Inter-relay node discovery and measurement

Abstract

During the establishment of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a distributed unit (DU) is configured to transmit a synchronization signal block (SSB) for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. In parallel with the SSB transmission of the DU, user equipment (UE) and IAB mobile terminals can be configured to search for and measure SSBs at specific time instances. In the case of the IAB, the DU and MT configurations are coordinated to allow inter-node SSB measurements to be subject to half-duplex constraints.

Description

[0001] Priority claim

[0002] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. patent application serial number 62 / 816,697, filed on March 11, 2019, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communication networks, such as cellular networks. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to techniques for discovering Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) nodes of a cellular network. Background Art

[0004] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In addition, wireless communication technology has evolved from only voice communication to also include the transmission of data (such as the Internet and multimedia content) to various devices. Summary of the invention

[0005] The present disclosure describes methods and systems for transmitting configurations for synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks to support inter-node discovery and measurement of integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes. These transmission configurations may also be referred to as SSB transmission configurations (STCs) and may include SSB-based measurement timing configurations (SMTCs). In one example, an IAB node may use an SMTC window to notify a user equipment (UE) or another IAB node (e.g., a target node) of the period and timing of SSBs, which the UE or target node should use for cell quality measurements. More specifically, the present disclosure describes methods and systems for STC and SMTC configurations for IAB nodes to support inter-IAB node discovery and measurement.

[0006] The devices, systems, and processes described in this document provide one or more of the following advantages. An IAB node (gNB node) can be used for backhaul operations between two or more nodes without requiring a landline backhaul connection between the two or more nodes. The IAB nodes are configured to communicate with each other while satisfying half-duplex constraints. After the IAB node completes the initialization access phase and establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection to the parent node, the distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node is initialized to an operating mode. The DU is configured to transmit (e.g., during IAB node setup) SSBs for user equipment (UE) cell search and measurement and for mobile terminal (MT) initial cell search. The DU may also be configured to transmit SSBs for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. In addition to the SSB transmission of the DU (e.g., in parallel), the UE and IAB-MT may also be configured to search for and measure SSBs at specific time instances. For example, for IAB, the DU and MT configurations may be coordinated to allow inter-node SSB measurements to be subject to a half-duplex constraint (HDC), which means that the modem cannot receive and transmit data at the same frequency at the same time.

[0007] One or more of the following embodiments may provide one or more of the aforementioned advantages. In a general aspect, a process for operating a base station (BS) includes obtaining configuration data for a source integrated access and backhaul (IAB) logical radio node (gnB) for the base station, the configuration data specifying a timing frame for performing inter-relay gNB discovery and monitoring operations by the IAB gNB for a target IAB gNB in ​​a cluster. The action includes: in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring the source IAB gNB for a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window, the STC window being used for inter-IAB gNB discovery. In some specific implementations, the SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission. The action includes: in response to obtaining the configuration data, for each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster, configuring the source IAB gNB for monitoring the SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) window of the target IAB gNB. The action includes: causing the source IAB gNB to perform SSB transmissions according to the STC window and the SMTC window of each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0008] In some embodiments, the configuration data specifies that an STC window of a source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with a corresponding SMTC window of a target IAB gNB, and that each SMTC window of the source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with any corresponding STC window of the target IAB gNB.

[0009] In some implementations, the STC window and each SMTC window are configured within a period of an SSB window for user equipment (UE) access. In some implementations, the cluster includes three IAB gNBs, including a source IAB gNB and two target IAB gNBs. The two target IAB gNBs are configured using configuration data.

[0010] In some embodiments, the source IAB gNB in ​​the cluster is configured to perform STC in a time-orthogonal manner relative to the target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0011] In some embodiments, the cluster is a first cluster, wherein a second cluster of IAB gNBs is configured using the same configuration data as the configuration data for the first cluster, and the action includes configuring the source IAB gNB to exclude from consideration, within discovery and monitoring operations, signals from IAB gNBs in the second cluster.

[0012] In some implementations, the actions configure the STC window according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period selected from the list: 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, and 1280 ms and the duration selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 subframes. The actions configure the SMTC window according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period selected from the list: 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, and 1280 ms and the duration selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 subframes, and wherein the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0013] In a general aspect, a process for operating a base station (BS) includes configuring a first integrated access and backhaul (IAB) logical radio node (gNB) in a cluster for, during a first period: one synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window, the one STC window being used for inter-IAB gNB discovery. The SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission. The first IAB node is configured for two SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) windows, the two SMTC windows being used for measuring inter-group IAB gNBs of the cluster. The action includes configuring a second IAB gNB in ​​the cluster for: two STC windows, the two STC windows having corresponding periods for inter-IAB discovery. The second gNB is configured for two pairs of SMTC windows, the two pairs of SMTC windows having corresponding periods for measuring IAB gNBs in the cluster. The action includes causing the first IAB gNB to perform SSB transmissions according to the one STC window and the two SMTC windows. The action includes causing the second IAB gNB to perform SSB transmissions according to the two STC windows and the two pairs of SMTC windows.

[0014] In some implementations, the IAB gNB is further configured for two SSB windows, the two SSB windows being used for user equipment (UE) access or initial cell search and having a first period. In some implementations, the first IAB gNB is adjacent to each other gNB in ​​the cluster. In some implementations, in addition to the first IAB gNB, the cluster further includes at least two groups of IAB gNBs. The second IAB gNB is included in a first group of IAB gNBs in the at least two groups of IAB gNBs.

[0015] In some embodiments, for the second IAB gNB, the first STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring IAB gNBs in the second group of IAB gNBs in the two groups of IAB gNBs, and the second STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IAB gNBs.

[0016] In some embodiments, for the second IAB gNB, the first pair of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure the first IAB gNB and the IAB gNBs in the second group of IAB gNBs in the two groups of IAB gNBs, and the second pair of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IAB gNBs.

[0017] In some embodiments, any two IAB gNBs in one of the at least two groups are not adjacent IAB gNBs in the cluster.

[0018] In some implementations, the corresponding period includes the first period and a second period, the second period being associated with a frequency less than the first period.

[0019] In some implementations, the STC window is configured according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period being selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes.

[0020] In some embodiments, the SMTC window is configured according to an indication period and a duration, the period is selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms and the duration is selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes, and the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0021] In a general aspect, a BS may include one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions, the actions comprising: obtaining configuration data for a source integrated access and backhaul (IAB) logical radio node (gNB) of a base station, the configuration data specifying a timing frame for inter-relay gNB discovery and monitoring operations by the IAB gNB for target IAB gNBs in a cluster. The actions include: in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring the source IAB gNB for a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window, the STC window being used for inter-IAB gNB discovery. In some specific implementations, the SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission. The actions include: in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring the source IAB gNB for each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster to monitor an SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) window of the target IAB gNB. The actions include: causing the source IAB gNB to perform SSB transmissions according to the STC window and the SMTC window of each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0022] In some embodiments, the configuration data specifies that an STC window of a source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with a corresponding SMTC window of a target IAB gNB, and that each SMTC window of the source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with any corresponding STC window of the target IAB gNB.

[0023] In some implementations, the STC window and each SMTC window are configured within a period of an SSB window for user equipment (UE) access. In some implementations, the cluster includes three IAB gNBs, including a source IAB gNB and two target IAB gNBs. The two target IAB gNBs are configured using configuration data.

[0024] In some embodiments, the source IAB gNB in ​​the cluster is configured to perform STC in a time-orthogonal manner relative to the target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0025] In some embodiments, the cluster is a first cluster, wherein a second cluster of IAB gNBs is configured using the same configuration data as the configuration data for the first cluster, and the action includes configuring the source IAB gNB to exclude from consideration, within discovery and monitoring operations, signals from IAB gNBs in the second cluster.

[0026] In some implementations, the actions configure the STC window according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period selected from the list: 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, and 1280 ms and the duration selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 subframes. The actions configure the SMTC window according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period selected from the list: 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms, and 1280 ms and the duration selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 subframes, and wherein the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0027] In a general aspect, a BS includes one or more processors and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform actions including: configuring a first integrated access and backhaul (IAB) logical radio node (gNB) in a cluster for, during a first period: one synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window, the one STC window being used for inter-IAB gNB discovery. The SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission. The first IAB node is configured for two SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) windows, the two SMTC windows being used to measure inter-group IAB gNBs of the cluster. The actions include: configuring a second IAB gNB in ​​the cluster for: two STC windows, the two STC windows having corresponding periods for inter-IAB discovery. The second gNB is configured for two pairs of SMTC windows, the two pairs of SMTC windows having corresponding periods for measuring IAB gNBs in the cluster. The actions include: causing the first IAB gNB to perform SSB transmissions according to the one STC window and the two SMTC windows. The action includes: enabling the second IAB gNB to perform SSB transmission according to the two STC windows and the two pairs of SMTC windows.

[0028] In some implementations, the IAB gNB is further configured for two SSB windows, the two SSB windows being used for user equipment (UE) access or initial cell search and having a first period. In some implementations, the first IAB gNB is adjacent to each other gNB in ​​the cluster. In some implementations, in addition to the first IAB gNB, the cluster further includes at least two groups of IAB gNBs. The second IAB gNB is included in a first group of IAB gNBs in the at least two groups of IAB gNBs.

