Systems and Methods for Intra-UE Multiplexing in New Radio (NR)

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for transmission in a wireless network based on a priority status. A user equipment may receive a first signal including an indicator. The UE may determine a priority status of a second signal based on the priority indicator. The UE may transmit the second signal to one or more radio access networks (RANs) of the network, wherein a timeline of the second signal may be disordered with respect to other signals transmitted by the UE and the wireless network. The second signal may include data transmitted by a ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) service. The UE may transmit the second signal disordered with respect to one or more additional signals. Based on the indicator, the UE may transmit hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback before a HARQ feedback timeline of a non-emergency transmission.

Description

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 806,701, filed on Feb. 15, 2019, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. Technical Field

[0003] Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communication. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The present invention discloses systems and methods for PDSCH scheduling and OOO scheduling for PUSCH transmission using a priority indication with out - of - order (OOO) HARQ feedback in a wireless network. Some embodiments include implementing OOO communication by a UE.

[0005] According to some embodiments, a method for transmission in a wireless network includes receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a first signal; and transmitting, by the UE, a second signal to one or more radio access networks (RANs) of the wireless network. The first signal includes a priority indicator. The UE determines a priority status of the second signal based on the priority indicator.

[0006] According to some embodiments, a UE includes a memory that stores one or more configuration instructions, the one or more configuration instructions including a priority indicator. The UE further includes a receiver configured to receive a first signal from the wireless network, the first signal including one or more configuration instructions; and a transmitter configured to transmit one or more signals to the wireless network. The UE also includes a processor coupled to the memory. The processor is configured to determine a priority status of a second signal based on the priority indicator; and transmit the second signal via one of the transmitter or the receiver based on the priority status.

[0007] According to some embodiments, a non - transitory computer - readable storage medium stores instructions executable by one or more processors, the one or more processors being configured to, when executing the instructions: receive a first signal including one or more configuration instructions, where the configuration instruction includes a priority indicator; and transmit a second signal out of order relative to a timeline associated with one or more other signals based on the priority indicator, where the UE is configured to perform simultaneous reception of multiple signals, the multiple signals including the second signal and one or more other signals.

[0008] According to some embodiments, the UE may perform signaling to identify the resource mapping for prioritized transmission. Such signaling may be one or more of higher layer signaling in the form of resource configuration, an explicit indication in DL and / or UL grant. In some embodiments, the HARQ codebook includes configuration signals for UEs capable of handling parallel DL transmissions. In some embodiments, the higher layer signaling or resource configuration is transmitted via UE-specific or group common RRC signaling. Scheduling DCI such as DL or UL grant based on UE-specific RNTI or group common DCI associated with a common RNTI may include a priority indication. In some embodiments, UL transmission may be performed based on type 1 and / or type 2 configured grant or grant-free. In some embodiments, the UE may receive a dynamic UL grant for UL transmission. The UE may identify which logical channel meets the constraints regarding resource allocation and prioritization. According to some embodiments, the UE may receive one or more indications in scheduling DCI and / or higher layer signaling to identify when to prioritize / use grant-based transmission and not use the configured grant-free resources for transmission. Otherwise, or based on one or more indications, the UE may identify when to use grant-free resources.

[0009] In some embodiments, the DL and / or UL grant and / or the resource configuration for UL configuration may include one or more bit fields including one or more bits for a priority indication for transmission using the indicated / configured resources. In some embodiments, the DL DCI includes a priority indication instruction for prioritizing both the associated DL PDSCH and the corresponding HARQ feedback at an occasion where the resources overlap with another transmission. In such a case, the UE does not discard the DL PDSCH and / or the UL HARQ feedback associated with the grant, and / or does not multiplex the UL HARQ feedback with other UL channels. In some embodiments, the UE does not multiplex the HARQ feedback of critical transmissions. In some embodiments, based on the priority indication in the UL grant for PUSCH, the UE is configured to determine whether to multiplex UCI with PUSCH in an overlapping case and maintain the grant-based PUSCH in the case of UL CA and / or DC (i.e., not discard).

[0010] In some embodiments, the priority indication may be transmitted in a bit field. In some embodiments, a bit field may be added, and in other embodiments, one or more existing fields in the DCI format (e.g., 0-0 or 0-1) may be used to indicate the prioritization of DCI-based transmission. In some embodiments, one or more bits of the RV indication field, time domain resource allocation field, frequency domain indication field, MCS field, or other fields may be used. In some embodiments, the priority indication may be associated with a power control loop. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 Illustrates a configured UL transmission including grant - based communication overlapping with grant - free resources used for emergency packets, according to some embodiments;

[0012] Figure 2 Illustrates a UE configuration for semi - static HARQ codebook multiplexing to support one and two parallel DL transmissions, according to some embodiments;

[0013] Figure 3 Depicts the architecture of a system of a network, according to some embodiments;

[0014] Figure 4 Depicts the architecture of a system including a first core network, according to some embodiments;

[0015] Figure 5 Depicts the architecture of a system including a second core network, according to some embodiments;

[0016] Figure 6 Depicts an example of infrastructure equipment, according to various embodiments;

[0017] Figure 7 Depicts exemplary components of a computer platform, according to various embodiments;

[0018] Figure 8 Depicts exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry, according to various embodiments;

[0019] Figure 9 Is an illustration of various protocol functions applicable to various protocol stacks, according to various embodiments;

[0020] Figure 10 Illustrates components of a core network, according to various embodiments;

[0021] Figure 11 Is a block diagram illustrating components of an NFV - enabled system, according to some embodiments;

[0022] Figure 12 Is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine - readable medium or a 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 embodiments;

[0023] Figures 13A to 13B Illustrates a process flow diagram of a method for configuring prioritization, according to various embodiments. Detailed Description

[0024] The following detailed embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of illustration and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., in order to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who have benefited from the present disclosure that various aspects of the embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0025] Mobile communication has evolved significantly from early voice systems to today's highly complex integrated communication platforms. The next-generation wireless communication system 5G or New Radio (NR) will provide access to information and data sharing for various users and applications anytime, anywhere. NR is expected to be a unified network / system designed to meet distinct and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. Such diverse multi-dimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. Generally speaking, NR will evolve based on 3GPP LTE-Advanced and additional potential new radio access technologies (RATs) to enrich people's lives with better simple and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. NR will enable all things to be connected wirelessly and provide fast, rich content and services.

[0026] The NR use case series, Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), and ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) have very different requirements in terms of user plane latency and required coverage. The key requirements for URLLC relate to user plane (U-plane) latency and reliability:

[0027] · For URLLC: The user plane latency target for UL should be 0.5 ms, and the user plane latency target for the downlink (DL) should be 0.5 ms.

[0028] · The reliability target should be 1×10 within 1 ms -5 .

[0029] In NR, a UE may receive one or more DL transmissions in parallel, and one or more of these parallel transmissions may have overlaps in time and / or frequency. The parallel transmissions may correspond to the same or different service types. A service such as ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) may have a higher priority or stricter latency constraint than other services such as mobile broadband or other non-critical machine-type communication. Emergency transmissions may need to preempt the resources of any ongoing non-emergency transmissions. Additionally, although non-emergency transmissions may have been scheduled prior to an emergency transmission, the emergency DL transmission may require the UE to report HARQ feedback prior to the HARQ feedback timeline of the non-emergency transmission. This may require the UE to handle parallel DL data reception and / or decoding / processing. In some cases, the UE may be able to multiplex HARQ feedback for both emergency and non-emergency traffic in a common codebook.

[0030] Similarly, in the uplink (UL), a UE may have multiple packets or control information ready for transmission. Thus, especially for a UE that can generate traffic with different priorities, contradictions may be observed in handling conflicts regarding which UL transmission to make when one or more of the UL data channel (such as grant-based or grant-free PUSCH) and / or UL control information. In NR, uplink control information (UCI) may be carried by a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). Specifically, UCI may include a scheduling request (SR), a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) feedback, a channel state information (CSI) report, e.g., a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a CSI resource indicator (CRI), and a rank indicator (RI) and / or beam-related information (e.g., L1-RSRP (layer 1-reference signal received power)). Although logical channels may be associated with priorities, the UE needs to identify where the prioritized packets are to be transmitted, i.e., which allocated time-frequency resources will be selected if multiple allocations are available.

[0031] As agreed in NR, when PUCCH resources carrying different UCI types overlap in time with at least one symbol in a slot, and if higher layer parameters are provided to the UE, the UE will multiplex dynamic HARQ-ACK and / or SR and / or one or more CSI in the resources indicated by the PUCCH resource indicator field in the DCI received for scheduling the PDSCH according to the payload size of the combined UCI.

[0032] This disclosure describes mechanisms for facilitating the prioritization of one or more of DL and / or UL transmissions by signaling some indications.

[0033] In addition, for another form of prioritization of out-of-order (OOO) HARQ feedback via PDSCH scheduling and OOO scheduling supporting PUSCH, possible constraints are disclosed from the perspective of UE implementation to make such operations feasible.

[0034] This implementation describes a method of signaling to enable a UE to identify a resource mapping for prioritized transmissions. The signaling can be one or more in higher layer signaling in the form of resource configuration, an explicit indication in DL and / or UL grants. In addition, for UEs capable of handling parallel DL transmissions, some enhancements to HARQ codebook generation are disclosed.

[0035] In addition, for another form of prioritization of out-of-order (OOO) HARQ feedback via PDSCH scheduling and OOO scheduling supporting PUSCH, possible constraints are disclosed from the perspective of UE implementation to make such operations feasible.

[0036] Hereinafter, it is assumed that higher layer signaling and resource configuration are transmitted via UE-specific or group common RRC signaling. L1 indication can include an indication in scheduling DCI, such as DL or UL grant based on UE-specific RNTI, or group common DCI associated with a common RNTI. Grant-free transmission and transmission with configured grant termination can be used interchangeably and refer to the same transmission mode.

[0037] Method 1

[0038] Method 1 relates to UL transmission. An NR UE may have a receive resource configuration for UL transmission based on type 1 and / or type 2 configured grants, or more generally, a receive resource configuration for UL transmission without any dynamically allocated grant (i.e., grant-free). In addition, the UE may also receive a dynamic UL grant for UL transmission. An NR UE may support different service types and for transmissions of a certain service type, grant-free may be more suitable than grant-based, such as for latency-critical transmissions.

[0039] According to the logical channel priority, the UE is able to identify which packet has a higher priority and / or which allocated resources meet the constraints associated with the logical channel. For each logical channel, the device may be configured with:

[0040] · A set of allowed subcarriers that are allowed to be used and are spaced apart from the logical channel;

[0041] · The maximum PUSCH duration that may be scheduled for the logical channel; and

[0042] · A set of serving cells, i.e., a set of uplink component carriers on which the logical channel is allowed to transmit.

[0043] The authorization is only allowed to be used to transmit logical channels for which the scheduling authorization meets the configured restrictions, i.e., eligible for multiplexing at that particular time point.

[0044] After identifying which logical channels meet the constraints regarding the allocated resources and the priorities of the corresponding logical channels (i.e., packets ready to be transmitted on the logical channels), the UE needs to identify how to distribute the resources to different logical channels. For example, the UE may have received an authorization for transmitting a packet, and then another more urgent packet arrives. The next transmission opportunity based on grant-free resources can overlap with the allocated PUSCH resources by UL grant.

[0045] The embodiments described herein include several schemes regarding how to indicate the priorities of different types of resources such as time-domain resources. Exemplary procedures for priority signaling are in Figure 13A and Figure 13B are described.

[0046] In some embodiments, the UE may receive one or more indications in the scheduling DCI and / or higher layer signaling to identify when to prioritize / use grant-based transmissions and not use the configured grant-free resources for transmission, and vice versa. For example, an embodiment of the priority indication procedure 1300 is shown in Figure 13A . At operation 1302, the UE receives a first signal that may include one or more resource configurations. The first signal may include an indication of the priority status of transmissions using an active resource configuration (e.g., for a configured grant). At operation 1304, the UE determines whether the transmission is prioritized based on the priority indication. At operation 1306, the UE transmits a second signal to one or more radio access networks (RANs) of the wireless network based on the priority indication. For example, as shown in Figure 1 , the UE may discard the grant-based UL transmission from the opportunity that overlaps with the grant-free resources used for the urgent packet. As shown in Figure 1 , T GB is the duration of the grant-based PUSCH. T GF is the duration of the grant-free resources in each occasion, and P GF is the grant-free resource periodicity.

