Wideband interleaving design for physical uplink channels in unlicensed NR

Abstract

A system, apparatus, method and computer-readable medium for an access point (AP) of a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum are provided. The AP includes a processor circuit configured to determine a plurality of interleaving interlaces based on a bandwidth and a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a physical uplink channel. The processor circuit is configured to identify a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first interleaving interlace of the plurality of interleaving interlaces, the plurality of resource blocks being based on the number of subcarriers per RB. The processor circuit is configured to allocate the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first interleaving interlace in one or more user equipments (UEs), and generate an indication of the allocated plurality of RBs, the first interleaving interlace and the one or more UEs for transmission to the one or more UEs via a radio front-end circuit coupled to the processor circuit.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 806,703, filed on February 15, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Background Art

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

[0004] The present disclosure describes an access point (AP) or a device thereof for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. The AP includes a processor circuit configured to determine a plurality of interleaving interleavings based on a bandwidth and a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a physical uplink channel. The processor circuit is configured to identify a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first interleaving interleaving of the plurality of interleaving interleavings. The plurality of RBs may be based on the number of subcarriers of each RB. The processor circuit is configured to allocate the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first interleaving interleaving in one or more user equipments (UEs). The processor circuit is configured to generate an indication of the allocated plurality of RBs, the first interleaving interleaving, and the one or more UEs. The AP includes a radio front-end circuit coupled to the processor circuit. The radio front-end circuit is configured to transmit to the one or more UEs an indication of the allocated plurality of RBs and the first interleaving interleaving for the one or more UEs to be transmitted via a physical uplink channel. In an embodiment / aspect, the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT sub-bands acquired using a listen before transmission (LBT) process.

[0005] The present disclosure also describes a method performed by an access point (AP) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum. The method includes determining a plurality of interleaving interlaces based on the bandwidth and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a physical uplink channel. The method includes identifying a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first interleaving interlace in the plurality of interleaving interlaces. The plurality of RBs may be based on the number of subcarriers per RB. The method includes allocating the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first interleaving interlace in one or more user equipments (UEs), and generating an indication of the allocated plurality of RBs, the first interleaving interlace, and the one or more UEs. The method transmits an indication of the allocated plurality of RBs and the first interleaving interlace for the one or more UEs from the AP to the one or more UEs for transmission via a physical uplink channel. In an embodiment / aspect, the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT subbands acquired using a listen before transmission (LBT) process.

[0006] The present disclosure also describes a computer-readable medium (CRM) including computer instructions, wherein when these computer instructions are executed by one or more processors of an access point (AP) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, the one or more processors are caused to determine multiple interlaced interlacing based on the bandwidth and subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a physical uplink channel. These instructions cause the one or more processors to identify multiple resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to the first interlaced interlacing in the multiple interlaced interlacing. The multiple RBs may be based on the number of subcarriers per RB. These instructions cause the one or more processors to allocate the multiple RBs corresponding to the first interlaced interlacing in one or more user equipments (UEs), and generate indications of the allocated multiple RBs, the first interlaced interlacing, and the one or more UEs. These instructions cause the one or more processors to transmit the allocated multiple RBs and the first interlaced interlacing indication for the one or more UEs to the one or more UEs for transmission via a physical uplink channel. In an embodiment / aspect, the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT sub-bands acquired using a listen before transmission (LBT) process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 Depicted are examples of non-uniformly staggered physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on some embodiments / aspects.

[0008] Figure 2 Depicted are examples of PRB-based wideband interleaving according to some embodiments / aspects.

[0009] Figure 3 Depicted are exemplary processes according to some embodiments / aspects.

[0010] Figure 4 Another exemplary process according to some embodiments / aspects is depicted.

[0011] Figure 5 Depicted is the architecture of a system of networks according to some embodiments / aspects.

[0012] Figure 6 An architecture of a system including a first core network according to some embodiments / aspects is depicted.

[0013] Figure 7 An architecture of a system including a second core network according to some embodiments / aspects is depicted.

[0014] Figure 8 Examples of infrastructure equipment according to various embodiments / aspects are depicted.

[0015] Fig. 9Depicted are exemplary components of a platform according to various embodiments / aspects.

[0016] Fig.10 Depicted are exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry according to some embodiments / aspects.

[0017] Fig.11 Depicted are diagrams of various protocol functions that may be used in various protocol stacks according to various embodiments / aspects.

[0018] Fig.12 Components of a core network according to various embodiments / aspects are shown.

[0019] Fig.13 is a block diagram illustrating components of a system for supporting network function virtualization (NFV) according to some exemplary embodiments / aspects.

[0020] Fig.14 Depicted are block diagrams showing 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 methodologies discussed herein according to some exemplary embodiments / aspects. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] 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, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth for the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, so as to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments / aspects of various aspects. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments / aspects 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 as not to obscure the descriptions of various embodiments / aspects due to unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0022] The embodiments / aspects disclosed herein relate to RAN1 and 5G.

[0023] Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voice systems to today's highly complex integrated communications platforms. The next generation of wireless communication systems, 5G or New Radio (NR), will provide ubiquitous connectivity and access to information and the ability to share data by a variety of users and applications. NR is expected to be a unified framework designed to meet very different and sometimes conflicting performance standards and services. In general, NR will evolve based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology and additional enhanced radio access technologies (RATs) to achieve seamless wireless connectivity implementation.

[0024] In LTE, the uplink (UL) transmission scheme is (traditionally) based on the Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) method, where the subcarrier mapping can be localized (continuous in frequency) or distributed (non-continuous in frequency) across the bandwidth of the physical channel. In the continuous mapping mode, the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) precoded input data for UL transmission occupies continuous frequency subcarriers within the UL transmission bandwidth. On the other hand, for the non-continuous mapping scheme, the DFT output of the input data is distributed across the entire bandwidth, with zero placeholders inserted in the unused subcarriers between the subcarriers used for transmission. When designed to maintain equidistant gaps between the used subcarriers, this distributed mapping scheme is called interleaved FDMA (IFDMA). As a special case of SC-FDMA, IFDMA is a particularly efficient multiple access scheme with low complexity transmitter-side implementation (no time domain signal modulation using DFT and IDFT), low computational complexity channel equalization and user separation, low envelope fluctuations of the transmitted signal, high frequency diversity gain and high spectral efficiency, even without the need to know the channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. However, IFDMA is prone to channel frequency offset (CFO) errors and inter-carrier interference (ICI).

[0025] In unlicensed spectrum, continuous mapping of data transmitted across consecutive frequency subcarriers in the UL is not feasible as this violates the occupied channel bandwidth (OCB) regulation. Furthermore, the specified constrained peak PSD may prohibit the UE from fully utilizing the maximum allowed total transmit power. IFDMA implementations appear to be reasonable implementations to circumvent regulatory constraints, but associated impairments such as CFO errors and ICI may inhibit the benefits that IFDMA can impart.

[0026] One way to mitigate the effects of CFO errors and ICI is to use a special structure of IFDMA, called block IFDMA (B-IFDMA). In B-IFDMA, UEs are assigned equidistant resource blocks (RBs) containing adjacent frequency subcarriers (called interleaving), which extend across the entire transmission bandwidth. In general, B-IFDMA is less susceptible to phase noise than IFDMA and is less sensitive to CFO, while providing frequency diversity gain comparable to IFDMA. B-IFDMA has a slightly higher peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) than IFDMA. Depending on the time-frequency fluctuations within the interleaved RBs, the channel estimation performance of B-IFDMA can be slightly better / worse than IFDMA with the same pilot overhead.

[0027] Embodiments / aspects described herein may relate to a B-IFDMA-based interleaving design for an unlicensed NR uplink physical control / shared channel, wherein in the frequency domain, an interleaving RB may be located in units of physical resource blocks (PRBs), or in fractional units of PRBs (referred to as sub-PRBs), or in a combination thereof, and may span any number of symbols within a subframe in the time domain. Additionally, embodiments / aspects of the interleaving design are flexible in terms of being uniform or non-uniform, depending on whether each interleaving across the bandwidth has the same number of resource blocks per interleaving. Finally, embodiments / aspects of the interleaving design are parameter scalable, i.e., an interleaving designed for a physical channel with specific parameters (i.e., a set of subcarrier spacing and bandwidth configuration) may be scaled to infer an interleaving design for another physical channel with different parameters (i.e., a different set of subcarrier spacing and / or bandwidth configuration).

[0028] Legacy unlicensed LTE interleaving design is not applicable to unlicensed NR spectrum because NR spectrum utilization covers many parameter sets (i.e., configurations of subcarrier spacing and bandwidth combinations), which is different from the limited parameter specifications of unlicensed LTE (10MHz and 20MHz bandwidth and 15kHz subcarrier spacing).

[0029] For unlicensed LTE, a uniform interleaving design with 10 PRBs / interleaving is sufficient to meet OCB and PSD related regulations, which will not be possible for unlicensed NR. In fact, for some subcarrier spacing bandwidth combinations where the number of available PRBs is a multiple of a prime number (e.g., 51 PRBs for 20MHz bandwidth and 30kHz subcarrier spacing), a simple uniform interleaving design will not be possible.

[0030] Since unlicensed NR targets various parameter configurations, the PRB-based uniform interleaving design of unlicensed LTE may not be an appropriate design choice, especially for larger bandwidths where each PRB spans a wide frequency range and the channel may not remain frequency non-selective over the wide frequency range. Therefore, the basic unit of interleaved RBs may need to have a finer granularity than 1 PRB, i.e., a fraction of a PRB, unlike the conventional unlicensed LTE design.

[0031] Unlicensed LTE interleaving design is parameter specific. Since unlicensed NR is different in the set of potential subcarrier spacing bandwidth combinations to be supported, the parameter scalable interleaving design will be tied to the unlicensed NR physical channel design, in contrast to the legacy unlicensed LTE approach.

[0032] The embodiments / aspects described herein may relate to at least some of the following:

[0033] Unlicensed NR physical channel design for UL.

[0034] For unlicensed NR wideband operation to meet the specified B-IFDMA-based interleaving design.

[0035] Allowing NR UL transmissions on unlicensed spectrum.

[0036] Allowing efficient resource utilization across various numerology sets while adhering to regulatory constraints for NR UL transmissions in unlicensed spectrum.

