Continuously configured and grant-based UL transmissions on the NR-U system

Abstract

A system, an apparatus, a method and a computer-readable medium for a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum are provided. When it is determined that a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level of a first-level uplink (UL) transmission is not less than a second LBT priority level of a second-level UL transmission and a maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) corresponding to the first-level UL transmission is at least a total length of the UL transmission, the UE performs an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission, the total length of the UL transmission including a first length of the first-level uplink (UL) transmission and a second length of the second-level UL transmission. In response to acquiring the channel, the UE performs the first-level UL transmission and then performs the second-level UL transmission.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 805,556, filed February 14, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Background Art

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

[0004] This summary provides a brief description of one or more of the embodiments and / or examples found within the present disclosure.

[0005] The present disclosure describes a user equipment (UE) or an apparatus thereof for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. The UE includes a processor circuit configured to determine a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission. The processor circuit is configured to determine a total length of the UL transmission, the total length including a first length of the first level of UL transmission and a second length of the second level of UL transmission. The processor circuit is configured to perform an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission when it is determined that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) corresponding to the first level of UL transmission is at least the total length of the UL transmission. The UE device also includes a radio front-end circuit coupled to the processor circuit and configured to perform the UL transmission using the first level of UL transmission and then using the second level of UL transmission in response to acquiring the channel. In an implementation scheme, the first level of UL transmission is a configuration grant (CG) transmission and the second level of UL transmission is a grant-based (GB) transmission, or the first level of UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second level of UL transmission is the CG transmission.

[0006] The present disclosure also describes a method performed by a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. The method includes determining a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first-level uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second-level UL transmission. The method includes performing an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission when it is determined that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) corresponding to the first-level UL transmission is at least the total length of the UL transmission, and the total length of the UL transmission includes the first length of the first-level UL transmission and the second length of the second-level UL transmission. The method includes, in response to acquiring the channel, using the first-level UL transmission and then using the second-level UL transmission to perform the UL transmission. In an embodiment, the first-level UL transmission is a configuration grant (CG) transmission and the second-level UL transmission is a grant-based (GB) transmission, or the first-level UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second-level UL transmission is the CG transmission.

[0007] The present disclosure also describes a computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer instructions to be executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed frequency and an unlicensed spectrum. The computer instructions cause the one or more processors to determine a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission. The instructions cause the one or more processors of the UE to determine a total length of the UL transmission, the total length comprising a first length of the first level of UL transmission and a second length of the second level of UL transmission. The instructions cause the one or more processors of the UE to perform an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission when it is determined that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) corresponding to the first level of UL transmission is at least the total length of the UL transmission. The instructions cause the one or more processors of the UE to perform the UL transmission using the first level of UL transmission and then using the second level of UL transmission in response to acquiring the channel. In an implementation scheme, the first level of UL transmission is a configuration grant (CG) transmission and the second level of UL transmission is a grant-based (GB) transmission, or the first level of UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second level of UL transmission is the CG transmission. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1Depicted is an example of continuous uplink transmission by a user equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] Figure 2 Another example of adjacent uplink transmissions by a UE is depicted in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] Figure 3 Depicted are exemplary processes according to some embodiments.

[0011] Figure 4 Depicted is the architecture of a system of networks according to some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 5 An architecture of a system including a first core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0013] Figure 6 An architecture of a system including a second core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0014] Figure 7 Depicted are examples of infrastructure equipment according to various embodiments.

[0015] Figure 8 Depicted are exemplary components of a platform according to various embodiments.

[0016] Fig. 9 Depicted are exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry according to some embodiments.

[0017] Fig.10 Depicted are diagrams of various protocol functions that may be used in various protocol stacks according to various embodiments.

[0018] Fig.11 Depicted are block diagrams showing components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0020] Every year, the number of mobile devices connecting to wireless networks increases significantly. In order to keep up with the demand for mobile data traffic, necessary changes must be made to system requirements to be able to meet these demands. The three key areas that require enhancements to achieve this traffic increase are greater bandwidth, lower latency, and higher data rates.

[0021] One of the major limiting factors in wireless innovation is the availability of spectrum. To mitigate this, unlicensed spectrum has been an area of ​​great interest in extending the availability of LTE. In this context, one of the major enhancements to LTE in 3GPP Release 13 is to enable it to operate in unlicensed spectrum via Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), which extends the system bandwidth by leveraging the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) framework introduced by the Advanced LTE system.

[0022] Since the main building blocks of the framework of NR have been established, the natural enhancement is to allow it to operate on unlicensed spectrum as well, namely unlicensed NR (NR-U). NR is a short representation of NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum, which is a technology that enables NR systems to operate on unlicensed spectrum. Work on introducing shared / unlicensed spectrum in 5G NR has already begun, and a new work item on "NR-based access to unlicensed spectrum" was approved in a recent TSG RAN meeting. Among other things, one goal of this new WI is as follows:

[0023] The following physical layer aspects are included:

[0024] • A frame structure including single and multiple DL-to-UL and UL-to-DL switching points within a shared COT with associated identified LBT requirements.

[0025] · An extended UL data channel including PUSCH supporting PRB-based frequency block interleaved transmission; it should be understood that the end position is indicated by the UL grant, and multiple PUSCH start positions in one or more time slots are supported according to the LBT result; the UE is not required to change the design of the authorized TBS for PUSCH transmission according to the LBT result. The necessary PUSCH enhancement is based on CP-OFDM. The applicability of sub-PRB frequency block interleaved transmission for 60kHz is determined elsewhere.

[0026] The following physical layer processes are included:

[0027] For load-based equipment (LBE), the channel access mechanism complies with the protocol of the NR-U study project.

[0028] HARQ Operation: The NR HARQ feedback mechanism is the baseline NR-U operation with extensions consistent with the agreement during the study phase (NR-U TR Section IV), including the immediate transmission of HARQ A / N for the corresponding data in the same shared COT and the transmission of HARQ A / N in a subsequent COT. Mechanisms that provide multiple and / or complementary time and / or frequency domain transmission opportunities are potentially supported.

[0029] Scheduling of PUSCH in accordance with the protocol in the research phase for multiple TTIs.

[0030] Configuration authorization operation: The NR Type 1 and Type 2 configuration authorization mechanisms are the baseline for NR-U operation with modifications based on agreement during the study phase.

[0031] • Data multiplexing aspects (for both UL and DL) taking into account LBT and channel access priority.

[0032] One of the challenges of NR-U is that the system must maintain fair coexistence with other existing technologies, and to this end, some general limitations may be taken into account when designing the system, depending on the specific frequency band it may operate in. For example, if operating in the 5 GHz band, a listen-before-talk (LBT) process may need to be performed in some parts of the world to acquire the medium before transmission can occur.

[0033] While both configuration grant transmissions and grant-based UL transmissions are implemented for NR-U, the channel must be utilized in the most efficient way possible by still ensuring coexistence with other existing technologies. In NR-U, configuration grant transmissions and grant-based UL transmissions from the same UE may occur back-to-back: in this case, even though the transmission is done using two different modes, it still consists of a longer UL burst from a channel access perspective. In this case, the expected behavior would be to perform two LBTs: one for the configuration grant transmission and another for the scheduling-based transmission. However, in some cases, it may be more efficient to perform a single LBT in order to increase the likelihood of a successful transmission. In the present disclosure, implementation schemes related to this last process are provided.

[0034] The present disclosure provides various embodiments on how to efficiently perform various types of transmissions when a configuration grant transmission and a grant-based UL transmission occur back-to-back from the same UE. In this case, the conventional process requires the UE to perform two LBTs (one before the configuration grant transmission and one before the grant-based UL transmission). However, in order to optimize channel access, a single LBT may be performed at the beginning of a UL burst, regardless of whether the burst consists of two types of transmissions, and the priority level of the LBT must be modified accordingly. These and other aspects will be discussed in more detail below to achieve this optimization.

[0035] I. Optimization of the channel access procedure for continuous CG transmission and GB transmission

[0036] As described above, full bandwidth configuration grant (CG) transmission and grant-based (GB) transmission from the same UE may occur in consecutive time instances. In this case, the channel access process may be optimized so that a single LBT may be used. In this case, two different scenarios may occur:

[0037] 1. GB transmission is scheduled by the gNB such that it follows the CG transmission through consecutive time instances;

[0038] 2. CG transmission follows GB transmission through consecutive time instances.

[0039] Note that the following implementation applies to both narrowband (20 MHz BW) and wideband operation (BW>20 MHz).

[0040] I.1 Case 1

[0041] In some embodiments, similar to Figure 4A user equipment (UE) 102 of UE 401 is configured with CG transmission and also receives a self-carrier UL grant 106 with a scheduled GB burst 110 with category 4 LBT, which GB burst may occupy the full bandwidth and may also occur inside or outside the MCOT 112 of the gNB 104. The UE 102 may transmit a CG burst 108 followed by the GB burst 110 by applying category 4 LBT, as shown in FIG. Figure 1 shown.

[0042] In some embodiments, Figure 1 In the illustrated case, the UE 102 may terminate the CG burst 108 before performing the Cat-4 GB UL transmission 110. In this case, the UE 102 may perform the following operations:

[0043] 1. The UE 102 performs an LBT procedure before performing a CG UL transmission 108;

[0044] 2. If LBT is successful, the UE 102 performs a CG UL transmission 108;

[0045] 3. The UE 102 re-performs the LBT procedure using the priority level provided by the gNB 104 via the DCI to re-acquire the channel on which the GB UL transmission 110 is to be performed;

[0046] 4. If LBT is successful, the UE 102 performs GB UL transmission 110.

[0047] In some embodiments, the UE may perform a CG transmission using Cat-4, and then if the LBT priority level of the CG is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated by the gNB for the GB UL, and if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the CG transmission, the UE may perform the following operations:

[0048] 1. The UE performs the LBT procedure according to the priority level of the CG transmission;

[0049] 2. If LBT is successful, the UE performs CG transmission followed by GB transmission immediately without any gap in between.