[0047] In one example, one or more resource configurations for a transmission based on a UL configured grant (such as type 1 or type 2) may include an indication that, if true, means that the transmission using the active resource configuration for the configured grant is prioritized and the transmission based on a dynamic grant is discarded. In Figure 1In it, the emergency traffic is transmitted at the next available grant-free resource based on the active grant-free resource configuration. However, having a semi-static priority indication for using grant-free resources may not always be desirable, especially if the network wishes to prioritize grant-based traffic sometimes. Therefore, the L1 signaling (such as the active DCI for configuring grant UL type 2 transmission) may include an indication field that can update the priority value set by the higher layer signaling. Alternatively, the scheduling DCI for the grant-based PUSCH may include a field that, if true, may mean that at the time of resource overlap, the transmission using the grant-based resource is prioritized, that is, the higher layer of the prioritization of the configured grant-free resource is overwritten.

[0048] A non-limiting example order of some disclosed aspects is summarized as follows:

[0049] 1. The UE receives a first grant-free resource configuration and / or a second grant-free resource configuration, where the higher layer signaling of the first grant-free resource configuration and / or the second grant-free resource configuration includes a field such as a one-bit field indicating that at the time of overlap, the resource usage based on the first resource configuration is prioritized, and / or at the time of overlap, the resource usage based on the second resource configuration is not prioritized.

[0050] 2. The UE receives a UL grant for the first packet transmission, where the UL grant indicates that the use of grant-based transmission is not prioritized at the time of overlap.

[0051] 3. A second packet arrives, which may come from a logical channel with a higher priority than the logical channel containing the first packet. The next transmission opportunity based on the grant-free first resource configuration overlaps with the resources allocated for the first packet.

[0052] 4. Based on the first configuration, using the grant-free resource to transmit the emergency second packet based on type 1 configured grant or type 2 configured grant.

[0053] 5. The UE discards the first packet at least in the overlapping part and / or the remaining part after the overlap.

[0054] 6. The UE receives a UL grant for the third packet transmission, where the UL grant indicates that the use of grant-based transmission is prioritized in the case of overlap.

[0055] 7. A fourth packet arrives, which may come from a logical channel that meets the resource constraints of the first grant-free configuration or the second grant-free configuration. The next transmission opportunity based on the grant-free first resource configuration or the grant-free second resource configuration overlaps with the resources allocated for the third packet.

[0056] 8. The priority indication in the UL grant takes precedence over the priority indication of the grant-free resources. Therefore, the UE transmits the third packet in the overlapping resources.

[0057] 9. The UE transmits the fourth packet at the next available opportunity after transmitting the third packet.

[0058] 10. The UE receives the active DCI for UL transmission based on the second grant-free configuration, where the active DCI includes a field indicating that the transmission using the resources based on the second grant-free configuration is prioritized. The priority set by the active DCI can override the priority set by the higher-layer signaling, or when the next transmission opportunity based on the second configuration and the first configuration may overlap, the second configuration can be prioritized.

[0059] In another non-limiting example, the priority of the transmission using the grant-free or grant-based resources at the overlapping opportunities can be implicitly derived based on the configured and / or indicated transmission parameters such as T GB , T GF , P GF and K, where T GB is the duration of the grant-based PUSCH, T GF is the duration of the grant-free resources in the time of each opportunity, P GF is the grant-free resource period, and K is the repetition factor. In one example, if T GB ≤ T GF and / or P GF ≤ NT GB , N = {1, 2, 3...}, then the grant-based transmission may not be discarded, and the packet based on the grant-free transmission can be transmitted at the next grant-free opportunity.

[0060] In some embodiments, instead of the new bit field assumed above, one or more existing fields in DCI format 0-0 or 0-1 can be used to indicate the prioritization of the DCI-based transmission. For example, one or more bits of the RV indication field, and / or the time-domain resource allocation field, and / or the frequency-domain indication field, and / or the MCS field, and / or other fields can be used.

[0061] Method 2

[0062] In some embodiments, the UE may be able to handle more than one parallel DL transmission for unicast traffic and thus requires HARQ-ACK feedback. As Figure 2 shown, the UE can be configured for semi-static HARQ codebook multiplexing to support one and two parallel DL transmissions. In Figure 2In this case, it is assumed that candidate Pos i has an earlier start time than candidate Pos j (j > i). Based on the start value and length value indicated in the UE's configuration table, candidate unicast PDSCH transmission positions are provided in the time slot. If the UE only supports processing one DL PDSCH at a time, the semi-static HARQ codebook includes N fields, where N is the maximum number of non-overlapping PDSCH opportunities in the time slot (e.g., Figure 2 3 in

[0063] ). However, if the UE can support processing more than one DL PDSCH in the time slot simultaneously, more fields in the codebook may be required.

[0064] Some rules can be identified. For example, if up to M parallel PDSCHs can be transmitted in each PDSCH opportunity and N is the maximum number of non-overlapping PDSCH opportunities in the time slot, the semi-static HARQ codebook can have MN fields, where M fields are for the first PDSCH opportunity, followed by M fields for the second PDSCH opportunity, and so on.

[0065] In the M fields of a given PDSCH opportunity, the order of acknowledgments / negative acknowledgments (A / N) for mapping the M PDSCHs of each opportunity can be identified. For example, frequency-first mapping can be adopted. That is, starting from one edge of the carrier BW part, the PDSCHs can be sorted based on RB index occupancy. For example, the first PDSCH and the second PDSCH in the first PDSCH opportunity occupy RBs 10 to 20 and RBs 30 to 50 respectively, and then the PDSCHs are mapped based on the ascending order of RB index occupancy. That is, A / N1 is assigned to PDSCH 1, and the A / N2 field is assigned to PDSCH 2. Alternatively, the RB start position can be used to sort the PDSCHs based on the ascending or descending order of the RB start index and map them accordingly in the M fields. Alternatively or in addition, the frequency position can be identified based on one or a combination of the following: the starting PRB of the CORESET where the scheduling DCI is detected, or the starting CCE index of the corresponding PDCCH candidate, etc. For each of these, the UE can be configured by a higher layer with a corresponding threshold to determine the corresponding position of the HARQ-ACK codebook.

[0066] Method 3

[0067] In some embodiments, the UE may be able to handle more than one parallel DL transmission for unicast traffic and thus requires HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, Figure 13B An embodiment of a priority indication procedure 1310 for parallel transmissions is shown. At operation 1312, the UE receives a first signal that may include one or more resource configurations. The first signal may include an indication of the priority status of the DL PDSCH and the corresponding HARQ feedback. At operation 1314, the UE determines whether the transmission is prioritized based on the priority indication. At operation 1316, the UE transmits a second signal with unordered HARQ-ACK based on the determination.

[0068] To indicate the priority of DL and / or UL transmissions in a unified manner, the resource configuration of DL and / or UL grants and / or grants for UL configuration may include one or more bit fields, including one or more bits, for priority indication of transmissions using the indicated / configured resources. For example, the priority indication in DL DCI may prioritize both the associated DL PDSCH and the corresponding HARQ feedback in case the resources overlap with another transmission, i.e., the UE does not discard the DL PDSCH and / or UL HARQ feedback associated with the grant, and / or does not multiplex the UL HARQ feedback with other UL channels. In some cases, from a reliability perspective, it may be desirable not to multiplex the HARQ feedback of critical transmissions. Similarly, the priority indication in the UL grant for PUSCH may mean one or more of the following:

[0069] · If the grant-based PUSCH overlaps with the UCI in the PUCCH, where the UCI may or may not be multiplexed with the PUSCH.

[0070] · In the case of UL CA and / or DC, do not discard the grant-based PUSCH. Other transmissions may be discarded if there is a time overlap and / or if there are power limitation issues.

[0071] In one embodiment, the priority indication may be transmitted in a new bit field. On the other hand, instead of a new bit field, one or more existing fields in DCI format 0-0 or 0-1 may be used to indicate the prioritization of DCI-based transmissions. For example, one or more bits of the RV indication field, and / or the time domain resource allocation field, and / or the frequency domain indication field, and / or the MCS field, and / or other fields may be used.

[0072] In one example, the priority indication may also be associated with the power control loop. For example, the priority indication may not mean discarding another transmission that overlaps with the priority transmission. Instead, if the received indication is true, the UE may apply some updates to the power control, such as a pre-configured power boost, or apply an offset adjustment to the most recent closed-loop power control command, and / or apply a different pre-configured power control loop.

[0073] In addition, if the UE is configured with UL CA or DC scenarios, the following priority order may be implemented to enable prioritization for service-related transmissions of higher priority.

[0074] For single-cell operation with two uplink carriers or for operation with carrier aggregation, if the total UE transmit power for PUSCH or PUCCH or PRACH or SRS transmission in the corresponding transmission occasion i will exceed where, as defined in [8-1, TS 38.101-1] and [8-2, TS 38.101-2], is the linear value of in transmission occasion i, the UE allocates power to PUSCH / PUCCH / PRACH / SRS transmissions according to the following priority order (in descending order) such that the total UE transmit power is less than or equal to When determining the total transmission power in the symbols of transmission occasion i, the UE does not include the power for transmission that starts after the symbols of transmission occasion i. The total UE transmission power in the symbols of a time slot is defined as the sum of the linear values of the UE transmission powers for PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH, and SRS in the symbols of the time slot.

[0075] · PRACH transmission on Pcell.

[0076] · PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information and / or SR or PUSCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information when the HARQ-ACK information corresponds to a PDSCH indicated as "high priority" via scheduling DCI format [1_0 or] 1_1 or via one or more of {higher layer configuration and / or activation DCI} for SPS PDSCH.

[0077] · PUCCH transmission with CSI or PUSCH transmission with CSI when the CSI report configuration indicates "high priority".

[0078] · When the PUSCH is indicated as "high priority" via the scheduling DCI format [0_0 or] 0_1 or via one or more of the {higher layer configuration and / or activation DCI} for type 1 and 2 CG PUSCH, there is PUSCH transmission without HARQ-ACK information or CSI.

[0079] · PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information and / or SR or PUSCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information.

[0080] · PUCCH transmission with CSI or PUSCH transmission with CSI.

[0081] · PUSCH transmission without HARQ-ACK information or CSI.

[0082] · SRS transmission, where the aperiodic SRS has a higher priority than the semi-persistent and / or periodic SRS, or PRACH transmission on a serving cell other than the PCell.

[0083] In the case of the same priority order and operation with carrier aggregation, the UE prioritizes the power allocation for transmissions on the primary cell used for MCG or SCG over transmissions on the secondary cell, and prioritizes the power allocation for transmissions on the PCell over transmissions on the PSCell. In the case of the same priority order and operation with two UL carriers, the UE prioritizes the power allocation for transmissions on the carrier on which the UE is configured to transmit the PUCCH. If the PUCCH is not configured for either of the two UL carriers, the UE prioritizes the power allocation for transmissions on the non-supplementary UL carrier.

[0084] In the above, the "high priority" indication can be achieved after adopting the method of higher layer signaling (UE-specific RRC signaling) and / or dynamic scheduling DCI disclosed above.

[0085] Disordered PDSCH HARQ-ACK and PUSCH Scheduling

[0086] In addition to the above UE-internal multiplexing and prioritization methods, for another form of prioritization between different PDSCH or PUSCH, it can be achieved via unordered (OOO) HARQ feedback that supports PDSCH scheduling and OOO scheduling for the PUSCH.

[0087] The OOO HARQ for PDSCH corresponds to the following situation: where PDSCH_A of a HARQ process is followed by PDSCH_B of another HARQ process, but the corresponding HARQ-ACK is fed back as: HARQ-ACK_B is followed by HARQ_ACK_A. In this case, PDSCH_B has priority over PDSCH_A of the same UE in terms of the handover time processed by the UE.

[0088] Similarly, for OOO PUSCH scheduling, the second PDCCH_B received after the first PDCCH_A can schedule PUSCH_B to be transmitted, where its last symbol ends before the first symbol of PUSCH_A to be transmitted. In this case, for the same UE, PUSCH_B has priority over PUSCH_A.

[0089] Such operations affect the pipelining operations at the UE for processing PDCCH and PDSCH and preparing Ack / NACK feedback for DLOOO HARQ for PDSCH on PUCCH or PUSCH, and affect the pipelining process from PDCCH to PUSCH for OOO scheduling for UL.

[0090] To mitigate the impact on the UE, in one embodiment, when it is configured via higher layer signaling (UE-specific RRC signaling) such that OOO PDSCH HARQ is expected, the UE for DL disordered HARQ-ACK operations can expect OOO operations such that at any time, at most two HARQ processes can be disordered relative to each other.

[0091] Similarly, for UL, in another embodiment, when it is configured via higher layer signaling (UE-specific RRC signaling) such that OOO PUSCH scheduling is expected, the UE for disordered PUSCH scheduling can expect OOO scheduling such that at any time, at most two HARQ processes can be disordered relative to each other.

[0092] That is to say, for an example of DL OOO HARQ operation, for a given HARQ-ACK_A in response to the scheduled PDSCH_A, the UE can expect no more than one PDSCH, which has an earlier HARQ-ACK feedback timing compared to the HARQ-ACK_A of the earlier received PDSCH_A.