[0029] In some embodiments, for the second IAB gNB, the first STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring IAB gNBs in the second group of IAB gNBs in the two groups of IAB gNBs, and the second STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IAB gNBs.

[0030] In some embodiments, for the second IAB gNB, the first pair of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure the first IAB gNB and the IAB gNBs in the second group of IAB gNBs in the two groups of IAB gNBs, and the second pair of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IAB gNBs.

[0031] In some embodiments, any two IAB gNBs in one of the at least two groups are not adjacent IAB gNBs in the cluster.

[0032] In some implementations, the corresponding period includes the first period and a second period, the second period being associated with a frequency less than the first period.

[0033] In some implementations, the STC window is configured according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period being selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes.

[0034] In some embodiments, the SMTC window is configured according to an indication period and a duration, the period is selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms and the duration is selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes, and the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

[0035] The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the following drawings and detailed description. Other features and advantages will be apparent from the detailed description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0036] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary wireless communication system.

[0037] Figures 2 to 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary architecture of a system including a core network.

[0038] Figure 4is a block diagram illustrating examples of infrastructure equipment that may be included in a base station, a user equipment, or both.

[0039] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary computer platform that may be included in a user device, an application server, or both.

[0040] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary baseband circuitry and radio front end module circuitry.

[0041] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary cellular communications circuitry.

[0042] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary protocol functionality for implementation in a wireless communication device.

[0043] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components of a core network.

[0044] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating a system for performing network function virtualization (NFV).

[0045] Fig.11 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing system for executing executable instructions.

[0046] Fig.12 is a diagram showing an example of an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) network including a cluster of IAB nodes.

[0047] Fig.13 is a diagram showing an exemplary measurement timing configuration for inter-IAB discovery and measurement.

[0048] Fig.14 is a diagram showing an example of an IAB network including an IAB node cluster.

[0049] Fig.15 It is shown Fig.14 Illustration of an exemplary measurement timing configuration for inter-IAB discovery and measurement in an exemplary node cluster of FIG.

[0050] Fig.16 An example of definition of SSB-TC-Access, SSB-TC-InterIAB, and SSB-MTC-InterIAB information elements is shown.

[0051] Fig.17 and Fig.18 An exemplary process of inter-IAB discovery and measurement is shown.

[0052] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] The present disclosure describes methods and systems for transmitting configurations for synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks to support inter-node discovery and measurement of integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes. These transmission configurations may also be referred to as SSB transmission configurations (STCs) and may include SSB-based measurement timing configurations (SMTCs). In one example, an IAB node may use an SMTC window to notify a user equipment (UE) or another IAB node (e.g., a target node) of the period and timing of SSBs, which the UE or target node should use for cell quality measurements. More specifically, the present disclosure describes methods and systems for STC and SMTC configurations for IAB nodes to support inter-IAB node discovery and measurement.

[0054] After the IAB node completes the initialization access phase and establishes a radio resource control (RRC) connection to the parent node, the distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node is initialized to an operating mode. The DU is configured (e.g., during IAB node setup) to transmit SSBs for user equipment (UE) cell search and measurement and for mobile terminal (MT) initial cell search. The DU may also be configured to transmit SSBs for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. In addition to the SSB transmission of the DU (e.g., in parallel), the UE and IAB-MT may also be configured to search for and measure SSBs at specific time instances. For example, for IAB, the DU and MT configurations may be coordinated to allow inter-node SSB measurements to be subject to a half-duplex constraint (HDC), which means that the modem cannot receive and transmit data at the same frequency at the same time.

[0055] The SSB transmission and measurement configuration for inter-node measurements may be determined in a centralized manner. Therefore, the SSB transmission and measurement configuration may be provided by a central unit (CU). Both the IAB node and the IAB donor node are provided with the SSB transmission configuration by means of F1 application protocol interface messages. Generally speaking, for the version 15 SMTC framework, the SSB period may take different values: (5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, 160ms). For the IAB node, the channel conditions are stable. Therefore, it makes sense to allow larger SSB periods of even up to 800ms or even larger times exceeding 1s.

[0056] In general, SSBs for IAB inter-node discovery and measurement can be defined as a framework that uses the features of the Release 15 SMTC framework with some enhancements. Specifically, the maximum number of SMTC windows that can be configured for an IAB node, referred to as max(N RX ), is at least three (3). In some implementations, max(N RX) may be greater than 3. In some implementations, the existing SMTC window configuration may be extended. For example, the system may configure each SMTC window to have its own independent configuration (e.g., period, offset, duration). In addition, the systems and methods described in the present disclosure introduce an SSB transmission configuration (STC) indicating SSB transmission.

[0057] Generally speaking, three exemplary embodiments are described that support extended broadcast channel (BCH) random access channel (RACH) resource configuration to take into account half-duplex constraints. In the first embodiment, the system includes a single STC and multiple SMTC configurations for a small IAB cluster. In this embodiment, the IAB cluster is composed of a small number (e.g., 3 or less) of IAB nodes. At least one IAB node is configured, but typically each IAB node is configured, for an STC window for inter-IAB discovery and measurement. Each IAB node is also configured for multiple SMTC windows, which are used to measure all adjacent IAB nodes in the cluster.

[0058] In a third embodiment, the system includes at least one large IAB cluster configured with multiple STCs and multiple SMTCs. In this embodiment, the IAB cluster is composed of a relatively large number of (e.g., greater than 3) IAB nodes. In some specific implementations, the IAB nodes in the cluster can be divided into several groups. In addition, each IAB node is configured with multiple STCs and SMTCs to support discovery and measurement between IABs within and within a group. Given different channel characteristics, the system can be configured with different periods for the STC / STMCs ​​within and between groups.

[0059] In a third embodiment, the system may include SSB-TC-Access, SSB-TC-InterIAB, and SSB-MTC-InterIAB information elements. In this embodiment, the specific information elements describe: SSB-TC-Access for UE and IAB-MT initial cell search, SSB-TC-InterIAB for inter-IAB discovery / measurement, and SSB-MTC-InterIAB for measuring neighboring IAB nodes.

[0060] system (for example, below regarding Figures 1 to 11 The system described herein can be configured to implement one or more of these embodiments individually or in any combination. Figures 12 to 17 These embodiments are described in more detail.

[0061] Figure 1An exemplary architecture of a system 100 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 100 operating in conjunction with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system standard and the 5th Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR) system standard provided by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (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.), etc.

[0062] like Figure 1 As shown, system 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UE 101"). In this example, UE 101 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine electronic control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.

[0063] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 101 may include an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communication (MTC) to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), ProSe or device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a 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 connectivity to the IoT network.

[0064] UE 101 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to a radio access network (RAN) 110. In an embodiment, RAN 110 may be a next generation RAN or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as an evolved terrestrial universal RAN (UTRAN) or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 110 operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. Multiple UEs 101 utilize connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each connection comprising a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0065] In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 101 may directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 105, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0066] UE 101b is shown configured to access AP 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106," "WLAN 106," "WLAN terminal 106," "WT 106," etc.) via connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 will include Wireless Fidelity. router. In this example, AP 106 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 101b in RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 111a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 101b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 107. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0067] The RAN 110 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 111") that enable connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0068] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splits, such as PDCP splits, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; MAC / PHY splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or "lower PHY" splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 111. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of multiple RAN nodes 111 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, individual RAN nodes 111 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 111 connected to the RAN via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 1 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 4), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to multiple UEs 101 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 3 RAN node of CN 320).

[0069] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 101 (vUE 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0070] Any of the RAN nodes 111 may serve as a termination point for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 101. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 110, 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.

[0071] In an embodiment, UE 101 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 111 over a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0072] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 to the UE 101, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0073] According to various embodiments, UE 101 and RAN node 111 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0074] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0075] LBT is a mechanism for equipment (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, etc.) to sense a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an expected transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0076] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 101, AP 106, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0077] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0078] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require the UE 101 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0079] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to multiple UEs 101. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform multiple UEs 101 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 101b within a cell) may be performed at any one of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any one of the UEs 101. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 101.

[0080] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0081] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0082] RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 112. In embodiments where system 100 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 120 is a Figure 2 220 in the EPC 120), the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 120. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 101 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 101; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0083] When system 100 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 120 is Figure 3In an implementation scheme of the 5GC 320 in the 5GC 120, the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 120. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 101 in connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0084] RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 120. CN 120 may include a plurality of network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of a plurality of UEs 101) connected to CN 120 via RAN 110. The components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, which include components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0085] Generally speaking, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 101 via the EPC 120 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0086] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 120" or the like), and RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an NG interface 113. In an embodiment, NG interface 113 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and AMF. Figure 3 Discussed in more detail, CN 120 is an implementation of 5GC 120.

[0087] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 120", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 120 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 120", etc.), RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an S1 interface 113. In an embodiment, S1 interface 113 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and MME.

[0088] Figure 2 FIG. 2 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 200 including a first CN 220 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 200 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 220 is a Figure 1 In addition, UE 201 may communicate with EPC 220 of CN 120. Figure 1 The UE 101 is the same as or similar to the UE 101, and the E-UTRAN 210 may be Figure 1 The CN 220 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 110 of the mobile station, and may include the RAN node 111 discussed previously. The CN 220 may include an MME 221, an S-GW 222, a P-GW 223, an HSS 224, and an SGSN 225.