[0037] B-IFDMA-based interleaving for unlicensed NR physical uplink control / shared channels with bandwidth > 20MHz design

[0038] In an embodiment / aspect, a uniform / non-uniform interleaving design based on B-IFDMA for 20 MHz bandwidth (BW) may consist of one interleaving as a basic unit of resource allocation, and there may be multiple interleaving interleavings (indexed as 0, 1, ..., M-1; where M is an integer) that may be designed for a given physical channel, where

[0039] √ The jth interleave (j = 0, 1, ..., M-1) can be obtained by N equally spaced interleavings in the frequency domain. j resource blocks, each resource block consists of x frequency subcarriers, where N j is an integer and N j Can be equal to or not equal to N i (i=0,1,…,M-1, and i≠j).

[0040] √ The interval between two consecutive resource blocks in the frequency domain can be M blocks, each block consists of x frequency subcarriers, where M is an integer.

[0041] ο In a non - exclusive option, x may be in units of physical resource blocks (PRBs), i.e., x = 12 sub - carriers or 1 PRB, such that the j - th interleaving may be composed of N j PRBs, with an interval of M PRBs between two consecutive resource blocks of the interleaving, where N j and M are integers.

[0042] ο In another non - exclusive option, x may be in units of sub - PRBs (fractions of a PRB), i.e., x = 1 sub - PRB, where 1 sub - PRB = q PRBs, 0 < q < 1. In this case, the j - th interleaving may be composed of N j sub - PRBs, with an interval of M sub - PRBs between two consecutive resource blocks of each interleaving.

[0043] According to some embodiments / aspects, Figure 1 an exemplary interleaving design for 20 MHz BW and 15 KHz sub - carrier spacing (SCS) is shown, where the total number of available PRBs (N RB ) = 106, where M = 10, and for j = 0, …, 5, N j = 11, while for j = 6, …, 9, N j = 10. In Figure 1 , ten interleaveings, interleaving 0 to interleaving 9, are respectively shown as 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, and 120. As a non - limiting example, interleaving 0 102 is assigned physical resource blocks 0, 10, …, 90, 100, as Figure 1 respectively shown by 122, 124, 126, and 128. Additionally, as Figure 1 shown, a small number of PRBs near the guard - band edges may be left unused as guard - bands 130 and 132.

[0044] The interleaving design for 20 MHz BW can be enhanced to an interleaving design for BW > 20 MHz (e.g., BW = n * 20 MHz, where n > 0) by expanding the interleaving design for 20 MHz while keeping M fixed and scaling N by a factor of n.

[0045] According to some embodiments / aspects, Figure 2 an example of a broadband PRB - based interleaving design for 40 MHz BW and 30 kHz SCS 202 is shown, which is an extension of the interleaving design for 20 MHz BW and the same sub - carrier spacing (30 kHz) 204, with the extension process of keeping M = 5 fixed while increasing N j from 10 / 11 PRBs at 20 MHz to 21 / 22 PRBs at 40 kHz.

[0046] In an embodiment / aspect, a UE may be scheduled to transmit on a BW of n*20 MHz using full-band interleaving. By using a portion of the interleaving within one or more LBT sub-bands, the UE may be allowed to transmit on the one or more LBT sub-bands (each LBT sub-band is 20 MHz). For example, Figure 2 As shown, the UE may be configured to have interlace #0 at 40 MHz BW and 30 kHz SCS, and based on whether the UE has LBT success on the entire 40 MHz or on only half of the 40 MHz (i.e., only one 20 MHz LBT sub-band within the 40 MHz BW), the UE may use the entire interlace #0 (i.e., PRB #0, PRB #4, ..., PRB #105), or use only the upper half of the interlace (e.g., PRB #0, PRB #4, ..., PRB #50), or use only the lower half of the interlace (e.g., PRB #55, PRB #60, ..., PRB #105).

[0047] There may be multiple ways to indicate the allocated resources. One option may be separate indications for full and partial interleaving. For interleaving indication, a bitmap may be used, where each bit of the bitmap may indicate one interleaving. In this case, the bitmap size may be the same as the number of interleavings, e.g. Figure 2 In the case of the interleaving design shown, it can be 5 bits. Or the starting interleaving and the number of the interleaving can be used to indicate continuous interleaving. In order to indicate the available subbands on the top of the interleaving, an example is to use an additional bitmap of the subband. One or more interleavings can be used to indicate the UE, and an additional LBT subband bitmap can also be indicated at the top of the interleaving. For the bitmap indication of the subband, only the available LBT subband can be indicated as "1", and the non-available subband can be indicated as "0". Another option can be a joint indication of interleaving and partial interleaving, where, for example, the partial interleaving is separately indexed on multiple interleavings across the entire band, and indicates only the allocated partial interleaving, such as a bitmap. Alternatively, a unified indication of interleaving and partial interleaving can be used, where for partial interleaving, the resource index can be simply a continuation of the full interleaving, and the starting PRB index and the interleaving number can be used together with the subband indication and / or the end PRB index to indicate the UE, from which the subband indication and / or the end PRB index can be implicitly derived from the partial interleaving structure. In addition, full interleaving or partial interleaving indication may be accomplished via higher layer signaling.

[0048] In an embodiment / aspect, a UE may be assigned a partial interlace over a wideband (ie, BW>20 MHz) such that the number of PRBs / UE remains the same as N- jAlmost the same, and the number of UEs multiplexed within an interlace in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner scales with BW (while the number of interlaces M remains the same as BW increases).

[0049] In a non-exclusive option, n UEs may be frequency-division multiplexed within a wideband interlace on n*20 MHz BW. The allocation of PRBs within a wideband interlace to n UEs may follow specific rules. As an example, if the PRB indices within an interlace are numbered C0, C1, C2, C3, ..., C(N-1) (an interlace consists of N PRBs), the PRB indices allocated to UE(1), UE(2), ..., UE(n) may be as follows:

[0050]

[0051] Table 1 shows the calculation results for 40MHz BW (2*20MHz, ie n=2) and 15KHz SCS (N RB =216), where each row in the table consists of the PRB index corresponding to one interlace. Within one interlace, n=2 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, where the "non-bold" entry in the jth row of Table 1 represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j-1), and the "bold" entry in the row represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j). Therefore, corresponding to a total of 10 interlaces, 2*10=20 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, with 2 UEs on each interlace (an example is the indicated row in Table 1).

[0052] Table 1: Partial interleaving design for 40MHz BW and 15KHz SCS (n=2 UEs per interleaving)

[0053]

[0054]

[0055] Table 2 shows the calculation results for 60MHz BW (3*20MHz, ie n=3) and 30KHz SCS (N RB =162), where each row in the table consists of a PRB index corresponding to one interlace. Within one interlace, n=3 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, where the "black" entry in the jth row of Table 2 represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j-1), the "bold" entry represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j) and the "underlined" entry represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j+1). Therefore, corresponding to a total of 5 interlaces, 3*5=15 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, with 3 UEs on each interlace (an example is the indicated row in Table 2).

[0056] Table 2: Partial interleaving design for 60MHz BW and 30KHz SCS (n=3 UEs per interleaving)

[0057]

[0058] o In another option, n UEs may be multiplexed in one wideband interlace in an FDM manner, where each UE may be allocated only a portion of the subbands (and corresponding PRBs in one interlace). As an example, for n*20MHz BW, n UEs may be multiplexed in one wideband interlace, where each UE will be allocated PRBs corresponding to a 20MHz subband.

[0059] Table 3 shows the calculation results for 40MHz BW (2*20MHz, ie n=2) and 15kHz SCS (N RB =216), where each row in the table consists of the PRB index corresponding to one interlace. Within one interlace, n=2 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, where the "black" entries in the jth row of Table 2 represent the PRBs allocated to UE (2j-1), and the "bold" entries in the row represent the PRBs allocated to UE (2j). Therefore, corresponding to a total of 10 interlaces, 2*10=20 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, with 2 UEs on each interlace (an example is the highlighted row in Table 3). Note that a small number of PRBs near the band edge of each 20 MHz sub-band can be left unused as guard bands (as shown in the gray PRB indices in Table 3)

[0060] Table 3: Partial interleaving design for 40MHz BW and 15kHz SCS (n=2 UEs per interleaving)

[0061]

[0062] Table 4 shows the values ​​for 60MHz BW (3*20MHz, ie n=3) and 30KHz SCS (N RB =162), where each row in the table consists of the PRB index corresponding to one interlace. Within one interlace, n=3 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, where the "black" entry in the jth row of Table 4 represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j-1), the "bold" entry represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j) and the "underlined" entry represents the PRB allocated to UE (2j+1). Therefore, corresponding to a total of 5 interlaces, 3*5=15 UEs can be frequency-division multiplexed, with 3 UEs on each interlace (an example is the row indicated in Table 4). It should be noted that a small number of PRBs near the band edge of each of the three 20 MHz sub-bands can be kept unused as guard bands (as shown in the gray PRB indices in Table 4)

[0063] Table 4: Partial interleaving design for 60MHz BW and 30kHz SCS (n=3 UEs per interleaving)

[0064]

[0065] In each option, for the indication (or signaling) of the allocated resources, separate indications may be used for interlaces and partial interlaces. For the indication of the interlaces, a bitmap may be used, where each bit of the bitmap indicates each interlace. In this case, the bitmap size may be the same as the number of interlaces, e.g. Figure 2 In the case of the interleaving design shown, it can be 5 bits. Or simply the starting interleaving and the number of interleavings can be used to indicate continuous interleavings. And for the indication of partial interleavings, a bitmap can be used. For example, if the maximum number of multiplexed UEs is 3, a 3-bit bitmap is used, and each bit of the bitmap can indicate the corresponding partial interleaving. For the partial interleaving design given in Table 2, if interleaving #1 is selected, for the partial interleaving bitmap of size 3 bits, the first bit indicates partial interleaving {1, 16, ..., 151}, and the second bit indicates partial interleaving {6, 21, 156}, and the last bit indicates partial interleaving {11, 21, ..., 161}.

[0066] Another indication option may be a joint indication of interlaces and partial interlaces, where for example the partial interlaces are individually indexed over multiple interlaces over the whole strip and only the allocated partial interlaces are indicated, such as a bitmap.

[0067] In an embodiment / aspect, the allocation of PRBs within an interlace to a UE may start from the band edge of the LBT subband (20 MHz). For example, if an interlace contains PRBs #C(1) to PRB#C(n_max) within the LBT subband, the allocation proceeds as follows—PRB#C(1), PRB#C(n_max), PRB#C(2), PRB#C(n_max-1), PRB#C(3), PRB#C(n_max-2), …. Depending on the allocation size, all PRBs on that interlace may be allocated to the UE, and the allocation starts in a similar manner on another interlace on the same LBT subband. If all PRBs on the LBT subband are allocated, the gNB follows the same procedure to start the allocation on the next adjacent LBT subband. For the indication of resources, separate indication or joint indication may be used for interlaces and partial interlaces, as described above.