[0093] Similarly, for an example of UL OOO scheduling, for a given PUSCH_A scheduled by PDCCH_A, the UE can expect no more than one PUSCH to be scheduled by the PDCCH received after PDCCH_A such that the PUSCH will be transmitted before PUSCH_A starts.

[0094] System and Specific Implementation

[0095] Figure 3 FIG. 300 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 300 of a network according to various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system 300 operating in conjunction with the LTE system standard and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0096] As Figure 3 shown, system 300 includes UE 301a and UE 301b (collectively referred to as "UE 301" or "UE 301"). In this example, multiple UEs 301 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronic devices, mobile phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablets, wearable computing devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile devices (DME), mobile data terminals (MDT), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine electronic control units (ECU), electronic / engine electronic control modules (ECM), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" home appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and the like.

[0097] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 301 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe, or D2D communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be machine-initiated data exchange. 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 the connection to the IoT network.

[0098] The UE 301 can be configured to connect to the RAN 310, for example, communicatively coupled. In an embodiment, the RAN 310 can be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" etc. can refer to the RAN 310 operating in an NR or 5G system 300, while the term "E-UTRAN" etc. can refer to the RAN 310 operating in an LTE or 4G system 300. The UE 301 utilizes connections (or channels) 303 and 304 respectively, each connection including a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0099] In this example, the connections 303 and 304 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communicative coupling and can be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as the GSM protocol, CDMA network protocol, PTT protocol, POC protocol, UMTS protocol, 3GPP LTE protocol, 5G protocol, NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 301 can directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 305. The ProSe interface 305 can alternatively be referred to as the SL interface 305 and can include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0100] The UE 301b is shown as being configured to access the AP 306 (also referred to as "WLAN node 306", "WLAN 306", "WLAN terminal 306", "WT 306", etc.) via the connection 307. The connection 307 can include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, where the AP 306 will include a Wi-Fi router. In this example, the shown AP 306 is connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE 301b, RAN 310, and AP 306 can be configured to utilize LWA operations and / or LWIP operations. LWA operations can involve the RAN nodes 311a-b configuring the UE 301b in the RRC_CONNECTED state to utilize the radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operations can involve the UE 301b using the WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 307) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt the packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through the connection 307. The IPsec tunnel transport can include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0101] The RAN 310 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 311a and 311b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 311" or "RAN nodes 311") that enable connections 303 and 304. As used herein, terms such as "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality 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 a terrestrial station (e.g., a land access point) or a satellite station that provides coverage within a geographical area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, terms such as "NG RAN node" etc. may refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 300, while terms such as "E-UTRAN node" etc. may refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 300. According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes 311 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as macrocell base stations and / or low-power (LP) base stations, the LP base stations being used to provide femtocell base stations, picocell base stations, or other similar cells with a smaller coverage area, a smaller user capacity, or a higher bandwidth compared to a macrocell.

[0102] In some embodiments, all or part of the plurality of RAN nodes 311 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer, as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN function 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 the respective RAN nodes 311; MAC / PHY partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by the respective RAN nodes 311; or "lower PHY" partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and the upper part of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while the lower part of the PHY layer is operated by the respective RAN nodes 311. This virtualization framework allows the idle processor cores of the RAN nodes 311 to execute other virtualization applications. In some specific implementations, a separate RAN node 311 may represent a separate gNB-DU connected to a gNB-CU via a separate F1 interface ( Figure 3 not shown). In these specific implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, for example Figure 6), and the gNB-CU can be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 310 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes in the RAN node 311 can be a next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations to the UE 301 and is connected to the 5GC via an NG interface (discussed below) (e.g., Figure 5 the CN 520).

[0103] In the V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes in the RAN node 311 can be or act as an RSU. The term "road side unit" or "RSU" can refer to any traffic infrastructure entity for V2X communication. The RSU can be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where the RSU implemented in or by the UE can be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", the RSU implemented in or by the eNB can be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", the RSU implemented in or by the gNB can 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, which provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 301 (vUE 301). The RSU can also include an internal data storage circuit for storing intersection map geometries, traffic statistics, media, and application programs / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can operate on the 5.9 GHz direct short-range communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low-latency communication required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU can operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communication and other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU can 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 communication. Some or all of the computing device and the radio frequency circuit of the RSU can be encapsulated in a weather-resistant package suitable for outdoor installation and can include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or a backhaul network.

[0104] Any one of the RAN nodes in the RAN node 311 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UE 301. In some embodiments, any one of the RAN nodes in the RAN node 311 can fulfill various logical functions of the RAN 310, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0105] In an embodiment, multiple UEs 301 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any one of multiple RAN nodes 311 over a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals according to various communication technologies, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication technology (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication technology (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), but the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this regard. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0106] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmission from any one of the RAN nodes 311 to the UE 301, and uplink transmission may utilize a similar technique. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For an OFDM system, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid correspond to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one time slot in the radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes multiple 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 smallest amount of resources that can be currently allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0107] According to various embodiments, the UE 301 and the RAN node 311 transmit data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) over a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

[0108] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 301 and the RAN node 311 may use LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms to operate. In these specific implementations, the UE 301 and the RAN node 311 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to the listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0109] LBT is a mechanism by which an apparatus (e.g., UE 301, RAN node 311, etc.) senses a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and performs transmission when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which uses at least ED to determine whether there are other signals on the channel so as to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows the cellular / LAA network to coexist with existing systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy on the expected transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy with a predefined or configured threshold.

[0110] Generally, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. The WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 301, AP 306, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits simultaneously, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS, which exponentially increases in case of collisions and is reset to the minimum value upon successful transmission. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of the WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have an LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA time slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values of the LAA's CWS. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and the MCOT (e.g., the transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0111] 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 may 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, for DL and UL, the number of aggregated carriers may be different, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs may have different bandwidths from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are generally the same for DL and UL.

[0112] CA also includes respective serving cells to provide respective CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may vary, e.g., because the 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 the activities related to RRC and NAS. The other serving cells are called SCell, and each SCell may provide respective SCCs for both UL and DL. The SCCs can be added and removed as needed, while changing the PCC may require the UE 301 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCell"), and the LAA SCell is assisted by the PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When the UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe.

[0113] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 301. Among other information, the PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It can also notify the UE 301 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Generally, downlink scheduling (allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE301b within the cell) can be performed on any one of the multiple RAN nodes 311 based on the channel quality information fed back from any one of the multiple UE 301. The downlink resource allocation information can be sent on the PDCCH for each UE among the UEs (e.g., allocated to) the UE 301.

[0114] The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruples, and then can 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, called REG. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L = 1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0115] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for controlling channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize the EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit the EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets each including four physical resource elements, referred to as EREGs. In some cases, an ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0116] RAN nodes 311 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 312. In an embodiment where system 300 is an LTE system (e.g., when CN 320 is an EPC 420 as in Figure 4 ), interface 312 may be the X2 interface 312. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to EPC 320, and / or between two eNBs connected to EPC 320. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted through the X2 interface and may be used to convey information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 301 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs not delivered to the UE 301; information about the current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and so on. The X2-C may provide access mobility functions within LTE, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0117] In an embodiment where system 300 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 320 is as in Figure 5In an embodiment of 5GC 520, interface 312 may be an Xn interface 312. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to 5GC 320, between a RAN node 311 (e.g., gNB) connected to 5GC 320 and an eNB, and / or between two eNBs connected to 5GC 320. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and traffic control functions. Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 301 in the connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in the connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 311. This mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 311 to a new (target) serving RAN node 311; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 311 and the new (target) serving RAN node 311. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on the Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer for carrying user plane PDUs on top of the UDP and / or IP layer. 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 transmission 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 as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0118] RAN 310 is shown communicatively coupled to a core network - in this embodiment, core network (CN) 320. CN 320 may include a plurality of network elements 322 configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 301) connected to CN 320 via RAN 310. Components of CN 320 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes and include components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any one or all of the above network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 320 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 320 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. The NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources that include 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.

[0119] In general, application server 330 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). Application server 330 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for UE 301 via EPC 320 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0120] In an embodiment, CN 320 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 320", etc.), and RAN 310 may be connected to CN 320 via NG interface 313. In an embodiment, NG interface 313 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 314 that carries traffic data between RAN node 311 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 315 that is a signaling interface between RAN node 311 and AMF. Refer to Figure 5 Embodiments where CN 320 is 5GC 320 are discussed in more detail.

[0121] In an embodiment, CN 320 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 320", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 320 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 320 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 320", etc.), RAN 310 may be connected to CN 320 via the S1 interface 313. In an embodiment, the S1 interface 313 may be divided into two parts: the S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 314, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 311 and the S-GW; and the S1-MME interface 315, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 311 and the MME. Figure 4 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 320 is EPC 320.

[0122] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system 400 including a first CN 420 is shown according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 400 may implement the LTE standard, where CN 420 is an EPC 420 corresponding to Figure 3 CN 320. Additionally, UE 401 may be the same as or similar to Figure 3 UE 301, and E-UTRAN 410 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to Figure 3 RAN 310, and it may include the RAN node 311 discussed previously. CN 420 may include an MME 421, an S-GW 422, a P-GW 423, an HSS 424, and an SGSN 425.

[0123] Functionally, MME 421 may be similar to the control plane of a traditional SGSN and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of UE 401. MME 421 may perform various MM procedures to manage aspects of mobility in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in the E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of UE 401, providing user identity confidentiality to the user / subscriber, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 401 and MME 421 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment process is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in UE 401 and MME 421. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of UE 401. MME 421 may be coupled to HSS 424 via the S6a reference point, to SGSN 425 via the S3 reference point, and to S-GW 422 via the S11 reference point.

[0124] The SGSN 425 can be a node that serves the UE 401 by tracking the location of the individual UE 401 and performing security functions. Additionally, the SGSN 425 can perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MME 421; handling of the UE 401 time zone function as specified by the MME 421; and MME selection for handover to the E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MME 421 and the SGSN 425 can be enabled for user and bearer information exchange for 3GPP indirect access network mobility in the idle state and / or the active state.

[0125] The HSS 424 can include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entity handling of communication sessions. The EPC 420 can include one or several HSS 424s, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 424 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependency, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 424 and the MME 421 can enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the EPC 420 between the HSS 424 and the MME 421.

[0126] The S-GW 422 can terminate the S1 interface 313 towards the RAN 410 (referred to as “S1-U” in Figure 4 ), and route data packets between the RAN 410 and the EPC 420. Additionally, the S-GW 422 can be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handover, and can also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities can include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 422 and the MME 421 can provide a control plane between the MME 421 and the S-GW 422. The S-GW422 can be coupled to the P-GW 423 via the S5 reference point.

[0127] The P-GW 423 can terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN 430. The P-GW 423 can route data packets between the EPC 420 and an external network such as a network including an application server 330 (alternatively referred to as “AF”) via an IP interface 325 (see, for example, Figure 3 ). In an embodiment, the P-GW 423 can be communicatively coupled to the application server ( Figure 3 ) via an IP communication interface 325 (see, for example Figure 3 ) of the application server 330 or Figure 4in the PDN 430). The S5 reference point between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422 can provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422. Due to the mobility of the UE 401 and whether the S-GW 422 needs to be connected to a non-collocated P-GW 423 for the required PDN connectivity, the S5 reference point can also be used for S-GW 422 relocation. The P-GW 423 may also include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 423 and the packet data network (PDN) 430 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, e.g., for providing IMS services. The P-GW 423 may be coupled to the PCRF 426 via the Gx reference point.

[0128] The PCRF 426 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 420. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 426 in the home public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with the Internet protocol connectivity access network (IP-CAN) session of the UE 401. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of the UE 401: the home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and the visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 426 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 430 via the P-GW 423. The application server 430 may signal the PCRF 426 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF 426 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with appropriate TFT and QCI, and start QoS and charging as specified by the application server 430. The Gx reference point between the PCRF 426 and the P-GW 423 may allow the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from the PCRF 426 to the PCEF in the P-GW 423. The Rx reference point may reside between the PDN 430 (or "AF 430") and the PCRF 426.

[0129] Figure 5FIG. 0 shows an architecture of a system 500 including a second CN 520 according to various embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include a UE 501, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed UE 301 and UE 401; a (R)AN 510, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed RAN 310 and RAN 410, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 311; and a DN 503, which may be, for example, a carrier service, Internet access, or a third-party service; and a 5GC 520. The 5GC 520 may include an AUSF 522; an AMF 521; an SMF 524; a NEF 523; a PCF 526; an NRF 525; a UDM 527; an AF 528; a UPF 502; and an NSSF 529.

