier frequency range). For example, the first bit (leftmost bit) of the bitmap of supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC corresponds to bandwidth combination set #0 (BWCS #0), and the second bit corresponds to bandwidth combination set #1 (BWCS #1). If the bit is set to 1, the user equipment 20 supports the corresponding bandwidth combination set. An example of an intra-band E-UTRA-NR bandwidth combination set consisting of an E-UTRA band and an NR band in the same frequency range (frequency band) is "E-UTRA band 3 + NR band n3".

[0036] For inter-band EN-DC band combinations, the supported bandwidth combination set is any combination of the NR portion of the bandwidth combination set indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR and the E-UTRA portion of the bandwidth combination set indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA. An example of the NR portion of the bandwidth combination set indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR is "NR band n3 + NR band n78". An example of the E-UTRA portion of the bandwidth combination set indicated by supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA is "E-UTRA band 1 + E-UTRA band 3".

[0037] The parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA is a field included in CA-ParametersEUTRA, which is one of the terminal capability information elements transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10. The name of the parameter is not limited to supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA and may be another name. supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA indicates a bandwidth combination set supported by the user equipment 20, which is applied to the E-UTRA component of the EN-DC band combination (i.e., the component of the EN-DC band combination consisting only of intra-band E-UTRA and / or inter-band E-UTRA bands). For example, the first bit (leftmost bit) of the bitmap of supportedBandwidthCombinationEUTRA corresponds to Bandwidth Combination Set #0 (BWCS #0), and the second bit corresponds to Bandwidth Combination Set #1 (BWCS #1). If the bit is set to 1, the user equipment 20 supports the corresponding bandwidth combination set (see Non-Patent Document 3).

[0038] The parameter supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR is a field included in CA-ParametersNR, which is one of the information elements of terminal capabilities transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10. The name of the parameter is not limited to supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR and may be other names. supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR indicates a bandwidth combination set supported by the user equipment 20, which is applied to the NR component (NR component) of the EN-DC band combination (i.e., the component consisting only of the intra-band NR and / or inter-band NR bands of the EN-DC band combination). For example, the first bit (leftmost bit) of the bitmap of supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR corresponds to bandwidth combination set #0 (BWCS#0), and the second bit corresponds to bandwidth combination set #1 (BWCS#1). If a bit is set to 1, the user equipment 20 supports the corresponding bandwidth combination set (see Non-Patent Document 4, Non-Patent Document 5, and Non-Patent Document 6).

[0039] For example, for band 3A, if the E-UTRA bandwidth combination set indicated by the supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA includes channel bandwidths of 10 MHz and 20 MHz, and the intra-band EN-DC bandwidth combination set indicated by the supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC includes a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, the user equipment 20 supports a channel bandwidth of 20 MHz, which is the product set of the two channel bandwidths, for band 3A in EN-DC.

[0040] (Device Configuration) Next, a description will be given of an example of the functional configuration of the base station device 10 and the user device 20 that execute the processes and operations described above. The base station device 10 and the user device 20 each include at least the functions for implementing the embodiments. However, the base station device 10 and the user device 20 may each include only a part of the functions of the embodiments.

[0041] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the base station device 10. As shown in Fig. 6, the base station device 10 has a transmitting unit 110, a receiving unit 120, a setting unit 130, and a control unit 140. The functional configuration shown in Fig. 6 is merely an example. The names of the functional divisions and functional units may be any as long as they can perform the operations related to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0042] The transmitter 110 has a function of generating a signal to be transmitted to the user equipment 20 and transmitting the signal wirelessly. The receiver 120 has a function of receiving various signals transmitted from the user equipment 20 and acquiring, for example, information of a higher layer from the received signal. The transmitter 110 also transmits a message requesting a terminal capability notification and information indicating UL or DL ​​scheduling to the user equipment 20, and the receiver 120 receives a message related to the terminal capability notification from the user equipment 20.

[0043] The setting unit 130 stores preset setting information and various setting information to be transmitted to the user device 20. The setting information includes, for example, information on band combinations, information on terminal capabilities, and the like.

