Communication device, infrastructure equipment and method

Abstract

A communication device for transmitting data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network is provided. The infrastructure equipment provides a cell having a coverage area in which the communication device is located. The communication device includes: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to the infrastructure equipment via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network; a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface; and a controller circuit, in combination with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit, for: receiving an indication of one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure equipment, the indication of the one or more communication parameters including an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters, transmitting a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure equipment, transmitting the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and receiving a random access response from the infrastructure equipment. At least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication apparatus configured to transmit and receive data to and from infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network according to an enhanced random access (RACH) procedure.

[0002] This application claims the Paris Convention priority of European Patent Application No. EP19157268, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] The "background" description provided herein is to generally present the context of the present disclosure. To the extent described in this background section, the work of the presently named inventors and aspects of the description that may not have been considered prior art at the time of filing are neither explicitly nor implicitly admitted to be prior art against the present invention.

[0004] Third and fourth generation mobile telecommunication systems (e.g., mobile telecommunication systems based on the UMTS and Long Term Evolution (LTE) architectures defined by 3GPP) are capable of supporting more complex services than the simple voice and messaging services provided by previous generations of mobile telecommunication systems. For example, through the improved radio interface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE systems, users are able to enjoy high data rate applications, such as mobile video streaming and mobile video conferencing, which were previously only available via fixed line data connections. Therefore, there is a great demand for the deployment of such networks, and the coverage areas of these networks (i.e., the geographic locations where the networks can be accessed) are expected to increase more rapidly.

[0005] It is expected that future wireless communication networks will routinely and efficiently support communications with a wider range of devices than current systems are optimized to support, these wider range of devices are associated with a wider range of data traffic profiles and types. For example, it is expected that future wireless communication networks will efficiently support communications with these devices, including reduced complexity devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, high-resolution video displays, virtual reality headsets, etc. Some of these different types of devices may be deployed in large numbers, such as low-complexity devices to support the "Internet of Things", and may generally be associated with the transmission of smaller amounts of data with higher delay tolerance.

[0006] In view of this, it is expected that future wireless communication networks (e.g., those which may be referred to as 5G or new radio (NR) systems / new radio access technology (RAT) systems) as well as future iterations / versions of existing systems will effectively support connections of various devices associated with different applications and different characteristic data traffic profiles.

[0007] One area of ​​current interest in this regard includes the so-called "Internet of Things" or IoT for short. 3GPP has proposed in Release 13 of the 3GPP specifications to develop technologies to support narrowband (NB)-IoT and so-called enhanced MTC (eMTC) operations using the LTE / 4G radio access interface and wireless infrastructure. More recently, proposals to build on these concepts using so-called enhanced NB-IoT (eNB-IoT) and further enhanced MTC (feMTC) were proposed in Release 14 of the 3GPP specifications, and so-called further enhanced NB-IoT (feNB-IoT) and even further enhanced MTC (efeMTC) were proposed in Release 15 of the 3GPP specifications. See, for example, [1], [2], [3], [4]. At least some devices utilizing these technologies are believed to be low complexity and inexpensive devices requiring relatively infrequent communications of lower bandwidth data.

[0008] The increasing use of different types of network infrastructure equipment and terminal devices associated with different traffic profiles has created new challenges that need to be addressed for efficiently handling communications in wireless communication systems. Summary of the invention

[0009] The present disclosure may help solve or alleviate at least some of the problems discussed above.

[0010] Thus, an embodiment of the present technology may provide a communication device for transmitting data to an infrastructure device of a wireless communication network. The infrastructure device provides a cell having a coverage area in which the communication device is located. The communication device includes: a transmitter circuit configured to send a signal to the infrastructure device via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network; a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from the infrastructure device via the wireless access interface; and a controller circuit configured to receive an indication of one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure device in combination with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit, the indication of the one or more communication parameters including an indication of multiple reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds; the controller circuit determines the position of the communication device relative to the infrastructure device based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters, sends a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure device, the uplink data is transmitted in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble is associated with the set of communication resources, and the controller circuit receives a random access response from the infrastructure device. At least one of the random access preamble and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to transmit the first signal indicates the position of the communication device relative to the position of the infrastructure device.

[0011] Embodiments of the present technology further relate to infrastructure equipment, methods of operating communication devices and infrastructure equipment, and circuits thereof, which can provide a hybrid, enhanced RACH process that can be used in an NR wireless communication system, wherein the resources required to transmit the first message in the currently known two-step RACH process can be optimized.

[0012] The corresponding aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined in the appended claims. It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary of the present technology, rather than limiting. The described embodiments and further advantages will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] A more complete appreciation of the present disclosure and its many attendant advantages will be readily obtained as the present disclosure is better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

[0014] Figure 1 schematically represents some aspects of an LTE-type wireless telecommunications system that may be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] Figure 2 schematically illustrates some aspects of a new radio access technology (RAT) wireless telecommunications system that may be configured to operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating steps in a four-step random access procedure in a wireless telecommunications network;

[0017] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of uplink data transmission by a communication device in RRC_INACTIVE mode with a downlink response from a network;

[0018] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example RACH procedure applicable to transmission of small amounts of data;

[0019] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary two-step RACH procedure applicable to small amounts of data transmission;

[0020] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating steps in a two-step random access procedure in a wireless telecommunications network;

[0021] Figure 8 is a partial schematic representation, partial message flow diagram, of communications between a communication device and infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present technology;

[0022] Fig. 9 An example of how to divide a cell into multiple areas based on a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold according to an embodiment of the present technology is shown;

[0023] Fig. 10A shows an example of how UE transmissions conform to different MCS levels according to an embodiment of the present technology;

[0024] Fig. 10B shows an example of how UE transmissions conform to different redundancy versions according to embodiments of the present technology; and

[0025] Fig.11 A flow chart illustrating a communication process between a communication apparatus and infrastructure equipment according to an embodiment of the present technology is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Long Term Evolution Advanced Radio Access Technology (4G)

[0027] Figure 1 A schematic diagram is provided illustrating some basic functions of a mobile telecommunication network / system 100 that typically operates according to LTE principles, but which may also support other radio access technologies and may be adapted to implement embodiments of the present disclosure as described herein. Figure 1 Certain aspects of the various elements of the 3GPP and their corresponding modes of operation are well known and defined in the relevant standards managed by the 3GPP (RTM) body and are also described in many books on the subject, for example, Holma H. ​​and Toskala A [5]. It should be understood that operational aspects of the telecommunication (or simply communication) network discussed herein that are not specifically described (e.g., regarding specific communication protocols and physical channels used for communication between different elements) can be implemented according to any known technology, for example, according to the relevant standards and known proposed modifications and additions to the relevant standards.

[0028] The network 10 includes a plurality of base stations 11 connected to a core network 12. Each base station provides a coverage area 13 (i.e., a cell) within which data can be transmitted to and from a terminal device 14. Data is transmitted from the base station 11 to the terminal device 14 within its respective coverage area 13 via a radio downlink (DL). Data is transmitted from the terminal device 14 to the base station 11 via a radio uplink (UL). The core network 12 routes data to and from the terminal device 14 via the respective base station 11, and provides functions such as authentication, mobility management, charging, etc. The terminal device may also be referred to as a mobile station, user equipment (UE), user terminal, mobile radio, communication device, etc. A base station is an example of a network infrastructure device / network access node, and may also be referred to as a transceiver station / nodeB / e-nodeB / eNB / g-nodeB / gNB, etc. In this regard, different terms are often associated with different generations of wireless telecommunication systems for elements providing broadly comparable functions. However, certain embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally implemented in different generations of wireless telecommunication systems, and for simplicity, certain terms may be used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is, the use of specific terms associated with certain example implementations is not intended to indicate that these implementations are limited to the specific generation of networks that may be most associated with the specific terms.

