Method and system for communication

Abstract

Methods, systems, apparatus, and computer programs for determining availability of soft time domain resources for a node in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from an IAB donor; determining, based on the RRC message, whether a soft time domain resource is available for the IAB node; and in response to determining that the soft time domain resource is available, scheduling a transmission with a child node using the available soft time domain resource.

Description

[0001] CLAIM OF PRIORITY

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 62 / 825,444, filed March 28, 2019, entitled “DYNAMIC INDICATION OF SOFT RESOURCE AVAILABILITY BASED ON MULTI-SLOT SCHEDULING MECHANISM,” the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein. BACKGROUND

[0003] A user equipment (UE) can wirelessly communicate data using a wireless communication network. To wirelessly communicate data, the UE connects to a node of a radio access network (RAN) and synchronizes with the network. SUMMARY

[0004] The present disclosure relates to a method, system, apparatus, computer program, or a combination thereof for determining availability of soft time domain resources for a node in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network.

[0005] According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, the IAB network comprising an IAB donor and an IAB node, the method comprising receiving a radio resource control (RRC) message from the IAB donor; determining, based on the RRC message, whether a soft time domain resource is available to the IAB node; and in response to determining that the soft time domain resource is available, scheduling a transmission with a child node using the available soft time domain resource.

[0006] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs to perform the actions of a method defined by instructions encoded on a computer readable storage device. These and other versions can optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0007] In some implementations, determining, based on the RRC message, whether the soft time domain resource is available to the IAB node comprises determining whether the RRC includes two slot format indicators.

[0008] In some implementations, further comprising determining that the soft time domain resource is available in response to determining that the RRC includes the two slot format indicators.

[0009] In some implementations, the RRC message includes two slot format indicators (SFIs), and wherein a second SFI indicates a slot format for the soft time domain resource.

[0010] In some implementations, a first SFI indicates a slot format of a time domain resource for a mobile termination (MT) of the IAB node to communicate with a parent node.

[0011] In some implementations, the second SFI specifies a per-distributed unit (DU) configuration, and wherein all child links of the IAB node use the slot format indicated in the second SFI.

[0012] In some implementations, scheduling transmissions with the child node using the available soft time domain resources includes establishing a connection between a distributed unit of the IAB node and the child node using the available soft time domain resources.

[0013] According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method includes determining availability of a soft time domain resource for an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node; in response to determining the availability of the soft time domain resource, generating a message including two slot format indicators (SFIs), wherein one of the two SFIs indicates a slot format for the soft time domain resource; and transmitting the RRC message to the IAB node.

[0014] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs to perform the actions of a method defined by instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device. These and other versions can optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0015] In some implementations, the message is generated using a multi-slot scheduling mechanism.

[0016] In some implementations, the two SFIs overlap in time or frequency.

[0017] In some implementations, the message is a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0018] In some implementations, the two SFIs are included in an RRC IE SlotFormatCombination.

[0019] In some implementations, the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU), wherein one of the two SFIs has a per-DU configuration, and wherein all child links of the DU use the slot format for the soft time domain resource.

[0020] In some implementations, the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU), wherein one of the two SFIs has a per-link configuration, wherein child links of the DU are configured with respective slot formats, and wherein the slot format for the soft time domain resource is associated with one of the child links of the DU. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1Ais an example integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 1A An example of utilizing two SFI configurations for an IAB node is shown according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 2A and Figure 2B Each illustrates an example method according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 3 is an example architecture of a system of networks according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 4 An example architecture of a system including a CN is shown according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 5 is a block diagram of an example of infrastructure equipment according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 6 is a block diagram of an example of a platform according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an example of components of baseband circuitry and radio-frequency electronic module (RFEM) according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 8 is a block diagram of various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine or computer- readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) that are capable of reading instructions from the machine or computer-readable medium and executing any one or more of the methodologies identified herein according to some implementations of the present disclosure.

[0031] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The present disclosure relates to an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network that is characterized by multi-hop routing (e.g., as described in 3GPP Release 16 (Rel-16)). The architecture of an IAB network generally includes an IAB donor that serves a plurality of IAB nodes that operate as relays. The IAB donor is a network node (e.g., a base station) that terminates a New Generation (NG) interface. In particular, the IAB donor can serve as an interface for user equipment (UE) to a core network and / or can provide wireless backhaul functionality to a plurality of IAB nodes. The plurality of IAB nodes can act as access nodes to UEs and can provide backhaul links to other IAB nodes.

[0033] The IAB network architecture implements a central unit-distributed unit (CU-DU) split. In this architecture, the plurality of IAB nodes terminate DU functionality and the IAB donor terminates CU functionality. Further, each IAB node can include a mobile termination (MT) functionality. The IAB node can use the MT functionality to connect to a parent IAB node and / or the IAB donor. Further, the IAB node can use the DU functionality to communicate with UEs and / or MTs of child IAB nodes. Signaling between the MT of an IAB node or a UE and the CU of the IAB donor can use a radio resource control (RRC) protocol. Signaling between the DU of an IAB node and the CU of the IAB donor can use an Fl-AP protocol.

