PUSCH default beam in NR with multi-TRP multi-panel operation

Abstract

The present invention provides a technique for selecting a spatial relationship for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission performed by a user equipment (UE) operating in a multiple transmission reception point (TRP) multiple antenna panel environment. For example, the UE prepares a PUSCH transmission intended for a first TRP among multiple TRPs available to the UE in a wireless network, and determines a first antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups of the UE, which is more directionally aligned with the first TRP than other antenna port groups in the multiple antenna port groups. The UE also transmits the PUSCH transmission to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, which is used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 847,060, filed May 13, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

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

[0004] Embodiments of the present disclosure include systems, apparatus, methods, and computer-readable media for selecting spatial relationships for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmissions for user equipment (UE) operating in a multiple transmission reception point (TRP) multi-antenna panel environment.

[0005] For example, some embodiments relate to a method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, comprising: preparing, by the UE, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in the wireless network; determining a first antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with the first TRP; and transmitting, by the UE, the PUSCH transmission to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, wherein the default spatial relationship is used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group.

[0006] In an embodiment of the method, the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the plurality of PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

[0007] In an embodiment, the method also includes determining a second antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with a second TRP among multiple TRPs, and transmitting a second PUSCH transmission by the UE to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, wherein the default spatial relationship is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

[0008] In an embodiment of the method, determining the first antenna port group includes using the same antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3 for initiating a radio access channel (RACH) process for initiating a connection with the first TRP.

[0009] In an embodiment of the method, determining the first antenna port group includes using the same antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to receive PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

[0010] In an embodiment of the method, the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one UE antenna panel, the corresponding one UE antenna panel is associated with multiple PUUCH resources, wherein there is a corresponding spatial relationship between one UE antenna panel and the first TRP, and wherein a default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the multiple PUUCH resources with the lowest identification (ID).

[0011] Some embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE). The UE includes a radio front-end circuit and a processor circuit coupled to the radio front-end circuit. The radio front-end circuit performs wireless communications over a wireless network. The processor circuit coupled to the radio front-end circuit prepares a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in the wireless network, and determines a first antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups of the UE, which is more directionally aligned with the first TRP than other antenna port groups in the multiple antenna port groups. The processor circuit also transmits the PUSCH transmission to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, which is used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group.

[0012] In an implementation of the UE, the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the plurality of PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

[0013] In the UE implementation, PUSCH transmission is scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0.

[0014] In an implementation of the UE, the processor circuit also determines a second antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups of the UE, which is more directionally aligned with a second TRP among the multiple TRPs than other antenna port groups, and transmits a second PUSCH transmission to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, which is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

[0015] In an implementation of the UE, the first antenna port group is determined to be the same antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups for transmitting Msg3 for a radio access channel (RACH) process connected to the first TRP.

[0016] In an implementation of the UE, the first antenna port group is determined to be the same antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups for receiving PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

[0017] In an implementation of the UE, the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one of the UE antenna panels, wherein one of the UE antenna panels is associated with multiple PUUCH resources, wherein there is a corresponding spatial relationship between one of the UE antenna panels and the first TRP, and wherein a default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the multiple PUUCH resources having the lowest identification (ID) of the multiple PUUCH resources.

[0018] Some embodiments relate to a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform operations. The operations include: preparing a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in a wireless network; determining a first antenna port group among a plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with the first TRP; and transmitting the PUSCH transmission to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communications with the first TRP via the first antenna port group.

[0019] In an implementation of the non-transitory computer readable medium, the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0 received from the wireless network.

[0020] In an embodiment of the non-transitory computer readable medium, the default spatial relationship is associated with a particular PUUCH resource among the plurality of PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

[0021] In an embodiment of a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the operation also includes determining a second antenna port group among a plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with a second TRP among a plurality of TRPs, and transmitting a second PUSCH transmission by the UE to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, wherein the default spatial relationship is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

[0022] In an embodiment of a non-transitory computer-readable medium, determining the first antenna port group includes using the same antenna port group among multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3 for a radio access channel (RACH) process for initiating a connection to the first TRP.

[0023] In an embodiment of the non-transitory computer-readable medium, determining the first antenna port group includes using the same antenna port group from a plurality of antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to receive the PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

[0024] In an embodiment of a non-transitory computer-readable medium, a first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one UE antenna panel, which is associated with a plurality of PUUCH resources, wherein there is a corresponding spatial relationship between the one UE antenna panel and the first TRP, and wherein a default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the plurality of PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 Depicts a multiple transmission reception point (TRP) multi-antenna panel environment.

[0026] Figure 2 Depicted is a multi-TRP multi-antenna panel environment according to some embodiments.

[0027] Figure 3 Depicted is another multi-TRP multi-antenna panel environment according to some embodiments.

[0028] Figure 4 Depicted is the architecture of a network system according to some embodiments.

[0029] Figure 5 An architecture of a system including a first core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0030] Figure 6 An architecture of a system including a second core network according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0031] Figure 7 Depicted are examples of infrastructure equipment according to various embodiments.

[0032] Figure 8 Depicted are exemplary components of a computer platform according to various embodiments.

[0033] Fig. 9 Depicted are exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio frequency circuitry according to various embodiments.

[0034] Fig.10 is a diagram of various protocol functions that may be used in various protocol stacks according to various embodiments.

[0035] Fig.11 Depicted are block diagrams showing components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments.

[0036] Fig.12 Depicted are exemplary flow charts according to various embodiments discussed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0038] Currently for PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the UE should apply the default spatial relationship, which is the spatial relationship used by the PUCCH resource with the lowest resource ID. The spatial relationship can be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource indicator (CRI), a synchronization signal block (SSB) resource indicator (SSB-RI) or a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource indicator (SRI).

[0039] However, in the scenario of multi-transmission reception point (TRP) multi-panel operation, the current scheme may have some problems with the default spatial relationship of the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0. For example, Figure 1 As shown, UE 102 communicates with TRP A and TRP B using corresponding antenna panel 1 and antenna panel 2. The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource with the lowest ID, i.e., PUCCH resource #0, is configured to have a spatial relationship with CSI-RS #6 from TRP A, as shown in 104. In this case, if TRP B schedules the UE for PUSCH transmission using DCI 0_0, then according to existing schemes, the PUSCH will follow the spatial relationship of CSI-RS #6, which points to the wrong TRP, such as TRP A. As used herein, "spatial relationship" may refer to antenna beam placement, where an antenna beam may be "steered" at multiple directional angles by a corresponding antenna panel (e.g., "panel") of a UE. Figure 1 shown.

[0040] To address this issue, PUSCH may follow the spatial relationship of one PUCCH resource from the same TRP or the same UE panel. In other words, PUSCH should follow the spatial relationship of one PUCCH resource from the UE panel that is directionally aligned with the desired TRP.

[0041] In the present disclosure, an implementation scheme for deriving the default spatial relationship of a PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0 in a multi-TRP multi-panel operation scenario is provided.