[0089] MME 221 may be similar in function to the control plane of a traditional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of UE 201. MME 221 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data stores, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of UE 201, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 201 and MME 221 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in UE 201 and MME 221. An MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of UE 201. The MME 221 may be coupled to the HSS 224 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 225 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 222 via an S11 reference point.

[0090] SGSN 225 may be a node that serves UE 201 by tracking the location of individual UE 201 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 225 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 221; handling of UE 201 time zone functions, as specified by MME 221; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 221 and SGSN 225 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0091] The HSS 224 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 220 may include one or several HSSs 224, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 224 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 224 and the MME 221 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 220 between the HSS 224 and the MME 221.

[0092] The S-GW 222 may terminate the S1 interface 113 ( Figure 2 The S-GW 222 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 222 and the MME 221 may provide a control plane between the MME 221 and the S-GW 222. The S-GW 222 may be coupled to the P-GW 223 via the S5 reference point.

[0093] The P-GW 223 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 230. The P-GW 223 may communicate with the PDN 230 via the IP interface 125 (see, e.g., Figure 1 ) routes data packets between EPC 220 and external networks such as a network including application server 130 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 223 can communicate with the EPC 220 via IP communication interface 125 (see, e.g., Figure 1 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 1 Application server 130 or Figure 2The S5 reference point between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 223 and the S-GW 222. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 222 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 201 and whether the S-GW 222 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 223 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 223 may also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection, such as a PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 223 and the packet data network (PDN) 230 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 223 may be coupled to the PCRF 226 via a Gx reference point.

[0094] PCRF 226 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 220. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 226 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 201. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 201: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 226 may be communicatively coupled to application server 230 via P-GW 223. Application server 230 may signal PCRF 226 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 226 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which function starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 230. The Gx reference point between PCRF 226 and P-GW 223 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 226 to PCEF in P-GW 223. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 230 (or "AF 230") and PCRF 226.

[0095] Figure 3The architecture of a system 300 including a second CN 320 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 300 is shown to include a UE 301, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 101 and UE 201; a (R) AN 310, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 110 and RAN 210, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 111; and a DN 303, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 320. The 5GC 320 may include an AUSF 322; an AMF 321; an SMF 324; an NEF 323; a PCF 326; an NRF 325; an UDM 327; an AF 328; an UPF 302; and an NSSF 329.

[0096] UPF 302 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 303, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 302 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) on the user plane, perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 302 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to data networks. DN 303 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 303 may include or be similar to the application server 130 discussed previously. UPF 302 may interact with SMF 324 via the N4 reference point between SMF 324 and UPF 302.

[0097] AUSF 322 may store data for authentication of UE 301 and handle authentication-related functions. AUSF 322 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. AUSF 322 may communicate with AMF 321 via the N12 reference point between AMF 321 and AUSF 322; and may communicate with UDM 327 via the N13 reference point between UDM 327 and AUSF 322. In addition, AUSF 322 may present an interface based on Nausf services.

[0098] AMF 321 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 301, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 321 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 321 and SMF 324. AMF 321 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 301 and SMF 324, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 321 may also provide a transport mechanism for UE 301 and SMSF ( Figure 3 The AMF 321 may provide transport for SMS messages between the (R)AN 310 and the UE 301 (not shown). The AMF 321 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 322 and the UE 301, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 301 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 321 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 322. The AMF 321 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 321 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321; and the AMF 321 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0099] The AMF 321 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 301 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R) AN 310 and the AMF 321 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 310 and the UPF 302 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 321 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 324 and the AMF 321, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 301 and the AMF 321 via the N1 reference point between the UE 301 and the AMF 321, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 301 and the UPF 302. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 301. The AMF 321 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMFs 321 and the AMF 321 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 3 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0100] UE 301 may need to register with AMF 321 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 301 with the network (e.g., AMF 321) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 321). UE 301 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM DEREGISTERED state, UE 301 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 301, so AMF 321 cannot reach UE 301. In the RM REGISTERED state, UE 301 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 321 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 301, so AMF 321 can reach UE 301. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 301 may perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by expiration of a periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that UE 301 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0101] The AMF 321 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 301, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 321 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 321 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 301 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 321 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0102] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 301 and the AMF 321 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 301 and the CN 320, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 301 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 310) and the AMF 321. The UE 301 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 301 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 301 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 321 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 301. When the UE 301 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 301 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 321 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 310 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 301. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 may cause the UE 301 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 310 and the AMF 321 is released, the UE 301 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0103] SMF 324 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering of UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 301 and a data network (DN) 303 identified by a data network name (DNN). The PDU session may be established upon request by UE 301, modified upon request by UE 301 and 5GC 320, and released upon request by UE 301 and 5GC 320 using NAS SM signaling exchanged between UE 301 and SMF 324 over the N1 reference point. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 320 may trigger a specific application in UE 301. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 301 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 301. The identified applications in UE 301 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 324 may check whether the UE 301 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 301. In this regard, SMF 324 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 324 level subscription data from UDM 327.

[0104] SMF 324 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 324 may be included in the system 300, which may be located between an SMF 324 in a visited network and another SMF 324 in a home network. In addition, SMF 324 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0105] NEF 323 may provide components for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 328), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 323 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 323 may also convert information exchanged with AF 328 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 323 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 323 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on their exposure capabilities. The information may be stored at NEF 323 as structured data or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 323 and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 323 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0106] NRF 325 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information about discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 325 also maintains information about available NF instances and services supported by these instances. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 325 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0107] The PCF 326 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 326 may also implement a FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 327. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AMF 321 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 326 and the AMF 321, which may include the PCF 326 in the visited network and the AMF 321 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 326 may communicate with the AF 328 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 326 and the AF 328; and communicate with the SMF 324 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 326 and the SMF 324. The system 300 and / or the CN 320 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 326 (in the home network) and the PCF 326 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 326 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0108] UDM 327 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 301. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 327 and AMF 321 via an N8 reference point between UDM 327 and AMF. UDM 327 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 3 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 327 and PCF 326, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 323 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 301). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 327, PCF 326 and NEF 323 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 324 via the N10 reference point between UDM 327 and SMF 324. UDM 327 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic discussed previously. In addition, UDM 327 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0109] AF 328 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 320 and AF 328 to provide information to each other via NEF 323, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 301 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 302 near UE 301 and perform traffic steering from UPF 302 to DN 303 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 328. In this way, AF 328 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 328 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 328 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 328 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0110] NSSF 329 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 301. If necessary, NSSF 329 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 329 may also determine a set of AMFs to serve UE 301, or a list of candidate AMFs 321, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 325. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 301 may be triggered by AMF 321, where UE 301 registers by interacting with NSSF 329, which may result in changes to AMF 321. NSSF 329 may interact with AMF 321 via the N22 reference point between AMF 321 and NSSF 329; and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 3 The NSSF 329 may communicate with another NSSF 329 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 329 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0111] As previously discussed, CN 320 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from UE 301 to / from other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers. SMS may also interact with AMF 321 and UDM 327 for notification procedures that UE 301 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 327 when UE 301 is available for SMS).

[0112] CN 120 may also include Figure 3 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 3 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data in or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 3 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0113] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 3These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one embodiment, CN 320 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 221) and an AMF 321, so as to enable interworking between CN 320 and CN 220. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0114] Figure 4 An example of infrastructure equipment 400 according to various embodiments is illustrated. Infrastructure equipment 400 (or "system 400") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 111 and / or AP 106 shown and described previously), an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 400 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0115] System 400 includes: application circuit 405, baseband circuit 410, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 415, memory circuit 420, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 425, power tee circuit 430, network controller circuit 435, network interface connector 440, satellite positioning circuit 445 and user interface 450. In some embodiments, device 400 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations.

[0116] The application circuit 405 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C or a general programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval timer and a watchdog timer, a general input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar product, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 405 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 400. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0117] The processor of the application circuit 405 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 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 405 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processor; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium (TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 400 may not utilize application circuit 405, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0118] In some implementations, the application circuit 405 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 405 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 405 may include a memory unit (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM), an anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0119] Baseband circuit 410 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 6 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 410 are discussed.

[0120] User interface circuitry 450 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with system 400 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with system 400. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0121] The radio front end module (RFEM) 415 may include a millimeter wave (mm-wave) RFEM and one or more sub-mm-wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mm-wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mm-wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Figure 6 Antenna array 611), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 415 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0122] The memory circuit 420 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory such as 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 420 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0123] The PMIC 425 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 430 may provide power extracted from the network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 400 using a single cable.

[0124] The network controller circuit 435 can provide a connection to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection can be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 400 via a network interface connector 440, which can be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 435 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some specific implementations, the network controller circuit 435 may include multiple controllers for providing connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0125] The positioning circuit 445 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the 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 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., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) of Japan, the Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS) of France, etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 445 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 445 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation and timing, which uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 445 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 410 and / or the RFEM 415 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 445 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 405, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 111, etc.), etc.

[0126] Figure 4 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuits that can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0127] Figure 5 An example of a platform 500 (or "device 500") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 500 may be suitable for use as a UE 101, 201, 301, an application server 130, and / or any other element / device discussed in this document. The platform 500 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 500 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 500, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 5The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 500. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0128] The application circuit 505 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of an LDO, an interrupt controller, a serial interface (such as SPI), I2C or a general programmable serial interface module, an RTC, a timer (including an interval timer and a watchdog timer), a general 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. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 505 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500. 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 in this document.

[0129] The processor of the application circuit 405 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments of this document.