[0050] In some embodiments, the CG transmission may be terminated without puncturing its tail. For example, the UE will still use the last symbol or for SCS of 15kHz and 30kHz, or the last two symbols when the SCS of the GB PUSCH transmission is set to 60kHz.

[0051] In some embodiments, in the last time slot of a CG burst, the UE may not indicate the end burst in its CG-UCI. In some embodiments, a GB transmission may start without any gaps or without performing any LBT procedures.

[0052] In some embodiments, the UE may select a priority level for Cat-4 LBT such that the MCOT is long enough to allow continuous transmission of CG and GB transmissions, where the CG transmission is performed without any gaps in the last one or more symbols of the burst and the GB transmission starts without performing additional LBT.

[0053] In some embodiments, if the CG transmission ends earlier than symbol #13, a new LBT can be performed before transmitting the GB PUSCH in the next time slot.

[0054] In some embodiments, assuming that the CG is also within the COT obtained by the gNB, the UE may use CAT-2 LBT for transmission of the CG and also transmit the GB between the CG and GB without LBT operation by having no gap or very small gap between the CG and GB. In some embodiments, if the CG is also within the COT obtained by the gNB, and the necessary COT is greater than the COT that would be required if continuous CG+GB transmission is performed, the UE may override the LBT and may use Cat-4 LBT with the minimum priority level so that the MCOT will be equal to or longer than the CG+CB burst.

[0055] In some embodiments, if the CG+GB burst is longer than the MCOT acquired through the highest Cat-4 priority level, the UE may perform two transmissions separately by acquiring the channel twice: the UE may perform LBT at the beginning of the CG transmission and then perform LBT at the beginning of the GB transmission.

[0056] I.2 Case 2

[0057] In the event that UE 202 receives a self-carrier UL grant 206 for a CAT-2 or CAT-4 LBT GB burst 206 occupying full bandwidth with scheduling occurring inside 214 or outside 216 of MCOT 212 of gNB 204, UE 202 may transmit a Category 4 LBT GB burst 208 followed by a CG burst 210, as shown in FIG. Figure 2 shown.

[0058] In some embodiments, similar to the case shown above, the UE terminates the GB burst before performing a Cat-4 CG UL transmission. In this case, the UE performs the following operations:

[0059] 1. The UE re-performs the LBT procedure using the priority level provided by the gNB via DCI to re-acquire the channel on which to perform GB UL transmission;

[0060] 2. If LBT is successful, the UE performs GB UL transmission;

[0061] 3. The UE re-performs the LBT procedure to perform CG UL transmission;

[0062] 4. If LBT is successful, the UE performs CG UL transmission.

[0063] In some embodiments, if the GB UL transmission needs to be performed over Cat-4 LBT (which occurs if the GB is performed outside the COT of the gNB with shared acquisition), and if the priority level of the CG is less than or equal to the priority level indicated by the gNB in ​​the DCI to the GB UL or selected by the UE, and if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the GB transmission, then the CG transmission follows the GB transmission without any gap.

[0064] In the aforementioned case (GB is performed outside the COT of the shared acquired gNB), in some embodiments, the GB transmission may terminate for the gap without puncturing its tail, and similarly for the first time slot of the CG burst, the starting point will coincide with the first OFDM symbol and there will be no indication of the CG start burst in its CG-UCI.

[0065] In some embodiments, if GB transmission may end earlier than symbol #13, a new LBT is performed before transmitting CGPUSCH in the next time slot.

[0066] In some embodiments, the UE may override the indicated channel access priority level provided by the gNB within the DCI to perform GB transmission with a larger priority level that ensures that GB bursts and CG bursts can occur consecutively.

[0067] In some embodiments, if a GB UL transmission needs to be performed over Cat-2 LBT (which occurs if the GB is performed within the COT of a shared acquired gNB), and if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the GB transmission selected by the UE, the CG transmission may follow the GB transmission without any gap and without any LBT for the CG transmission.

[0068] In the foregoing case, in some embodiments, the GB transmission may terminate for the gap without puncturing its tail, and similarly for the first time slot of the CG burst, the starting point may coincide with the first OFDM symbol, and there is no indication of a CG start burst in its CG-UCI.

[0069] In some embodiments, if GB transmission ends earlier than symbol #13, a new LBT may be performed before transmitting the CG PUSCH in the next time slot.

[0070] In some embodiments, the UE may override the Cat-2 LBT with a Cat-4 LBT having a priority level that ensures that GB bursts and CG bursts may occur consecutively.

[0071] In the aforementioned case (GB is executed within the COT of the shared acquired gNB), in some embodiments, the above process may be applied if the CG burst starts at the end of the gNB's acquired COT. This is done to prevent blocking of other GB transmissions within the gNB's acquired COT. The Cat-2 LBT may also be overwritten by the Cat-4 LBT so that the combined burst (GB+CG) will be treated as if it were transmitted outside the gNB's acquired COT.

[0072] In some embodiments, if the GB UL transmission does not require LBT to be performed, the CG UL burst may be performed without any gap (if both occur without the gNB's acquired COT). In some embodiments, if the GB UL transmission does not require LBT to be performed, the CG UL burst may be performed only after LBT is performed (if both bursts occur without the gNB's acquired COT or if the CG burst starts after the gNB's acquired COT ends): This complies with ETS IBRAN regulatory requirements.

[0073] In some embodiments, if the CG+GB burst is longer than the MCOT acquired through the highest Cat-4 priority level, the UE may perform two transmissions separately by acquiring the channel twice: the UE may perform LBT at the beginning of the CG transmission and then perform LBT at the beginning of the GB transmission.

[0074] II. Channel Access Process

[0075] If the absence of Wi-Fi cannot be guaranteed (e.g., by regulation) in the frequency band where NR-U is operating (below 7 GHz), the baseline assumption is that the NR-U operating bandwidth is an integer multiple of 20 MHz.

[0076] The channel access mechanism needs to comply with regulations and may therefore need to be adapted for a specific frequency range.

[0077] For channel access mechanisms, the LTE-LAA LBT mechanism is adapted as a baseline for the 5 GHz band and as a starting point for the design of the 6 GHz band. At least for bands where the absence of Wi-Fi cannot be guaranteed (e.g., by regulation), LBT can be performed in 20 MHz units.

[0078] For the 5 GHz band, there is a 16 μs gap to accommodate transceiver turnaround prior to the immediate transmission of the responding node for NR-U, such as to support fast A / N feedback, and as permitted per regulations. Restrictions / conditions on when this option may be used will be further identified, e.g., to consider fair coexistence.

[0079] If regulations allow, the 16 μs gap to accommodate transceiver turnaround prior to an immediate transmission by a responding node may also be applied to the 6 GHz band, and if fair coexistence criteria are defined for the 6 GHz band, further restrictions / conditions on when this option may be used will be identified.

[0080] For the CWS adjustment process in NR-U, in addition to the aspects considered in LTE LAA, NR-U may also consider at least the following aspects: CBG-based HARQ-ACK operation, NR scheduling and HARQ-feedback delay and processing time, wideband (>20MHz) operation including BWP, configuration authorization operation. For the initiation of COT by gNB (operating as LBE device), the channel access scheme in Table II-1 is used.

[0081] Table II-1: Channel access scheme for COT initiated by gNB as LBE device

[0082]

[0083]

[0084] Note that the applicability of LBT schemes other than Cat 4 LBT for control messages related to initial / random access, mobility, paging, reference signal-only, and PDCCH-only transmissions, such as "RACH message 4" transmitted alone or when multiplexed with DRS, handover commands, GC-PDCCH, or short message paging, has been discussed. Additional details related to the exceptions in this note may be determined as the specification is developed.

[0085] At least for the case where a DL burst follows a UL burst within a COT initiated by the gNB and there is no gap greater than 25 μs between any two transmissions in the COT, the channel access scheme in Table II-2 applies to the DL burst that follows the UL burst.

[0086] Table II-2: Channel access scheme for DL ​​burst following COT initiated by gNB as LBE device UL burst within

[0087]

[0088] Note that a DL burst is defined as a group of transmissions from a given gNB with no gaps or with gaps no larger than 16 μs. Transmissions from a gNB with gaps larger than 16 μs are considered separate DL bursts.

[0089] Within the gNB-initiated COT, the UE's UL bursts consisting of one or more of PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and SRS follow the channel access scheme in Table II-3.

[0090] Table II-3: Channel access scheme for UL bursts within COT initiated by gNB as LBE device

[0091]

[0092]

[0093] Note that a UL burst is defined as a group of transmissions from a given UE with no gaps or with gaps not exceeding 16 μs. Transmissions from a UE with gaps greater than 16 μs are considered separate UL bursts. The number of LBT attempts within the COT should be determined when developing the specification.

[0094] For initiation of COT by the UE, the channel access scheme in Table II-4 is used.

[0095] Table II-4: Channel access scheme for COT initiated by UE as LBE device

[0096]

[0097] Note that COT includes multiple signals / channels with different channel access categories / priority levels, and the highest channel access priority level value and the highest channel access category among the channel access priority levels and channel access categories corresponding to the multiple signals / channels are applicable.

[0098] It should be noted that the applicability of channel access schemes other than Cat 4 to the following signals / channels has been discussed and the details will be determined when the specification is developed:

[0099] -UL control information including UCI only on PUSCH, such as HARQ-ACK, scheduling request and channel state information

[0100] - Random access

[0101] For FBE mode of operation, the gNB acquires a COT with Cat2 immediately before the fixed frame period. Within the COT acquired by the gNB, if the gap is <= 16μs, the gNB and associated UEs can use the Cat 1 channel access scheme. Within the COT acquired by the gNB, if the gap is > 16μs, the gNB and associated UEs can use the Cat 2 channel access scheme. Note that this channel access mechanism is intended to be consistent with any provisions for FBE operation.

[0102] Means to reduce or suppress the effects of interference, for example from hidden nodes, through UE assistance have been studied. Possible mechanisms include at least enhancements to the L1 measurement and reporting of interference observed by the UE, and a handshake procedure between the transmitter and receiver. Further consideration of the detailed solutions and their benefits for mitigating the effects of interference on NR-U is needed when the specification is to be developed.