[0130] The UPF 502 may act as an anchor point for mobility within and between RATs, an external PDU session point of interconnection with the DN 503, and a branching point for supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 502 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane part of policy rules, legally intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), perform transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 502 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing traffic flows to data networks. The DN 503 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. The DN 503 may include or be similar to the previously discussed application server 330. The UPF 502 may interact with the SMF 524 via an N4 reference point between the SMF 524 and the UPF 502.

[0131] The AUSF 522 may store data for authentication of the UE 501 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 522 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 522 may communicate with the AMF 521 via an N12 reference point between the AMF 521 and the AUSF 522; and may communicate with the UDM 527 via an N13 reference point between the UDM 527 and the AUSF 522. Additionally, the AUSF 522 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0132] The AMF 521 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering the UE 501, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 521 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between the AMF 521 and the SMF 524. The AMF 521 may provide transmission for SM messages between the UE 501 and the SMF 524 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 521 may also provide transmission for SMS messages between the UE 501 and the SMSF ( Figure 5 not shown in the figure). The AMF 521 may act as the SEAF, which may include interactions with the AUSF 522 and the UE 501 and receive the intermediate key established due to the UE 501 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 521 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 522. The AMF 521 may also include the SCM function, which receives the key for deriving the access network-specific key from the SEA. In addition, the AMF 521 may be the termination point of the RAN CP interface, which may include or be the N2 reference point between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521; and the AMF 521 may be the termination point of the NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0133] The AMF 521 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 501 through the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point of the N2 interface between the (R)AN 510 of the control plane and the AMF 521 and may be the termination point of the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 510 of the user plane and the UPF 502. Therefore, the AMF 521 may handle N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 524 and the AMF 521, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets on the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to the N3 packet marking, taking into account the QoS requirements associated with such markings received through N2. The N3 IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 501 and the AMF 521 via the N1 reference point between the UE 501 and the AMF 521 and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 501 and the UPF 502. The N3 IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 501. The AMF 521 may present an interface based on the Namf service and may be the termination point of the N14 reference point between two AMF 521s and the N17 reference point between the AMF 521 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 5 not shown).

[0134] UE 501 may need to register with the AMF 521 to receive network services. The RM is used to register the UE 501 with the network (e.g., the AMF 521) or deregister the UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., the AMF 521). The UE 501 can operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE 501 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in the AMF 521 does not hold the valid location or routing information of the UE 501, so the AMF 521 cannot reach the UE 501. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 501 is registered with the network, and the UE context in the AMF 521 can hold the valid location or routing information of the UE 501, so the AMF 521 can reach the UE 501. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 501 can 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 the UE 501 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0135] The AMF 521 can store one or more RM contexts for the UE 501, where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context can be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, in particular, the registration status and the periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 521 can also store a 5GC MM context that can be the same as or similar to the previously discussed (E)MM context. In various embodiments, the AMF 521 can store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 501 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 521 can also derive values from the usage setting parameters of the UE that have been stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when needed.

[0136] CM can be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 501 and the AMF 521 via the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 501 and the CN 520, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection for non-3GPP access or a UE-N3IWF connection) and an N2 connection of the UE 501 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 510) and the AMF 521. The UE 501 can operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 501 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 501 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 521 via the N1 interface, and there may be an (R)AN 510 signaling connection for the UE 501 (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connections). When the UE 501 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 501 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 521 via the N1 interface, and there may be an (R)AN 510 signaling connection for the UE 501 (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connections). Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521 may cause the UE 501 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 510 and the AMF 521 is released, the UE 501 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0137] The SMF 524 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between the UPF and the AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of the UPF function; configuring the traffic steering of the UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface towards the policy control function; the policy enforcement and the control part of QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and the interface with the LI system); terminating the SM part of the NAS message; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to the AN via the AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. Session management may refer to the management of the PDU session, and the PDU session or "session" may refer to the PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the PDU exchange between the UE 501 identified by the data network name (DNN) and the data network (DN) 503. The PDU session may be established upon request by the UE 501 using the NAS SM signaling exchanged between the UE 501 and the SMF 524 over the N1 reference point, modified upon request by the UE 501 and the 5GC 520, and released upon request by the UE 501 and the 5GC 520. When requested from the application server, the 5GC 520 may trigger a specific application in the UE 501. In response to receiving the trigger message, the UE 501 may pass the trigger message (or the relevant part / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE 501. The identified applications in the UE 501 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF 524 may check whether the UE 501 request complies with the user subscription information associated with the UE 501. In this regard, the SMF 524 may retrieve and / or request to receive an update notification on the subscription data at the SMF 524 level from the UDM 527.

[0138] The SMF 524 may include the following roaming functions: handling local enforcement to apply the QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and the interface with the LI system, in the VPLMN); and supporting interaction with the external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication via the external DN. In a roaming scenario, the N16 reference point between two SMF 524s may be included in the system 500, which may be between the SMF 524 in the visited network and another SMF 524 in the home network. Additionally, the SMF 524 may present an interface based on the Nsmf service.

[0139] The NEF 523 can provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 528), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 523 can authenticate, authorize, and / or restrict the AF. The NEF 523 can also transform the information exchanged with the AF 528 and the information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 523 can transform between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. The NEF 523 can also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the exposure capabilities of the other NFs. This information can be stored at the NEF 523 as structured data, or stored at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. Then, the stored information can be re-exposed by the NEF 523 to other NFs and AFs, and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. Additionally, the NEF 523 can present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0140] The NRF 525 can support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information about the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 525 also maintains information about available NF instances and the services supported by these instances. As used herein, terms such as "instantiation" can refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" can refer to a specific occurrence of an object, which can occur, for example, during the execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 525 can present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0141] The PCF 526 can provide control plane functions for executing their policy rules, and can also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 526 can also implement a FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 527. The PCF 526 can communicate with the AMF 521 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 526 and the AMF 521, which can include the PCF 526 in the visited network and the AMF 521 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 526 can communicate with the AF 528 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 526 and the AF 528; and communicate with the SMF 524 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 526 and the SMF 524. The system 500 and / or the CN 520 can also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 526 (in the home network) and the PCF 526 in the visited network. Additionally, the PCF 526 can present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0142] The UDM 527 can process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities and can store the subscription data of the UE 501. For example, subscription data can be transmitted between the UDM 527 and the AMF 521 via the N8 reference point between the UDM 527 and the AMF. The UDM 527 can include two parts: the Application FE and the UDR( Figure 5 The FE and UDR are not shown). The UDR can store the subscription data and policy data of the UDM 527 and the PCF 526, and / or the structured data for exposure and application data of the NEF 523 (including the PFD for application detection, the application request information of multiple UEs 501). The Nudr service-based interface can be presented by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 527, the PCF 526, and the NEF 523 to access a specific set of the stored data, and to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM can include the UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front-ends can serve the same user. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR can interact with the SMF524 via the N10 reference point between the UDM 527 and the SMF 524. The UDM 527 can also support SMS management, where the SMS-FE implements similar application logic as previously discussed. Additionally, the UDM 527 can present a Nudm service-based interface.

[0143] The AF 528 can provide the impact of the application on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE can be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 520 and the AF 528 to provide information to each other via the NEF 523, which can be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the attachment point of the UE 501 to achieve effective service delivery with reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC can select the UPF 502 near the UE 501 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 502 to the DN 503 via the N6 interface. This can be based on the UE subscription data, the UE location, and the information provided by the AF 528. In this way, the AF 528 can affect the UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on the operator deployment, when the AF 528 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow the AF 528 to directly interact with the relevant NF. Additionally, the AF 528 can present a Naf service-based interface.

[0144] The NSSF 529 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 501. If needed, the NSSF 529 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. The NSSF 529 may also determine, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 525, a set of AMFs or a list of candidate AMFs 521 to serve the UE 501. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 501 may be triggered by the AMF 521, where the UE 501 registers by interacting with the NSSF 529, which may cause the AMF 521 to change. The NSSF 529 may interact with the AMF 521 via the N22 reference point between the AMF 521 and the NSSF 529; and may communicate with another NSSF 529 in the visited network via the N31 reference point ( Figure 5 not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 529 may expose an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0145] As previously discussed, the CN 520 may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification and relaying SM messages to / from the UE 501 to / from other entities such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. The SMS may also interact with the AMF 521 and the UDM 527 for a notification procedure that the UE 501 can use for SMS transmission (e.g., setting the UE unreachable flag and notifying the UDM 527 when the UE 501 is available for SMS).

[0146] The CN 120 may also include Figure 5 other elements not shown, such as data storage systems / architectures, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may store unstructured data into or retrieve it from the UDSF (e.g., UE context) via the N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF ( Figure 5 not shown). A single NF may share the UDSF for storing its corresponding unstructured data, or each NF may have its own UDSF located at or near the single NF. Additionally, the UDSF may expose an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 5 not shown). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific piece of equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the PLMN-interworking control plane interface.

[0147] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NF; however, for clarity, Figure 5These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 520 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 421) and an AMF 521 to enable interworking between CN 520 and CN 420. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by a 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.

[0148] Figure 6 An example of infrastructure equipment 600 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 600 (or "system 600") may be implemented as a base station, a radio headend, a RAN node (such as the RAN nodes 311 and / or AP 306 shown and described previously), an application server 330, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 600 may be implemented in or by a UE.

[0149] System 600 includes an application circuit 605, a baseband circuit 610, one or more radio frequency front-end modules (RFEMs) 615, a memory circuit 620, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 625, a power triple circuit 630, a network controller circuit 635, a network interface connector 640, a satellite positioning circuit 645, and a user interface 650. In some embodiments, device 600 may include additional elements, such as, for example, a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuits may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementations.

[0150] The application circuit 605 includes circuits such as, but not limited to: one or more processors (processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I 2C or a general - purpose programmable serial interface module, a real - time clock (RTC), timer - counters including interval timers and watchdog timers, general - purpose input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a Secure Digital (SD) Multimedia Card (MMC) or the like, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interface, and a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 605 may be coupled to the memory / storage element or may include the memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 600. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element may be an on - chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non - volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid - state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0151] The processor of the application circuit 605 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processors, one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 605 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to the various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 605 may include one or more Intel or processors; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors, Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or processors; ARM - based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex - A series processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. and MIPS - based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P - class processors; and so on. In some embodiments, the system 600 may not utilize the application circuit 605 and, instead, may include a dedicated processor / controller to process, for example, IP data received from the EPC or 5GC.

[0152] In some specific embodiments, the application circuit 605 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable system-on-chips (PSoCs); and so on. In such specific embodiments, the circuit of the application circuit 605 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuit of the application program circuit 605 may include memory units (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, static memories (e.g., static random access memories (SRAMs), antifuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs), etc.

[0153] The baseband circuit 610 may be implemented as, for example, a soldered-in substrate that includes one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to the main circuit board, or a multi-chip module that includes two or more integrated circuits. Various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuit 610 are discussed below with reference to Figure 8 discuss various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuit 610.

[0154] The user interface circuit 650 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 600, or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 600. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., reset buttons), one or more indicators (e.g., light-emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, headphones, 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.

[0155] The radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) 615 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some specific embodiments, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, below Figure 8Antenna array 811), and RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM615 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0156] The memory circuit 620 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 620 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0157] The PMIC 625 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 630 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 600 using a single cable.

[0158] The network controller circuit 635 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 600 via a network interface connector 640, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 635 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 635 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0159] The positioning circuit 645 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcast by a positioning network of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the Global Positioning System (GPS) of the United States, the Global Navigation Satellite System (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., for navigation using the Indian Constellation (NAVIC), the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) of Japan, the Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS) of France, etc.). The positioning circuit 645 includes various hardware components (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating OTA communication such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as nodes of the navigation satellite constellation. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 645 may include a Microtechnology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a primary timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 645 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 610 and / or the RFEM 615 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 645 may also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuit 605, which may use this data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 311, etc.).

[0160] Figure 6 The components shown may communicate with each other using an interface circuit, which 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, e.g., used in an SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as 2 I

[0161] Figure 7 An example of a platform 700 (or “device 700”) is shown according to various embodiments. In an embodiment, the computer platform 700 may be adapted to be used as a UE 301, 401, 501, an application server 330, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 700 may include any combination of the components shown in the example. The components of the platform 700 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof suitable for the computer platform 700, or implemented as components otherwise incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. Figure 7The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 700. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the shown components may occur in other specific implementations.

[0162] Application circuitry 705 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and an LDO, an interrupt controller, a serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or a general-purpose programmable serial interface module, an RTC, timers (including interval timers and watchdog timers), general-purpose I / O, a memory card controller (such as an SD MMC or similar controller), a USB interface, a MIPI interface, and a JTAG test access port, among one or more of them. The processor (or core) of application circuitry 705 may be coupled to or may include memory / storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage elements to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 700. In some embodiments, the memory / storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0163] The processor of application circuitry 605 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multi-threaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 605 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to the various embodiments herein.