[0029] New radio access technology (5G)

[0030] As described above, embodiments of the present invention may be applied to advanced wireless communication systems, such as those referred to as 5G or New Radio (NR) access technologies. Use cases considered for NR include:

[0031] Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)

[0032] Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC)

[0033] Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC)[6]

[0034] eMBB services are characterized by high capacity, requiring support of up to 20Gb / s. The URLLC requirement is to transmit relatively short packets (e.g., 32 bytes with a user plane latency of 1ms) with a reliability of 1-10 -5 (99.999%).

[0035] Figure 1 The elements of the radio access network shown in the figure may be equally applied to the 5G new RAT configuration, except that changes in terminology may apply as described above.

[0036] Figure 2is a schematic diagram showing the network architecture of a new RAT wireless mobile telecommunication network / system 30 based on previously proposed methods, which methods may also be applicable to provide functionality according to the disclosed embodiments described herein. Figure 2 The new RAT network 30 represented in the figure includes a first communication cell 20 and a second communication cell 21. Each communication cell 20, 21 includes a control node (centralized unit, CU) 26, 28 that communicates with a core network component 310 through a corresponding wired or wireless link 36, 38. The corresponding control nodes 26, 28 also communicate with multiple distributed units (radio access nodes / remote transmission and reception points (TRP)) 22, 24 in their corresponding cells. Moreover, these communications can be carried out through corresponding wired or wireless links. The distributed units (DU) 22, 24 are responsible for providing a radio access interface for terminal devices connected to the network. Each distributed unit 22, 24 has a coverage area (radio access coverage area) 32, 34, which together define the coverage range of the corresponding communication cell 20, 21. Each distributed unit 22, 24 includes a transceiver circuit for sending and receiving wireless signals and a processor circuit configured to control the corresponding distributed unit 22, 24.

[0037] In terms of broad top-level functionality, Figure 2 The core network components 31 of the new RAT telecommunications network represented in FIG. 3 can be broadly considered to correspond to Figure 1 The core network 102 shown in FIG. 1 and the corresponding control nodes 26, 28 and their associated distributed units / TRPs 22, 24 can be broadly considered to provide a corresponding Figure 1 The term "network infrastructure equipment / access node" may be used to encompass these elements of a wireless telecommunications system and the more traditional base station type elements. Depending on the application at hand, the responsibility for scheduling transmissions scheduled over the radio interface between the respective distributed units and the terminal devices may be assumed by the control node / centralized unit and / or the distributed units / TRP.

[0038] exist Figure 2 In the figure, the communication device 40 is shown within the coverage area of ​​the first communication cell 20. The communication device 40 can therefore exchange signaling with the first control node 26 in the first communication cell via one distributed unit 22 associated with the first communication cell 20. In some cases, communications of a given terminal device are routed through only one distributed unit, but it will be understood that in some other implementations, communications associated with a given terminal device may be routed through more than one distributed unit, for example, in soft handover scenarios and other scenarios.

[0039] The specific distributed unit via which the terminal device is currently connected to the relevant control node can be referred to as the active distributed unit of the terminal device. Therefore, the active subset of the distributed units of the terminal device may include one or more distributed units (DU / TRP). The control node 26 is responsible for determining which distributed unit 22 across the first communication cell 20 is responsible for radio communication with the terminal device 400 at any given time (i.e., which distributed units are the currently active distributed units of the terminal device). Typically, this will be based on measurements of radio channel conditions between the terminal device 40 and the corresponding distributed units 22. In this regard, it should be understood that the subset of distributed units currently valid for the terminal device in the cell will depend at least in part on the location of the terminal device within the cell (because this significantly contributes to the radio channel conditions that exist between the terminal device and the corresponding distributed units).

[0040] In at least some implementations, the participation of the distributed units in routing communications from the terminal device to the control node (control unit) is transparent to the terminal device 40. That is, in some cases, the terminal device may not know which distributed unit is responsible for routing communications between the terminal device 40 and the control node 26 of the communication cell 20 in which the terminal device is currently operating, or even if any distributed unit 22 is connected to the control node 26 and does not participate in the routing of communications at all. In this case, as far as the terminal device is concerned, uplink data is simply sent to the control node 26 and downlink data is received from the control node 26, and the terminal device is unaware of the participation of the distributed unit 22, but may be aware of the radio configuration sent by the distributed unit 22. However, in other embodiments, the terminal device may know which (which) distributed units are involved in its communication. The switching and scheduling of one or more distributed units may be completed at the network control node based on the measurements of the terminal device uplink signals by the distributed units or the measurements made by the terminal device and reported to the control node via one or more distributed units.

[0041] exist Figure 2 In the example, for simplicity, two communication cells 20, 21 and one terminal device 40 are shown, but it can be understood that in fact, the system may include a large number of communication cells (each communication cell is supported by a corresponding control node and multiple distributed units) serving a large number of terminal devices.

[0042] It should also be understood that Figure 2 It only represents one example of a proposed architecture of a new RAT telecommunication system, in which the method according to the principles described herein may be employed, and the functionalities disclosed herein may also be applied to wireless telecommunication systems having different architectures.

[0043] Therefore, it is possible to use various architectures, such as Figure 1 and Figure 2 The example architecture shown implements certain embodiments of the present disclosure discussed herein in a wireless telecommunications system / network.

[0044] It should therefore be appreciated that in any given implementation, the particular wireless telecommunications architecture is not critical to the principles described herein. In this regard, example embodiments of the present disclosure may generally be described in the context of communications between network infrastructure equipment / access nodes and terminal devices, wherein the particular nature of the network infrastructure equipment / access nodes and terminal devices will depend on the network infrastructure used for the implementation at hand. For example, in some cases, the network infrastructure equipment / access nodes may include base stations, e.g., Figure 1 The LTE-type base station 11 shown in FIG. 1 is suitable for providing functionality according to the principles described herein, and in other examples, the network infrastructure equipment may include Figure 2 2 and 3. Control units / control nodes 26, 28 and / or TRPs 22, 24 of the type shown in FIG. 2 are adapted to provide functionality in accordance with the principles described herein.

[0045] Current RACH procedure in LTE

[0046] In wireless telecommunications networks, such as LTE type networks, terminal devices have different radio resource control (RRC) modes. For example, RRC idle mode (RRC_IDLE) and RRC connected mode (RRC_CONNECTED) are generally supported. A terminal device in idle mode may transition to connected mode, for example, because it is necessary to send uplink data or respond to a paging request by performing a random access procedure. The random access procedure includes the terminal device sending a preamble on a physical random access channel, so the procedure is generally referred to as a RACH or PRACH routine / procedure.

[0047] In addition to the terminal device deciding to initiate a random access procedure itself to connect to the network, the network (e.g., a base station) may also instruct a terminal device in connected mode to initiate a random access procedure by sending an instruction to the terminal device to do so. Such an instruction is sometimes referred to as a PDCCH command (Physical Downlink Control Channel command), see, for example, Section 5.3.3.1.3 of ETSI TS 136 213 V13.0.0 (2016-01) / 3GPP TS 36.212 Version 13.0.0 Release 13 [7].

[0048] There may be various situations where the network triggers the RACH procedure (PDCCH command). For example:

[0049] As part of the handover process, the terminal device may receive a PDCCH order sent on the PRACH;

[0050] When a terminal device is connected to a base station as an RRC but has not exchanged data with the base station for a relatively long time, the terminal device may receive a PDCCH command to cause the terminal device to send a PRACH preamble so that it can resynchronize with the network and allow the base station to correct the time for the terminal device;

[0051] A terminal device may receive a PDCCH command so that a different RRC configuration may be established in a subsequent RACH procedure, which may be applicable, for example, to a narrowband IoT terminal device which prevents RRC reconfiguration in connected mode, thereby transitioning the terminal device to idle mode via a PDCCH command, allowing the terminal device to be configured in a subsequent PRACH procedure, for example, to configure the terminal device for a different coverage enhancement level (e.g., more or fewer repetitions).

[0052] For convenience, the term "PDCCH command" is used herein to refer to the signaling sent by the base station to instruct the terminal device to initiate a PRACH procedure, regardless of the reason. However, it should be understood that in some cases, such instructions may be transmitted on other channels / in higher layers. For example, in terms of an intra-system handover procedure, an RRC connection reconfiguration instruction sent on the downlink shared channel / PDSCH may be referred to herein as a PDCCH command.

