Cross-carrier scheduling with different parameter sets

Abstract

Provided are systems, methods and apparatus for determining physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates and the number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for a UE configured with multiple component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing (SCS). The multiple component carriers are assigned to multiple cell groups. Each cell group includes a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the cell group. A reference time slot window is selected based on the SCS of the component carrier assigned to each cell group. And the number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCEs for each reference time slot window is determined based on the number of the component carriers in each cell group and the SCS. Control information in a downlink radio frame is monitored by the UE based on the number of PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCEs.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 791,643, filed on January 11, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] Various embodiments may generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Summary of the invention

[0004] This overview provides a brief description of one or more of the embodiments and / or examples found within the present disclosure. Some embodiments of the present disclosure include apparatus and methods for determining the number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates and the number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for each reference slot monitored by a user equipment (UE) for a single cell or a group of cells to support cross-carrier scheduling with different parameter sets in carrier aggregation (CA).

[0005] Some embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE) including a processing circuit and a radio front-end circuit. The radio front-end circuit is configured to receive a downlink radio frame indicating multiple component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing (SCS). Each component carrier in the multiple component carriers may correspond to a serving cell. The processor circuit is coupled to the radio front-end circuit and is configured to assign the multiple component carriers to multiple cell groups. A first subset of multiple component carriers is assigned to at least one cell group, the first subset including a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset. The processor circuit is further configured to select a reference time slot window based on the SCS of the component carrier assigned to at least one cell group, determine the number of PDCCH candidates that can be monitored by the UE for each reference time slot window for at least one cell group, and monitor control information in the downlink radio frame based on the number of PDCCH candidates. The number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first subset assigned to at least one cell group and the SCS of the component carrier.

[0006] Some embodiments relate to a method comprising receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a downlink radio frame indicating multiple component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing (SCS), and assigning the multiple component carriers to multiple cell groups. A first subset of the multiple component carriers is assigned to at least one cell group, the first subset including a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset. The method also includes selecting a reference time slot window based on the SCS of the component carriers assigned to the at least one cell group, determining the number of PDCCH candidates that can be monitored by the UE for each reference time slot window for the at least one cell group, and monitoring control information in the downlink radio frame based on the number of PDCCH candidates. The number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first subset assigned to the at least one cell group and the SCS of the component carriers.

[0007] Some embodiments relate to a non-transitory computer-readable device having instructions to be executed by at least one computing device. The instructions cause at least one computing device to receive a downlink radio frame indicating multiple component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing (SCS), and to allocate the multiple component carriers to multiple cell groups. A first subset of multiple component carriers is allocated to at least one cell group, the first subset including a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset. The instructions cause at least one computing device to further select a reference time slot window based on the SCS of the component carriers allocated to at least one cell group, determine the number of PDCCH candidates that can be monitored by the UE for each reference time slot window for at least one cell group, and monitor control information in the downlink radio frame based on the number of PDCCH candidates. The number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first subset allocated to at least one cell group and the SCS of the component carriers. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1A Depicted is a diagram of the determination of maximum physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates and control channel elements (CCE) based on a cell group (CG) for a reference slot window defined based on a minimum SCS in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 1B is an illustration of the CG-based maximum PDCCH candidate and CCE determination for a reference time slot window defined by an SCS configuration based on a scheduling component carrier (CC) in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] Figure 2 is an illustration of CG-based maximum PDCCH candidate and CCE determination for a reference time slot window of more than 4 CCs according to some embodiments.

[0011] Figure 3 Depicted is the architecture of a system of networks according to some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 4 An architecture of a system including a first core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0013] Figure 5 An architecture of a system including a second core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0014] Figure 6 Depicted are examples of infrastructure equipment according to some embodiments.

[0015] Figure 7 Depicted are exemplary components of a computer platform according to some embodiments.

[0016] Figure 8 Depicted are exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry according to some embodiments.

[0017] Fig. 9 is an illustration of various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some embodiments.

[0018] Fig.10 Components of a core network are depicted according to some embodiments.

[0019] Fig.11 Depicted is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system, according to some exemplary embodiments.

[0020] Fig.12 Depicted are block diagrams showing components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments.

[0021] Fig.13 A flow chart describing determining a maximum number of PDCCH candidates per reference slot monitored by a user equipment (UE) is depicted according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0023] DC and CA enhancements were recently approved, where one of the goals is to study enhancements to CA to support cross-carrier scheduling with different parameter sets: cross-carrier scheduling with different parameter sets on the scheduled and scheduled carriers. This goal applies only to CA.

[0024] The present disclosure provides various mechanisms for dividing the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and CCEs to effectively support cross-carrier scheduling with different parameter sets in CA. In an implementation scheme, the number of monitored PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs is determined for a single cell or a cell group. In another implementation scheme, a number different from the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs for each reference time slot may be determined. The implementation scheme provides several cell group-based methods to enable PDCCH candidates to be divided on CCs with different parameter sets based on at least the number of CCs of the CG and the SCS of the CC.

[0025] In NR, a UE can be configured with up to 16 component carriers (CCs) for carrier aggregation (CA), where one of the CCs is designated as the primary cell (PCell) and the remaining CCs are called secondary cells (SCells). Cross-carrier scheduling of UEs can be supported, where PDSCH can be scheduled on a SCell (also called a scheduled CC) by a PDCCH on a difference CC (also called a scheduling CC), which can be a PCell or a SCell. The scheduled CC and the scheduling CC can have the same or different parameter sets.

[0026] According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the configured CCs for a UE may be divided into multiple cell groups (CGs), and all CCs within a CG are self-carriers or cross-carriers scheduled by the same scheduling CC. In other words, the configured CCs may be allocated to multiple cell groups. In the following, we denote the total number of CCs with subcarrier spacing (SCS) configuration u (also referred to as "parameter set u") within a CG as Where k is the CG index. A CG can have more than one SCS configuration.

[0027] In addition, a reference slot window may be defined to calculate the maximum total number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference slot window on each cell group. In some designs, the reference slot window may be defined based on the minimum SCS within the CG. In another design, the reference window may be defined based on the SCS of the scheduling CC. In some other designs, the reference window may be defined based on the maximum SCS of the CC within the CG.

[0028] In one embodiment, if the UE is capable of operating with CA with a maximum of 4 DL cells and the UE is configured with Then the UE is expected to monitor the Candidates, and Non-overlapping CCE, where u refer slot is the SCS of the reference time slot window:

[0029]

[0030]

[0031] The partitioning of PDCCH candidates and CCEs across CCs within CG k depends on the scheduled gNB, subject to non-CA restrictions, i.e., depends on and

[0032] Figure 1A An example of maximum PDCCH candidates and non-overlapping CCE determination is provided, where the UE is configured with 3 CCs, SCS is 15kHz on CC0, 30kHz on CC1 and 60kHz on CC2, respectively. In addition, CC0 and CC2 are cross-carriers scheduled by CC1.

[0033] exist Figure 1A In the example, the reference time slot window 110 is defined based on the minimum SCS (i.e., 15 kHz) within CG k. Then, the UE is expected to monitor the time of each reference time slot window 110 of the cell group formed by CC0, CC1, and CC2. Candidates, and Non-overlapping CCEs.

[0034] Figure 1B It is instructive to show that the reference slot windows 120 / 130 are defined based on the SCS of the scheduling CC within CG k (i.e., 30 kHz), since all PDCCH candidates are transmitted only on the scheduling CC. Then, it is expected that the UE can monitor the SCS of each reference slot window 120 / 130 of the cell group. Candidates, and Non-overlapping CCEs. In some designs, if the reference time slot window is based on the scheduling CC (i.e., Figure 1B If the SCS of CC1 in is defined, a scaling factor can be introduced. Figure 1B Slot 160 on CC0 in may be scheduled by both slot 140 and slot 150 on CC1, so in some designs, the maximum PDCCH candidate for CC0 scheduling may be scaled based on the SCS of the scheduling CC and the scheduled CC, as defined in equations (1) and (2) above. In some other designs, in Figure 1B Under the assumption that the reference slot window is defined based on the SCS of the scheduled CC within CG k, the scaling operation is only applied to CCs with a larger SCS than the scheduled CC (e.g., u>u refer slot ), for example, only CC2, but not CC0. This enables the gNB to arrange DCI transmission more flexibly. In this method, the UE is expected to monitor each reference slot window 120 / 130 of the cell group. Candidates, and Non-overlapping CCEs.