[0068] Example Process

[0069] In some embodiments / aspects, Figures 5 to 14 The electronic device, network, system, chip or component or part thereof or specific implementation in some other figures of this document may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods described herein or parts thereof. Figure 3One such process is depicted in . According to some embodiments / aspects, at step 302, the method may include identifying or causing identification of a resource allocation scheme for a physical uplink channel. At step 304, the method may also include determining or causing determination of a transmission signal. The process may also include transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on an interleaving, such as Figure 3 As shown in step 306 .

[0070] Figure 4 Another exemplary process according to some embodiments / aspects is shown. This exemplary process may be described in relation to Figures 5 to 14 According to some embodiments / aspects, at step 402, an access point of the wireless communication system may configure or determine a plurality of interleaving interlaces based on a bandwidth and a subcarrier spacing (SCS) of a physical uplink channel. As described in the present disclosure, as a non-limiting example, the bandwidth may be 20 MHz or a multiple of 20 MHz, and the SCS may be 15 kHz or 30 kHz, etc. As described above, for unlicensed NR uplink physical control / shared channels, the interleaving interlace may be based on B-IFDMA.

[0071] According to some embodiments / aspects, at step 404, a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first interlace of the plurality of interlaces may be identified or configured. As described above, the plurality of resource blocks may be based on the number of subcarriers per RB. According to some embodiments / aspects, at step 406, the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first interlace are allocated among one or more UEs. Please refer to Tables 1 to 4 for how the plurality of RBs of the interlace may be allocated to the one or more UEs.

[0072] According to some embodiments / aspects, the AP may generate an indication of the allocated multiple RBs, the first interleaving interlace, and the one or more UEs. According to some embodiments / aspects, at step 408, the AP may transmit an indication of the allocated multiple RBs and the first interleaving interlace for the one or more UEs to the one or more UEs for transmission over a physical uplink channel. As described in the present disclosure, the indication may be one or more bitmaps. As a non-limiting example, the size of the one or more bitmaps may be equal to the number of the multiple interleaving interlaces.

[0073] Figure 1 and Figure 2 The steps or functions in may be performed by one or more of the application circuit 805 or 905 , the baseband circuit 810 or 910 , or the processor 1414 .

[0074] It should be understood that the flowchart illustrations (e.g., Figure 3 or Figure 4 etc.) and other processes not shown.

[0075] For one or more embodiments / aspects, 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 examples 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 examples section below.

[0076] System and implementation

[0077] Figure 5 An exemplary architecture of a system 500 of a network according to various embodiments / aspects is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 500 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments / aspects are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments / aspects 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.), etc.

[0078] like Figure 5 As shown, system 500 includes UE 501a and UE 501b (collectively referred to as "multiple UEs 501" or "UE 501"). In this example, UE 501 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.

[0079] In some embodiments / aspects, any of the UEs 501 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0080] UE 501 may be configured, for example, to be communicatively coupled to an access network (AN) or RAN 510. In embodiments / aspects, RAN 510 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 510 operating in an NR or 5G system 500, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 510 operating in an LTE or 4G system 500. UE 501 utilizes connections (or channels) 503 and 504, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0081] In this example, connections 503 and 504 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 / aspect, the UE 501 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 505. The ProSe interface 505 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 505, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0082] UE 501b is shown as being configured to access AP 506 (also referred to as "WLAN node 506", "WLAN 506", "WLAN terminal 506", "WT 506", etc.) via connection 507. Connection 507 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 506 will include wireless fidelity router. In this example, the AP 506 shown is connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments / aspects, the UE 501b, the RAN 510, and the AP 506 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 501b in the RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by the RAN nodes 511a-b to utilize the radio resources of LTE and WLAN. The LWIP operation may involve the UE 501b using the WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 507) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through the connection 507. 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.

[0083] The RAN 510 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 511a and 511b (collectively referred to as "multiple RAN nodes 511" or "RAN node 511") that enable connections 503 and 504. 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 511 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 500, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 511 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 500. According to various embodiments / aspects, the RAN node 511 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0084] In some embodiments / aspects, all or part of the multiple RAN nodes 511 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 / aspects, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional partitioning such as PDCP partitioning, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 511; MAC / PHY partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 511; or "lower PHY" partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layer, and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 511. The virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the multiple RAN nodes 511 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, a separate RAN node 511 may represent a separate F1 interface ( Figure 5 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 8 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 510 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 511 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 501 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 7 CN 720) RAN node.

[0085] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 511 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 501 (vUE 501). 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.

[0086] Any of the multiple RAN nodes 511 may serve as an endpoint for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for multiple UEs 501. In some embodiments / aspects, any of the multiple RAN nodes 511 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 510, including but not limited to 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.

[0087] In an embodiment / aspect, UE 501 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any AN node in RAN node 511 using OFDM communication signals on 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), but the scope of the embodiment / aspect is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0088] In some embodiments / aspects, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 511 to the UE 501, 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 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.

[0089] According to various embodiments / aspects, UE 501 and RAN node 511 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "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.

[0090] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 501 and the RAN node 511 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 501 and the RAN node 511 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.

[0091] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., UE 501, RAN node 511, etc.) senses a 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.

[0092] 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 501, AP 506, 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require the UE 501 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.

[0095] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to multiple UEs 501. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It can also inform the UE 501 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 501b within a cell) can be performed on any of the RAN nodes 511 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 501. Downlink resource allocation information can be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the multiple UEs 501.

[0096] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0097] Some embodiments / aspects may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments / aspects 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.

[0098] RAN nodes 511 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 512. In embodiments / aspects where system 500 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 520 is Figure 6 ), the interface 512 may be an X2 interface 512. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 511 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 520, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 520. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 501 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 501; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0099] When system 500 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 520 is Figure 7In embodiments / aspects of the 5GC 720 in the 5GC 520, the interface 512 may be an Xn interface 512. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 511 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 520, between a RAN node 511 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 520, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 520. 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 501 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 511. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) service RAN node 511 to the new (target) service RAN node 511, and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) service RAN node 511 and the new (target) service RAN node 511. 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.

[0100] RAN 510 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 520. CN 520 may include a plurality of network elements 522 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / users (e.g., users of UE 501) connected to CN 520 via RAN 510. The components of CN 520 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 / aspects, 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 520 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 520 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.

[0101] Generally speaking, the application server 530 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 530 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 501 via the EPC 520 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0102] In an embodiment / aspect, CN 520 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 520", etc.), and RAN 510 may be connected to CN 520 via an NG interface 513. In an embodiment / aspect, NG interface 513 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 514, which carries traffic data between RAN node 511 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 515, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 511 and AMF. Figure 7 The implementation / aspects of CN 520 as 5GC 520 are discussed in more detail.

[0103] In an embodiment / aspect, CN 520 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 520", etc.), while in other embodiments / aspects, CN 520 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 520 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 520", etc.), RAN 510 may be connected to CN 520 via an S1 interface 513. In an embodiment / aspect, S1 interface 513 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 514, which carries traffic data between RAN node 511 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 515, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 511 and MME. Figure 6 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 520 is an EPC 520.

[0104] Figure 6 An exemplary architecture of a system 600 including a first CN 620 according to various embodiments / aspects is shown. In this example, the system 600 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 620 is a Figure 5 In addition, UE 601 can communicate with Figure 5 UE 501 is the same as or similar to UE 501, and E-UTRAN 610 may be Figure 5 The CN 620 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 510 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 511 discussed previously. The CN 620 may include an MME 621, an S-GW 622, a P-GW 623, an HSS 624, and an SGSN 625.

[0105] The MME 621 may be similar in function to the control plane of a traditional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 601. The MME 621 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 601, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 601 and MME 621 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 601 and the MME 621. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 601. The MME 621 may be coupled to the HSS 624 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 625 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 622 via an S11 reference point.

[0106] SGSN 625 may be a node that serves UE 601 by tracking the location of individual UE 601 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 625 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 621; handling of UE 601 time zone functions, as specified by MME 621; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 621 and SGSN 625 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0107] The HSS 624 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 620 may include one or several HSSs 624, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 624 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 624 and the MME 621 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 620 between the HSS 624 and the MME 621.

[0108] The S-GW 622 may terminate the S1 interface 513 ( Figure 6 The S-GW 622 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 622 and the MME 621 may provide a control plane between the MME 621 and the S-GW 622. The S-GW 622 may be coupled to the P-GW 623 via the S5 reference point.

[0109] The P-GW 623 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 630. The P-GW 623 may communicate with the PDN 630 via the IP interface 525 (see, e.g., Figure 5 ) routes data packets between EPC 620 and external networks such as a network including an application server 530 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment / aspect, P-GW 623 can communicate with the EPC 620 via IP communication interface 525 (see, e.g., Figure 5 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 5 Application server 530 or Figure 6The S5 reference point between the P-GW 623 and the S-GW 622 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 623 and the S-GW 622. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 622 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 601 and whether the S-GW 622 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 623 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 623 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 623 and the packet data network (PDN) 630 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 623 may be coupled to the PCRF 626 via a Gx reference point.

[0110] PCRF 626 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 620. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 626 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 601. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 601: a home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 626 may be communicatively coupled to application server 630 via P-GW 623. Application server 630 may signal PCRF 626 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 626 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 630. The Gx reference point between PCRF 626 and P-GW 623 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 626 to PCEF in P-GW 623. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 630 (or "AF 630") and PCRF 626.

[0111] Figure 7The architecture of a system 700 including a second CN 720 according to various embodiments / aspects is shown. The system 700 is shown to include a UE 701, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 501 and UE 601; a (R) AN 710, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 510 and RAN 610, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 511; and a DN 703, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 720. The 5GC 720 may include an AUSF 722; an AMF 721; an SMF 724; an NEF 723; a PCF 726; an NRF 725; an UDM 727; an AF 728; an UPF 702; and an NSSF 729.

[0112] UPF 702 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 703, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 702 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 702 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 703 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 703 may include or be similar to the application server 530 discussed previously. UPF 702 may interact with SMF 724 via the N4 reference point between SMF 724 and UPF 702.

[0113] The AUSF 722 may store data for authentication of the UE 701 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 722 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 722 may communicate with the AMF 721 via an N12 reference point between the AMF 721 and the AUSF 722, and may communicate with the UDM 727 via an N13 reference point between the UDM 727 and the AUSF 722. In addition, the AUSF 722 may present an interface based on a Nausf service.