[0053] When a PDCCH command is sent to a terminal device, the terminal device is assigned a PRACH preamble signature sequence for subsequent PRACH procedures. This differs from a terminal device triggering a PRACH procedure, in which the terminal device selects a preamble from a predefined set and may therefore coincidentally select the same preamble as another terminal device performing a PRACH procedure at the same time, causing potential contention. Therefore, for a PRACH procedure initiated by a PDCCH command, there is no contention with other terminal devices performing a PRACH procedure at the same time, as the PRACH preamble for the terminal device used for the PDCCH command is scheduled by the network / base station.

[0054] Figure 3 As shown in the example reference Figure 1 The typical RACH procedure used in the LTE system described herein can also be applied to, for example, Figure 2An NR wireless communication system is described. A UE 101, which may be in an inactive or idle mode, may have some data that needs to be sent to the network. To this end, a random access preamble 120 is sent to the gNodeB 102. The random access preamble 120 indicates the identity of the UE 101 to the gNodeB 102 so that the gNodeB 102 can address the UE 101 during a later stage of the RACH procedure. Assuming that the random access preamble 120 is successfully received by the gNodeB 102 (if not, the UE 101 will simply retransmit at a higher power), the gNodeB 102 will send a random access response message 122 to the UE 101 based on the identity indicated in the received random access preamble 120. The random access response message 122 carries another identity assigned by the gNodeB 102 to identify the UE 101, as well as a timing advance value (so that the UE 101 can change its timing to compensate for the round trip delay caused by its distance from the gNodeB 102), and grants uplink resources for the UE 101 to transmit data. After receiving the random access response message 122, the UE 101 sends a scheduled transmission 124 of data to the gNodeB 102 using the identity assigned to it in the random access response message 122. The gNodeB 102 successfully receives the scheduled transmission 124 of data assuming there are no collisions with other user equipments, which may occur if another UE and the UE 101 transmit the same random access preamble 120 to the gNodeB 102 at the same time and using the same frequency resources. The gNodeB 102 will respond to the scheduled transmission 124 with a contention resolution message 126.

[0055] In various 3GPP RAN2 meetings, some agreement has been reached on assumptions about how UE states (e.g., RRC_IDLE, RRC_CONNECTED, etc.) can be translated into NR systems. In RAN2#94, it was agreed that a new "inactive" state should be introduced, in which the UE should be able to start data transfers with low latency (as required by RAN requirements). At RAN2#94, the question of how data transfers work when the UE is in an inactive state was not resolved; it was agreed that further study should be conducted on whether data transfers should be achieved by leaving an inactive state, or whether data transfers should occur within an inactive state.

[0056] In RAN2#95, it was agreed that the possibility of enabling the UE to transmit data in the inactive state without transitioning to the connected state will be studied.

[0057] In RAN2#95bis, in addition to the baseline moving to the connected state before transmitting data, the following two methods are determined:

[0058] Data may be transmitted with the initial RRC message requesting a transition to the connected state, or

[0059] Data can be transferred in a new state.

[0060] Discussions related to uplink data transmission in the inactive state have sought solutions for sending uplink data in the inactive state without sending RRC signaling and without the UE initiating a transition to the connected state. A first potential solution is discussed in 3GPP document R2-168544 [8] entitled "UL Data Transmission in RRC_INACTIVE" (Huawei). This solution is as follows Figure 4 As shown, it is reproduced together with the accompanying text in [8]. Figure 4 As shown, UE 101 can make an uplink data transmission 132 to network 104 in the RRC_INACTIVE state. Here, network 104 knows at least in which cell the transmission 132 was received, and potentially even through which TRP it was received. For some amount of time after receiving the uplink data packet, network 104 can assume that UE 101 is still in the same location so that any RLC acknowledgment or application response can be scheduled for transmission to UE 101 in the same area where UE 101 is located, for example, in the next paging response 134. Alternatively, UE 101 can be paged in a wider area. After receiving this downlink response 134, UE 101 can send an acknowledgment 136 to network 104 to indicate successful reception.

[0061] A second potential solution is discussed in 3GPP document R2-168713 [9] entitled "Baseline solution for small data transfers in RRC_IN ACTIVE" (Ericsson). Figure 5 shown, reproduced together with the accompanying text in [9]. Figure 5 The mechanism described in is suitable for small data transfers and is based on the suspend-resume mechanism of LTE. The main difference is that the user plane data is associated with message 3 ( Figure 5 The RRC connection resumption request 144 in the message and the optional RRC suspension signaled in the message 4 are sent simultaneously. Figure 5 As shown, initially under the assumption of a random access scheme as in LTE, when UE 101 receives uplink data to send to a gNodeB 102 of a mobile communication network, UE 101 first sends a random access (RA) preamble 140. Here, a set of special preambles (preamble partitions) may be used as in LTE to indicate a small data transmission (meaning that UE 101 wants a larger grant and possibly UE 101 wants to remain in an inactive state).

[0062] The network (via gNodeB 102) responds with a Random Access Response (RAR) message 142 containing a timing advance and a grant. The grant for Message 3 should be large enough to fit the RRC request and a small amount of data. The allowed size of the data may be specified and linked to the preamble, e.g., a preamble X requests a grant allowing Y bytes of data. Depending on available resources, gNodeB 102 may provide a grant for Message 3 that accommodates only a recovery request, in which case an additional grant may be provided after receiving Message 3.

[0063] At this point, the UE 101 will prepare an RRC Connection Resumption Request 144 and perform the following actions:

[0064] Re-establish the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) for established SRBs and all DRBs;

[0065] Re-establish RLC for established signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and all data radio bearers (DRBs). In this step, PDCP shall reset the sequence number (SN) and hyperframe number (HFN);

[0066] Resume the suspended SRB and all DRBs;

[0067] deriving possible new security keys (e.g., eNB keys or KeNB) based on the Next Hop Chaining Counter (NCC) provided before the UE 101 was transitioned to the “Inactive” state;

[0068] Generate cipher and integrity protection keys and configure the PDCP layer using the previously configured security algorithms;

[0069] Generate an RRC connection recovery request message 144;

[0070] Adding an indication of potential remaining data, e.g., a buffer status report (BSR);

[0071] Added indication that the UE 101 wishes to remain in the inactive state (if the preamble does not indicate this);

[0072] Applying default physical channel and media access control (MAC) configurations; and

[0073] Submit the RRC connection resumption request 144 and data 146 to the lower layers for transmission.

[0074] After these steps, the lower layers transmit message 3. This may also contain user plane data 146 multiplexed by the MAC, like existing LTE, because the security context has been activated to encrypt the user plane. Signaling (using SRBs) and data (using DRBs) will be multiplexed by the MAC layer (meaning that data is not sent on SRBs).

[0075] The network (via gNodeB 102) receives message 3 and uses the context identifier to retrieve the RRC context for UE 101 and reestablish PDCP and RLC for SRBs and DRBs. The RRC context contains the encryption keys and the user plane data is decrypted (to be mapped to the reestablished DRBs or to the always available contention-based channels).

[0076] After successfully receiving Message 3 and the user plane data, the network (via gNodeB 102) responds with a new RRC response message 148, which can be "RRC Suspend" or "RRC Resume" or "RRC Reject". This transmission resolves the contention issue and acts as an acknowledgment of Message 3. In addition to the RRC signaling, the network can acknowledge any user data in the same transmission (RLC acknowledgment). The multiplexing of RRC signaling and user plane acknowledgments will be handled by the MAC layer. If the UE 101 loses the contention, a new attempt is required.

[0077] • In case the network decides to resume the UE 101, the message will be similar to RRC resume and may include additional RRC parameters.

[0078] • In case the network decides to immediately suspend the UE 101, the message will be similar to an RRC suspend. The message may be delayed to allow a downlink acknowledgement to be sent.

[0079] • In case the network sends a recovery reject, after some potential backoff time, the UE 101 will initiate a new Scheduling Request (SR) as in LTE.