[0035] If the UE is capable of operating with CA with more than 4 DL CCs and the UE indicates monitoring PDCCH candidate capability, and the UE is configured with DL CC, the UE is expected to be able to monitor the DCI format for each reference slot on the cell The sum of candidates and each reference time slot of cell group k The sum of non-overlapping CCEs, where u refer slot is the SCS of the reference time slot window.

[0036]

[0037]

[0038]

[0039]

[0040] for Different options can be considered for the calculation of . In some designs, the minimum SCS of CCs within CG k is defined (Option 1) This option provides the best scheduling flexibility at the expense of increased UE complexity. In some other designs, the SCS of the scheduled CC within CG k is defined (Option 2). This still provides sufficient flexibility for the gNB, as the scheduling CC is selectively configured under the control of the gNB. In yet another option, the maximum SCS of the CCs within CG k is defined (Option 3). To improve the scheduling efficiency of this option, an offset value Δ can be added to calculate As shown in Equations 7 and 8.

[0041]

[0042]

[0043] The value Δ may be predefined in the specification based on the SCS of the CCs within the CG. It should be noted that the reference slot window may also be defined based on the maximum SCS.

[0044] In some embodiments, to further optimize the PDCCH candidate partitioning, Option 4 is represented by Equations 9 and 10.

[0045]

[0046]

[0047] Examples of the various methods disclosed above are Figure 2 , which assumes that:

[0048] - The UE is configured with 5 CCs, with SCS of 15 kHz on CC0, 30 kHz on CC1, 60 kHz on CC2 and CC3, and 120 kHz on CC4.

[0049] -CC1 and CC2 are cross-carriers scheduled by CC0. CC4 is a cross-carrier scheduled by CC3. Figure 2 shown.

[0050] - Two cell groups are formed based on the scheduling relationship across CCs, that is, CG#0 (ie, CG index k=0) includes CC0, CC1 and CC2, and CG#1 (ie, CG index k=1) includes CC3 and CC4.

[0051] -

[0052] Within CG k The corresponding maximum PDCCH candidates for each reference slot of the DCI format on the cell and each reference time slot of cell group k The sum of non-overlapping CCEs is summarized in Table 1 below:

[0053]

[0054] In another embodiment, a number different from the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per reference slot may be determined.

[0055] System and implementation

[0056] Figure 3 An exemplary architecture of a system 300 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 300 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0057] like Figure 3 As shown, system 300 includes UE 301a and UE 301b (collectively referred to as "UE 301" or "UE301"). In this example, multiple UEs 301 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, mobile phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument panels (ICs), head-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine electronic control units (ECUs), electronic / engine electronic control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0058] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 301 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0059] UE 301 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to RAN 310. In an embodiment, RAN 310 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 310 operating in an NR or 5G system 300, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 310 operating in an LTE or 4G system 300. UE 301 utilizes connections (or channels) 303 and 304, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0060] In this example, connections 303 and 304 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 301 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 305. ProSe interface 305 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 305, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0061] UE 301b is shown as being configured to access AP 306 (also referred to as "WLAN node 306", "WLAN 306", "WLAN terminal 306", "WT 306", etc.) via connection 307. Connection 307 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 306 will include Wireless Fidelity. Router. In this example, the AP 306 shown is connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE 301b, the RAN 310, and the AP 306 can be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. The LWA operation can involve the UE 301b in the RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by the RAN nodes 311a-b to utilize the radio resources of LTE and WLAN. The LWIP operation can involve the UE 301b using the WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 307) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through the connection 307. IPsec tunneling can include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0062] The RAN 310 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 311a and 311b (collectively referred to as "RAN node 311" or "RAN node 311") that enable connections 303 and 304. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 300, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 300. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 311 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0063] In some embodiments, all or part of the multiple RAN nodes 311 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splits, such as PDCP splits, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 311; MAC / PHY splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 311; or "lower PHY" splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 311. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN nodes 311 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, separate RAN nodes 311 may be represented via separate F1 interfaces ( Figure 3 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 6 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 310 or by a server pool in a manner similar to the CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 311 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 301 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 5 CN 520) RAN node.

[0064] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 311 may be an RSU or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 301 (vUE 301). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0065] Any of the RAN nodes 311 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 301. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 311 may fulfill various logical functions of the RAN 310, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0066] In an embodiment, multiple UEs 301 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of multiple RAN nodes 311 on a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0067] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 311 to the UE 301, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0068] According to various embodiments, UE 301 and RAN node 311 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0069] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 301 and the RAN node 311 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 301 and the RAN node 311 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing 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 sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0070] LBT is a mechanism for equipment (e.g., UE 301, RAN node 311, etc.) to sense a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an expected transmission band, and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0071] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 301, AP 306, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0072] The LAA mechanism is built on 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 an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0073] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require the UE 301 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When the UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0074] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 301. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It can also inform the UE 301 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 301b within a cell) can be performed on any of the multiple RAN nodes 311 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the multiple UEs 301. Downlink resource allocation information can be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 301.

[0075] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0076] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0077] RAN nodes 311 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 312. In embodiments where system 300 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 320 is a Figure 4 420 in the EPC 420), the interface 312 may be an X2 interface 312. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 320, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 320. In some specific 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 packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 301 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 301; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0078] When system 300 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 320 is Figure 5In an implementation scheme of the 5GC 520 in the 5GC 320, the interface 312 may be an Xn interface 312. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 320, between a RAN node 311 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 320, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 320. In some specific 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 non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 301 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 311. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 311 to the new (target) serving RAN node 311; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 311 and the new (target) serving RAN node 311. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0079] RAN 310 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, a core network (CN) 320. CN 320 may include a plurality of network elements 322 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 301) connected to CN 320 via RAN 310. The components of CN 320 may be implemented in one physical node or in separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable medium or a computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 320 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 320 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0080] Generally speaking, the application server 330 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 330 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 301 via the EPC 320 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0081] In an embodiment, CN 320 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 320" or the like), and RAN 310 may be connected to CN 320 via an NG interface 313. In an embodiment, NG interface 313 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 314, which carries traffic data between RAN node 311 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 315, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 311 and AMF. Figure 5 An implementation of CN 320 as 5GC 320 is discussed in more detail.

[0082] In an embodiment, CN 320 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 320", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 320 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 320 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 320", etc.), RAN 310 may be connected to CN 320 via an S1 interface 313. In an embodiment, S1 interface 313 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 314, which carries traffic data between RAN node 311 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 315, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 311 and MME. Figure 4 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 320 is an EPC 320 .

[0083] Figure 4 FIG. 4 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 400 including a first CN 420 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 400 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 420 is a Figure 3 In addition, UE 401 can communicate with Figure 3 The UE 301 is the same as or similar to the UE 301, and the E-UTRAN 410 may be Figure 3 The CN 420 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 310 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 311 discussed previously. The CN 420 may include an MME 421, an S-GW 422, a P-GW 423, an HSS 424, and an SGSN 425.

[0084] The MME 421 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 401. The MME 421 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 401, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 401 and the MME 421 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE 401 and the MME 421 when the attach procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 401. The MME 421 may be coupled to the HSS 424 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 425 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 422 via an S11 reference point.

[0085] SGSN 425 may be a node that serves UE 401 by tracking the location of individual UE 401 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 425 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 421; handling of UE 401 time zone capabilities as specified by MME 421; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 421 and SGSN 425 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0086] The HSS 424 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 420 may include one or several HSSs 424, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 424 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 424 and the MME 421 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 420 between the HSS 424 and the MME 421.

[0087] The S-GW 422 may terminate the S1 interface 313 towards the RAN 410 (at Figure 4 The S-GW 422 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 422 and the MME 421 may provide a control plane between the MME 421 and the S-GW 422. The S-GW 422 may be coupled to the P-GW 423 via the S5 reference point.

[0088] The P-GW 423 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 430. The P-GW 423 may communicate with the PDN 430 via the IP interface 325 (see, e.g., Figure 3 ) routes data packets between EPC 420 and external networks such as a network including application server 330 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 423 can communicate via IP communication interface 325 (see, e.g. Figure 3 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 3 Application server 330 or Figure 4The S5 reference point between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422 can provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422. Due to the mobility of the UE 401 and whether the S-GW 422 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 423 for the required PDN connectivity, the S5 reference point can also be used for S-GW 422 relocation. The P-GW 423 can also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 423 and the packet data network (PDN) 430 can be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, for example, to provide IMS services. The P-GW 423 can be coupled to the PCRF 426 via the Gx reference point.