[0044] The control unit 140 controls the transmission of a terminal capability notification request message, such as UECapabilityEnquiry, from the base station device 10 to the user device 20, as described in the embodiment, and also controls receiving a terminal capability notification from the user device 20 and executing communication according to the terminal capability.

[0045] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the user device 20. As shown in Fig. 7, the user device 20 has a transmitting unit 210, a receiving unit 220, a setting unit 230, and a control unit 240. The functional configuration shown in Fig. 7 is merely an example. The names of the functional divisions and functional units may be any as long as they can execute the operations according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[0046] The transmitter 210 generates a transmission signal from the transmission data and transmits the transmission signal wirelessly. The receiver 220 receives various signals wirelessly and acquires higher layer signals from the received physical layer signals. The receiver 120 also receives a message regarding a terminal capability notification request and information indicating UL or DL ​​scheduling from the base station device 10.

[0047] The setting unit 230 stores various setting information received from the base station device 10 by the receiving unit 220. The setting unit 230 also stores setting information that is set in advance. The setting information includes, for example, information about band combinations, information about terminal capability notifications, and the like.

[0048] The control unit 240 controls the generation and transmission of a terminal capability notification message, such as UECapabilityInformation, to be transmitted from the user equipment 20 to the base station apparatus 10, as described in the embodiment. Note that a functional unit in the control unit 240 related to the transmission of the terminal capability notification message, etc., may be included in the transmitting unit 210, and a functional unit in the control unit 240 related to the reception of the terminal capability notification request message, etc., may be included in the receiving unit 220.

[0049] (Hardware Configuration) The block diagrams (FIGS. 6 and 7) used to explain the above embodiments show functional blocks. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of at least one of hardware and software. Furthermore, the method for realizing each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized using a single device that is physically or logically coupled, or may be realized using two or more physically or logically separated devices that are connected directly or indirectly (for example, using wires, wirelessly, etc.) and these multiple devices. The functional block may be realized by combining software with the single device or the multiple devices.

[0050] Functions include, but are not limited to, judgment, determination, assessment, calculation, computation, processing, derivation, investigation, search, confirmation, reception, transmission, output, access, resolution, selection, selection, establishment, comparison, assumption, expectation, consideration, broadcasting, notifying, communicating, forwarding, configuring, reconfiguring, allocating, mapping, and assignment. For example, a functional block (component) that performs transmission is called a transmitting unit or transmitter. As mentioned above, there are no particular limitations on how these functions are implemented.

[0051] For example, the base station device 10, the user equipment 20, etc. according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may function as a computer that performs processing of the wireless communication method of the present disclosure. Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the base station device 10 and the user equipment 20 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The base station device 10 and the user equipment 20 described above may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a storage device 1002, an auxiliary storage device 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007, etc.

[0052] In the following description, the term "apparatus" can be interpreted as a circuit, a device, a unit, etc. The hardware configuration of the base station apparatus 10 and the user equipment 20 may be configured to include one or more of the apparatuses shown in the drawings, or may be configured to exclude some of the apparatuses.

[0053] Each function in the base station device 10 and the user device 20 is realized by loading specified software (programs) onto hardware such as the processor 1001, the memory device 1002, etc., so that the processor 1001 performs calculations, controls communication by the communication device 1004, and controls at least one of reading and writing data in the memory device 1002 and the auxiliary memory device 1003.

[0054] The processor 1001 controls the entire computer by running, for example, an operating system. The processor 1001 may be configured as a central processing unit (CPU) including an interface with peripheral devices, a control device, an arithmetic unit, a register, etc. For example, the above-mentioned control unit 140, control unit 240, etc. may be realized by the processor 1001.

[0055] Furthermore, the processor 1001 reads programs (program codes), software modules, data, etc. from at least one of the auxiliary storage device 1003 and the communication device 1004 into the storage device 1002 and executes various processes in accordance with the programs. The programs used may be programs that cause a computer to execute at least some of the operations described in the above-described embodiments. For example, the control unit 140 of the base station device 10 shown in FIG. 6 may be implemented by a control program stored in the storage device 1002 and running on the processor 1001. Furthermore, for example, the control unit 240 of the user equipment 20 shown in FIG. 7 may be implemented by a control program stored in the storage device 1002 and running on the processor 1001. While the above-described various processes have been described as being executed by one processor 1001, they may also be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The programs may be transmitted from a network via a telecommunications line.