[0080] Strictly speaking, this procedure will send user plane data without the UE 101 fully entering RRC_CONNECTED, which would previously have occurred when the UE 101 received an RRC response (message 4) indicating a resume. On the other hand, the RRC context is used to enable ciphering etc. even if the network's decision is to keep the UE 101 in the RRC_IN ACTIVE state by immediately suspending the UE 101 again.

[0081] Figure 6 and Figure 71 and 2 show examples of simplified two-step RACH procedures, in which a small amount of data can be transmitted from UE 101 to gNodeB or gNodeB 102. In the two-step RACH procedure, the data is transmitted together with the RACH preamble ( Figure 7 162 in Message 1) is sent simultaneously, so UE 101 does not need to wait for a response from the network, which provides it with an uplink grant to send its data. However, the disadvantage is that the amount of data that can be transmitted in Message 1 is limited. After gNodeB 102 receives Message 1, eNodeB 101 sends a random access response ( Figure 7 Message 162 in ), including confirmation of the data received in message 1. Figure 6 The messages are shown in more detail, where in message 1 (also referred to herein as msgA), a random access preamble 150, an RRC connection resumption request 152, and a small amount of data 154 are transmitted during the same transmission time interval (TTI). The message msgA is essentially Figure 5 The 4-step RACH process shown is a combination of message 1 and message 3. Similarly, for message 2 (also referred to herein as msgB), a random access response 156 with a time advance and an RRC response 158 (including an acknowledgement and an RRC suspend command) are sent by the eNodeB 102 to the UE 101 during the same TTI. The message msgB is essentially Figure 5 The four-step RACH procedure is shown as a combination of Message 2 and Message 4. Further details on the two-step and four-step RACH procedures can be found in 3GPP Technical Report 38.889

[10] .

[0082] Embodiments of the present technology are directed to providing an optimized four-step RACH (e.g., Figure 3 LTE RACH process shown) and Figure 6 and Figure 7 The two-step RACH solution is shown to address medium to large data transmissions where there is less delay and does not require the communication device to leave an inactive state.

[0083] Optimization of uplink data transmission message A in 2-step RACH of 5G system

[0084] Embodiments of the present technology provide systems and methods that seek to optimize resources for data transmission in msgA as the location or channel conditions of the UEs within the cell vary. This means that the design and allocation of resources for data transmission (PUSCH) should not be based solely on UEs at the edge of the cell or UEs experiencing the worst channel conditions (perhaps for the largest cell size), as this will result in inefficient resource allocation for all but the most remotely located UEs in the largest cell and those experiencing the worst channel conditions. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure propose that the resources used for data transmission (i.e., the "message 3" portion of the new msgA in the two-step RACH process) are adaptive based on how far the UE is from the infrastructure equipment of the operating cell and / or based on the channel conditions of the UE.

[0085] Figure 8 A partial schematic representation and a partial message flow diagram of the communication between a communication device or UE 801 and an infrastructure device or gNode B 802 of a wireless communication network according to an embodiment of the present technology is provided. The infrastructure device 802 provides a cell with a coverage area where the communication device 801 is located. The communication device 801 includes: a transmitter (or a transmitter circuit) 801.t, which is configured to send a signal to the infrastructure device 802 via a wireless access interface 804 provided by the wireless communication network; a receiver (or a receiver circuit) 801.r, which is configured to receive a signal from the infrastructure device 802 via the wireless access interface 804; and a controller (or a controller circuit) 801.c, which is configured to control the transmitter circuit 801.t and the receiver circuit 801.r to send or receive signals. Figure 8 As shown, the infrastructure equipment 802 further includes a transmitter (or transmitter circuit) 802.t, which is configured to send a signal to the communication device 801 via the wireless access interface 804; a receiver (or receiver circuit) 802.r, which is configured to receive a signal from the communication device 801 via the wireless access interface 804; and a controller (or controller circuit) 802.c, which is configured to control the transmitter circuit 802.t and the receiver circuit 802.r to send or receive a signal representing data. Each controller 801.c, 802.c can be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU or a dedicated chipset.

[0086] The controller circuit 801.c of the communication device 801 is configured, in combination with the receiver circuit 801.r and the transmitter circuit 801t of the communication device 801, to receive an indication 810 of one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure equipment 802, the indication 810 of the one or more communication parameters including an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds; to determine 820 a location of the communication device 801 relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment 802 based on the received indication 810 of the one or more communication parameters; to send 830 to the infrastructure equipment 802 a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data, the uplink data being sent in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources; and to receive a random access response 840 from the infrastructure equipment 802. At least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used in sending 830 the first signal indicates a location of the communication device 801 relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment 802.

[0087] It is assumed that the size of the payload of Message 3 is constant regardless of how far the UE is from the gNodeB, for example, close to the cell center or close to the cell edge. However, the UE should be able to estimate the channel coding of Message 3 in order to compensate for the channel propagation loss between the gNodeB and the UE. In order to estimate the UE's position in the cell, the Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) can be estimated based on the downlink transmitted reference signal from the gNodeB controlling the cell. For NR, RSRP is defined as the linear average of the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements carrying the secondary synchronization signals. As Fig. 9 As shown, in some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, the cell can be divided into multiple regions 902, 904, 906 based on RSRP thresholds 912, 914, wherein each region has a specific MCS scheme (modulation and coding scheme) for the transmission of message 3 in the uplink. In other words, each RSRP threshold defines one of multiple regions relative to the location of the infrastructure equipment, and a higher RSRP threshold defines a region closer to the location of the infrastructure equipment than a lower RSRP threshold. Each of the multiple regions can be associated with one of multiple MCSs. These thresholds can be semi-statically signaled in SIB1, or can have fixed predefined values ​​known to the UE. The indication of one or more communication parameters may include an indication of multiple MCSs. Although Fig. 9 Three regions 902 , 904 , 906 divided by a first threshold X 912 and a second threshold Y 914 are shown, but those skilled in the art will appreciate that any number of regions and / or thresholds may be equally applicable to embodiments of the present technology.

[0088] It is also assumed that there is at least a one-to-one mapping between the PRACH preamble and the time-frequency resources of the PUSCH carrying the data portion of msgA (i.e., one preamble corresponds to a specific set of PUSCH resources including code domain PUSCH resources). In other words, this set of communication resources is one of multiple sets of communication resources of the wireless access interface, and each of the multiple sets of communication resources is associated with a unique random access preamble.

[0089] During initial access, the UE estimates the downlink RSRP and compares it to a predefined threshold to determine which region the UE is in. Based on what that region is and how close or far away it is relative to the gNodeB, the UE sends the selected PRACH preamble and the corresponding MCS level for Message 3 transmission, e.g. Fig. 10A Example shown. In this example, if UE801 is located near gNodeB 802, MCS3 (coding rate = 2 / 3) 1003 is applied, if it is in the center of the cell (i.e., a medium distance from gNodeB802), MCS2 (coding rate = 1 / 2) 1002 is used, and if it is at the edge of the cell, MCS1 (coding rate = 1 / 3) 1001 is used. The difference between these MCS levels is only the coding rate, because the payload is the same regardless of the location of the UE in the cell. However, due to the different MCS schemes (i.e., coding rates), the actual physical resources (i.e., the number of PRBs) required and used for message 3 will also be different. In other words, the communication resource group used by the communication device to transmit the uplink data of the first signal depends on the MCS, which is one of multiple MCSs. An example of this is that for each of the multiple groups of communication resources, the number of physical resource blocks PRBs is different.

