Wake-up signal based on physical downlink control channel

Abstract

The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and devices for broadcasting a wake-up signal based on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). In one example, the method involves receiving, by one or more user equipment (UE), a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal (WUS). The method also includes, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, monitoring a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS. The method also includes, in response to detecting the DCI, receiving the WUS by the one or more UEs.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This disclosure claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 826,818, entitled “DESIGN OF USER EQUIPMENT GROUPPHYSICAL DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNEL BASED WAKE UP SIGNAL OR CHANNEL,” filed on March 29, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure generally relates to signaling in wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0004] User Equipment (UE) can transmit data wirelessly using a wireless communication network. To transmit data wirelessly, the UE connects to a node of a Radio Access Network (RAN) and synchronizes with the network. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and devices for broadcasting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH-based) wake-up signal.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method involves receiving, by one or more user equipment (UE), a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal (WUS), wherein the configuration includes information indicating one or more of the following: one or more component carriers (CCs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a control resource set (CORESET), and a search space (SS). The method also includes monitoring, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS. The method also includes receiving, by the one or more UEs, the WUS in response to detecting the DCI.

[0007] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs to perform the actions of the method defined by instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.These and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0008] In some embodiments, the configuration also includes information indicating one or more of: a starting position of a UE-specific field block; a size of the UE-specific field block; an information field; multiple component carriers (CCs) sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); a number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a redundancy version (RV), or a hybrid acknowledgment request (HARQ) process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control (TPC) command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; a field size of a common field; a pair of BWPs and CCs; a timer indicating a duration after which the UE should fall back to a default scheduling scheme; and one or more time domain resource allocation (TDRA) tables.

[0009] In some implementations, the DCI includes an indication of one or more of: a wake-up duration for the one or more UEs; wake-up duration, a BWP associated with one or more CCs, aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with the one or more CCs, resource allocation, transmit power control (TPC) command, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), redundancy version (RV), hybrid acknowledgement request (HARQ) process for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or antenna adaptation.

[0010] In some implementations, the monitoring is performed when the one or more UEs are operating in a discontinuous reception off (DRX-OFF) state.

[0011] In some implementations, monitoring the PDCCH for DCI associated with a WUS takes precedence over monitoring the PDCCH for other types of DCI.

[0012] In some implementations, the one or more UEs include a plurality of UEs, and wherein the WUS includes at least one of: (i) information applicable to each UE in the plurality of UEs, or (ii) information specific to one UE in the plurality of UEs.

[0013] In some implementations, the WUS is specific to the one or more UEs.

[0014] In some implementations, WUS is enabled or disabled by higher layer signaling, where the higher layer signaling includes cell-specific signaling or UE-specific signaling.

[0015] In some implementations, the PDCCH shares a common search space (CSS) with existing DCI formats.

[0016] In some implementations, the search space (SS) for PDCCH is configured by higher layer signaling, where the configuration includes at least one of the following: periodicity, offset, duration, control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID), search space (SS) ID, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, common search space (CSS) flag, or aggregation level (AL).

[0017] In some implementations, the one or more UEs monitor the wake-up DCI during the DRX-off period.

[0018] In some implementations, monitoring for DCI is prioritized.

[0019] In some specific implementations, the method further includes: configuring a set of search spaces (SSs) or control resource sets (CORESETs) with different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, and wherein different SSs or CORESETs with different TCI states are located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots of the WUS monitoring window.

[0020] In some implementations, the DCI payload includes: (i) a common indication block applicable to all of the one or more UEs, or (ii) a UE-specific information block applicable to one of the one or more UEs.

[0021] In some embodiments, the DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication blocks include multiple fields, the multiple fields include indication functions, wherein the multiple fields each include information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information is shared between different CCs or CC groups.

[0022] In some implementations, the DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, wherein each UE-specific indication block includes indication information for a different CC, and wherein each field of a CC also includes indication information for the CC.

[0023] In some specific implementations, the DCI includes indication information for different CCs, wherein for each CC, the indication information further includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks.

[0024] In some implementations, the DCI includes a wake-up indication indicating whether the UE should wake up in the next N DRX cycles, where N is a predetermined number or indicated by the DCI.

[0025] In some implementations, the configuration also includes paired BWP and CC groups to be activated by the WUS.

[0026] In some embodiments, the one or more component carriers (CCs) are multiple CCs including a primary cell and a secondary cell, wherein the UE stops PDCCH monitoring on all secondary cells (SCells) or a subset of SCells when it is switched to the first BWP on the primary cell (PCell) or when it is switched to the first search space (SS) on the first BWP on the PCell.

[0027] In some implementations, the DCI also includes an aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) trigger that triggers channel state information (CSI) reporting on component carriers (CCs) to be woken up by the WUS.

[0028] In some implementations, the channel state information (CSI) report is carried in the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0029] In some implementations, the DCI includes a wake-up duration in units of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle.

[0030] In some implementations, the DCI includes antenna adaptation, where the antenna adaptation indicates at least one of: a number of receive (Rx) antenna chains between 2 and 4 or a maximum number of multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) layers for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling within a given wake-up period for both PDSCH.

[0031] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method involves generating a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal (WUS), wherein the configuration includes information indicating one or more of the following: one or more component carriers (CCs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a control resource set (CORESET), and a search space (SS). The method also includes sending the configuration to one or more UEs. The method also includes sending downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0032] Figure 1A and Figure 1B Each shows a wake-up PDCCH configuration according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 2 Examples of multiple CORESET / SS configurations for WUS monitoring according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0034] Figure 3 An example of a wake-up DCI structure according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0035] Figure 4 An example of group-based BWP switching with respect to CA is shown according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0036] Figure 5A 、 Figure 5B and Figure 5C An example of a wake-up DCI structure according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0037] Figure 6A and 6B A flowchart illustrating exemplary methods according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0038] Figure 7 An exemplary architecture of a system 700 of a network according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0039] Figure 8 An exemplary architecture of a system including a core network according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0040] Figure 9 Another exemplary architecture of a system including a core network according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0041] Figure 10 Examples of infrastructure equipment according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0042] Figure 11 Examples of platforms or devices according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0043] Figure 12 Exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio front-end circuitry according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0044] Figure 13 Exemplary protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication system according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0045] Figure 14 An example of a computer system according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0046] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] One of the desired features of user equipment (UE) in fifth-generation (5G) technology is reduced UE power, which, in particular, extends UE battery life. 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) supports paging, discontinuous reception (DRX) operation, and bandwidth part (BWP) adaptation to save UE power.

[0048] The present disclosure describes methods and systems for waking up signals or channels that cause UE power saving. More specifically, the disclosed methods and systems describe physical downlink control channel (PDCCH-based) wake-up signals in radio resource control (RRC) connected mode. In one embodiment, the PDCCH-based wake-up signal involves UE group PDCCH signaling, which strikes a balance between overhead and efficiency of UE power saving schemes. In the present disclosure, a UE group wake-up PDCCH is defined as a wake-up PDCCH that represents downlink control information (DCI) sent to a group of UEs in a group-specific PDCCH. The DCI at least signals one or more UEs to wake up from a DRX-OFF state to monitor scheduled DCI from the network in one or more carriers. As described herein, the DCI may additionally include other information and signaling.

[0049] Furthermore, the present disclosure describes the architecture of a PDCCH-based wake-up signal or channel sent to a group of UEs. Specifically, the present disclosure describes the configuration and capabilities of the PDCCH-based wake-up signal, the UE operation to monitor the PDCCH-based wake-up channel, and the details of the content of the DCI.

[0050] I. Configuration

[0051] In one embodiment, supporting wake-up signals or channels may be a UE capability. Alternatively, this feature may be mandatory for NR UEs.

[0052] In one embodiment, the wake-up signal / channel ("WUS") may be enabled / disabled by higher-layer signaling, such as cell-specific signaling (e.g., system information (SI)) or UE-specific signaling (e.g., UE-specific RRC message). Additionally and / or alternatively, the payload and / or size of the wake-up signal / channel may be configured by higher-layer signaling.

[0053] In one embodiment, a configuration for WUS monitoring may be provided to the UE, which includes one (e.g., primary carrier) or multiple component carriers (e.g., both primary cell (PCell) and secondary cell (SCell)), corresponding bandwidth part (BWP), control resource set (CORESET), and search space (SS). In some examples, the CORESET configured in the active, default, or initial downlink (DL) BWP of the common search space (CSS) or UE-specific search space (USS) may be used to wake up the PDCCH. The SS used for waking up the PDCCH may share the CSS with one of the existing DCI formats (e.g., type 0, 0A, 1, 2, or 3 CSS in NR systems). However, this may increase the blocking probability of the WUS because the CSS is shared by legacy UEs. To address this issue, alternatively, a new type of SS may be defined for waking up the PDCCH (e.g., a dedicated SS or group-specific SS monitored by a group of UEs).

[0054] In one embodiment, the existing SS set configuration method can be reused (e.g., via the high-layer information element (IE) search-space-config). In this embodiment, by appropriately configuring the parameters monitoringSlotPeriodicityAndOffset and Duration, if UEs belonging to the same group are configured with similar DRX modes, the SS of the UE group wake-up signal / channel can be aligned with the DRX cycle of the UE. Therefore, the gap between the wake-up PDCCH and its associated DRX on-duration can be minimized. Alternatively, the configuration of the SS can be independent of the DRX configuration. Here, the UE can wake up and monitor the wake-up PDCCH in the configured SS. Doing so can reduce the WUS signaling overhead by sharing the WUS signal with multiple UEs at the expense of possible increased power consumption on the UE side.

[0055] In another embodiment, the existing SS set configuration can be extended. In this embodiment, the monitoring periodicity can be in units of DRX cycles, which can be predefined (e.g., fixed in the specification) or signaled (e.g., as part of the search space set configuration). The offset relative to the start of the DRX on duration can be predefined or signaled (e.g., as part of the search space set configuration). For this purpose, the existing parameters used to indicate the offset in the search space IE can be reinterpreted. In the example of signaling the offset, the start of the search space can be calculated as (t-offset-duration), where t represents the start of the DRX on duration of the first DRX cycle associated with the wake-up PDCCH, and the duration is indicated by the parameter Duration in the search space set configuration IE. In some examples, the offset may depend on the UE capabilities. For example, the UE may first report its capabilities regarding the gap between the end of the wake-up DCI and the start of the DRX on duration, which will determine the offset value accordingly (e.g., the offset is equal to the gap indicated by the UE). In some examples, the gap value required by the UE may take into account (i) the retuning RF component for the target BWP in a different CC (in a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario) or the same CC, and (ii) the need for UE processing capabilities for time / frequency tracking and wake-up DCI detection.

[0056] Configuration of other parameters, including CORESET ID, search space ID, TCI-state, Common-search-space-flag, RNTI-monitoring, USS-DCI-format, Aggregation-level-1, Aggregation-level-2, ..., Aggregation-level-16, and monitoringSymbolsWithinSlot, can reuse existing configuration methods (e.g., configured in the high-level IE search-space-config). In some examples, the maximum aggregation level (AL) for WUS monitoring can be limited to a smaller number (e.g., 1 or 2 ALs) than found in existing methods. The exact AL value can be configured on a per-UE basis by RRC signaling to further reduce power consumption in WUS detection. In addition, the CORESET can be limited to contiguous RBs without indicating it in RRC signaling, in order to minimize the RF bandwidth and signaling overhead for WUS monitoring. It should be noted that new DCI formats and / or radio network temporary identifiers (RNTIs) can be introduced for the wake-up PDCCH. UEs configured to monitor the same RNTI belong to the same group.

[0057] In addition to the configuration aspects described, in addition and / or alternatively, the following parameters may be configured for waking up the PDCCH. One parameter is the starting position of the UE specific field block in the wake-up DCI. In one embodiment where the UE specific field block has the same size for all UEs belonging to the same group, the starting position of the UE specific field block may be indicated via a UE specific index within the group. For example, representing a maximum size of the group of G, each UE may be assigned an index with potential values ​​from 0 to G-1. Thus, ceil(log2(G)) bits may be used for this indication. In another embodiment where the UE specific field block may have different sizes for different UEs in the group, the size of the DCI is represented by S1 and the size of the common field is represented by S2, and the starting position of the UE may be indicated by ceil(log2(S1-S2)).

