System and method for enhanced NR-V2X synchronization process

Abstract

Sidelink synchronization of New Radio Vehicle-to-Everything (NR V2X) communications in a wireless communication system may include: determining a loss of global satellite navigation system (GNSS) synchronization of a user equipment (UE); attempting synchronization with a next generation Node B / eNodeB (gNB / eNB) node for the UE; and determining successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node for the UE. The successful synchronization may include gNB / eNB timing aligned with GNSS timing of the lost GNSS synchronization.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 828,317, filed on April 2, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0004] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between base stations and wireless mobile devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE); the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is often referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) by industry organizations; and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), which is often referred to as Wi-Fi by industry organizations. In the 3GPP radio access network (RAN) in the LTE system, the base station may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also often referred to as an evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB) and / or a radio network controller (RNC) in the E-UTRAN, which communicates with a wireless communication device referred to as a user equipment (UE). In the fifth generation (5G) wireless RAN, the RAN node may include a 5G node, a new air interface (NR) node, or a gNodeB (gNB).

[0005] The RAN uses radio access technologies (RATs) to communicate between RAN nodes and UEs. The RAN may include a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), an Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and / or an E-UTRAN, which provides access to communication services through a core network. Each of the RANs operates according to a specific 3GPP RAT. For example, the GERAN implements GSM and / or EDGE RAT, the UTRAN implements the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, and the E-UTRAN implements the LTE RAT.

[0006] Emerging vehicle-to-everything (V2X) applications can be characterized by various key performance indicators (KPIs) in terms of latency, data rate, and reliability. For cellular V2X communications on the sidelink, robust and reliable synchronization can be a fundamental component of the system design. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit(s) in a reference number refers to the drawing number that first introduces the element.

[0008] Figure 1 A system according to one embodiment is shown.

[0009] Figure 2 Transmission according to one embodiment is shown.

[0010] Figure 3 A routine according to one embodiment is shown.

[0011] Figure 4 A routine according to one embodiment is shown.

[0012] Figure 5 A system according to one embodiment is shown.

[0013] Figure 6 Infrastructure equipment according to one embodiment is shown.

[0014] Figure 7 A platform according to one embodiment is shown.

[0015] Figure 8 An apparatus according to one embodiment is shown.

[0016] Fig. 9 An exemplary interface according to one embodiment is shown.

[0017] Fig.10 Components according to one embodiment are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] The present disclosure relates to major new design aspects of sidelink synchronization signals for New Radio (NR) V2X communications, which is dedicated to supporting a robust and efficient synchronization process with minimal complexity. The present disclosure provides new priorities for synchronization based on the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for NR V2X sidelink communications, and provides a description of the initial sidelink synchronization behavior and NR V2X physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) design and content for NR V2X sidelink communications. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure can improve the synchronization efficiency of NR V2X sidelink communications.

[0019] A novel channel access mechanism is described, including a new priority for GNSS-based synchronization for NR V2X sidelink communication, an initial sidelink synchronization behavior for NR V2X sidelink communication, a PSBCH design for NR V2X sidelink communication, and a design for automatic gain control (AGC) in NR V2X sidelink communication to reduce the complexity of the synchronization process for NR V2X sidelink communication. Additional aspects of synchronization for NR V2X sidelink communication are also disclosed.

[0020] Sync Source and Priority

[0021] Table 1 shows the synchronization source priorities for GNSS-based synchronization proposed at the RAN1#96 meeting.

[0022]

[0023] Table 1: Table with synchronization source priorities for GNSS-based synchronization proposed at RAN1#96 meeting

[0024] As shown, if a group of user equipment (UE) loses GNSS synchronization (e.g., in an underground parking lot), all UEs become independent synchronization sources. To prevent or avoid such behavior, for example, certain embodiments disclosed herein include modifications to the priority table of Table 1, as shown in Table 2.

[0025] GNSS-based synchronization P0: GNSS P1: UE synchronizes directly to GNSS P2: UE indirectly synchronizes to GNSS P3: gNB / eNB P4: UE synchronizes directly to gNB / eNB P5: UE indirect synchronization to gNB / eNB P6: The remaining UEs have the lowest priority

[0026] Table 2: Features for NR Enhanced table of priority rules for GNSS-based synchronization of V2X sidelink

[0027] As shown in Table 2, in order to maximize the synchronization efficiency of NR V2X, in some embodiments, the synchronization priority is extended to include the following: P3: Next Generation Node B / eNodeB (gNB / eNB); P4: UE directly synchronizes to gNB / eNB; P5: UE indirectly synchronizes to gNB / eNB; P6: The remaining UEs have the lowest priority. In case of GNSS synchronization with priority, the eNB / gNB can provide timing aligned with GNSS timing.

[0028] Initial sidelink synchronization and communication

[0029] Considering that the search time for different sidelink synchronization sources may be different, the initial sidelink synchronization process may take a long time if the UE should comply with the synchronization source priority rules for the synchronization search process. It is expected that the synchronization source selection rules should not impose unnecessary delays on the sidelink communication during the initial sidelink synchronization process. It is expected that after the UE detects any valid sidelink synchronization source, the UE should be able to start communication while continuing to search for higher priority synchronization sources. Therefore, in some embodiments, the following rules may be applied to the UE during synchronization: no priority order is defined for the initial NR V2X sidelink synchronization; after the UE acquires any valid sidelink synchronization source, the UE can trigger sidelink communication while continuing to search for higher priority synchronization sources during the initial synchronization process.