[0103] Means for facilitating spatial reuse or frequency reuse operation of NR-U have been studied. Possible mechanisms include at least: alignment of the starting point for transmission (and therefore at least the time instance of the last CCA); exchange and coordination of LBT-related parameters between gNBs or UEs of different NR-Us; means for determining whether interference originates from other NR-U nodes; enhancements to L1 measurements and reporting of interference observed by UEs; and adjustment of energy / signal detection thresholds. Given the provisions, detailed solutions and their benefits for facilitating spatial reuse in NR-U need to be further considered when specifications are to be developed.

[0104] Channel access mechanisms for beamformed transmissions have been studied. It has been identified that unidirectional LBT should be supported. The use of directional LBT for beamformed transmissions has also been studied, i.e., LBT performed in the direction of the transmission beam. Directional LBT and its benefits for beamformed transmissions need to be further considered when specifications are to be developed, with a view to regulation and fair coexistence with other technologies.

[0105] III. Initial Access and Mobility

[0106] For initial access and mobility procedures, the main issue identified for NR operation in unlicensed bands is the reduced transmission opportunities for different signals and channels due to LBT failure.

[0107] The following modifications to the initial access procedure have been identified:

[0108] - Modifications to the initial access procedure to take into account the restrictions on access to the channel based on LBT. NR-U needs to develop techniques to handle the reduced SS / PBCH blocks and RYI transmission opportunities due to LBT failure.

[0109] - Enhancements to 4-step RACH, including development of mechanisms to handle reduced msg 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 transmission opportunities due to LBT failures.

[0110] It is also recognized that the 2-step RACH procedure may have benefits for channel access.

[0111] For SS / PBCH block transmissions, it is recommended to define a mechanism to transmit SS / PBCH blocks that are dropped due to LBT failure. It is also recommended to define a mechanism for the UE to determine the frame timing and QCL assumptions based on the detected SS / PBCH blocks when the specification is developed. The feasibility and benefits of beam repetition for soft combining the reception of SSBs within the same DRS transmission may be further considered.

[0112] For SS / PBCH block transmission as part of DRS, the maximum number of candidate SS / PBCH block positions within the DRS transmission window may be extended to Y, where the selection of Y may depend on the parameters of the SS / PBCH blocks and where Y≤64. The transmitted SS / PBCH blocks do not overlap and the maximum number of transmitted SS / PBCH blocks within the DRS transmission window is X, where X≤8. The time domain position of the transmitted SS / PBCH block is selected from a set of Y candidate SS / PBCH block positions. Proposals for shift granularity between candidate time domain SSB positions / candidate SSB groups, duration of the DRS transmission window, and duration of DRS transmitted within a window that includes SSBs and other multiplexed signals / channels have been discussed without consensus and may be further considered when developing the specification.

[0113] Modifications to the paging process due to reduced transmission opportunities for paging (due to LBT failure) have been identified and studied. Therefore, the following mechanisms may be used to enhance paging opportunities:

[0114] -Added time domain paging occasions or paging monitoring occasions.

[0115] - This enables additional paging occasions beyond DRS.

[0116] Note: Some or all of the above enhancements may fall within the scope of higher layer enhancements and may not require any further study from an L1 perspective.

[0117] For potential RACH resource enhancements, the following options have been identified for NR-U, beyond the flexibility already available in Rel-15, but not yet conformed. These options may be further considered when developing the specifications:

[0118] - Frequency domain enhancements: multiple PRACH resources across multiple LBT sub-bands / carriers for both contention-free and contention-based RA

[0119] -Time Domain Enhancement:

[0120] - For connected mode UEs, PRACH resources are scheduled via DCI.

[0121] - The triggered PRACH in the COT obtained by the gNB can use the new resources indicated by the DCI

[0122] - For idle mode UEs, PRACH resources are scheduled via paging

[0123] - Note: Potential inefficiency of network resources due to paging across multiple cells

[0124] - In addition, new RACH resources are used immediately after DRS transmission is detected

[0125] -Multiple PRACH transmissions before Msg2 reception in the RAR window for initial access

[0126] - The number of allowed transmissions is predefined or indicated, e.g. in the RMSI

[0127] - Packet SSB to RO mapping via frequency first - time second approach, where packets are mapped in the time domain

[0128] For msg1 transmission of the 4-step RACH procedure, if the preamble transmission is dropped due to LBT failure, from the RAN1 perspective it is recommended that no preamble power ramp up is performed and the preamble transmission counter is not incremented.

[0129] For msg 2 transmission in 4-step RACH procedure, in some cases, the maximum RAR window size is extended beyond 10ms to improve robustness to DL LBT failures for RAR transmission. Other candidate mechanisms identified in the absence of consistency include multiple opportunities in time and / or frequency domain for message 2 / 3 / 4 transmission and / or reduced RACH procedure delay in different LBT subbands that are pre-configured, pre-indicated or scheduled, and may be further considered when specifications are to be developed.

[0130] Potential modifications to the RLM / RRM procedures due to reduced transmission opportunities of DL signals and channels (due to LBT failure) have been identified and studied.

[0131] For RLM on unlicensed SpCell and RRM, a DMTC (DRS measurement time configuration) is configured in which the UE can perform measurements. These time domain measurement windows for RRM measurements and RLM may be different. The RLM DMTC may coincide with the DRS transmission window. For RLM, when developing the specification, the following suggestions were considered for another design:

[0132] - Identify a set of RLM-RS, e.g., DRS, SS / PBCH block, CSI-RS. Transmission of RS in COT may be subject to LBT.

[0133] - Identify which set of RLM-RS is used for in-sync and out-of-sync assessment. For example, determine which RLM-RS are available for in-sync and out-of-sync assessment within or outside the RLM measurement window.

[0134] - Potential definition of a metric (e.g., Rel-15 Out-of-Sync Indication or a new metric) to accurately identify instances where the RLM-RS was not successfully detected. When developing the specification, determine if / how such a metric should be reported to higher layers.

[0135] Additionally, metrics indicating channel occupancy or medium contention other than RSSI may be reported, also as indicated from a high level perspective in clause 7.2.2.3.1. The exact definition of the metric may be considered when developing the specification.

[0136] IV. Potential HARQ Enhancements

[0137] NR-U uses the NR HARQ feedback mechanism as a baseline and can identify enhancements.

[0138] Identify the transmission of HARQ A / N for corresponding data in the same shared COT. For NR-U, the design attempts to support all HARQ A / N transmissions for corresponding data in the same shared COT, if possible, given the current NR UE processing time required. A gap of up to 16 μs should be allowed between the end of DL transmission and the immediate transmission of feedback to accommodate hardware turnaround time. Transmissions (e.g., CSI reports or SRS, or other PUSCH, or CSI-RS, or other PDSCH) in the time between one DL data transmission of a UE and the corresponding UL transmission of DL HARQ feedback for the same UE within the shared COT may be supported. Potential enhancements to this type of operation (e.g., through uplink transmissions that may be pre-configured or predetermined) may be supported to reduce the signaling overhead of these transmissions.

[0139] However, it should be understood that in some cases, HARQ A / N must be transmitted in a COT separate from the COT transmitting the corresponding data. The signaling value of the PDSCH to HARQ timing indicator is introduced in the DCI scheduling the PDSCH, which notifies the UE that the timing and resources of the HARQ-ACK feedback for the corresponding PDSCH will be determined later.

[0140] Techniques for handling reduced HARQ A / N transmission opportunities for a given HARQ process due to LBT failure are identified. Potential techniques include mechanisms to provide multiple and / or complementary time domain and / or frequency domain transmission opportunities.

[0141] NR-U considers mechanisms to support flexible triggering and multiplexing of HARQ feedback for one or more DL HARQ processes when transmitting UL HARQ feedback in unlicensed bands.

[0142] NR-U shall support HARQ feedback corresponding to some or all PDSCHs of channel occupancy that may be reported in the same channel occupancy, and HARQ feedback corresponding to PDSCHs of channel occupancy may be reported outside of that channel occupancy.

[0143] To support HARQ feedback corresponding to some or all PDSCHs whose channel occupancy is to be reported in the same channel occupancy, the PDSCH to HARQ timing may be extended to support timing indicating timing until the end of the longest COT allowed as specified. One or more of the following will be required: allowing values ​​greater than 15 through RRC signaling; allowing more bits for the PDSCH to HARQ timing indicator.

[0144] Supporting HARQ feedback corresponding to PDSCH of channel occupancy can be reported outside of the channel occupancy, the following possible candidate solutions can be considered:

[0145] -Alt1: gNB requests / trigger feedback of PDSCH from earlier COT

[0146] -Alt2: UE is configured to report HARQ feedback for PDSCH from earlier COT without explicit request / trigger

[0147] -Alt3: PDSCH to HARQ timing indicator in the DCI that schedules PDSCH

[0148] The above alternatives apply at least to the case where there is no expected HARQ feedback in the same channel occupancy as PDSCH.

[0149] Further details on potential solutions for allowing cross-COT HARQ-ACK feedback and multiple opportunities for HARQ-ACK feedback are provided in Table IV-1.

[0150] Table IV-1: Possible alternatives for supporting multiple HARQ-ACK opportunities

[0151]

[0152] A possible enhancement to the dynamic HARQ codebook is to support a larger DAI field to accommodate more than 4 PDSCH transmissions that may be missing, which is more likely to occur on unlicensed spectrum. The enhancement is necessary to align the dynamic HARQ codebook between the UE and the gNB. Alt.1 in Table IV-1 allows triggering / requesting reporting of missing or unreported HARQ-ACK feedback in case of LBT failure for PUCCH / PUSCH transmissions, or in case of PUCCH / PUSCH detection failure at the gNB, or in case of PDCCH detection failure at the UE, or in case of HARQ-ACK feedback pending from an earlier COT. Alt.2 in the table allows reporting of unreported HARQ-ACK feedback in case of LBT failure for PUCCH / PUSCH transmissions, or in case of HARQ-ACK feedback pending from an earlier COT.