[0130] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 505 may include a processor based on Architecture TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of application circuit 505 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 505 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 505 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as company( Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0131] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 505 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 505 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed in this document. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 505 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0132] Baseband circuit 510 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 6 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 510 are discussed.

[0133] The RFEM 515 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Figure 6 Antenna array 611), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0134] The memory circuit 520 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 520 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 520 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 520 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 520 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 505. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 520 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 500 may be combined with a computer obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0135] Removable memory circuitry 523 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 500. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0136] The platform 500 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 500. External devices connected to the platform 500 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 521 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 522, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 523.

[0137] Sensor circuitry 521 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment, and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0138] EMC 522 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable platform 500 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control mechanisms or (sub) systems. In addition, EMC 522 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of platform 500 to indicate the current state of EMC 522. EMC 522 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 500 is configured to operate one or more EMC522 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0139] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 500 to the positioning circuit 545. The positioning circuit 545 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou navigation satellite system, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 545 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 545 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 545 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 410 and / or RFEM 515 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 545 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 505, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures (e.g., radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0140] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 500 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 540. The NFC circuit 540 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 540 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 500. The NFC circuit 540 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 540 by executing an NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 540, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 540 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 500.

[0141] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform 500 to the communication circuitry 560. Although the communication circuitry 560 is shown as being separate from the RFEM 515, these modules may form a single combined module. The communication circuitry 560 is configured to enable the platform 500 to communicate over a cellular network, as described later with respect to FIG. Figure 7 described.

[0142] The driver circuit 546 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 500. The driver circuit 546 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 500 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 500. For example, the driver circuit 546 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 500, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 521 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 521, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 522 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 522, 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.

[0143] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 525 (also referred to as “power management circuit 525”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 500. Specifically, the PMIC 525 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 510. When the platform 500 is capable of being powered by a battery 530, for example, when the device is included in a UE 101, 201, 301, the PMIC 525 may generally be included.

[0144] In some embodiments, the PMIC 525 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 500. For example, if the platform 500 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 500 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 500 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. are performed. The platform 500 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 500 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0145] The battery 530 can power the platform 500, but in some examples, the platform 500 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 530 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 530 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0146] In some implementations, the battery 530 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 500 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 530. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 530, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 530 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 530 to the application circuit 505 or other components of the platform 500. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 505 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 530 or the current from the battery 530. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 500 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0147] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 530. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 500. 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 530 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0148] The user interface circuit 550 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 500, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 500 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 500. The user interface circuit 550 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 500. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 521 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0149] Although not shown, the components of platform 500 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0150] Figure 6 6 and 615. Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 610 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 615 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 610 corresponds to Figure 4 Baseband circuit 410 and Figure 5 Baseband circuit 510. RFEM 615 respectively corresponds to Figure 4 RFEM 415 and Figure 5 RFEM 515. As shown, RFEM 615 may include at least a radio frequency (RF) circuit 606, a front end module (FEM) circuit 608, and an antenna array 611 coupled together as shown.

[0151] The baseband circuit 610 includes circuits and / or control logic components that are configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 606. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 610 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 610 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 610 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 606 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 606. The baseband circuit 610 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 405 / 505 (see Figure 4 and Figure 5 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 606. Baseband circuit 610 may handle various radio control functions.

[0152] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 610 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 604A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 604B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 604C, or some other baseband processors 604D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 604A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 604G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 604E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 604A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with an appropriate bitstream or logic block stored in a corresponding memory unit. In various embodiments, the memory 604G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor), will enable the CPU 604E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 610, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express Provided by ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by OpenKernel (OK) OKL4 provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed in this document. In addition, the baseband circuit 610 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 604F. The audio DSP 604F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0153] In some embodiments, each of processors 604A-604E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from memory 604G. Baseband circuit 610 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 610; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 4 to XAn application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 405 / 505 of T; Figure 6 RF circuit 606 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 525.

[0154] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 610 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem and the interface subsystem via an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure and / or some other suitable bus or interconnection technology, such as those discussed in this document. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 610 may include a protocol processing circuit with one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 615).

[0155] although Figure 6Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 610 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 610 and / or the RF circuit 606 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 610 and / or the RF circuit 606 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 604G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 610 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0156] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 610 discussed in this document may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the RF circuit 606 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 606 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 606). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the application circuit 405 / 505 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0157] In some embodiments, baseband circuit 610 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuit 610 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMAN, WLAN, WPAN. Embodiments in which baseband circuit 610 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0158] RF circuit 606 can communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 606 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 606 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 608 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 610. RF circuit 606 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 610 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 608.

[0159] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 606 includes a mixer circuit 606a, an amplifier circuit 606b, and a filter circuit 606c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 606 may include a filter circuit 606c and a mixer circuit 606a. The RF circuit 606 may also include a synthesizer circuit 606d for synthesizing the frequency used by the mixer circuit 606a for the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 606d. The amplifier circuit 606b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 606c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 610 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0160] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 606d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 608. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 610 and may be filtered by filter circuit 606c.

[0161] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0162] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 606 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 610 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 606.

[0163] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0164] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0165] Synthesizer circuit 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 606a of RF circuit 606. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0166] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 610 or the application circuit 405 / 505 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 405 / 505.

[0167] The synthesizer circuit 606d of the RF circuit 606 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0168] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 606d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 606 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0169] FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 611, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in antenna array 611. In various embodiments, amplification by either the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be accomplished only in RF circuitry 606, only in FEM circuitry 608, or in both RF circuitry 606 and FEM circuitry 608.

[0170] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 608 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 608 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 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 606), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 611.

[0171] The antenna array 611 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 610 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 611 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed in this document. The antenna array 611 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 611 may be formed as a patch of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., a patch antenna) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 606 and / or the FEM circuit 608 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0172] The processor of the application circuit 405 / 505 and the processor of the baseband circuit 610 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 610 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 405 / 505 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned in this document, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned in this document, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned in this document, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0173] Figure 7 An exemplary block diagram of a cellular communication circuit 560 is shown. Note that Figure 7The block diagram of the cellular communication circuit 560 is an example of a cellular communication circuit, but other configurations are possible. In some specific implementations, the cellular communication circuit 560 may be included in a communication device such as the platform 500 described above. As described above, the platform 500 may be a UE device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook or portable computing device), a tablet computer, a wireless sensor, a monitoring equipment or a wearable device, and / or a combination thereof, among other devices.

[0174] Cellular communication circuitry 560 may be (eg, communicatively, directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as (eg, Figure 6 In some implementations, the cellular communication circuit 560 includes or is communicatively coupled to dedicated receive chains, processors, or radio components for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 7 As shown, cellular communication circuitry 560 may include modem 710 and modem 720. Modem 710 may be configured to communicate according to a first RAT, such as, for example, LTE or LTE-A, and modem 720 may be configured to communicate according to a second RAT, such as, for example, 5G NR.

[0175] The modem 710 includes one or more processors 712 and a memory 716 in communication with the processor 712. The modem 710 communicates with a radio frequency front end module 515a (e.g., RFEM 515). The RFEM 515a may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 730 includes a receiving circuit (RX) 732 and a transmitting circuit (TX) 734. In some implementations, the receiving circuit 732 communicates with a downlink (DL) front end 750, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via the antenna 611a.

[0176] Similarly, the modem 720 includes one or more processors 722 and a memory 726 in communication with the processor 722. The modem 720 communicates with the RFEM 515b. The RFEM 515b may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 740 may include a receiving circuit 742 and a transmitting circuit 744. In some specific implementations, the receiving circuit 742 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 760, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via the antenna 611b.

[0177] The modem 710 may include hardware and software components for implementing the above-described features or for time-division multiplexing UL data for NSA NR operations and various other techniques described in this document. The processor 712 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described in this document, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 712 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 730, 732, 734, 750, 770, 772, and 611, the processor 712 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described in this document.

[0178] The processor 712 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, the processor 712 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 712. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the processor 712.

[0179] The modem 720 may include hardware and software components for implementing the above features or for time division multiplexing UL data for NSA NR operation and various other technologies described in this document. The processor 722 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described in this document, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 722 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 740, 742, 744, 750, 770, 772, and 611, the processor 722 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described in this document.

[0180] In addition, the processor 722 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, the processor 722 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 722. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the processor 722.

[0181] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary protocol functions for implementation in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. Specifically, Figure 8An arrangement 800 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Figure 8 The following description, but Figure 8 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0182] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 800 may also include one or more of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, SDAP 847, RRC 855, and NAS layer 857. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 8 Items 859, 856, 850, 849, 845, 835, 825 and 815).