[0090] According to the arrangement of an embodiment of the present technology, another alternative is to keep the actual physical resources (i.e., the number of PRBs) constant, but create multiple redundancy versions, wherein a first version contains all information bits and some limited number of parity bits, and additional redundancy versions with more parity bits can be provided based on the location of the user equipment within the cell based on RSRP measurement. In other words, each of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with one or more of the multiple hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ redundancy versions RV, and the communication device uses one or more of the multiple HARQ RVs in combination with the MCS to send uplink data of the first signal in this group of communication resources. For example, as Fig. 10BAs shown, if the UE 801 is located near the gNodeB 802, only MCS3 1003 with RV0 1010 is applied, if it is in the cell center, MCS3 1003 with RV0 1010 and RV11011 is sent simultaneously, and if it is at the cell edge, multiple redundant versions of MCS3 1003 with RV0 1010, RV1 1011 and RV2 1012 are used. In addition, it should also be possible to have a single MCS scheme signaled in the SIB (or in other ways, such as via broadcast) for the entire cell, where different cell sizes can have different MCS schemes. In other words, the indication of one or more communication parameters includes an indication of the MCS used by the communication device to send the first signal, and the MCS is selected from multiple MCSs based on the cell size provided by the infrastructure equipment.

[0091] As part of the two-step RACH procedure, msgA will be the first transmission from the UE to the gNodeB, at which point the UE does not have an active connection with the gNodeB, so it is important that the gNodeB knows which region (or its current channel conditions) the UE is located in when the PRACH preamble is received along with message 3 (the uplink data portion of the first signal, i.e., msgA). In this case, the gNodeB can detect message 3 (i.e., the uplink data portion of the first signal) using one or more of the following methods:

[0092] Method 1: In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, the gNodeB may blindly decode message 3 from all possible resources. In other words, receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to blindly decode each of the multiple groups of communication resources in order to successfully receive the uplink data of the first signal. In the first option, as described above, in the case of different MCS levels, the user equipment first attempts to decode MCS3 resources, and if unsuccessful, tries MCS2 resources, and finally, if unsuccessful, tries MCS1 resources. In the second option, as described above, in the case of different redundancy versions, the gNodeB attempts to decode MCS3 resources with RV0, and if unsuccessful, combines the MCS3 resources with RV1 (also known as soft combining for HARQ retransmissions), and finally, if unsuccessful, combines the MCS3 resources with RV2. This method is more complex than the other methods described below because the gNodeB attempts to prepare and decode multiple messages.

[0093] Method 2: In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, different preambles may be allocated to different areas of a cell based on RSRP measurements. In other words, receiving a first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to determine a set of communication resources in which uplink data of the first signal is transmitted by a communication device based on a received random access preamble (associated with one of a plurality of areas). For example, preambles 0-23 may be allocated to user equipment close to the gNodeB, preambles 24-47 may be allocated to user equipment close to the center of the cell, and preambles 48-63 may be allocated to user equipment at the edge of the cell. This method is less complex (i.e., the blind decoding MCS scheme described above is not required) because the gNodeB already knows which preambles correspond to which areas within the cell. However, this approach reduces the number of preambles used for an initial access process in a given area of ​​the cell because the full set of preambles must be divided between the multiple areas that exist.

[0094] Method 3: In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, the infrastructure equipment may be configured to use a time advance derived from a received preamble. The time advance (TA) determines how far the user equipment is from the gNodeB, or in other words, in which region of the cell the user equipment is located. In other words, receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to determine a time advance value based on the received random access preamble, determine a location of the communication device based on the time advance value, the location of the communication device being within one of a plurality of regions, and determine the set of resources via which the communication device transmits uplink data of the first signal based on the region in which the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device. For example, TA values ​​0-X may be applied to user equipment near the gNodeB, TA values ​​(X+1)-Y may be applied to user equipment near the center of the cell, and TA values ​​(Y+1)-Z may be applied to user equipment at the edge of the cell. The gNodeB will derive the time advance value from the received preamble, and based on the value, the gNodeB determines in which region of the cell the user equipment is located, and therefore will decode a corresponding PUSCH having an MCS level associated with that region in which the user equipment is located. This method is less accurate than the other methods because the user equipment selects the MCS level for Message 3 based on RSRP measurements, while the gNodeB applies the MCS level based on the timing advance value. Therefore, the assumptions of the user equipment and the gNodeB may not match. However, this method is less complex than method 1 as described above, and does not reduce the number of available preambles in a given area of ​​the cell compared to method 2.

[0095] Method 4: In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technology, the infrastructure equipment may be configured to create multiple PRACH opportunities / areas in the frequency domain in a time slot, wherein each opportunity corresponds to a region in a cell. Each region of a cell may use all possible preambles, so this method does not reduce the number of preambles available within the cell. In other words, receiving a first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to divide one or more time division slots of a wireless access interface into a plurality of physical random access channel PRACH opportunities in the frequency domain, each PRACH opportunity being associated with one of a plurality of regions, determining the region in which the communication device is located based on the PRACH opportunity in which the first signal is received, and determining the set of resources through which the communication device sends uplink data of the first signal based on the region in which the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device.

[0096] There can be a potential mismatch between the required signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) and the selected MCS because in addition to the distance of the user equipment from the gNodeB (i.e. path loss), uplink interference is also a factor in the SINR. To avoid the gap between the expected SINR at the gNodeB and the MCS sent by the user equipment, two fine-tuning solutions are described below. One of them is a network-based solution, because the user equipment has no knowledge of the uplink interference at the gNodeB, and then the user equipment only needs to follow the guidance given by the gNodeB. The other solution is a user equipment-based solution, where some knowledge of the uplink interference is provided to the user equipment and then the compensation value is calculated based on this knowledge.

[0097] The network knows the uplink interference at the gNodeB and the transmission power used by the gNodeB. In addition, the network may know the average block error rate at a certain level. Therefore, the network has good knowledge to compensate for errors. Here, on the network side, one arrangement of an embodiment of the present technology is that the gNodeB monitors the uplink interference level, or some other information (e.g., path loss, UE-gNodeB distance, SINR, etc.), and then adjusts the RSRP threshold for each MCS to compensate for this monitored interference or other information. In other words, the infrastructure equipment is configured to determine at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment, and adjust the value of one or more communication parameters based on at least one determined communication characteristic. In some examples, at least one communication characteristic is the uplink interference level of the signal received by the infrastructure equipment. In some examples, the value of one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure equipment is the value of multiple RSRP thresholds. For example, when the uplink interference is high, the gNodeB configures a higher RSRP threshold than normal for the defined MCS level (good signal quality). The benefit of this is that no additional signaling is required. However, the coverage area of ​​a particular MCS may change.

[0098] Here, another arrangement of an embodiment of the present technology is that the gNodeB sends signaling of an MCS offset in addition to (or instead of) the adjusted RSRP threshold. In other words, the indication of one or more communication parameters includes an indication of multiple MCSs, and wherein the value of the one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure device is an offset value of the multiple MCSs. For example, when uplink interference is high, the gNodeB configures a negative value of the MCS offset so that a lower MCS value is selected.

[0099] In another arrangement of embodiments of the present technology herein, the gNodeB broadcasts its uplink interference level for each RB (resource block) or multiple RBs (e.g., subbands), which can be a quantized value of interference power. The gNodeB uplink interference level is then taken into account when the user equipment selects the MCS scheme for uplink PUSCH transmission, for example, as follows:

[0100] Total path loss = DE transmit power at gNodeB (based on ss-PBCH-block power) - DL RSRP

[0101] SINR = (initial transmit power of user equipment - total path loss) / interference and noise at gNodeB

[0102] The user equipment then maps the SINR value to a channel quality indicator (CQI) or an MCS scheme for uplink PUSCH transmission. In other words, the communication device is configured to receive an indication of at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure device via a broadcast from the infrastructure device, and select an MCS from a plurality of MCSs for the communication device to send the first signal based at least in part on the indication of the at least one communication characteristic. In some examples, the at least one communication characteristic is an uplink interference level of the signal received by the infrastructure device. A benefit of this user equipment-based solution is that the user equipment can take into account internal factors of the user equipment; for example, due to limitations of the RF / baseband design, the relationship between SINR and MCS may not be completely linear. In addition, the user equipment may have other internal factors, such as buffer status (BSR), power headroom (PHR), etc. Another potential benefit in terms of system capacity is that if the gNodeB broadcasts uplink interference to the user equipment, this can be used for congestion control or capacity control. For example, when the interference level is above a given threshold, user equipment with a low priority logical channel is not allowed to send a signal, or its transmission rate must be reduced. Transmission restrictions can be applied at the application level of the network slice. For example, in high interference situations, mission-critical applications may have higher priority than non-mission-critical applications.