[0114] AMF 721 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 701, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 721 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 721 and SMF 724. AMF 721 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 701 and SMF 724, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 721 may also provide a transport mechanism for UE 701 and SMSF ( Figure 7 721 provides transmission for SMS messages between (R)AN 710 and AMF 721). AMF 721 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with AUSF 722 and UE 701, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 701 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, AMF 721 may retrieve security material from AUSF 722. AMF 721 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, AMF 721 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between (R)AN 710 and AMF 721; and AMF 721 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0115] The AMF 721 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 701 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 710 and the AMF 721 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 710 and the UPF 702 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 721 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 724 and the AMF 721, 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 701 and the AMF 721 via the N1 reference point between the UE 701 and the AMF 721, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 701 and the UPF 702. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 701. The AMF 721 may present an interface based on the Namf service and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMFs and between the AMF 721 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 7 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0116] UE 701 may need to register with AMF 721 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 701 with the network (e.g., AMF 721) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 721). UE 701 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 701 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 721 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 701, so AMF 721 cannot reach UE 701. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 701 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 721 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 701, so AMF 721 can reach UE 701. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 701 may perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that UE 701 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0117] AMF 721 may store one or more RM contexts for UE 701, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. An RM context may be a data structure, a database object, or the like, which indicates or stores, among other things, a registration status and a periodic update timer for each access type. AMF 721 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments / aspects, AMF 721 may store CE mode B restriction parameters for UE 701 in an associated MM context or RM context. AMF 721 may also derive values ​​from usage setting parameters of the UE already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0118] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 701 and the AMF 721 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 701 and the CN 720, 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 701 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 710) and the AMF 721. The UE 701 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 701 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 701 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 721 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 710 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 701. When the UE 701 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 701 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 721 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 710 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 701. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 710 and the AMF 721 may cause the UE 701 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 710 and the AMF 721 is released, the UE 701 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0119] SMF 724 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 701 and a data network (DN) 703 identified by a data network name (DNN). The PDU session may be established upon request by UE 701, modified upon request by UE 701 and 5GC 720, and released upon request by UE 701 and 5GC 720 using NAS SM signaling exchanged between UE 701 and SMF 724 over the N1 reference point. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 720 may trigger a specific application in UE 701. In response to receiving the trigger message, UE 701 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 701. The identified applications in UE 701 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 724 may check whether the UE 701 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 701. In this regard, SMF 724 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 724 level subscription data from UDM 727.

[0120] SMF 724 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 may be included in system 700, which may be located between another SMF 724 in the visited network and SMF 724 in the home network. In addition, SMF 724 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0121] NEF 723 may provide a device for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 728), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments / aspects, NEF 723 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 723 may also convert information exchanged with AF 728 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 723 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 723 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 723 as structured data, or stored at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 723, and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 723 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0122] NRF 725 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 725 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 725 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0123] PCF 726 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. PCF 726 may also implement FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 727. PCF 726 may communicate with AMF 721 via the N15 reference point between PCF 726 and AMF 721, which may include PCF 726 in a visited network and AMF 721 in a roaming scenario. PCF 726 may communicate with AF 728 via the N5 reference point between PCF 726 and AF 728, and may communicate with SMF 724 via the N7 reference point between PCF 726 and SMF 724. System 700 and / or CN 720 may also include an N24 reference point between PCF 726 (in a home network) and PCF 726 in a visited network. In addition, PCF 726 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0124] UDM 727 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 701. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 727 and AMF 721 via an N8 reference point between UDM 727 and AMF 721. UDM 727 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 7 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 727 and PCF 726, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 723 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 701). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 727, PCF 726 and NEF 723 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 724 via the N10 reference point between UDM 727 and SMF 724. UDM 727 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic discussed previously. In addition, UDM 727 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0125] AF 728 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 720 and AF 728 to provide information to each other via NEF 723, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 701 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 702 near UE 701 and perform traffic steering from UPF 702 to DN 703 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 728. In this way, AF 728 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 728 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 728 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 728 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0126] NSSF 729 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 701. If necessary, NSSF 729 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 729 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMFs 721, to serve UE 701 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 725. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 701 may be triggered by AMF 721, where UE 701 registers by interacting with NSSF 729, which may cause AMF 721 to change. NSSF 729 may interact with AMF 721 via the N22 reference point between AMF 721 and NSSF 729, and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 7 The NSSF 729 may communicate with another NSSF 729 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 729 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0127] As discussed previously, CN 720 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 701. SMS may also interact with AMF 721 and UDM 727 for notification procedures that UE 701 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 727 when UE 701 is available for SMS).

[0128] CN 120 may also include Figure 7 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 7 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data in or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 7 Not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a particular equipment / entity from the network, and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0129] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 7These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 720 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 621) and an AMF 721, to enable intercommunication between CN 720 and CN 620. 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.

[0130] Figure 8 An example of infrastructure equipment 800 according to some embodiments / aspects is shown. Infrastructure equipment 800 (or "system 800") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 511 and / or AP 506 shown and described previously), an application server 530, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 800 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0131] System 800 includes: application circuit 805, baseband circuit 810, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 815, memory circuit 820, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825, power tee circuit 830, network controller circuit 835, network interface connector 840, satellite positioning circuit 845 and user interface 850. In some embodiments / aspects, device 800 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments / aspects, 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.

[0132] The application circuit 805 includes, for example, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more low dropout regulators (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I 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 805 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 800. 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.

[0133] The processor of the application circuit 805 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more 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 / aspects, the application circuit 805 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments / aspects herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 805 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processor; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium (TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments / aspects, the system 800 may not utilize the application circuit 805, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from the EPC or 5GC.

[0134] In some implementations, the application circuit 805 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 805 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments / aspects discussed herein. In such embodiments / aspects, the circuitry of the application circuit 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0135] The 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.10 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 810 are discussed.

[0136] The user interface circuit 850 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 800 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 800. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a 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.

[0137] The radio front end module (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.10 Antenna array 1011), 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.

[0138] The memory circuit 820 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 820 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0139] The PMIC 825 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 830 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 800 using a single cable.

[0140] The network controller circuit 835 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 800 via a network interface connector 840, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 835 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some specific implementations, the network controller circuit 835 may include multiple controllers for providing connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0141] The positioning circuit 845 includes circuits 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 845 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 / aspects, the positioning circuit 845 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 845 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 810 and / or RFEM 815 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 845 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 805, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures (e.g., RAN node 511, etc.).

[0142] Figure 8 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.

[0143] Fig. 9 An example of a platform 900 (or "device 900") according to various embodiments / aspects is shown. In embodiments / aspects, the computer platform 900 may be suitable for use as a UE 501, 601, 701, an application server 530, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 900 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 900 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 900, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Fig. 9The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 900. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0144] The application circuit 905 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 905 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 900. 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.

[0145] The processor 805 of the application circuit 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 / aspects, the application circuit 805 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments / aspects herein.

[0146] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 905 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 905 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 905 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 905 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as company( Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0147] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 905 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 / aspects, the circuits of the application circuit 905 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 / aspects discussed herein. In such embodiments / aspects, the circuits of the application circuit 905 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0148] Baseband circuit 910 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.10The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 910 are discussed.

[0149] The RFEM 915 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.10 Antenna array 1011), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 915 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0150] The memory circuit 920 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 920 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 920 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 920 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 920 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 905. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 920 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 900 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0151] Removable memory circuitry 923 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 900. 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.

[0152] The platform 900 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 900. External devices connected to the platform 900 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 921 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 922, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 923.

[0153] Sensor circuitry 921 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.

[0154] The EMC 922 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable the platform 900 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, the EMC 922 may be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 900 to indicate the current state of the EMC 922. Examples of EMC 922 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In embodiments / aspects, the platform 900 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 922 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0155] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 900 to the positioning circuit 945. The positioning circuit 945 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 945 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments / aspects, the positioning circuit 945 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 945 may also be part of the baseband circuit 810 and / or the RFEM 915 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 945 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 905 , 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.

[0156] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 900 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 940. The NFC circuit 940 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 940 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 900. The NFC circuit 940 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 940 by executing 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 940, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 940 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 900.

[0157] The driver circuit 946 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 900. The driver circuit 946 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 900 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 900. For example, the driver circuit 946 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 900, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 921 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 921, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 922 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 922, 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.

[0158] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 925 (also referred to as “power management circuit 925”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 900. Specifically, the PMIC 925 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 910. When the platform 900 is capable of being powered by a battery 930, for example, when the device is included in a UE 501, 601, 701, the PMIC 925 may be generally included.

[0159] In some embodiments / aspects, the PMIC 925 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 900. For example, if the platform 900 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 900 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 900 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. are performed. The platform 900 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 900 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0160] The battery 930 can power the platform 900, but in some examples, the platform 900 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 930 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 930 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0161] In some implementations, the battery 930 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 900 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 930. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 930, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 930 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 930 to the application circuit 905 or other components of the platform 900. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 905 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 930 or the current from the battery 930. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 900 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0162] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 930. 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 900. 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 930 and therefore on the required current. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0163] The user interface circuit 950 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 900, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 900 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 900. The user interface circuit 950 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state 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 900. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments / aspects, the sensor circuitry 921 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.

[0164] Although not shown, the components of platform 900 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.

[0165] Fig.10 1010 and exemplary components of a radio front end module (RFEM) 1015 according to various embodiments / aspects are shown. The baseband circuit 1010 corresponds to Figure 8The baseband circuit 810 and Fig. 9 Baseband circuit 910. RFEM 1015 corresponds to Figure 8 RFEM 815 and Fig. 9 RFEM 915. As shown, RFEM 1015 may include radio frequency (RF) circuit 1006, front end module (FEM) circuit 1008, and antenna array 1011 coupled together at least as shown.

[0166] The baseband circuit 1010 includes circuits and / or control logic components configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 1006. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments / aspects, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 1010 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments / aspects, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 1010 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The embodiments / aspects of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments / aspects. The baseband circuit 1010 is configured to process the baseband signal received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1006 and generate a baseband signal for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1006. The baseband circuit 1010 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 805 / 905 (see Figure 8 and Fig. 9 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 1006. Baseband circuit 1010 can handle various radio control functions.

[0167] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 1010 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 1004A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 1004B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 1004C, or some other baseband processors 1004D 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 / aspects, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1004A-1004D may be included in a module stored in the memory 1004G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 1004E. In other embodiments / aspects, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1004A-1004D 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 / aspects, the memory 1004G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 1004E (or other baseband processor), will enable the CPU 1004E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 1010, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: 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 Open OKL4 provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 1010 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 1004F. The audio DSP 1004F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments / aspects.