[0153] Scheduling multiple TTIs for PUSCH should be supported in NR-U, with each TTI using a separate UL grant in the same PDCCH monitoring opportunity. Scheduling multiple TTIs for PUSCH should be supported in NR-U, i.e., scheduling multiple TBs with different HARQ process IDs on multiple time slots using a single UL grant.

[0154] In the case of CBG-based HARQ and LBT Category 4, enhancements are considered to define how to adjust the contention window size (CWS) based on TB level HARQ-ACK and CBG level HARQ-ACK.

[0155] V. Potential Enhancements to Configuration Authorization

[0156] NR has defined Type 1 and Type 2 configuration authorization mechanisms. For NR-U, there is no need to exclude Type 1 or Type 2 configuration authorization mechanisms for operation of NR in unlicensed spectrum.

[0157] The modifications to the configuration authorization procedure are described in detail below.

[0158] - Remove the dependency of HARQ process information on timing. This can be achieved by introducing UCI on PUSCH to carry HARQ process ID, NDI, RVID.

[0159] - Additional information fields may be considered to be included in the UCI, for example, UE-ID, COT sharing information, PUSCH duration, etc.

[0160] - It has been identified that the resources utilized by UCI and the multiplexing of UCI and data information for PUSCH require consideration of DMRS placement and the start and end symbols of the configured grant-based transmission. Details on configuring the multiplexing of UCI and data information for PUSCH grants may be determined when the specification is developed.

[0161] -Introduction of Downlink Feedback Information (DFI) including HARQ feedback for configuration grant transmission

[0162] - Increased flexibility in configuring time domain resource allocation for grant transmission

[0163] - For potential solutions to provide flexibility in time domain resource allocation, a bitmap-based approach including {periodicity, offset in frame, start symbol and length of PUSCH and K repetition signaling} and a time domain resource allocation approach based on NR Rel-15 are identified as potential candidates. Additional aspects (such as finer granularity of resource allocation and multiple resources within a period) may be considered to enhance the flexibility of time domain resource allocation.

[0164] - Support for retransmission without explicit UL grant.

[0165] For NR in unlicensed spectrum, consideration should be given to allowing time-continuously configured licensed resources without any gaps between resources and non-continuously configured licensed resources (not necessarily periodic) with gaps between resources.

[0166] The UE selects a HARQ process ID from the RRC configured HARQ ID set for transmission of the ungranted NR configuration grant.

[0167] It has been recognized that a DFI may include pending HARQ ACK feedback from a previously configured grant transmission by the same UE.

[0168] It has been identified that it is problematic for the UE to assume an ACK in the absence of feedback reception, which may include explicit feedback or feedback in the form of an uplink grant. It has also been identified that assuming a NACK upon timer expiration may be a candidate solution to avoid the impact of LBT on feedback reception. It has also been identified that possible conflicts between configuration grant transmissions and scheduling grant transmissions may have to be resolved with respect to the NDI and RNTI of the same HARQ process. The details may be determined as the specification is developed.

[0169] For retransmissions of a HARQ process that was originally transmitted via configured grant resources, retransmissions via the same configured grant resources and retransmissions via resources scheduled by a UL grant are supported.

[0170] When the UE receives NACK feedback for the corresponding HARQ process via DFI, the UE may autonomously initiate retransmission for the HARQ process that was initially transmitted via the configured grant mechanism for the unlicensed NR.

[0171] It has been identified that UE multiplexing and collision avoidance mechanisms between configuration grant transmissions and between configuration grant transmissions and scheduled grant transmissions may be considered.

[0172] When an unlicensed NR configuration grant transmission overlaps with the timing of a potential NR-U DRS configuration for a serving cell, the unlicensed NR configuration grant transmission is not allowed, regardless of the configured time domain resources used for the configuration grant transmission.

[0173] It has been identified that CBG-based retransmissions of configured grant-based transmissions may be used. Details regarding which CBG-related control information is transmitted as part of the DFI and UCI, and the amount of control information transmitted via the DFI and UCI, may be determined when developing the specification.

[0174] It has been identified that conflict avoidance between configuration grants and scheduled grant-based transmissions may be achieved by managing transmission starting points for configuration grants and scheduled grant-based transmissions.Additional details regarding management of transmission starting points may be determined as specifications are developed.

[0175] It has been identified that sharing of resources with the gNB within the COT acquired by the UE as part of a configured grant-based transmission should be supported. It has also been identified that configured grant-based transmission within the COT acquired by the gNB should be supported. The details of identifying cases where COT sharing is possible, as well as the details of potential resource sharing mechanisms and rules, may be determined as the specification is developed.

[0176] Figure 3 An exemplary process according to some embodiments is shown. The exemplary process may be described in detail in relation to Figures 4 to 11 According to some embodiments, at step 302, the user equipment determines a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission. As described above, reference Figure 1 and Figure 2, full bandwidth configuration grant (CG) transmissions and grant-based (GB) transmissions from the same UE may occur in consecutive time instances. In addition, as described above, GB transmissions are scheduled by the gNB such that they follow CG transmissions by consecutive time instances, or vice versa. Thus, a first level UL transmission may be a CG transmission and a second level UL transmission may be a GB transmission, or a first level UL transmission may be a GB transmission and a second level UL transmission may be a CG transmission.

[0177] According to some embodiments, at step 304, the UE may determine a total length of the UL transmission, the total length comprising a first length of the UL transmission of the first level and a second length of the UL transmission of the second level. Figure 2 As shown, the UE determines the total length of the CG transmission burst and the GB transmission burst from the UE to compare with the maximum channel occupation time (MCOT) of the gNB.

[0178] According to some embodiments, at step 306, when it is determined that the first LBT priority level determined at step 302 is at least equal to the second LBT priority level determined at step 302, and the total length of the CG transmission burst and the GB transmission burst does not exceed MCOT, the UE may perform an LBT process to acquire a channel for UL transmission.

[0179] According to some embodiments, upon acquiring the channel, the UE may perform UL transmission using the first level of UL transmission followed by the second level of UL transmission at step 308. Thus, the LBT process is performed only once instead of twice.

[0180] System and implementation

[0181] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system 400 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 400 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0182] like Figure 4As shown, system 400 includes UE 401a and UE 401b (collectively referred to as "UE 401"). In this example, UE 401 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine electronic control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an IoT device, etc.

[0183] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 401 may include an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0184] UE 401 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to an access network (AN) or RAN 410. In an embodiment, RAN 410 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 410 operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 410 operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. UE 401 utilizes connections (or channels) 403 and 404, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0185] In this example, connections 403 and 404 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 401 may directly exchange communication data via ProSe interface 405. ProSe interface 405 may alternatively be referred to as SL interface 405, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0186] UE 401b is shown as being configured to access AP 406 (also referred to as "WLAN node 406," "WLAN 406," "WLAN terminal 406," "WT 406," etc.) via connection 407. Connection 407 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 406 will include wireless fidelity. Router. In this example, AP 406 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 401b, RAN 410, and AP 406 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 401b in RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 411a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 401b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 407) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 407. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0187] RAN 410 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 411a and 411b (collectively referred to as "RAN node 411") that enable connections 403 and 404. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0188] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splitting, such as PDCP splitting, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 411; MAC / PHY splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 411; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 411. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 411 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, individual RAN nodes 411 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 411 connected to the RAN via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 4 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 7), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 410 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 401 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 6 CN 620) RAN node.

[0189] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be an RSU or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 401 (vUE 401). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0190] Any of the RAN nodes 411 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 401. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 411 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 410, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0191] In an embodiment, UE 401 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 411 using OFDM communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0192] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 411 to the UE 401, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0193] According to various embodiments, UE 401 and RAN node 411 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0194] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0195] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., multiple UEs 401, multiple RAN nodes 411, etc.) senses the medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include a CCA that utilizes at least an ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an expected transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0196] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 401, AP 406, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0197] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0198] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 401 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0199] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 401. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 401 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 401b within the cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 411 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 401. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the multiple UEs 401.

[0200] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quaternions, which may then be arranged using interleaved sub-blocks for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs may be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs may be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0201] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0202] RAN nodes 411 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 412. In embodiments where system 400 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 420 is a Figure 5 401). In some embodiments, the interface 412 may be an X2 interface 412. ... X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0203] When system 400 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 420 is Figure 6In some embodiments (when the 5GC 620 in the 5GC 420 is connected), the interface 412 may be an Xn interface 412. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 420, between a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 420. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 401 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 411. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) service RAN node 411 to the new (target) service RAN node 411, and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) service RAN node 411 and the new (target) service RAN node 411. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0204] RAN 410 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 420. CN 420 may include a plurality of network elements 422 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 401) connected to CN 420 via RAN 410. The components of CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0205] Generally speaking, the application server 430 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 430 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 401 via the EPC 420 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0206] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 420" or the like), and RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an NG interface 413. In an embodiment, NG interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and AMF. Figure 6 An implementation of CN 420 as 5GC 420 is discussed in more detail.

[0207] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 420", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 420 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 420 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 420", etc.), RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an S1 interface 413. In an embodiment, S1 interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and MME. Figure 5 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 420 is an EPC 420 .

[0208] Figure 5 FIG. 5 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 500 including a first CN 520 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 500 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 520 is a Figure 4 In addition, UE 501 may communicate with Figure 4 The UE 401 is the same as or similar to the UE 401, and the E-UTRAN 510 may be Figure 4 The CN 520 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 410 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 411 discussed previously. The CN 520 may include an MME 521, an S-GW 522, a P-GW 523, an HSS 524, and an SGSN 525.

[0209] The MME 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 501. The MME 521 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data stores, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 501, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 501 and MME 521 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 501 and the MME 521. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 501. The MME 521 may be coupled to the HSS 524 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 525 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 522 via an S11 reference point.