[0042] Scenario A: Default spatial relationship of PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0 with multi-TRP multi-panel operation

[0043] To solve this problem, it should be determined that the spatial relationship of the PUSCH should follow one of the specific PUCCH resources from the same UE panel or the same TRP. Figure 2 As shown, when TRP B schedules PUSCH transmission using DCI 0_0, the default spatial relationship shall follow one of the specific PUCCH resources, e.g., the PUCCH resource whose spatial relationship (CRI, SSB-RI or SRI) is from the same TRP or the same UE antenna panel with the lowest ID. Figure 2 , PUCCH resource #6 is the lowest ID among the PUCCH resources whose spatial relation comes from TRP B. Therefore, PUSCH transmission should follow the spatial relation of PUCCH resource #6, as shown in 204.

[0044] In one embodiment, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one PUCCH resource in a specific PUCCH resource, for example, the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID from the same UE panel or the same TRP. For PUCCH / PUSCH spatial relationship, antenna port groups should be introduced. And each antenna port group corresponds to one UE antenna panel (for example, Figure 2 Antenna Panel 1 or Antenna Panel 2 as shown). When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the antenna port group of PUSCH should be indicated. In addition, the default spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one PUCCH resource in a specific PUCCH resource with the same antenna port group, for example, the lowest ID within the same antenna group.

[0045] Alternatively, each antenna port group for PUCCH spatial relation may be associated with a different TRP or a different downlink demodulation reference signal (DMRS) port group. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relation of PUSCH shall follow one of the specific PUCCH resources whose antenna port group is associated with the same scheduled TRP or the same downlink DMRS port group as the scheduled PDCCH / DCI.

[0046] In another embodiment, the following options may be applied to determine the antenna port group for a PUSCH scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0:

[0047] Option 1: It can be indicated by DCI or higher layer signaling or predefined. Before RRC connection, the antenna port group should be the same as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3.

[0048] Option 2: Multiple Radio Network Temporary Identifiers (RNTIs) can be introduced for UEs operating with multiple TRPs and multiple panels, where each RNTI corresponds to one UE panel or one TRP. When scheduling PUSCH via DCI format 0_0, the correct UE panel can be selected based on different RNTI settings.

[0049] • Option 3: The same antenna port group as that used for receiving the scheduling PDCCH should be applied to PUSCH transmission.

[0050] In another embodiment, the PUCCH resources may be configured into different groups. Each PUCCH group may be associated with a different TRP or associated with a different PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) group. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relationship of PUSCH shall follow the spatial relationship of a specific PUCCH resource in a PUCCH resource group (e.g., the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID in a PUCCH resource group).

[0051] If PUCCH resource groups are associated with different TRPs, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow the spatial relationship of a specific PUCCH resource in the PUCCH resource group associated with the scheduling TRP (for example, the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID in the PUCCH resource group).

[0052] If a PUCCH resource group is associated with different PDCCH CORESET groups, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow the spatial relationship of one specific PUCCH resource in the PUCCH resource group associated with the scheduled PDCCH CORESET (e.g., the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID in the PUCCH resource group).

[0053] Scenario B: Default spatial relationship of PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0 with single TRP multi-panel operation

[0054] Another scenario is an operation with a single TRP and multiple UE panels, such as Figure 3 0_0 for UE 302. In this case, when determining the default spatial relationship of the PUSCH scheduled by DCI 0_0, the UE panel (eg, panel 1 or panel 2) should be correctly selected.

[0055] In one embodiment, for PUCCH / PUSCH spatial relationship, antenna port groups should be introduced. And each antenna port group corresponds to a UE antenna panel. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the antenna port group of PUSCH should be indicated. In addition, the default spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one PUCCH resource in a specific PUCCH resource with the same antenna port group, for example, the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID with the same antenna port group.

[0056] Alternatively, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI 0_0, the UE may first select an antenna panel for PUSCH (the selection criteria may depend on the specific implementation, e.g. based on L1-RSRP received in the downlink). Then, when determining the spatial relation of PUSCH, it may follow one of the specific PUCCH resources, e.g. the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID whose spatial relation is observed by the same UE antenna panel. Figure 3 As shown, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI0_0, the UE can select antenna panel #2 for PUSCH transmission because the downlink L1-RSRP is measured higher by the Rx beam 304 of panel #2. Then, the UE selects the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID, resource #6, whose spatial relationship is observed by UE antenna panel #2. And the PUSCH transmission will follow the spatial relationship of PUCCH resource #6.

[0057] In another option, the panel for PUSCH transmission is selected as the same panel that receives the scheduling PDCCH DCI. And the UE panel can be selected based on the TCI state of the scheduling PDCCH. Then, the UE can select a spatial relationship of a PUCCH resource with the same panel, such as the lowest ID associated with the panel. And the PUSCH transmission will follow the spatial relationship of the selected PUCCH resource.

[0058] It should be noted that the implementation in scenario A can be applied to scenario B.

[0059] In some embodiments, Figures 4 to 10 The electronic device, network, system, chip or component or part or specific implementation in some other figure of this article can be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods described in this article or part thereof. One such method is Fig.12 1200. For example, any one of UEs 202, 302, 401, 501, or 601 may be configured to perform method 1200 to select a spatial relationship for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission for a user equipment (UE) operating in a multiple transmission reception point (TRP) multiple antenna panel environment.

[0060] In step 1202, the method prepares, by the UE, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in a wireless network. Figure 2 , UE 202 prepares a PUSCH transmission intended for TRP B.

[0061] In step 1204, the method determines a first antenna port group of a plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with the first TRP, wherein each antenna port group corresponds to a UE antenna panel. More specifically, for a UE having multiple antenna panels, an antenna panel that is more directionally aligned with the first TRP relative to other antenna panels is selected. For example, referring to Figure 2 , antenna panel 2 of UE 202 is more directionally aligned with TRP B relative to antenna panel 1. As discussed herein, this can be determined based on a previous transmission, such as Msg3 during a RACH procedure performed by the UE, or the antenna panel used to receive a PUUCH schedule from the base station. Alternatively, the appropriate panel can be identified by DCI or higher layer signaling from the TRP.

[0062] In step 1206, the method transmits, by the UE, a PUSCH transmission to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship for (e.g., previously used) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communications with the first TRP via the first antenna port group. In other words, the spatial relationship of the PUSCH transmission may be a spatial relationship of a previous PUCCH transmission that was also transmitted using the first antenna port group (e.g., the same antenna panel as used for the PUSCH transmission).

[0063] In an embodiment, the default spatial relationship is associated with a particular PUUCH resource among the plurality of PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) associated with the first antenna port group.

[0064] In an embodiment, the method further includes determining a second antenna port group among the plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with a second TRP among the plurality of TRPs, and transmitting, by the UE, a second PUSCH transmission to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group. In other words, different TRPs may result in the selection of different antenna port groups and, therefore, different spatial relationships.

[0065] In an embodiment, the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one UE antenna panel, which is associated with multiple PUUCH resources, wherein there is a corresponding spatial relationship between one UE antenna panel and the first TRP, and wherein a default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUUCH resource among the multiple PUUCH resources having a lowest identification (ID).

[0066] In an embodiment, the functions and / or processes of flowchart 1200 and related discussion may be at least partially performed or controlled by application circuitry 705 or 805, baseband circuitry 710 or 810, and / or processor 1100 of the UE.

[0067] System and implementation

[0068] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system 400 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 400 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WLAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0069] like Figure 4 As shown, system 400 includes UE 401a and UE 401b (collectively referred to as "UE 401"). In this example, UE 401 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine electronic control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an IoT device, etc.