[0056] The storage device 1002 is a computer-readable recording medium and may be configured, for example, by at least one of a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc. The storage device 1002 may also be called a register, a cache, a main memory, etc. The storage device 1002 can store executable programs (program codes), software modules, etc. for implementing a communication method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0057] The secondary storage device 1003 is a computer-readable recording medium, and may be, for example, at least one of an optical disk such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disk drive, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (e.g., a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a Blu-ray (registered trademark) disk), a smart card, a flash memory (e.g., a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magnetic strip, etc. The secondary storage device 1003 may also be referred to as an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned storage medium may be, for example, a database, a server, or other appropriate medium including at least one of the storage device 1002 and the secondary storage device 1003.

[0058] The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for communicating between computers via at least one of a wired network and a wireless network, and is also referred to as, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, or a communication module. The communication device 1004 may be configured to include a high-frequency switch, a duplexer, a filter, a frequency synthesizer, etc. to realize at least one of frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD). For example, a transmission / reception antenna, an amplifier unit, a transmission / reception unit, a transmission path interface, etc. may be realized by the communication device 1004. The transmission / reception unit may be implemented as a transmission unit and a reception unit that are physically or logically separated.

[0059] The input device 1005 is an input device (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, etc.) that receives input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (e.g., a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that outputs to the outside. Note that the input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated into one device (e.g., a touch panel).

[0060] Furthermore, each device such as the processor 1001 and the storage device 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured using a single bus, or may be configured using different buses between each device.

[0061] The base station device 10 and the user device 20 may be configured to include hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), or a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and some or all of the functional blocks may be realized by the hardware. For example, the processor 1001 may be implemented using at least one of these pieces of hardware.

[0062] (Summary 1 of Embodiments) As described above, according to the embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a base station device including: a receiving unit that receives information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from a base station device; a first parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination (supported BWCS) for a portion of the first RAT for inter-band dual connectivity (inter-band EN-DC) between the first RAT and the second RAT; and a second parameter indicating a supported BWCS for a portion of the second RAT for the inter-band EN-DC between the first RAT and the second RAT, and a supported BWCS applicable to a band combination of the first RAT and the second RAT for intra-band dual connectivity (intra-band EN-DC) between the first RAT and the second RAT. a control unit that determines a second parameter indicating a supported BWCS across all bands of the inter-band EN-DC and the intra-band EN-DC, and for dual connectivity of the first RAT and the second RAT consisting of the inter-band EN-DC and the intra-band EN-DC, wherein, for a band combination of the inter-band EN-DC, any combination of the second RAT part of the BWCS indicated by the second parameter and the first RAT part of the BWCS indicated by the first parameter is supported; and a transmission unit that transmits terminal capability information including the determined first parameter and the second parameter to the base station device.

[0063] With the above configuration, it is possible to notify a bandwidth combination that is applicable to dual connectivity performed in a wireless communication system that uses multiple RATs.

[0064] According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a base station device including: a receiving unit configured to receive information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from the base station device; a first parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination (supported BWCS) for a portion of the first RAT for inter-band dual connectivity (inter-band EN-DC) between the first RAT and the second RAT; a second parameter indicating a supported BWCS for a portion of the second RAT for intra-band dual connectivity (intra-band EN-DC) between the first RAT and the second RAT; and, for the intra-band EN-DC, indicating a supported BWCS applicable to a band combination of the first RAT and the second RAT. For dual connectivity of the first RAT and the second RAT consisting of an inter-band EN-DC and an intra-band EN-DC, there is provided a user equipment having: a control unit that determines a third parameter that indicates a supported BWCS across all bands of the inter-band EN-DC and the intra-band EN-DC, where, for a band combination of the inter-band EN-DC, any combination of the second RAT part of the BWCS indicated by the second parameter and the first RAT part of the BWCS indicated by the first parameter is supported; and a transmission unit that transmits terminal capability information including the determined first parameter, the second parameter, and the third parameter to the base station device.