[0168] In some embodiments / aspects, each of the processors 1004A-1004E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from the memory 1004G. The baseband circuit 1010 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit 1010, ... Figures 8 to 10 An application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 805 / 905; Fig.10 RF circuit 1006 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 925.

[0169] In alternative embodiments / aspects (which may be combined with the above embodiments / aspects), the baseband circuit 1010 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 interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable bus or interconnect 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 1010 may include a protocol processing circuit having 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 1015).

[0170] although Fig.10Not shown, but in some embodiments / aspects, the baseband circuit 1010 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 / aspects, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments / aspects, 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 1010 and / or the RF circuit 1006 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 1010 and / or the RF circuit 1006 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., 1004G) 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 1010 may also support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol.

[0171] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 1010 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 1010 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 1010 and the RF circuit 1006 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 1010 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 1006 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 1006). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1010 and the application circuit 805 / 905 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0172] In some embodiments / aspects, baseband circuit 1010 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments / aspects, baseband circuit 1010 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments / aspects in which baseband circuit 1010 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0173] RF circuit 1006 can implement communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments / aspects, RF circuit 1006 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 1006 can include a receive signal path, which can include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 1008 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 1010. RF circuit 1006 can also include a transmit signal path, which can include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 1010 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 1008.

[0174] In some embodiments / aspects, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1006 may include a mixer circuit 1006a, an amplifier circuit 1006b, and a filter circuit 1006c. In some embodiments / aspects, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1006 may include a filter circuit 1006c and the mixer circuit 1006a. The RF circuit 1006 may also include a synthesizer circuit 1006d for synthesizing frequencies used by the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1008 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1006d. The amplifier circuit 1006b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 1006c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuit 1010 for further processing. In some embodiments / aspects, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required. In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments / aspects is not limited in this regard.

[0175] In some embodiments / aspects, mixer circuit 1006a of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 1006d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 1008. The baseband signal can be provided by baseband circuit 1010 and can be filtered by filter circuit 1006c.

[0176] In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1006a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers, and may be arranged to be used for orthogonal down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1006a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers, and may be arranged to be used for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1006a of the transmit signal path may be arranged to be used for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments / aspects, the mixer circuit 1006a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1006a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0177] In some embodiments / aspects, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments / aspects is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments / aspects, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments / aspects, the RF circuit 1006 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and the baseband circuit 1010 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 1006.

[0178] In some dual-mode embodiments / aspects, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments / aspects is not limited in this respect.

[0179] In some embodiments / aspects, synthesizer circuit 1006d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments / aspects is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 1006d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0180] The synthesizer circuit 1006d can be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 1006a of the RF circuit 1006. In some embodiments / aspects, the synthesizer circuit 1006d can be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0181] In some embodiments / aspects, 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 1010 or the application circuit 805 / 905 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments / aspects, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 805 / 905.

[0182] The synthesizer circuit 1006d of the RF circuit 1006 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments / aspects, 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 / aspects, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on the output) to provide a fractional frequency division ratio. In some exemplary embodiments / aspects, the DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments / aspects, 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.

[0183] In some embodiments / aspects, the synthesizer circuit 1006d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments / aspects, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other on the carrier frequency. In some embodiments / aspects, the output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments / aspects, the RF circuit 1006 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0184] The FEM circuitry 1008 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the antenna array 1011, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1006 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 1008 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 1006 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 1011. In various embodiments / aspects, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 1006, only in the FEM circuitry 1008, or in both the RF circuitry 1006 and the FEM circuitry 1008.

[0185] In some embodiments / aspects, the FEM circuit 1008 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 1008 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1008 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 1006). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1008 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1006), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1011.

[0186] The antenna array 1011 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 1010 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 1011 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 1011 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 1011 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 1006 and / or the FEM circuit 1008 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0187] The processor of the application circuit 805 / 905 and the processor of the baseband circuit 1010 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 1010 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 805 / 905 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.

[0188] Fig.11 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments / aspects are shown. Specifically, Fig.11 The present invention includes an arrangement 1100 showing 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.11 The following description, but Fig.11 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0189] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1100 may also include one or more of PHY 1110, MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, SDAP 1147, RRC 1155, and NAS layer 1157. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig.11 Items 1159, 1156, 1150, 1149, 1145, 1135, 1125 and 1115).

[0190] PHY 1110 can send and receive physical layer signals 1105, which can be received from or sent to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1105 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1110 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., RRC1155). PHY 1110 may also further perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments / aspects, an instance of PHY 1110 may process a request from an instance of MAC 1120 via one or more PHY-SAP 1115 and provide an indication thereof. According to some embodiments / aspects, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 1115 may include one or more transport channels.

[0191] An instance of MAC 1120 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of RLC 1130 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1125. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 1125 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1120 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 1110 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1110 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.

[0192] An instance of RLC 1130 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 1140 and provide indications thereto via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1135. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 1135 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1130 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 1130 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 1130 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.

[0193] An instance of PDCP 1140 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1155 and / or an instance of SDAP 1147 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 1145 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 1145 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1140 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.).

[0194] An instance of SDAP 1147 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities and provide instructions thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1149. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAPs 1149 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1147 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1147 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 510 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 1147 of UE 501 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 1147 of UE 501 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 710 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1155 configuring the SDAP 1147 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 1147. In an embodiment / aspect, the SDAP 1147 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0195] The RRC 1155 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1110, MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, and SDAP 1147, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment / aspect, an instance of the RRC 1155 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1157 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1156. The main services and functions of the RRC 1155 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 501 and the RAN 510 (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.

[0196] NAS 1157 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 501 and AMF 721. NAS 1157 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 501 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 501 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0197] According to various embodiments / aspects, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 1100 may be implemented in the UE 501, the RAN node 511, the AMF 721 in the NR implementation or the MME 621 in the LTE implementation, the UPF 702 in the NR implementation or the S-GW 622 and the P-GW 623 in the LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments / aspects, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of the UE 501, the gNB 511, the AMF 721, 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 communications). In some embodiments / aspects, the gNB-CU of gNB 511 may host the RRC 1155, SDAP 1147, and PDCP 1140 of the gNB that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 511 may each host the RLC 1130, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110 of gNB 511.

[0198] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1157, RRC 1155, PDCP 1140, RLC 1130, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110. In this example, an upper layer 1160 may be built on top of NAS 1157, which includes an IP layer 1161, SCTP 1162, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1163.

[0199] In a NR specific implementation, AP 1163 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1163 for the NG interface 513 defined between the NG-RAN node 511 and the AMF 721, or AP 1163 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1163 for the Xn interface 512 defined between two or more RAN nodes 511.

[0200] The NG-AP 1163 may support the functionality of the NG interface 513 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 511 and the AMF 721. The NG-AP 1163 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 501) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 511 and the AMF 721). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 511 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 721 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 721 and the NG-RAN node 511; a mobility function for the UE 501 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 501 and the AMF 721; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 721 and the UE 501; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transmit a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 501 and the AMF 721; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 721 and the UE 501; a ... 520 Configuration transmission function of requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 511; and / or other similar functions.

[0201] The XnAP 1163 may support the functions of the Xn interface 512 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 511 (or E-UTRAN 610), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 501, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0202] In an LTE specific implementation, AP 1163 can be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1163 for an S1 interface 513 defined between an E-UTRAN node 511 and an MME, or AP 1163 can be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1163 for an X2 interface 512 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 511.

[0203] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1163 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 511 and the MME 621 within the LTE CN 520. The S1-AP 1163 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.

[0204] The X2AP 1163 may support the functions of the X2 interface 512 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 520, 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 501, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0205] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1162 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 1162 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 511 and the AMF 721 / MME 621 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 1161. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1161 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1161 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 511 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0206] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 1147, PDCP 1140, RLC 1130, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 501, RAN node 511, and UPF 702 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 622 and P-GW 623 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 1151 may be built on top of SDAP 1147 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1152, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for a user plane layer (GTP-U) 1153, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1163.

[0207] The transport network layer 1154 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of an IP transport, and a GTP-U 1153 may be used on top of a UDP / IP layer 1152 (including a UDP layer and an IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). 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.

[0208] GTP-U 1153 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 1152 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 511 and the S-GW 622 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1110), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, and / or SDAP 1147), a UDP / IP layer 1152, and a GTP-U 1153. S-GW 622 and P-GW 623 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 1152, and a GTP-U 1153. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 501 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 501 and P-GW 623.

[0209] In addition, despite Fig.11Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 1163 and / or transport network layer 1154. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 501, RAN node 511, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 805 or the application circuit 905, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 1010) of the UE 501 or RAN node 511. 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).

[0210] Fig.12 Components of a core network according to various embodiments / aspects are shown. The components of CN 620 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment / aspect, the components of CN 720 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed herein with respect to the components of CN 620. In some embodiments / aspects, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 620 may be referred to as a network slice 1201, and each logical instance of CN 620 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 620 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1202 (e.g., network sub-slice 1202 is shown as including P-GW 623 and PCRF 626).

[0211] As used herein, the terms "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in different IP domains or in the case of overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network function (NF) instances and the resources (e.g., computing, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy a network slice.

[0212] Regarding 5G systems (see e.g. Figure 7), a network slice always includes a RAN part and a CN part. Support for network slicing relies on the principle that traffic of different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can implement different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1 / L2 configurations. If the appropriate RRC message has been provided by NAS, the UE 701 provides auxiliary information for network slice selection in the appropriate RRC message. Although the network can support a large number of slices, the UE does not need to support more than 8 slices at the same time.

[0213] The network slice may include the CN 720 control plane and user plane NF, the NG-RAN 710 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function in the serving PLMN. Each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI and / or may have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by the S-NSSAI. The network slice may be different for supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service / function, but different for different UE 701 groups (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice may deliver different committed services and / or may be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with a different slice differentiator. In addition, a single UE may be served simultaneously with one or more network slice instances via a 5G AN and be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. In addition, an AMF 721 instance serving a single UE 701 may belong to each network slice instance serving the UE.