[0070] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 401 may include an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0071] UE 401 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to RAN 410. In an embodiment, RAN 410 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 410 operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 410 operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. UE 401 utilizes connections (or channels) 403 and 404, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0072] In this example, connections 403 and 404 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 401 may directly exchange communication data via ProSe interface 405. ProSe interface 405 may alternatively be referred to as SL interface 405, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0073] UE 401b is shown as being configured to access AP 406 (also referred to as "WLAN node 406," "WLAN 406," "WLAN terminal 406," "WT 406," etc.) via connection 407. Connection 407 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 406 will include Wireless Fidelity (WFI). ) router. In this example, AP 406 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 401b, RAN 410, and AP 406 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 401b in RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 411a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 401b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 407) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 407. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0074] RAN 410 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 411a and 411b (collectively referred to as "RAN node 411") that enable connections 403 and 404. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0075] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splitting, such as PDCP splitting, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 411; MAC / PHY splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 411; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 411. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 411 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, individual RAN nodes 411 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 411 connected to the RAN via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 4 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 7 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 410 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 401 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 6 CN 620) RAN node.

[0076] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be an RSU or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 401 (vUE 401). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0077] Any of the RAN nodes 411 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 401. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 411 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 410, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0078] In an embodiment, UE 401 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 411 using OFDM communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0079] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 411 to the UE 401, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0080] According to various embodiments, UE 401 and RAN node 411 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0081] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0082] LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (e.g., UE 401 RAN node 411, etc.) utilizes the mechanism to sense the medium (e.g., 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 on an expected transmission band over a period of time, and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0083] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 401, AP 406, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0084] 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.

[0085] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 401 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0086] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 401. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 401 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 401b within the cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 411 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 401. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the multiple UEs 401.

[0087] 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).

[0088] 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.

[0089] RAN nodes 411 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 412. In embodiments where system 400 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 420 is a Figure 5 401 ), the interface 412 may be an X2 interface 412. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 420. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 401 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 401; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0090] When system 400 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 420 is Figure 6In an implementation scheme of the 5GC 620 in the 5GC 420, the interface 412 may be an Xn interface 412. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 420, between a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 420. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 401 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 411. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 411 to the new (target) serving RAN node 411; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 411 and the new (target) serving RAN node 411. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0091] RAN 410 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 420. CN 420 may include a plurality of network elements 422 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 401) connected to CN 420 via RAN 410. The components of CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0092] Generally speaking, the application server 430 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 430 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 401 via the EPC 420 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0093] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 420" or the like), and RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an NG interface 413. In an embodiment, NG interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and AMF. Figure 6 An implementation of CN 420 as 5GC 420 is discussed in more detail.

[0094] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 420", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 420 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 420 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 420", etc.), RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an S1 interface 413. In an embodiment, S1 interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and MME.

[0095] Figure 5 FIG. 5 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 500 including a first CN 520 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 500 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 520 is a Figure 4 In addition, UE 501 may communicate with Figure 4 The UE 401 is the same as or similar to the UE 401, and the E-UTRAN 510 may be Figure 4 The CN 520 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 410 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 411 discussed previously. The CN 520 may include an MME 521, an S-GW 522, a P-GW 523, an HSS 524, and an SGSN 525.

[0096] The MME 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 501. The MME 521 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data stores, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 501, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 501 and MME 521 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 501 and the MME 521. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 501. The MME 521 may be coupled to the HSS 524 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 525 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 522 via an S11 reference point.

[0097] SGSN 525 may be a node that serves UE 501 by tracking the location of individual UE 501 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 525 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 521; handling of UE 501 time zone functions, as specified by MME 521; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 521 and SGSN 525 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0098] The HSS 524 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 520 may include one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 524 and the MME 521 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 520 between the HSS 524 and the MME 521.

[0099] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 413 towards the RAN 510 (at Figure 5 The S-GW 522 may be a local mobile anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 522 and the MME 521 may provide a control plane between the MME 521 and the S-GW 522. The S-GW 522 may be coupled to the P-GW 523 via the S5 reference point.

[0100] The P-GW 523 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 530. The P-GW 523 may communicate with the PDN 530 via the IP interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) routes data packets between EPC 520 and external networks such as a network including application server 430 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 523 can communicate via IP communication interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 4 Application server 430 or Figure 5The S5 reference point between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 522 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 501 and whether the S-GW 522 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 523 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 523 may also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection, such as a PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 523 and the packet data network (PDN) 530 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 523 may be coupled to the PCRF 526 via a Gx reference point.

[0101] PCRF 526 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 526 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 501. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 501: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to application server 530 via P-GW 523. Application server 530 may signal PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 526 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which function starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 530. The Gx reference point between PCRF 526 and P-GW 523 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 526 to PCEF in P-GW 523. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 530 (or "AF 530") and PCRF 526.

[0102] Figure 6The architecture of a system 600 including a second CN 620 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 600 is shown to include a UE 601, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 401 and UE 501; a (R) AN 610, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 410 and RAN 510, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 411; and a DN 603, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 620. The 5GC 620 may include an AUSF 622; an AMF 621; an SMF 624; an NEF 623; a PCF 626; an NRF 625; an UDM 627; an AF 628; an UPF 602; and an NSSF 629.

[0103] UPF 602 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 603, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 602 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) on the user plane, perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 602 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 603 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 603 may include or be similar to the application server 430 discussed previously. UPF 602 may interact with SMF 624 via the N4 reference point between SMF 624 and UPF 602.

[0104] The AUSF 622 may store data for authentication of the UE 601 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 622 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 622 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 621 and the AUSF 622; and may communicate with the UDM 627 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 627 and the AUSF 622. In addition, the AUSF 622 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0105] AMF 621 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 601, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 621 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 621 and SMF 624. AMF 621 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 601 and SMF 624, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 621 may also provide a transport for UE 601 and SMSF ( Figure 6 The AMF 621 may provide transport for SMS messages between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 (not shown). The AMF 621 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 622 and the UE 601, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 601 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 621 may retrieve security materials from the AUSF 622. The AMF 621 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 621 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621; and the AMF 621 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0106] The AMF 621 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 601 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R) AN 610 and the AMF 621 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 610 and the UPF 602 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 621 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 624 and the AMF 621, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 via the N1 reference point between the UE 601 and the AMF 621, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 601 and the UPF 602. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 601. The AMF 621 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMF 621 and the AMF 621 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 6 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0107] UE 601 may need to register with AMF 621 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 601 with the network (e.g., AMF 621) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 621). UE 601 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 601 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 cannot reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 can reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 can perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that UE 601 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0108] The AMF 621 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 601, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 621 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 621 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 601 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 621 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0109] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 601 and the CN 620, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 601 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 610) and the AMF 621. The UE 601 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 601 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 601 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. When the UE 601 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 601 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 may cause the UE 601 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 is released, the UE 601 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0110] SMF 624 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering of UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 601 and a data network (DN) 603 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by UE 601, modified upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620, and released upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620 using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between UE 601 and SMF 624. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 620 may trigger a specific application in UE 601. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 601 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 601. The identified applications in UE 601 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 624 may check whether the UE 601 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 601. In this regard, SMF 624 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 624 level subscription data from UDM 627.