[0065] With the above configuration, it is possible to notify a bandwidth combination that is applicable to dual connectivity performed in a wireless communication system that uses multiple RATs.

[0066] (Supplementary Notes on the Embodiments) Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the disclosed invention is not limited to such embodiments, and those skilled in the art will understand various modifications, alterations, alternatives, and substitutions. While specific numerical examples have been used to facilitate understanding of the invention, unless otherwise specified, these numerical values ​​are merely examples, and any appropriate values ​​may be used. The division of items in the above description is not essential to the present invention; matters described in two or more items may be used in combination as needed, and matters described in one item may apply to matters described in another item (as long as there is no contradiction). Boundaries between functional units or processing units in functional block diagrams do not necessarily correspond to boundaries between physical components. The operations of multiple functional units may be performed by a single physical component, or the operations of a single functional unit may be performed by multiple physical components. The order of processing steps described in the embodiments may be reversed as long as there is no contradiction. For convenience of processing description, the base station device 10 and the user equipment 20 have been described using functional block diagrams. However, such devices may be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. The software operated by the processor of the base station device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention and the software operated by the processor of the user device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention may each be stored in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), EPROM, EEPROM, register, hard disk (HDD), removable disk, CD-ROM, database, server or any other suitable storage medium.

[0067] Furthermore, the notification of information is not limited to the aspects / embodiments described in the present disclosure, and may be performed using other methods. For example, the notification of information may be performed by physical layer signaling (e.g., Downlink Control Information (DCI) and Uplink Control Information (UCI)), higher layer signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, broadcast information (Master Information Block (MIB) and System Information Block (SIB)), other signals, or a combination thereof. Furthermore, the RRC signaling may be referred to as an RRC message, and may be, for example, an RRC Connection Setup message, an RRC Connection Reconfiguration message, or the like.

[0068] Each aspect / embodiment described in the present disclosure may be applied to at least one of systems using LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), SUPER 3G, IMT-Advanced, 4G (4th generation mobile communication system), 5G (5th generation mobile communication system), FRA (Future Radio Access), NR (New Radio), W-CDMA (registered trademark), GSM (registered trademark), CDMA2000, UMB (Ultra Mobile Broadband), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX (registered trademark)), IEEE 802.20, UWB (Ultra-Wide Band), Bluetooth (registered trademark), or other suitable systems, and next-generation systems enhanced based on these. Furthermore, a combination of multiple systems (e.g., a combination of at least one of LTE and LTE-A with 5G, etc.) may also be applied.

[0069] The order of the procedures, sequences, flowcharts, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described herein may be rearranged unless it is consistent. For example, the methods described in this disclosure present elements of various steps using an example order and are not limited to the particular order presented.

[0070] In this specification, a specific operation that is described as being performed by the base station device 10 may also be performed by its upper node in some cases. In a network consisting of one or more network nodes having the base station device 10, it is clear that various operations performed for communication with the user equipment 20 may be performed by at least one of the base station device 10 and another network node other than the base station device 10 (such as, but not limited to, an MME or an S-GW). Although the above example illustrates a case where there is one other network node other than the base station device 10, the other network node may be a combination of multiple other network nodes (such as an MME and an S-GW).

[0071] The information, signals, etc. described in the present disclosure may be output from a higher layer (or a lower layer) to a lower layer (or a higher layer), or may be input / output via multiple network nodes.

[0072] Input and output information may be stored in a specific location (for example, memory) or may be managed using a management table. Input and output information may be overwritten, updated, or added to. Output information may be deleted. Input information may be transmitted to another device.

[0073] In the present disclosure, the determination may be made by a value represented by one bit (0 or 1), by a Boolean value (true or false), or by a comparison of numerical values ​​(e.g., comparison with a predetermined value).

[0074] Software shall be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise.

[0075] Software, instructions, information, etc. may also be transmitted or received over a transmission medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using wired technologies (such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)), and / or wireless technologies (such as infrared, microwave), then these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission media.

[0076] The information, signals, etc. described in this disclosure may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips, etc. that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or photons, or any combination thereof.