[0030] To trigger sidelink communication, in certain implementations, a UE that has acquired synchronization should be aware of the sidelink resource configuration.

[0031] Side link physical parameter collection

[0032] In some embodiments, to simplify the detection of the sidelink synchronization signal and improve the detection performance of the synchronization signal, the UE with the sidelink may be pre-configured with at least one of the following parameters: the subcarrier spacing (SCS) value used at a specific frequency band; and / or the cyclic prefix (CP) type. In some embodiments, it is not desirable for the UE to blindly search for the CP and SCS during the sidelink synchronization based on the sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS).

[0033] PSBCH Design Considerations

[0034] The physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) may carry information required for sidelink operations that cannot be derived from synchronization signals. In certain embodiments, the PSBCH may include at least some of the following information: timing information; synchronization process information; information for physical layer operations; and / or reserved bits. The timing information may include, for example, a system frame number / direct frame number (SFN / DFN) and a time slot number. The synchronization process information may include, for example: the type of sidelink synchronization process (GNSS or eNB / gNB based); the original synchronization source: GNSS, network (NW) (e.g., eNB or gNB), UE (independent synchronization source); synchronization source static information; synchronization resource allocation information (e.g., the number of allocated synchronization resources); synchronization frequency hopping information, including synchronization directly or indirectly to the original synchronization source. Information that can be used for physical layer operations (e.g., parameters describing the L1 structure of the physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) and / or physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) channels) may include, for example, time division duplex-uplink-downlink (TDD-UL-DL) configuration information and slot format information (analog of TDD configuration in LTE) that may indicate which time slots are used for the sidelink and their configuration, and a sidelink resource configuration ID (profile ID) such as a profile of the sidelink resource configuration (at least applicable to its carrier). In certain embodiments, for example, the profile of the sidelink resource configuration includes: information about the PSCCH / PSSCH / physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) and PSBCH resource configuration on a given carrier, the SLSS / PSBCH offset relative to point A of a given sidelink carrier, and the sidelink carrier bandwidth and sidelink (SL) bandwidth part (BWP) parameters (SCS, CP, BW). Reserved bits (e.g., for forward compatibility) may be set to pre-configured values.

[0035] In some embodiments, the PSBCH may carry information about the sidelink resource configuration or profile ID so that a UE that has synchronized to the SLSS for the first time can find out the sidelink resource configuration to use. In some embodiments, it is assumed that the set of profiles will be pre-configured for the UE.

[0036] Because the NR TDD UL-DL configuration and slot format information may occupy a large number of bits that may be difficult to signal within the PSBCH (10), in order to minimize signaling overhead in certain embodiments, the UE may be pre-configured with a set of typical TDD UL-DL configurations, and the slot format and index may be used to indicate the configuration used. In certain embodiments, the physical structure of the PSBCH is aligned with the primary sidelink synchronization signal / secondary sidelink synchronization signal (PSSS / SSSS) in terms of transmission bandwidth.

[0037] SLSS ID and PSBCH content dissemination

[0038] In NR V2X, PSBSH propagation can be defined as the retransmission of PSBCH content initiated by a V2X node synchronized with GNSS or gNB / eNB. Figure 1 An exemplary system 100 for providing retransmissions according to certain embodiments is shown. For example, Figure 1 PSBCH propagation for GNSS-based synchronization in NR V2X is shown. In the illustrated embodiment, the GNSS is provided by a GNSS system 102 including, for example, one or more satellites. UE 104 is synchronized directly with the GNSS via the GNSS system 102. UE 104 has a pre-configuration 1 of SL parameters. UE 104 transmits a side link synchronization signal (SLSS) and PSBCH1 to UE 106 in transmission 108. UE 106 has a pre-configuration 2 of SL parameters. PSBCH1 is retransmitted by UE 106 to another UE as PSBCH'1 together with SLSS in transmission 110. Therefore, in the case of GNSS-based synchronization for NR V2X, UE 106 is indirectly synchronized to the GNSS UE. It should be noted that in some embodiments, PSBCH'1 propagated by UE 106 has a set of fields (e.g., synchronization frequency hopping information, timing information, original synchronization source) different from PSBCH1.

[0039] In certain embodiments, the SLSS ID and PSBCH content are propagated from a higher priority sidelink synchronization source to a lower priority sidelink synchronization source. In certain embodiments, for GNSS-based synchronization, the network's participation should be minimal, so the SLSS ID and PSBCH content should be propagated based on UE pre-configuration. For example, in certain embodiments, the network should have a mechanism to affect the SLSS ID and PSBCH, but it should be done by changing the pre-configuration. In certain embodiments, for eNB / gNB-based synchronization, the SLSS ID and PSBCH content can be derived from the network, such as eNB / gNB signaling. Table 3 included below shows exemplary parameters for GNSS-based synchronization and eNB / gNB-based synchronization according to certain embodiments.

[0040]

[0041]

[0042] Table 3: Propagation of SLSS and PSBCH content for GNSS-based synchronization and eNB / gNB-based synchronization .