[0111] SMF 624 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 624 may be included in the system 600, which may be located between an SMF 624 in a visited network and another SMF 624 in a home network. In addition, SMF 624 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0112] NEF 623 may provide components for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 628), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 623 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 623 may also convert information exchanged with AF 628 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 623 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 623 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the exposure capabilities of other network functions. The information may be stored at NEF 623 as structured data or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 623 and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 623 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0113] NRF 625 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 625 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 625 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0114] PCF 626 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. PCF 626 may also implement FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 627. PCF 626 may communicate with AMF 621 via the N15 reference point between PCF 626 and AMF 621, which may include PCF 626 in a visited network and AMF 621 in a roaming scenario. PCF 626 may communicate with AF 628 via the N5 reference point between PCF 626 and AF 628; and communicate with SMF 624 via the N7 reference point between PCF 626 and SMF 624. System 600 and / or CN 620 may also include an N24 reference point between PCF 626 (in the home network) and PCF 626 in the visited network. In addition, PCF 626 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0115] UDM 627 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 601. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 627 and AMF 621 via an N8 reference point between UDM 627 and AMF. UDM 627 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 6 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 627 and PCF 626, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 623 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 601). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 627, PCF 626 and NEF 623 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 624 via the N10 reference point between UDM 627 and SMF 624. UDM 627 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as described above. In addition, UDM 627 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0116] AF 628 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 620 and AF 628 to provide information to each other via NEF 623, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 601 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 602 near UE 601 and perform traffic steering from UPF 602 to DN 603 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 628. In this way, AF 628 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 628 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 628 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 628 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0117] NSSF 629 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 601. If necessary, NSSF 629 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 629 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMF 621, to serve UE 601 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 625. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 601 may be triggered by AMF 621, where UE 601 registers by interacting with NSSF 629, which may cause AMF 621 to change. NSSF 629 may interact with AMF 621 via the N22 reference point between AMF 621 and NSSF 629; and may communicate with AMF 621 via the N31 reference point ( Figure 6 The NSSF 629 may communicate with another NSSF 629 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 629 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0118] As discussed previously, CN 620 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages from / to other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers, to / from UE 601. SMS may also interact with AMF 621 and UDM 627 for notification procedures that UE 601 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 627 when UE 601 is available for SMS).

[0119] CN 120 may also include Figure 6 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 6 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data in or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 6 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0120] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 6These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 620 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 521) and an AMF 621, to enable intercommunication between CN 620 and CN 520. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0121] Figure 7 An example of infrastructure equipment 700 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 700 (or "system 700") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 411 and / or AP 406 shown and described previously), an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 700 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0122] System 700 may include: application circuit 705, baseband circuit 710, one or more radio front end modules 715, memory circuit 720, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725, power tee circuit 730, network controller circuit 735, network interface connector 740, satellite positioning circuit 745 and user interface 750. In some embodiments, device 700 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations.

[0123] Application circuit 705 includes circuits such as, but not limited to: one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of application circuit 705 can be coupled with memory / storage element or can include memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 700. In some 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.

[0124] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 705 may include one or more Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or processors; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 700 may not utilize application circuit 705, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0125] In some implementations, the application circuit 705 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 705 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 705 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0126] Baseband circuit 710 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 710 are discussed.

[0127] The user interface circuit 750 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 700 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 700. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0128] The radio front end module (RFEM) 715 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9Antenna array 911), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 715 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0129] The memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 720 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0130] The PMIC 725 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 730 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 700 using a single cable.

[0131] The network controller circuit 735 may provide a connection to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 700 via a network interface connector 740, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 735 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some specific implementations, the network controller circuit 735 may include multiple controllers for providing connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0132] The positioning circuit 745 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 745 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 745 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 745 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 710 and / or RFEM 715 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 745 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 705, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 411, etc.), etc.

[0133] Figure 7 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0134] Figure 8 An example of a platform 800 (or "device 800") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 800 may be suitable for use as a UE 401, 501, 601, an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 800 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 800 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 800, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 8The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 800. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0135] The application circuit 805 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general I / O, memory card controller (such as SD MMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 805 can be coupled with or can include a memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 800. In some 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.

[0136] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0137] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 805 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of application circuit 805 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 805 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 805 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as available from Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0138] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 805 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0139] Baseband circuit 810 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig. 9 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 810 are discussed.

[0140] The RFEM 815 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig. 9 Antenna array 911), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 815 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0141] The memory circuit 820 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 820 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 820 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 820 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 820 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 805. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 820 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among 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 800 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0142] The removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuits, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to the platform 800. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0143] The platform 800 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 800. External devices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 821 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 822, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 823.

[0144] Sensor circuitry 821 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment, and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0145] EMC 822 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable platform 800 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control mechanisms or (sub) systems. In addition, EMC 822 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of platform 800 to indicate the current state of EMC 822. EMC 822 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 800 is configured to operate one or more EMC822 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0146] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 to the positioning circuit 845. The positioning circuit 845 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 845 may include various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 845 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 845 may also be part of the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RFEM 815 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 805 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0147] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 840. The NFC circuit 840 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where a magnetic field is sensed to enable communication between the NFC circuit 840 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 800. The NFC circuit 840 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 840 by executing an NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 840, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 840 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 800.

[0148] The driver circuit 846 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 800. The driver circuit 846 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 800 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 800. For example, the driver circuit 846 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 800, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 821 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 821, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 822 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 822, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0149] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825 (also referred to as “power management circuit 825”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 800. Specifically, the PMIC 825 may control power selection, voltage regulation, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 810. When the platform 800 is capable of being powered by a battery 830, for example, when the device is included in a UE 401, 501, 601, the PMIC 825 may be generally included.

[0150] In some embodiments, the PMIC 825 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if the platform 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 800 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the platform is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. are performed. The platform 800 enters an extremely low power state and performs paging, in which the platform periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 800 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0151] The battery 830 can power the platform 800, but in some examples, the platform 800 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 830 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 830 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0152] In some implementations, the battery 830 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 800 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 830, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 830, to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 830 to the application circuit 805 or other components of the platform 800. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 805 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 830 or the current from the battery 830. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 800 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0153] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 830 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0154] The user interface circuit 850 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 800, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 800 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 800. The user interface circuit 850 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, 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 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.), and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0155] Although not shown, the components of platform 800 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0156] Fig. 9 9 and 915. Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 910 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 915 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 910 corresponds to Figure 7 and Figure 8 Baseband circuits 710 and 810. RFEM 915 corresponds accordingly Figure 7 and Figure 8 RFEM 715 and 815. As shown, RFEM 915 may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front end module (FEM) circuitry 908, and an antenna array 911 coupled together at least as shown.

[0157] The baseband circuit 910 includes circuits and / or control logic components that are configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 906. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 910 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906. The baseband circuit 910 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 705 / 805 (see Figure 7 and Figure 8 ) are connected to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 906. Baseband circuit 910 can handle various radio control functions.