[0077] Note that terms described in this disclosure and terms necessary for understanding this disclosure may be replaced with terms having the same or similar meanings. For example, at least one of a channel and a symbol may be a signal (signaling). Furthermore, a signal may be a message. Furthermore, a component carrier (CC) may be called a carrier frequency, a cell, a frequency carrier, etc.

[0078] As used in this disclosure, the terms "system" and "network" are used interchangeably.

[0079] Furthermore, the information, parameters, etc. described in the present disclosure may be expressed using absolute values, may be expressed using relative values ​​from a predetermined value, or may be expressed using other corresponding information. For example, a radio resource may be indicated by an index.

[0080] The names used for the above-described parameters are not intended to be limiting in any way. Furthermore, the mathematical expressions using these parameters may differ from those explicitly disclosed in this disclosure. The various channels (e.g., PUCCH, PDCCH, etc.) and information elements may be identified by any suitable names, and therefore the various names assigned to these various channels and information elements are not intended to be limiting in any way.

[0081] In the present disclosure, terms such as "base station (BS)," "radio base station," "base station device," "fixed station," "NodeB," "eNodeB (eNB)," "gNodeB (gNB)," "access point," "transmission point," "reception point," "transmission / reception point," "cell," "sector," "cell group," "carrier," and "component carrier" may be used interchangeably. A base station may also be referred to by terms such as a macrocell, a small cell, a femtocell, and a picocell.

[0082] A base station can accommodate one or more (e.g., three) cells. When a base station accommodates multiple cells, the overall coverage area of ​​the base station can be partitioned into multiple smaller areas, and each smaller area can also be provided with communication services by a base station subsystem (e.g., a remote radio head (RRH)). The terms "cell" or "sector" refer to part or the entire coverage area of ​​a base station and / or base station subsystem that provides communication services within that coverage area.

[0083] In this disclosure, the terms "Mobile Station (MS)," "user terminal," "User Equipment (UE)," "terminal," and the like may be used interchangeably.

[0084] A mobile station may also be referred to by those skilled in the art as a subscriber station, mobile unit, subscriber unit, wireless unit, remote unit, mobile device, wireless device, wireless communication device, remote device, mobile subscriber station, access terminal, mobile terminal, wireless terminal, remote terminal, handset, user agent, mobile client, client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0085] At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be referred to as a transmitting device, a receiving device, a communication device, etc. At least one of the base station and the mobile station may be a device mounted on a mobile body, the mobile body itself, etc. The mobile body may be a vehicle (e.g., a car, an airplane, etc.), an unmanned mobile body (e.g., a drone, an autonomous vehicle, etc.), or a robot (manned or unmanned). At least one of the base station and the mobile station may also include devices that do not necessarily move during communication operations. For example, at least one of the base station and the mobile station may be an IoT (Internet of Things) device such as a sensor.

[0086] As used in this disclosure, the terms "determining" and "determining" may encompass a wide variety of actions. "Determining" and "determining" may include, for example, judging, calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up, searching, inquiring (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), ascertaining, and the like. "Determining" and "determining" may also include receiving (e.g., receiving information), transmitting (e.g., sending information), input, output, accessing (e.g., accessing data in memory), and the like. Furthermore, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, comparing, etc. as having been "judged" or "decided." In other words, "judgment" and "decision" can include regarding some action as having been "judged" or "decided." Furthermore, "judgment (decision)" can be interpreted as "assuming," "expecting," "considering," etc.

[0087] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variation thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and may include the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" to each other. The coupling or connection between elements may be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. For example, "connected" may be read as "access." As used in this disclosure, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" to each other using one or more wires, cables, and / or printed electrical connections, as well as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency range, microwave range, and optical (both visible and invisible) range, as some non-limiting and non-exhaustive examples.

[0088] The reference signal may be abbreviated as RS (Reference Signal) or may be called a pilot depending on the applicable standard.

[0089] As used in this disclosure, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

[0090] As used in this disclosure, any reference to an element using a designation such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the quantity or order of those elements. These designations may be used in this disclosure as a convenient method of distinguishing between two or more elements. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not imply that only two elements may be employed or that the first element must in some way precede the second element.