[0089] PCRF 426 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 420. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 426 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 401. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 401: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 426 may be communicatively coupled to application server 430 via P-GW 423. Application server 430 may signal PCRF 426 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 426 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which function starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 430. The Gx reference point between PCRF 426 and P-GW 423 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 426 to PCEF in P-GW 423. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 430 (or "AF 430") and PCRF 426.

[0090] Figure 5The architecture of a system 500 including a second CN 520 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 500 is shown to include a UE 501, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 301 and UE 401; a (R) AN 510, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 310 and RAN 410, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 311; and a DN 503, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 520. The 5GC 520 may include an AUSF 522; an AMF 521; an SMF 524; an NEF 523; a PCF 526; an NRF 525; an UDM 527; an AF 528; an UPF 502; and an NSSF 529.

[0091] UPF 502 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 503, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 502 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) on the user plane, perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 502 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 503 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 503 may include or be similar to the application server 330 discussed previously. UPF 502 may interact with SMF 524 via the N4 reference point between SMF 524 and UPF 502.

[0092] The AUSF 522 may store data for authentication of the UE 501 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 522 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 522 may communicate with the AMF 521 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 521 and the AUSF 522; and may communicate with the UDM 527 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 527 and the AUSF 522. In addition, the AUSF 522 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0093] AMF 521 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 501, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 521 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 521 and SMF 524. AMF 521 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 501 and SMF 524, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 521 may also provide a transport between UE 501 and SMSF ( Figure 5 501). The AMF 521 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 522 and the UE 501, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 501 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 521 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 522. The AMF 521 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 521 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521; and the AMF 521 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0094] The AMF 521 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 501 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R) AN 510 and the AMF 521 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 510 and the UPF 502 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 521 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 524 and the AMF 521, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 501 and the AMF 521 via the N1 reference point between the UE 501 and the AMF 521, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 501 and the UPF 502. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 501. The AMF 521 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMFs 521 and the AMF 521 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 5 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0095] UE 501 may need to register with AMF 521 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 501 with the network (e.g., AMF 521) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 521). UE 501 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 501 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 521 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 501, so AMF 521 cannot reach UE 501. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 501 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 521 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 501, so AMF 521 can reach UE 501. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 501 may perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that UE 501 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0096] The AMF 521 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 501, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 521 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 521 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 501 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 521 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0097] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 501 and the AMF 521 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 501 and the CN 520, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 501 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 510) and the AMF 521. The UE 501 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 501 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 501 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 521 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R) AN 510 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 501. When the UE 501 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 501 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 521 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 510 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 501. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521 may cause the UE 501 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521 is released, the UE 501 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0098] SMF 524 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering of UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 501 and a data network (DN) 503 identified by a data network name (DNN). The PDU session may be established upon request by UE 501, modified upon request by UE 501 and 5GC 520, and released upon request by UE 501 and 5GC 520 using NAS SM signaling exchanged between UE 501 and SMF 524 over the N1 reference point. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 520 may trigger a specific application in UE 501. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 501 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 501. The identified applications in UE 501 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 524 may check whether the UE 501 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 501. In this regard, SMF 524 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 524 level subscription data from UDM 527.

[0099] SMF 524 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 524 may be included in the system 500, which may be located between an SMF 524 in a visited network and another SMF 524 in a home network. In addition, SMF 524 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0100] NEF 523 may provide a device for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 528), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 523 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 523 may also convert information exchanged with AF 528 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 523 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 523 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on their exposure capabilities. This information may be stored at NEF 523 as structured data, or stored at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 523, and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 523 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0101] NRF 525 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information about discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 525 also maintains information about available NF instances and services supported by these instances. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 525 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0102] The PCF 526 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 526 may also implement a FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 527. The PCF 526 may communicate with the AMF 521 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 526 and the AMF 521, which may include the PCF 526 in the visited network and the AMF 521 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 526 may communicate with the AF 528 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 526 and the AF 528; and communicate with the SMF 524 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 526 and the SMF 524. The system 500 and / or the CN 520 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 526 (in the home network) and the PCF 526 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 526 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0103] UDM 527 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 501. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 527 and AMF 521 via an N8 reference point between UDM 527 and AMF. UDM 527 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 5 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 527 and PCF 526, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 523 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 501). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 527, PCF 526 and NEF 523 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 524 via the N10 reference point between UDM 527 and SMF 524. UDM 527 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic discussed previously. In addition, UDM 527 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0104] AF 528 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 520 and AF 528 to provide information to each other via NEF 523, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 501 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 502 near UE 501 and perform traffic steering from UPF 502 to DN 503 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 528. In this way, AF 528 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 528 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 528 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 528 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0105] NSSF 529 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 501. If necessary, NSSF 529 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 529 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMFs 521, to serve UE 501 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 525. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 501 may be triggered by AMF 521, where UE 501 registers by interacting with NSSF 529, which may cause AMF 521 to change. NSSF 529 may interact with AMF 521 via the N22 reference point between AMF 521 and NSSF 529; and may communicate with AMF 521 via the N31 reference point ( Figure 5 The NSSF 529 may communicate with another NSSF 529 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 529 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0106] As previously discussed, CN 520 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from UE 501 to / from other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF 521 and UDM 527 for notification procedures that UE 501 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 527 when UE 501 is available for SMS).

[0107] CN 120 may also include Figure 5 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF can communicate with UDSF ( Figure 5 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data in or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 5 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0108] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 5These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 520 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 421) and AMF 521, to enable intercommunication between CN 520 and CN 420. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0109] Figure 6 An example of infrastructure equipment 600 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 600 (or "system 600") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 311 and / or AP 306 shown and described previously), an application server 330, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 600 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0110] System 600 includes application circuit 605, baseband circuit 610, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 615, memory circuit 620, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 625, power tee circuit 630, network controller circuit 635, network interface connector 640, satellite positioning circuit 645 and user interface 650. In some embodiments, device 600 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations.

[0111] The application circuit 605 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C or a general programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer (including an interval timer and a watchdog timer), a general input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar product, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 605 may be coupled to or may 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 600. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that 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, such as those discussed herein.

[0112] The processor of the application circuit 605 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 complex 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 suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 605 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 605 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processor; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium (TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, the system 600 may not utilize the application circuit 605, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from the EPC or 5GC.

[0113] In some implementations, the application circuit 605 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The 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 field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 605 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 605 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.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0114] Baseband circuit 610 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including 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. Figure 8 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 610 are discussed.

[0115] The user interface circuit 650 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 600, or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 600. 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 touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting 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.

[0116] The radio front end module (RFEM) 615 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Figure 8 Antenna array 8111), and RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 615 combining both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0117] The memory circuit 620 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 620 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0118] The PMIC 625 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 a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 630 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 600 using a single cable.

[0119] The network controller circuit 635 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 600 via a network interface connector 640, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 635 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 635 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0120] The positioning circuit 645 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global satellite navigation system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' 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., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 645 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 645 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 645 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 610 and / or RFEM 615 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 645 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 605, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 311, etc.), etc.

[0121] Figure 6 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuits that can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0122] Figure 7 An example of a platform 700 (or "device 700") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 700 may be suitable for use as a UE 301, 401, 502, an application server 330, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 700 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 700 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion thereof, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof suitable for use in the computer platform 700, or implemented as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 7The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 700. 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 implementations.

[0123] The application circuit 705 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I2C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general I / O, memory card controller (such as SD MMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface, and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 705 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 700. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that 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, such as those discussed herein.

[0124] The processor of the application circuit 605 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, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 605 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0125] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 705 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of application circuit 705 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 705 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 705 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as company( Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0126] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 705 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 705 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 705 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.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in lookup tables (LUTs), etc.

[0127] Baseband circuit 710 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including 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. Figure 8 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 710 are discussed.

[0128] The RFEM 715 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Figure 8 Antenna array 8111), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 715 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0129] The memory circuit 720 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a fixed amount of system memory. For example, the memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory, including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 720 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 720 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP) or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 720 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 705. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 720 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid-state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 700 may be combined with and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0130] Removable memory circuitry 723 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 700. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0131] The platform 700 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 700. External devices connected to the platform 700 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 721 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 722, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 723.

[0132] Sensor circuitry 721 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment, and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0133] The EMC 722 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable the platform 700 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, the EMC 722 may be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 700 to indicate the current state of the EMC 722. Examples of the EMC 722 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 700 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 722 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and / or various clients.