[0158] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 910 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 904A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 904B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 904C, or some other baseband processors 904D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 904A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 904G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 904E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 904A to 904D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with an appropriate bitstream or logic block stored in a corresponding memory unit. In various embodiments, the memory 904G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor), will enable the CPU 904E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 910, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-TimeExecutive (VRTX) provided by Express Provided by ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by Open Kernel (OK) OKL4 provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 904F. The audio DSP 904F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0159] In some embodiments, each of processors 904A-904E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from memory 904G. Baseband circuit 910 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 910; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figures 7 to XApplication circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 705 / 805 of T; Fig. 9 RF circuit 906 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 825.

[0160] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 910 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem and the interface subsystem via an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure and / or some other suitable bus or interconnection technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 910 may include a protocol processing circuit with one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 915).

[0161] although Fig. 9Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In a first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 910 and / or the RF circuit 906 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In a second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuit may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 904G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuit 910 may also support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol.

[0162] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 910 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the RF circuit 906 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 906 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 906). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 910 and the application circuit 705 / 805 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0163] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 910 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 910 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0164] RF circuit 906 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 906 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 906 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 908 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 910. RF circuit 906 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 910 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 908.

[0165] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a mixer circuit 906a, an amplifier circuit 906b, and a filter circuit 906c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 906 may include a filter circuit 906c and a mixer circuit 906a. The RF circuit 906 may also include a synthesizer circuit 906d, which is used to synthesize the frequency used by the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 908 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 906d. The amplifier circuit 906b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 906c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 910 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0166] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 906d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 908. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 910 and may be filtered by filter circuit 906c.

[0167] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and quadrature up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 906a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 906a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0168] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 906 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 910 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 906.

[0169] 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.

[0170] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 906d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0171] Synthesizer circuit 906d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 906a of RF circuit 906. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 906d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0172] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 910 or the application circuit 705 / 805 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 705 / 805.

[0173] The synthesizer circuit 906d of the RF circuit 906 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on 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.

[0174] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 906d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 906 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0175] FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 911, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 906 for further processing. FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in antenna array 911. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal paths may be accomplished only in RF circuitry 906, only in FEM circuitry 908, or in both RF circuitry 906 and FEM circuitry 908.

[0176] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 908 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 908 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 906). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 908 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 906), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 911.

[0177] The antenna array 911 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 910 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 911 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 911 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 911 may be formed as a patch of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., a patch antenna) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 906 and / or the FEM circuit 908 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0178] The processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 and the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 910 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 705 / 805 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0179] Fig.10 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments are shown. Specifically, Fig.10 An arrangement 1000 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig.10The following description, but Fig.10 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0180] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1000 may also include one or more of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, SDAP 1047, RRC 1055, and NAS layer 1057. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig.10 Items 1059, 1056, 1050, 1049, 1045, 1035, 1025 and 1015).

[0181] PHY 1010 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 1005, which can be received from one or more other communication devices or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1005 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1010 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC1055). PHY 1010 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 1010 may process a request from an instance of MAC1020 via one or more PHY-SAP 1015, and provide an indication thereto. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 1015 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0182] An instance of MAC 1020 may process requests from an instance of RLC 1030 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1025 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 1025 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1020 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 1010 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1010 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0183] An instance of RLC 1030 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 1040 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1035 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 1035 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1030 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 1030 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 1030 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0184] An instance of PDCP 1040 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1055 and / or an instance of SDAP 1047 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 1045 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 1045 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1040 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0185] An instance of SDAP 1047 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1049 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 1049 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1047 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1047 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 410 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 1047 of UE 401 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 610 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1055 configuring the SDAP 1047 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 1047. In an embodiment, the SDAP 1047 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0186] The RRC 1055 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1010, MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and SDAP 1047, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 1055 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1057 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1056. The main services and functions of the RRC 1055 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 401 and the RAN 410 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0187] NAS 1057 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 401 and AMF 621. NAS 1057 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0188] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 1000 may be implemented in UE 401, RAN node 411, AMF 621 in NR implementation or MME 521 in LTE implementation, UPF 602 in NR implementation or S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 401, gNB 411, AMF 621, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 411 may host the gNB's RRC 1055, SDAP 1047, and PDCP 1040 that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 411 may each host the RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 of gNB 411.

[0189] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1057, RRC 1055, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010. In this example, an upper layer 1060 may be built on top of NAS 1057, which includes an IP layer 1061, SCTP 1062, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1063.

[0190] In a NR specific implementation, AP 1063 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1063 for the NG interface 413 defined between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621, or AP 1063 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1063 for the Xn interface 412 defined between two or more RAN nodes 411.

[0191] The NG-AP 1063 may support the functionality of the NG interface 413 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621. The NG-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 401) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 411 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 621 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 621 and the NG-RAN node 411; a mobility function for the UE 401 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; a ... 420 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 411; and / or other similar functions.

[0192] The XnAP 1063 may support the functions of the Xn interface 412 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 411 (or E-UTRAN 510), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 401, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0193] In an LTE specific implementation, the AP 1063 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 for the S1 interface 413 defined between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME, or the AP 1063 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1063 for the X2 interface 412 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 411.

[0194] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1063 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME 521 within the LTE CN 420. The S1-AP 1063 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0195] The X2AP 1063 may support the functions of the X2 interface 412 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 420, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 401, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0196] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1062 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 1062 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 411 and the AMF 621 / MME 521 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 1061. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1061 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1061 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 411 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0197] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 1047, PDCP 1040, RLC 1030, MAC 1020, and PHY 1010 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 401, RAN node 411, and UPF 602 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 1051 may be built on top of SDAP 1047 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1052, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for a user plane layer (GTP-U) 1053, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1063.

[0198] The transport network layer 1054 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 1053 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 1052 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0199] GTP-U 1053 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data may be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 1052 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 411 and the S-GW 522 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1010), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1020, RLC 1030, PDCP 1040, and / or SDAP 1047), a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 may utilize an S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 1052, and a GTP-U 1053. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW 523.

[0200] In addition, despite Fig.10Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 1063 and / or transport network layer 1054. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 401, RAN node 411, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 705 or the application circuit 805, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 910) of the UE 401 or RAN node 411. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0201] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.11 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1100 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1110, one or more memory / storage devices 1120, and one or more communication resources 1130, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1140. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1102 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1100.

[0202] Processor 1110 may include, for example, processor 1112 and processor 1114. Processor 1110 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0203] The memory / storage device 1120 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1120 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0204] The communication resources 1130 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1104 or one or more databases 1106 via the network 1108. For example, the communication resources 1130 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0205] The instructions 1150 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1110 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1150 may reside in whole or in part in at least one of the processor 1110 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1120, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1150 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1100 from any combination of the peripheral device 1104 or the database 1106. Thus, the memory of the processor 1110, the memory / storage device 1120, the peripheral device 1104, and the database 1106 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0206] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the example section below.

[0207] Example

[0208] Embodiment 1 may include a user equipment (UE) operable with multi-beam operation and having multiple antenna panels.

[0209] Embodiment 2 may include a gNodeB (TRP) that may operate with multi-beam operation. The TRP may configure the spatial relationship of PUCCH / PUSCH, which may be a CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), an SSB resource indicator (SSB-RI), or an SRS resource indicator (SRI).

[0210] Embodiment 3 may include a method according to embodiments 1 and 2 or some other embodiments of the present invention, wherein multi-TRP multi-panel operation is utilized, and when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one of the specific PUCCH resources, for example, the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID, whose spatial relationship comes from the same UE panel or the same TRP.