[0183] PHY 810 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 805, which can be received or transmitted from one or more other communication devices to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 805 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed in this document. PHY 810 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 855). PHY 810 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 810 may process a request from an instance of MAC 820 via one or more PHY-SAP 815 and provide an indication thereof. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 815 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0184] An instance of MAC 820 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of RLC 830 via one or more MAC-SAPs 825. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 825 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 820 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 810 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 810 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0185] An instance of RLC 830 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 840 and provide indications thereto via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 835. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 835 may include one or more logical channels. RLC 830 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 830 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 830 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0186] An instance of PDCP 840 may process requests from an instance of RRC 855 and / or an instance of SDAP 847 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 845 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 845 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 840 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layers when reestablishing lower layer SDUs for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0187] An instance of SDAP 847 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities and provide indications thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 849. These requests and indications transmitted via SDAP-SAPs 849 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 847 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 847 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 110 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 847 of UE 101 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 847 of UE 101 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement reflective mapping, NG-RAN 310 may mark DL packets with QoS flow IDs through an interface. Explicit mapping may involve RRC 855 configuring SDAP 847 with explicit mapping rules for QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by SDAP 847. In an embodiment, SDAP 847 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0188] The RRC 855 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, and SDAP 847, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 855 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 857 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 856. The main services and functions of the RRC 855 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 101 and the RAN 110 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0189] NAS 857 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 101 and AMF 321. NAS 857 may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 101 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0190] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 800 may be implemented in UE 101, RAN node 111, AMF 321 in NR implementation or MME 221 in LTE implementation, UPF 302 in NR implementation or S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101, gNB 111, AMF 321, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 111 may host the gNB's RRC 855, SDAP 847, and PDCP 840 that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 111 may each host the RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 of gNB 111.

[0191] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 857, RRC 855, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810. In this example, an upper layer 860 may be built on top of NAS 857, which includes an IP layer 861, SCTP 862, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 863.

[0192] In a NR specific implementation, AP 863 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 863 for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321, or AP 863 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 863 for the Xn interface 112 defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

[0193] The NG-AP 863 may support the functionality of the NG interface 113 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321. The NG-AP 863 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF 321). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 111 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 321 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 321 and the NG-RAN node 111; a mobility function for the UE 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 101 and the AMF 321; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 321 and the UE 101; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors over the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transmit a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 101 and the AMF 321; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 321 and the UE 101; a ... 120 A configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 111; and / or other similar functions.

[0194] The XnAP 863 may support the functions of the Xn interface 112 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN 210), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0195] In an LTE specific implementation, AP 863 can be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 for the S1 interface 113 defined between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME, or AP 863 can be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 863 for the X2 interface 112 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

[0196] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME 221 within the LTE CN 120. The S1-AP 863 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0197] The X2AP 863 may support the functions of the X2 interface 112 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 120, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 101, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0198] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 862 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 862 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF 321 / MME 221 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 861. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 861 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 861 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 111 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0199] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 847, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 101, RAN node 111, and UPF 302 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 222 and P-GW 223 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 851 may be built on top of SDAP 847 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 852, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol layer (GTP-U) 853 for the user plane, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 863.

[0200] The transport network layer 854 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 853 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 852 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0201] GTP-U 853 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data may be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6 or PPP formats. UDP / IP 852 may provide a checksum for data integrity, a port number for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW 222 may exchange user plane data using an S1-U interface via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 810), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840 and / or SDAP 847), a UDP / IP layer 852, and a GTP-U 853. The S-GW 222 and the P-GW 223 may exchange user plane data using an S5 / S8a interface via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 852, and a GTP-U 853. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility of UE 101 and session management procedures to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW 223 .

[0202] In addition, despite Figure 8Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 863 and / or transport network layer 854. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 101, RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuitry 405 or the application circuitry 505, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system of the UE 101 or RAN node 111, such as the baseband circuitry 610. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide functionality that is the same or similar to layers 5 to 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0203] Fig. 9 Components of a core network according to various embodiments are shown. The components of CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment, the components of CN 320 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed in this document regarding the components of CN 220. In some embodiments, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice 901, and each logical instance of CN 220 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 902 (e.g., a network sub-slice 902 is shown as including a P-GW 223 and a PCRF 226).

[0204] As used in this document, the terms "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in different IP domains or in the case of overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network function (NF) instances and the resources (e.g., computing, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy a network slice.

[0205] Regarding 5G systems (see e.g. Figure 3), 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 NAS provides an RRC message, UE 301 provides auxiliary information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message. Although the network can support a large number of slices, the UE does not need to support more than 8 slices at the same time.

[0206] The network slice may include the CN 320 control plane and user plane NF, the NG-RAN 310 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function in the serving PLMN. Each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI and / or may have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by the S-NSSAI. The network slice may be different for supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same one or more services, but different for different groups of UE 301 (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice may deliver different committed services and / or may be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with a different slice differentiator. In addition, a single UE may be served simultaneously by one or more network slice instances via a 5G AN and be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. In addition, an AMF 321 instance serving a single UE 301 may belong to each network slice instance serving the UE.

[0207] Network slicing in NG-RAN 310 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in NG-RAN 310 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling including PDU session resource information. How NG-RAN 310 supports enabling slices in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., a set of network functions including each slice) depends on the specific implementation. NG-RAN310 selects the RAN part of the network slice using auxiliary information provided by UE 301 or 5GC 320, which explicitly identifies one or more network slices in the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. NG-RAN 310 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to SLA. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and NG-RAN310 can also appropriately apply appropriate RRM policies for SLA to each supported slice. NG-RAN 310 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0208] The NG-RAN 310 may also use the UE assistance information to select an AMF 321 during the initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN 310 routes the initial NAS to the AMF 321 using the assistance information. If the NG-RAN 310 cannot select an AMF 321 using the assistance information, or the UE 301 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 310 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF 321, which may be in the AMF 321 pool. For subsequent access, the UE 301 provides a temporary ID assigned to the UE 301 by the 5GC 320 to enable the NG-RAN 310 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 321, as long as the temporary ID is valid. The NG-RAN 310 knows and can reach the AMF 321 associated with the temporary ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

[0209] The NG-RAN 310 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 310 resource isolation can be achieved through RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid starvation of shared resources in the case where one slice disrupts the service level agreement of another slice. In some implementations, NG-RAN 310 resources can be fully assigned to a slice. How the NG-RAN 310 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0210] Some slices may be only partially available in the network. The NG-RAN 310 is aware of slices supported in its neighboring cells that may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the registration area of ​​the UE. The NG-RAN 310 and 5GC 320 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. Granting or denying access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, and support of the requested service by the NG-RAN 310.

[0211] UE 301 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where UE 301 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained and for intra-frequency cell reselection, UE 301 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities may be used to control the frequency that UE 301 camps on. 5GC 320 will verify that UE 301 has the right to access the network slice. Knowing the specific slice that UE 301 is requesting access to may allow NG-RAN 310 to apply some temporary / local policies before receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message. During the Initial Context Setup, NG-RAN 310 is informed of the slice whose resources are being requested.

[0212] NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources including a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0213] Fig.10 1000 is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system 1000 according to some exemplary embodiments. System 1000 is shown to include VIM 1002, NFVI 1004, VNFM 1006, VNF 1008, EM 1010, NFVO 1012, and NM 1014.

[0214] The VIM 1002 manages resources of the NFVI 1004. The NFVI 1004 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including a hypervisor) for executing the system 1000. The VIM 1002 may utilize the NFVI 1004 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, failures, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0215] The VNFM 1006 may manage the VNF 1008. The VNF 1008 may be used to perform EPC components / functions. The VNFM 1006 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1008 and track the performance, failures, and security of the virtual aspects of the VNF 1008. The EM 1010 may track the performance, failures, and security of the functional aspects of the VNF 1008. The tracking data from the VNFM 1006 and the EM 1010 may include, for example, PM data used by the VIM 1002 or the NFVI 1004. The VNFM 1006 and the EM 1010 may both scale up / down the number of VNFs of the system 1000.

[0216] The NFVO 1012 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage the resources of the NFVI 1004 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1014 may provide an end-user functional package responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM 1010).

[0217] Fig.11is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed in this document according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.11 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1100 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1110, one or more memory / storage devices 1120, and one or more communication resources 1130, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1140. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1102 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1100.

[0218] Processor 1110 may include, for example, processor 1112 and processor 1114. Processor 1110 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed in this document), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0219] The memory / storage device 1120 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1120 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0220] The communication resources 1130 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1104 or one or more databases 1106 via the network 1108. For example, the communication resources 1130 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0221] The instructions 1150 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1110 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed in this document. The instructions 1150 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 1110 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1120, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1150 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1100 from any combination of the peripheral device 1104 or the database 1106. Therefore, the memory of the processor 1110, the memory / storage device 1120, the peripheral device 1104, and the database 1106 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0222] In general, as used in this document, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functionality, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0223] As used in this document, the term "processor circuitry" means, is part of, or includes circuitry that is capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The terms "application circuitry" and / or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuitry" and may be referred to as "processor circuitry."

[0224] As used in this document, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0225] As used in this document, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0226] As used in this document, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0227] As used in this document, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0228] As used in this document, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0229] As used in this document, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time and / or processor / CPU usage, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services that can be accessed through a server, where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0230] As used in this document, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used in this document refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information over a RAT.

[0231] As used in this document, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0232] 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 may be in contact with each other by means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0233] 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. The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0234] The term "SSB" refers to a SS / PBCH block. The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, in which a UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection reestablishment procedure. The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when performing reconfiguration using a synchronization process for DC operation. The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA. The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells. The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE that is not configured with CA / DC in RRC_CONNECTED, in which there is only one serving cell including the primary cell. The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group including a special cell for a UE configured with CA and in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells. The term "special cell" refers to a PCell of an MCG or a PSCell of an SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to a Pcell.

[0235] Figures 12 to 16 Shows Figures 1 to 11 The exemplary embodiments of the systems are configured to support extended BCH RACH resource configuration for inter-relay node discovery and measurement. More specifically, as Figures 12 to 16 Shows the previous Figures 1 to 11 Examples of systems described are configured for STC and SMTC configuration of IAB nodes to support inter-IAB node discovery and measurement.