[0164] As an example, the processor of application circuitry 705 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM such as, for example, Quark TM 、Atom TM 、i3, i5, i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from a company in Santa Clara, California The processor of application circuitry 705 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) A processor or an accelerated processing unit (APU); from the A5 - A9 processors from Inc., the Snapdragon from TM Technologies, Inc., the Texas Instruments Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP) TM processors; MIPS - based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as MIPS Warrior M - class, Warrior I - class, and Warrior P - class processors; ARM - based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as ARM Cortex - A, Cortex - R, and Cortex - M series processors; etc. In some specific implementations, the application circuitry 705 can be part of a system - on - a - chip (SoC), where the application circuitry 705 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as the Edison from Corporation) or Galileo TM from TM SoC board.

[0165] In addition or alternatively, the application circuitry 705 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more field - programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high - capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuitry 705 can include logic blocks or logic architectures, and other interconnect resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuitry 705 can include memory units (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), antifuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in look - up tables (LUTs), etc.

[0166] The baseband circuitry 710 can be implemented as, for example, a soldered - in substrate that includes one or more integrated circuits, a single - package integrated circuit soldered to the main circuit board, or a multi - chip module that contains two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuitry 710 are discussed below with reference to Figure 8 discussion.

[0167] RFEM 715 may include a millimeter-wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter-wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some embodiments, the one or more sub-millimeter-wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter-wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, antenna array 811 below Figure 8 ), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, the radio functions of both millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 715 that combines millimeter-wave antennas and sub-millimeter-waves.

[0168] The memory circuit 720 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a given amount of system memory. For example, the memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, which includes random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory, which includes high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly known as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 720 may be developed according to Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) low-power double data rate (LPDDR)-based designs such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 720 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a soldered-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 low-power embodiments, the memory circuit 720 may be on-chip memory or registers associated with the application circuit 705. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 720 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may particularly include solid state disk drives (SSDDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), micro HDDs, resistive change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, etc. For example, the computer platform 700 may incorporate and three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0169] The removable memory circuit 723 may include a device, circuit, housing / case, port, or socket, etc. for coupling a portable data storage device to the platform 700. These portable data storage devices can 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 discs, external HDDs, etc.

[0170] The platform 700 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 700. External devices connected to the platform 700 via this interface circuitry include a sensor circuit 721 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 722, as well as a removable memory device coupled to the removable memory circuit 723.

[0171] The sensor circuit 721 includes devices, modules, or subsystems aimed at detecting events or changes in its environment and sending information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, in particular: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or 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 gravimeter; 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.

[0172] The EMC 722 includes devices, modules, or subsystems aimed at enabling the platform 700 to change its state, position, and / or orientation or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, the EMC 722 may be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 700 to indicate the current state of the EMC 722. Examples of the EMC 722 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 700 is configured to operate one or more EMC 722s based on one or more captured events and / or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and / or various clients.

[0173] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 700 to the positioning circuit 745. The positioning circuit 745 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcast by the positioning network of GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include GPS in the United States, GLONASS in Russia, Galileo system in the European Union, Beidou Navigation Satellite System in China, regional navigation systems, or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS in Japan, DORIS in France, etc.). The positioning circuit 745 includes various hardware components (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating OTA communication such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 745 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a primary timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 745 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 610 and / or the RFEM 715 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 745 may also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuit 705, which may use this data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations) for turn-by-turn navigation applications, etc.

[0174] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 700 to the near field communication (NFC) circuit 740. The NFC circuit 740 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, where magnetic field sensing is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 740 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 700 (e.g., "NFC contact points"). The NFC circuit 740 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 740 by executing 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 short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 740, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 740 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smart phone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) near the platform 700.

[0175] The drive circuit 746 may include software elements and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 700. The drive circuit 746 may include individual drivers, thereby allowing other components of the platform 700 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present within or connected to the platform 700. For example, the drive circuit 746 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touchscreen driver for controlling and allowing access to the touchscreen interface of the platform 700, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 721 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 721, an EMC driver for obtaining the actuator position of the EMC 722 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 722, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0176] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725 (also referred to as “power management circuit 725”) may manage the power supplied to various components of the platform 700. Specifically, with respect to the baseband circuit 710, the PMIC 725 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When the platform 700 is capable of being powered by a battery 730, for example, when the device is included in the UE 301, 401, 501, the PMIC 725 is typically included.

[0177] In some embodiments, the PMIC 725 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 700. For example, if the platform 700 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device remains connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic immediately, after a period of inactivity, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 700 may power down for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period, the platform 700 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, where the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The platform 700 enters a very low power state and performs paging, where the device wakes up periodically again to listen for the network and then powers down again. The platform 700 does not receive data while in this state; to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may cause the device to be unable to use the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this period, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and may be completely powered down. Any data sent during this period will incur a significant delay, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0178] The battery 730 can power the platform 700. However, in some examples, the platform 700 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 730 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 730 can be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0179] In some specific implementations, the battery 730 can be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS can be included in the platform 700 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 730. The BMS can be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 730, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery 730 to provide fault prediction. The BMS can transmit information about the battery 730 to the application circuit 705 or other components of the platform 700. The BMS can also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 705 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 730 or the current from the battery 730. Battery parameters can be used to determine actions that the platform 700 can perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0180] A power block or other power source coupled to the power grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 730. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to wirelessly obtain power, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 700. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 730 and thus 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 Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium.

[0181] The user interface circuit 750 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present within or connected to the platform 700 and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable interaction between the user and the platform 700 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to enable interaction between peripheral components and the platform 700. The user interface circuit 750 includes an input device circuit and an output device circuit. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for accepting input, particularly including one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for displaying information or otherwise communicating information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, particularly including 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 a display device or a touchscreen (e.g., liquid crystal display (LCD), LED display, quantum dot display, projector, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the platform 700. The output device circuit may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuit 721 may be used as an input device circuit (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as an output device circuit (e.g., an actuator for providing haptic feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, and the NFC circuit includes 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.

[0182] Although not shown, the components of the platform 700 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, time-triggered protocol (TTP) systems, FlexRay systems, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, for example, used in an SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as an 2 I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0183] Figure 8 Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 810 and a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM) 815 are shown in accordance with various embodiments. The baseband circuit 810 corresponds to Figure 6 the baseband circuit 610 ofFigure 7 The baseband circuit 710. The RFEM 815 corresponds to Figure 6 the RFEM 615 of Figure 7 and the RFEM 715 of

[0184] The baseband circuit 810 includes circuitry and / or control logic configured to perform various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 806. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuit 810 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuit 810 may include convolutional, tail-biting convolutional, turbo, Viterbi, or low density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. Embodiments of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 810 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 806 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 806. The baseband circuit 810 is configured to connect to the application circuitry 605 / 705 (see Figure 6 and Figure 7 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuitry 806. The baseband circuit 810 may process various radio control functions.

[0185] The foregoing circuitry and / or control logic of baseband circuitry 810 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 804A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 804B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 804C, or some other baseband processor 804D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of baseband processors 804A to 804D may be included in modules stored in a memory 804G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 804E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of baseband processors 804A to 804D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in corresponding memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 804G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 804E (or other baseband processor) will cause the CPU 804E (or other baseband processor) to manage the resources of the baseband circuitry 810, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided by Nucleus RTOS provided by Mentor TM ,by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided by TM ,by Mentor Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor, ThreadX provided by Express ThreadX provided by TM ,by FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK), or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. Additionally, the baseband circuitry 810 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 804F. The audio DSP 804F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0186] In some embodiments, each of the processors 804A to 804E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / from the memory 804G. The baseband circuitry 810 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 circuitry 810; for sending data to Figures 6 to 8An application circuit interface for the application circuit 605 / 705 to send data to / receive data from the application circuit; for sending data to Figure 8 The RF circuit interface of the RF circuit 806 to send data to / receive data from the RF circuit; for sending data to / receiving data from one or more wireless hardware components (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low-power components, Components, etc.); and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to the PMIC 725 / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC.

[0187] In an alternative embodiment (which may be combined with the above embodiments), the baseband circuit 810 includes one or more digital baseband systems that are coupled to each other via an interconnect subsystem and coupled to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem, and the interface 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, point-to-point connectors, 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 DSP circuits, buffer memories, program memories, voice processing accelerator circuits, data converter circuits such as analog-to-digital converter circuits and digital-to-analog converter circuits, analog circuits including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 810 may include protocol processing circuitry 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., radio front-end module 815).

[0188] Although Figure 8Not shown, but in some embodiments, baseband circuit 810 includes various processing devices for operating one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuitry") and various processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when baseband circuit 810 and / or RF circuit 806 is part of a millimeter-wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when baseband circuit 810 and / or RF circuit 806 is part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 804G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing the program code and performing various operations using the data. Baseband circuit 810 may also support radio communication for more than one wireless protocol.

[0189] The various hardware elements of baseband circuit 810 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a soldered-in substrate that includes one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module that includes two or more ICs. In one example, the components of baseband circuit 810 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuit 810 and RF circuit 806 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system-on-chip (SoC) or system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuit 810 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to RF circuit 806 (or multiple instances of RF circuit 806). In yet another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuit 810 and application circuit 605 / 705 may be implemented together as separate SoCs mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0190] In some embodiments, baseband circuit 810 may provide communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuit 810 may support communication with E-UTRAN or other WMAN, WLAN, WPAN. Embodiments in which baseband circuit 810 is configured to support radio communication for more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0191] RF circuit 806 may communicate with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuit 806 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuit 806 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry for down-converting an RF signal received from FEM circuit 808 and providing a baseband signal to baseband circuit 810. RF circuit 806 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a baseband signal provided by baseband circuit 810 and providing an RF output signal for transmission to FEM circuit 808.

[0192] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuit 806 may include mixer circuit 806a, amplifier circuit 806b, and filter circuit 806c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuit 806 may include filter circuit 806c and mixer circuit 806a. RF circuit 806 may also include synthesizer circuit 806d for synthesizing the frequencies used by mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert an RF signal received from FEM circuit 808 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 806d. Amplifier circuit 806b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and filter circuit 806c 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 810 for further processing. In some embodiments, although not required, the output baseband signal may be a zero-frequency baseband signal. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0193] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 806d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 808. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 810 and may be filtered by filter circuit 806c.

[0194] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 806a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 806a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0195] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 806 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 810 may include a digital baseband interface for communicating with the RF circuit 806.

[0196] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuit may be provided to process signals of each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0197] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 806d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard since other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 806d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0198] The synthesizer circuit 806d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on a frequency input and a frequency divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 806a of the RF circuit 806. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 806d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0199] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The frequency divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 810 or the application circuit 605 / 705 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the frequency divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 605 / 705.

[0200] The synthesizer circuit 806d of the RF circuit 806 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide an input signal by N or N + 1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to divide the VCO period into Nd equal phase bins, 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 period.

[0201] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 806d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency), and is used with an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) generator and a frequency divider circuit to generate multiple signals having multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the local oscillator frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 806 may include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0202] The FEM circuit 808 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on an RF signal received from the antenna array 811, amplify the received signal, and provide an amplified version of the received signal to the RF circuit 806 for further processing. The FEM circuit 808 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify a transmit signal provided by the RF circuit 806 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 811. In various embodiments, amplification through the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuit 806, only in the FEM circuit 808, or in both the RF circuit 806 and the FEM circuit 808.

[0203] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 808 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operations. The FEM circuit 808 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 808 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 806). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 808 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 806), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 811.

[0204] The antenna array 811 includes one or more antenna elements, each antenna element being 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 810 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which will be amplified and transmitted via an antenna element of the antenna array 811 that includes one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements can be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements can form various arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 811 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 811 may be formed as patches of metal foil in various shapes (e.g., patch antennas), and may be coupled to the RF circuit 806 and / or the FEM circuit 808 using metal transmission lines and the like.

[0205] The processor of the application circuit 605 / 705 and the processor of the baseband circuit 810 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 810 can be used, either alone or in combination, to execute layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 605 / 705 can utilize the data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further execute layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include the RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include the MAC layer, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include the PHY layer of the UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0206] Figure 9 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown. Specifically, Figure 9 An arrangement 900 is included that shows the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. For various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with the 5G / NR system standard and the LTE system standard, Figure 9The following description of, but Figure 9 Some or all aspects of which may also apply to other wireless communication network systems.