[0214] Network slicing in NG-RAN 710 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes different treatment of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in NG-RAN 710 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling including PDU session resource information. How NG-RAN 710 supports slice activation in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., a set of network functions including each slice) depends on the specific implementation. NG-RAN 710 uses auxiliary information provided by UE 701 or 5GC 720 to select the RAN part of the network slice, which auxiliary information explicitly identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. NG-RAN 710 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to SLA. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and NG-RAN 710 can also apply appropriate RRM policies for SLAs in appropriate locations to each supported slice. NG-RAN 710 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0215] If available, the NG-RAN 710 may also use UE assistance information for selecting an AMF 721 during the initial attach. The NG-RAN 710 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to the AMF 721. If the NG-RAN 710 cannot use the assistance information to select the AMF 721, or the UE 701 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 710 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF 721 that may be located in a pool of AMFs 721. For subsequent access, the UE 701 provides the temp ID assigned to the UE 701 by the 5GC 720 to enable the NG-RAN 710 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 721, as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 710 knows and can reach the AMF 721 associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

[0216] NG-RAN 710 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 710 resource isolation can be achieved through RRM policies and protection mechanisms, which should avoid shared resource shortages in the case where one slice disrupts the service level agreement of another slice. In some implementations, NG-RAN 710 resources can be fully assigned to a slice. How NG-RAN 710 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0217] Some slices may be available only in parts of the network. Awareness of the NG-RAN 710 of supported slices in its neighboring cells may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the registration area of ​​the UE. The NG-RAN 710 and 5GC 720 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or denial of slice access may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by the NG-RAN 710.

[0218] UE 701 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where UE 701 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained and for intra-frequency cell reselection, UE 701 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities may be used to control the frequency that UE 701 camps on. 5GC 720 will verify that UE 701 has the right to access the network slice. Prior to receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message, NG-RAN 710 may be allowed to apply some temporary / local policies based on the awareness of the specific slice that UE 701 is requesting access to. During the Initial Context Setup, NG-RAN 710 is informed of the slice whose resources are being requested.

[0219] NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources including a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0220] Fig.13 1300 is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system 1300 according to some exemplary embodiments / aspects. The system 1300 is shown to include a VIM 1302, a NFVI 1304, a VNFM 1306, a VNF 1308, an EM 1310, a NFVO 1312, and a NM 1314.

[0221] The VIM 1302 manages resources of the NFVI 1304. The NFVI 1304 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including a hypervisor) for executing the system 1300. The VIM 1302 may utilize the NFVI 1304 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, failures, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0222] The VNFM 1306 may manage the VNF 1308. The VNF 1308 may be used to perform EPC components / functions. The VNFM 1306 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1308 and track the performance, failures, and security of the virtual aspects of the VNF 1308. The EM 1310 may track the performance, failures, and security of the functional aspects of the VNF 1308. The tracking data from the VNFM 1306 and the EM 1310 may include, for example, PM data used by the VIM 1302 or the NFVI 1304. The VNFM 1306 and the EM 1310 may both scale up / down the number of VNFs of the system 1300.

[0223] NFVO 1312 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage resources of NFVI 1304 in order to provide requested services (e.g., to execute EPC functions, components, or slices). NM 1314 may provide an end-user functional package responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs may occur via EM 1310).

[0224] Fig.14is a block diagram showing 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 / aspects. Specifically, Fig.14 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1400 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1410, one or more memory / storage devices 1420, and one or more communication resources 1430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1440. For embodiments / aspects in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1400.

[0225] Processor 1410 may include, for example, processor 1412 and processor 1414. Processor 1410 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.

[0226] The memory / storage device 1420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1420 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.

[0227] The communication resources 1430 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1404 or one or more databases 1406 via the network 1408. For example, the communication resources 1430 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.

[0228] The instructions 1450 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1450 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 1410 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1420, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1400 from any combination of the peripheral device 1404 or the database 1406. Thus, the memory of the processor 1410, the memory / storage device 1420, the peripheral device 1404, and the database 1406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0229] Example

[0230] Embodiment 1 may include a device comprising: a device for identifying or causing identification of a resource allocation scheme for a physical uplink channel; a device for determining or causing determination of a transmission signal; and a device for transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on interleaving.

[0231] Embodiment 2 may include the subject matter as described in Embodiment 1 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the transmission operates in unlicensed NR spectrum.

[0232] Embodiment 3 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 1 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the apparatus for transmitting or causing the transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises an apparatus for transmitting or causing the transmission of one or more uplink signals using a uniform / non-uniform interleaving design based on B-IFDMA.

[0233] Embodiment 4 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 3 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the apparatus for transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises apparatus for transmitting or causing transmission on a plurality of interleaving interlaces indexed as 0…M-1, where M is an integer.

[0234] Embodiment 5 may include the subject matter as set forth in embodiment 4 or any other embodiment herein, wherein an interleaving interleave is used for a given physical channel.

[0235] Embodiment 6 may include the subject matter of embodiment 4 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the j-th indexed interlace comprises Nj resource blocks that are equidistant in the frequency domain.

[0236] Embodiment 7 may include the subject matter of embodiment 6 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the Nj resource blocks each include X frequency subcarriers.

[0237] Embodiment 8 may include the subject matter of embodiment 6 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the spacing between two consecutive resource blocks in the frequency domain is M blocks, each block consisting of X frequency subcarriers, where M is an integer.

[0238] Embodiment 9 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 1 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the apparatus for transmitting or causing transmission of a determined transmission signal based on interleaving further comprises an apparatus for transmitting or causing transmission of a determined transmission signal utilizing full-bandwidth interleaving for transmission over a BW of N*20 MHz, wherein N is an integer.

[0239] Embodiment 10 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 9 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the means for transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises means for transmitting or causing transmission on one or more LBT sub-bands.

[0240] Embodiment 11 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 10 or any other embodiment herein, wherein at least one of the one or more LBT sub-bands operates at 20 MHz.

[0241] Embodiment 12 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 1 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the interleaving may be full interleaving or partial interleaving.

[0242] Embodiment 13 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 12 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the bits in the bitmap may indicate interleaving.

[0243] Embodiment 14 may include the subject matter as described in any of Embodiments 1 to 13 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the apparatus is implemented in a UE or a portion thereof.

[0244] Embodiment 15 may include systems and methods for wireless communications for a fifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system operating in an unlicensed spectrum (unlicensed NR):

[0245] The resource allocation rule for the physical uplink channel is determined by the UE based on an interleaved frequency division multiplexing method, hereinafter referred to as an interlace (a basic unit of resource allocation).

[0246] According to the staggered design, one or more uplink signals are transmitted by the UE using one or more basic units of resource allocation.

[0247] Embodiment 16 may include the subject matter described in Embodiment 15 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the UE is scheduled to transmit on a BW of n*20 MHz using full broadband interleaving. The UE transmits on one or more LBT subbands (each LBT subband is 20 MHz) using a portion of the interleaving within the broadband.

[0248] Embodiment 17 may include the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 16 or some other embodiments herein, wherein UEs are allocated partial interlaces over a wideband (i.e., BW>20MHz) such that the number of PRBs / UEs remains almost the same as the number of PRBs / interlaces over 20MHz, and the number of UEs multiplexed within an interlace in a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) manner scales with the BW (while the number of interlaces M remains the same as the BW increases). In one option, n UEs are frequency division multiplexed in an interlaced manner within a wideband interlace over n*20MHz BW. The allocation of PRBs within a wideband interlace to n UEs follows the following rules: if the PRB indices within the interlace are numbered C0, C1, C2, C3, …, C(N-1) (the interlace consists of N PRBs), then the PRB indices allocated to UE(1), UE(2), …, UE(n) are: UE(1): C0, C(n), C(2n), …; UE(2): C1, C(n+1), C(2n+1), …; …; UE(n): C(n-1), C(2n-1), C(3n-1), …

[0249] Embodiment 18 may include the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 16 or some other embodiments herein, wherein n UEs are multiplexed in an FDM manner within one broadband interlace, wherein each UE is allocated only a portion of the sub-band (and the corresponding PRB within one interlace). As an example, for n*20MHz BW, n UEs are multiplexed within one broadband interlace, wherein each UE is allocated a PRB corresponding to a 20MHz sub-band.

[0250] Embodiment 19 may include the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 16 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the allocation of PRBs within an interlace to a UE starts from a band edge of an LBT subband (20 MHz). For example, if an interlace contains PRBs #C(1) to PRB#C(n_max) within an LBT subband, the allocation proceeds as follows—PRB#C(1), PRB#C(n_max), PRB#C(2), PRB#C(n_max-1), PRB#C(3), PRB#C(n_max-2), .... Depending on the allocation size, all PRBs on that interlace may be allocated to the UE, and the allocation starts in a similar manner on another interlace on the same LBT subband. If all PRBs on the LBT subband are allocated, the gNB follows the same process to start the allocation on the next adjacent LBT subband.

[0251] Embodiment 20 may include the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 16 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the indication of the resources in embodiments 3 to 5 is used for full interleaving and partial interleaving, either alone or in combination (eg, using a bitmap).

[0252] Embodiment 21 may include means for: identifying or causing identification of a resource allocation scheme for a physical uplink channel; determining or causing determination of a transmission signal; and transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on an interleaving.

[0253] Embodiment 22 may include the subject matter described in Embodiment 21 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the transmission operates in unlicensed NR spectrum.

[0254] Embodiment 23 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 21 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal also includes transmitting or causing transmission of one or more uplink signals using a uniform / non-uniform interleaving design based on B-IFDMA.

[0255] Embodiment 24 may include the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 23 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises transmitting or causing transmission on a plurality of interleaving interlaces indexed as 0...M-1, where M is an integer.

[0256] Embodiment 25 may include the subject matter as described in Embodiment 24 or any other embodiment herein, wherein an interleaving interleave is used for a given physical channel.

[0257] Embodiment 26 may include the subject matter of embodiment 24 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the j-th indexed interlace comprises Nj resource blocks that are equidistant in the frequency domain.

[0258] Embodiment 27 may include the subject matter of embodiment 26 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the Nj resource blocks each include X frequency subcarriers.

[0259] Embodiment 28 may include the subject matter of embodiment 26 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the spacing between two consecutive resource blocks in the frequency domain is M blocks, each block consisting of X frequency subcarriers, where M is an integer.

[0260] Embodiment 29 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 21 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on interleaving further comprises transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal utilizing full-bandwidth interleaving for transmission over a BW of N*20 MHz, wherein N is an integer.

[0261] Embodiment 30 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 29 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises transmitting or causing transmission on one or more LBT sub-bands.

[0262] Embodiment 31 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 30 or any other embodiment herein, wherein at least one of the one or more LBT sub-bands operates at 20 MHz.

[0263] Embodiment 32 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 21 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the interleaving may be full interleaving or partial interleaving.