[0034] Figure 1A is an example IAB network 100 according to some implementations. As Figure 1AAs shown, the IAB network 100 includes an IAB donor 102, an IAB node 104, and an IAB node 106. In network 100, the IAB donor 102 is a base station serving IAB nodes 104 and 106. Additionally, the IAB donor 102 serves a UE 108 connected to the IAB network 100 via IAB node 104. In this network, IAB node 106 is the parent node of IAB node 104, and IAB node 104 is the parent node of UE 108. Conversely, IAB node 104 is a child node of IAB node 106, and UE 108 is a child node of IAB node 104. In the IAB network 100, IAB nodes can be connected to their parent nodes (e.g., the donor IAB or another IAB node) via a parent backhaul (BH) link. For example, IAB node 104 is connected to IAB node 106 via BH link 110. From the perspective of IAB node 106, BH link 110 is a sub-BH link. Additionally, in the IAB network 100, IAB nodes can be connected to sub-user equipment (UE) via access (AC) links. For example, IAB node 104 is connected to UE 108 via access link 112. It should be noted that in some examples, IAB node 104 may alternatively be connected to another IAB node (…). Figure 1A (not shown in the image), instead of connecting to UE 108.

[0035] like Figure 1A As shown, the IAB network 100 implements a Central Unit-Distributed Unit (CU-DU) partitioning. Specifically, IAB provider 102 includes CU 118, and IAB nodes 104 and 106 include DU 122 and 116, and MT 114 and 124, respectively. Generally, IAB nodes can use the MT function to connect to their parent IAB node or IAB provider. For example, IAB node 104 uses MT 114 to connect to its parent IAB node 106 and IAB provider 102. Figure 1A As shown, MT 114 may communicate with CU 118 of IAB provider 102 via link 120. In one example, link 120 may use the RRC protocol. Furthermore, IAB nodes may use their DU functions to communicate with the MT of a UE or a sub-IAB node. For example, MT 114 of IAB node 104 is connected to DU 116 of IAB node 106 via BH link 110. In the example where IAB node 104 is connected to a sub-IAB node, network element 108 may then represent MT 108 connected to DU 122 of IAB node 104.

[0036] In the IAB network 100, time domain resource allocation has the following properties. Generally, time domain resources (e.g., symbols within a slot) can be configured as downlink resources, uplink resources, or flexible resources. For example, the time domain resources can include a time division duplex (TDD) structure of slots or groups of slots in a radio frame. The configuration of a particular time domain resource can specify the potential transmission direction for that resource. From the perspective of the MT, the following time domain resources are available for the parent link: downlink time resources (“D”), uplink time resources (“U”), and flexible time resources (“F”). From the perspective of the DU, the child link can have the following types of time domain resources: downlink time resources (“D”), uplink time resources (“U”), and flexible time resources (“F”).

[0037] As described above, the IAB donor CU 118 can communicate with the MT of an IAB node using RRC signaling. Thus, in one example, the IAB donor CU 118 can use RRC signaling to indicate time domain resources to be used by an IAB node (e.g., IAB nodes 104, 106). For example, the IAB donor CU 118 can use downlink control information (DCI) to signal the time domain resource format used by the IAB node. Specifically, in the 3GPP 5G NR system, DCI format 2 0 can be used. DCI format 2 0 includes a slot format indicator (SFI) to signal downlink / flexible / uplink (D / F / U) allocation for one or more time domain resources. The SFI can indicate a D / F / U slot format within an RRC configured table, such as Table 11.1.1-1 provided in 3GPP TS 38.213. The table is constructed from a set of predefined D / F / U patterns for one slot duration of a normal cyclic prefix.

[0038] In the IAB network 100, each of the downlink, uplink, and flexible time domain resources of a DU (e.g., for a child link) can be classified as hard (H), soft (S), or not available (NA). Hard resources are time domain resources that are always available to the DU. Thus, the DU can use hard resources in the configured direction of transmission without considering its impact on other resources (e.g., corresponding MT resources). Soft resources, on the other hand, are not always available to the DU. Thus, the impact of soft resources on other resources (e.g., corresponding MT resources) must be considered before using the soft resources. In some examples, the availability of soft time resources can be controlled (explicitly and / or implicitly) by the IAB node of the DU. In other examples, soft resources can be semi-statically configured. When using time domain resources, if a soft resource is indicated as available, the DU can assume that the resource is available for use. If a soft resource is not indicated as available, the DU cannot assume that the resource is available for use. Furthermore, both implicit and explicit indication of availability of soft resources can be supported in the IAB network 100. For example, downlink control information (DCI) can be used to explicitly indicate that a soft resource is available.

[0039] Methods and systems for dynamically indicating soft resource availability in an IAB network (e.g., the IAB network 100) are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method can use two SFIs to indicate soft resource availability to the MT of an IAB node. The first SFI can indicate a slot format that the MT can use for communication with a parent DU (P-DU). The second SFI can indicate a slot format for soft resources that the DU of the IAB node can use for communication with a child node (e.g., a child UE or a child MT).