[0058] Alternatively, in order to reduce the number of bits, the possible sizes of the UE-specific fields can be limited (for example, to only 2 possible sizes or 3 possible sizes). Therefore, the possible starting positions can be reduced to certain positions. For example, the possible sizes of the UE-specific fields are represented by X1, X2, ..., Xn, and the starting position can be indicated as N1*X1+N2*X2+...+Nn*Xn, where Ni represents the number of possible starting positions of size Xi. For example, Ni=ceil(X / Xi), where X is the total size of the UE-specific fields of the wake-up DCI. In another embodiment, the starting bit position of the UE-specific field block within the WUS DCI for a single component carrier (CC) or CC group can be explicitly indicated by the upper layer. In addition, the information elements (IEs) within the block and their sizes can be considered separately on a per-CC basis.

[0059] Another parameter that can be configured is the size of the UE-specific field in the UE's wake-up DCI. In one example, this configuration can be used in configurations where the UE-specific field can have different sizes for different UEs in the same group. In one embodiment, the size of each field in the field block is fixed in the specification, and the presence of a given CC is configured by higher layers.

[0060] Another parameter that can be configured is the UE specific information field. For example, there may be n types of information fields that may be UE specific. A bitmap of size n may be used to indicate which field(s) should be UE specific. The bitmap may be indicated by the wakeup DCI. For example, Figure 3 As shown, a bitmap of size L may be included in the wake-up DCI. Alternatively, if the sizes of the candidate UE-specific fields are different from each other, the size of the UE-specific field may imply which field(s) are UE-specific.

[0061] Another parameter that can be configured is CC grouping to share the same indication in the wake-up DCI. More specifically, CCs configured for a UE can be categorized into multiple groups. This grouping can be implemented based on UE assistance information. In some examples, CCs with a shared radio frequency (RF) chain can be adapted for simultaneous wake-up or DRX to minimize power consumption. More specifically, this parameter indicates how CCs are grouped to share the same indication in the wake-up DCI (e.g., how many CC groups are configured and which CCs belong to which CC group).

[0062] Another parameter that can be configured is the number of DRX cycles associated with the wake-up DCI. In some embodiments, each wake-up DCI can be associated with multiple DRX cycles. Once the wake-up DCI is received, the number of DRX cycles that the UE will monitor can be semi-statically configured via higher layer signaling. Alternatively, as described herein, the number of DRX cycles associated with the wake-up DCI can be dynamically indicated in the wake-up DCI.

[0063] Another parameter that can be configured is the resource allocation and / or transmit power control (TPC) command for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), modulation and coding scheme (MCS), redundancy version (RV) and / or hybrid acknowledgement request (HARQ) process for PUSCH. If the wake-up physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) supports aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) triggering, the PUCCH can be used to carry A-CSI reports triggered by the wake-up PDCCH before the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or PUSCH scheduling. To support this feature, a set of uplink (UL) resources for the PUCCH can be configured by high-layer signaling, and the PUCCH resources are signaled as part of the WUS signal. In some other examples, the TPC command for the PUCCH can be configured by high-layer signaling.

[0064] In one example, as part of the time domain resource allocation, a timing indicator can be introduced to capture the gap between the wake-up DCI and the PUCCH carrying the CSI report. Similar to the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, a set of possible values ​​can be configured by higher-layer signaling, and the wake-up DCI can indicate which value to use. Alternatively, the exact value of the timing gap can be configured by higher-layer signaling.

[0065] In another example, the wake-up PDCCH supports A-CSI triggering, and the PUSCH is used to carry the CSI report triggered by the wake-up PDCCH. In this option, the resource allocation, TPC command, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process for PUSCH transmission can be configured by high-layer signaling. In another embodiment, a group of PUSCH resources can be first configured through RRC signaling, and then one of the resources in the group can be dynamically selected through the WUS signal to carry the A-CSI information. In addition, as described herein, the QPSK modulation scheme is used for this CQI-only PUSCH transmission, and the CSI-RS offset relative to the time slot in which the WUS signal is transmitted is also indicated as part of the WUS signal.

[0066] Another parameter that can be configured is the field size of the common field. This parameter indicates the size of each field in the common block.

[0067] Another parameter that can be configured is the paired BWP and CC or CC group to be activated by the wake-up PDCCH. Specifically, the list of pairs <active DL BWP, active CC> can be configured by higher-layer signaling, and the BWP indicator in the wake-up PDCCH can indicate which pairs to activate. The set of BWP and CC (group) pairs can be configured on a per-UE basis.

[0068] Another parameter that may be configured is a timer that indicates the duration after which the UE should fall back to the default scheduling scheme (cross-slot scheduling or same-slot scheduling).In one example, the timer may be configured on a per-UE basis.

[0069] Another parameter that can be configured is multiple time domain resource allocation (TDRA) tables. Here, the wake-up PDCCH in the "cross-slotscheduling" field can indicate which of those configured TDRA tables to use.

[0070] II. UE monitoring of wake-up PDCCH

[0071] Figure 1A and Figure 1B Each shows a wake-up PDCCH configuration according to some specific implementations. Figure 1A As shown, in one embodiment, the wake-up PDCCH SS 102 may be configured before the DRX on-duration 104. In another embodiment, and as shown Figure 1B As shown, a wake-up PDCCH SS 102 may occur during a DRX on-duration 104 .

[0072] In one embodiment, the CSS or group-specific SS (GSS) for the wake-up PDCCH may be prioritized so that the UE does not need to monitor the wake-up PDCCH and other DCI formats simultaneously. In some examples, when the medium access control (MAC) entity is inactive, the UE may monitor the PDCCH candidates of the WUS in the GSS within one or more CORESETS on certain BWPs and CCs configured by higher layers. For example, the UE may monitor the GSS only in one configured BWP on its own PCell. To reduce UE complexity, the UE may monitor the wake-up PDCCH only for the duration of the SS configured for the wake-up PDCCH. In an example, when the wake-up PDCCH is configured to be monitored only during the DRX off period (e.g., as Figure 1A In one example, for the case where wake-up PDCCH SSs occur during the DRX on-duration and / or before the active timer expires, the UE may not be required to monitor these wake-up PDCCH SSs.

[0073] In one embodiment, the CSS or GSS used to wake up the PDCCH can be prioritized so that the UE does not need to monitor other DCI formats in the CSS or GSS at the same time. If so configured, the UE can still monitor the USS. In an example, when the CSS or GSS used to wake up the PDCCH can be prioritized so that the UE does not need to monitor other DCI formats in the CSS or GSS at the same time. If so configured, the UE can still monitor the USS. Figure 1B This configuration can be used when a wake-up PDCCH is configured (as shown) and the UE is required to monitor these wake-up PDCCH SSs during the DRX on duration and / or before the DRX inactivity timer expires. In this case, the wake-up PDCCH can be used to indicate that the UE needs to wake up in the next upcoming DRX cycle.

[0074] Alternatively, the CSS or GSS for waking up the PDCCH is configured during the DRX on duration and / or before the DRX inactivity timer expires (e.g., as Figure 1B In the case of a DRX OFF period (shown in FIG), the UE may not need to monitor the wake-up PDCCH. In other words, when the UE is in a DRX OFF period, the UE may be required to monitor the wake-up PDCCH only in the CSS or GSS configured for it. During the ON period, monitoring of other DCI formats may be prioritized.

[0075] In yet another embodiment, there is no priority among SSs. In this embodiment, the UE may monitor all SSs if configured in a given time instance.

[0076] To reduce the number of blind detections and, therefore, UE complexity, another embodiment involves limiting the supported ALs for the wake-up PDCCH. In one example, given that the wake-up PDCCH applies to a group of UEs, it may only support a larger AL. This may be achieved by providing 0 for the number of PDCCH candidates for certain aggregation levels in the IE of the search-space-config. Alternatively, the supported aggregation levels may be predefined in the specification. In some other examples, the supported ALs for WUS may be configured by higher layers on a per-UE basis as part of the WUS configuration, as discussed herein. This configuration may provide the desired flexibility for the next generation Node B (gNB) to appropriately set the AL for WUS transmission based on the geometry of the grouped UEs, thereby balancing performance and overhead.

[0077] According to one or more embodiments, a UE may be configured with a set of SSs or CORESETs having different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states indicating quasi-co-location information of demodulation reference signal (DMRS) antenna ports for WUS PDCCH reception in the corresponding CORESET. In some examples, different SSs with different TCI states may be located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots.

[0078] Figure 2 1 shows examples of multiple CORESET / SS configurations for WUS monitoring according to some specific implementations. Specifically, Figure 2 A time division multiplexed (TDMed) SS with different TCI states for WUS monitoring is shown. Figure 2 The WUS window 210 can be semi-statically configured by a higher layer with an offset or gap before the on-duration period 220 of each DRX cycle. Each WUS window may include a set of CORSETs 240-290 with different TCI states for WUS transmission in a TDM manner using different transmit (Tx) beams. This configuration can be applied to WUS monitoring in frequency range 2 (FR2) to implement beam scanning operation, thereby ensuring the robustness of WUS transmission.

[0079] III. DCI Content

[0080] The wake-up DCI (WUS) may be used to send a set of power saving related adaptation commands for one or more UEs, including but not limited to wake-up information. The present invention discloses a DCI format for the wake-up PDCCH.

[0081] Figure 3 An example of a wake-up DCI structure according to some specific implementations is shown. In one embodiment, and as Figure 3As shown, the following information is transmitted via a wake-up DCI with a cyclic redundancy check (CRC), scrambled by the new radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) defined for wake-up DCI: block number 0 and block numbers 1 to G. The starting position of a block can be determined by the starting position indicated by higher layers for the UE configured with the block. In addition, G is the maximum number of UEs configured to monitor the same wake-up DCI. Some of the fields in block l (with l∈{1,…,L} fields) apply to all CCs configured for the UE, while some of the fields apply only to a subset of CCs configured for the UE.

[0082] In one embodiment, block number 0 defines common indication information that can be shared among UEs configured to monitor the wake-up DCI. Block numbers 1 to G define information of UE-specific fields, where each block corresponds to a corresponding UE configured to monitor the wake-up DCI. Mapping block numbers to UEs (i.e., which block number corresponds to which UE) can be configured by higher layers (e.g., via an indication of a starting position). In another embodiment, the block of common indication information for all UEs configured to monitor the wake-up DCI can be block number G (e.g., the last block of the DCI), and block numbers 0 to G-1 correspond to UE-specific fields for G UEs.

[0083] In one embodiment, if the UE has a configured Nc CC, a UE-specific block may be configured for the UE by higher layers, where at least one of the following fields is defined for the block.

[0084] The first field is the wake-up indication. In one specific implementation, this field contains 1 bit. In this field, a value of 1 indicates that the UE wakes up in all configured CCs, and a value of 0 indicates that the UE skips PDCCH monitoring in all configured CCs. In another example, a value of 1 indicates that the UE wakes up only on the PCell without monitoring the PDCCH on the SCell until the UE detects the first valid DL allocation or UL grant on the PCell during the DRX active time period. In this example, a value of 1 indicates that the UE wakes up for a certain number of DRX cycles, which may be configured by higher-layer signaling or by the wake-up duration field (if present) in the wake-up DCI. In yet another example, a value of 0 indicates that the UE may skip PDCCH monitoring for the next DRX cycle. Alternatively, it may indicate that the UE may skip PDCCH monitoring for a certain number of DRX cycles, which may be configured by higher-layer signaling or by the wake-up duration field (if present) in the wake-up DCI.