[0211] Embodiment 4 may include a method according to embodiment 3 or some other embodiments of the present invention, wherein for the spatial relationship of PUCCH / PUSCH, antenna port groups should be introduced. And each antenna port group corresponds to a UE antenna panel. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the antenna port group of PUSCH should be indicated. In addition, the default spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one PUCCH resource in a specific PUCCH resource with the same antenna port group, for example, the lowest ID within the same antenna group.

[0212] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to embodiment 3 or some other embodiments herein, wherein each antenna port group for PUCCH spatial relations may be associated with a different TRP or a different downlink DMRS port group. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the spatial relation of PUSCH shall follow one of the specific PUCCH resources whose antenna port group is associated with the same scheduling TRP or the same downlink DMRS port group as the scheduled PDCCH / DCI.

[0213] Embodiment 6 may include a method according to embodiment 4 or 5 or some other embodiments of the present invention, wherein the following options may be applied to determine the antenna port group for the PUSCH scheduled by DCI format 0_0. Option 1: It may be indicated by DCI or higher layer signaling or predefined. Before RRC connection, the antenna port group should be the same as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3. Option 2: Multiple RNTIs may be introduced for UEs operating with multi-TRP multi-panel, where each RNTI corresponds to a UE panel or a TRP. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the correct UE panel may be selected according to different RNTI settings. Option 3: The same antenna port group as the antenna port group used to receive the scheduled PDCCH should be applied to PUSCH transmission.

[0214] Embodiment 7 may include a method according to embodiments 1 and 2 or some other embodiments of the present invention, wherein under single TRP and multi-panel operation, for PUCCH / PUSCH spatial relationship, antenna port groups should be introduced. And each antenna port group corresponds to a UE antenna panel. When PUSCH is scheduled by DCI format 0_0, the antenna port group of PUSCH should be indicated. In addition, the default spatial relationship of PUSCH should follow one PUCCH resource in a specific PUCCH resource with the same antenna port group, for example, a PUCCH resource with the lowest ID with the same antenna port group.

[0215] Embodiment 8 may include a method according to embodiment 7 or some other embodiments herein, wherein alternatively, when PUSCH is scheduled by DCI 0_0, the UE may first select one antenna panel for PUSCH. Then, when determining the spatial relationship of PUSCH, it may follow one of the specific PUCCH resources, for example, the PUCCH resource with the lowest ID whose spatial relationship is observed by the same UE antenna panel.

[0216] Embodiment 9 may include a method according to embodiment 7 or some other embodiments herein, wherein alternatively, the panel for PUSCH transmission is selected as the same panel that receives the scheduling PDCCH DCI. And the UE panel may be selected based on the TCI state of the scheduling PDCCH. The UE may then select a spatial relationship of a PUCCH resource with the same panel, such as the lowest ID associated with the panel. And the PUSCH transmission will follow the spatial relationship of the selected PUCCH resource.

[0217] Embodiment 10 may include a method comprising configuring PUCCH resources into multiple groups, wherein each group is respectively associated with each TRP or PDCCH CORESET group; scheduling PUSCH or determining the scheduling of PUSCH through DCI format 0_0, wherein the spatial relationship of PUSCH follows the spatial relationship of the first PUCCH resource in the first PUCCH resource group.

[0218] Embodiment 11 may include a method according to embodiment 10 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the first PUCCH resource comprises a lowest identifier in a first PUCCH resource group.

[0219] Embodiment 12 may include a method according to embodiment 10 or some other embodiments herein, wherein respective PUCCH resource groups are respectively associated with respective TRPs, and a first PUCCH resource group is associated with a scheduling TRP.

[0220] Embodiment 13 may include the method of embodiment 10 or some other embodiments herein, wherein respective PUCCH resource groups are respectively associated with respective PDCCH CORESET groups, and the first PUCCH resource group is associated with a scheduling PDCCH CORESET.

[0221] Embodiment 14 may include the method of embodiment 10 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the configuration includes generating configuration information by an access node (eg, a base station); and transmitting the configuration information by the access node to the UE.

[0222] Embodiment 15 may include a method according to embodiment 10 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the configuring includes receiving, by the UE, configuration information from an access node.

[0223] Embodiment Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 15, or any other method or process described herein.

[0224] Embodiment Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 15 or any other method or process described herein.

[0225] Embodiment Z03 may include a device comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 15, or any other method or process described herein.

[0226] Embodiment Z04 may include a method, technique or process described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 15, or a portion or component thereof.

[0227] Embodiment Z05 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, process, or portion thereof described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 15.

[0228] Embodiment Z06 may include a signal according to or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 15, or a portion or component thereof.

[0229] Embodiment Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU) or message described in or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 15, or a part or component thereof, or described in other ways in the present disclosure.

[0230] Embodiment Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 15, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0231] Embodiment Z09 may include a signal encoding a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU) or message as described or associated with any one of embodiments 1 to 15, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0232] Embodiment Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein 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, or portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 15.

[0233] Embodiment Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element will cause the processing element to perform a method, technique or process described in or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 15, or a portion thereof.

[0234] Embodiment Z12 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0235] Embodiment Z13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0236] Embodiment Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0237] Embodiment Z15 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0238] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be acquired from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0239] abbreviation

[0240] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and embodiments discussed herein but are not meant to be limiting.

[0241] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0242] 4G Fourth Generation

[0243] 5G Fifth Generation

[0244] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0245] ACK

[0246] AF Application Function

[0247] AM Confirmation Mode

[0248] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0249] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0250] AN Access Network

[0251] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0252] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0253] API Application Programming Interface

[0254] APN Access Point Name

[0255] ARP Assignment Reserve Priority

[0256] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0257] AS Access Layer

[0258] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation

[0259] AUSF authentication server function

[0260] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0261] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0262] BER Bit Error Rate

[0263] BFD Beam Fault Detection

[0264] BLER Block Error Rate

[0265] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0266] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0267] BSS Business Support System

[0268] BS Base Station

[0269] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0270] BW Bandwidth

[0271] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0272] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0273] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0274] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0275] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0276] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0277] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0278] CCE Control Channel Element

[0279] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0280] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0281] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0282] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0283] CFRA Contention-free random access

[0284] CG Cell Group

[0285] CI Cell ID

[0286] CID Cell ID (eg, positioning method)

[0287] CIM Common Information Model

[0288] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0289] CK Cryptographic Key

[0290] CM Connection Management, Conditionally Mandatory

[0291] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0292] CMD command

[0293] CMS Cloud Management System

[0294] CO Conditional optional

[0295] CoMP Coordinated Multipoint

[0296] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0297] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0298] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Attachment Point

[0299] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0300] CPE user terminal equipment

[0301] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0302] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0303] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0304] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0305] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0306] CRB Common Resource Block

[0307] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0308] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0309] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0310] CS Circuit Switched

[0311] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0312] CSI Channel State Information

[0313] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0314] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0315] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0316] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0317] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0318] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0319] CSMA / CA CSMA with collision avoidance

[0320] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0321] CTS Clear to Send

[0322] CW codeword

[0323] CWS Contention Window Size

[0324] D2D Device to Device

[0325] DC Dual Connection, Direct Current

[0326] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0327] DF deployment preferences

[0328] DL Downlink

[0329] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0330] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0331] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0332] DN Data Network