[0236] Go to Fig.12 , a diagram illustrating an example of an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network 1200 including IAB node clusters 1202 and 1204 is shown. In the IAB network 1200, the IAB clusters 1202 and 1204 each include a number of geographically densely deployed IAB nodes. For example, the IAB cluster 1202 is composed of nodes 1202a, 1202b, and 1202c. For example, the IAB cluster 1204 is composed of nodes 1204a, 1204b, and 1204c. Generally speaking, the clusters 1202 and 1204 are distributed at a considerable distance from each other. For example, Fig.12The distance D1 shown represents a very long distance (e.g., several miles or hundreds of miles) relative to the distance between two or more nodes in each cluster 1202, 1204. For example, the distance between nodes 1202a, 1202b, and 1202c is negligible relative to the distance D1. Similarly, the distance between nodes 1204a, 1204b, and 1204c is negligible relative to the distance D1.

[0237] In general, each IAB node 1202a-c and 1204a-c is configured to discover and measure other IAB nodes in the same cluster. More specifically, each node in nodes 1202a and 1204a is configured to discover and measure nodes 1202b-c and nodes 1204b-c, respectively. The remaining nodes in each cluster 1202 and 1204 operate in a similar manner. In general, each node 1202a-c does not need to measure IAB nodes from other clusters such as 1204. Similarly, each node 1204a-c does not need to measure IAB nodes from other clusters such as 1202.

[0238] Fig.13 It shows that Fig.12 1304 and 1306. A timing diagram of an exemplary measurement timing configuration 1300 for inter-IAB discovery and measurement of clusters 1202 and 1204 of FIG. 1305. Specifically, three timelines are shown. Timeline 1302 represents the activities of node 1202a in cluster 1202 and node 1204a in cluster 1204. Timeline 1304 represents the activities of node 1202b in cluster 1202 and node 1204b in cluster 1204. Timeline 1306 represents the activities of node 1202c in cluster 1202 and node 1204c in cluster 1204. Timelines 1302, 1304, and 1306 are shown as being parallel to each other. In other words, the boxes aligned with each other on timelines 1302, 1304, and 1306 represent activities that are performed simultaneously or nearly simultaneously. Box 1308 represents the SSB for access / sub-BH links. Box 1310 represents the STC for inter-IAB node discovery / measurement. Block 1312 represents SMTC for Inter-IAB Node Discovery / Measurement.

[0239] In general, each IAB node 1202a-c and 1204a-c is configured with a single STC and multiple SMTC configurations for inter-IAB discovery and measurement. In addition, each node 1202a-c and 1204a-c is configured with an SSB configuration for UE initial access. Specifically, in the IAB cluster 1202, for each of the IAB nodes 1202a-c, there is the following description of Fig.16 The STB-TCs of the described format are time orthogonal so that they can be detected by each other. In other words, Fig.13 The blocks 1310 of FIG. 13 are staggered such that each node 1202 a - c and 1204 a - c in clusters 1202 and 1204 is configured for STCs at different time periods along timelines 1302 , 1304 , and 1306 .

[0240] Generally speaking, the two nodes in the cluster 1202, 1204 are configured to have a subsequent Fig.16 Configuring the nodes as SSB-MTC enables a given IAB node 1202a in cluster 1202 to detect two other IAB nodes 1202b-c in the same cluster. The previously described system may configure cluster 1204 in a manner similar to cluster 1202. Because the two IAB clusters 1202 and 1204 are at a relatively large distance D1 from each other, the SSB-STC and SSB-MTC used for IAB nodes 1202a-c may be reused for IAB nodes 1204a-c. Generally speaking, the period of SSB-TC and SSB-MTC used for inter-IAB node measurements is greater than the period of SSB used for UE initial cell search.

[0241] Clusters 1202 and 1204 may be configured according to one or more of the following embodiments. In one example, a system (such as Figures 1 to 11 The system described herein may be configured to organize, operate within, or communicate with one or more IAB clusters, wherein each IAB cluster includes a plurality of geographically densely deployed IAB nodes and may be separated from other IAB clusters by significant distances (such as miles, hundreds of miles, or thousands of miles). In one example, the system may configure an IAB node in a first IAB cluster (e.g., node 1202a in cluster 1202). Node 1202a may be configured to perform discovery and / or measurement operations to discover and / or measure signals from one or more other IAB nodes (e.g., nodes 1202b-c) in the first IAB cluster 1202. Generally speaking, the system may configure the first IAB node 1202a to limit the performance of the discovery and / or measurement operations to discover and / or measure signals only from other IAB nodes 1202b-c in the first IAB cluster 1202.

[0242] In some implementations, the system configures the IAB nodes in the first IAB cluster of the plurality of IAB clusters to perform discovery / measurement operations relative to the IAB nodes in the first IAB cluster, and excludes from consideration within the discovery / measurement operations signals from IAB nodes in the IAB clusters other than the first IAB cluster. In some implementations, the system configures the node 1202a or any other IAB node (or each IAB node) in the IAB network to discover and measure IAB nodes only in the same cluster. In other words, the IAB node does not need to be configured to measure other IAB nodes from different clusters (such as cluster 1204).

[0243] In some implementations, nodes 1202a-c may be configured by the system to perform STC / SMTC, such as Fig.13 Generally speaking, the system is configured to, in addition to the SSB configuration for UE initial access, also configure the IAB node with a single STC and multiple SMTC configurations for inter-IAB discovery and measurement.

[0244] In some specific implementations, Fig.13 The cluster 1202 is configured with timelines 1302, 1304, and 1306, and the nodes 1202a-c have subsequent Fig.16 The STB-TC of the described format is time orthogonal so that nodes 1202a-c can detect each other. Fig.12 Any other node) may be configured with IE, as described later in Fig.16 described.

[0245] In some implementations, the nodes 1202a-c or 1204a-c in the cluster 1202 and / or 1204 are Figures 1 to 11 The system configuration includes Fig.16 The system is configured to enable an IAB node to detect two other IAB nodes in the same cluster. Generally speaking, given the distance D1 between the clusters, the SSB-STC and SSB-MTC for the IAB nodes in the IAB cluster 1202 can be reused for the IAB nodes in the IAB cluster 1204. Generally speaking, for these nodes 1202a-c, the system configures the period of the SSB-TC and SSB-MTC for inter-IAB node measurements to be greater than the period of the SSB used for the UE initial cell search.

[0246] Fig.141402-af is a diagram showing an example of an IAB network 1400 including an IAB node cluster 1402. In the IAB network 1400, an IAB cluster 1404 includes a relatively large number of IAB nodes (e.g., 7 IAB nodes). However, the number of nodes may vary and is generally greater than 3. The IAB nodes in the cluster 1402 may include nodes 1402a, 1402b, 1402c, 1402d, 1402e, 1402f, and 1402g (hereinafter referred to as 1402a-g). In this particular configuration of the cluster 1402, the node 1402g is located at the center of the cluster. The node 1402g is close to all other IAB nodes 1402-af in the cluster 1402. Therefore, this is conducive to the IAB node 1402g measuring all other IAB nodes 1402a-f in a relatively more frequent manner than other nodes 1402a-f measuring each other.

[0247] Generally speaking, the IAB nodes 1402a-f in the outer layer of the cluster 1402 can be divided into two groups (represented as different patterns). In the cluster 1402, the IAB nodes 1402a, 1402c and 1402e are in the first group, and the IAB nodes 1402b, 1402d and 1402f are in the second group. Each node 1402a, 1402c and 1402e in the first group has two adjacent nodes in the second group. The distances of all nodes in the group are relatively farther from each other than the distances of each node in the group with adjacent nodes from other groups. Therefore, the system configures the inter-group IAB node measurement to be performed more frequently than the measurement performed for the intra-group IAB node measurement.

[0248] Fig.15 A timing diagram 1500 is shown, which includes Fig.14 1402e (with respect to example IAB node cluster 1402). Fig.14 The timeline 1506 shows the actions of nodes 1402b, 1402d and 1402f (about Fig.14 1402c and 1402d. Timeline 1512 represents the actions of nodes 1402e and 1402f.

[0249] Each of the timelines 1502, 1504, 1506, 1508, 1510, and 1512 is represented as being parallel to one another, so that the actions represented by the boxes aligned vertically on the timeline represent that these actions are performed simultaneously or nearly simultaneously. Box 1514 on the timeline represents the SSB for access / sub-BH links. Box 1516 on the timeline represents the STC for near-IAB node discovery and / or measurement. Box 1518 on the timeline represents the STC for far-IAB node discovery and / or measurement. Box 1520 on the timeline represents the SMTC for near-IAB node discovery and / or measurement. Box 1522 represents the SMTC for far-IAB node discovery and / or measurement.

[0250] The SSB-TC and SSB-MTC configurations of each IAB node are described as follows. For node 1402g, the system configures the node for one SSB configuration with a period T1 for UE or IAB-MT initial cell search. Node 1402g is configured for one SSB-TC configuration with a period T2 for inter-IAB discovery / measurement. The node is configured for two SSB-MTC configurations, namely SSB-MTC#1 and SSB-MTC#2, which have a period T2 for measuring inter-group IAB nodes in the cluster. In this example, node 1402g includes SSB-MTC#1 for measuring nodes 1402a, 1402c, and 1402e (group 1). Similarly, node 1402g includes SSB-MTC#2 for measuring nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402f (group 2).