[0207] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 900 may also include one or more of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, SDAP 947, RRC 955, and NAS layer 957. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 9 Items 959, 956, 950, 949, 945, 935, 925, and 915 in), and the one or more service access points may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

[0208] PHY 910 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 905, which may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals 905 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 910 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 955). PHY 910 may 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 an embodiment, an instance of PHY 910 may process requests from an instance of MAC 920 via one or more PHY-SAPs 915 and provide indications thereto. According to some embodiments, the requests and indications transmitted via PHY-SAP 915 may include one or more transport channels.

[0209] An instance of MAC 920 may process requests from an instance of RLC 930 via one or more MAC-SAPs 925 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 925 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 920 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplex MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto a TB to be delivered to PHY 910 via a transport channel, demultiplex MAC SDUs from a TB delivered from PHY 910 via a transport channel onto one or more logical channels, multiplex MAC SDUs onto a TB, schedule information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0210] An instance of RLC 930 can process requests from an instance of PDCP 940 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 935 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAP 935 can include one or more RLC channels. RLC 930 can operate in multiple operation modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 930 can perform the transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction via automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs) for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 930 can also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reordering of RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detection of duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discarding of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detection of protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0211] An instance of PDCP 940 can process requests from an instance of RRC 955 and / or an instance of SDAP 947 via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAPs) 945 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 945 can include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 940 can perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain a PDCP sequence number (SN), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs upon lower layer re-establishment, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs upon re-establishment of the lower layer for radio bearers mapped to RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discarding, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0212] Instances of SDAP 947 can process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 949 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via SDAP-SAP 949 can include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 947 can map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and can also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 947 can be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 310 can control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflection mapping or explicit mapping). For reflection mapping, the SDAP 947 of the UE 301 can monitor the QFIs of DL packets of each DRB and can apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP 947 of the UE 301 can map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow that corresponds to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of that DRB. To implement reflection mapping, the NG-RAN 510 can mark DL packets with the QoS flow ID via the Uu interface. Explicit mapping can involve the RRC 955 configuring the SDAP 947 with an explicit mapping rule of QoS flows to DRBs, which can be stored and followed by the SDAP 947. In an implementation, SDAP 947 can be used only in NR implementations and not in LTE implementations.

[0213] The RRC 955 can configure aspects of one or more protocol layers via one or more management service access points (M-SAPs), and the one or more protocol layers can include one or more instances of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, and SDAP 947. In an implementation, an instance of the RRC 955 can process requests from one or more NAS entities 957 via one or more RRC-SAPs 956 and provide indications thereto. The main services and functions of the RRC 955 can include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in the MIB or SIB related to the NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of the RRC connection between the UE 301 and the RAN 310 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, mobility between RATs, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs can include one or more IEs, each of which can include separate data fields or data structures.

[0214] NAS 957 can form the top layer of the control plane between the UE 301 and the AMF 521. NAS 957 can support the mobility and session management procedures of the UE 301 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 301 and the P-GW in the LTE system.

[0215] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 900 can be implemented in the UE 301, the RAN node 311, the AMF 521 in the NR implementation or the MME 421 in the LTE implementation, the UPF 502 in the NR implementation or the S-GW 422 and the P-GW 423 in the LTE implementation, etc., for the control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that can be implemented in one or more of the UE 301, the gNB 311, the AMF 521, etc., can communicate with the corresponding peer protocol entities that can be implemented in another device or on another device (performing such communication using the services of the corresponding lower layer protocol entities). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of the gNB 311 can host the RRC 955, the SDAP 947, and the PDCP 940 that control one or more gNB-DU operations of the gNB, and each gNB-DU of the gNB 311 can host the RLC 930, the MAC 920, and the PHY 910 of the gNB 311.

[0216] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack can include, in order from the top layer to the bottom layer, NAS 957, RRC 955, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910. In this example, the upper layer 960 can be built on top of NAS 957, which includes an IP layer 961, an SCTP 962, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 963.

[0217] In the NR implementation, the AP 963 can be the NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 963 for the NG interface 313 defined between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521, or the AP 963 can be the Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 963 for the Xn interface 312 defined between two or more RAN nodes 311.

[0218] The NG-AP 963 can support the functions of the NG interface 313 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP can be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521. The NG-AP 963 services can include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 301) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 311 and the AMF 521). These services can include functions, including but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 311 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 521 to establish, modify, and / or release the UE context in the AMF 521 and the NG-RAN node 311; a mobility function for the UE 301 in the ECM-CONNECTED mode, for supporting mobility within the system HO in the NG-RAN, and for supporting mobility between systems HO from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transmission function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 301 and the AMF 521; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 521 and the UE 301; an NG interface management function for setting 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 cancel the ongoing broadcast of a warning message; a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 311 via the CN 320; and / or other similar functions.

[0219] The XnAP 963 can support the functions of the Xn interface 312 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures can include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 311 (or the E-UTRAN 410), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transmission procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures can include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 301, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0220] In the LTE specific implementation, the AP 963 can be the S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 963 for the S1 interface 313 defined between the E-UTRAN node 311 and the MME, or the AP 963 can be the X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 963 for the X2 interface 312 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 311.

[0221] The S1 Application Protocol Layer (S1-AP) 963 can support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the previously discussed NG-AP, the S1-AP can include S1-AP EPs. The S1-AP EP can be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 311 and the MME 421 within the LTE CN 320. The S1-AP 963 services can 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.

[0222] The X2AP 963 can support the functions of the X2 interface 312, and can include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures can include procedures for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 320, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transmission procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedures can include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 301, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0223] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 962 can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in an NR implementation, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in an LTE implementation). The SCTP 962 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 311 and the AMF 521 / MME 421, partially based on the IP protocol supported by the IP 961. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 961 can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 961 can use point-to-point transmission to deliver and transfer PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 311 can include communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the L2 and L1 layers of the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0224] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 947, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE 301, RAN node 311, and UPF 502 in an NR implementation, or between the S-GW 422 and P-GW 423 in an LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 951 may be built on top of SDAP 947 and may include the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and IP Security layer (UDP / IP) 952, the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol layer for the user plane (GTP-U) 953, and the user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 963.

[0225] The transport network layer 954 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of IP transport, and GTP-U 953 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 952 (including the UDP layer and the 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 in any one of, for example, IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0226] GTP-U 953 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 user data being transmitted may be packets in any one of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 952 may provide a checksum for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication for selected data flows. The RAN node 311 and S-GW 422 may exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including the L1 layer (e.g., PHY910), L2 layer (e.g., MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, and / or SDAP 947), UDP / IP layer 952, and GTP-U953 using the S1-U interface. The S-GW 422 and P-GW 423 may exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including the L1 layer, L2 layer, UDP / IP layer 952, and GTP-U 953 using the S5 / S8a interface. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of the UE 301 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 301 and the P-GW 423.

[0227] In addition, although Figure 9Not shown, but the application layer may exist above the AP 963 and / or the transport network layer 954. The application layer may be a layer where users of the UE 301, RAN node 311, or other network elements interact with software applications, for example, executed by the application circuit 605 or the application circuit 705, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software applications to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 810) of the UE 301 or the RAN node 311. In some specific embodiments, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functions as those of layers 5 to 7 or parts thereof of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI layer 7 - application layer, OSI layer 6 - presentation layer, and OSI layer 5 - session layer).

[0228] Figure 10 Components of a core network according to various embodiments are shown. The components of the CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment, the components of the CN 520 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as those discussed herein for the components of the CN 420. In some embodiments, NFV is used to virtualize any one or all of the above network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice 1001, and each logical instance of the CN 420 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a part of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1002 (e.g., the network sub-slice 1002 is shown as including the P-GW 423 and the PCRF 426).

[0229] As used herein, terms such as "instantiation" may refer to the creation of an instance, and an "instance" may refer to a specific 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 cases of different IP domains or 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.

[0230] With respect to 5G systems (see, for example, Figure 5) A network slice always includes a RAN part and a CN part. Support for network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for 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 NAS has provided an RRC message, the UE 501 provides assistance 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 eight slices simultaneously.

[0231] A network slice can include the CN 520 control plane and user plane NFs, the NG-RAN 510 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function in the serving PLMN. Each network slice can have a different S-NSSAI and / or can have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by the S-NSSAI. Network slices can be different in terms of supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances can deliver the same service / feature but are different for different groups of UEs 501 (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice can deliver different promised services and / or can be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice can have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with different slice differentiators. Additionally, a single UE can be served simultaneously by one or more network slice instances via the 5G AN and is associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Furthermore, the AMF 521 instance serving a single UE 501 can belong to each network slice instance serving that UE.

[0232] Network slicing in the NG-RAN 510 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN 510 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling including PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 510 supports enabling slices in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., including a set of network functions for each slice) depends on the specific implementation. The NG-RAN510 uses assistance information provided by the UE 501 or the 5GC 520 to select the RAN part of the network slice, and this assistance information explicitly identifies one or more network slices among the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 510 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to the SLA. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN510 can also appropriately apply the appropriate RRM policies for the SLA to each supported slice. The NG-RAN 510 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0233] The NG-RAN 510 may also use UE assistance information to select the AMF 521 (if available) during initial attachment. The NG-RAN 510 uses the assistance information to route the initial NAS to the AMF 521. If the NG-RAN 510 cannot use the assistance information to select the AMF 521, or the UE 501 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 510 sends the NAS signaling to the default AMF 521, which may be in the AMF 521 pool. For subsequent accesses, the UE 501 provides the temporary ID assigned to the UE 501 by the 5GC 520 to enable the NG-RAN 510 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 521, as long as the temporary ID is valid. The NG-RAN 510 knows and can reach the AMF 521 associated with the temporary ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attachment is applied.

[0234] The NG-RAN 510 supports resource isolation between slices. The NG-RAN 510 resource isolation can be achieved by means of RRM policies and protection mechanisms, which should avoid the lack of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some specific implementations, the NG-RAN 510 resources can be fully designated to a certain slice. How the NG-RAN 510 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0235] Some slices may be only partially available in the network. The awareness of the slices supported in its neighboring cells in the NG-RAN 510 can be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in the connected mode. Within the registration area of the UE, the slice availability may not change. The NG-RAN 510 and 5GC 520 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. The permission or rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as the support for the slice, the availability of resources, and the support of the NG-RAN 510 for the requested service.

[0236] The UE 501 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where the UE 501 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 501 attempts to pre-empt the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequencies pre-empted by the UE 501. The 5GC 520 will verify that the UE 501 has the right to access the network slices. Before receiving the initial context setup request message, based on the awareness of the specific slice that the UE 501 is requesting access to, the NG-RAN 510 may be allowed to apply some temporary / local policies. During the initial context setup, the slice that is requesting its resources is notified to the NG-RAN 510.

[0237] The NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware) that include a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0238] Figure 11 FIG. is a block diagram showing components of an NFV-enabled system 1100 according to some exemplary embodiments. The system 1100 is shown to include a VIM 1102, an NFVI 1104, a VNFM 1106, a VNF 1108, an EM 1110, an NFVO 1112, and an NM 1114.

[0239] The VIM 1102 manages the resources of the NFVI 1104. The NFVI 1104 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) for executing the system 1100. The VIM 1102 may utilize the NFVI 1104 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and demolition of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track the performance, faults, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0240] The VNFM 1106 may manage the VNF 1108. The VNF 1108 may be used to execute EPC components / functions. The VNFM 1106 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1108 and track the performance, faults, and security of the virtual aspects of the VNF 1108. The EM 1110 may track the performance, faults, and security of the functional aspects of the VNF 1108. The tracking data from the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 may include, for example, PM data used by the VIM 1102 or the NFVI 1104. Both the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 can scale up / down the number of VNFs of the system 1100.

[0241] The NFVO 1112 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage the resources of the NFVI 1104 in order to provide the requested services (e.g., execute EPC functions, components, or slices). The NM 1114 may provide an end-user function grouping responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (the management of VNFs may occur via the EM 1110).

[0242] Figure 12is 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. Specifically, Figure 12 shows a schematic diagram of hardware resources 1200, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memory / storage devices 1220, and one or more communication resources 1230, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1202 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1200.

[0243] The processor 1210 may include, for example, processors 1212 and 1214. The processor 1210 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0244] The memory / storage device 1220 may include main memory, disk memory, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1220 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid state storage devices, etc.

[0245] The communication resource 1230 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1204 or one or more databases 1206 via a network 1208. For example, the communication resource 1230 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or low power) component, components, and other communication components.

[0246] Instruction 1250 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an application, or other executable code for causing at least any one of processors 1210 to execute any one or more of the method sets discussed herein. Instruction 1250 may reside, in whole or in part, in at least one of processors 1210 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), memory / storage device 1220, or any suitable combination thereof. Additionally, any portion of Instruction 1250 may be transmitted from any combination of peripheral device 1204 or database 1206 to hardware resource 1200. Accordingly, the memory of processor 1210, memory / storage device 1220, peripheral device 1204, and database 1206 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0247] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more of the operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods described in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the following embodiments. As another example, the circuitry associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in connection with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the embodiments shown in the embodiments section below.