[0043] In certain embodiments, when the eNB is used for NR-V2X sidelink synchronization, it should be able to provide information for NR-V2X sidelink synchronization, which includes the NR-V2X PSBCH content and SLSS ID and the configuration of the sidelink synchronization resources.

[0044] SLSS / PSBCH resource allocation

[0045] In certain embodiments, if LTE and NR carriers are used for sidelink operation, it may be advantageous to configure the LTE and NR carriers in a manner that the synchronization resources at the NR and LTE carriers are aligned in time. For example, in certain embodiments, the NR carrier may be configured in such a manner that the first synchronization resource in a synchronization period is aligned with every n LTE synchronization resource, where n may be any integer value, including 1.

[0046] In this case, a UE detecting a synchronization signal at, for example, an LTE carrier may predict the location of the NR synchronization resources and detect the synchronization signal at the NR carrier using a reduced search window.

[0047] About DMRS / Data-Assisted Synchronization

[0048] In certain embodiments, if a UE is receiving data from other UEs, it may estimate timing and frequency synchronization from the transmitting UE. For example, any UE may be able to derive timing from PSCCH / PSSCH transmissions by utilizing a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) signal to maintain accurate timing and frequency synchronization. With the SLSS transmission period, a UE may receive transmissions from multiple UEs, each of which may have a different synchronization source. From a synchronization perspective, it may be desirable to derive synchronization from a UE with a higher synchronization priority, such as a UE that is synchronized directly to a GNSS or eNB / gNB. In certain embodiments, in order to filter out transmissions from UEs with lower synchronization source priority, the priority of the synchronization source should be indicated.

[0049] The combination of DMRS / data-assisted synchronization and known AGC training symbol transmission can significantly reduce the initial acquisition time of NR-V2X sidelink synchronization. Therefore, according to certain embodiments, NR-V2X enhancements are described below.

[0050] In certain embodiments, during the initial synchronization process (e.g., from a powered-off state), the UE may use the first synchronization it has detected for sidelink communications. For example, if during initial synchronization, the UE is assumed to be looking for GNSS / eNB / gNB / SLSS, then the UE should be allowed to make sidelink transmissions independent of which synchronization source is first detected. For example, if the UE has acquired synchronization from an SLSS that propagates NW or GNSS timing, then the UE should be allowed to make sidelink transmissions while continuing to search for a higher priority synchronization source.

[0051] According to certain embodiments, the following rules are used for DMRS and data-assisted synchronization: Data-assisted synchronization for NR-V2X sidelink communication is supported based on processing of DMRS and / or AGC training symbols; In order to follow the synchronization process, the UE transmitting PSCCH / PSSCH may indicate its synchronization source type or the type of the original synchronization source, and optionally a frequency hopping index.

[0052] AGC / Sync Training Symbols

[0053] In certain embodiments, in sidelink communications, AGC may be performed based on sidelink channel access instances (e.g., at the time slot level). However, AGC may damage the first symbol of each channel access opportunity. In LTE-V2X, it is assumed that the AGC stabilization time is at most one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol with a 15kHz SCS (~70us). To accommodate AGC stabilization, each sidelink transmission may start with an AGC training symbol. Any physical signal and structure may be used as an AGC training signal. For the AGC training signal, the following alternatives may be assumed to serve AGC purposes and additionally improve synchronization performance: Alternative 1: PSSS signal; Alternative 2: Replication of any PSBCH symbol; Alternative 3: Any other known signal (e.g., Gold sequence or M sequence) may be a good candidate.

[0054] If the AGC convergence time is comparable to the OFDM symbol duration, a reference symbol is allocated before the time slot.

[0055] Assuming AGC is desired, certain embodiments of the present disclosure include the following enhancements. Figure 2An exemplary transmission device 200 is shown having a first time slot 202 and a second time slot 204. In some embodiments, the first time slot 202 is defined by a boundary 206 and a boundary 208, and the second time slot 204 is defined by a boundary 208 and a boundary 210. In some embodiments, the first symbol of item 202 and item 204 may be used as an AGC training symbol 212. The AGC training symbol 212 may be a copy of any predefined symbol in a time slot (e.g., #1, 2, etc.) according to an instantaneous side link resource allocation or signal generated from a Gold sequence generator or an M sequence generator with the same bandwidth and transmit power as the remaining symbols in the time slot. Each time slot also includes one or more side link symbols 214 and a TX-RX gap 216.

[0056] Figure 3 An exemplary routine 300 for initial sidelink synchronization and communication according to certain embodiments is shown. In box 302, detection of a valid synchronization source may be performed without regard to a priority associated with the synchronization source. In box 304, attempted synchronization with the detected valid synchronization source may be performed. In box 306, successful synchronization with the detected valid synchronization source may be determined. In box 308, a search may be performed for one or more high priority valid synchronization sources having a higher priority than the detected valid synchronization source, and successful synchronization with the detected valid synchronization source is determined. In box 310, detection of a high priority valid synchronization source in the one or more high priority valid synchronization sources may be performed. The search of box 308 may run through routine 300 and occur repeatedly when box 310 is executed. In box 312, attempted synchronization with the detected high priority synchronization source may be performed. The search of box 308 may occur repeatedly while box 312 is executed. In box 314, successful synchronization with the detected high priority synchronization source is determined. The search of block 308 may occur repeatedly while block 314 is being performed, and may also occur after block 314 .