[0134] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 700 to the positioning circuit 745. The positioning circuit 745 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 745 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 745 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 745 may also be part of the baseband circuit 610 and / or the RFEM 715 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 745 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 705, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, etc.

[0135] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 700 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 740. The NFC circuit 740 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where a magnetic field is sensed to enable communication between the NFC circuit 740 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 700. The NFC circuit 740 includes 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 740 by executing an NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 740, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 740 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) close to the platform 700.

[0136] The driver circuit 746 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 700. The driver circuit 746 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 700 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 700. For example, the driver circuit 746 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 700, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 721 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 721, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 722 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 722, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0137] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725 (also referred to as “power management circuit 725”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 700. Specifically, the PMIC 725 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 710. When the platform 700 is capable of being powered by a battery 730, for example, when the device is included in a UE 301, 401, 502, the PMIC 725 may be generally included.

[0138] In some embodiments, the PMIC 725 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 700. For example, if the platform 700 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic immediately, then after a period of inactivity, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 700 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 700 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, where the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. are performed. The platform 700 enters a very low power state and performs paging, where the device wakes up periodically again to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 700 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0139] The battery 730 can power the platform 700, but in some examples, the platform 700 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 730 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 730 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0140] In some implementations, the battery 730 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 700 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 730. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 730, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 730 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 730 to the application circuit 705 or other components of the platform 700. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 705 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 730 or the current from the battery 730. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 700 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0141] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 730. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 700. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 730 and therefore on the required current. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0142] The user interface circuit 750 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 700, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform 700 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to enable peripheral components to interact with the platform 700. The user interface circuit 750 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 700. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 721 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0143] Although not shown, the components of platform 700 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, time-triggered protocol (TTP) systems, FlexRay systems, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0144] Figure 8 81 shows exemplary components of a baseband circuit 8110 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 8115 according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 8110 corresponds to Figure 6 and Figure 7Baseband circuits 610 and 710. RFEM 8115 corresponds accordingly Figure 6 and Figure 7 RFEM 615 and 715. As shown, RFEM 8115 may include radio frequency (RF) circuit 8106, front end module (FEM) circuit 8108, and antenna array 8111 coupled together at least as shown.

[0145] The baseband circuit 8110 includes circuits and / or control logic components that are configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 8106. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 8110 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 8110 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 8110 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 8106 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 8106. The baseband circuit 8110 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 605 / 705 (see Figure 6 and Figure 7 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 8106. Baseband circuit 8110 can handle various radio control functions.

[0146] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 8110 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 8104A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 8104B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 8104C, or some other baseband processors 8104D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, part or all of the functions of the baseband processors 8104A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 8104G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 8104E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 8104A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with an appropriate bitstream or logic block stored in a corresponding memory unit. In various embodiments, the memory 8104G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 8104E (or other baseband processor), will enable the CPU 8104E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 8110, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-TimeExecutive (VRTX) provided by Express Provided by ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by Open Kernel (OK) OKL4 provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 8110 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 8104F. The audio DSP 8104F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0147] In some embodiments, each of the processors 8104A-8104E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from the memory 8104G. The baseband circuit 8110 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit 8110; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 6 to 8 An application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 605 / 705; Figure 8 RF circuit 8106 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 725.

[0148] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 8110 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem and the interface subsystem via an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure and / or some other suitable bus or interconnection technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 8110 may include a protocol processing circuit with one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 8115).

[0149] although Figure 8Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 8110 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit" or "processor circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 8110 and / or the RF circuit 8106 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In a first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 8110 and / or the RF circuit 8106 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In a second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 8104G) for storing program codes and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program codes and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 8110 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0150] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 8110 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate, which includes one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit 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 8110 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or arranged on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 8110 and the RF circuit 8106 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SOC) or a system-level package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 8110 may be implemented as a separate SoC coupled to the RF circuit 8106 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 8106) in communication. In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 8110 and the application circuit 605 / 705 may be implemented together as a separate SoC (e.g., a "multi-chip package") mounted to the same circuit board.

[0151] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 8110 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 8110 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 8110 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0152] The RF circuit 8106 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 8106 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. The RF circuit 8106 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 8108 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 8110. The RF circuit 8106 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 8110 and providing an RF output signal for transmission to the FEM circuit 8108.

[0153] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 8106 may include a mixer circuit 8106a, an amplifier circuit 8106b, and a filter circuit 8106c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 8106 may include a filter circuit 8106c and a mixer circuit 8106a. The RF circuit 8106 may also include a synthesizer circuit 8106d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 8108 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 8106d. The amplifier circuit 8106b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 8106c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuit 8110 for further processing. In some embodiments, although this is not required, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0154] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 8106a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 8106d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 8108. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 8110 and may be filtered by filter circuit 8106c.

[0155] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 8106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 8106a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 8106a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 8106a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 8106a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0156] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although 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 8106 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 8110 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 8106.

[0157] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0158] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 8106d can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 8106d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0159] The synthesizer circuit 8106d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 8106a of the RF circuit 8106. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 8106d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0160] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 8110 or the application circuit 605 / 705 according to 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 circuit 605 / 705.

[0161] The synthesizer circuit 8106d of the RF circuit 8106 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency 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 by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0162] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 8106d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 8106 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0163] The FEM circuitry 8108 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the antenna array 8111, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 8106 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 8108 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 8106 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 8111. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 8106, only in the FEM circuitry 8108, or in both the RF circuitry 8106 and the FEM circuitry 8108.

[0164] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 8108 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 8108 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 8108 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 8106). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 8108 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 8106), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 8111.

[0165] The antenna array 8111 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 8110 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 8111 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 8111 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 8111 may be formed into a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) of various shapes and may be coupled to the RF circuit 8106 and / or the FEM circuit 8108 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0166] The processor of the application circuit 605 / 705 and the processor of the baseband circuit 8110 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 8110 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, and the processor of the application circuit 605 / 705 can use the data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0167] Fig. 9 Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some embodiments are shown. Specifically, Fig. 9An arrangement 900 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig. 9 The following description, but Fig. 9 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0168] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 900 may also include one or more of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, SDAP 947, RRC 955, and NAS layer 957. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig. 9 Items 959, 956, 950, 949, 945, 935, 925 and 915).

[0169] PHY 910 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 905, which can be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 905 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 910 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 955). PHY 910 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 910 may process a request from an instance of MAC 920 via one or more PHY-SAP 915, and provide an indication thereto. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 915 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0170] An instance of MAC 920 may process requests from an instance of RLC 930 via one or more MAC-SAPs 925 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 925 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 920 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 910 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 910 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0171] An instance of RLC 930 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 940 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 935 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 935 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 930 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 930 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 930 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0172] An instance of PDCP 940 may process requests from an instance of RRC 955 and / or an instance of SDAP 947 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 945 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 945 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 940 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0173] An instance of SDAP 947 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP 949 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 949 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 947 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 947 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 310 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 947 of UE 301 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 947 of UE 301 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 510 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 955 configuring the SDAP 947 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 947. In an embodiment, the SDAP 947 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0174] The RRC 955 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, and SDAP 947, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 955 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 957 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 956. The main services and functions of the RRC 955 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 301 and the RAN 310 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0175] NAS 957 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 301 and AMF 521. NAS 957 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 301 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 301 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0176] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 900 may be implemented in the UE 301, the RAN node 311, the AMF 521 in the NR implementation or the MME 421 in the LTE implementation, the UPF 502 in the NR implementation or the S-GW 422 and the P-GW 423 in the LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of the UE 301, the gNB 311, the AMF 521, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using the services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 311 may host the RRC 955, SDAP 947, and PDCP 940 of the gNB that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 311 may each host the RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910 of gNB 311.

[0177] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 957, RRC 955, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910. In this example, an upper layer 960 may be built on top of NAS 957, which includes an IP layer 961, SCTP 962, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 963.

[0178] In a NR specific implementation, AP 963 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 963 for the NG interface 313 defined between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521, or AP 963 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 963 for the Xn interface 312 defined between two or more RAN nodes 311.

[0179] The NG-AP 963 may support the functionality of the NG interface 313 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521. The NG-AP 963 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 301) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 311 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 521 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 521 and the NG-RAN node 311; a mobility function for the UE 301 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 301 and the AMF 521; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 521 and the UE 301; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transmit a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 301 and the AMF 521; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 521 and the UE 301; a ... via the CN 320 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 311; and / or other similar functions.