[0210] SGSN 525 may be a node that serves UE 501 by tracking the location of individual UE 501 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 525 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 521; handling of UE 501 time zone functions, as specified by MME 521; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 521 and SGSN 525 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0211] The HSS 524 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 520 may include one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 524 and the MME 521 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 520 between the HSS 524 and the MME 521.

[0212] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 413 towards the RAN 510 (at Figure 5 The S-GW 522 may be a local mobile anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 522 and the MME 521 may provide a control plane between the MME 521 and the S-GW 522. The S-GW 522 may be coupled to the P-GW 523 via the S5 reference point.

[0213] The P-GW 523 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 530. The P-GW 523 may communicate with the PDN 530 via the IP interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) routes data packets between EPC 520 and external networks such as a network including application server 430 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 523 can communicate via IP communication interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 4 Application server 430 or Figure 5The S5 reference point between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 522 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 501 and whether the S-GW 522 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 523 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 523 may also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection, such as a PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 523 and the packet data network (PDN) 530 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 523 may be coupled to the PCRF 526 via a Gx reference point.

[0214] PCRF 526 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 526 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 501. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 501: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to application server 530 via P-GW 523. Application server 530 may signal PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 526 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which function starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 530. The Gx reference point between PCRF 526 and P-GW 523 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 526 to PCEF in P-GW 523. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 530 (or "AF 530") and PCRF 526.

[0215] Figure 6The architecture of a system 600 including a second CN 620 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 600 is shown to include a UE 601, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 401 and UE 501; a (R) AN 610, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 410 and RAN 510, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 411; and a DN 603, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 620. The 5GC 620 may include an AUSF 622; an AMF 621; an SMF 624; an NEF 623; a PCF 626; an NRF 625; an UDM 627; an AF 628; an UPF 602; and an NSSF 629.

[0216] UPF 602 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 603, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 602 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) on the user plane, perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 602 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 603 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 603 may include or be similar to the application server 430 discussed previously. UPF 602 may interact with SMF 624 via the N4 reference point between SMF 624 and UPF 602.

[0217] The AUSF 622 may store data for authentication of the UE 601 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 622 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 622 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 621 and the AUSF 622; and may communicate with the UDM 627 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 627 and the AUSF 622. In addition, the AUSF 622 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0218] AMF 621 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 601, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 621 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 621 and SMF 624. AMF 621 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 601 and SMF 624, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 621 may also provide a transport for UE 601 and SMSF ( Figure 6 The AMF 621 may provide transport for SMS messages between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 (not shown). The AMF 621 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 622 and the UE 601, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 601 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 621 may retrieve security materials from the AUSF 622. The AMF 621 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 621 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621; and the AMF 621 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0219] The AMF 621 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 601 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R) AN 610 and the AMF 621 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 610 and the UPF 602 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 621 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 624 and the AMF 621, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 via the N1 reference point between the UE 601 and the AMF 621, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 601 and the UPF 602. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 601. The AMF 621 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMF 621 and the AMF 621 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 6 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0220] UE 601 may need to register with AMF 621 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 601 with the network (e.g., AMF 621) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 621). UE 601 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 601 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 cannot reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 can reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 can perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that UE 601 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0221] The AMF 621 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 601, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 621 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 621 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 601 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 621 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0222] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 601 and the CN 620, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 601 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 610) and the AMF 621. The UE 601 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 601 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 601 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. When the UE 601 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 601 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 may cause the UE 601 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 is released, the UE 601 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0223] SMF 624 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering of UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 601 and a data network (DN) 603 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by UE 601, modified upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620, and released upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620 using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between UE 601 and SMF 624. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 620 may trigger a specific application in UE 601. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 601 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 601. The identified applications in UE 601 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 624 may check whether the UE 601 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 601. In this regard, SMF 624 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 624 level subscription data from UDM 627.

[0224] SMF 624 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 624 may be included in the system 600, which may be located between an SMF 624 in a visited network and another SMF 624 in a home network. In addition, SMF 624 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0225] NEF 623 may provide components for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 628), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 623 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 623 may also convert information exchanged with AF 628 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 623 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 623 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the exposure capabilities of other network functions. The information may be stored at NEF 623 as structured data or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 623 and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 623 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0226] NRF 625 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 625 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 625 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0227] The PCF 626 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 626 may also implement FEs to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 627. The PCF 626 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 626 and the AMF 621, which may include the PCF 626 in the visited network and the AMF 621 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 626 may communicate with the AF 628 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 626 and the AF 628, and communicate with the SMF 624 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 626 and the SMF 624. The system 600 and / or the CN 620 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 626 (in the home network) and the PCF 626 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 626 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0228] The UDM 627 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of the UE 601. For example, the subscription data may be transferred between the UDM 627 and the AMF 621 via the N8 reference point between the UDM 627 and the AMF. The UDM 627 may include two parts: an application FE and a UDR (in Figure 6 FE and UDR are not shown in the figure). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 627 and PCF 626, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 623 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 601). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 627, PCF 626 and NEF 623 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF624 via the N10 reference point between UDM 627 and SMF 624. UDM 627 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as described above. In addition, UDM 627 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0229] AF 628 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 620 and AF 628 to provide information to each other via NEF 623, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 601 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 602 near UE 601 and perform traffic steering from UPF 602 to DN 603 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 628. In this way, AF 628 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 628 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 628 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 628 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0230] NSSF 629 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 601. If necessary, NSSF 629 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 629 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMFs 621, to serve UE 601 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 625. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 601 may be triggered by AMF 621, where UE 601 registers by interacting with NSSF 629, which may result in changes to AMF 621. NSSF 629 may interact with AMF 621 via the N22 reference point between AMF 621 and NSSF 629, and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 6 The NSSF 629 may communicate with another NSSF 629 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 629 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0231] As discussed previously, CN 620 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages from / to other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers, to / from UE 601. SMS may also interact with AMF 621 and UDM 627 for notification procedures that UE 601 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 627 when UE 601 is available for SMS).

[0232] CN 120 may also include Figure 6 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 6 The N18 reference point between the NF and NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data into or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on Nudsf services (in Figure 6 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0233] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 6These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 620 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 521) and an AMF 621, to enable intercommunication between CN 620 and CN 520. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0234] Figure 7 An example of infrastructure equipment 700 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 700 (or "system 700") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 411 and / or AP 406 shown and described previously), an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 700 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0235] System 700 may include: application circuit 705, baseband circuit 710, one or more radio front end modules 715, memory circuit 720, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725, power tee circuit 730, network controller circuit 735, network interface connector 740, satellite positioning circuit 745 and user interface 750. In some embodiments, device 700 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations.

[0236] Application circuit 705 includes circuits such as, but not limited to: one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of application circuit 705 can be coupled with memory / storage element or can include memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 700. In some embodiments, memory / storage element can be on-chip memory circuit, which can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0237] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 705 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or processors; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 700 may not utilize application circuit 705, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0238] In some implementations, the application circuit 705 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 705 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 705 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0239] Baseband circuit 710 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 710 are discussed.

[0240] The user interface circuit 750 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 700 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 700. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0241] The radio front end module (RFEM) 715 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9Antenna array 911), and RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM715 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0242] The memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 720 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0243] The PMIC 725 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 730 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 700 using a single cable.

[0244] The network controller circuit 735 may provide a connection to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 700 via a network interface connector 740, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 735 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some specific implementations, the network controller circuit 735 may include multiple controllers for providing connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0245] The positioning circuit 745 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 745 may include various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 745 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 745 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 710 and / or RFEM 715 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 745 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 705, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 411, etc.), etc.

[0246] Figure 7 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0247] Figure 8 An example of a platform 800 (or "device 800") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 800 may be suitable for use as a UE 401, 501, 602, an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 800 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 800 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 800, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 8The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 800. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0248] The application circuit 805 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general I / O, memory card controller (such as SD MMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 805 can be coupled with or can include a memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 800. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0249] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0250] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 805 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of application circuit 805 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 805 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 805 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as available from Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0251] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 805 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0252] Baseband circuit 810 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 810 are discussed.

[0253] The RFEM 815 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9 Antenna array 911), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 815 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0254] The memory circuit 820 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 820 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 820 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 820 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 820 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 805. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 820 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among other things, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory, etc. For example, the computer platform 800 may be combined with a memory device obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0255] The removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuits, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to the platform 800. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0256] The platform 800 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 800. External devices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 821 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 822, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 823.

[0257] Sensor circuitry 821 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment, and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0258] EMC 822 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable platform 800 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control mechanisms or (sub) systems. In addition, EMC 822 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of platform 800 to indicate the current state of EMC 822. EMC 822 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 800 is configured to operate one or more EMC822 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0259] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 to the positioning circuit 845. The positioning circuit 845 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 845 may include various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 845 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 845 may also be part of the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RFEM 815 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 805 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0260] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 840. The NFC circuit 840 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where a magnetic field is sensed to enable communication between the NFC circuit 840 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 800. The NFC circuit 840 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 840 by executing an NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 840, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 840 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 800.

[0261] The driver circuit 846 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 800. The driver circuit 846 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 800 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 800. For example, the driver circuit 846 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 800, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 821 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 821, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 822 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 822, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0262] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825 (also referred to as “power management circuit 825”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 800. Specifically, the PMIC 825 may control power selection, voltage regulation, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 810. When the platform 800 is capable of being powered by a battery 830, for example, when the device is included in a UE 401, 501, 602, the PMIC 825 may be generally included.

[0263] In some embodiments, the PMIC 825 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if the platform 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 800 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the platform is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. are performed. The platform 800 enters an extremely low power state and performs paging, in which the platform periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 800 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0264] The battery 830 can power the platform 800, but in some examples, the platform 800 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 830 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 830 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0265] In some implementations, the battery 830 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 800 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 830, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 830, to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 830 to the application circuit 805 or other components of the platform 800. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 805 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 830 or the current from the battery 830. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 800 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0266] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 830 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0267] The user interface circuit 850 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 800, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 800 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 800. The user interface circuit 850 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, and further includes one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., reset button), physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touch pad, touch screen, microphone, scanner, headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.), and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0268] Although not shown, the components of platform 800 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0269] Fig. 9 9 and 915. Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 910 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 915 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 910 corresponds to Figure 7 and Figure 8 Baseband circuits 710 and 810. RFEM 915 corresponds accordingly Figure 7 and Figure 8 RFEM 715 and 815. As shown, RFEM 915 may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front end module (FEM) circuitry 908, and an antenna array 911 coupled together at least as shown.