[0085] In another embodiment, when the UE can skip PDCCH monitoring for a DRX cycle, the wake-up PDCCH may not be sent. It should be noted that it is assumed that the DMRS of the WUS PDCCH can be used to detect the presence of the WUS signal, so the discontinuous transmission (DTX) of the WUS is not hard-coded in the WUS DCI using one of the multiple coding states. Alternatively, the wake-up indication field has Nc bits corresponding to a set of Nc CC groups. This can be a bitmap where a value of 1 for the kth bit indicates that the UE wakes up in the configured kth CC group, and a value of 0 for the kth bit indicates that the UE skips PDCCH monitoring in the configured kth CC group. Similar to the previous embodiment, the wake-up and / or skip indication may apply to a certain number of DRX cycles, which may be configured by higher layer signaling or by the wake-up duration field (if present) in the wake-up DCI. Alternatively, the skip indication applies only to one DRX cycle. In the case where no CC group is to be woken up, the wake-up PDCCH may not be sent. The DMRS of the wake-up PDCCH can be used for wake-up PDCCH presence detection.

[0086] In yet another embodiment, an N-bit wake-up indication field may be included in a block of the WUS DCI format. Accordingly, a group of CCs may be triggered to wake up the associated DRX cycle, possibly based on the values ​​of PDCCH monitoring for data scheduling during a DRX active period in Table 1.

[0087] Table 1: Wake-up indication field for WUS operation in CA case

[0088] The value of the wake-up indication field describe 0 Trigger wake-up operation for the first group of serving cells configured by higher layers 1 Trigger wake-up operation for the second group of serving cells configured by higher layers .. ...... <![CDATA[2 N -1]]> <![CDATA[For triggering a wake-up operation by 2 N sets of serving cells configured by a higher layer]]>

[0089] Similar to the previous embodiment, when no CC is to be woken up, the DMRS of the WUS PDCCH can be used to detect the presence of the WUS signal, so the DTX of the WUS is not hard-coded in the WUS DCI using one of the multiple coding states. In some other examples, if the DMRS of the WUS PDCCH cannot be used to indicate DTX WUS, the code state "0" in Table 1 can be used to indicate DTX of the WUS signal for all CCs.

[0090] The second field is the bandwidth part (BWP) indicator. In one embodiment, this field has 0, 1, or 2 bits, such as the number of DL BWPs configured by higher layers, n. BWP,RRC The bit width of this field is determined as follows, excluding the initial DL bandwidth part. Bit, where if n BWP,RRC ≤in 3, then n BWP =n BWP,RRC +1. In this case, the bandwidth part indicator is equal to the higher layer parameter BWP-Id. Otherwise, nBWP =n BWP,RRC , in this case, the bandwidth part indicator is defined in Table 7.3.1.1.2-1 of 3GPP TS38.212.

[0091] For a UE configured with multiple CCs, n BWP,RRC It may be the maximum number of bandwidth parts configured by higher layers on these CCs. Alternatively, it may not be expected that the UE may be configured with different n on these CCs. BWP,RRC The latter option may result in limited configuration flexibility.

[0092] In another embodiment, this field has the number n of DL BWPs configured by the higher layer for each CC group. BWP,RRC The bit width of this field is determined as follows, excluding the initial DL bandwidth part. bits, where n BWP,i can be calculated as described above for the i-th CC group, and where the parameter n BWP,RRC It may be the maximum number of bandwidth parts configured by the higher layer on the CCs belonging to the i-th CC group. Alternatively, it may not be expected that the UE may be configured with different n bandwidth parts on the CCs belonging to the i-th CC group. BWP,RRC The latter option may result in limited configuration flexibility.

[0093] In yet another embodiment, this field has M bits. Possibly based on the values ​​in Table 2, the UE may be triggered to switch to the corresponding BWP on the associated CC. The BWP indicator field may indicate a set of paired <active DL BWP, active CC> for DL ​​reception from the configured DL BWP set.

[0094] Table 2: BWP indicator fields for WUS operation in CA case

[0095] The value of the wake-up indication field describe 0 <![CDATA[Switch to or activate the first pair of <BWP configured by the higher layer i , CC k >]]> 1 <![CDATA[Switch to or activate the second component pair <BWP i , CC k >]]> .. ...... <![CDATA[2 M -1]]> <![CDATA[Switch to or activate the second configured by the higher layer M component pair <BWP i , CC k >]]>

[0096] Figure 4 An example of group-based BWP switching in the case of CA according to some implementations is shown. The following BWP / CC groups can be configured by RRC to be associated with different values ​​of the 1-bit BWP indicator:

[0097] ■“0”: <BWP i ,CC k >,i=0,k=0,1,2

[0098] ■“1”: <BWP i ,CC k >,i=1,k=0,1,2

[0099] Accordingly, the UE switches to the associated BWP on the associated CC based on the detected value of the BWP indicator IE in the WUS DCI. As an example, if "0" is set in the BWP ID IE, the UE starts monitoring the PDCCH on BWP 0 in each CC.

[0100] In one embodiment, when a UE switches to the first BWP on the PCell (e.g., via 3GPP Release 15 (Rel-15) DCI or via a BWP timer defined for BWP switching) or when it switches to the first SS on the first BWP on the PCell (e.g., the SS with the longest PDCCH monitoring period), the UE may stop PDCCH monitoring on all SCells or a subset of SCells (e.g., configured by higher layers). In some other examples, the UE may continue to monitor the second SS on the second BWP on the SCell after it switches to the first BWP or switches to the first SS on the first BWP on the PCell. More specifically, the first BWP on the PCell and the second BWP on the SCell may be the Rel-15 initial BWP (or default BWP), or may be the BWP with the smallest bandwidth (BW) among the BWPs configured on the corresponding CC, or may be explicitly configured on a per-CC basis by higher layers. The first SS on the PCell and the second SS on the SCell may be explicitly configured on a per-CC basis by RRC, or may be the SS with the longest PDCCH monitoring periodicity. For both solutions, the UE usually continues to monitor the PDCCH on the PCell.

[0101] The fourth field may be A-CSI trigger and channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission. This field may be 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 bits, as determined by the higher-layer parameter reportTriggerSize. For UEs configured with multiple CCs, the number of bits may be determined as the maximum number of bits configured by the higher-layer parameter reportTriggerSize on the configured CCs. Alternatively, this field may have bits, where n CSI，i It can be the maximum number of bits indicated by the higher layer parameter reportTriggerSize on the CC belonging to the i-th CC group.

[0102] In one embodiment, this field can be used to trigger CSI reporting on CCs to be awakened. Here, it may not be desirable to trigger the UE with CSI reporting on CCs that are not awakened by the wake-up DCI. In some examples, the wake-up PDCCH supports A-CSI triggering, and PUSCH is supported to carry CSI reporting, resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process for PUSCH transmission. Note that in some embodiments, some of these parameters may be configured by higher layer signaling, while the remaining parameters may be indicated by the wake-up DCI. Resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process may be different because different CCs belong to the CC group to be awakened. This configuration may result in greater overhead. The UE may ignore indications of resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process for CCs that are not awakened. Alternatively, the same resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process may be used for all CCs belonging to the CC group to be awakened.

[0103] In one embodiment, the resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process indication may follow the Rel-15 UL grant indication (e.g., DCI format 0_0 or 0_1). Alternatively, a set of resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ processes may be configured by higher layer signaling, and the wake-up DCI indication corresponds to an index of one configuration of resource allocation, MCS, RV and / or HARQ process.

[0104] In one embodiment, if the wake-up PDCCH supports A-CSI triggering and the PUCCH is supported to carry CSI reports, the resource allocation and / or TPC command may be indicated by the wake-up PDCCH. As part of the resource allocation, for time domain resource allocation, a parameter defining the timing gap between the DCI and the PUCCH carrying the CSI report may be introduced. Similar to the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator, a set of possible values ​​may be configured by higher layer signaling, and the wake-up DCI may indicate which value to be used. For example, if timing is shared between all CCs, 3 bits may be used, or if different timing is used for different CCs, 3*Nc bits (where Nc is the number of CCs) may be used. Alternatively, the DCI field may include an indication of the timing gap between the DCI and the PUCCH directly carrying the CSI report. In the latter configuration, more bits may be required compared to the former configuration, in which the set of candidate values ​​for the timing gap is configured by higher layer signaling.

[0105] In one embodiment, if a UE is configured with multiple CCs, resource allocations and / or TPC commands may be different for CCs belonging to the CC group to be awakened. Alternatively, the same resource allocations and / or TPC commands may be used for CCs belonging to the CC group to be awakened. A set of resource allocations may be configured by higher layer signaling, and the wake-up DCI may indicate an index corresponding to one configuration of the resource allocations.

[0106] The fourth field is the wake-up duration. In one embodiment, the wake-up duration may be indicated by a wake-up DCI, which may be in units of DRX cycles. For example, the number of DRX cycles associated with the wake-up duration may be ND, where ND may be predefined in the specification or configured by RRC signaling. The number of bits in this field may be

[0107] In the event that a wake-up PDCCH is received during the DRX on-duration, the wake-up PDCCH may indicate that the UE needs to wake up in the next N DRX cycles. Alternatively, the wake-up PDCCH may indicate that the UE needs to wake up in the next N-1 DRX cycles, taking into account the current DRX cycle. In another embodiment, a bitmap of length W may be used to indicate the wake-up status for the next W DRX cycles. This indication is common to all CC groups to be woken up. In yet another embodiment, a bitmap of length W*N c The bitmap can be used to indicate the wake-up status of the next W DRX cycles, where N c Indicates the number of CC groups configured for the UE. This field independently indicates the wake-up state of the CCs in each CC group for the next W DRX cycles.

[0108] The fifth field is the cross-slot configuration. In one embodiment, this field has 1 bit. In this embodiment, the value "1" generally indicates all CCs or some selected CCs awakened by the WUS to potentially use the rows in the time domain resource allocation (TDRA) table configured by the upper layer, where k0>0 for PDSCH scheduling, and k2>0 for PUSCH scheduling (e.g., cross-slot scheduling). The value "0" indicates that all rows in the TDRA table configured by the upper layer are used without restriction. In other words, when the value of this field is "1", a subset of the rows in the TDRA table configured by the upper layer signaling can be selected.

[0109] In another embodiment, this field has 2 bits for indicating K0. For a UE configured with multiple CCs, this indication applies to all CCs belonging to the CC group to be awakened. Alternatively, this indication applies to all CCs configured for the UE, regardless of whether the CC is to be awakened. In yet another embodiment, multiple TDRA tables may be configured by higher layer signaling. The number of TDRA tables is represented by Nt, and this field may have The bit is used to select one of the TDRA tables to use.

[0110] In one example, this indication may apply to all configured CCs. Alternatively, this indication may apply only to CCs to be awakened by the wake-up PDCCH. In yet another example, M represents the number of bits in this field in the above embodiment, and this field may be expanded to M*Nc bits, where Nc represents the number of CCs (CC groups). In this example, each M bits is used to indicate one CC (CC group), and the indication method follows the previously described embodiment.

[0111] In some other examples, the UE may switch back to a default scheduling scheme (e.g., cross-slot scheduling or same-slot scheduling) after the corresponding timer expires or if the network explicitly indicates so using DCI. In a timer-based scheme, the duration of the timer may be configurable on a per-UE basis through RRC signaling.

[0112] The sixth field is Antenna Adaptation. In one example, a single bit may be used to indicate the number of antenna adaptations between the 2Rx chain and the 4Rx chain. In other examples, the Antenna Adaptation field indicates the maximum MIMO layer for PDSCH scheduling within a given wake-up period for both PDCCH and PDSCH, or indicates that PDSCH reception should only be maintained for the PDCCH for the larger receive antenna.

[0113] In one embodiment, the block for public indications can be designed to be similar to the design of the above-mentioned block. However, the block for public indications can be changed as follows. For all parameters configured by the upper layer (e.g., the number of bits for BWP configuration, the number of bits for CSI triggering, the number of bits for cross-slot configuration, etc.), these parameters should be updated to the maximum possible value. Alternatively, the field size can be indicated by the upper layer signaling.