[0057] Figure 4 An exemplary route 400 for synchronization source determination is shown. For example, synchronization source determination may be performed for a UE. In block 402, a loss of global satellite navigation system (GNSS) synchronization is determined. In block 404, an attempted synchronization with a gNB / eNB node is performed. In block 406, a successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node is determined. In certain embodiments, the successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node is a direct synchronization or an indirect synchronization. In certain embodiments, prior to determining a loss of GNSS synchronization in block 402, there may be a successful GNSS synchronization. For example, in certain embodiments, the successful synchronization may be a direct synchronization or an indirect synchronization.

[0058] Figure 5An exemplary architecture of a system 500 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 500 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0059] like Figure 5 As shown, system 500 includes UE 502 and UE 504. In this example, UE 502 and UE 504 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, mobile phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0060] In some embodiments, UE 502 and / or UE 504 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0061] UE 502 and UE 504 may be configured to be connected, e.g., communicatively coupled, to an access node or radio access node (shown as (R) AN 516). In an embodiment, (R) AN 516 may be an NG RAN or SG RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a traditional RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to an (R) AN 516 operating in an NR or SG system, and the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to an (R) AN 516 operating in an LTE or 4G system. UE 502 and UE 504 utilize connections (or channels) (shown as connection 506 and connection 508, respectively), each connection comprising a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0062] In this example, connection 506 and connection 508 are 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 SG protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 502 and UE 504 may also directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 510. The ProSe interface 510 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink (SL) interface 110, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0063] UE 504 is shown as being configured to access AP 512 (also referred to as a "WLAN node," "WLAN," "WLAN terminal," "WT," etc.) via connection 514. Connection 514 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 512 would include wireless fidelity router. In this example, AP 512 may be connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 504, (R) AN 516, and AP 512 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 504 in RRC_CONNECTED configured by RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 504 using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 514) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 514. 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.

[0064] (R)AN 516 may include one or more AN nodes, such as RAN node 518 and RAN node 520, that implement connection 506 and connection 508. 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 RAN nodes (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or SG systems, while the terms "E-UTRAN nodes" and the like may refer to RAN nodes (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 500. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 518 or the RAN node 520 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as macrocell base stations and / or low power (LP) base stations for providing femtocells, picocells or other similar cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than macrocells.

[0065] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 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 (e.g., RAN node 518 or RAN node 520); 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 (e.g., RAN node 518 or RAN node 520); 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. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a separate RAN node may represent a separate RAN node via a separate F1 interface ( Figure 5In some implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the (R)AN 516 or by a server pool in a manner similar to the CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, the RAN node 518 or one or more of the RAN nodes 520 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 502 and the UE 504 and is connected to the SGC via an NG interface (discussed below). In the V2X scenario, the RAN node 518 or one or more of the RAN nodes 520 may be an RSU or act as an RSU.

[0066] The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. 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 roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs (vUEs). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuits 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, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on a cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communications as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally 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.

[0067] The RAN node 518 and / or the RAN node 520 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 502 and the UE 504. In some embodiments, the RAN node 518 and / or the RAN node 520 may perform various logical functions of the (R)AN 516, 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.

[0068] In an embodiment, UE 502 and UE 504 may be configured to communicate with each other or with RAN node 518 and / or RAN node 520 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. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0069] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from RAN node 518 and / or RAN node 520 to UE 502 and UE 504, 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.

[0070] According to various embodiments, UE 502 and UE 504 and RAN node 518 and / or RAN node 520 communicate (e.g., transmit 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.

[0071] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, UE 502 and UE 504 and RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these specific implementations, UE 502 and UE 504 and RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 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.

[0072] LBT is a mechanism for equipment (e.g., UE 502 and UE 504, RAN node 518 or RAN node 520, 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.

[0073] 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 502, AP 512, 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.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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 502 to undergo a switch. 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.

[0076] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 502 and UE 504. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 502 and UE 504 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 504 within the cell) may be performed at either the RAN node 518 or the RAN node 520 based on channel quality information fed back from either the UE 502 and UE 504. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UE 502 and UE 504.

[0077] 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).

[0078] 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.

[0079] The RAN node 518 or the RAN node 520 may be configured to communicate with each other via an interface 522. In an embodiment where the system 500 is an LTE system (e.g., when the CN 530 is an EPC), the interface 522 may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC. 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 delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 502 in sequence for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that are not delivered to the UE 502; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the Se NB 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.

[0080] In an embodiment where the system 500 is a SG or NR system (e.g., when the CN 530 is an SGC), the interface 522 may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the SGC, between a RAN node 518 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the SGC, and / or between two eNBs connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 530). 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 UE502 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 518 or RAN nodes 520. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 518 to the new (target) serving RAN node 520; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 518 and the new (target) serving RAN node 520. 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.

[0081] (R)AN 516 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to CN 530. CN 530 may include one or more network elements 532 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 502 and UE 504) connected to CN 530 via (R)AN 516. The components of CN 530 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 530 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 530 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.

[0082] In general, the application server 534 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 534 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.) for UE 502 and UE 504 via the EPC. The application server 534 may communicate with the CN 530 via the IP communication interface 536.