[0180] The XnAP 963 may support the functions of the Xn interface 312 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 311 (or E-UTRAN 410), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 301, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0181] In an LTE specific implementation, the AP 963 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 963 for the S1 interface 313 defined between the E-UTRAN node 311 and the MME, or the AP 963 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 963 for the X2 interface 312 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 311.

[0182] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 963 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 311 and the MME 421 within the LTE CN 320. The S1-AP 963 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0183] The X2AP 963 may support the functions of the X2 interface 312 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 320, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 301, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0184] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 962 can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 962 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 311 and the AMF 521 / MME 421 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 961. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 961 can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 961 can deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 311 can include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0185] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 947, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 301, RAN node 311, and UPF 502 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 422 and P-GW 423 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 951 may be built on top of SDAP 947 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 952, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol layer (GTP-U) 953 for the user plane, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 963.

[0186] The transport network layer 954 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 953 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 952 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of the formats, for example, IPv4, IPv6, or PPP.

[0187] GTP-U 953 can be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data can be a packet in any of the IPv4, IPv6 or PPP formats. UDP / IP 952 can provide a checksum for data integrity, a port number for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 311 and the S-GW 422 can exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY910), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940 and / or SDAP 947), a UDP / IP layer 952, and a GTP-U 953 using an S1-U interface. The S-GW 422 and the P-GW 423 can exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 952, and a GTP-U 953 using an S5 / S8a interface. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility and session management procedures of the UE 301 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 301 and the P-GW 423 .

[0188] In addition, despite Fig. 9Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 963 and / or transport network layer 954. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 301, RAN node 311, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 605 or the application circuit 705, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 8110) of the UE 301 or RAN node 311. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0189] Fig.10 Components of a core network according to various embodiments are shown. The components of CN 1020 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment, the components of CN 520 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed herein with respect to the components of CN1020. In some embodiments, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 1020 may be referred to as a network slice 1001, and each logical instance of CN1020 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 1020 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1002 (e.g., network sub-slice 1002 is shown as including P-GW 1023 and PCRF 1026).

[0190] As used herein, the terms "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in different IP domains or in the case of overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network function (NF) instances and the resources (e.g., computing, storage, and network resources) required to deploy a network slice.

[0191] Compared to 5G systems (see e.g. Figure 5), a network slice always includes a RAN part and a CN part. Support for network slicing relies on the principle that traffic of different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can implement different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1 / L2 configurations. If NAS has provided an RRC message, UE 501 provides auxiliary information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message. Although the network can support a large number of slices, the UE does not need to support more than 8 slices at the same time.

[0192] The network slice may include the CN 520 control plane and user plane NF, the NG-RAN 510 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function in the serving PLMN. Each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI and / or may have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by the S-NSSAI. The network slice may be different for supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service / feature, but different for different groups of UE 501 (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice may deliver different committed services and / or may be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with a different slice differentiator. In addition, a single UE may be served simultaneously with one or more network slice instances via a 5G AN and be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. In addition, an AMF 521 instance serving a single UE 501 may belong to each network slice instance serving the UE.

[0193] Network slicing in NG-RAN 510 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes different treatment of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in NG-RAN 510 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling including PDU session resource information. How NG-RAN 510 supports enabling slices in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., a set of network functions including each slice) depends on the specific implementation. NG-RAN 510 selects the RAN part of the network slice using auxiliary information provided by UE 501 or 5GC 520, which explicitly identifies one or more network slices in the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. NG-RAN 510 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to SLA. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and NG-RAN 510 can also appropriately apply appropriate RRM policies for SLA to each supported slice. NG-RAN 510 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0194] The NG-RAN 510 may also use the UE assistance information to select an AMF 521 during the initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN 510 uses the assistance information to route the initial NAS to the AMF 521. If the NG-RAN 510 cannot select an AMF 521 using the assistance information, or the UE 501 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 510 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF 521, which may be in the AMF 521 pool. For subsequent access, the UE 501 provides a temporary ID assigned to the UE 501 by the 5GC 520 to enable the NG-RAN 510 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 521, as long as the temporary ID is valid. The NG-RAN 510 is aware of and can reach the AMF 521 associated with the temporary ID. Otherwise, the method used for initial attach applies.

[0195] The NG-RAN 510 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 510 resource isolation can be achieved with the help of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid starvation of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some implementations, NG-RAN 510 resources can be fully assigned to a slice. How the NG-RAN 510 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0196] Some slices may be available only in parts of the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN 510 of supported slices in its neighboring cells may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the registration area of ​​the UE. The NG-RAN 510 and 5GC 520 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. Granting or denying access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, and support of the requested service by the NG-RAN 510.

[0197] The UE 501 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where the UE 501 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 501 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities may be used to control the frequency that the UE 501 camps on. The 5GC 520 will verify that the UE 501 has the right to access the network slice. Prior to receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN 510 may be allowed to apply some temporary / local policies based on the awareness of the specific slice that the UE 501 is requesting access to. During the Initial Context Setup, the NG-RAN 510 is informed of the slice whose resources are being requested.

[0198] NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources including a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0199] Fig.11 110 is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system 1100 according to some exemplary embodiments. System 1100 is shown to include VIM 1102, NFVI 1104, VNFM 1106, VNF 1108, EM 1110, NFVO 1112, and NM 1114.

[0200] The VIM 1102 manages resources of the NFVI 1104. The NFVI 1104 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including a hypervisor) for executing the system 1100. The VIM 1102 may utilize the NFVI 1104 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, failures, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0201] The VNFM 1106 may manage the VNF 1108. The VNF 1108 may be used to perform EPC components / functions. The VNFM 1106 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1108 and track the performance, failures, and security of the virtual aspects of the VNF 1108. The EM 1110 may track the performance, failures, and security of the functional aspects of the VNF 1108. The tracking data from the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 may include, for example, PM data used by the VIM 1102 or the NFVI 1104. The VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 may both scale up / down the number of VNFs of the system 1100.

[0202] NFVO 1112 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage resources of NFVI 1104 in order to provide requested services (e.g., execute EPC functions, components, or slices). NM 1114 may provide an end-user functional grouping responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs may occur via EM 1110).

[0203] Fig.12is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.12 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1200 is shown, 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 can be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1202 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1200.

[0204] Processor 1210 may include, for example, processor 1212 and processor 1214. Processor 1210 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0205] The memory / storage device 1220 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable 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, solid-state storage, etc.

[0206] The communication resources 1230 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1204 or one or more databases 1206 via the network 1208. For example, the communication resources 1230 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0207] The instructions 1250 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1210 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1250 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 1210 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1220, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1250 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1200 from any combination of the peripheral device 1204 or the 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.

[0208] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the example section below.

[0209] Fig.13 A flowchart 1300 is depicted that determines a maximum number of PDCCH candidates for each reference slot monitored by a UE (such as UE 501a or 501b) according to some embodiments. In another embodiment, a number different from the maximum number of PDCCH candidates for each reference slot may be determined. In some embodiments, flowchart 1300 may be executed or controlled by a processor or processor circuit in a UE as described in various embodiments herein, including Fig.12 The processor 1210 shown in Figure 6-Figure 7 , application circuit 605 , application circuit 705 , baseband circuit 610 and / or baseband circuit 710 shown in .

[0210] exist Fig.13 In operation 1310, a downlink radio frame indicating multiple component carriers may be received by the UE. The multiple component carriers may have more than one subcarrier spacing (SCS), and each component carrier corresponds to a serving cell. In some embodiments, the UE may be configured with up to 16 component carriers for carrier aggregation. In some embodiments, one of the multiple component carriers may be designated as a primary cell (PCell), and the remaining component carriers may be referred to as secondary cells (SCells). For example, Figure 1AAs shown, the UE may be configured with three component carriers CC0, CC1, and CC2. The three component carriers may include three subcarrier spacings of 15kHz, 30kHz, and 60kHz defined by the subcarrier spacing configuration u. When u is 0 for CC0, the subcarrier spacing of CC0 may be 15kHz. When u is 1 for CC2, the subcarrier spacing of CC0 may be 130kHz. When u is 2 for CC2, the subcarrier spacing of CC2 may be 60kHz.