[0114] In one embodiment, for the design of CSI reporting (e.g., the timing relationship between performing CSI measurements and reporting CSI), an aperiodic CSI-RS (A-CSI-RS) offset may be indicated as part of the WUS DCI. This offset may be greater than Figure 2 The gap value in tdrp_ssl_ ...

[0115] For configuration performed by higher layer signaling and adaptation indicated by wake-up PDCCH, the UE may provide assistance information to optimize the configuration / adaptation.

[0116] If wake-up DCI is monitored in a search space shared with other DCI formats (e.g., DCI format 1_0 or 1_1), zeros may be appended until the payload size of the DCI format is equal to the maximum payload size of the other DCI formats monitored in the same search space.

[0117] The previous description assumes the structure of the fields in the wake-up PDCCH, such as Figure 5A As shown, the fields for each indication function are arranged first, and each of these fields contains detailed indication information for different CCs (groups). Alternatively, these fields can be separated by CCs (groups) first, and different indication information for different functions can be contained in each field of a CC (group), such as Figure 5B In yet another example, the structure of these fields may first be separated by CC (group), and within each of these fields, a common indication block and a UE-specific indication block may be included, such as Figure 5C shown.

[0118] Figure 5A 、 Figure 5B 、 Figure 5C An example of a wake-up DCI structure according to some implementations is shown. Figure 5A A DCI structure 500 is shown, where the DCI includes a common indication block and G UE-specific indication blocks, each of which includes several fields for different indication functions (e.g., wake-up indicator, BWP indicator, A-CSI trigger, etc.). Each field used to indicate a function also includes information for a different CC or CC group, where the information can be shared between all configured CCs (groups) or different CCs (groups).

[0119] Figure 5B Another DCI structure 510 is shown. In this example, the DCI includes a common indication block and G UE-specific indication blocks, each of which includes indication information for a different CC (group). Each field for a CC (group) also contains indication information for that CC (group), including different fields for different indication functions (e.g., wake-up indicator, BWP indicator, A-CSI trigger, etc.).

[0120] Figure 5C Another DCI structure 520 is shown. In this example, the DCI includes indication information for different CCs (or groups). For each CC (or group), the indication information also includes a common indication block and G UE-specific indication blocks. Each of the indication blocks includes different fields for different indication functions (e.g., wake-up indicator, BWP indicator, A-CSI trigger, etc.).

[0121] Figure 6A and 6B Flowcharts showing exemplary processes according to some specific implementations are shown. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes processes in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, Figure 7 The UE shown (e.g., UE 101) performs process 600. For example, Figure 7 The RAN (e.g., RAN 710) or a network element thereof (e.g., node 711) is shown performing process 610. However, it should be understood that these processes can be performed, for example, by any suitable system, environment, software, and hardware, or a combination of systems, environments, software, and hardware, as appropriate. In some implementations, the steps of these processes can be performed in parallel, in combination, in a loop, or in any order.

[0122] Figure 6A 6 is a flow chart of an exemplary method 600 for receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH-based) wake-up signal by one or more UEs. At step 602, the method involves receiving, by one or more user equipment (UEs), a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal (WUS), wherein the configuration includes information indicating one or more of the following: one or more component carriers (CCs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a control resource set (CORESET), and a search space (SS). At step 604, the method involves monitoring, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS. At step 606, the method involves receiving, by the one or more UEs, the WUS in response to detecting the DCI.

[0123] In some embodiments, the configuration also includes information indicating one or more of: a starting position of a UE-specific field block; a size of the UE-specific field block; an information field; multiple component carriers (CCs) sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); a number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a redundancy version (RV), or a hybrid acknowledgment request (HARQ) process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control (TPC) command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; a field size of a common field; a pair of BWPs and CCs; a timer indicating a duration after which the UE should fall back to a default scheduling scheme; and one or more time domain resource allocation (TDRA) tables.

[0124] In some implementations, the DCI includes an indication of one or more of the following: a wake-up duration for the one or more UEs; a wake-up duration, a BWP associated with one or more CCs, aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with the one or more CCs, resource allocation, transmit power control (TPC) command, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), redundancy version (RV), hybrid acknowledgement request (HARQ) process for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), or antenna adaptation. In some implementations, the monitoring is performed when the one or more UEs are operating in a discontinuous reception off (DRX-OFF) state. In some implementations, monitoring the PDCCH for DCI associated with WUS takes precedence over monitoring the PDCCH for other types of DCI.

[0125] In some embodiments, the one or more UEs include multiple UEs, and wherein the WUS includes at least one of the following: (i) information applicable to each UE in the multiple UEs, or (ii) information specific to one UE in the multiple UEs. In some embodiments, the WUS is specific to the one or more UEs. In some embodiments, the WUS is enabled or disabled by high-layer signaling, wherein the high-layer signaling includes cell-specific signaling or UE-specific signaling. In some embodiments, the PDCCH shares a common search space (CSS) with an existing DCI format. In some embodiments, the search space (SS) for the PDCCH is configured by high-layer signaling, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the following: periodicity, offset, duration, control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID), search space (SS) ID, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, common search space (CSS) flag, or aggregation level (AL). In some embodiments, the one or more UEs monitor for wake-up DCI during the DRX-off period. In some embodiments, monitoring of DCI is prioritized.

[0126] In some implementations, the method further includes: configuring a set of search spaces (SSs) or control resource sets (CORESETs) with different transmission configuration indication (TCI) states, and wherein the different SSs or CORESETs with different TCI states are located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots of the WUS monitoring window. In some implementations, the DCI payload includes: (i) a common indication block applicable to all of the one or more UEs, or (ii) a UE-specific information block applicable to one of the one or more UEs. In some implementations, the DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication blocks include multiple fields, the multiple fields including an indication function, wherein the multiple fields each include information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information is shared between the different CCs or CC groups.

[0127] In some implementations, the DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, where each UE-specific indication block includes indication information for a different CC, and where each field of a CC also includes indication information for that CC. In some implementations, the DCI includes indication information for different CCs, where for each CC, the indication information further includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks. In some implementations, the DCI includes a wake-up indication indicating whether the UE should wake up for the next N DRX cycles, where N is a predetermined number or indicated by the DCI. In some implementations, the configuration also includes paired BWPs and CC groups to be activated by the WUS.

[0128] In some implementations, the one or more component carriers (CCs) are multiple CCs including a primary cell and a secondary cell, wherein the UE stops PDCCH monitoring on all secondary cells (SCells) or a subset of SCells when it is switched to the first BWP on the primary cell (PCell) or when it is switched to the first search space (SS) on the first BWP on the PCell. In some implementations, the DCI also includes an aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) trigger that triggers a channel state information (CSI) report on the component carrier (CC) to be woken up by the WUS. In some implementations, the channel state information (CSI) report is carried in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

[0129] In some implementations, the DCI includes a wake-up duration in units of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles. In some implementations, the DCI includes antenna adaptation, wherein the antenna adaptation indicates at least one of the following: a number of receive (Rx) antenna chains between 2 and 4 or a maximum number of multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) layers for physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) scheduling within a given wake-up cycle for both PDSCH.

[0130] Figure 6B 6 is a flow chart of an exemplary method 610 for generating a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH-based) wake-up signal by a radio access network (RAN). At step 612, the method involves generating a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal (WUS), wherein the configuration includes information indicating one or more of the following: one or more component carriers (CCs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a control resource set (CORESET), and a search space (SS). At step 614, the method also includes sending the configuration to one or more UEs. At step 616, the method also includes sending downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH).

[0131] Figure 6A and Figure 6B The exemplary processes shown in can be modified or reconfigured to include additional, fewer, or different steps ( Figure 6A and Figure 6B ), these steps may be performed in the order shown or in a different order.

[0132] Figure 7 An exemplary architecture of a system 700 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 700 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 may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0133] like Figure 7As shown, system 700 includes UE 701a and UE 701b (collectively referred to as "multiple UEs 701" or "UE 701"). In this example, multiple UEs 701 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but can also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, mobile phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), head-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine electronic control units (ECUs), electronic / engine electronic control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), connected or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0134] In some embodiments, any of the plurality of UEs 701 may include an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-term connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0135] Multiple UEs 701 may be configured, for example, to be communicatively coupled to a RAN 710. In an embodiment, the RAN 710 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or a GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN," etc., may refer to the RAN 710 operating in an NR or 5G system 700, while the term "E-UTRAN," etc., may refer to the RAN 710 operating in an LTE or 4G system 700. Multiple UEs 701 utilize connections (or channels) 703 and 704, respectively, each connection comprising a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0136] In this example, connections 703 and 704 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, multiple UEs 701 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 705. The ProSe interface 705 may alternatively be referred to as an SL interface 705 and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

[0137] UE 701b is shown as being configured to access AP 706 (also referred to as "WLAN node 706," "WLAN 706," "WLAN terminal 706," "WT 706," etc.) via connection 707. Connection 707 may comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 706 would include Wireless Fidelity. Router. In this example, AP 706 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 701b, RAN 710, and AP 706 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 701b in an RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 711a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 701b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 707) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over connection 707. 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.

[0138] RAN 710 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 711a and 711b (collectively referred to as "multiple RAN nodes 711" or "RAN node 711") that enable connections 703 and 704. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, or TRPs, 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 RNA nodes 711 (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or 5G systems 700, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to RAN nodes 711 (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 700. According to various embodiments, the plurality of RAN nodes 711 may be implemented as one or more dedicated physical devices such as macrocell base stations and / or low power (LP) base stations for providing femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macrocells.

[0139] In some embodiments, all or part of the multiple RAN nodes 711 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splits, such as PDCP splits, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 711; MAC / PHY splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 711; or "lower PHY" splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 711. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the multiple RAN nodes 711 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a separate RAN node 711 may represent a separate RAN node 711 connected to the RAN via a separate F1 interface ( Figure 7 In these implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 10), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 710 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the plurality of RAN nodes 711 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 plurality of UEs 701 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., via an NG interface (discussed below)). Figure 9 RAN node of CN 920).

[0140] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the multiple RAN nodes 711 may be or function 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, where 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 RF circuitry located on the roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 701 (vUEs 701). 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 vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weatherproof 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.

[0141] Any of the multiple RAN nodes 711 may serve as the endpoint for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for multiple UEs 701. In some embodiments, any of the multiple RAN nodes 711 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 710, including but not limited to functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0142] In an embodiment, multiple UEs 701 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of multiple RAN nodes 711 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 embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0143] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the multiple RAN nodes 711 to the multiple UEs 701, while similar techniques can be used for uplink transmissions. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which represents the physical resources in the downlink during each time slot. This type of time-frequency plane representation is common for OFDM systems, making radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and 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 multiple resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this can represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0144] According to various embodiments, multiple UEs 701 and multiple RAN nodes 711 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) via a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz band.

[0145] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the plurality of UEs 701 and the plurality of RAN nodes 711 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the plurality of UEs 701 and the plurality of RAN nodes 711 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.

[0146] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., multiple UEs 701, multiple RAN nodes 711, etc.) senses the medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an intended transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0147] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs employ a contention-based channel access mechanism known as CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 701, AP 706, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmitting. In addition, in the event that more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits simultaneously, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a collision occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA / CA for WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have an LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS for 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.

[0148] The LAA mechanism is built on the Carrier Adaptation (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, resulting in a maximum aggregate bandwidth of 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 can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are generally the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0149] 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. The 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 the PCC may require the UE 701 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in 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 starting positions within the same subframe.

[0150] The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to multiple UEs 701. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation associated with the PDSCH channel. It can also inform multiple UEs 701 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information associated with the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 701b within a cell) can be performed on any of the multiple RAN nodes 711 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the multiple UEs 701. Downlink resource allocation information can be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the multiple UEs 701.

[0151] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruples, 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 the 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).