[0083] In an embodiment, CN 530 may be an SGC, and (R)AN 116 may be connected to CN 530 via an NG interface 524. In an embodiment, NG interface 524 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 526, which carries traffic data between RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 528, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 and AMF.

[0084] In an embodiment, CN 530 may be an SG CN, while in other embodiments, CN 530 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 530 is an EPC, (R)AN 116 may be connected to CN 530 via an S1 interface 524. In an embodiment, S1 interface 524 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 526, which carries traffic data between RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 528, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 518 or RAN node 520 and MME.

[0085] Figure 6 An example of infrastructure equipment 600 according to various embodiments is shown. The infrastructure equipment 600 can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node, an AN, an application server, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, the infrastructure equipment 600 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0086] The infrastructure equipment 600 includes application circuits 602, baseband circuits 604, one or more radio front end modules 606 (RFEM), memory circuits 608, power management integrated circuits (shown as PMIC 610), power tee circuits 612, network controller circuits 614, network interface connectors 620, satellite positioning circuits 616, and user interface circuits 618. In some embodiments, the device infrastructure equipment 600 may include additional elements such as memory / storage devices, displays, cameras, sensors, or input / output (I / O) interfaces. In other embodiments, these components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuits may be separately included in more than one device for a CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementation. The application circuits 602 include, for example, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more low dropout regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 602 can be coupled with or can include a memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the infrastructure equipment 600. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit, which can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0087] The processor of the application circuit 602 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 602 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 602 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or processors; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, the infrastructure equipment 600 may not utilize the application circuit 602, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from the EPC or 5GC.

[0088] In some implementations, the application circuit 602 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. 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), and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of the application circuit 602 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, and the like of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 602 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. The baseband circuit 604 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.

[0089] The user interface circuitry 618 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the infrastructure equipment 600 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the infrastructure equipment 600. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0090] The radio front end module 606 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio front end module (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 millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 606 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0091] The memory circuit 608 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 608 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0092] The PMIC 610 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 612 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 600 using a single cable.

[0093] The network controller circuit 614 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 600 via a network interface connector 620, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 614 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 614 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0094] The positioning circuit 616 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global satellite navigation system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 616 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 616 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 616 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 604 and / or the radio front end module 606 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 616 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 602, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures, etc. Figure 6 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCix), PCI express (PCie), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0095] Figure 7 An example of a platform 700 according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 700 may be suitable for use as a UE, an application server, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 700 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 700 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), a portion thereof, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof suitable for the computer platform 700, or implemented as components otherwise incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. Figure 7 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 700. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0096] Application circuit 702 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer counter (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general IO, memory card controller (such as SD MMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 702 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 platform 700. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0097] The processor of the application circuit 702 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 702 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0098] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 702 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU-class processors, or can be purchased from The processor of application circuit 702 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s AS-A9 processor, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, OpenMultimedia 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 702 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 702 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as available from Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0099] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 702 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 702 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 herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 702 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.

[0100] Baseband circuit 704 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.

[0101] The radio front end module 706 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio front end module (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 millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 706 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0102] The memory circuit 708 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 708 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SD RAM); 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 708 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 708 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 708 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 702. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 708 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 700 may be combined with and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0103] Removable memory circuitry 714 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 700. 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.

[0104] Platform 700 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for connecting external devices to platform 700. External devices connected to platform 700 via the interface circuitry include sensors 710 and electromechanical components (shown as EMC 712), as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory 714.

[0105] Sensor 710 includes a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment and 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.

[0106] EMC 712 includes the device, module or subsystem that is intended to enable platform 700 to change its state, position and / or orientation or move or control mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, EMC 712 can be configured to generate message / signaling and send message / signaling to other components of platform 700 to indicate the current state of EMC 712. Examples of EMC 712 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 700 is configured to operate one or more EMC712 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients. In some specific implementations, an interface circuit can connect platform 700 with positioning circuit 722. The positioning circuit 722 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 722 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 722 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 722 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 704 and / or the radio front-end module 706 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 722 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 702 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0107] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 700 to a near field communication circuit (shown as NFC circuit 720). The NFC circuit 720 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 720 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 700. The NFC circuit 720 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 720 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 720, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 720 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smart phone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) near the platform 700.

[0108] The driver circuit 724 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 700. The driver circuit 724 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 700 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 700. For example, the driver circuit 724 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 700, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor 710 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor 710, an EMC driver for obtaining actuator positions of the EMC 712 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 712, 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.

[0109] A power management integrated circuit (shown as PMIC 716) (also referred to as a "power management circuit") can manage the power provided to various components of the platform 700. In particular, the PMIC 716 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to the baseband circuit 704. The PMIC 716 can typically be included when the platform 700 is capable of being powered by a battery 718, for example, when the device is included in a UE.

[0110] In some embodiments, the PMIC 716 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 700. For example, if the platform 700 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic immediately, then after a period of inactivity, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 700 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 700 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, where the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, switching, etc. are performed. The platform 700 enters a very low power state and performs paging, where the device wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 700 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.

[0111] The battery 718 can provide power to the platform 700, but in some examples, the platform 700 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 718 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 718 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0112] In some implementations, the battery 718 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 700 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 718. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 718, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 718 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 718 to the application circuit 702 or other components of the platform 700. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 702 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 718 or the current from the battery 718. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 700 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0113] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 718. In some examples, the power block can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 700. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 718 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.