[0211] exist Fig.13 In operation 1320, multiple component carriers may be allocated to multiple cell groups. A first subset of multiple component carriers is allocated to at least one cell group, the first subset including a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset. Figure 2 As shown, five component carriers CC0, CC1, CC2, CC3 and CC4 can be allocated to two cell groups, namely cell group #0 and cell group #1. Cell group #0 may include component carriers CC0, CC1 and CC2. Cell group #2 may include component carriers CC3 and CC4. In addition to CC0 in cell group #2, cell group #0 may also include a scheduling component carrier CC0 that provides scheduling information (e.g., PDCCH) for component carriers CC1 and CC2. Cell group #1 may include a scheduling component carrier CC3 that provides scheduling information (e.g., PDCCH) for component carriers CC3 and CC4 in cell group #2.

[0212] exist Fig.13 In operation 1330, the reference time slot window may be selected based on the SCS of the component carriers assigned to at least one cell group. In some embodiments, the reference time slot window may be selected based on the minimum SCS of the component carriers in the cell group. In some embodiments, the reference time slot window may be selected based on the maximum SCS of the component carriers in the cell group. In some embodiments, the reference time slot window may be selected based on the SCS of the scheduled component carriers in the cell group. For example, Figure 2 As shown, the reference slot window may be selected based on the maximum subcarrier spacing of cell group #0 and cell group #1, respectively. After selecting the reference slot window, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs per reference slot window may be calculated for each cell group.

[0213] exist Fig.13In operation 1340, a maximum number of PDCCH candidates for each reference time slot window that can be monitored by the UE may be determined for the at least one cell group based on the number of component carriers in the first subset allocated to the at least one cell group and the SCS of the component carriers. In some embodiments, a maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference time slot window that can be monitored by the UE may also be determined for the at least one cell group based on the number of component carriers in the first subset allocated to the at least one cell group and the SCS of the component carriers in the first subset. In another embodiment, a number different from the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs per reference time slot may be determined. For example, Figure 2 As shown in Table 1, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference time slot window monitored by the UE for cell group #0 and cell group #1 can be calculated based on the number of component carriers in each cell group and the subcarrier spacing of each component carrier in each cell group.

[0214] In some embodiments, when a UE is configured with no more than four component carriers, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference slot window monitored by the UE may be calculated using Equations 1 and 2. In some embodiments, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for component carriers in a cell group may depend on the scheduled gNB, respectively, subject to non-CA restrictions.

[0215] In some embodiments, when the UE is configured with more than four component carriers, the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference slot window monitored by the UE may be calculated using equations 3-6. In some embodiments, the minimum subcarrier spacing of the component carriers in each cell group may be defined based on and (Referred to as "Option 1"). In some implementations, the subcarrier spacing of the scheduled component carriers in each cell group may be defined. and (Referred to as "Option 2"). In some implementations, the maximum subcarrier spacing of the component carriers in each cell group may be defined. and (referred to as "Option 3"). An offset value Δ may be added to calculate To improve the scheduling efficiency of Option 3, as shown in Equations 7 and 8. The value Δ may be defined based on the subcarrier spacing of the component carriers in the cell group. In some embodiments, it may be defined based on Equations 9 and 10 and To further maximize the number of PDCCH candidates.

[0216] In some embodiments, Figure 2 Take cell group #0 in as an example, and use option 1 to calculate the maximum number of PDCCH candidates. will be 204, such as Figure 1A Calculated in . and therefore will be Therefore, min(204, 105) will be 105, as shown in Table 1 for Option 1, and k = 0. To calculate the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs, will be 360, such as Figure 1A Calculated in . therefore will be Therefore, min(360, 134) will be 134, as shown in Table 1 for Option 1, and k = 0. Similarly, other options may be used to calculate the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs per cell group. In another embodiment, a number different from the maximum number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of CCEs per reference slot may be determined.

[0217] exist Fig.13 In operation 1350, the UE may monitor control information in a downlink radio frame based on the determined first maximum number of PDCCH candidates. For example, the control information may be monitored by a processor or processor circuit in the UE described in various embodiments herein, including Fig.12 The processor 1210 shown in Figure 6 The baseband circuit 610 and / or Figure 7 The baseband circuit 710 shown in .

[0218] Example

[0219] Embodiment 1 includes a method for determining a maximum PDCCH, the method determining the number of PDCCH candidates monitored in a radio communication system, the method comprising:

[0220] Generating a cell group (CG) by the UE; and

[0221] The UE determines a reference time slot window based on the SCS of the CC within the generated CG; and

[0222] The maximum total number of PDCCH candidates and the maximum number of non-overlapping CCEs for each reference slot window on each cell group are calculated.

[0223] Embodiment 2 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the cell group includes a configured CC for the UE, which CC can be divided into multiple cell groups (CGs), and all CCs within the CG are self-carrier or cross-carrier scheduled by the same scheduling CC.

[0224] Embodiment 3 includes the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the reference time slot window may be defined based on the minimum SCS within the CG.

[0225] Embodiment 4 includes the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the reference time slot window may be defined based on the SCS of the scheduling CC.

[0226] Embodiment 5 includes the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the reference time slot window may be defined based on the maximum SCS of the CC within the CG.

[0227] Embodiment 6 includes the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0228] If the UE is capable of operating with CA with a maximum of 4 DL cells and the UE is configured with Then the UE is expected to monitor the Candidates, and Non-overlapping CCE, where u refer slot is the SCS of the reference time slot window:

[0229]

[0230]

[0231] Embodiment 7 includes the method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0232] If the UE is capable of operating with CA with more than 4 DL CCs and the UE indicates monitoring PDCCH candidate capability, and the UE is configured with It is expected that the UE can monitor the DCI format for each reference slot on the cell The sum of candidates and each reference time slot of cell group k The sum of non-overlapping CCEs, where u refer slot is the SCS of the reference time slot window.

[0233]

[0234]

[0235] The determination is based on at least the SCS of the CC in the CG and the number of CCs in the CG

[0236] Embodiment 8 includes the method according to embodiment 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0237]

[0238]

[0239] Defined based on the minimum SCS of CC within CG

[0240] Embodiment 9 includes the method according to Embodiment 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0241]

[0242]

[0243] The SCS of the scheduling CC in the CG is defined as follows:

[0244] Embodiment 10 includes the method according to Embodiment 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0245]

[0246]

[0247] The maximum SCS of CC in CG is defined as

[0248] Embodiment 11 includes the method according to embodiment 10 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein an offset value Δ may be added for calculating

[0249] Embodiment 12 includes the method according to Embodiment 7 and / or some other embodiments herein, further comprising:

[0250]

[0251]

[0252] where u refer slot is the SCS of the reference time slot window.

[0253] Embodiment Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 12, or any other method or process described herein.

[0254] Embodiment Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 12 or any other method or process described herein.

[0255] Embodiment Z03 may include a device comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 12, or any other method or process described herein.

[0256] Embodiment Z04 may include a method, technique or process described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, or a portion or component thereof.

[0257] Embodiment Z05 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, process, or portion thereof described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 12.

[0258] Embodiment Z06 may include a signal according to or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 12, or a portion or component thereof.

[0259] Embodiment Z07 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0260] Embodiment Z08 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0261] Embodiment Z09 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0262] Embodiment Z10 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0263] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be acquired from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0264] abbreviation

[0265] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and implementations discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0266] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0267] 4G Fourth Generation

[0268] 5G Fifth Generation

[0269] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0270] ACK

[0271] AF Application Function

[0272] AM Confirmation Mode

[0273] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0274] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0275] AN Access Network

[0276] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0277] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0278] API Application Programming Interface

[0279] APN Access Point Name

[0280] ARP Assignment Retention Priority

[0281] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0282] AS Access Layer

[0283] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation

[0284] AUSF authentication server function

[0285] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0286] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0287] BER Bit Error Rate

[0288] BLER Block Error Rate

[0289] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0290] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0291] BSS Business Support System

[0292] BS Base Station

[0293] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0294] BW Bandwidth

[0295] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0296] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0297] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0298] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0299] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0300] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0301] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0302] CCE Control Channel Element

[0303] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0304] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0305] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0306] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0307] CFRA Contention-free random access

[0308] CG Cell Group

[0309] Cl cell identifier

[0310] CID Cell ID (eg, positioning method)

[0311] CIM Common Information Model

[0312] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0313] CK Cryptographic Key

[0314] CM Connection Management, Conditionally Mandatory

[0315] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0316] CMD command

[0317] CM Cloud Management System

[0318] CO Conditional optional

[0319] CoMP Coordinated Multipoint

[0320] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0321] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0322] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Attachment Point

[0323] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0324] CPE Customer Premises Equipment