[0264] Embodiment 33 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 32 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the bits in the bitmap may indicate interleaving.

[0265] Embodiment 34 may include the subject matter of any of Embodiments 21 to 33 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the apparatus is a UE or a portion thereof.

[0266] UE—Method

[0267] Embodiment 35 may include a method comprising: identifying or causing identification of a resource allocation scheme for a physical uplink channel; determining or causing determination of a transmission signal; and transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on interleaving.

[0268] Embodiment 36 may include the subject matter as described in Embodiment 1 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the transmission operates in unlicensed NR spectrum.

[0269] Embodiment 37 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 35 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal also includes transmitting or causing transmission of one or more uplink signals using a uniform / non-uniform interleaving design based on B-IFDMA.

[0270] Embodiment 38 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 37 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises transmitting or causing transmission on a plurality of interleaving interlaces indexed as 0...M-1, where M is an integer.

[0271] Embodiment 39 may include the subject matter as described in Embodiment 38 or any other embodiment herein, wherein an interleaving interleave is used for a given physical channel.

[0272] Embodiment 40 may include the subject matter of embodiment 38 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the j-th indexed interlace comprises Nj resource blocks that are equidistant in the frequency domain.

[0273] Embodiment 41 may include the subject matter of embodiment 40 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the Nj resource blocks each include X frequency subcarriers.

[0274] Embodiment 42 may include the subject matter of embodiment 40 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the spacing between two consecutive resource blocks in the frequency domain is M blocks, each block consisting of X frequency subcarriers, where M is an integer.

[0275] Embodiment 43 may include the subject matter described in accordance with Embodiment 35 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal based on interleaving further comprises transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal utilizing full-bandwidth interleaving for transmission over a BW of N*20 MHz, wherein N is an integer.

[0276] Embodiment 44 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 43 or any other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting or causing transmission of the determined transmission signal further comprises transmitting or causing transmission on one or more LBT sub-bands.

[0277] Embodiment 45 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 44 or any other embodiment herein, wherein at least one of the one or more LBT sub-bands operates at 20 MHz.

[0278] Embodiment 46 may include the subject matter as described in Embodiment 35 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the interleaving may be full interleaving or partial interleaving.

[0279] Embodiment 47 may include the subject matter of Embodiment 46 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the bits in the bitmap may indicate interleaving.

[0280] Embodiment 48 may include a method according to any one of embodiments 35 to 47 or any other embodiment herein, wherein the method is implemented by a UE or a portion thereof.

[0281] Embodiment 49 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 47, or any other method or process described herein.

[0282] Embodiment 50 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 47 or any other method or process described herein.

[0283] Embodiment 51 may include a device 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 47, or any other method or process described herein.

[0284] Embodiment 52 may include a method, technique or process as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 47, or a portion or component thereof.

[0285] Embodiment 53 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 portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 47.

[0286] Embodiment 54 may include a signal as described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 47, or a portion or component thereof.

[0287] Embodiment 55 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0288] Embodiment 56 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0289] Embodiment 57 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0290] Embodiment 58 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0291] 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 various embodiments / aspects to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments / aspects.

[0292] abbreviation

[0293] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and embodiments / aspects discussed herein.

[0294] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0295] 4G Fourth Generation

[0296] 5G Fifth Generation

[0297] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0298] ACK

[0299] AF Application Function

[0300] AM Confirmation Mode

[0301] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0302] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0303] AN Access Network

[0304] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0305] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0306] API Application Programming Interface

[0307] APN Access Point Name

[0308] ARP Assignment Retention Priority

[0309] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0310] AS Access Layer

[0311] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation

[0312] AUSF authentication server function

[0313] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0314] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0315] BER Bit Error Rate

[0316] BFD Beam Fault Detection

[0317] BLER Block Error Rate

[0318] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0319] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0320] BSS Business Support System

[0321] BS Base Station

[0322] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0323] BW Bandwidth

[0324] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0325] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0326] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0327] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0328] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0329] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0330] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0331] CCE Control Channel Element

[0332] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0333] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0334] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0335] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0336] CFRA Contention-free random access

[0337] CG Cell Group

[0338] CI Cell ID

[0339] CID Cell ID (eg, positioning method)

[0340] CIM Common Information Model

[0341] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0342] CK Cryptographic Key

[0343] CM Connection Management, Conditionally Mandatory

[0344] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0345] CMD command

[0346] CMS Cloud Management System

[0347] CO Conditional optional

[0348] CoMP Coordinated Multipoint

[0349] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0350] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0351] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Attachment Point

[0352] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0353] CPE user terminal equipment

[0354] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0355] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0356] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0357] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0358] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0359] CRB Common Resource Block

[0360] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0361] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0362] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0363] CS Circuit Switched

[0364] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0365] CSI Channel State Information

[0366] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0367] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0368] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0369] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0370] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0371] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0372] CSMA / CA CSMA with collision avoidance

[0373] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0374] CTS Clear to Send

[0375] CW codeword

[0376] CWS Contention Window Size

[0377] D2D Device to Device

[0378] DC Dual Connection, Direct Current

[0379] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0380] DF deployment specifications

[0381] DL Downlink

[0382] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0383] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0384] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0385] DN Data Network

[0386] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0387] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0388] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0389] DSL Digital Subscriber Line

[0390] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0391] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0392] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0393] E2E End-to-End

[0394] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0395] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0396] ED Energy Detection

[0397] EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0398] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0399] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0400] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0401] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0402] EM Element Manager

[0403] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0404] EMS Element Management System

[0405] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0406] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0407] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0408] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0409] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0410] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0411] EREG Enhanced REG, enhanced resource element group

[0412] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0413] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0414] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0415] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0416] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0417] EV2X Enhanced V2X

[0418] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0419] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0420] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0421] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0422] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0423] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0424] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0425] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel

[0426] FB Function Block

[0427] FBI Feedback

[0428] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0429] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0430] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0431] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0432] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0433] FE Front End

[0434] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0435] FFS for further study

[0436] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0437] feLAA Further Enhanced License Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA

[0438] FN Frame Number

[0439] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0440] FR Frequency Range

[0441] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0442] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0443] GGSM Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0444] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Chinese: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0445] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0446] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0447] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0448] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0449] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0450] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Experts Group

[0451] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0452] GTP-U User Plane GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0453] GTS Go to sleep signal (related to WUS)

[0454] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0455] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0456] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0457] HANDO, HO switch

[0458] HFN Superframe Number

[0459] HHO Hard Handover

[0460] HLR Home Location Register

[0461] HN Home Network

[0462] HO Switchover

[0463] HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0464] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0465] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0466] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0467] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0468] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0469] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0470] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL, i.e., port 443)

[0471] I-Block Information Block

[0472] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0473] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0474] ID

[0475] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0476] IE Information Elements

[0477] IBE In-Band Emission

[0478] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0479] IEI Information Element Identifier

[0480] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0481] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0482] IF Infrastructure

[0483] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0484] IMC IMS credentials

[0485] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0486] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0487] IMPI IP Multimedia Privacy Identity

[0488] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0489] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0490] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0491] IoT

[0492] IP Internet Protocol

[0493] IPsec IP security, Internet Protocol security

[0494] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0495] IP-M IP Multicast

[0496] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0497] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0498] IR

[0499] IS Synchronization

[0500] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0501] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0502] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0503] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0504] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0505] IWF interworking function

[0506] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0507] K is the constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM individual key

[0508] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0509] kbps kilobits per second

[0510] Kc Cryptographic key

[0511] Ki Individual user authentication key

[0512] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0513] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0514] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0515] ksps kilosymbols per second

[0516] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0517] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0518] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0519] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0520] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0521] LAA License Assisted Access

[0522] LAN Local Area Network

[0523] LBT Listen before you speak

[0524] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0525] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0526] LCS Location Services

[0527] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0528] LI layer indicator

[0529] LLC Logical Link Control, low layer compatibility

[0530] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0531] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0532] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0533] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0534] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0535] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0536] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0537] M2M Machine to Machine

[0538] MAC Medium Access Control (Protocol Layer Context)

[0539] MAC Message Authentication Code (Security / Cryptography Context)

[0540] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0541] MAC-I MAC for signaling message data integrity (TSG T WG3 content)

[0542] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0543] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

[0544] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0545] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0546] MCG Master Cell Group

[0547] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0548] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0549] MDAF Management Data Analysis Function

[0550] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0551] Minimization of MDT-driven testing

[0552] ME Mobile Equipment

[0553] MeNB Master eNB

[0554] MER message error rate

[0555] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0556] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0557] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0558] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0559] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0560] MM Mobility Management

[0561] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0562] MN Master Node

[0563] MO measurement object, mobile station calling

[0564] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0565] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0566] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0567] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0568] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0569] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0570] MS Mobile Station

[0571] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0572] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0573] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0574] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0575] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0576] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0577] MT mobile station called, mobile terminal

[0578] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0579] mMTC Massive MTC, massive machine type communication

[0580] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0581] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0582] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0583] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0584] NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum

[0585] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0586] NEC network capabilities exposed

[0587] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity

[0588] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0589] NF Network Function

[0590] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0591] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0592] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0593] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0594] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0595] NG Next generation, next generation

[0596] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0597] NM Network Manager

[0598] NMS Network Management System

[0599] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0600] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0601] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0602] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0603] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0604] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0605] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0606] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0607] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0608] NR New air interface, neighbor relationship

[0609] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0610] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0611] NS Network Services

[0612] NSA Non-standalone operation mode

[0613] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0614] NSR Network Service Record

[0615] NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0616] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0617] NSSF network slice selection function

[0618] NW Network

[0619] NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0620] NZP Non Zero Power

[0621] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0622] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0623] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0624] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0625] OOB Out of Band

[0626] OOS Out of Sync

[0627] OPEX Operational Expenses

[0628] OSI Other System Information

[0629] OSS Operation Support System

[0630] OTA Air

[0631] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0632] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0633] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0634] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0635] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0636] Pcell Primary cell

[0637] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity

[0638] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0639] PCF Policy Control Function

[0640] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0641] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0642] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0643] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0644] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0645] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0646] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0647] PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier

[0648] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0649] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0650] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0651] PHY Physical Layer

[0652] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0653] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0654] PM performance measurement

[0655] PMI Precoding matrix indicator

[0656] PNF Physical Network Function

[0657] PNFD Physical Network Functional Descriptor

[0658] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0659] POC PTT over Cellular

[0660] PP, PTP Point to Point

[0661] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0662] PRACH Physical RACH