[0248] Embodiment

[0249] Embodiment 1 may include the following method: The UE may receive one or more indications in scheduling DCI and / or higher layer signaling or identify, via implicit rules, when to prioritize / use transmission based on grants and not use the configured grant-free resources for transmission, and vice versa.

[0250] Embodiment 2 may include the method according to Embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the DL allocation, or UL grant, or resource configuration for UL configuration may include one or more bit fields, including one or more bits, for a priority indication of transmission using the indicated / configured resources.

[0251] Embodiment 3 includes the method according to Embodiments 1 and 2 or some other embodiment herein, wherein, in the case of power limitations in the scenario of simultaneous UL transmission across multiple ULCCs for a UE configured with UL carrier aggregation, prioritization is further defined for UL transmission across UL component carriers (CCs).

[0252] Embodiment 4 may include a method for semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook construction for a UE capable of and configured to simultaneously receive multiple unicast PDSCHs that may overlap in the time domain.

[0253] Example 5 may include the following method: For a given HARQ-ACK_A in response to a scheduled PDSCH_A, a UE configured with unordered HARQ-ACK for PDSCH may expect no more than one PDSCH with an earlier HARQ-ACK feedback timing compared to the HARQ-ACK_A of the earlier received PDSCH_A.

[0254] Example 6 may include the following method: For a given PUSCH_A scheduled by PDCCH_A, a UE configured with unordered UL scheduling may expect no more than one PUSCH to be scheduled by a PDCCH received after the PDCCH_A, such that the PUSCH will be transmitted before the start of the PUSCH_A.

[0255] Example 7 may include an apparatus that includes means for performing one or more elements of the method described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or any other method or process described herein.

[0256] Example 8 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that include instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the method described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or any other method or process described herein.

[0257] Example 9 may include an apparatus that includes logic, a module, or circuitry for performing one or more elements of the method described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or any other method or process described herein.

[0258] Example 10 may include the method, technique, or process described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or a part or component thereof.

[0259] Example 11 may include an apparatus that includes: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media that include instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, technique, or process described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or a part thereof.

[0260] Example 12 may include a signal as described in any one of Examples 1 to 6 or related thereto, or a part or component thereof.

[0261] Example 13 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0262] Example 14 may include a method of transmitting in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0263] Example 15 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0264] Example 16 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0265] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any one of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific embodiments provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings, or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

[0266] Abbreviation

[0267] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0268] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0269] 4G Fourth Generation

[0270] 5G Fifth Generation

[0271] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0272] ACK Acknowledgment

[0273] AF Application Function

[0274] AM Acknowledged Mode

[0275] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0276] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0277] AN Access Network

[0278] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0279] AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point

[0280] API Application Programming Interface

[0281] APN Access Point Name

[0282] ARP Allocation and Retention Priority

[0283] ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest

[0284] AS Access Stratum

[0285] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation

[0286] AUSF Authentication Server Function

[0287] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0288] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0289] BER Bit Error Rate

[0290] BFD Beam Failure Detection

[0291] BLER Block Error Rate

[0292] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0293] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0294] BSS Business Support System

[0295] BS Base Station

[0296] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0297] BW Bandwidth

[0298] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0299] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0300] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0301] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0302] CBRA Contention-Based Random Access

[0303] CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum

[0304] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0305] CCE Control Channel Element

[0306] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0307] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0308] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0309] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0310] CFRA Contention-Free Random Access

[0311] CG Cell Group

[0312] Cl Cell Identifier

[0313] CID Cell ID (e.g., for positioning methods)

[0314] CIM Common Information Model

[0315] CIR Carrier-to-Interference Ratio

[0316] CK Cipher Key

[0317] CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory

[0318] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alerting Service

[0319] CMD Command

[0320] CMS Cloud Management System

[0321] CO Conditional Optional

[0322] CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point

[0323] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0324] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0325] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point

[0326] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0327] CPE Customer Premises Equipment

[0328] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0329] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0330] CPU CSI Processing Unit, Central Processing Unit

[0331] C / R Command / Response Field Bit

[0332] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0333] CRB Common Resource Block

[0334] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0335] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0336] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0337] CS Circuit Switching

[0338] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0339] CSI Channel State Information

[0340] CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement

[0341] CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal

[0342] CSI-RSRP CSI Reference Signal Received Power

[0343] CSI-RSRQ CSI Reference Signal Received Quality

[0344] CSI-SINR CSI Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio

[0345] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0346] CSMA / CA CSMA with Collision Avoidance

[0347] CSS Common Search Space, Cell-Specific Search Space

[0348] CTS Clear to Send

[0349] CW Codeword

[0350] CWS Contention Window Size

[0351] D2D Device-to-Device

[0352] DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current

[0353] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0354] DF Deployment Preference

[0355] DL Downlink

[0356] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0357] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0358] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0359] DN Data Network

[0360] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0361] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0362] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0363] DSL Domain-Specific Language Digital Subscriber Line

[0364] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0365] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0366] E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network

[0367] E2E End-to-End

[0368] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0369] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0370] ED Energy Detection

[0371] EDGE Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0372] EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function

[0373] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0374] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0375] eLAA Enhanced Licensed-Assisted Access, Enhanced LAA

[0376] EM Element Manager

[0377] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0378] EMS Element Management System

[0379] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0380] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0381] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0382] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0383] EPRE Energy per Resource Element

[0384] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0385] EREG Enhanced REG, Enhanced Resource Element Group

[0386] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0387] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0388] eUICC Embedded UICC, Embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0389] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0390] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0391] EV2X Enhanced V2X

[0392] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0393] F1-C F1 Control Plane Interface

[0394] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0395] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0396] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0397] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0398] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0399] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signaling Channel

[0400] FB Functional Block

[0401] FBI Feedback Information

[0402] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0403] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0404] FDD Frequency Division Duplexing

[0405] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0406] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0407] FE Front End

[0408] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0409] FFS For Further Study

[0410] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0411] feLAA Further Enhanced Licensed-Assisted Access, Further Enhanced LAA

[0412] FN Frame Number

[0413] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0414] FR Frequency Range

[0415] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0416] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0417] GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0418] GLONASS GLObal’naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (English: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0419] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0420] gNB-CU gNB Centralized Unit, Next Generation Node B Centralized Unit

[0421] gNB-DU gNB Distributed Unit, Next Generation Node B Distributed Unit

[0422] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0423] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0424] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Experts Group

[0425] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0426] GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for the User Plane

[0427] GTS Go-to-Sleep Signal (related to WUS)

[0428] GUMMEI Global Unique MME Identifier

[0429] GUTI Global Unique Temporary UE Identity

[0430] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0431] HANDO, HO Handover

[0432] HFN Hyper Frame Number

[0433] HHO Hard Handover

[0434] HLR Home Location Register

[0435] HN Home Network

[0436] HO Handover

[0437] HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0438] HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access

[0439] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0440] HSPA High Speed Packet Access

[0441] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0442] HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access

[0443] HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol

[0444] HTTPS HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL (i.e., port 443))

[0445] l-Block Information Block

[0446] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification

[0447] ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination

[0448] ID Identification, Identifier

[0449] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0450] IE Information Element

[0451] IBE In-Band Emission

[0452] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0453] IEl Information Element Identifier

[0454] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0455] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0456] IF Infrastructure

[0457] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0458] IMC IMS Credentials

[0459] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0460] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0461] IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity

[0462] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0463] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0464] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0465] IoT Internet of Things

[0466] IP Internet Protocol

[0467] IPsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security

[0468] IP-CAN IP Connectivity Access Network

[0469] IP-M IP Multicast

[0470] IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4

[0471] IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6

[0472] IR Infrared

[0473] IS Synchronization

[0474] IRP Integrated Reference Point

[0475] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0476] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0477] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0478] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0479] IWF Interworking Function

[0480] I-WLAN Interworking WLAN

[0481] K Constraint Length of Convolutional Coding, USIM Individual Key

[0482] kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0483] kbps Kilobits per Second

[0484] Kc Cipher Key

[0485] Ki Individual User Authentication Key

[0486] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0487] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0488] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0489] ksps Kilosymbols per Second

[0490] KVM Kernel-based Virtual Machine

[0491] L1 Layer 1 (Physical Layer)

[0492] L1-RSRP Layer 1 Reference Signal Received Power

[0493] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0494] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0495] LAA Licensed-Assisted Access

[0496] LAN Local Area Network

[0497] LBT Listen-Before-Talk

[0498] LCM Life Cycle Management

[0499] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0500] LCS Location Service

[0501] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0502] LI Layer Indicator

[0503] LLC Logical Link Control, Lower Layer Compatibility

[0504] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0505] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0506] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0507] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0508] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0509] LWIP LTE / WLAN Radio Layer Integration with IPsec Tunnels

[0510] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0511] M2M Machine-to-Machine

[0512] MAC Media Access Control (Protocol Layering Context)

[0513] MAC Message Authentication Code (Security / Encryption Context)

[0514] MAC-A MAC for Authentication and Key Agreement (TSG T WG3 Context)

[0515] MAC (TSG T WG3 context) for data integrity of signaling messages

[0516] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0517] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

[0518] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0519] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0520] MCG Master Cell Group

[0521] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0522] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0523] MDAF Management Data Analytics Function

[0524] MDAS Management Data Analytics Service

[0525] MDT Minimization of Drive Tests

[0526] ME Mobile Equipment

[0527] MeNB Master eNB

[0528] MER Message Error Rate

[0529] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0530] MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period

[0531] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0532] MIMO Multiple-Input Multiple-Output

[0533] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0534] MM Mobility Management

[0535] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0536] MN Master Node

[0537] MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originating

[0538] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0539] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0540] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0541] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0542] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0543] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0544] MS Mobile Station

[0545] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0546] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0547] MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information

[0548] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0549] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0550] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0551] MT Mobile Station Terminated, Mobile Terminal

[0552] MTC Machine-Type Communication

[0553] mMTC Massive MTC, Massive Machine-Type Communication

[0554] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0555] MWUS MTC Wake-Up Signal, MTC WUS

[0556] NACK Negative Acknowledgment

[0557] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0558] NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum

[0559] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0560] NEC Network Capability Exposure

[0561] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity

[0562] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0563] NF Network Function

[0564] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0565] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0566] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0567] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0568] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0569] NG Next Generation, Next Generation

[0570] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0571] NM Network Manager

[0572] NMS Network Management System

[0573] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0574] NMIB,N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0575] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0576] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0577] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0578] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0579] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0580] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0581] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0582] NR New Radio, Neighbor Relation

[0583] NRF NF Repository Function

[0584] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0585] NS Network Service

[0586] NSA Non-Standalone Operation Mode

[0587] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0588] NSR Network Service Record

[0589] NSSAI `Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0590] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0591] NSSF Network Slice Selection Function

[0592] NW Network

[0593] NWUS Narrowband Wake-up Signal, Narrowband WUS

[0594] NZP Non-Zero Power

[0595] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0596] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0597] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0598] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0599] OOB Out-of-Band

[0600] OOS Out-of-Sync

[0601] OPEX Operational Expenditure

[0602] OSI Other System Information

[0603] OSS Operation Support System

[0604] OTA Over-the-Air

[0605] PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

[0606] PAR Peak-to-Average Ratio

[0607] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0608] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0609] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0610] PCell Primary Cell

[0611] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity

[0612] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0613] PCF Policy Control Function

[0614] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0615] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0616] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0617] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0618] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0619] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0620] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0621] PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier

[0622] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0623] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0624] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0625] PHY Physical Layer

[0626] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0627] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0628] PM Performance Measurement

[0629] PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0630] PNF Physical Network Function

[0631] PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor

[0632] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0633] POC Push-to-Talk over Cellular

[0634] PP, PTP Point-to-Point

[0635] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0636] PRACH Physical RACH

[0637] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0638] PRG Physical Resource Block Group

[0639] ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Services

[0640] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0641] PRR Packet Receive Radio

[0642] PS Packet Service

[0643] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0644] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0645] Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH)

[0646] Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH)

[0647] Primary SCell (PSCell)

[0648] Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)

[0649] Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)

[0650] Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PT-RS)

[0651] Push-to-Talk (PTT)

[0652] Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)

[0653] Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)

[0654] Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)

[0655] QoS Class Identifier (QCI)

[0656] Quasi-Co-Location (QCL)

[0657] QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier (QFI)

[0658] Quality of Service (QoS)

[0659] Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying (QPSK)

[0660] Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS)

[0661] Random Access RNTI (RA-RNTI)

[0662] Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst (RAB)

[0663] Random Access Channel (RACH)

[0664] Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS)