[0091] The "means" in the configuration of each of the above devices may be replaced with "part," "circuit," "device," etc.

[0092] When the terms "include," "including," and variations thereof are used in this disclosure, these terms are intended to be inclusive, similar to the term "comprising." Furthermore, when the term "or" is used in this disclosure, it is not intended to be an exclusive or.

[0093] A radio frame may be composed of one or more frames in the time domain. Each of the one or more frames in the time domain may be called a subframe. A subframe may further be composed of one or more slots in the time domain. A subframe may have a fixed time length (e.g., 1 ms) that is independent of numerology.

[0094] Numerology may be communication parameters that apply to the transmission and / or reception of a signal or channel, such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), bandwidth, symbol length, cyclic prefix length, transmission time interval (TTI), number of symbols per TTI, radio frame structure, specific filtering operations performed by the transceiver in the frequency domain, specific windowing operations performed by the transceiver in the time domain, etc.

[0095] A slot may be composed of one or more symbols (such as an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbol or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) symbol) in the time domain. A slot may be a time unit based on numerology.

[0096] A slot may include multiple minislots. Each minislot may consist of one or multiple symbols in the time domain. A minislot may also be called a subslot. A minislot may consist of fewer symbols than a slot. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted in a time unit larger than a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type A. A PDSCH (or PUSCH) transmitted using a minislot may be called PDSCH (or PUSCH) mapping type B.

[0097] The radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol all represent time units for transmitting signals, and may be referred to by other names corresponding to the radio frame, subframe, slot, minislot, and symbol.

[0098] For example, one subframe may be called a transmission time interval (TTI), multiple consecutive subframes may be called a TTI, or one slot or one minislot may be called a TTI. That is, at least one of the subframe and the TTI may be a subframe (1 ms) in existing LTE, a period shorter than 1 ms (for example, 1-13 symbols), or a period longer than 1 ms. Note that the unit representing the TTI may be called a slot, minislot, etc. instead of a subframe.

[0099] Here, TTI refers to, for example, the smallest time unit for scheduling in wireless communication. For example, in an LTE system, a base station performs scheduling to allocate radio resources (such as frequency bandwidth and transmission power that can be used by each user device 20) to each user device 20 in TTI units. Note that the definition of TTI is not limited to this.

[0100] The TTI may be a transmission time unit for a channel-encoded data packet (transport block), a code block, a code word, etc., or may be a processing unit for scheduling, link adaptation, etc. When a TTI is given, the time interval (e.g., the number of symbols) to which a transport block, a code block, a code word, etc. is actually mapped may be shorter than the TTI.

[0101] When one slot or one minislot is called a TTI, one or more TTIs (i.e., one or more slots or one or more minislots) may be the minimum time unit for scheduling. Also, the number of slots (minislots) constituting the minimum time unit for scheduling may be controlled.

[0102] A TTI having a time length of 1 ms may be called a regular TTI (TTI in LTE Rel. 8-12), normal TTI, long TTI, regular subframe, normal subframe, long subframe, slot, etc. A TTI shorter than a regular TTI may be called a shortened TTI, short TTI, partial or fractional TTI, shortened subframe, short subframe, minislot, subslot, slot, etc.

[0103] In addition, a long TTI (e.g., a normal TTI, a subframe, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a time length of more than 1 ms, and a short TTI (e.g., a shortened TTI, etc.) may be interpreted as a TTI having a TTI length shorter than the TTI length of a long TTI and greater than or equal to 1 ms.

[0104] A resource block (RB) is a resource allocation unit in the time domain and the frequency domain, and may include one or more consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be the same regardless of the numerology, for example, 12. The number of subcarriers included in an RB may be determined based on the numerology.

[0105] The time domain of an RB may include one or more symbols and may have a length of one slot, one minislot, one subframe, or one TTI. One TTI, one subframe, etc. may each be composed of one or more resource blocks.

[0106] Note that one or more RBs may also be called a physical resource block (PRB), a sub-carrier group (SCG), a resource element group (REG), a PRB pair, an RB pair, etc.