[0103] In the above-mentioned user equipment-based solution, it is assumed that the MCS determination is based on the initial transmit power at the user equipment (i.e., PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER=0), and during subsequent retransmissions of msgA with power ramp, the MCS level will not change, i.e., if the first transmission fails, the power ramp is applied to the preamble and uplink data part. However, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the MCS level may also be re-evaluated whenever the power level has a ramp or increase.

[0104] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present technology and the Figure 8 , Fig. 9 , Fig. 10A and Fig. 10B Any information at or determined by the gNodeB as described in the relevant arrangement or otherwise may be signaled to the user equipment in different ways. Such information includes communication parameters (i.e., RSRP threshold, MCS level, etc.) and communication characteristics (e.g., uplink interference). Indications of one or more communication parameters (or communication characteristics) may be signaled directly by the infrastructure equipment to multiple communication devices. Alternatively, indications of one or more communication parameters (or communication characteristics) may be broadcast by the infrastructure equipment to be received by multiple communication devices. The values ​​of one or more communication parameters (or communication characteristics) may be signaled in at least one system information block. Alternatively, the values ​​of one or more communication parameters (or communication characteristics) may be fixed and predefined (e.g., may form some kind of table known by or sent to the user equipment).

[0105] Flowchart representation

[0106] Fig.11A flow chart illustrating a method of operating a communication device for transmitting data to an infrastructure device of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure device providing a cell with a coverage area in which the communication device is located. The method starts at step S1101. The method comprises, in step S1102, receiving an indication of one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure device via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds. The method then comprises, in step S1103, determining the location of the communication device relative to the location of the infrastructure device based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters. In step S1104, the process comprises sending a first signal comprising a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure device via the wireless access interface, the uplink data being sent in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources. The process comprises, in step S1105, receiving a random access response from the infrastructure device. In this method, at least one of the random access preamble and the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) with which the first signal is transmitted indicates the location of the communication device relative to the location of the infrastructure device. The process ends at step S1106.

[0107] Those skilled in the art will understand that Fig.11 The method shown can be adapted according to the embodiments of the present technology. For example, other intermediate steps can be included in the method, or these steps can be performed in any logical order.

[0108] Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that such infrastructure equipment and / or communication devices defined herein may be further defined according to the various arrangements and embodiments discussed in the preceding paragraphs. Those skilled in the art will further appreciate that such infrastructure equipment and communication devices defined and described herein may form part of a communication system different from that defined in the present disclosure.

[0109] The following numbered paragraphs provide further example aspects and features of the present technology:

[0110] Paragraph 1. A communication device for transmitting data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area where the communication device is located, the communication device comprising:

[0111] a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to an infrastructure device via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network,

[0112] a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface, and

[0113] A controller circuit, the controller circuit together with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit is configured to:

[0114] receiving an indication of one or more communication parameters from an infrastructure device, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0115] determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters,

[0116] sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to an infrastructure device, the uplink data being sent in a set of communication resources of a wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0117] receiving a random access response from an infrastructure device,

[0118] Wherein at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) with which the first signal is transmitted indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0119] Paragraph 2. The communication device according to paragraph 1, wherein the group of communication resources is one of multiple groups of communication resources of the wireless access interface, each group of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with a unique random access preamble code.

[0120] Paragraph 3. A communication device according to paragraph 2, wherein the set of communication resources used by the communication device to transmit uplink data of the first signal depends on the MCS, and the MCS is one of multiple MCSs.

[0121] Paragraph 4. A communication device according to paragraph 2 or 3, wherein the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) is different for each of the multiple groups of communication resources.

[0122] Paragraph 5. A communication device according to any one of paragraphs 2 to 4, wherein each of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with one or more of a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ redundancy versions RV, and the communication device uses one or more of the multiple HARQ RVs in combination with the MCS to send uplink data of a first signal in this group of communication resources.

[0123] Paragraph 6. A communication device according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 5, wherein each RSRP threshold defines one of a plurality of regions relative to the location of the infrastructure device, a high RSRP threshold defining a region closer to the location of the infrastructure device than a low RSRP threshold.

[0124] Paragraph 7. The communication apparatus of paragraph 6, wherein each of the plurality of zones is associated with one of a plurality of MCSs.

[0125] Paragraph 8. A communication apparatus as described in any of paragraphs 1 to 7, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of multiple MCSs.

[0126] Paragraph 9. A communication device according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 8, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of the MCS used by the communication device to send the first signal, and the MCS is selected from multiple MCSs based on the size of the cell provided by the infrastructure equipment.

[0127] Paragraph 10. A communication device according to any one of paragraphs 1 to 9, wherein the communication device is configured to:

[0128] receiving, via a broadcast from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment, and

[0129] An MCS at which a first signal is transmitted by the communication device is selected from a plurality of MCSs based at least in part on the indication of the at least one communication characteristic.

[0130] Paragraph 11. The communication apparatus of paragraph 10, wherein the at least one communication characteristic is an uplink interference level of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment.

[0131] Paragraph 12. A communications apparatus as described in any of paragraphs 1 to 11, wherein the indication of the one or more communications parameters is received by the communications apparatus via direct signaling from the infrastructure equipment.

[0132] Paragraph 13. A communications apparatus as described in any of paragraphs 1 to 12, wherein the indication of the one or more communications parameters is received by the communications apparatus from the infrastructure equipment via a broadcast.

[0133] Paragraph 14. A communication apparatus according to any of paragraphs 1 to 13, wherein the values ​​of one or more communication parameters are signaled in at least one system information block.

[0134] Paragraph 15. A communication device according to any of paragraphs 1 to 14, wherein the values ​​of one or more communication parameters are fixed and predefined.

[0135] Paragraph 16. A method of operating a communication device, the communication device being used to transmit data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the communication device is located, the method comprising:

[0136] receiving, via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network, from an infrastructure device an indication of one or more communication parameters, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0137] determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters,

[0138] sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to an infrastructure device via a wireless access interface, the uplink data being sent in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0139] receiving a random access response from an infrastructure device,

[0140] Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme MCS used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0141] Paragraph 17. A circuit for a communication device, the communication device transmitting data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area where the communication device is located, the communication device comprising:

[0142] a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to an infrastructure device via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network,

[0143] a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface, and

[0144] A controller circuit, the controller circuit together with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit is configured to:

[0145] receiving an indication of one or more communication parameters from an infrastructure device, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0146] determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters,

[0147] sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to an infrastructure device, the uplink data being sent in a set of communication resources of a wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0148] receiving a random access response from an infrastructure device,

[0149] Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme MCS used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0150] Paragraph 18. An infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communication network for transmitting data to or receiving data from a plurality of communication devices, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communication devices are located, the infrastructure equipment comprising:

[0151] a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to a communication device via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network,

[0152] a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from a communication device via a wireless access interface, and

[0153] A controller circuit, the controller circuit together with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit is configured to:

[0154] sending an indication of one or more communication parameters to a plurality of communication devices, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0155] receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from a communication device, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0156] sending a random access response message to a communication device,

[0157] Wherein at least one of the random access preamble and the modulation and coding scheme MCS used to receive the first signal indicates a location of a communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0158] Paragraph 19. The infrastructure equipment of paragraph 18, wherein the set of communication resources is one of a plurality of sets of communication resources of the wireless access interface, each of the plurality of sets of communication resources being associated with a unique random access preamble.

[0159] Paragraph 20. The infrastructure equipment of paragraph 19, wherein the set of communication resources used by the communication device to transmit uplink data of the first signal depends on the MCS, which is one of a plurality of MCSs.

[0160] Paragraph 21. Infrastructure equipment according to paragraph 19 or 20, wherein the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) is different for each of the multiple groups of communication resources.