[0665] Radio Access Network (RAN)

[0666] Random Number (for authentication) (RAND)

[0667] Random Access Response (RAR)

[0668] Radio Access Technology (RAT)

[0669] Routing Area Update (RAU)

[0670] Resource Block, Radio Bearer (RB)

[0671] Radio Resource Block Group

[0672] Resource Element Group

[0673] Release

[0674] Request

[0675] Radio Frequency

[0676] Rank Indicator

[0677] Resource Indicator Value

[0678] Radio Link

[0679] Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer

[0680] RLC AM - RLC Acknowledged Mode

[0681] RLC UM - RLC Unacknowledged Mode

[0682] Radio Link Failure

[0683] Radio Link Monitoring

[0684] Reference Signal for RLM

[0685] Registration Management

[0686] Reference Measurement Channel

[0687] Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0688] Relay Node

[0689] Radio Network Controller

[0690] Radio Network Layer

[0691] Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0692] Robust Header Compression

[0693] Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer

[0694] Radio Resource Management

[0695] Reference Signal

[0696] Reference Signal Received Power

[0697] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0698] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0699] RSU Road Side Unit

[0700] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0701] RTP Real-time Transport Protocol

[0702] RTS Ready to Send

[0703] RTT Round Trip Time

[0704] Rx Receive, Receiver

[0705] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0706] S1-MME S1 for the Control Plane

[0707] S1-U S1 for the User Plane

[0708] S-GW Serving Gateway

[0709] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0710] S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier

[0711] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0712] SAE System Architecture Evolution

[0713] SAP Service Access Point

[0714] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0715] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0716] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0717] SCell Secondary Cell

[0718] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0719] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0720] SCM Security Context Management

[0721] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0722] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0723] SDAP Service Data Adaptive Protocol, Service Data Adaptive Protocol Layer

[0724] SDL Supplementary Downlink

[0725] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0726] SDP Session Description Protocol

[0727] SDSF Structured Data Storage Function

[0728] SDU Service Data Unit

[0729] SEAF Security Anchor Function

[0730] SeNB Secondary eNB

[0731] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0732] SFI Slot Format Indication

[0733] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0734] SFN System Frame Number

[0735] SgNB Secondary gNB

[0736] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0737] S-GW Serving Gateway

[0738] SI System Information

[0739] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0740] SIB System Information Block

[0741] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0742] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0743] SiP System in Package

[0744] SL Side Link

[0745] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0746] SM Session Management

[0747] SMF Session Management Function

[0748] SMS Short Message Service

[0749] SMSF SMS Function

[0750] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0751] SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number

[0752] SoC System on Chip

[0753] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0754] SpCell Special Cell

[0755] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI

[0756] SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling

[0757] SQN Sequence Number

[0758] SR Scheduling Request

[0759] SRB Signaling Radio Bearer

[0760] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0761] SS Synchronization Signal

[0762] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0763] SSBRI SS / PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal Block Resource Indicator

[0764] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0765] SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal-based Reference Signal Received Power

[0766] SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal-based Reference Signal Received Quality

[0767] SS-SINR Synchronization Signal-based Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio

[0768] SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0769] SSSG Search Space Set Group

[0770] SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator

[0771] SST Slice / Service Type

[0772] SU-MIMO Single-User MIMO

[0773] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0774] TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area

[0775] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0776] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0777] TAU Tracking Area Update

[0778] TB Transport Block

[0779] TBS Transport Block Size

[0780] TBD To Be Defined

[0781] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0782] TCP Transmission Control Protocol

[0783] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0784] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0785] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0786] TE Terminal Equipment

[0787] TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier

[0788] TFT Traffic Flow Template

[0789] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0790] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0791] TPC Transmission Power Control

[0792] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0793] TR Technical Report

[0794] TRP,TRxP Transmission and Reception Point

[0795] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0796] TRx Transceiver

[0797] TS Technical Specification, Technical Standard

[0798] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0799] Tx Transmission, Transmitter

[0800] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0801] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0802] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0803] UE User Equipment

[0804] UDM Unified Data Management

[0805] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0806] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0807] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0808] UL Uplink

[0809] UM Unacknowledged Mode

[0810] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0811] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0812] UP User Plane

[0813] UPF User Plane Function

[0814] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0815] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0816] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency

[0817] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0818] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0819] USS UE-Specific Search Space

[0820] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0821] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0822] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0823] V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastructure

[0824] V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian

[0825] V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle

[0826] V2X Vehicle-to-Everything

[0827] VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager

[0828] VL Virtual Link

[0829] VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network

[0830] VM Virtual Machine

[0831] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0832] VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph

[0833] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0834] VNFM VNF Manager

[0835] VoIP Voice over IP, Internet Protocol Voice

[0836] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0837] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0838] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0839] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0840] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0841] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0842] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0843] X2-C X2 Control Plane

[0844] X2-U X2 User Plane

[0845] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0846] XRES Expected User Response

[0847] XOR Exclusive OR

[0848] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0849] ZP Zero Power

[0850] Term

[0851] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and implementations discussed herein.

[0852] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes: hardware components such as electronic circuits, logic circuits, processors (shared, dedicated, or groups thereof) and / or memories (shared, dedicated, or groups thereof) configured to provide the functionality, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable system on chips (SoCs)), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code for performing the functionality of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of the hardware element and the program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0853] 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 on computer-executable instructions such as program code, software modules, and / or functional procedures. The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonymous with the "processor circuit" and may be referred to as the "processor circuit".

[0854] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is 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 buses, I / O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, etc.

[0855] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device of a remote user having radio communication capabilities and capable of describing network resources in a communication network. Additionally, 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. Additionally, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device including a wireless communication interface.

[0856] 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 networked computers, networked hardware, network equipment, network nodes, routers, switches, hubs, bridges, radio network controllers, RAN equipment, RAN nodes, gateways, servers, virtualized VNFs, NFVIs, etc.

[0857] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic device, computing device, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Further, the term "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computing devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0858] As used herein, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computing device or computing system having program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a particular computing resource. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image that will be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing a particular computing resource.

[0859] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components within a computing environment, and / or physical or virtual components within a particular device, such as computing devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor / CPU time and / or processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power, input / output operations, ports or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, network, databases and applications, workload units, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or networking resources provided by physical hardware components. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or networking resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to applications, devices, systems, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computing device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides services and may include computing resources and / or networking resources. System resources may be considered a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services that can be accessed via a server, where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0860] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or a data stream. 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 term that represents the path or medium through which data is transmitted. Additionally, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection for transmitting and receiving information between two devices via a RAT.

[0861] As used herein, terms such as "instantiate" and "instantiation" refer to the creation of an instance. An "instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0862] This document uses the terms "coupled", "communicatively coupled", and their derivatives. 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 can contact each other by means of communication, including via a wire or other interconnect connection, via a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0863] 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.

[0864] The term "SMTC" refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0865] The term "SSB" refers to an SS / PBCH block.

[0866] 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 reestablishment procedure.

[0867] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when reconfiguring using the synchronization process for DC operation.

[0868] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of the special cells of a UE configured with CA.

[0869] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells that includes the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC.

[0870] The term "serving cell" refers to the primary cell for a UE that is not configured with CA / DC and is in RRC_CONNECTED, where there is only one serving cell that includes the primary cell.

[0871] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group that includes the special cell and all secondary cells for a UE that is configured with CA and is in RRC_CONNECTED.

[0872] 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.

[0873] As described above, aspects of the present technology may include collecting and using data that can be obtained from various sources to improve or enhance functionality, for example. The present disclosure anticipates that in some instances, the 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 a user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other identifying or personal information. The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology can be used to benefit the user.

[0874] The present disclosure contemplates 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 readily 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 those legitimate uses. Additionally, such collection / sharing should only occur upon receipt of user informed consent. Further, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to safeguard and secure access to such personal information data and to ensure that others with access to personal information data comply with their privacy policies and procedures. Additionally, such entities may subject themselves to third-party assessments to demonstrate their compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. Further, policies and practices should be adjusted to account for the specific types of personal information data being collected and / or accessed and to applicable laws and standards including the specific considerations of the jurisdiction. For example, in the United States, the collection or acquisition 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. Thus, different privacy practices should be maintained for different types of personal data in each country.

[0875] Notwithstanding the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates embodiments in which users may selectively block the use or access of personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware elements and / or software elements may be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the technology may be configured to allow users to selectively participate in “opt-in” or “opt-out” of the collection of personal information data at any time (e.g., during or after registration for a service). In addition to providing “opt-in” and “opt-out” options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to the access or use of personal information. For example, a user may be notified at the time of downloading an application that their personal information data will be accessed and then reminded again just prior to the personal information data being accessed by the application.

[0876] Further, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use. The risk can be minimized by restricting data collection and deleting data once it is no longer needed. Additionally, 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 the data stored (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 across users), and / or other methods as appropriate.

[0877] Accordingly, 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 the various embodiments may also be implemented without access to such personal information data. That is, the various embodiments of the inventive technology will not fail to operate properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data.

Claims

1. A method for communication in a wireless network, the method comprises: The first signal is received by a user equipment UE, and the first signal includes a duration T of an authorized Physical Uplink Shared Channel PUSCH signal GB , a duration T of a grant-free resource GF and a grant-free resource period P GF ; and transmitting, by the UE, a second signal to one or more radio access networks (RANs) of the wireless network based on an indicator of a priority status, wherein the second signal is an authorized PUSCH signal, wherein the UE determines the indicator of the priority status of the second signal based on the duration of the authorized PUSCH signal and the grant-free resource period.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the second signal using authorized resources based on the indicator of the priority status.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first signal comprises one or more bit fields corresponding to a priority indicator.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the first signal is a downlink (DL) allocation, an uplink (UL) grant, or an authorized resource configuration for UL configuration, and wherein the first signal comprises one or more bit fields corresponding to the priority indicator for transmission via the resources specified by the first signal.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first signal is an authorized resource configuration for UL configuration, wherein the UE is configured for UL carrier aggregation, and wherein the method further comprises the UE prioritizing power allocation for transmission on a primary cell (PCell) over power allocation for transmission on a primary secondary cell (PSCell).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the indicator for scheduling the priority status of the authorization-based PUSCH signal is based on the first signal having T GB ≤T GF or P GF ≤NT GB to determine, where N is an integer greater than zero.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting one or more of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) signal, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) signal, a PUSCH signal, or a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) signal in the second signal.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprises: receiving a plurality of unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCHs) that overlap in time, and performing semi-static hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) codebook multiplexing, the semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook having MN fields, where M represents the number of the plurality of unicast PDSCHs, and N is the number of PDSCH opportunities.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second signal comprises data transmitted by a ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) service.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second signal is an out-of-order (OOO) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback signal associated with physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling or associated with out-of-order (OOO) PUSCH scheduling.

11. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second signal is an emergency hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback signal, and the transmitting comprises reporting the emergency HARQ feedback signal before reporting an earlier non-emergency HARQ feedback signal based on the priority indicator.

12. A user equipment (UE), the UE comprises: a memory that stores one or more configuration instructions; A receiver configured to receive a first signal from a wireless network, the first signal including a duration T of an authorized Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal GB , a duration T of a grant-free resource GF and a grant-free resource period P GF ; A transmitter configured to transmit one or more signals to the wireless network; and A processor coupled to the memory and configured to: Transmit a second signal via one of the transmitter or the receiver based on an indicator of a priority state, wherein the second signal is an authorized-based PUSCH signal, and wherein the indicator of the priority state is determined based on the duration of the authorized-based PUSCH signal and the grant-free resource period.

13. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the transmission comprises using authorized-based resources to transmit the second signal based on the indicator of the priority state.

14. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the first signal comprises one or more bit fields corresponding to a priority indicator.

15. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the second signal is a disordered OOO hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback signal associated with physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling or disordered OOO PUSCH scheduling.

16. The UE according to claim 12, wherein the second signal comprises data transmitted by a ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) service.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to: Receive a first signal, the first signal including a duration T of an authorized Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) signal GB , a duration T of a grant-free resource GF and a grant-free resource period P GF ; and Transmit a second signal based on an indicator of a priority state, wherein the second signal is an authorized-based PUSCH signal, and wherein the indicator of the priority state is determined based on the duration of the authorized-based PUSCH signal and the grant-free resource period.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, wherein the first signal comprises one or more bit fields corresponding to a priority indicator for transmission through resources specified by the first signal.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17, storing instructions executable by one or more processors, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to: Receive multiple unicast physical downlink shared channels (PDSCH) that overlap in time, and Perform semi-static hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgment (HARQ-ACK) codebook multiplexing, the semi-static HARQ-ACK codebook having MN fields, where M represents the number of the multiple unicast PDSCHs, and N is the number of PDSCH occasions.

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