[0152] 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 a set of nine physical resource elements, called EREGs, including four physical resource elements. In some cases, an ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0153] The plurality of RAN nodes 711 may be configured to communicate with each other via the interface 712. In embodiments where the system 700 is an LTE system (eg, when the CN 720 is a Figure 8 720 ), the interface 712 may be an X2 interface 712. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 711 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 720, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 720. In some 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 convey information regarding the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information regarding user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information regarding successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs for user data from the SeNB to the UE 701; information regarding PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 701; information regarding the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C provides intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0154] When the system 700 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when the CN 720 is Figure 9In an embodiment (when the 5GC 920 is included in the 5GC 920), the interface 712 may be an Xn interface 712. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 711 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 720, between a RAN node 711 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 720, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 720. 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 701 in connected mode (e.g., CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 711. This mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 711 to the new (target) serving RAN node 711; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 711 and the new (target) serving RAN node 711. The Xn-U protocol stack may include a transport network layer built on the Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer built on top of the UDP and / or IP layers 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 built on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, signaling PDUs are delivered using point-to-point transport. In other embodiments, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0155] RAN 710 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, to a core network (CN) 720. CN 720 may include multiple network elements 722 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / users (e.g., users of multiple UEs 701) connected to CN 720 via RAN 710. Components of CN 720 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from machine-readable or computer-readable media (e.g., non-transitory machine-readable storage media). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the aforementioned network node functions (described in further detail below) via executable instructions stored on one or more computer-readable storage media. A logical instance of CN 720 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 720 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 can be used to perform virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0156] Generally speaking, the application server 730 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 730 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.) for multiple UEs 701 via the EPC 720.

[0157] In an embodiment, CN 720 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 720" or the like), and RAN 710 may be connected to CN 720 via an NG interface 713. In an embodiment, NG interface 713 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 714, which carries traffic data between RAN node 711 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 715, which is a signaling interface between multiple RAN nodes 711 and multiple AMFs. Figure 9 An implementation of CN 720 as 5GC 720 is discussed in more detail.

[0158] In an embodiment, CN 720 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 720," etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 720 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 720 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 720," etc.), RAN 710 may be connected to CN 720 via an S1 interface 713. In an embodiment, S1 interface 713 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 714, which carries traffic data between RAN node 711 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 715, which is a signaling interface between multiple RAN nodes 711 and multiple MMEs.

[0159] Figure 8 FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a system 800 including a first CN 820 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 800 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 820 is a Figure 7 In addition, UE 801 can communicate with Figure 7 The UE 701 is the same as or similar to the UE 701, and the E-UTRAN 810 may be the same as Figure 7 The CN 820 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 710 of the mobile network and may include the RAN node 711 discussed previously. The CN 820 may include an MME 821, an S-GW 822, a P-GW 823, an HSS 824, and an SGSN 825.

[0160] MME 821 may be functionally similar to the control plane of a traditional SGSN and may implement MM functionality to keep track of the current location of UE 801. MME 821 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects of access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data stores, etc. used to maintain knowledge of the current location of UE 801, provide user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or perform other similar services. Each UE 801 and MME 821 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and upon successful completion of the attach procedure, an MM context may be established in UE 801 and MME 821. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information for UE 801. The MME 821 may be coupled to the HSS 824 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 825 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 822 via an S11 reference point.

[0161] SGSN 825 may be a node that serves UE 801 by tracking the location of individual UE 801 and performing security functions. Furthermore, SGSN 825 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 821; handling of UE 801 time zone capabilities, as specified by MME 821; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks. The S3 reference point between MME 821 and SGSN 825 may enable the exchange of user and bearer information for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and / or active states.

[0162] HSS 824 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information used to support network entities handling communication sessions. EPC 820 may include one or several HSSs 824, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, equipment capacity, network organization, and the like. For example, HSS 824 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, and the like. The S6a reference point between HSS 824 and MME 821 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access EPC 820 between HSS 824 and MME 821.

[0163] The S-GW 822 may terminate the S1 interface 713 towards the RAN 810 ( Figure 8 The S-GW 822 is a RAN-based mobile gateway ("S1-U" in the RAN), and routes data packets between the RAN 810 and the EPC 820. Additionally, the S-GW 822 can be the local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and can also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcing certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 822 and the MME 821 can provide a control plane between the MME 821 and the S-GW 822. The S-GW 822 can be coupled to the P-GW 823 via the S5 reference point.

[0164] The P-GW 823 may terminate the SGi interface towards the PDN 830. The P-GW 823 may communicate with the PDN 830 via the IP interface 725 (see e.g. Figure 7 ) routes data packets between EPC 820 and external networks such as a network including application server 730 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 823 can communicate with the EPC via IP communication interface 725 (see, e.g., Figure 7 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 7 Application server 730 or Figure 8830 in the PDN). The S5 reference point between the P-GW 823 and the S-GW 822 can provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 823 and the S-GW 822. Due to the mobility of the UE 801 and whether the S-GW 822 needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW 823 for the required PDN connectivity, the S5 reference point can also be used for S-GW 822 relocation. The P-GW 823 may also include nodes for policy enforcement and charging data collection, such as PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 823 and the packet data network (PDN) 830 can be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for providing IMS services. The P-GW 823 can be coupled to the PCRF 826 via the Gx reference point.

[0165] PCRF 826 is the policy and charging control element of EPC 820. In a non-roaming scenario, a single PCRF 826 may exist in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with UE 801's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, two PCRFs may be associated with UE 801's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in the Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). PCRF 826 may be communicatively coupled to application server 830 via P-GW 823. Application server 830 may signal PCRF 826 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 826 may configure the rules to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which initiates QoS and charging as specified by application server 830. The Gx reference point between PCRF 826 and P-GW 823 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 826 to PCEF in P-GW 823. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 830 (or "AF 830") and PCRF 826.

[0166] Figure 9The architecture of a system 900 including a second CN 920 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 900 is shown to include a UE 901, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed UE 701 and UE 801; an (R)AN 910, which may be the same as or similar to the previously discussed RAN 710 and RAN 810, and may include the previously discussed RAN node 711; and a DN 903, which may be, for example, an operator service, internet access, or a third-party service; and a 5GC 920. The 5GC 920 may include an AUSF 922; an AMF 921; an SMF 924; an NEF 923; a PCF 926; an NRF 925; an UDM 927; an AF 928; an UPF 902; and an NSSF 929.

[0167] The UPF 902 can serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with the DN 903, and a branch point supporting multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 902 can also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane portion of policy rules, perform lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing for the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic validation (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 902 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic to the data network. The DN 903 may represent various network operator services, internet access, or third-party services. The DN 903 may include or be similar to the application server 730 discussed previously. The UPF 902 may interact with the SMF 924 via the N4 reference point between the SMF 924 and the UPF 902.

[0168] The AUSF 922 may store data used for authentication of the UE 901 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 922 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 922 may communicate with the AMF 921 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 921 and the AUSF 922; and may communicate with the UDM 927 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 927 and the AUSF 922. In addition, the AUSF 922 may present an interface based on the NAUSF service.

[0169] The AMF 921 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., registering the UE 901), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, as well as access authentication and authorization. The AMF 921 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between the AMF 921 and the SMF 924. The AMF 921 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 901 and the SMF 924 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 921 may also provide a communication channel between the UE 901 and the SMSF ( Figure 9 901). The AMF 921 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 922 and the UE 901, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 901 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 921 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 922. The AMF 921 may also include an SCM function that receives keys for deriving access network-specific keys from the SEA. In addition, the AMF 921 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 910 and the AMF 921; and the AMF 921 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0170] The AMF 921 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 901 via the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point of the N2 interface between the (R)AN 910 and the AMF 921 of the control plane, and may be the termination point of the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 910 and the UPF 902 of the user plane. Thus, the AMF 921 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 924 and the AMF 921, 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 the QoS requirements associated with such markings received via N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 901 and the AMF 921 via the N1 reference point between the UE 901 and the AMF 921, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 901 and the UPF 902. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 901. The AMF 921 may present an interface based on Namf services and may be an N14 reference point between two AMFs 921 and an N14 reference point between the AMF 921 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 9 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two reference points (not shown).

[0171] UE 901 may need to register with AMF 921 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 901 with the network (e.g., AMF 921) or deregister the UE and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 921). UE 901 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 901 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 921 does not maintain valid location or routing information of UE 901, so AMF 921 cannot reach UE 901. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 901 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 921 may maintain valid location or routing information of UE 901, so AMF 921 can reach UE 901. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 901 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 901 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0172] The AMF 921 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 901, where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, or the like that indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 921 may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same as or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 921 may store the CE Mode B restriction parameters of the UE 901 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 921 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0173] The CM can be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 901 and the AMF 921 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchanges between the UE 901 and the CN 920, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection for non-3GPP access or a UE-N3IWF connection) and the UE 901's N2 connection between the AN (e.g., the RAN 910) and the AMF 921. The UE 901 can operate in one of two CM states: CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 901 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 901 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 921 over the N1 interface, and a (R)AN 910 signaling connection (e.g., an N2 and / or N3 connection) may exist for the UE 901. When the UE 901 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 901 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 921 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 910 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 901. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 910 and the AMF 921 may cause the UE 901 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 910 and the AMF 921 is released, the UE 901 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0174] The SMF 924 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between the UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring the UPF's traffic steering to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface towards the policy control function; the control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interfaces with the LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to the AN via the AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode for 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 the UE 901 and the data network (DN) 903 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by the UE 901, modified upon request by the UE 901 and the 5GC 920, and released upon request by the UE 901 and the 5GC 920 using NAS SM signaling exchanged between the UE 901 and the SMF 924 over the N1 reference point. Upon request from the application server, the 5GC 920 may trigger a specific application in the UE 901. In response to receiving the trigger message, the UE 901 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE 901. The identified applications in the UE 901 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF 924 may check whether the UE 901 request complies with user subscription information associated with the UE 901. In this regard, the SMF 924 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications regarding SMF 924-level subscription data from the UDM 927.

[0175] The SMF 924 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interfaces (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interfaces with LI systems, in VPLMN); and support for interaction with external DNs to transport signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DNs. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 924 may be included in the system 900, which may be located between an SMF 924 in a visited network and another SMF 924 in a home network. In addition, the SMF 924 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0176] The NEF 923 may provide a component for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 928), edge computing or fog computing systems, and the like. In such an embodiment, the NEF 923 may authenticate, authorize, and / or restrict the AF. The NEF 923 may also convert information exchanged with the AF 928 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 923 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. The NEF 923 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on their exposed capabilities. This information may be stored as structured data at the NEF 923 or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information may then be re-exposed by the NEF 923 to other NFs and AFs and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, the NEF 923 may present an interface based on NNEF services.

[0177] The NRF 925 may support service discovery functionality, receiving NF discovery requests from NF instances and providing information about discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 925 also maintains information about 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 program code. Furthermore, the NRF 925 may present an Nnrf service-based interface.

[0178] The PCF 926 can provide control plane functions for enforcing their policy rules and can also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 926 can also enable the FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDM 927's UDR. The PCF 926 can communicate with the AMF 921 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 926 and the AMF 921. This can include the PCF 926 in the visited network and the AMF 921 in roaming scenarios. The PCF 926 can communicate with the AF 928 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 926 and the AF 928; and with the SMF 924 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 926 and the SMF 924. The system 900 and / or CN 920 can also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 926 (in the home network) and the PCF 926 in the visited network. In addition, the PCF 926 can present an Npcf service-based interface.

[0179] The UDM 927 may process subscription-related information to support network entities in handling communication sessions and may store subscription data of the UE 901. For example, subscription data may be transferred between the UDM 927 and the AMF 921 via the N8 reference point between the UDM 927 and the AMF. The UDM 927 may include two parts: the application FE and the UDR ( Figure 9 FE and UDR are not shown). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data of the UDM 927 and PCF 926, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of the NEF 923 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UEs 901). An interface based on Nudr services may be presented by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 927, PCF 926, and NEF 923 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of changes to relevant data in the UDR. The UDM may include a 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. The UDM-FE accesses the subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF 924 via the N10 reference point between the UDM 927 and the SMF 924. UDM 927 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as described above. Additionally, UDM 927 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0180] The AF 928 can provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE can be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 920 and AF 928 to provide information to each other via the NEF 923, which can be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 901 access point to achieve efficient service delivery with reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC can select a UPF 902 near the UE 901 and perform traffic steering from the UPF 902 to the DN 903 via the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 928. In this way, the AF 928 can influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when the AF 928 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow the AF 928 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, the AF 928 can present an interface based on the NAF service.