[0663] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0664] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0665] ProSe Proximity-based Services

[0666] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0667] PRR Packet Receive Radio

[0668] PS Packet Service

[0669] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0670] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0671] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0672] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0673] PSCell Primary SCell

[0674] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0675] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0676] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0677] PTT Push to Talk

[0678] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0679] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0680] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0681] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0682] QCL Quasi-Co-sited

[0683] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0684] QoS Quality of Service

[0685] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0686] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0687] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0688] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0689] RACH Random Access Channel

[0690] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0691] RAN Radio Access Network

[0692] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0693] RAR Random Access Response

[0694] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0695] RAU Routing Area Update

[0696] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0697] RBG Resource Block Group

[0698] REG Resource Element Group

[0699] Rel Release

[0700] REQ Request

[0701] RF

[0702] RI Rank Indicator

[0703] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0704] RL Radio Link

[0705] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0706] RLC AM RLC Acknowledgement Mode

[0707] RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode

[0708] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0709] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0710] RLM-RS Reference signal for RLM

[0711] RM Registration Management

[0712] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0713] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0714] RN Relay Node

[0715] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0716] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0717] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0718] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0719] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0720] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0721] RS reference signal

[0722] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0723] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0724] RSSI Reference Signal Strength Indicator

[0725] RSU Road Side Unit

[0726] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0727] RTP Real Time Protocol

[0728] RTS Ready to Send

[0729] RTT Round Trip Time

[0730] Rx receive, receive, receiver

[0731] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0732] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0733] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0734] S-GW Service Gateway

[0735] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0736] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0737] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0738] SAE system architecture evolution

[0739] SAP Service Access Point

[0740] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0741] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0742] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0743] Scell

[0744] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0745] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0746] SCM Security Context Management

[0747] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0748] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0749] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0750] SDL Supplemental Downlink

[0751] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0752] SDP Session Description Protocol

[0753] SDSF structured data storage function

[0754] SDU Service Data Unit

[0755] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0756] SeNB Assisted eNB

[0757] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0758] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0759] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0760] SFN System Frame Number

[0761] SgNB

[0762] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0763] S-GW Service Gateway

[0764] SI System Information

[0765] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0766] SIB System Information Block

[0767] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0768] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0769] SiP System in Package

[0770] SL Side Link

[0771] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0772] SM Session Management

[0773] SMF session management functions

[0774] SMS Short Message Service

[0775] SMSF SMS Function

[0776] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0777] SN Secondary node, serial number

[0778] SoC System on Chip

[0779] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0780] SpCell Special Cell

[0781] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0782] SPS Semi-persistent Scheduling

[0783] SQN Serial Number

[0784] SR Scheduling Request

[0785] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0786] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0787] SS Sync Signal

[0788] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0789] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0790] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0791] SS-RSRP Reference signal received power based on synchronization signal

[0792] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0793] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0794] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0795] SSSG Search Space Group

[0796] SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator

[0797] SST Slice / Service Type

[0798] SU-MIMO Single User MIMO

[0799] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0800] TA timing advance, tracking area

[0801] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0802] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0803] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0804] TB Transfer Block

[0805] TBS Transport Block Size

[0806] TBD To be defined

[0807] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0808] TCP transport communication protocol

[0809] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0810] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0811] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0812] TE Terminal Equipment

[0813] TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier

[0814] TFT Business Flow Template

[0815] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0816] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0817] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0818] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0819] TR Technical Report

[0820] TRP,TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0821] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0822] TRx Transceiver

[0823] TS Technical Specification, Technical Standard

[0824] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0825] Tx transmission, transmission, transmitter

[0826] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0827] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0828] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0829] UE User Equipment

[0830] UDM Unified Data Management

[0831] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0832] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0833] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0834] UL Uplink

[0835] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0836] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0837] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0838] UP User Plane

[0839] UPF User Plane Function

[0840] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0841] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0842] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency

[0843] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0844] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0845] USS UE-specific search space

[0846] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0847] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0848] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0849] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0850] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0851] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0852] V2X vehicle to the outside world

[0853] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0854] VL Virtual Link

[0855] VLAN virtual LAN, virtual local area network

[0856] VM Virtual Machine

[0857] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0858] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0859] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0860] VNFM VNF Manager

[0861] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0862] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0863] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0864] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0865] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0866] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0867] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0868] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0869] X2-C X2 control plane

[0870] X2-U X2 user plane

[0871] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0872] XRES Expected User Response

[0873] XOR

[0874] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0875] ZP Zero Power

[0876] the term

[0877] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and implementations / aspects discussed herein.

[0878] 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 functionality, 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 / aspects, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. 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 / aspects, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0879] 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".

[0880] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is a part of, or includes a circuit that enables 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.

[0881] 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.

[0882] 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.

[0883] 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 computing devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0884] 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.

[0885] 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.

[0886] 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.

[0887] 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.

[0888] 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.

[0889] 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.

[0890] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0891] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0892] 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.

[0893] 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.

[0894] 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.

[0895] 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.

[0896] 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.

[0897] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group including a special cell for a UE configured with CA and in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0898] 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.

[0899] As described above, various aspects of the present technology may include collecting and using data available from various sources to, for example, improve or enhance functionality. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, this collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, phone numbers, email addresses, Twitter IDs, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other identifying information or personal information. The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology can be used to benefit users.

[0900] The present disclosure envisions that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and / or privacy practices. Specifically, such entities should implement and adhere to privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining the privacy and security of personal information data. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and should be updated as the collection and / or use of data changes. Personal information from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonable purposes of the entity and not shared or sold outside of these legitimate uses. In addition, such collection / sharing should only be done after receiving informed consent from the user. In addition, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and safeguard access to such personal information data and ensure that others who have access to personal information data comply with their privacy policies and processes. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate their compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted to specific types of personal information data collected and / or accessed, and to applicable laws and standards that include specific considerations of jurisdiction. For example, in the United States, the collection or access of certain health data may be governed by federal and / or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), while health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained in each country for different types of personal data.

[0901] Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates implementation schemes in which users selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates providing hardware elements and / or software elements to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology may be configured to allow users to selectively participate in "opt-in" or "opt-out" of collecting personal information data at any time during (for example) registration for a service or thereafter. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified that their personal information data will be accessed when downloading an application, and then reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

[0902] In addition, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Once the data is no longer needed, the risk can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting the data. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect the privacy of users. De-identification can be facilitated by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at the city level rather than at the address level), controlling how the data is stored (e.g., aggregating data between users), and / or other methods when appropriate.

[0903] Thus, while the present disclosure may broadly cover the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may also be implemented without access to such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology will not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or part of such personal information data.

Claims

1. An apparatus for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, the apparatus comprising: A processor circuit, the processor circuit being configured to: Determining a plurality of partial interleavings based on a bandwidth of a physical uplink channel and a subcarrier spacing SCS; identifying a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first partial interlace and a second partial interlace of the plurality of partial interlaces, wherein the plurality of RBs is based on a number of subcarriers per RB; Allocating a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) between two or more user equipments (UEs), The plurality of RBs are located in units of the plurality of PRBs, or in fractional units of the plurality of PRBs, or in a combination of the units of the plurality of PRBs and the fractional units of the plurality of PRBs; and generating an indication of the allocated plurality of PRBs, the first portion of interlaces, the second portion of interlaces, and the two or more UEs; and a radio front end circuit coupled to the processor circuit and configured to: The allocated plurality of PRBs and the indication of the first partial interlace and the second partial interlace for the two or more UEs are transmitted to the two or more UEs for transmission over the physical uplink channel.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: A different number of RBs corresponding to the second portion of interlaces than a number of the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first portion of interlaces is identified.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT sub-bands acquired using a listen-before-transmission (LBT) process. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the indication is a bitmap. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a size of the bitmap is equal to a number of the plurality of partial interleavings.

6. A method for wireless communication, comprising: Determining, by an access point AP for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, a plurality of partial interlaces based on a bandwidth and a subcarrier spacing SCS of a physical uplink channel; identifying, by the AP, a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first partial interlace and a second partial interlace of the plurality of partial interlaces, wherein the plurality of RBs is based on a number of subcarriers per RB; Allocating, by the AP, a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) between two or more user equipments (UEs), wherein the plurality of RBs are located in units of the plurality of PRBs, or in fractional units of the plurality of PRBs, or in a combination of the units of the plurality of PRBs and the fractional units of the plurality of PRBs; generating, by the AP, an indication of the allocated plurality of PRBs, the first portion of interlaces, the second portion of interlaces, and the two or more UEs; and The allocated plurality of PRBs and the indication of the first partial interlace and the second partial interlace for the two or more UEs are transmitted from the AP to the two or more UEs for transmission over the physical uplink channel.

7. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: A different number of RBs corresponding to the second partial interlace than a number of the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first partial interlace is identified by the AP.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT sub-bands acquired using a Listen Before Transmission (LBT) procedure.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the indication is a bitmap.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein a size of the bitmap is equal to a number of the plurality of partial interleavings.

11. A computer readable medium (CRM) comprising computer instructions, wherein when executed by one or more processors of an access point (AP) for a wireless communication system operating in a licensed spectrum and an unlicensed spectrum, the one or more processors are caused to: Determining a plurality of partial interleavings based on a bandwidth of a physical uplink channel and a subcarrier spacing SCS; identifying a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) corresponding to a first partial interlace and a second partial interlace of the plurality of partial interlaces, wherein the plurality of RBs is based on a number of subcarriers per RB; Allocating a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) between two or more user equipments (UEs), wherein the plurality of RBs are located in units of the plurality of PRBs, or in fractional units of the plurality of PRBs, or in a combination of the units of the plurality of PRBs and the fractional units of the plurality of PRBs; generating an indication of the allocated plurality of PRBs, the first portion of interlaces, the second portion of interlaces, and the two or more UEs; and The allocated plurality of PRBs and the indication of the first partial interlace and the second partial interlace for the two or more UEs are transmitted to the two or more UEs for transmission over the physical uplink channel.

12. The CRM of claim 11, wherein: The computer instructions, when executed, further cause the one or more processors to: A different number of RBs corresponding to the second portion of interlaces than a number of the plurality of RBs corresponding to the first portion of interlaces is identified.

13. The CRM of claim 11, wherein the bandwidth of the physical uplink channel corresponds to one or more LBT sub-bands acquired using a Listen Before Transmission (LBT) procedure.

14. The CRM of claim 11 , wherein the indication is a bitmap, and The size of the bitmap is equal to the number of the multiple partial interleavings.

Images