[0114] The user interface circuit 726 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 700, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform 700 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to enable peripheral components to interact with the platform 700. The user interface circuit 726 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 700. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor 710 may be used as an input device circuit (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuits (e.g., actuators 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 circuit 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.

[0115] Although not shown, the components of platform 700 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCix, PCie, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0116] Figure 8 Exemplary components of a device 800 according to some embodiments are shown. In some embodiments, the device 800 may include an application circuit 802, a baseband circuit 804, a radio frequency (RF) circuit (shown as RF circuit 820), a front-end module (FEM) circuit (shown as FEM circuit 830), one or more antennas 832, and a power management circuit (PMC) (shown as PMC 834) (at least coupled together as shown in the figure). The components of the illustrated device 800 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 800 may include fewer elements (e.g., the RAN node cannot utilize the application circuit 802, but includes a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 800 may include additional elements, such as a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device (e.g., the circuit may be separately included in more than one device for a specific implementation of a cloud-RAN (C-RAN)).

[0117] The application circuit 802 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 802 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The one or more processors may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). These processors may be coupled to or may include memory / storage devices, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage devices to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 800. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 802 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0118] The baseband circuit 804 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 804 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 820 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 820. The baseband circuit 804 may interact with the application circuit 802 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 820. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor (3G baseband processor 806), a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor (4G baseband processor 808), a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor (5G baseband processor 810), or other baseband processors 812 of other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 804 (e.g., one or more baseband processors in the baseband processor) can handle various radio control functions that can communicate with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 820. In other embodiments, part or all of the functions of the baseband processor shown may be included in a module stored in the memory 818 and executed via the central processing unit (CPU 814). 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 804 may include a fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping function. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 804 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.

[0119] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may include a digital signal processor (DSP), such as one or more audio DSPs 816. The audio DSP 816 may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 804 and the application circuit 802 may be implemented together, such as on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0120] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 804 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), or wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 804 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0121] The RF circuit 820 may communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 820 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. The RF circuit 820 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 830 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 804. The RF circuit 820 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 804 and providing an RF output signal for transmission to the FEM circuit 830.

[0122] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 820 may include a mixer circuit 822, an amplifier circuit 824, and a filter circuit 826. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 820 may include a filter circuit 826 and a mixer circuit 822. The RF circuit 820 may also include a synthesizer circuit 828 for synthesizing frequencies used by the mixer circuit 822 for the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 822 of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 830 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 828. The amplifier circuit 824 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 826 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 804 for further processing. In some embodiments, although this is not required, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 822 of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0123] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 822 of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert the input baseband signal based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 828 to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 830. The baseband signal can be provided by the baseband circuit 804 and can be filtered by the filter circuit 826.

[0124] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 822 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 822 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 822 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 822 of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 822 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 822 may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 822 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 822 of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0125] 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 820 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 804 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 820.

[0126] 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.

[0127] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 828 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 828 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0128] The synthesizer circuit 828 may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by the mixer circuit 822 of the RF circuit 820. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 828 may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0129] 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 baseband circuitry 804 or application circuitry 802 (such as an application processor) 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 application circuitry 802.

[0130] The synthesizer circuit 828 of the RF circuit 820 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 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 D-type flip-flop set. 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.

[0131] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 828 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 820 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0132] The FEM circuitry 830 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 832, amplify the receive signals, and provide an amplified version of the receive signals to the RF circuitry 820 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 830 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 820 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 832. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 820, only in the FEM circuitry 830, or in both the RF circuitry 820 and the FEM circuitry 830.

[0133] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 830 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 830 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 830 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 820). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 830 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 820), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 832).

[0134] In some embodiments, the PMC 834 can manage the power provided to the baseband circuit 804. Specifically, the PMC 834 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When the device 800 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device 800 is included in a UE, the PMC 834 can generally be included. The PMC 834 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing a desired specific implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0135] Figure 8 PMC 834 is shown coupled only to baseband circuitry 804. However, in other embodiments, PMC 834 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components (such as, but not limited to, application circuitry 802, RF circuitry 820, or FEM circuitry 830) and perform similar power management operations for these components.

[0136] In some embodiments, the PMC 834 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 800. For example, if the device 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, where the device is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic immediately, then after a period of inactivity, the device may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the device 800 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power.

[0137] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 800 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 800 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, the device must transition back to the RRC_Connected state.

[0138] An additional power saving mode can keep a device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0139] The processor of the application circuit 802 and the processor of the baseband circuit 804 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 804 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 802 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., transport communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0140] Fig. 9 An exemplary interface 900 of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown. As described above, Figure 8 The baseband circuit 804 may include a 3G baseband processor 806, a 4G baseband processor 808, a 5G baseband processor 810, other baseband processors 812, a CPU 814, and a memory 818 used by the processors. As shown, each of the processors may include a corresponding memory interface 902 for sending / receiving data to / from the memory 818.

[0141] The baseband circuit 804 may also include: one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 904 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 804); an application circuit interface 906 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 804); Figure 8 RF circuit interface 908 (for example, for sending / receiving data to / from the application circuit 802); Figure 8 an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a RF circuit 820); a wireless hardware connection interface 910 (e.g., for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components to send / receive data); and a power management interface 912 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals to / from PMC834).