[0270] The baseband circuit 910 includes circuits and / or control logic components that are configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 906. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 705 / 805 (see Figure 7 and Figure 8 ) are connected to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 906. Baseband circuit 910 can handle various radio control functions.

[0271] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 910 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 904A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 904B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 904C, or some other baseband processors 904D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 904A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 904G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 904E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 904A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with an appropriate bitstream or logic block stored in a corresponding memory unit. In various embodiments, the memory 904G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 904E (or another baseband processor), will cause the CPU 904E (or another baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 910, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include a Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express Provided by ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by OpenKernel (OK) OKL4 provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 904F. The audio DSP 904F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0272] In some embodiments, each of processors 904A-904E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from memory 904G. Baseband circuit 910 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 910; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 7 to 9An application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 705 / 805; Fig. 9 RF circuit 906 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 825.

[0273] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem and the interface subsystem via an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure and / or some other suitable bus or interconnection technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 910 may include a protocol processing circuit with one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 915).

[0274] although Fig. 9Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 includes various processing devices (e.g., "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In a first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In a second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuit may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 904G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuit 910 may also support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol.

[0275] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 910 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the RF circuit 906 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SOC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 906 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 906). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the application circuit 705 / 805 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0276] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 910 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0277] RF circuit 906 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 906 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 906 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 908 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 910. RF circuit 906 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 910 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 908.

[0278] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a mixer circuit 906a, an amplifier circuit 906b, and a filter circuit 906c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a filter circuit 906c and a mixer circuit 906a. The RF circuit 906 may also include a synthesizer circuit 906d, which is used to synthesize the frequency used by the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 908 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 906d. The amplifier circuit 906b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 906c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 910 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0279] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 906d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 908. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 910 and may be filtered by filter circuit 906c.

[0280] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0281] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 906 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 910 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 906.

[0282] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0283] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0284] Synthesizer circuit 906d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 906a of RF circuit 906. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 906d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0285] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 910 or the application circuit 705 / 805 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 705 / 805.

[0286] The synthesizer circuit 906d of the RF circuit 906 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0287] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 906d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 906 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0288] FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 911, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 906 for further processing. FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in antenna array 911. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal paths may be accomplished only in RF circuitry 906, only in FEM circuitry 908, or in both RF circuitry 906 and FEM circuitry 908.

[0289] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 908 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 908 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 906). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 908 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 906), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 911.

[0290] The antenna array 911 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 910 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 911 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 911 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 911 may be formed as a patch of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., a patch antenna) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 906 and / or the FEM circuit 908 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0291] The processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 and the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0292] Fig.10 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments are shown. Specifically, Fig.10 An arrangement 1000 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig.10The following description, but Fig.10 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0293] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1000 may also include one or more of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, SDAP 1047, RRC 1055, and NAS layer 1057. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig.10 Items 1059, 1056, 1050, 1049, 1045, 1035, 1025 and 1015).

[0294] PHY 1010 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 1005, which can be received from one or more other communication devices or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1005 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1010 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC1055). PHY 1010 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 1010 may process a request from an instance of MAC1020 via one or more PHY-SAP 1015, and provide an indication thereto. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 1015 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0295] An instance of MAC 1020 may process requests from an instance of RLC 1030 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1025 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 1025 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1020 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 1010 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1010 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0296] An instance of RLC 1030 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 1040 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1035 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 1035 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1030 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 1030 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 1030 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0297] An instance of PDCP 1040 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1055 and / or an instance of SDAP 1047 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 1045 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 1045 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1040 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0298] An instance of SDAP 1047 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1049 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 1049 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1047 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1047 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 410 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 610 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1055 configuring the SDAP 1047 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 1047. In an embodiment, the SDAP 1047 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0299] The RRC 1055 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and SDAP 1047, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 1055 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1057 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1056. The main services and functions of the RRC 1055 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 401 and the RAN 410 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0300] NAS 1057 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 401 and AMF 621. NAS 1057 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0301] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 1000 may be implemented in UE 401, RAN node 411, AMF 621 in NR implementation or MME 521 in LTE implementation, UPF 602 in NR implementation or S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 401, gNB 411, AMF 621, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 411 may host the gNB's RRC 1055, SDAP 1047, and PDCP 1040 that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 411 may each host the RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 of gNB 411.

[0302] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1057, RRC 1055, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010. In this example, an upper layer 1060 may be built on top of NAS 1057, which includes an IP layer 1061, SCTP 1062, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1063.

[0303] In a NR specific implementation, AP 1063 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1063 for the NG interface 413 defined between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621, or AP 1063 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1063 for the Xn interface 412 defined between two or more RAN nodes 411.

[0304] The NG-AP 1063 may support the functionality of the NG interface 413 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621. The NG-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 401) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 411 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 621 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 621 and the NG-RAN node 411; a mobility function for the UE 401 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message transport function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; a NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message transport function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages via the CN 420 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 411; and / or other similar functions.

[0305] The XnAP 1063 may support the functions of the Xn interface 412 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 411 (or E-UTRAN 510), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 401, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0306] In an LTE specific implementation, the AP 1063 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 for the S1 interface 413 defined between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME, or the AP 1063 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1063 for the X2 interface 412 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 411.

[0307] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME 521 within the LTE CN 420. The S1-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0308] The X2AP 1063 may support the functions of the X2 interface 412 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 420, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 401, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0309] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1062 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 1062 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 411 and the AMF 621 / MME 521 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 1061. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1061 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1061 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 411 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0310] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 1047, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 401, RAN node 411, and UPF 602 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 1051 may be built on top of SDAP 1047 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1052, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for a user plane layer (GTP-U) 1053, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1063.

[0311] The transport network layer 1054 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 1053 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 1052 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0312] GTP-U 1053 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data may be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 1052 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 411 and the S-GW 522 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1010), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and / or SDAP 1047), a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 may utilize an S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW 523.

[0313] In addition, despite the Fig.101063 and / or transport network layer 1054. The application layer may be a layer where a user of UE 401, RAN node 411, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by application circuitry 705 or application circuitry 805, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as baseband circuitry 910) of UE 401 or RAN node 411. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0314] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.11 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1100 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1110, one or more memory / storage devices 1120, and one or more communication resources 1130, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1140. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1102 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1100.

[0315] Processor 1110 may include, for example, processor 1112 and processor 1114. Processor 1110 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0316] The memory / storage device 1120 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1120 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0317] The communication resources 1130 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1104 or one or more databases 1106 via the network 1108. For example, the communication resources 1130 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0318] The instructions 1150 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1110 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1150 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 1110 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1120, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1150 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1100 from any combination of the peripheral device 1104 or the database 1106. Thus, the memory of the processor 1110, the memory / storage device 1120, the peripheral device 1104, and the database 1106 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0319] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the example section below.

[0320] Example

[0321] Embodiment 1 includes a wireless communication method for a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) system operating in an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed NR), the method comprising:

[0322] for the specific case where a configuration grant transmission occurs before a grant-based transmission, performing or causing to be performed a procedure on how to handle consecutive configuration grant transmissions and grant-based transmissions from the same UE; and

[0323] For the specific case where a grant-based transmission occurs before a configuration grant transmission, a procedure is performed or caused to be performed on how to handle consecutive configuration grant transmissions and grant-based transmissions from the same UE.

[0324] Embodiment 2 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein Cat-4 may be used to perform CG transmission, and then if the LBT priority level of the CG is greater than or equal to the priority level indicated by the gNB for the GB UL, and if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the CG transmission, and the method includes:

[0325] Performing or causing to be performed the LBT process according to the priority level of the CG transmission; and

[0326] If the LBT is successful, the CG transfer is performed or caused to be performed, followed immediately by the GB transfer without any gap in between.

[0327] Embodiment 3 includes a method according to embodiments 1 to 2 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the CG transmission may be terminated without puncturing its tail, wherein the method includes using or causing the last symbol to be used for SCS of 15kHz and 30kHz, or using the last two symbols when the SCS of the GB PUSCH transmission is set to 60kHz.

[0328] Embodiment 4 includes a method according to embodiments 1 to 3 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein in the last time slot of a CG, an end burst within its CG-UCI is not indicated or caused not to be indicated.

[0329] Embodiment 5 includes the method according to embodiments 1 to 4 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the GB transmission may start without any gap or without performing any LBT process.

[0330] Embodiment 6 includes a method according to embodiments 1 to 5 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method includes selecting or causing selection of a priority level for Cat-4 LBT such that the MCOT is long enough to allow continuous transmission of CG and GB transmissions, wherein the CG transmission is performed without any gaps in the last one or more symbols of the burst and the GB transmission begins without performing additional LBT.

[0331] Embodiment 7 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if the CG transmission ends earlier than symbol #13, a new LBT may be performed before transmitting the GB PUSCH in the next time slot.

[0332] Embodiment 8 includes a method according to Embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein, assuming that both CG and GB transmissions are within the COT acquired by the gNB and that the CG occurs before the GB transmission, the UE may use CAT-2 LBT for transmission of the CG and also transmit the GB between the CG and the GB without LBT operation by having no gap or a very small gap between the CG and the GB.

[0333] Embodiment 9 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if both CG and GB transmissions are within the COT acquired by the gNB, the CG occurs before the GB transmission, and the necessary COT is greater than the COT that would be required in the case of performing continuous CG+GB transmissions, the method includes overwriting or causing the LBT to be overwritten and a Cat-4 LBT with a minimum priority level may be used so that the MCOT will be equal to or longer than the CG+CB burst.