[0181] The NSSF 929 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 901. If required, the NSSF 929 may also determine the allowed NSSAIs and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs. The NSSF 929 may also determine the set of AMFs to serve the UE 901, or a list of candidate AMFs 921, based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 925. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 901 may be triggered by the AMF 921, where the UE 901 registers by interacting with the NSSF 929, which may result in a change in the AMF 921. The NSSF 929 may interact with the AMF 921 via the N22 reference point between the AMF 921 and the NSSF 929; and may communicate via the N31 reference point ( Figure 9 (not shown) communicates with another NSSF 929 in the visited network. In addition, the NSSF 929 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0182] As previously discussed, the CN 920 may include an SMSF that is responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to / from the UE 901 from / to other entities, such as the SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS router. The SMS may also interact with the AMF 921 and the UDM 927 for notification procedures that the UE 901 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying the UDM 927 when the UE 901 is available for SMS).

[0183] CN 120 may also include Figure 9 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 can communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 9 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data into or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). A single NF may share a UDSF for storing its respective unstructured data, or each NF may have its own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on Nudsf services ( Figure 9 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific device / 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.

[0184] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 9These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one embodiment, the CN 920 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 821) and an AMF 921, to enable intercommunication between the CN 920 and the CN 820. Other exemplary interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by the 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.

[0185] Figure 10 An example of infrastructure equipment 1000 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 1000 (or "system 1000") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 711 and / or AP 706 shown and described previously), an application server 730, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 1000 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0186] System 1000 includes application circuitry 1005, baseband circuitry 1010, one or more radio front-end modules (RFEMs) 1015, memory circuitry 1020, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1025, power tee circuitry 1030, network controller circuitry 1035, a network interface connector 1040, satellite positioning circuitry 1045, and a user interface 1050. In some embodiments, device 1000 may include additional components such as, for example, memory / storage, a display, a camera, sensors, or input / output (I / O) interfaces. In other embodiments, these components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuitry may be separately included in more than one device for a CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementation.

[0187] Application circuit 1005 may include circuitry 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 voltage regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C, or a general-purpose programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval timer and a watchdog timer, general-purpose input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a Secure Digital (SD) Multimedia Card (MMC) or similar product, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, a Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interface, and a Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of application circuit 1005 may be coupled to or include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 1000. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0188] The processor of the application circuit 1005 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 1005 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating in accordance with various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 1005 may include one or more Apple A series processors, Intel or Processor; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), or processors; ARM Holdings, Ltd. licensed ARM-based processors, 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 1000 may not utilize application circuit 1005 and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0189] In some implementations, the application circuit 1005 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs) and high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs, such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 1005 may include logic blocks or logic fabrics, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, and the like of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 1005 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0190] The baseband circuit 1010 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 12 The various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuit 1010 are discussed.

[0191] The user interface circuitry 1050 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 1000 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 1000. 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 touchpad, 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 port, etc.

[0192] The radio front end module (RFEM) 1015 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 separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, below). Figure 12 The antenna array 1211 is configured such that the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter-wave and sub-millimeter-wave radio functionality can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1015, which combines both millimeter-wave antennas and sub-millimeter-wave antennas.

[0193] The memory circuit 1020 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 a memory device obtained from and The memory circuit 1020 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0194] The PMIC 1025 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as batteries or capacitors. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (brownout) and a surge (overvoltage). The power tee circuit 1030 may provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power and data connectivity for the infrastructure equipment 1000 using a single cable.

[0195] The network controller circuit 1035 can provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on GRE tunnels, Ethernet based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity can be provided to / from the infrastructure equipment 1000 via the network interface connector 1040 using a physical connection, which can be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 1035 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 1035 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0196] The positioning circuit 1045 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (or 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., navigation using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radiolocation (DORIS), etc.). The positioning circuit 1045 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 1045 may include a micro technology (microPNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 1045 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 1010 and / or RFEM 1015 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 1045 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 1005, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 711, etc.).

[0197] Figure 10 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuitry that can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, among others.

[0198] Figure 11 An example of a platform 1100 (or "device 1100") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 1100 may be suitable for use as a UE 701, 801, 901, an application server 730, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 1100 may include any combination of the components shown in the examples. The components of the platform 1100 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of ICs, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof adapted into the computer platform 1100, or as components otherwise incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. Figure 11 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 1100. 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.

[0199] Application circuitry 1105 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of an LDO, an interrupt controller, a serial interface (such as SPI), I2C or a general-purpose programmable serial interface module, an RTC, a timer (including an interval timer and a watchdog timer), general-purpose I / O, a memory card controller (such as an SD MMC or similar controller), a USB interface, a MIPI interface, and a JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of application circuitry 1105 may be coupled to or include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 1100. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0200] The processor of the application circuit 1005 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multi-threaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 1005 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0201] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 1105 may include an Apple A series processor. The processor of the application circuit 1105 may also be one or more of the following: Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA company( Another such processor is from Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM processors, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia ApplicationsPlatform(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 1105 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 1105 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit.

[0202] Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 1105 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 1105 may include logic blocks or logic fabrics, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, and the like of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 1105 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), antifuse), and the like) for storing logic blocks, logic fabrics, data, and the like in lookup tables (LUTs) and the like.

[0203] The baseband circuit 1110 may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 12 The various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuit 1110 are discussed.

[0204] The RFEM 1115 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 separate from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, for example, below). Figure 12 The antenna array 1211 is configured such that 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 1115, which combines both millimeter-wave antennas and sub-millimeter-wave antennas.

[0205] Memory circuit 1120 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a fixed amount of system memory. For example, memory circuit 1120 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. Memory circuit 1120 may be developed according to a Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) low-power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 1120 may be implemented as one or more of the following: 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 1120 may be on-chip memory or registers associated with the application circuit 1105. To provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 1120 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 1100 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0206] Removable storage circuitry 1123 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 1100. 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.

[0207] Platform 1100 may also include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to platform 1100. External devices connected to platform 1100 via the interface circuit include sensor circuit 1121 and electromechanical components (EMC) 1122, as well as a removable memory device coupled to removable memory circuit 1123.

[0208] Sensor circuitry 1121 comprises a device, module, or subsystem whose purpose is 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 nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a fluid 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.

[0209] The EMC 1122 includes devices, modules, or subsystems designed to enable the platform 1100 to change its state, position, and / or orientation, or to move or control mechanisms or (sub)systems. Additionally, the EMC 1122 can be configured to generate and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 1100 to indicate the current state of the EMC 1122. The EMC 1122 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 1100 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1122 based on one or more capture events and / or command or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0210] In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform 1100 to the positioning circuitry 1145. The positioning circuitry 1145 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a GNSS positioning network. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems, or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.). The positioning circuitry 1145 includes various hardware components (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating over-the-air (OTA) communications, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of the positioning network, such as nodes of the navigation satellite constellation. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 1145 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 1145 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuitry 1010 and / or RFEM 1115 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 1145 may also provide location data and / or time data to application circuitry 1105 , 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.

[0211] In some implementations, the interface circuitry can connect the platform 1100 to a near-field communication (NFC) circuit 1140. The NFC circuit 1140 is configured to provide contactless, short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 1140 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touchpoint") external to the platform 1100. The NFC circuit 1140 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller can be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 1140 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack can be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware can be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit short-range RF signals. The RF signals can power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuit 1140, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 1140 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) in close proximity to the platform 1100.

[0212] Driver circuitry 1146 may include software and hardware components for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to platform 1100. Driver circuitry 1146 may include various drivers to allow other components of platform 1100 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present within or connected to platform 1100. For example, driver circuitry 1146 may include a display driver for controlling and enabling access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and enabling access to a touch screen interface of platform 1100, a sensor driver for acquiring sensor readings from sensor circuitry 1121 and controlling and enabling access to sensor circuitry 1121, an EMC driver for acquiring actuator positions of EMC 1122 and / or controlling and enabling access to EMC 1122, a camera driver for controlling and enabling access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and enabling access to one or more audio devices.

[0213] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1125 (also referred to as "power management circuit 1125") can manage the power provided to various components of the platform 1100. Specifically, the PMIC 1125 can control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to the baseband circuit 1110. When the platform 1100 is capable of being powered by a battery 1130, for example, when the device is included in a UE 701, 801, or 901, the PMIC 1125 is typically included.

[0214] In some embodiments, the PMIC 1125 can control or otherwise be part of various power-saving mechanisms of the platform 1100. For example, if the platform 1100 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which it remains connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, after a period of inactivity, the platform can enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 1100 can be powered down for short intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 1100 can transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. The platform 1100 enters a very low-power state and performs paging, in which the device periodically wakes up again to listen to the network, and then powers down again. The platform 1100 cannot receive data in this state; to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power-saving modes can prevent the device from using the network for periods exceeding the paging interval (which can range from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will incur significant delays, assuming that the delay is acceptable.

[0215] Battery 1130 can power platform 1100, but in some examples, platform 1100 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. Battery 1130 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, battery 1130 can be a typical lead-acid automobile battery.

[0216] In some implementations, the battery 1130 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 1100 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1130. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1130, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 1130 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 1130 to the application circuit 1105 or other components of the platform 1100. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 1105 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1130 or the current from the battery 1130. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 1100 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0217] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 1130. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to wirelessly acquire power, for example, via a loop antenna in the computer platform 1100. In these examples, wireless battery charging circuitry can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 1130 and, therefore, the required current. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium.

[0218] The user interface circuit 1150 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present within or connected to the platform 1100, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 1100 and / or peripheral component interfaces designed to implement interaction with peripheral components of the platform 1100. The user interface circuit 1150 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device 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 trackpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as a display device or touch screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LED display, a quantum dot display, a projector, etc.), wherein the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the platform 1100. The output device circuitry may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 1121 may function as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may function 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. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power port, etc.

[0219] Although not shown, the components of platform 1100 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0220] Figure 12 Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 1210 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 1215 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 1210 corresponds to Figure 10 The baseband circuit 1010 and Figure 11 Baseband circuit 1110. RFEM 1215 corresponds to Figure 10 RFEM 1015 and Figure 11 RFEM 1115. As shown, RFEM 1215 may include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 1206, front end module (FEM) circuitry 1208, and an antenna array 1211 coupled together at least as shown.

[0221] The baseband circuitry 1210 includes circuitry and / or control logic configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 1206. Radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1210 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 1210 may include convolution, tail-biting, 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 circuitry 1210 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 1206. The baseband circuit 1210 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 1005 / 1105 (see Figure 10 and Figure 11 ) are connected to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 1206. Baseband circuit 1210 can handle various radio control functions.

[0222] The aforementioned circuitry and / or control logic components of baseband circuitry 1210 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 1204A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 1204B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 1204C, or some other baseband processor 1204D for other existing, developing, or future generations (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1204A-D may be included in modules stored in memory 1204G and may be executed via central processing unit (CPU) 1204E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1204A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in corresponding memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 1204G may store program code for a real-time OS (RTOS) that, when executed by the CPU 1204E (or other baseband processor), enables the CPU 1204E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 1210, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-TimeExecutive (VRTX) provided by Express ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by Open Kernel (OK) The baseband circuit 1210 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 1204F. The audio DSPs 1204F may include components for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing components in other embodiments.

[0223] In some embodiments, each of processors 1204A-1204E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from memory 1204G. Baseband circuit 1210 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 1210; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 1210; Figures 10 to X Application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 1005 / 1105 of T; Figure 12 RF circuit 1206 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 components, Wi- components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to / from the PMIC 1125.