[0333] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0334] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0335] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0336] DSL Digital Subscriber Line

[0337] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0338] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0339] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0340] E2E End-to-End

[0341] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0342] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0343] ED Energy Detection

[0344] EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0345] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0346] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0347] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0348] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0349] EM Element Manager

[0350] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0351] EMS Element Management System

[0352] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0353] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0354] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0355] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0356] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0357] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0358] EREG Enhanced REG, enhanced resource element group

[0359] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0360] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0361] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0362] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0363] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0364] EV2X Enhanced V2X

[0365] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0366] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0367] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0368] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0369] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0370] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0371] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0372] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel

[0373] FB Function Block

[0374] FBI Feedback

[0375] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0376] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0377] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0378] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0379] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0380] FE Front End

[0381] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0382] FFS for further study

[0383] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0384] feLAA Further Enhanced License Assisted Access, further enhanced LAA

[0385] FN Frame Number

[0386] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0387] FR Frequency Range

[0388] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0389] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0390] GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0391] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Chinese: Global Navigation Satellite System)

[0392] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0393] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0394] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0395] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0396] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0397] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Experts Group

[0398] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0399] GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol for the User Plane

[0400] GTS Go to sleep signal (related to WUS)

[0401] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0402] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0403] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0404] HANDO, HO switch

[0405] HFN Superframe Number

[0406] HHO Hard Handover

[0407] HLR Home Location Register

[0408] HN Home Network

[0409] HO Switchover

[0410] HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network

[0411] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0412] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0413] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0414] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0415] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0416] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0417] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL (i.e. port 443))

[0418] I-Block Information Block

[0419] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0420] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0421] ID

[0422] DISCLOSURET Inverse discrete Fourier transform

[0423] IE Information Elements

[0424] IBE In-Band Emission

[0425] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0426] IEI Information Element Identifier

[0427] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0428] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0429] IF Infrastructure

[0430] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0431] IMC IMS credentials

[0432] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0433] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0434] IMPI IP Multimedia Privacy Identity

[0435] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0436] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0437] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0438] IoT

[0439] IP Internet Protocol

[0440] IPsec IP security, Internet Protocol security

[0441] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0442] IP-M IP Multicast

[0443] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0444] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0445] IR

[0446] IS Synchronization

[0447] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0448] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0449] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0450] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0451] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0452] IWF interworking function

[0453] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0454] K is the constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM individual key

[0455] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0456] kbps kilobits per second

[0457] Kc Cryptographic key

[0458] Ki Individual user authentication key

[0459] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0460] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0461] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0462] ksps kilosymbols per second

[0463] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0464] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0465] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0466] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0467] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0468] LAA License Assisted Access

[0469] LAN Local Area Network

[0470] LBT Listen before you speak

[0471] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0472] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0473] LCS Location Services

[0474] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0475] LI layer indicator

[0476] LLC Logical Link Control, low layer compatibility

[0477] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0478] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0479] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0480] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0481] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0482] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0483] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0484] M2M Machine to Machine

[0485] MAC Medium Access Control (Protocol Layer Context)

[0486] MAC Message Authentication Code (Security / Cryptography Context)

[0487] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0488] MAC-I MAC for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T WG3 context)

[0489] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0490] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

[0491] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0492] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0493] MCG Master Cell Group

[0494] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0495] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0496] MDAF Management Data Analysis Function

[0497] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0498] Minimization of MDT-driven testing

[0499] ME Mobile Equipment

[0500] MeNB Master eNB

[0501] MER message error rate

[0502] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0503] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0504] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0505] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0506] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0507] MM Mobility Management

[0508] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0509] MN Master Node

[0510] MO measurement object, mobile station calling

[0511] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0512] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0513] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0514] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0515] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0516] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0517] MS Mobile Station

[0518] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0519] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0520] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0521] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0522] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0523] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0524] MT mobile station called, mobile terminal

[0525] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0526] mMTC Massive MTC, Massive Machine Type Communication

[0527] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0528] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0529] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0530] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0531] NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum

[0532] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0533] NEC network capabilities exposed

[0534] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity

[0535] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0536] NF Network Function

[0537] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0538] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0539] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0540] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0541] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0542] NG Next generation, next generation

[0543] NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0544] NM Network Manager

[0545] NMS Network Management System

[0546] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0547] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0548] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0549] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0550] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0551] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0552] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0553] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0554] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0555] NR New Radio, Neighbor Relations

[0556] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0557] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0558] NS Network Services

[0559] NSA Non-standalone operation mode

[0560] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0561] NSR Network Service Record

[0562] NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0563] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0564] NSSF network slice selection function

[0565] NW Network

[0566] NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0567] NZP Non Zero Power

[0568] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0569] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0570] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0571] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0572] OOB Out of Band

[0573] OOS Out of Sync

[0574] OPEX Operating Expenditure

[0575] OSI Other System Information

[0576] OSS Operation Support System

[0577] OTA

[0578] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0579] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0580] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0581] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0582] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0583] PCell Primary Cell

[0584] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity

[0585] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0586] PCF Policy Control Function

[0587] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0588] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0589] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0590] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0591] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0592] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0593] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0594] PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier

[0595] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0596] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0597] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0598] PHY Physical Layer

[0599] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0600] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0601] PM performance measurement

[0602] PMI Precoding matrix indicator

[0603] PNF Physical Network Function

[0604] PNFD Physical Network Functional Descriptor

[0605] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0606] POC PTT over Cellular

[0607] PP, PTP Point to Point

[0608] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0609] PRACH Physical RACH

[0610] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0611] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0612] ProSe Proximity-based Services

[0613] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0614] PRR Packet Receive Radio

[0615] PS Packet Service

[0616] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0617] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0618] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0619] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0620] PSCell Primary SCell

[0621] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0622] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0623] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0624] PTT Push to Talk

[0625] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0626] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0627] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0628] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0629] QCL Quasi-Co-sited

[0630] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0631] QoS Quality of Service

[0632] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0633] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0634] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0635] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0636] RACH Random Access Channel

[0637] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0638] RAN Radio Access Network

[0639] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0640] RAR Random Access Response

[0641] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0642] RAU Routing Area Update

[0643] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0644] RBG Resource Block Group

[0645] REG Resource Element Group

[0646] Rel Release

[0647] REQ Request

[0648] RF

[0649] RI Rank Indicator

[0650] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0651] RL Radio Link

[0652] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0653] RLC AM RLC Acknowledgement Mode

[0654] RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode

[0655] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0656] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0657] RLM-RS Reference signal for RLM

[0658] RM Registration Management

[0659] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0660] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0661] RN Relay Node

[0662] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0663] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0664] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0665] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0666] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0667] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0668] RS reference signal

[0669] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0670] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0671] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0672] RSU Road Side Unit

[0673] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0674] RTP Real Time Protocol

[0675] RTS Ready to Send

[0676] RTT Round Trip Time

[0677] Rx receive, receive, receiver

[0678] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0679] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0680] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0681] S-GW Service Gateway

[0682] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0683] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0684] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0685] SAE system architecture evolution

[0686] SAP Service Access Point

[0687] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0688] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0689] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0690] SCell Secondary Cell

[0691] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0692] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0693] SCM Security Context Management

[0694] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0695] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0696] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0697] SDL Supplemental Downlink