[0161] Paragraph 22. An infrastructure device according to any one of paragraphs 19 to 20, wherein each of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with one or more of a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ redundancy versions RV, and the communication device uses one or more of the multiple HARQ RVs in combination with the MCS to send uplink data of a first signal in this group of communication resources.

[0162] Paragraph 23. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 22, wherein each RSRP threshold defines one of a plurality of regions relative to the location of the infrastructure equipment, a high RSRP threshold defining a region closer to the location of the infrastructure equipment than a low RSRP threshold.

[0163] Paragraph 24. The infrastructure equipment of paragraph 23, wherein each of the plurality of zones is associated with one of a plurality of MCSs.

[0164] Paragraph 25. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 24, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of a plurality of MCSs.

[0165] Paragraph 26. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of paragraphs 18 to 25, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of the MCS used by the communication device to send the first signal, and the MCS is selected from multiple MCSs based on the size of the cell provided by the infrastructure equipment.

[0166] Paragraph 27. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 26, wherein receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to blindly decode each of multiple groups of communication resources in order to successfully receive uplink data of the first signal.

[0167] Paragraph 28. Infrastructure equipment according to any one of paragraphs 19 to 27, wherein receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to determine the set of communication resources via which the communication device sends uplink data of the first signal based on a received random access preamble code.

[0168] Paragraph 29. Infrastructure equipment according to any of paragraphs 23 to 28, wherein receiving the first signal comprises configuring the infrastructure equipment to:

[0169] determining a timing advance value based on the received random access preamble,

[0170] determining a location of the communication device based on the timing advance value, the location of the communication device being within one of a plurality of regions, and

[0171] The set of resources through which the communication device sends uplink data of the first signal is determined based on the area where the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device.

[0172] Paragraph 30. Infrastructure equipment according to any of paragraphs 23 to 29, wherein receiving the first signal comprises configuring the infrastructure equipment to:

[0173] One or more time division time slots of the wireless access interface are divided into a plurality of physical random access channel PRACH opportunities in the frequency domain, each PRACH opportunity being associated with one of the plurality of regions,

[0174] determining the area where the communication device is located based on the PRACH opportunity at which the first signal is received, and

[0175] The set of resources through which the communication device sends uplink data of the first signal is determined based on the area where the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device.

[0176] Paragraph 31. The infrastructure equipment of any one of paragraphs 18 to 30, wherein the infrastructure equipment is configured to:

[0177] determining at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment, and

[0178] Values ​​of one or more communication parameters are adjusted based on the at least one determined communication characteristic.

[0179] Paragraph 32. Infrastructure equipment as described in paragraph 31, wherein the at least one communication characteristic is an uplink interference level of signals received by the infrastructure equipment.

[0180] Paragraph 33. Infrastructure equipment according to paragraph 31 or 32, wherein the values ​​of the one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure equipment are values ​​of a plurality of RSRP thresholds.

[0181] Paragraph 34. Infrastructure equipment according to any of paragraphs 31 to 33, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of multiple MCSs, and wherein the values ​​of the one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure equipment are offset values ​​of the multiple MCSs.

[0182] Paragraph 35. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 34, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters is signaled directly to the plurality of communication devices by the infrastructure equipment.

[0183] Paragraph 36. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 35, wherein the indication of the one or more communication parameters is broadcast by the infrastructure equipment for receipt by the plurality of communication devices.

[0184] Paragraph 37. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 36, wherein the values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are signaled in at least one system information block.

[0185] Paragraph 38. Infrastructure equipment as described in any of paragraphs 18 to 37, wherein the values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are fixed and predefined.

[0186] Paragraph 39. A method of operating infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network for transmitting data to or receiving data from a plurality of communications devices, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communications devices are located, the method comprising:

[0187] sending, via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network, indications of one or more communication parameters to a plurality of communication devices, the indications of the one or more communication parameters comprising indications of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0188] receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from a communication device via the wireless access interface, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0189] sending a random access response message to a communication device via a wireless access interface,

[0190] Wherein at least one of the random access preamble and the modulation and coding scheme MCS used to receive the first signal indicates a location of a communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0191] Paragraph 40. Circuitry for use with infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communications network, for transmitting data to or receiving data from a plurality of communications devices, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communications devices are located, the infrastructure equipment comprising:

[0192] a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to a communication device via a wireless access interface provided by a wireless communication network,

[0193] a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from a communication device via a wireless access interface, and

[0194] A controller circuit, the controller circuit together with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit is configured to:

[0195] sending an indication of one or more communication parameters to a plurality of communication devices, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds,

[0196] receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from a communication device, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and

[0197] sending a random access response message to a communication device,

[0198] Wherein at least one of the random access preamble and the modulation and coding scheme MCS used to receive the first signal indicates a location of a communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

[0199] To the extent that embodiments of the present disclosure have been described as being implemented at least in part by a data processing device controlled by software, it should be understood that non-transitory machine-readable media (e.g., optical disks, magnetic disks, semiconductor memories, etc.) carrying such software are also considered to represent embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0200] It should be understood that for clarity, the above description has described embodiments with reference to different functional units, circuits and / or processors. However, it is apparent that any suitable distribution of functions between different functional units, circuits and / or processors may be used without departing from the embodiments.

[0201] The described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form, including hardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. The described embodiments may optionally be implemented at least in part as computer software running on one or more data processors and / or digital signal processors. The elements and components of any embodiment may be implemented physically, functionally and logically in any suitable manner. In fact, the function may be implemented in a single unit, in multiple units or as a part of other functional units. In this way, the disclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit, or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units, circuits and / or processors.

[0202] Although the present disclosure has been described in conjunction with some embodiments, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. In addition, although a feature may appear to be described in conjunction with a specific embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various features of the described embodiments may be combined in any manner suitable for implementing the technology.

[0203] References

[0204] [1] RP-161464, “Revised WID for Further Enhanced MTC for LTE,” Ericsson, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting#73, New Orleans, USA, September 19-22, 2016.

[0205] [2] RP-161901, “Revised work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT”, Huawei, HiSilicon, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting#73, New Orleans, USA, September 19-22, 2016.

[0206] [3] RP-170732, “New WID on Even further enhanced MTC for LTE,” Ericsson, Qualcomm, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting#75, Dubrovnik, Croatia, March 6-9, 2017.

[0207] [4] RP-170852, “New WID on Further NB-IoT enhancements,” Huawei, HiSilicon, Neul, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting#75, Dubrovnik, Croatia, March 6-9, 2017.

[0208] [5] Holma H. and Toskala A, “LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA based radioaccess”, John Wiley and Sons, 2009.

[0209] [6] RP-172834, “Revised WID on New Radio Access Technology,” NTT DOCOMO, RAN#78.

[0210] [7] ETSI TS 136 213 V13.0.0(2016-01) / 3GPP TS 36.212 version13.0.0 Release 13.

[0211] [8]R2-168544,“UL data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE,”Huawei,HiSilicon,RAN#96.

[0212] [9]R2-168713,“Baseline solution for small data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE,”Ericsson,Ran#96.

[0213]

[10] TR 38.889,V16.0.0,“3 rd Generation Partnership Project;TechnicalSpecification Group Radio Access Network;Study on NR-based Access toUnlicensed Spectrum;(Release 16),”3GPP,December 2018.

Claims

1. A communication device for transmitting data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, wherein the infrastructure equipment provides a cell having a coverage area where the communication device is located, the communication device comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to the infrastructure equipment via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface, and A controller circuit, in combination with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit, is used to: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of one or more communication parameters, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters, After determining the position of the communication device relative to the position of the infrastructure equipment, sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure equipment, sending the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and receiving a random access response from the infrastructure device, Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

2. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The group of communication resources is one of a plurality of groups of communication resources of the wireless access interface, each group of the plurality of groups of communication resources being associated with a unique random access preamble.

3. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: The set of communication resources used by the communication device to transmit the uplink data of the first signal depends on the MCS, which is one of a plurality of MCSs.

4. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: For each of the plurality of groups of communication resources, the number of physical resource blocks PRB is different.