[0325] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0326] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0327] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0328] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0329] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0330] CRB Common Resource Block

[0331] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0332] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0333] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0334] CS Circuit Switched

[0335] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0336] CSI Channel State Information

[0337] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0338] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0339] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0340] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0341] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0342] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0343] CSMA / CA CSMA with collision avoidance

[0344] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0345] CTS Clear to Send

[0346] CW codeword

[0347] CWS Contention Window Size

[0348] D2D Device to Device

[0349] DC Dual Connection, Direct Current

[0350] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0351] DF deployment preferences

[0352] DL Downlink

[0353] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0354] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0355] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0356] DN Data Network

[0357] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0358] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0359] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0360] DSL Digital Subscriber Line

[0361] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0362] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0363] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0364] E2E End-to-End

[0365] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0366] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0367] ED Energy Detection

[0368] EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0369] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0370] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0371] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0372] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0373] EM Component Manager

[0374] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0375] eMBMS Evolved MBMS

[0376] EMS Component Management System

[0377] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0378] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0379] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0380] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0381] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0382] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0383] EREG Enhanced REG, enhanced resource element group

[0384] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0385] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0386] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0387] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0388] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0389] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0390] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0391] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0392] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0393] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0394] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0395] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0396] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel

[0397] FB Function Block

[0398] FBI Feedback

[0399] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0400] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0401] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0402] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0403] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0404] FE Front End

[0405] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0406] FFS for further study

[0407] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0408] feLAA Further Enhanced License Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA

[0409] FN Frame Number

[0410] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0411] FR Frequency Range

[0412] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0413] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0414] GSM Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0415] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (English: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0416] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0417] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0418] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0419] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0420] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0421] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Association

[0422] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0423] GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for the User Plane

[0424] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0425] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0426] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0427] HANDO, HO switch

[0428] HFN Superframe Number

[0429] HHO Hard Handover

[0430] HLR Home Location Register

[0431] HN Home Network

[0432] HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0433] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0434] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0435] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0436] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0437] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0438] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0439] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL (i.e. port 443))

[0440] l-Block Information block

[0441] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0442] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0443] ID, identifier

[0444] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0445] IE Information Elements

[0446] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0447] IE1 Information Element Identifier

[0448] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0449] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0450] IF infrastructure

[0451] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0452] IMC IMS credentials

[0453] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0454] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0455] IMPI IP Multimedia Privacy Identity

[0456] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0457] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0458] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0459] IoT

[0460] IP Internet Protocol

[0461] IPsec IP security, Internet Protocol security

[0462] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0463] IP-M IP Multicast

[0464] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0465] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0466] IR

[0467] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0468] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0469] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0470] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0471] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0472] IWF interworking function

[0473] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0474] K is the constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM individual key

[0475] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0476] kbps kilobits per second

[0477] Kc Cryptographic key

[0478] Ki Individual user authentication key

[0479] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0480] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0481] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0482] ksps kilosymbols per second

[0483] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0484] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0485] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0486] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0487] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0488] LAA License Assisted Access

[0489] LAN Local Area Network

[0490] LBT Listen before you speak

[0491] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0492] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0493] LCS Location Services

[0494] LI layer indicator

[0495] LLC Logical Link Control, low layer compatibility

[0496] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0497] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0498] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0499] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0500] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0501] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0502] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0503] M2M Machine to Machine

[0504] MAC Medium Access Control (Protocol Layer Context)

[0505] MAC Message Authentication Code (Security / Cryptography Context)

[0506] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0507] MAC-I MAC for data integrity of signaling messages (TSG TWG3 context)

[0508] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0509] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

[0510] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0511] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0512] MCG Master Cell Group

[0513] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0514] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0515] MDAF Management Data Analysis Function

[0516] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0517] Minimization of MDT-driven testing

[0518] ME Mobile Devices

[0519] MeNB Master eNB

[0520] MER message error rate

[0521] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0522] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0523] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0524] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0525] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0526] MM Mobility Management

[0527] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0528] MN Master Node

[0529] MO measurement object, mobile station calling

[0530] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0531] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0532] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0533] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0534] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0535] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0536] MS Mobile Station

[0537] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0538] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0539] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0540] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0541] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0542] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0543] MT mobile station called, mobile terminal

[0544] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0545] mMTC Massive MTC, massive machine type communication

[0546] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0547] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0548] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0549] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0550] NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum

[0551] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0552] NEC network capabilities exposed

[0553] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity

[0554] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0555] NF Network Function

[0556] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0557] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0558] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0559] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0560] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0561] NG Next generation, next generation

[0562] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0563] NM Network Manager

[0564] NMS Network Management System

[0565] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0566] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0567] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0568] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0569] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0570] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0571] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0572] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0573] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0574] NR New Radio, Neighbor Relations

[0575] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0576] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0577] NS Network Services

[0578] NSA Non-standalone operation mode

[0579] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0580] NSR Network Service Record

[0581] NSSAI `Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0582] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0583] NSSF network slice selection function

[0584] NW Network

[0585] NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0586] NZP Non Zero Power

[0587] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0588] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0589] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0590] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0591] OOB Out of Band

[0592] OPEX Operational Expenses

[0593] OSI Other System Information

[0594] OSS Operation Support System

[0595] OTA

[0596] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0597] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0598] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0599] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0600] PCC primary component carrier, primary CC

[0601] PCell Primary Cell

[0602] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity

[0603] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0604] PCF Policy Control Function

[0605] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0606] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0607] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0608] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0609] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0610] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0611] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0612] PEI Persistent Equipment Identifier

[0613] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0614] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0615] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0616] PHY Physical Layer

[0617] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0618] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0619] PM performance measurement

[0620] PMI Precoding matrix indicator

[0621] PNF Physical Network Function

[0622] PNFD Physical Network Functional Descriptor

[0623] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0624] POC PTT over Cellular

[0625] PP, PTP Point to Point

[0626] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0627] PRACH Physical RACH

[0628] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0629] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0630] ProSe Proximity-based services

[0631] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0632] PS Packet Service

[0633] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0634] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0635] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0636] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0637] PSCell Primary SCell

[0638] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0639] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0640] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0641] PTT Push to Talk

[0642] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0643] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0644] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0645] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0646] QCL Quasi-Co-sited

[0647] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0648] QoS Quality of Service

[0649] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0650] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0651] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0652] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0653] RACH Random Access Channel

[0654] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0655] RAN Radio Access Network

[0656] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0657] RAR Random Access Response

[0658] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0659] RAU Routing Area Update

[0660] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0661] RBG Resource Block Group

[0662] REG Resource Element Group

[0663] Rel Release

[0664] REQ Request

[0665] RF

[0666] RI Rank Indicator

[0667] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0668] RL Radio Link

[0669] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0670] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0671] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0672] RLM-RS Reference signal for RLM

[0673] RM Registration Management

[0674] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0675] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0676] RN Relay Node

[0677] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0678] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0679] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0680] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0681] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0682] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0683] RS reference signal

[0684] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0685] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0686] RSSI Reference Signal Strength Indicator

[0687] RSU Road Side Unit

[0688] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0689] RTP Real Time Protocol

[0690] RTS Ready to Send

[0691] RTT Round Trip Time

[0692] Rx receive, receive, receiver

[0693] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0694] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0695] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0696] S-GW Service Gateway

[0697] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0698] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0699] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0700] SAE system architecture evolution

[0701] SAP Service Access Point

[0702] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0703] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0704] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0705] SCell Secondary Cell

[0706] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0707] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0708] SCM Security Context Management

[0709] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0710] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0711] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0712] SDL Supplemental Downlink

[0713] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0714] SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)

[0715] SDSF structured data storage function

[0716] SDU Service Data Unit

[0717] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0718] SeNB Assisted eNB

[0719] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0720] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0721] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0722] SFN System Frame Number

[0723] SgNB

[0724] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0725] S-GW Service Gateway

[0726] SI System Information

[0727] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0728] SIB System Information Block

[0729] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0730] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0731] SiP System in Package

[0732] SL Side Link

[0733] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0734] SM Session Management

[0735] SMF session management functions

[0736] SMS Short Message Service

[0737] SMSF SMS Function

[0738] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0739] SN Secondary node, serial number

[0740] SoC System on Chip

[0741] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0742] SpCell Special Cell

[0743] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0744] SPS Semi-persistent Scheduling

[0745] SQN Number

[0746] SR Scheduling Request

[0747] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0748] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0749] SS Sync Signal

[0750] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0751] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0752] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0753] SS-RSRP Reference signal received power based on synchronization signal