[0251] In addition, node 1402a is configured by the system, and node 1402a (and other nodes in group 1) includes an SSB configuration with a period T1 for UE or IAB-MT initial cell search. Node 1402a (and / or nodes 1402c and 1402e) includes two SSB-TC configurations with different periods for inter-IAB discovery and / or measurement. Node 1402a (and / or nodes 1402c and 1402e) includes SSB-TC#1 (red) with a period T2 for inter-group IAB discovery and / or measurement (i.e., nodes 1402b, 1402d, 1402f, and 1402g). Node 1402a (and / or nodes 1402c and 1402e) includes SSB-TC#2 with a period T3 for intra-group IAB discovery and / or measurement (i.e., other nodes in group 1). For node 1402a, this includes nodes 1402c and 1402e, as described above. Node 1402a includes two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations with different periods for measuring IAB nodes in cluster 1402. In this example, the first pair of SSB-MTC has a period of T2. SSB-MTC #1 is used to measure node 1402g, and SSB-MTC #2 is used to measure nodes in group 2, which includes nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402f. Node 1402a includes a second pair of SSB-MTCs within the group with a period of T3. Here, SSB-MTC #3 is used to measure node 1402c, and SSB-MTC #4 is used to measure 1402e.

[0252] Generally speaking, the other nodes, i.e., nodes 1402b-f, have similar configurations as node 1402a. For example, the inter-group and intra-group configurations are similar to those of 1402a, but are staggered on timelines 1502, 1504, 1506, 1508, 1510, and 1512 so that duplex constraints are satisfied.

[0253] The configuration of nodes 1402a-g, such as Figure 14 to Figure 15 The process may include organizing, operating within, or communicating with an IAB cluster, the IAB cluster including a plurality of IAB nodes, wherein the plurality is, for example, seven. In some implementations, the plurality may include information about Figure 14 to Figure 15The nodes 1402a-g described. Generally speaking, the node 1402g is at the center of the IAB cluster 1402 and is close to (e.g., adjacent to) all other IAB nodes 1402a-f in the cluster. Generally speaking, the node 1402g is configured to measure all other IAB nodes 1402a-f more frequently than receiving measurement results from other IAB nodes. Generally speaking, the IAB nodes 1402a-f in the outer layer of the cluster are divided into at least two groups. The IAB nodes in the first group of the at least two groups (e.g., nodes 1402a, 1402c, and 1402e) and the IAB nodes in the second group of the at least two groups (e.g., nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402e) are arranged in an alternating sequence.

[0254] In some implementations, an IAB node in one group has two neighboring nodes in another group, and all nodes within the (same) group are relatively farther from each other. Generally, inter-group inter-IAB node measurements can be performed relatively more frequently than measurements performed for intra-group inter-IAB node measurements. Generally, the system (e.g., regarding Figures 1 to 11 The system described in one or more of the figures) is configured to configure the node 1402g to have SSB-TC and SSB-MTC (e.g., as described with respect to Fig.15 In general, configuring node 1402g includes providing: one SSB configuration having a period T1 for UE or IAB-MT initial cell search; one SSB-TC configuration having a period T2 for inter-IAB discovery / measurement; or two SSB-MTC configurations (e.g., SSB-MTC#1 for measuring nodes 1402a, 1402c, and 1402e, and SSB-MTC#2 for measuring nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402f), the two SSB-MTC configurations having a period T2 for measuring inter-group IAB nodes in a cluster.

[0255] Generally speaking, the system is configured to configure the node 1402a (or each of the other nodes 1402b-f) to have SSB-TC and SSB-MTC (e.g., Fig.15). Generally, configuring nodes 1402a-f in cluster 1402 includes providing: one SSB configuration, the one SSB configuration having a period T1 for UE or IAB-MT initial cell search; two SSB-TC configurations, the two SSB-TC configurations having different periods for inter-IAB discovery / measurement; or two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations, the two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations having different periods for measuring IAB nodes in the cluster. In some specific implementations, configuring one or more of nodes 1402a-f includes providing two SSB-TC configurations, the two SSB-TC configurations having different periods for inter-IAB discovery and / or measurement. In some specific implementations, the configuration includes SSB-TC#1 or SSB-TC#2, wherein SSB-TC#1 has a period T2 for inter-group IAB discovery and / or measurement (e.g., discovering and / or measuring nodes 1402b, 1402d, 1402f, and 1402g relative to node 1402a), and SSB-TC#2 has a period T3 for intra-group IAB discovery / measurement (e.g., discovering / measuring nodes 1402c and 1402e relative to node 1402a).

[0256] In some implementations, configuring one of the nodes 1402a-f includes providing two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations, the two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations having different periods for measuring IAB nodes in the cluster 1400. The first pair of SSB-MTCs is configured with a period T2, such as SSB-MTC #1 for measuring 1402g and SSB-MTC #2 for measuring nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402f. The second pair of SSB-MTs is configured with a period T3, such as SSB-MTC #3 for measuring node 1402c and SSB-MTC #4 for measuring node 1402e.

[0257] In some implementations, node 1402a (eg Figure 14 to Figure 151402a is configured as follows. Node 1402a is configured for one SSB configuration having a period T1 for UE or IAB-MT initial cell search. Node 1402a is configured for two SSB-TC configurations having different periods for inter-IAB discovery / measurement. Node 1402a is configured for SSB-TC#1 having a period T2 for inter-group inter-IAB (e.g., nodes 1402b, 1402d, 1402f, and node 1402g) discovery and / or measurement. Node 1402a is configured for SSB-TC#2 having a period T3 for discovery and / or measurement of those nodes (e.g., nodes 1402c and 1402e) within the group inter-IAB. Node 1402a is configured for two pairs of SSB-MTC configurations having different periods for measuring IAB nodes in the cluster. The first pair of SSB-MTCs with period T2 includes: SSB-MTTC#1 for measuring 1402g, and SSB-MTTC#2 for measuring nodes 1402b, 1402d, and 1402f. The second pair of SSB-MTCs with period T3 includes: SSB-MTC#3 for measuring node 1402c, and SSB-MTC#4 for measuring node 1402e.

[0258] Generally speaking, other nodes (e.g. Fig.14 Nodes 1402b-f) are configured with STC and SMTC in a similar manner to node 1402a.

[0259] Fig.16 is a diagram showing the definition of SSB-TC-Access, SSB-TC-InterIAB and SSB-MTC-InterIAB information elements. These configurations can be used as described above Figures 12 to 15 Node.

[0260] In this embodiment, information elements SSB-TC-Access, SSB-TC-InterIAB and SSB-MTC-InterIAB may be defined as follows to support UE-initial cell search, inter-IAB discovery and measurement.

[0261] SSB-TC-Access is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of IAB-DU for UE initial cell search. The format of SSB-TC-Access can be designed as follows.

[0262] As shown in box 1602, SSB-TC-Access is defined by a sequence in which the period and offset delays are selected from a list. The period and offset define the period and subframe offset of SSB transmissions for UE access links, and sfn represents n subframes. The duration defines the SSB window duration in terms of the number of subframes. The value of sf5 is between 0 and 4, the value of sf10 is between 0 and 9, the value of sf20 is between 0 and 19, the value of sf40 is between 0 and 39, the value of sf80 is between 0 and 79, and the value of sf160 is between 0 and 159. The durations of sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4, and sf5 are listed.

[0263] SSB-TC-InterIAB is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of IAB-DU for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. The format of SSB-TC-InterIAB can be designed as shown in box 1604. In general, the period and offset define the period and subframe offset of SSB transmission for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement, and sfn represents n subframes. In this example, the period of SSB transmission is in the range of 80ms to 1280ms. The donor gNB can select the period of IAB-DU by considering the characteristics of the backhaul channel dynamics. Duration defines the SSB window duration based on the number of subframes. Here, the value of sf80 is between 0 and 79, the value of sf160 is between 0 and 159, the value of sf320 is between 0 and 319, the value of sf640 is between 0 and 639, and the value of sf1280 is between 0 and 1279. The durations of sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4, and sf5 are listed.

[0264] SSB-MTC-InterIAB is used to define the SSB measurement timing configuration of the IAB-DU for measuring adjacent IAB nodes. The format of SSB-MTC-InterIAB can be designed as shown in box 1606. Generally speaking, the period and offset define the period and subframe offset for measuring SSB transmissions from adjacent IAB nodes, and sfn represents n subframes. The duration defines the SSB window duration according to the number of subframes. Pci-List defines a list of physical cell IDs and / or IAB-DU node IDs according to the initialization value of the SSB. Here, the value of sf80 is between 0 and 79, the value of sf160 is between 0 and 159, the value of sf320 is between 0 and 319, the value of sf640 is between 0 and 639, and the value of sf1280 is between 0 and 1279. The durations of sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4, and sf5 are listed.

[0265] In some specific implementations, Figures 1 to 15The system described in one or more of the figures may include an information element (IE) or a method of generating, transmitting, receiving, or processing the IE, wherein the IE is a SSB-TC-Access IE, a SSB-TC-InterIAB IE, or a SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE to support UE or IAB-MT initial cell search or inter-IAB discovery and measurement. The IE may be about Figures 12 to 15 Any of the nodes described above.

[0266] Generally speaking, the IE includes the SSB-TC-Access IE, which is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of the IAB-DU for the UE and IAB-MT initial cell search. Generally speaking, the IE including the SSB-TC-Access IE is defined as shown in block 1602.