[0224] In an alternative embodiment (which may be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 1210 includes one or more digital baseband systems that are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, audio subsystem, and interface subsystem via an interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 1210 may include a protocol processing circuit having one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 1215).

[0225] although Figure 12Although not shown, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1210 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuitry") for operating one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when baseband circuitry 1210 and / or RF circuitry 1206 are part of millimeter wave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In this first example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when baseband circuitry 1210 and / or RF circuitry 1206 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In this second example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate Wi-Fi MAC and Logical Link Control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 1204G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 1210 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0226] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 1210 discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate comprising 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 1210 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or provided on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1210 and the RF circuit 1206 may be implemented together, such as in a system-on-chip (SoC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1210 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 1206 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 1206). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1210 and the application circuits 1005 / 1105 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0227] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1210 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1210 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, or WPANs. Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 1210 is configured to support radio communications using more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0228] RF circuitry 1206 can enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 1206 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 1206 can include a receive signal path that can include circuitry for downconverting RF signals received from FEM circuitry 1208 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 1210. RF circuitry 1206 can also include a transmit signal path that can include circuitry for upconverting baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 1210 and providing an RF output signal to FEM circuitry 1208 for transmission.

[0229] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuitry 1206 may include mixer circuitry 1206a, amplifier circuitry 1206b, and filter circuitry 1206c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 1206 may include filter circuitry 1206c and mixer circuitry 1206a. RF circuitry 1206 may also include synthesizer circuitry 1206d for synthesizing frequencies used by mixer circuitry 1206a in the receive and transmit signal paths. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 1206a in the receive signal path may be configured to downconvert the RF signal received from FEM circuitry 1208 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 1206d. Amplifier circuitry 1206b may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and filter circuitry 1206c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or a band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the downconverted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 1210 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal can be a zero-frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1206a of the receive signal path can include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0230] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1206a of the transmit signal path can be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 1206d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 1208. The baseband signal can be provided by baseband circuit 1210 and can be filtered by filter circuit 1206c.

[0231] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1206a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1206a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0232] 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, RF circuitry 1206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 1210 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 1206.

[0233] 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.

[0234] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1206 d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 1206 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0235] Synthesizer circuit 1206d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 1206a of RF circuit 1206. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1206d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0236] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 1210 or application circuitry 1005 / 1105 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application circuitry 1005 / 1105.

[0237] The synthesizer circuit 1206d of the RF circuit 1206 may include a frequency divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-modulus frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay elements 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.

[0238] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1206d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 1206 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0239] The FEM circuitry 1208 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the antenna array 1211, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1206 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 1208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 1206 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in the antenna array 1211. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal paths may be performed only in the RF circuitry 1206, only in the FEM circuitry 1208, or in both the RF circuitry 1206 and the FEM circuitry 1208.

[0240] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 1208 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit and receive modes of operation. The FEM circuit 1208 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1208 may include an LNA to amplify a received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 1206). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1208 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1206), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1211.

[0241] Antenna array 1211 includes one or more antenna elements, each configured to convert electrical signals into radio waves for propagation through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by baseband circuitry 1210 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of antenna array 1211, which includes one or more antenna elements (not shown). Antenna elements can be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. Antenna elements can be formed into various arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. Antenna array 1211 can include microstrip antennas or printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. Antenna array 1211 can be formed as patches of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., patch antennas) and can be coupled to RF circuitry 1206 and / or FEM circuitry 1208 using metal transmission lines, etc.

[0242] The processors of the application circuitry 1005 / 1105 and the processors of the baseband circuitry 1210 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuitry 1210 may be used, alone or in combination, to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuitry 1005 / 1105 may 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 the RRC layer, which is described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include the MAC layer, the RLC layer, and the PDCP layer, which are described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include the PHY layer of the UE / RAN node, which is described in further detail below.

[0243] Figure 13 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in wireless communication devices according to various embodiments are shown. Specifically, Figure 13The present invention includes an arrangement 1300 showing the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. The present invention provides various protocol layers / entities for operating in conjunction with the 5G / NR system standard and the LTE system standard. Figure 13 The following description, but Figure 13 Some or all aspects of the present invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0244] In addition to other higher layer functionality not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1300 may include one or more of PHY 1310, MAC 1320, RLC 1330, PDCP 1340, SDAP 1347, RRC 1355, and NAS layer 1357. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 13 Items 1359, 1356, 1350, 1349, 1345, 1335, 1325, and 1315).

[0245] PHY 1310 can send and receive physical layer signals 1305, which can be received from or sent to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1305 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1310 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 1355). PHY 1310 may further perform error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 1310 may process requests from an instance of MAC 1320 via one or more PHY-SAPs 1315 and provide instructions thereto. According to some embodiments, the requests and instructions transmitted via PHY-SAP 1315 may include one or more transport channels.

[0246] Instances of MAC 1320 may process requests from instances of RLC 1330 and provide indications thereto via one or more MAC-SAPs 1325. These requests and indications conveyed via MAC-SAP 1325 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1320 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 1310 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1310 via transport channels onto one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0247] Instances of RLC 1330 can process requests from instances of PDCP 1340 and provide indications thereto via one or more Radio Link Control Service Access Points (RLC-SAPs) 1335. These requests and indications conveyed via RLC-SAPs 1335 can include one or more logical channels. RLC 1330 can operate in multiple modes of operation, including Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). RLC 1330 can perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 1330 can also resegment 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.

[0248] An instance of PDCP 1340 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1355 and / or an instance of SDAP 1347 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAPs) 1345 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions conveyed via PDCP-SAP 1345 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1340 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs upon reestablishment of lower layers, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs upon reestablishment of lower layers 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.).

[0249] An instance of SDAP 1347 can process requests from one or more higher-layer protocol entities and provide instructions to them via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1349. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 1349 can include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1347 can map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and can also mark the QFI in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1347 can be configured for a single PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 710 can control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways: reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, SDAP 1347 of UE 701 can monitor the QFI of DL packets for each DRB and apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, SDAP 1347 of UE 701 can map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow that corresponds to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of that DRB. To implement reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 910 may tag DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. Explicit mapping may involve RRC 1355 configuring SDAP 1347 with explicit mapping rules for QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by SDAP 1347. In an embodiment, SDAP 1347 may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0250] The RRC 1355 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of the PHY 1310, MAC 1320, RLC 1330, PDCP 1340, and SDAP 1347, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, instances of the RRC 1355 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1357 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1356. Primary services and functions of the RRC 1355 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to the NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of the RRC connection between the UE 701 and the RAN 710 (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.

[0251] NAS 1357 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 701 and AMF 921. NAS 1357 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 701 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 701 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0252] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 1300 may be implemented in UE 701, RAN node 711, AMF 921 in NR implementations or MME 821 in LTE implementations, UPF 902 in NR implementations or S-GW 822 and P-GW 823 in LTE implementations, 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 701, gNB 711, AMF 921, 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 711 may host the RRC 1355, SDAP 1347, and PDCP 1340 of the gNB that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 711 may each host the RLC 1330, MAC 1320, and PHY 1310 of gNB 711.

[0253] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 1357, RRC 1355, PDCP 1340, RLC 1330, MAC 1320, and PHY 1310. In this example, upper layers 1360 may be built on top of NAS 1357, including an IP layer 1361, SCTP 1362, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1363.

[0254] In an NR specific implementation, the AP 1363 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1363 for the NG interface 713 defined between the NG-RAN node 711 and the AMF 921, or the AP 1363 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1363 for the Xn interface 712 defined between two or more RAN nodes 711.

[0255] The NG-AP 1363 may support the functionality of the NG interface 713 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 711 and the AMF 921. The NG-AP 1363 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 701) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 711 and the AMF 921). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 711 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 921 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 921 and the NG-RAN node 711; a mobility function for the UE 701 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 transferring or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 701 and the AMF 921; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 921 and the UE 701; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors over the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transfer a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transferring or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 701 and the AMF 921; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 921 and the UE 701; a ... 720 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 711; and / or other similar functions.

[0256] The XnAP 1363 may support the functions of the Xn interface 712 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 711 (or E-UTRAN 810), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and procedures related to dual connectivity. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 701, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, and cell activation procedures.

[0257] In an LTE implementation, the AP 1363 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1363 for the S1 interface 713 defined between the E-UTRAN node 711 and the MME, or the AP 1363 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1363 for the X2 interface 712 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 711.

[0258] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1363 may support the functionality of the S1 interface. Similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be the interface between the E-UTRAN node 711 and the MME 821 within the LTE CN 720. S1-AP 1363 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to, E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0259] X2AP 1363 may support the functions of the X2 interface 712 and may include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 720, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, and procedures related to dual connectivity. The X2AP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 701, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, and cell activation procedures.

[0260] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1362 can 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). SCTP 1362 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 711 and the AMF 921 / MME 821 based in part on the IP protocol supported by IP 1361. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1361 can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1361 can use point-to-point transport to deliver and transmit PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 711 can include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0261] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 1347, PDCP 1340, RLC 1330, MAC 1320, and PHY 1310. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE 701, the RAN node 711, and the UPF 902 in an NR implementation, or for communication between the S-GW 822 and the P-GW 823 in an LTE implementation. In this example, upper layers 1351 may be built on top of SDAP 1347 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and an IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1352, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U) 1353, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1363.

[0262] The transport network layer 1354 (also known as the "transport layer") can be built on top of the IP transport, and GTP-U 1353 can be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 1352 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also known as the "Internet layer") can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer can assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of the formats, such as IPv4, IPv6, or PPP.

[0263] GTP-U 1353 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 1352 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. RAN node 711 and S-GW 822 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1310), the L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1320, RLC 1330, PDCP 1340, and / or SDAP 1347), the UDP / IP layer 1352, and GTP-U 1353. The S-GW 822 and the P-GW 823 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 1352, and a GTP-U 1353. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility and session management procedures of the UE 701 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 701 and the P-GW 823.

[0264] In addition, despite Figure 13Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 1363 and / or transport network layer 1354. The application layer may be the layer where a user of the UE 701, RAN node 711, or other network element interacts with, for example, software applications executed by the application circuitry 1005 or application circuitry 1105, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software applications to interact with the communication system of the UE 701 or RAN node 711 (such as the baseband circuitry 1210). In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide functionality that is the same as or similar to layers 5 through 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).

[0265] Figure 14 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, Figure 14 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1400 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1410, one or more memory / storage devices 1420, and one or more communication resources 1430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1440. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices to utilize the hardware resources 1400.