[0334] Embodiment 10 includes a method according to embodiments 1 to 9 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if the CG+GB burst is longer than the MCOT acquired by the highest Cat-4 priority level, the method includes performing or causing the two transmissions to be performed separately by acquiring the channel twice; and performing or causing LBT to be performed at the beginning of the CG transmission and then at the beginning of the GB transmission.

[0335] Embodiment 11 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method includes terminating or causing termination of a GB burst before performing a Cat-4 CG UL transmission.

[0336] Embodiment 12 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if a GB UL transmission needs to be performed over Cat-4 LBT (which occurs if the GB is performed outside the COT of the shared acquired gNB), if the priority level of the CG is less than or equal to the priority level indicated by the gNB to the GB UL in the DCI or selected by the UE, if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the GB transmission, and if both the GB and CG transmissions are performed by the same UE operating in full bandwidth mode, then the CG transmission is allowed to follow the GB transmission without any gap.

[0337] Embodiment 13 includes a method according to embodiments 1, 12 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the GB transmission may terminate for the gap without puncturing its tail, and similarly for the first time slot of the CG burst, the starting point will coincide with the first OFDM symbol, and there will be no indication of a CG start burst within its CG-UCI.

[0338] Embodiment 14 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if GB transmission may end earlier than symbol #13; the method includes performing or causing a new LBT to be performed before transmitting a CG PUSCH in a subsequent time slot.

[0339] Embodiment 15 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method includes overwriting or causing an overwriting of an indicated channel access priority level provided by the gNB in ​​the DCI to perform GB transmission with a larger priority level, which ensures that GB bursts and CG bursts can occur continuously.

[0340] Embodiment 16 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if a GB UL transmission needs to be performed via Cat-2 LBT (which occurs if the GB is performed within the COT of a shared acquired gNB), if the length of the CG burst plus the GB burst does not exceed the MCOT corresponding to the LBT priority level of the GB transmission selected by the UE, and if both the GB and CG transmissions are performed by the same UE operating in full bandwidth mode, then the CG transmission may follow the GB transmission without any gap and also without any LBT for the CG transmission.

[0341] Embodiment 17 includes a method according to embodiments 1, 16 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the GB transmission may terminate for the gap without puncturing its tail, and similarly for the first time slot of the CG burst, the starting point will coincide with the first OFDM symbol, and there is no indication of a CG start burst within its CG-UCI.

[0342] Embodiment 18 includes a method according to embodiments 1, 16 to 17 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the UE may overwrite the Cat-2 LBT with a Cat-4 LBT having a priority level that ensures that GB bursts and CG bursts may occur continuously.

[0343] Embodiment 19 includes the method described in accordance with Embodiments 1, 16 to 18 and / or some other embodiments herein; the above process may be applied if the CG burst starts at the end of the acquired COT of the gNB.

[0344] Embodiment 20 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if the GBUL transmission does not require LBT to be performed, a CG UL burst may be performed without any gaps (if both occur without the gNB's acquired COT).

[0345] Embodiment 21 includes a method according to embodiment 1 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein if the GBUL transmission does not require LBT to be performed, a CG UL burst may be performed only after LBT is performed (if both bursts occur without the gNB's acquired COT or if the CG burst starts after the gNB's acquired COT ends): this complies with ETSIBRAN regulatory requirements.

[0346] Embodiment 22 includes a method according to embodiments 1 to 21 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is to be performed by a UE.

[0347] Embodiment 23 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 22, or any other method or process described herein.

[0348] Embodiment 24 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 22 or any other method or process described herein.

[0349] Embodiment 25 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 22, or any other method or process described herein.

[0350] Embodiment 26 may include methods, techniques or processes described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 22, or parts or components thereof.

[0351] Embodiment 27 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or portions thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 22.

[0352] Embodiment 28 may include a signal as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 22, or a portion or component thereof.

[0353] Embodiment 29 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0354] Embodiment 30 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0355] Embodiment 31 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0356] Embodiment 32 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0357] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be acquired from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0358] abbreviation

[0359] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and implementations discussed herein.

[0360] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0361] 4G Fourth Generation

[0362] 5G Fifth Generation

[0363] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0364] ACK

[0365] AF Application Function

[0366] AM Confirmation Mode

[0367] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0368] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0369] AN Access Network

[0370] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0371] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0372] API Application Programming Interface

[0373] APN Access Point Name

[0374] ARP Assignment Reserve Priority

[0375] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0376] AS Access Layer

[0377] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One

[0378] AUSF authentication server function

[0379] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0380] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0381] BER Bit Error Rate

[0382] BLER Block Error Rate

[0383] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0384] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0385] BSS Business Support System

[0386] BS Base Station

[0387] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0388] BW Bandwidth

[0389] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0390] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0391] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0392] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0393] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0394] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0395] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0396] CCE Control Channel Element

[0397] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0398] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0399] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0400] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0401] CFRA Contention-free random access

[0402] CG Cell Group

[0403] Cl cell identifier

[0404] CID Cell ID (eg, positioning method)

[0405] CIM Common Information Model

[0406] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0407] CK Cryptographic Key

[0408] CM connection management, conditional enforcement

[0409] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0410] CMD command

[0411] CMS Cloud Management System

[0412] CO Conditional optional

[0413] CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission

[0414] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0415] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0416] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Attachment Point

[0417] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0418] CPE user terminal equipment

[0419] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0420] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0421] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0422] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0423] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0424] CRB Common Resource Block

[0425] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0426] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0427] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0428] CS Circuit Switched

[0429] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0430] CSI Channel State Information

[0431] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0432] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0433] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0434] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0435] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0436] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0437] CSMA / CA CSMA with collision avoidance

[0438] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0439] CTS Clear to Send

[0440] CW codeword

[0441] CWS Contention Window Size

[0442] D2D Device to Device

[0443] DC dual connection, direct current

[0444] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0445] DF deployment preferences

[0446] DL Downlink

[0447] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0448] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0449] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0450] DN Data Network

[0451] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0452] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0453] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0454] DSL Domain Specific Language Digital Subscriber Line

[0455] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0456] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0457] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0458] E2E End to End

[0459] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0460] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0461] ED Energy Detection

[0462] EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0463] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0464] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0465] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0466] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0467] EM Component Manager

[0468] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0469] eMBMS Evolved MBMS

[0470] EMS Component Management System

[0471] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0472] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0473] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0474] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0475] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0476] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0477] EREG Enhanced REG, Enhanced Resource Element Group

[0478] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0479] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0480] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0481] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0482] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0483] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0484] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0485] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0486] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0487] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0488] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0489] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0490] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel

[0491] FB Function Block

[0492] FBI Feedback

[0493] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0494] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0495] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0496] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0497] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0498] FE Front End

[0499] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0500] FFS For further study

[0501] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0502] feLAA Further Enhanced Authorization Assisted Access, Further Enhanced LAA

[0503] FN Frame Number

[0504] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0505] FR Frequency Range

[0506] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0507] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0508] GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0509] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Chinese: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0510] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0511] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0512] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0513] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0514] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0515] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Experts Group

[0516] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0517] GTP-U User Plane GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0518] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0519] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0520] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0521] HANDO, HO switch

[0522] HFN Hyperframe Number

[0523] HHO Hard Handover

[0524] HLR Home Location Register

[0525] HN Home Network

[0526] HPLMN Local Public Land Mobile Network

[0527] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0528] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0529] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0530] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0531] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0532] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0533] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL, i.e., port 443)

[0534] I-Block Information Block

[0535] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0536] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0537] ID, identifier

[0538] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0539] IE Information Elements

[0540] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0541] IEI Information Element Identifier

[0542] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0543] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0544] IF Infrastructure

[0545] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0546] IMC IMS credentials

[0547] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0548] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0549] IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity

[0550] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0551] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0552] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0553] IoT

[0554] IP Internet Protocol

[0555] Ipsec IP security, Internet Protocol security

[0556] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0557] IP-M IP Multicast

[0558] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0559] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0560] IR

[0561] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0562] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0563] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0564] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0565] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0566] IWF interworking function

[0567] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0568] K convolutional code constraint length, USIM personal key

[0569] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0570] Kbps Kilobits per second

[0571] Kc encryption key

[0572] Ki Personal user authentication key

[0573] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0574] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0575] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0576] Ksps Kilosymbols per second

[0577] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0578] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0579] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0580] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0581] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0582] LAA Authorized Assisted Access

[0583] LAN Local Area Network

[0584] LBT Listen before you speak

[0585] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0586] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0587] LCS Location Services

[0588] LI layer indicator

[0589] LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility

[0590] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0591] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0592] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0593] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0594] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0595] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0596] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0597] M2M Machine to Machine

[0598] MAC Media Access Control (protocol layer content)

[0599] MAC Message Authentication Code (security / encrypted content)

[0600] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0601] MAC-I MAC for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T WG3 context)

[0602] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0603] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service

[0604] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0605] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0606] MCG Master Cell Group

[0607] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0608] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0609] MDAF Management Data Analysis Function

[0610] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0611] MDT Minimized Drive Test

[0612] ME Mobile Equipment

[0613] MeNB Master eNB

[0614] MER Message Error Rate

[0615] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0616] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0617] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0618] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0619] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0620] MM Mobility Management

[0621] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0622] MN Master Node

[0623] MO measurement object, mobile station initiated

[0624] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0625] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0626] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0627] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0628] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0629] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0630] MS Mobile Station

[0631] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0632] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0633] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0634] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0635] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0636] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0637] MT Mobile Station Termination, Mobile Terminal

[0638] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0639] mMTC Massive MTC, Massive Machine Type Communication

[0640] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0641] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0642] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0643] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0644] NAS Non-Access Stratum

[0645] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0646] NEC network capabilities exposed

[0647] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity

[0648] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0649] NF Network Function

[0650] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0651] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0652] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0653] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0654] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0655] NG Next Generation

[0656] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0657] NM Network Manager

[0658] NMS Network Management System

[0659] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0660] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0661] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0662] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0663] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0664] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0665] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0666] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0667] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0668] NR New air interface, neighbor relationship

[0669] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0670] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0671] NS Network Services