[0142] Fig.10 1 is a block diagram illustrating a component 1000 capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and capable of performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.10 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1002 is shown including one or more processors 1012 (or processor cores), one or more memory / storage devices 1018, and one or more communication resources 1020, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1022. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1004 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1002.

[0143] Processor 1012 (e.g., 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 digital signal processor (DSP) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 1014 and processor 1016.

[0144] The memory / storage device 1018 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1018 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.

[0145] The communication resources 1020 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1006 or one or more databases 1008 via the network 1010. For example, the communication resources 1020 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Parts (e.g. Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0146] The instructions 1024 may include software, programs, applications, applets, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1012 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1024 may reside completely or partially in at least one of the processors 1012 (e.g., in a cache memory of a processor), in the memory / storage device 1018, or in any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1024 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1002 from any combination of the peripheral device 1006 or the database 1008. Therefore, the memory of the processor 1012, the memory / storage device 1018, the peripheral device 1006, and the database 1008 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0147] 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 examples section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the examples section below.

[0148] Example

[0149] The following examples relate to further embodiments.

[0150] Example 1 may include a method for sidelink synchronization for New Radio Vehicle-to-Everything (NR V2X) communications in a wireless communication system. The method may include: determining a loss of global satellite navigation system (GNSS) synchronization of a user equipment (UE); attempting synchronization with a next generation Node B / eNodeB (gNB / eNB) node for the UE; and determining successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node for the UE. The successful synchronization may include gNB / eNB timing aligned with GNSS timing of the lost GNSS synchronization.

[0151] Example 2 may include a method according to Example 1, wherein the successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node is direct synchronization.

[0152] Example 3 may include a method according to Example 1, wherein the successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node is indirect synchronization.

[0153] Example 4 may include the method of Example 1, wherein prior to determining a loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE, the UE has successful GNSS synchronization.

[0154] Example 5 may include the method of Example 4, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization.

[0155] Example 6 may include the method of Example 4, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

[0156] Example 7 may include the method according to Example 1, further comprising an initial sidelink synchronization process before determining that GNSS synchronization of the UE is lost. The initial sidelink synchronization process may include detecting a valid synchronization source without regard to a priority associated with the synchronization source, attempting to synchronize with the detected valid synchronization source, and determining successful synchronization with the detected valid synchronization source.

[0157] Example 8 may include the method according to Example 7, wherein the initial side link synchronization process may also include searching for one or more high priority valid synchronization sources having a higher priority than the detected valid synchronization source, determining successful synchronization with the detected valid synchronization source, detecting a high priority valid synchronization source among the one or more high priority valid synchronization sources, attempting to synchronize with the detected high priority synchronization source, and determining successful synchronization with the detected high priority synchronization source.

[0158] Example 9 may include the method of Example 8, wherein the search for the one or more high priority valid synchronization sources may occur repeatedly during the initial sidelink synchronization process.

[0159] Example 10 may include a method according to Example 1, wherein the UE is pre-configured with sidelink parameters including subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix type.

[0160] Example 11 may include a method according to Example 2, wherein the sidelink synchronization signal (SLSS) ID and physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH) content are derived from eNB / gNB configuration signaling.

[0161] Example 12 may include the method of Example 2, wherein the SLSS ID and the PSBCH content are derived from a pre-configuration.

[0162] Example 13 may include a method according to Example 3, wherein the SLSS ID and PSBCH content originate from a UE directly synchronized to the eNB / gNB.

[0163] Example 14 may include the method of Example 5, wherein the SLSS ID and the PSBCH content are derived from a pre-configuration.

[0164] Example 15 may include a method according to Example 5, wherein the SLSS ID and PSBCH content originate from the network eNB / gNB.

[0165] Example 16 may include the method of Example 6, wherein the SLSS ID and the PSBCH content originate from a UE directly synchronized to the GNSS.

[0166] Example 17 may include a method according to Example 6, wherein the SLSS ID and PSBCH content originate from the network eNB / gNB.

[0167] Example 18 may include an apparatus for sidelink synchronization of new radio vehicle-to-everything (NR V2X) communications in a wireless communication system. The apparatus may include a processor and a memory storing instructions. When executed by the processor, the instructions may configure the apparatus to determine a loss of global satellite navigation system (GNSS) synchronization of a user equipment (UE), attempt synchronization with a next generation Node B / eNodeB (gNB / eNB) node for the UE, and determine successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node for the UE, wherein the successful synchronization includes gNB / eNB timing aligned with GNSS timing of the lost GNSS synchronization.

[0168] Example 19 may include the apparatus of Example 18, wherein prior to determining a loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE, the UE has successful GNSS synchronization.

[0169] Example 20 may include an apparatus according to Example 19, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization.

[0170] Example 21 may include an apparatus according to Example 19, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

[0171] Example 22 may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readable storage medium may include instructions. When executed by a computer, the instructions may cause the computer to determine a loss of global satellite navigation system (GNSS) synchronization of a user equipment (UE), attempt synchronization with a next generation Node B / eNodeB (gNB / eNB) node for the UE, and determine successful synchronization with the gNB / eNB node for the UE, wherein the successful synchronization includes gNB / eNB timing aligned with GNSS timing of the lost GNSS synchronization.

[0172] Example 23 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Example 22, wherein prior to determining a loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE, the UE has successful GNSS synchronization.