[0698] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0699] SDP Session Description Protocol

[0700] SDSF structured data storage function

[0701] SDU Service Data Unit

[0702] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0703] SeNB Assisted eNB

[0704] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0705] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0706] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0707] SFN System Frame Number

[0708] SgNB

[0709] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0710] S-GW Service Gateway

[0711] SI System Information

[0712] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0713] SIB System Information Block

[0714] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0715] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0716] SiP System in Package

[0717] SL Side Link

[0718] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0719] SM Session Management

[0720] SMF session management functions

[0721] SMS Short Message Service

[0722] SMSF SMS Function

[0723] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0724] SN Secondary node, serial number

[0725] SoC System on Chip

[0726] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0727] SpCell Special Cell

[0728] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0729] SPS Semi-persistent Scheduling

[0730] SON Serial Number

[0731] SR Scheduling Request

[0732] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0733] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0734] SS Sync Signal

[0735] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0736] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0737] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0738] SS-RSRP Reference signal received power based on synchronization signal

[0739] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0740] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0741] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0742] SSSG Search Space Group

[0743] SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator

[0744] SST Slice / Service Type

[0745] SU-MIMO Single User MIMO

[0746] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0747] TA timing advance, tracking area

[0748] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0749] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0750] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0751] TB Transfer Block

[0752] TBS Transport Block Size

[0753] TBD To be defined

[0754] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0755] TCP transport communication protocol

[0756] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0757] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0758] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0759] TE Terminal Equipment

[0760] TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier

[0761] TFT Business Flow Template

[0762] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0763] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0764] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0765] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0766] TR Technical Report

[0767] TRP,TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0768] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0769] TRx Transceiver

[0770] TS Technical Specification, Technical Standard

[0771] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0772] Tx transmission, transmission, transmitter

[0773] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0774] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0775] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0776] UE User Equipment

[0777] UDM Unified Data Management

[0778] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0779] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0780] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0781] UL Uplink

[0782] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0783] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0784] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0785] UP User Plane

[0786] UPF User Plane Function

[0787] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0788] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0789] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency

[0790] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0791] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0792] USS UE-specific search space

[0793] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0794] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0795] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0796] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0797] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0798] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0799] V2X: Vehicle-to-Everything

[0800] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0801] VL Virtual Link

[0802] VLAN virtual LAN, virtual local area network

[0803] VM Virtual Machine

[0804] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0805] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0806] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0807] VNFM VNF Manager

[0808] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0809] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0810] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0811] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0812] WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0813] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0814] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0815] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0816] X2-C X2 control plane

[0817] X2-U X2 user plane

[0818] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0819] XRES Expected User Response

[0820] XOR

[0821] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0822] ZP Zero Power

[0823] the term

[0824] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and implementations discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0825] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0826] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may be referred to as "processor circuit".

[0827] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0828] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0829] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0830] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0831] As used herein, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0832] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time and / or a processor / CPU usage rate, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage rate, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage rate, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0833] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information over a RAT.

[0834] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0835] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and their derivatives are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with each other by means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0836] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents.

[0837] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0838] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0839] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0840] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when reconfiguration is performed using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0841] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0842] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells.

[0843] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, where there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0844] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group including a special cell for a UE configured with CA and in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0845] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, comprising: preparing, by the UE, a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in the wireless network; determining a first antenna port group among a plurality of antenna port groups for the UE, the first antenna port group being more directionally aligned with the first TRP than other antenna port groups among the plurality of antenna port groups; as well as The PUSCH transmission is transmitted by the UE to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, and the default spatial relationship was previously used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUCCH resource among a plurality of PUCCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Determining a second antenna port group among the plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with a second TRP among the plurality of TRPs; as well as The UE transmits a second PUSCH transmission to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, and the default spatial relationship is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first antenna port group comprises using the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3 for initiating a radio access channel (RACH) process for connecting to the first TRP.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first antenna port group comprises using the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to receive PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding UE antenna panel, the corresponding UE antenna panel is associated with multiple PUCCH resources, wherein there is a corresponding spatial relationship between the one UE antenna panel and the first TRP, and wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUCCH resource among the multiple PUCCH resources with the lowest identification (ID).

7. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a radio front end circuit coupled to the plurality of antenna port groups, the radio front end circuit configured to perform wireless communications over a wireless network using at least one of the plurality of antenna port groups; and a processor circuit, coupled to the radio front end circuit, configured to: preparing a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) among a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in the wireless network; determining a first antenna port group among a plurality of antenna port groups for the UE, the first antenna port group being more directionally aligned with the first TRP than other antenna port groups among the plurality of antenna port groups; as well as The PUSCH transmission is transmitted to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, which was previously used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group. 8 . The UE of claim 7 , wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUCCH resource among a plurality of PUCCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

9. The UE of claim 8, wherein the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0.

10. The UE of claim 7, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to: determining a second antenna port group among the plurality of antenna port groups for the UE, the second antenna port group being more directionally aligned with a second TRP among the plurality of TRPs than the other antenna port groups; and A second PUSCH transmission is transmitted to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, and the default spatial relationship is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

11. The UE of claim 7, wherein the first antenna port group is determined to be the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups for transmitting Msg3 for a radio access channel (RACH) process connected to the first TRP.

12. The UE according to claim 7, wherein the first antenna port group is determined to be the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups for receiving PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

13. The UE according to claim 7, wherein the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one UE antenna panel, wherein the one UE antenna panel is associated with multiple PUCCH resources, wherein the one UE antenna panel has a corresponding spatial relationship with the first TRP, and wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUCCH resource among the multiple PUCCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) of the multiple PUCCH resources.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), causing the UE to perform operations comprising: preparing a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission intended for a first transmission reception point (TRP) of a plurality of transmission reception points (TRPs) available to the UE in a wireless network; determining a first antenna port group among a plurality of antenna port groups for the UE, the first antenna port group being more directionally aligned with the first TRP than other antenna port groups among the plurality of antenna port groups; as well as The PUSCH transmission is transmitted to the first TRP via the first antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, which was previously used for physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) communication with the first TRP via the first antenna port group.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the PUSCH transmission is scheduled by downlink control information (DCI) format 0_0.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a particular PUCCH resource among a plurality of PUCCH resources having a lowest identification (ID) within the first antenna port group.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, the operations further comprising: Determining a second antenna port group among the plurality of antenna port groups of the UE that is directionally aligned with a second TRP among the plurality of TRPs; as well as The UE transmits a second PUSCH transmission to the second TRP via the second antenna port group using a default spatial relationship, and the default spatial relationship is used for PUCCH communication with the second TRP via the second antenna port group.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the determining the first antenna port group comprises using the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to transmit Msg3 for initiating a radio access channel (RACH) process for connecting to the first TRP.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the determining the first antenna port group comprises using the same antenna port group among the multiple antenna port groups as the antenna port group used to receive PUCCH scheduling from the first TRP.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the first antenna port group is associated with a corresponding one UE antenna panel, the corresponding one UE antenna panel is associated with a plurality of PUCCH resources, wherein the one UE antenna panel has a corresponding spatial relationship with the first TRP, and wherein the default spatial relationship is associated with a specific PUCCH resource among the plurality of PUCCH resources having a lowest identification (ID).

Images