5. The communication device according to claim 2, wherein: Each of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with one or more of a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ redundancy versions RV, and one or more of the multiple HARQ RVs are used in combination with the MCS by the communication device to send the uplink data of the first signal in this group of communication resources.

6. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: Each of the RSRP thresholds defines one of a plurality of regions relative to the location of the infrastructure equipment, a higher RSRP threshold defining a region closer to the location of the infrastructure equipment than a lower RSRP threshold.

7. The communication device according to claim 6, wherein: Each of the plurality of zones is associated with one of a plurality of MCSs.

8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of a plurality of MCSs.

9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of the MCS used by the communication device to transmit the first signal, the MCS being selected from a plurality of MCSs based on a size of the cell provided by the infrastructure equipment.

10. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The communication device is configured to: receiving, via a broadcast, from the infrastructure equipment an indication of at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment, and The MCS used by the communication device to transmit the first signal is selected from a plurality of MCSs based at least in part on the indication of the at least one communication characteristic.

11. The communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The at least one communications characteristic is an uplink interference level of signals received by the infrastructure equipment.

12. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The communication apparatus receives an indication of the one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure equipment via direct signaling.

13. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The communication apparatus receives an indication of the one or more communication parameters from the infrastructure equipment via a broadcast.

14. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are signaled in at least one system information block.

15. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein: The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are fixed and predefined.

16. A method of operating a communication device, the communication device being used to transmit data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area where the communication device is located, the method comprising: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, an indication of one or more communication parameters, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters, after determining the position of the communication device relative to the position of the infrastructure equipment, sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface, sending the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and receiving a random access response from the infrastructure device, Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

17. A circuit for a communication device, the communication device transmitting data to infrastructure equipment of a wireless communication network, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area where the communication device is located, the communication device comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit a signal to the infrastructure equipment via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from the infrastructure equipment via the wireless access interface, and A controller circuit, in combination with a receiver circuit and a transmitter circuit, is used to: receiving, from the infrastructure equipment, an indication of one or more communication parameters, the indication of the one or more communication parameters comprising an indication of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, determining a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on the received indication of the one or more communication parameters, After determining the position of the communication device relative to the position of the infrastructure equipment, sending a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data to the infrastructure equipment, sending the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and receiving a random access response from the infrastructure device, Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to transmit the first signal indicates a location of the communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

18. An infrastructure device, the infrastructure device forming part of a wireless communication network and configured to send data to or receive data from a plurality of communication devices, the infrastructure device providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communication devices are located, the infrastructure device comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to send a signal to the communication device via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, a receiver circuit configured to receive a signal from the communication device via the wireless access interface, and A controller circuit, in combination with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit, is used to: sending one or more communication parameter indications to the plurality of communication devices, the one or more communication parameter indications comprising indications of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, After determining, by one of the plurality of communication devices, a location of the one communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on an indication of the one or more communication parameters, receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from the one of the plurality of communication devices, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and sending a random access response message to the one communication device, Therein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to receive the first signal indicates a location of the one communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

19. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The group of communication resources is one of a plurality of groups of communication resources of the wireless access interface, each group of the plurality of groups of communication resources being associated with a unique random access preamble.

20. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein: The set of communication resources used by the communication device to transmit the uplink data of the first signal depends on the MCS, which is one of a plurality of MCSs.

21. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein: For each of the plurality of groups of communication resources, the number of physical resource blocks PRB is different.

22. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein: Each of the multiple groups of communication resources is associated with one or more of a plurality of hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ redundancy versions RV, and the one or more of the multiple HARQ RVs are used in combination with the MCS by the communication device to send the uplink data of the first signal in this group of communication resources.

23. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: Each of the RSRP thresholds defines one of a plurality of regions relative to the location of the infrastructure device, a higher RSRP threshold defining a region closer to the location of the infrastructure device than a lower RSRP threshold.

24. The infrastructure equipment of claim 23, wherein: Each of the plurality of zones is associated with one of a plurality of MCSs.

25. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The indication of one or more communication parameters includes an indication of a plurality of MCSs.

26. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of an MCS to be used by the communication device to transmit the first signal, the MCS being selected from a plurality of MCSs based on a size of a cell provided by the infrastructure equipment.

27. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: Receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to blindly decode each of a plurality of groups of communication resources in order to successfully receive the uplink data of the first signal.

28. The infrastructure equipment of claim 19, wherein: Receiving the first signal includes the infrastructure equipment being configured to determine the set of communications resources via which the communications device transmits the uplink data of the first signal based on a received random access preamble.

29. The infrastructure equipment of claim 23, wherein: Receiving the first signal includes configuring the infrastructure equipment to: determining a timing advance value based on the received random access preamble, determining a location of the communication device based on the timing advance value, the location of the communication device being within one of the plurality of areas, and The set of communication resources through which the communication device transmits the uplink data of the first signal is determined based on the area where the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device.

30. The infrastructure equipment of claim 23, wherein: Receiving the first signal includes configuring the infrastructure device to: dividing one or more time division time slots of the wireless access interface into a plurality of physical random access channel PRACH opportunities in the frequency domain, each PRACH opportunity being associated with one of the plurality of regions, determining the area where the communication device is located based on the PRACH opportunity at which the first signal is received, and The set of communication resources through which the communication device transmits the uplink data of the first signal is determined based on the area where the infrastructure equipment determines the location of the communication device.

31. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The infrastructure equipment is configured to: determining at least one communication characteristic of a signal received by the infrastructure equipment, and The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are adjusted based on the determined at least one communication characteristic.

32. The infrastructure equipment of claim 31, wherein: The at least one communications characteristic is an uplink interference level of signals received by the infrastructure equipment.

33. The infrastructure equipment of claim 31, wherein: The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure equipment are values ​​of the plurality of RSRP thresholds.

34. The infrastructure equipment of claim 31 , wherein: The indication of the one or more communication parameters includes an indication of a plurality of MCSs, and wherein the values ​​of the one or more communication parameters adjusted by the infrastructure equipment are offset values ​​of the plurality of MCSs.

35. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The indication of the one or more communication parameters is signaled directly by the infrastructure equipment to the plurality of communication devices.

36. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: An indication of the one or more communication parameters is broadcast by the infrastructure equipment for receipt by the plurality of communication devices.

37. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are signaled in at least one system information block.

38. The infrastructure equipment of claim 18, wherein: The values ​​of the one or more communication parameters are fixed and predefined.

39. A method of operating infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communication network and used to send data to or receive data from a plurality of communication devices, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communication devices are located, the method comprising: sending, via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, indications of one or more communication parameters to the plurality of communication devices, the indications of the one or more communication parameters comprising indications of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, After determining, by one of the plurality of communication devices, a location of the one communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment based on an indication of the one or more communication parameters, receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from the one of the plurality of communication devices via the wireless access interface, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and sending a random access response message to the one communication device via the wireless access interface, Wherein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to receive the first signal indicates a location of the one communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

40. A circuit for infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment forming part of a wireless communication network and configured to send data to or receive data from a plurality of communication devices, the infrastructure equipment providing a cell having a coverage area in which the plurality of communication devices are located, the infrastructure equipment comprising: a transmitter circuit configured to transmit signals to the plurality of communication devices via a wireless access interface provided by the wireless communication network, a receiver circuit configured to receive signals from the plurality of communication devices via the wireless access interface, and a controller circuit, the controller circuit being used together with the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit to: sending one or more communication parameter indications to the plurality of communication devices, the one or more communication parameter indications comprising indications of a plurality of reference signal received power (RSRP) thresholds, receiving a first signal including a random access preamble and uplink data from the one of the plurality of communication devices, receiving the uplink data in a set of communication resources of the wireless access interface, the random access preamble being associated with the set of communication resources, and sending a random access response message to the one of the communication devices after determining, by the one of the plurality of communication devices, a position of the one of the communication devices relative to a position of the infrastructure equipment based on an indication of the one or more communication parameters, Wherein, at least one of the random access preamble and a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) used to receive the first signal indicates a location of the one communication device relative to a location of the infrastructure equipment.

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