[0754] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0755] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0756] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0757] SST Slice / Service Type

[0758] SU-MIMO Single User MIMO

[0759] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0760] TA timing advance, tracking area

[0761] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0762] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0763] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0764] TB Transfer Block

[0765] TBS Transport Block Size

[0766] TBD To be defined

[0767] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0768] TCP transport communication protocol

[0769] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0770] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0771] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0772] TE Terminal Equipment

[0773] TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier

[0774] TFT Business Flow Template

[0775] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0776] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0777] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0778] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0779] TR Technical Report

[0780] TRP,TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0781] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0782] TRx Transceiver

[0783] TS Technical Specification, Technical Standard

[0784] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0785] Tx transmission, transmission, transmitter

[0786] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0787] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0788] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0789] UE User Equipment

[0790] UDM Unified Data Management

[0791] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0792] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0793] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0794] UL Uplink

[0795] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0796] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0797] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0798] UP User Plane

[0799] UPF User Plane Function

[0800] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0801] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0802] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency

[0803] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0804] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0805] USS UE-specific search space

[0806] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0807] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0808] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0809] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0810] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0811] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0812] V2X: Vehicle-to-Everything

[0813] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0814] VL Virtual Link

[0815] VLAN virtual LAN, virtual local area network

[0816] VM Virtual Machine

[0817] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0818] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0819] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0820] VNFM VNF Manager

[0821] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0822] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0823] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0824] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0825] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0826] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0827] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0828] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0829] X2-C X2 control plane

[0830] X2-U X2 user plane

[0831] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0832] XRES Expected User Response

[0833] XOR

[0834] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0835] ZP Zero Power

[0836] the term

[0837] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0838] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0839] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to 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" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may be referred to as "processor circuit".

[0840] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0841] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0842] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0843] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0844] As used herein, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0845] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time and / or a processor / CPU usage rate, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage rate, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage rate, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0846] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information over a RAT.

[0847] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0848] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and their derivatives are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with each other by means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0849] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents.

[0850] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0851] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0852] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0853] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when reconfiguration is performed using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0854] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0855] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells.

[0856] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, where there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0857] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group including a special cell for a UE configured with CA and in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0858] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. A user equipment UE, comprising: a radio front end circuit configured to receive a downlink radio frame indicating a plurality of component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing SCS; as well as a processor circuit, coupled to the radio front end circuit, configured to: Allocating the plurality of component carriers to a plurality of cell groups, wherein a first subset of the plurality of component carriers is allocated to a first cell group, the first subset comprising a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset; selecting a reference time slot window for the first cell group based on an SCS of a component carrier in the first cell group; Determining a scaling factor for each component carrier in the first cell group based on the reference time slot window and the SCS of each component carrier; determining, for the first cell group, a number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor of each component carrier, and the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group; and Control information in the downlink radio frame is monitored based on the number of PDCCH candidates.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: determining, for the first cell group, a number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of non-overlapping CCEs is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor of each component carrier, and the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group; and The downlink radio frame is monitored for control information based on the number of non-overlapping CCEs.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the reference time slot window is selected based on a minimum SCS of component carriers in the first subset, a maximum SCS of component carriers in the first subset, or an SCS of the scheduled component carriers in the first subset allocated to the first cell group.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein when the UE is configured with no more than four component carriers, the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference time slot windows of the first cell group is the sum of the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference time slot windows of each component carrier in the first cell group.

5. The UE according to claim 2, wherein when the UE is configured with no more than four component carriers, the number of non-overlapping CCEs of each of the reference time slot windows of the first cell group is the sum of the number of non-overlapping CCEs of each of the reference time slot windows of each component carrier in the first cell group.

6. The UE according to claim 1, wherein when the UE is configured with more than four component carriers, the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference time slot windows of the first cell group is the minimum of: a sum of the number of PDCCH candidates for each reference slot window of each component carrier in the first cell group, and The product of the number of component carriers that the UE can monitor and the number of PDCCH candidates of the reference component carrier is divided by the number of the plurality of component carriers.

7. The UE according to claim 6, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates for the reference component carrier is determined based on: the minimum SCS of the component carrier in the first cell group, The maximum SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group, the SCS of the scheduling component carrier in the first cell group, or a sum of the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference slot windows of each component carrier in the first cell group.

8. The UE according to claim 7, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates is further determined based on the maximum SCS of the component carrier in the first cell group and an offset value predefined based on the SCS of the component carrier in the first cell group.

9. The UE of claim 2, wherein when the UE is configured with more than four component carriers, the number of non-overlapping CCEs of each of the reference slot windows of the first cell group is a minimum of: a sum of the number of non-overlapping CCEs of each reference slot window of each component carrier in the first cell group, and The product of the number of component carriers that the UE can monitor and the number of non-overlapping CCEs of a reference component carrier is divided by the number of the plurality of component carriers.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the number of non-overlapping CCEs of a reference component carrier is determined based on: the minimum SCS of the component carrier in the first cell group, The maximum SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group, the SCS of the scheduling component carrier in the first cell group, or a sum of the number of non-overlapping CCEs of each of the reference slot windows of each component carrier in the first cell group.

11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the number of non-overlapping CCEs is further determined based on the maximum SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group and an offset value predefined based on the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group.

12. A method comprising: Receiving, by a user equipment UE, a downlink radio frame indicating a plurality of component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing SCS; Allocating the plurality of component carriers to a plurality of cell groups, wherein a first subset of the plurality of component carriers is allocated to a first cell group, the first subset comprising a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset; selecting a reference time slot window for the first cell group based on an SCS of a component carrier in the first cell group; Determining a scaling factor for each component carrier in the first cell group based on the reference time slot window and the SCS of each component carrier; determining, for the first cell group, a number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor of each component carrier, and the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group; as well as Control information in the downlink radio frame is monitored based on the number of PDCCH candidates.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising: determining, for the first cell group, a number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of non-overlapping CCEs is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor for each component carrier, and the SCSs of the component carriers in the first cell group; as well as The downlink radio frame is monitored for control information based on the number of non-overlapping CCEs.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the selecting the reference time slot window comprises selecting the reference time slot window based on a minimum SCS of a component carrier in the first subset, a maximum SCS of a component carrier in the first subset, or an SCS of the scheduled component carrier in the first subset assigned to the first cell group.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein when a UE is configured with no more than four component carriers, determining the number of PDCCH candidates comprises summing the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference slot windows for each component carrier in the first cell group.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein when the UE is configured with more than four component carriers, the determining the number of PDCCH candidates comprises calculating a minimum value of: a sum of the number of PDCCH candidates for each reference slot window of each component carrier in the first cell group, and The product of the number of component carriers that the UE can monitor and the number of PDCCH candidates of the reference component carrier is divided by the number of the plurality of component carriers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates for the reference component carrier is determined based on: the minimum SCS of the component carrier in the first cell group, a maximum SCS of a component carrier in the first cell group and an offset value predefined based on the SCS of a component carrier in the first cell group, or a sum of the number of PDCCH candidates for each of the reference slot windows of each component carrier in the first cell group.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: Receiving, by a user equipment UE, a downlink radio frame indicating a plurality of component carriers having more than one subcarrier spacing SCS; Allocating the plurality of component carriers to a plurality of cell groups, wherein a first subset of the plurality of component carriers is allocated to a first cell group, the first subset comprising a scheduling component carrier that provides scheduling information for other component carriers in the first subset; selecting a reference time slot window for the first cell group based on an SCS of a component carrier in the first cell group; Determining a scaling factor for each component carrier in the first cell group based on the reference time slot window and the SCS of each component carrier; determining, for the first cell group, a number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) candidates for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of PDCCH candidates is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor of each component carrier, and the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group; as well as Control information in the downlink radio frame is monitored based on the number of PDCCH candidates.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the at least one processor performs additional operations comprising: determining, for the first cell group, a number of non-overlapping control channel elements (CCEs) for each of the reference time slot windows that can be monitored by the UE, wherein the number of non-overlapping CCEs is determined based on the number of component carriers in the first cell group, the scaling factor for each component carrier, and the SCS of the component carriers in the first cell group; and The downlink radio frame is monitored for control information based on the number of non-overlapping CCEs.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the reference time slot window is selected based on a minimum SCS of component carriers in the first subset, a maximum SCS of component carriers in the first subset, or an SCS of the scheduled component carriers in the first subset assigned to the first cell group.

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