[0672] NSA Non-standalone operation mode

[0673] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0674] NSR Network Service Record

[0675] NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0676] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0677] NSSF network slice selection function

[0678] NW Network

[0679] NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0680] NZP Non Zero Power

[0681] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0682] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0683] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0684] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0685] OOB Out of Band

[0686] OPEX Operational Expenses

[0687] OSI Other System Information

[0688] OSS Operation Support System

[0689] OTA

[0690] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0691] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0692] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0693] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0694] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0695] Pcell Primary cell

[0696] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identifier

[0697] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0698] PCF Policy Control Function

[0699] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0700] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0701] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0702] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0703] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0704] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0705] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0706] PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier

[0707] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0708] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0709] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0710] PHY Physical Layer

[0711] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0712] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0713] PM performance measurement

[0714] PMI Precoding matrix indicator

[0715] PNF Physical Network Function

[0716] PNFD Physical Network Functional Descriptor

[0717] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0718] POC Mobile Intercom Service

[0719] PP, PTP point to point

[0720] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0721] PRACH Physical RACH

[0722] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0723] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0724] ProSe proximity services, proximity-based services

[0725] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0726] PS Packet Service

[0727] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0728] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0729] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0730] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0731] PSCell Primary SCell

[0732] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0733] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0734] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0735] PTT Push to Talk

[0736] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0737] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0738] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0739] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0740] QCL Quasi-Co-sited

[0741] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0742] QoS Quality of Service

[0743] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0744] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0745] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0746] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0747] RACH Random Access Channel

[0748] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0749] RAN Radio Access Network

[0750] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0751] RAR Random Access Response

[0752] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0753] RAU Routing Area Update

[0754] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0755] RBG Resource Block Group

[0756] REG Resource Element Group

[0757] Rel version

[0758] REQ Request

[0759] RF

[0760] RI Rank Indicator

[0761] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0762] RL Radio Link

[0763] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0764] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0765] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0766] RLM-RS RLM reference signal

[0767] RM Registration Management

[0768] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0769] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0770] RN Relay Node

[0771] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0772] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0773] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0774] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0775] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0776] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0777] RS reference signal

[0778] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0779] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0780] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0781] RSU Road Side Unit

[0782] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0783] RTP Real Time Protocol

[0784] RTS Ready to send

[0785] RTT Round Trip Time

[0786] Rx Receive, Receiver

[0787] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0788] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0789] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0790] S-GW Service Gateway

[0791] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0792] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0793] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0794] SAE system architecture evolution

[0795] SAP Service Access Point

[0796] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0797] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0798] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0799] SCell Secondary Cell

[0800] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0801] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0802] SCM Security Context Management

[0803] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0804] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0805] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0806] SDL Supplemental Downlink

[0807] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0808] SDP Session Description Protocol

[0809] SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)

[0810] SDSF structured data storage function

[0811] SDU Service Data Unit

[0812] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0813] SeNB Secondary eNB

[0814] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0815] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0816] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0817] SFN System Frame Number

[0818] SgNB

[0819] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0820] S-GW Service Gateway

[0821] SI System Information

[0822] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0823] SIB System Information Block

[0824] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0825] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0826] SiP System in Package

[0827] SL Side Link

[0828] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0829] SM Session Management

[0830] SMF session management functions

[0831] SMS Short Message Service

[0832] SMSF SMS Function

[0833] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0834] SN Secondary Node, Serial Number

[0835] SoC System on Chip

[0836] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0837] SpCell Special Cell

[0838] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0839] SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling

[0840] SQN Serial Number

[0841] SR Scheduling Request

[0842] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0843] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0844] SS Sync Signal

[0845] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0846] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0847] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0848] SS-RSRP Reference signal received power based on synchronization signal

[0849] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0850] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0851] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0852] SST Slice / Service Type

[0853] SU-MIMO Single User MIMO

[0854] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0855] TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area

[0856] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0857] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0858] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0859] TB Transfer Block

[0860] TBS Transport Block Size

[0861] TBD To be defined

[0862] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0863] TCP transport communication protocol

[0864] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0865] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0866] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0867] TE Terminal Equipment

[0868] TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier

[0869] TFT Business Flow Template

[0870] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0871] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0872] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0873] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0874] TR Technical Report

[0875] TRP,TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0876] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0877] Trx Transceiver

[0878] TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standards

[0879] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0880] Tx transmission, transmitter

[0881] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0882] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0883] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0884] UE User Equipment

[0885] UDM Unified Data Management

[0886] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0887] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0888] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0889] UL Uplink

[0890] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0891] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0892] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0893] UP User Plane

[0894] UPF User Plane Function

[0895] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0896] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0897] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications

[0898] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0899] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0900] USS UE-specific search space

[0901] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0902] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0903] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0904] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0905] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0906] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0907] V2X Vehicle to Everything

[0908] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0909] VL Virtual Link

[0910] VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network

[0911] VM Virtual Machine

[0912] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0913] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0914] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0915] VNFM VNF Manager

[0916] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0917] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0918] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0919] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0920] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0921] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0922] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0923] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0924] X2-C X2 control plane

[0925] X2-U X2 user plane

[0926] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0927] XRES Expected User Response

[0928] XOR

[0929] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0930] ZP Zero Power

[0931] the term

[0932] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and implementations discussed herein.

[0933] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0934] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may be referred to as "processor circuit".

[0935] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0936] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0937] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0938] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0939] As used herein, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0940] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time and / or a processor / CPU usage rate, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage rate, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage rate, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0941] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information over a RAT.

[0942] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0943] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and their derivatives are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with each other by means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0944] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents.

[0945] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0946] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0947] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0948] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when reconfiguration is performed using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0949] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0950] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells.

[0951] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, where there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0952] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell set including a special cell for a UE configured with CA / in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0953] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. A user equipment for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum UE, the user equipment comprising: A processor circuit, the processor circuit being configured to: Determine a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission, wherein the first level of UL transmission is a configuration grant CG transmission and the second level of UL transmission is a grant-based GB transmission, or the first level of UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second level of UL transmission is the CG transmission, and wherein the first level of UL transmission and the second level of UL transmission occur in consecutive time instances; determining a total length of UL transmissions, the total length comprising a first length of the UL transmissions of the first level and a second length of the UL transmissions of the second level; and Upon determining that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and a maximum channel occupancy time MCOT corresponding to a UL transmission of the first level is at least the total length of the UL transmission, performing an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission; and a radio front end circuit coupled to the processor circuit and configured to: In response to acquiring the channel, the UL transmission is performed using the first level of UL transmission followed by the second level of UL transmission without a time gap.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: The first-stage UL transmission is terminated without puncturing a tail of the first-stage UL transmission.

3. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to terminate the first-level UL transmission by using last two symbols of a subcarrier spacing SCS without puncturing a tail of the first-level UL transmission.

4. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: A priority level is selected for the LBT process to obtain the MCOT, thereby allowing the first level of UL transmission to be followed by the second level of UL transmission without a time gap.

5. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: When it is determined that the maximum channel occupancy time MCOT corresponding to the first-level UL transmission is less than the total length of the UL transmission, another LBT process is performed before the second-level UL transmission.

6. A method for wireless communication, comprising: At a user equipment UE of a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, determining a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission, wherein the first level of UL transmission is a configuration grant CG transmission and the second level of UL transmission is a grant-based GB transmission, or the first level of UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second level of UL transmission is the CG transmission, and wherein the first level of UL transmission and the second level of UL transmission occur in consecutive time instances; determining, at the UE, a total length of UL transmissions, the total length comprising a first length of the UL transmissions of the first level and a second length of the UL transmissions of the second level; When it is determined that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and a maximum channel occupancy time MCOT corresponding to the first level of UL transmission is at least the total length of the UL transmission, performing, by the UE, an LBT procedure to acquire a channel for the UL transmission; and In response to acquiring the channel, the UL transmission is performed by the UE using the first level of UL transmission followed by the second level of UL transmission without a time gap.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: The first-level UL transmission is terminated by the UE without puncturing a tail of the first-level UL transmission.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: The UE terminates the UL transmission of the first level by using last two symbols of the subcarrier spacing SCS without puncturing a tail of the UL transmission of the first level.

9. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: A priority level is selected by the UE for the LBT process to obtain the MCOT, thereby allowing the first level UL transmission to be followed by the second level UL transmission without a time gap.

10. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: In determining the UL corresponding to the first level When the maximum channel occupancy time MCOT of the transmission is less than the total length of the UL transmission, the UE performs another LBT process before the second-level UL transmission.

11. A computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer instructions, which when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, cause the one or more processors to: Determine a first listen-before-transmit (LBT) priority level for a first level of uplink (UL) transmission and a second LBT priority level for a second level of UL transmission, wherein the first level of UL transmission is a configuration grant CG transmission and the second level of UL transmission is a grant-based GB transmission, or the first level of UL transmission is the GB transmission and the second level of UL transmission is the CG transmission, and wherein the first level of UL transmission and the second level of UL transmission occur in consecutive time instances; determining a total length of UL transmissions, the total length comprising a first length of the UL transmissions of the first level and a second length of the UL transmissions of the second level; Upon determining that the first LBT priority level is at least equal to the second LBT priority level and a maximum channel occupancy time MCOT corresponding to a UL transmission of the first level is at least the total length of the UL transmission, performing an LBT process to acquire a channel for the UL transmission; and In response to acquiring the channel, the UL transmission is performed using the first level of UL transmission followed by the second level of UL transmission without a time gap.

12. The CRM of claim 11, wherein the computer instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: terminate the first stage UL transmission without puncturing a tail of the first stage UL transmission.

13. The CRM of claim 11, wherein the computer instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: select a priority level for the LBT process to obtain the MCOT, thereby allowing the first level of UL transmission to be followed by the second level of UL transmission without a time gap.

14. The CRM according to claim 11, wherein the computer instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: when determining that the maximum channel occupancy time MCOT corresponding to the first level of UL transmission is less than the total length of the UL transmission, perform another LBT process before the second level of UL transmission.

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