[0173] Example 24 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Example 23, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization.

[0174] Example 25 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Example 23, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

[0175] Example 1C may include an apparatus comprising a device for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the above examples or any other method or process described herein.

[0176] Example 2C may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the above examples or any other method or process described herein.

[0177] Example 3C may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the above examples or any other method or process described herein.

[0178] Example 4C may include a method, technique, or process, or a portion or component thereof, as described in or related to any of the above examples.

[0179] Example 5C may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or portion thereof, described in or related to any of the above examples.

[0180] Example 6C may include a signal or portion or component thereof as described in or related to any of the above examples.

[0181] Example 7C may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU) or message or a portion or component thereof as described in or related to any of the above examples, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0182] Example 8C may include a signal encoded with data, or a portion or component thereof, as described in any of the above examples or related thereto, or as otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0183] Example 9C may include a signal or portion or component thereof encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message as described or associated with any of the above examples, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0184] Example 10C may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, where execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any of the above examples, or a portion thereof.

[0185] Example 11C may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any of the above examples, or a portion thereof.

[0186] Example 12C may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0187] Example 13C may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0188] Example 14C may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0189] Example 15C may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0190] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0191] Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that may be embodied in machine executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. A computer system may include one or more general or special purpose computers (or other electronic devices). A computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic components for performing operations, or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0192] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially incorporated into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. For clarity, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that unless otherwise stated herein, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment.

[0193] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for sidelink synchronization of new radio vehicle-to-everything NR V2X communication in a wireless communication system performed by a user equipment UE, the method comprising: Detect valid synchronization source; triggering sidelink communication with the detected valid synchronization source without regard to a priority associated with the valid synchronization source; as well as continuing the search for one or more high-priority valid synchronization sources having a higher priority than the detected valid synchronization source; Determining a loss of global navigation satellite system GNSS synchronization of the UE; In response to the loss of the GNSS synchronization, performing synchronization for the UE with a base station, wherein the GNSS timing of the base station is timing aligned with the GNSS timing of the lost GNSS synchronization; as well as A side link synchronization signal SLSS identification ID and a physical side link broadcast channel PSBCH content are derived, wherein the derivation of the SLSSID and the PSBCH content is based at least in part on whether the UE is: directly synchronized with the GNSS, indirectly synchronized with the GNSS, directly synchronized with a base station, or indirectly synchronized with a base station. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the synchronization with the base station is direct synchronization. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronization with the base station is an indirect synchronization. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to determining the loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE, the UE has successful GNSS synchronization. The method of claim 4 , wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization. The method of claim 4 , wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: After detecting a high priority valid synchronization source among the one or more high priority valid synchronization sources, Attempt to synchronize with the detected high priority valid synchronization source; as well as A successful synchronization with a detected high priority valid synchronization source is determined.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the search for one or more high priority valid synchronization sources occurs repeatedly during an initial sidelink synchronization process.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is pre-configured with sidelink parameters including subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix type.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content are derived from base station configuration signaling.

11. The method according to claim 2, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content are derived from pre-configuration.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content originate from a UE that is directly synchronized to the base station.

13. The method according to claim 5, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content are derived from pre-configuration.

14. The method according to claim 5, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content are derived from a network base station.

15. The method of claim 6, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content originate from a UE directly synchronized to a GNSS.

16. The method according to claim 6, wherein the SLSSID and the PSBCH content are derived from a network base station.

17. An apparatus for sidelink synchronization of new radio vehicle-to-everything NR V2X communications in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising: processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the apparatus to: Detect valid synchronization source; triggering sidelink communication with the detected valid synchronization source without regard to a priority associated with the valid synchronization source; as well as continuing the search for one or more high-priority valid synchronization sources having a higher priority than the detected valid synchronization source; Determining loss of global navigation satellite system GNSS synchronization of the UE; In response to the loss of GNSS synchronization, performing synchronization for the UE with a base station, wherein the base station is timing aligned; as well as A side link synchronization signal SLSS identification ID and a physical side link broadcast channel PSBCH content are derived, wherein the derivation of the SLSSID and the PSBCH content is based at least in part on whether the UE is: directly synchronized with the GNSS, indirectly synchronized with the GNSS, directly synchronized with a base station, or indirectly synchronized with a base station.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the UE has successful GNSS synchronization prior to determining the loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

21. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to: Detect valid synchronization source; triggering sidelink communication with the detected valid synchronization source without regard to a priority associated with the valid synchronization source; as well as continuing the search for one or more high-priority valid synchronization sources having a higher priority than the detected valid synchronization source; Determining loss of global navigation satellite system GNSS synchronization of the UE; In response to the loss of GNSS synchronization, performing synchronization for the UE with a base station, wherein the base station is timing aligned; as well as A side link synchronization signal SLSS identification ID and a physical side link broadcast channel PSBCH content are derived, wherein the derivation of the SLSSID and the PSBCH content is based at least in part on whether the UE is: directly synchronized with the GNSS, indirectly synchronized with the GNSS, directly synchronized with a base station, or indirectly synchronized with a base station.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein prior to determining the loss of GNSS synchronization of the UE, the UE had successful GNSS synchronization.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is a direct synchronization.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the successful GNSS synchronization is an indirect synchronization.

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