[0266] Processor 1410 may include, for example, processor 1412 and processor 1414. Processor 1410 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0267] The memory / storage device 1420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1420 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0268] The communication resources 1430 may include interconnect or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1404 or one or more databases 1406 via the network 1408. For example, the communication resources 1430 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0269] The instructions 1450 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an application, or other executable code for causing at least one of the processors 1410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1450 may reside, in whole or in part, within at least one of the processor 1410 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1400 from any combination of the peripheral device 1404 or the database 1406. Thus, the memory of the processor 1410, the memory / storage device 1420, the peripheral device 1404, and the database 1406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

Claims

1. A method for receiving a wake-up signal WUS, comprising: Receiving, by one or more user equipments (UEs), a configuration for monitoring the WUS, wherein the configuration includes information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers (CCs), a bandwidth part (BWP), a control resource set (CORESET), and a search space (SS); monitoring, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS; and In response to detecting the DCI, receiving the WUS by the one or more UEs, wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields being used to indicate a function, wherein each of the plurality of fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups, or wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein each of the UE-specific indication blocks includes indication information for a different CC, wherein one of the different CCs includes a plurality of fields, and wherein each of the plurality of fields includes indication information for the CC, or The DCI includes indication information for different CCs, and for each CC, the indication information includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of the following: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating a duration after which a UE receiving said configuration for which should fall back to a default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI includes an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the monitoring is performed for the UE when the UE operates in a Discontinuous Reception Off (DRX-OFF) state. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the PDCCH for the DCI associated with the WUS takes precedence over monitoring the PDCCH for other types of DCI.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more UEs comprise a plurality of UEs, and wherein the WUS comprises at least one of: (i) information applicable to each of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) information specific to one of the plurality of UEs. The method of claim 1 , wherein the WUS is specific to the one or more UEs. 8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the WUS is enabled or disabled by higher layer signaling, wherein the higher layer signaling comprises cell-specific signaling or UE-specific signaling. 9 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the PDCCH shares a common search space (CSS) with an existing DCI format.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein a search space (SS) for the PDCCH is configured by higher layer signaling, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the following: periodicity, offset, duration, control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID), search space (SS) ID, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, common search space (CSS) flag, or aggregation level (AL). The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring of the DCI is prioritized.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuring further comprises: A set of search spaces SS or control resource sets CORESET with different transmission configuration indications TCI states are configured, wherein different SSs or CORESETs with different TCI states are located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots of the WUS monitoring window.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI payload comprises: (i) a common indication block applied to all of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) a UE-specific information block applied to a UE from the plurality of UEs for which the DCI was detected.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up indication indicating whether the user equipment should wake up in the next N DRX cycles, where N is a predetermined number or indicated by the DCI.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration further comprises a number of pairs to be activated by the WUS, each pair consisting of a BWP and CC group.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more component carriers (CCs) are multiple CCs including a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell), wherein the user equipment stops PDCCH monitoring on all secondary cells (SCells) or a subset of SCells when the user equipment is switched to the first BWP on the primary cell (PCell) or when the user equipment is switched to the first search space (SS) on the first BWP on the PCell. 17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the DCI further comprises an aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) trigger for triggering a channel state information (CSI) report on a component carrier (CC) to be woken up by the WUS.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the channel state information (CSI) report is carried in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up duration in units of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DCI includes antenna adaptation, wherein the antenna adaptation indicates at least one of: the number of receive Rx antenna chains between 2 and 4 or the maximum number of multiple-input and multiple-output MIMO layers for the PDSCH scheduling within a given wake-up cycle for both a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

21. A communication method, comprising: generating a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS, wherein the configuration comprises information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers CC, a bandwidth part BWP, a control resource set CORESET, and a search space SS; Sending the configuration to one or more user equipments UE; as well as Sending downlink control information DCI associated with the WUS on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields being used to indicate a function, wherein each of the plurality of fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups, or wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein each of the UE-specific indication blocks includes indication information for a different CC, wherein one of the different CCs includes a plurality of fields, and wherein each of the plurality of fields includes indication information for the CC, or The DCI includes indication information for different CCs, and for each CC, the indication information includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating the duration after which the UE should fall back to the default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the DCI includes an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: Receiving, by one or more user equipments UE, a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS, wherein the configuration comprises information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers CC, a bandwidth part BWP, a control resource set CORESET, and a search space SS; monitoring, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS; and In response to detecting the DCI, receiving the WUS by the one or more UEs, The DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes multiple fields, and the multiple fields are used to indicate functions, wherein each of the multiple fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of the following: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating a duration after which a UE receiving said configuration for which should fall back to a default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the DCI comprises an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation.

27. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the monitoring is performed for the UE when the UE operates in a Discontinuous Reception Off (DRX-OFF) state.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein monitoring the PDCCH for the DCI associated with the WUS takes precedence over monitoring the PDCCH for other types of DCI.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the one or more UEs comprise a plurality of UEs, and wherein the WUS comprises at least one of: (i) information applicable to each of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) information specific to one of the plurality of UEs.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the WUS is specific to the one or more UEs.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the WUS is enabled or disabled by higher layer signaling, wherein the higher layer signaling comprises cell-specific signaling or UE-specific signaling.

32. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the PDCCH shares a common search space (CSS) with an existing DCI format.

33. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein a search space SS for the PDCCH is configured by higher layer signaling, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the following: periodicity, offset, duration, control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID), search space (SS) ID, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, common search space (CSS) flag, or aggregation level (AL).

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 24, wherein monitoring of the DCI is prioritized.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the configuring further comprises: A set of search spaces SS or control resource sets CORESET with different transmission configuration indications TCI states are configured, wherein different SSs or CORESETs with different TCI states are located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots of the WUS monitoring window.

36. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the DCI payload comprises: (i) a common indication block applied to all of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) a UE-specific information block applied to a UE from the plurality of UEs for which the DCI was detected.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up indication indicating whether the user equipment should wake up in the next N DRX cycles, where N is a predetermined number or indicated by the DCI.

38. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the configuration further comprises a number of pairs to be activated by the WUS, each pair consisting of a BWP and CC group.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the one or more component carriers (CCs) are multiple CCs comprising a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell), wherein the user equipment stops PDCCH monitoring on all secondary cells (SCells) or a subset of SCells when the user equipment is switched to the first BWP on the primary cell (PCell) or when the user equipment is switched to the first search space (SS) on the first BWP on the PCell. 40 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24 , wherein the DCI further comprises an aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) trigger for triggering a channel state information (CSI) report on a component carrier (CC) to be woken up by the WUS.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 40, wherein the channel state information (CSI) report is carried in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

42. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 24, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up duration in units of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle.

43. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device according to claim 24, wherein the DCI includes antenna adaptation, wherein the antenna adaptation indicates at least one of the following: the number of receive Rx antenna chains between 2 and 4 or the maximum number of multiple-input and multiple-output MIMO layers for the PDSCH scheduling within a given wake-up cycle for both the physical downlink control channel PDCCH and the physical downlink shared channel PDSCH.

44. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a data processing apparatus, cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: generating a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS, wherein the configuration comprises information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers CC, a bandwidth part BWP, a control resource set CORESET, and a search space SS; sending the configuration to one or more user equipments (UEs); and Sending downlink control information DCI associated with the WUS on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields being used to indicate a function, wherein each of the plurality of fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups, or wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein each of the UE-specific indication blocks includes indication information for a different CC, wherein one of the different CCs includes a plurality of fields, and wherein each of the plurality of fields includes indication information for the CC, or The DCI includes indication information for different CCs, and for each CC, the indication information includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 44, wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of the following: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating the duration after which the UE should fall back to the default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

46. ​​The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 44, wherein the DCI comprises an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation.

47. A communication system comprising: One or more processors and one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Receiving, by one or more user equipments UE, a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS, wherein the configuration comprises information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers CC, a bandwidth part BWP, a control resource set CORESET, and a search space SS; monitoring, by the one or more UEs and based on the configuration, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for downlink control information (DCI) associated with the WUS; and In response to detecting the DCI, receiving the WUS by the one or more UEs, wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes a plurality of fields, the plurality of fields being used to indicate a function, wherein each of the plurality of fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups, or wherein the DCI includes a common indication block and a plurality of UE-specific indication blocks, wherein each of the UE-specific indication blocks includes indication information for a different CC, wherein one of the different CCs includes a plurality of fields, and wherein each of the plurality of fields includes indication information for the CC, or The DCI includes indication information for different CCs, and for each CC, the indication information includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of the following: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating a duration after which a UE receiving said configuration for which should fall back to a default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

49. The system of claim 47, wherein the DCI includes an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation.

50. The system of claim 47, wherein the monitoring is performed for the UE when the UE operates in a Discontinuous Reception Off (DRX-OFF) state.

51. The system of claim 47, wherein monitoring the PDCCH for the DCI associated with the WUS takes precedence over monitoring the PDCCH for other types of DCI.

52. The system of claim 47, wherein the one or more UEs comprise a plurality of UEs, and wherein the WUS comprises at least one of: (i) information applicable to each of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) information specific to one of the plurality of UEs.

53. The system of claim 47, wherein the WUS is specific to the one or more UEs.

54. The system of claim 47, wherein the WUS is enabled or disabled by higher layer signaling, wherein the higher layer signaling comprises cell-specific signaling or UE-specific signaling.

55. The system of claim 47, wherein the PDCCH shares a common search space (CSS) with an existing DCI format.

56. The system of claim 47, wherein a search space (SS) for the PDCCH is configured by higher layer signaling, wherein the configuration includes at least one of the following: periodicity, offset, duration, control resource set (CORESET) identifier (ID), search space (SS) ID, transmission configuration indication (TCI) state, common search space (CSS) flag, or aggregation level (AL).

57. The system of claim 47, wherein monitoring of the DCI is prioritized.

58. The system of claim 47, wherein the configuration further comprises: A set of search spaces SS or control resource sets CORESET with different transmission configuration indications TCI states are configured, wherein different SSs or CORESETs with different TCI states are located in multiple consecutive symbols within one or two consecutive time slots of the WUS monitoring window.

59. The system of claim 47, wherein the DCI payload comprises: (i) a common indication block applied to all of the plurality of UEs, or (ii) a UE-specific information block applied to a UE from the plurality of UEs for which the DCI was detected.

60. The system of claim 47, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up indication indicating whether the user equipment should wake up in the next N DRX cycles, where N is a predetermined number or indicated by the DCI.

61. The system of claim 47, wherein the configuration further comprises a number of pairs to be activated by the WUS, each pair consisting of a BWP and CC group.

62. The system of claim 47, wherein the one or more component carriers (CCs) are multiple CCs comprising a primary cell and a secondary cell, wherein the user equipment stops PDCCH monitoring on all secondary cells (SCells) or a subset of SCells when it is switched to the first BWP on the primary cell (PCell) or when it is switched to the first search space (SS) on the first BWP on the PCell.

63. The system of claim 47, wherein the DCI further comprises an aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) trigger for triggering a channel state information (CSI) report on a component carrier (CC) to be woken up by the WUS.

64. The system of claim 63, wherein the channel state information (CSI) report is carried in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH).

65. The system of claim 47, wherein the DCI includes a wake-up duration in units of a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle.

66. A system according to claim 47, wherein the DCI includes antenna adaptation, wherein the antenna adaptation indicates at least one of the following: the number of receive Rx antenna chains between 2 and 4 or the maximum number of multiple-input and multiple-output MIMO layers for the PDSCH scheduling within a given wake-up cycle for both the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH).

67. A communication system comprising: One or more processors and one or more storage devices storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: generating a configuration for monitoring a wake-up signal WUS, wherein the configuration comprises information indicating one or more of: one or more component carriers CC, a bandwidth part BWP, a control resource set CORESET, and a search space SS; Sending the configuration to one or more user equipments UE; as well as Sending downlink control information DCI associated with the WUS on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, The DCI includes a common indication block and multiple UE-specific indication blocks, wherein the UE-specific indication block includes multiple fields, and the multiple fields are used to indicate functions, wherein each of the multiple fields includes information for a different CC or CC group, and wherein the information for different CCs or CC groups is shared between the different CCs or CC groups.

68. The system of claim 67, wherein the configuration further comprises information indicating one or more of the following: The starting position of the UE-specific indication block; The size of the UE specific indication block; Information fields; multiple component carriers CC sharing a radio frequency (RF) chain, wherein the multiple component carriers sharing the radio frequency (RF) chain include a primary cell (PCell) and a secondary cell (SCell); The number of discontinuous reception (DRX) cycles; Resource allocation for a physical uplink control channel PUCCH, a physical uplink shared channel PUSCH, a modulation and coding scheme MCS, a redundancy version RV, or a hybrid acknowledgement request HARQ process for the PUSCH; a transmit power control TPC command for the PUCCH, the PUSCH, the MCS, the RV, or the HARQ process for the PUSCH; Field size of public fields; A pair consisting of a BWP and a CC; a timer indicating the duration after which the UE should fall back to the default scheduling scheme; and One or more time domain resource allocation TDRA tables.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein the DCI includes an indication of one or more of: Wake-up duration, A BWP associated with one or more CCs, Aperiodic channel state information (A-CSI) for triggering CSI associated with one or more CCs, resource allocation, Transmit power control TPC command, Modulation and Coding Scheme MCS, Redundancy version RV, A Hybrid Acknowledgement Request (HARQ) process for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), or Antenna adaptation.

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