[0267] In some implementations, the IE is a SSB-TC-InterIAB IE, which is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of the IAB-DU for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. Generally, the SSB-TC-InterIAB IE is defined as follows: Fig.16 In general, the donor gNB of the IE is configured to select the period of the IAB-DU by considering the characteristics of the backhaul channel dynamics.

[0268] In some implementations, the IE includes an SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE to define the SSB measurement timing configuration of the IAB-DU for measuring neighboring IAB nodes. Generally, the SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE is defined as follows: Fig.16 As shown in box 1606.

[0269] The following figures provide further details of systems and implementations that may be used for the various embodiments described herein.The UEs discussed above and in the examples may generally correspond to UEs 101a-b, and the IABs may generally correspond to access nodes, such as, for example, ANs 111a-b.

[0270] Fig.17 and Fig.18 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process for inter-IAB discovery and measurement. Fig.17 , process 1700 includes: Figures 1 to 11The electronic device, network, system, chip or component or part thereof or specific implementation thereof may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods described herein or parts thereof. Process 1700 may include: at 1702, receiving / processing an IE. The IE may be an SSB-TC-Access IE, an SSB-TC InterIAB IE, or an SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE, as described in this document. For example, in some specific implementations, relative to Figures 1 to 15 The system described in one or more of the figures may include an information element (IE) or a method of generating, transmitting, receiving, or processing the IE, wherein the IE is a SSB-TC-Access IE, a SSB-TC-InterIAB IE, or a SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE to support UE or IAB-MT initial cell search or inter-IAB discovery and measurement. The IE may be about Figures 12 to 15 Any node in the nodes described above. Generally, the IE includes an SSB-TC-Access IE, which is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of the IAB-DU for UE and IAB-MT initial cell search. Generally, the IE including the SSB-TC-Access IE is defined as shown in block 1602. In some specific implementations, the IE is an SSB-TC-InterIAB IE, which is used to define the SSB transmission configuration of the IAB-DU for inter-IAB node discovery and measurement. Generally, the SSB-TC-InterIAB IE is defined as Fig.16 In general, the donor gNB of the IE is configured to select the period of the IAB-DU by considering the characteristics of the backhaul channel dynamics. In some implementations, the IE includes the SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE to define the SSB measurement timing configuration of the IAB-DU for measuring neighboring IAB nodes. In general, the SSB-MTC-InterIAB IE is defined as follows: Fig.16 As shown in box 1606.

[0271] In some embodiments, the receiving / processing may be performed by components of the UE / IAB node. For example, the antenna / RF front end of the UE / IAB may receive one or more configuration signals including the IE, and the baseband processing circuitry of the UE / IAB may process the configuration signals to determine specific parameters defined in the IE.

[0272] At step 1704, the process may also include performing an initial cell search or inter-IAB discovery / measurement based on the parameters of the IE. The initial cell search may be a UE or IAB-MT initial cell search. In some embodiments, the UE / IAB node may reconfigure the front-end circuit to perform the initial cell search or inter-IAB discovery / measurement. For example, various beamforming techniques may be used to directly receive the signal to be measured as the basis for the initial cell search or inter-IAB discovery / measurement.

[0273] Go to Fig.18 , process 1800 may be performed by Figures 1 to 11 The process may include determining IAB cluster configuration information at 1802. The information may configure an IAB cluster of which the IAB performing the process of Figure 1800 is a part. The cluster may be a small cluster of several IABs, or may be a large cluster with, for example, 7 or more IABs.

[0274] The process may also include, at 1804, performing discovery / measurement operations based on the IAB cluster. For example, the IAB may be configured to only perform discovery / measurement operations to discover / measure other IABs in the same cluster. The process may include performing

[0275] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the example section below.

[0276] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0277] In different specific implementations, the methods described herein can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. In addition, the order of the blocks of the method can be changed, and various elements can be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc. Various modifications and changes can be made, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure. The various specific implementations described herein are intended to be illustrative rather than restrictive. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. Therefore, multiple examples can be provided for the components described herein as a single example. The boundaries between various components, operations, and data repositories are arbitrary to a certain extent, and specific operations are shown in the context of specific exemplary configurations. For the purpose of illustration rather than limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are described to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the descriptions of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B). Other allocations of functionality are contemplated and may fall within the scope of the appended claims. Unless expressly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

Claims

1. A method for operating a base station BS, comprising: obtaining configuration data of a source integrated access and backhaul logical radio node IAB gNB for the base station, the configuration data specifying a timing frame for inter-relay gNB discovery and monitoring operations by the IAB gNB for a target IAB gNB in ​​a cluster; in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring the source IAB gNB for a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window for inter-IAB gNB discovery, wherein the SSB comprises a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission, and wherein the configuration data specifies that the STC window of the source IAB gNB coincides with a corresponding SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) window of the target IAB gNB; in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring, for each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster, the source IAB gNB to monitor an SMTC window of the target IAB gNB, wherein each SMTC window of the source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with an occurrence of any corresponding STC window of the target IAB gNB; and Enable the source IAB gNB to perform SSB transmission according to the STC window and the SMTC window of each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the STC window and each SMTC window are configured within a period of an SSB window for access by a user equipment UE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cluster comprises three IAB gNBs, the three IAB gNBs comprising the source IAB gNB and two target IAB gNBs, and wherein the two target IAB gNBs are configured using the configuration data.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the source IAB gNB in ​​the cluster is configured to perform STC in a time-orthogonal manner relative to the target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the cluster is a first cluster, wherein a second cluster of IAB gNBs is configured using the same configuration data as the configuration data for the first cluster, and wherein the method further comprises: The source IAB gNB is configured to exclude signals from the IAB gNB in ​​the second cluster from consideration within the discovery and monitoring operations.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the STC window is configured according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period being selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms, and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the SMTC window is configured according to an indication period and duration, the period being selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms, and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes, and wherein the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

8. A method for operating a cluster of integrated access and backhaul IAB gNBs, each corresponding to a base station BS, the method comprising: The first integrated access and backhaul logical radio node IAB gNB in ​​the cluster is configured to: a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC window), the one STC window being used for inter-IAB gNB discovery, wherein the SSB includes a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission, and the STC window coincides with a corresponding SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC window) of the target IAB gNB; and two SMTC windows for measuring inter-group IAB gNBs in the cluster, wherein each of the two SMTC windows occurs concurrently with an occurrence of any corresponding STC window of a target IAB gNB; The second IAB gNB in ​​the cluster is configured to: two STC windows having corresponding periods for inter-IAB discovery; two pairs of SMTC windows, the two pairs of SMTC windows having the corresponding periods for measuring the IAB gNBs in the cluster; enabling the first IAB gNB to perform SSB transmission according to the one STC window and the two SMTC windows; and Enable the second IAB gNB to perform SSB transmission according to the two STC windows and the two pairs of SMTC windows.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first IAB gNB is further configured for two SSB windows, the two SSB windows being used for user equipment UE access or initial cell search and having the first period.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first IAB gNB is adjacent to every other gNB in ​​the cluster.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the cluster further comprises at least two groups of IAB gNBs in addition to the first IAB gNB, wherein the second IAB gNB is included in a first group of IAB gNBs of the at least two groups of IAB gNBs.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein: For the second IAB gNB, A first STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring an IAB gNB in ​​a second group of IAB gNBs in the two groups of IAB gNBs, and The second STC window of the two STC windows is configured for discovering and measuring other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IABgNBs.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein: For the second IAB gNB, A first pair of SMTC windows of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure the first IAB gNB and an IAB gNB in ​​a second group of IAB gNBs of the two groups of IAB gNBs, and The second pair of SMTC windows of the two pairs of SMTC windows is configured to measure other IAB gNBs included in the first group of IAB gNBs.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein any two IAB gNBs in one of the at least two groups are not adjacent IAB gNBs in the cluster.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the corresponding periods include the first period and a second period, the second period being associated with a frequency less than the first period.

16. The method of claim 8, wherein the STC window is configured according to an information element indicating a period and a duration, the period being selected from the list: 80 ms, 160 ms, 320 ms, 640 ms and 1280 ms, and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes.

17. The method of claim 8, wherein the SMTC window is configured according to an indication period and duration, the period being selected from the list: 80ms, 160ms, 320ms, 640ms and 1280ms, and the duration being selected from the list: 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 subframes, and wherein the SMTC window is scheduled for each IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

18. A base station BS, comprising: one or more processors; and A memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: obtaining configuration data of a source integrated access and backhaul logical radio node IAB gNB for the base station, the configuration data specifying a timing frame for inter-relay gNB discovery and monitoring operations by the IAB gNB for a target IAB gNB in ​​a cluster; in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring the source IAB gNB for a synchronization signal block (SSB) transmission configuration (STC) window for inter-IAB gNB discovery, wherein the SSB comprises a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transmission, and wherein the configuration data specifies that the STC window of the source IAB gNB coincides with a corresponding SSB monitoring timing configuration (SMTC) window of the target IAB gNB; in response to obtaining the configuration data, configuring, for each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster, the source IAB gNB to monitor an SMTC window of the target IAB gNB, wherein each SMTC window of the source IAB gNB occurs concurrently with an occurrence of any corresponding STC window of the target IAB gNB; and Enable the source IAB gNB to perform SSB transmission according to the STC window and the SMTC window of each target IAB gNB in ​​the cluster.

Images