[0107] Furthermore, a resource block may be composed of one or more resource elements (REs). For example, one RE may be a radio resource region of one subcarrier and one symbol.

[0108] A Bandwidth Part (BWP) (which may also be referred to as a fractional bandwidth) may represent a subset of contiguous common resource blocks (RBs) for a given numerology on a given carrier, where the common RBs may be identified by their index relative to a Common Reference Point of the carrier. PRBs may be defined in a BWP and numbered within the BWP.

[0109] The BWP may include a BWP for UL (UL BWP) and a BWP for DL ​​(DL BWP). One or more BWPs may be configured for a UE within one carrier.

[0110] At least one of the configured BWPs may be active, and the UE may not expect to transmit or receive a given signal / channel outside the active BWP. Note that the terms "cell," "carrier," etc. in this disclosure may be read as "BWP."

[0111] The above-described structures of radio frames, subframes, slots, minislots, symbols, etc. are merely examples, and various changes may be made to the number of subframes included in a radio frame, the number of slots per subframe or radio frame, the number of minislots included in a slot, the number of symbols and RBs included in a slot or minislot, the number of subcarriers included in an RB, the number of symbols in a TTI, the symbol length, the cyclic prefix (CP) length, etc.

[0112] In this disclosure, where articles are added by translation, such as a, an, and the in English, the disclosure may include that the nouns following these articles are in the plural form.

[0113] In the present disclosure, the term "A and B are different" may mean "A and B are different from each other." The term may also mean "A and B are each different from C." Terms such as "separate" and "coupled" may also be interpreted in the same way as "different."

[0114] The aspects / embodiments described in this disclosure may be used alone, in combination, or switched depending on the implementation. Notification of predetermined information (e.g., notification that "X is true") is not limited to explicit notification, but may be implicit (e.g., not notifying the predetermined information).

[0115] In the present disclosure, the transmitting unit 210 and the receiving unit 220 are an example of a communication unit. The MN is an example of a first base station device. The SN is an example of a second base station device.

[0116] Note that in the present disclosure, supportedBandwidthCombinationSetEUTRA is an example of a first parameter, supportedBandwidthCombinationSet and supportedBandwidthCombinationSetNR are examples of a second parameter, and supportedBandwidthCombinationSetIntraMRDC is an example of a third parameter.

[0117] Also, LTE is an example of a first RAT, and NR is an example of a second RAT.

[0118] Although the present disclosure has been described in detail above, it is clear to those skilled in the art that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described herein. The present disclosure can be implemented in modified and altered forms without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the claims. Therefore, the description of the present disclosure is intended to be illustrative and does not have any limiting meaning on the present disclosure.

[0119] REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Base station device 200 User device 110 Transmitter 120 Receiver 130 Setting unit 140 Controller 210 Transmitter 220 Receiver 230 Setting unit 240 Controller 1001 Processor 1002 Storage device 1003 Auxiliary storage device 1004 Communication device 1005 Input device 1006 Output device

Claims

1. A terminal comprising: a receiver that receives information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from a base station device; a controller that determines: a first parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for a first RAT component of a dual connectivity (EN-DC) band combination of the first RAT and the second RAT; a second parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for a second RAT component of the EN-DC band combination; and a third parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for a band of the EN-DC band combination for the first RAT and the second RAT components; and a transmitter that transmits terminal capability information including the determined first parameter, second parameter, and third parameter to the base station device.

2. The terminal of claim 1, wherein for inter-band dual connectivity (inter-band EN-DC) between the first RAT and the second RAT, any combination of the second RAT portion of the bandwidth combination indicated by the second parameter and the first RAT portion of the bandwidth combination indicated by the first parameter is supported.

3. A communication method for a terminal, comprising the steps of: receiving information on bands of a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second RAT from a base station device; determining a first parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for the first RAT component of a dual connectivity (EN-DC) band combination of the first RAT and the second RAT; a second parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for the second RAT component of the EN-DC band combination; and a third parameter indicating a supported bandwidth combination set for the first RAT and second RAT components within a band of the EN-DC band combination; and transmitting terminal capability information including the determined first parameter, second parameter, and third parameter to the base station device.

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