[0040] In one embodiment, two SFIs can be included in the RRC information element (IE) SlotFormatCombination. Typically, this IE carries a single SFI for one or more devices. Specifically, this IE can indicate a combination of slot formats to be used in the time-domain resources allocated to a device. In the context of an IAB network, the IE can be used to indicate the slot formats that the MT of an IAB node can use to communicate with a P-DU. However, in this embodiment, the IE can be modified to include slot formats for one or more child links. In one example, a multi-slot SFI mechanism can be used to carry two SFIs for a parent link and a child link. In this mechanism, the IE can be extended to include slot formats for a child link by piggybacking on the slot formats for a parent link (e.g., overlapping in time or frequency). Thus, the SFI index field value in DCI format 2 0 can indicate a combination of slot formats for a parent link and a combination of slot formats for a child link. In one example, the same predefined D / U / F patterns in one slot duration in 3GPP TS 38.213 can be used for soft resources. In this example, “D” indicates that a soft resource is available as a downlink resource, “U” indicates that a soft resource is available as an uplink resource, and “F” indicates that a soft resource is available as a flexible resource.

[0041] In one embodiment, a slot format can have a per-DU configuration or a per-link configuration. In a per-DU configuration, a DU is configured with a slot format that indicates how soft resources are available in contiguous time-domain resources for all child links of the DU. In a per-link configuration, each child link of a DU is configured with a respective slot format that indicates how soft resources are used in contiguous time-domain resources for that child link.

[0042] In one embodiment, once the MT receives the SFI message, the MT can determine whether soft resources are available based on the message. For example, if the MT receives a DCI format 2 0 that includes a SlotFormatCombination with an additional field that indicates a DU slot format (e.g., slotFormats), the MT can determine that soft resources are available. The MT can then use the information in the additional field to determine how to use the soft resources for a child link. Conversely, if the MT receives a DCI format 2 0 with a SlotFormatCombination that does not include the additional field, the MT can determine that no soft resources are available for a child link.

[0043] Figure 1BAn example of configuring an IAB node using two SFIs according to some specific implementation is shown. This example uses an IAB node from IAB network 100. In IAB network 100, IAB provider 102 can determine two SFIs to provide to the network's IAB nodes, indicating the time-domain resources to be used by the node. In this example, IAB provider 102 can determine two SFIs to provide to IAB node 104, indicating the time-domain resources to be used by IAB node 104. For example... Figure 1B As shown, IAB donor 102 can provide two SFIs to MT 114 via RRC link 120. Specifically, IAB donor 102 can use a multi-slot SFI mechanism to include two SFIs in the RRC message. Upon receiving the RRC message, IAB node 104 can determine that the RRC message includes two SFIs. Specifically, IAB node 104 can determine that the message includes the IE SlotFormatCombination and a field indicating the DU slot format (e.g., slotFormats). Therefore, IAB node 104 can determine that the soft resource is available for its child link. IAB node 104 can determine to use the first SFI (“SFI-1”) for the parent link. Figure 1B As shown, the time-domain resources for BH link 110 can be determined by MT 114 using SFI-1. Additionally, IAB node 104 can determine the use of a second SFI (“SFI-2”) for the sub-link. For example... Figure 1B As shown, the time-domain resources for sub-link 112 can be determined by DU 122 using SFI-2.

[0044] In one implementation, to include corresponding SFI indications for the parent link configuration and per DU configuration, the IESlotFormatCombination may include a slotFormats field for the parent link configuration and an additional field slotFormats-DUs for the per DU configuration. In this implementation, the DU ID can be used to identify the DU in the IAB network. In this example, the IE SlotFormatCombination can be configured as shown in Table 1. Tables 2 and 3 show field descriptions of the fields used in the RRC signaling for the per DU configuration.

[0045] Table 1

[0046]

[0047] Table 2

[0048] SlotFormatCombination field description slotFormats-DUs: Slot formats regarding soft resource availability for one or more DUs.

[0049] Table 3

[0050] SlotFormatsPerDU field description duId: ID of the DU for slot format configuration for soft resource availability indication. slotFormats: Slot formats occurring in consecutive slots regarding soft resource for one DU

[0051] In one implementation, a sub-ID can be used to identify different sub-links of a specific DU in order to include corresponding SFI indications for the parent link configuration and per-link configuration. In this example, the IE SlotFormatCombination can be configured as shown in Table 4. Tables 5 and 6 show field descriptions of the fields used in the RRC signaling for per-link configuration.

[0052] Table 4

[0053]

[0054] Table 5

[0055]

[0056] Table 6

[0057]

[0058] Figure 2A and Figure 2B A flowchart of an exemplary process according to some specific embodiments of this disclosure is shown. For clarity, the following description generally describes the process in the context of other drawings in this specification. For example, process 200 may be... Figure 1A The base station shown (e.g., an IAB donor) performs this operation. Similarly, process 210 can be performed by... Figure 1A The IAB nodes shown are used for execution. However, it should be understood that these processes can be executed, depending on the circumstances, for example, by any suitable system, environment, software and hardware, or a combination of system, environment, software and hardware. In some specific implementations, the individual steps of the process can run in parallel, in combination, in cycles, or in any order.

[0059] Figure 2A This is a flowchart of an exemplary process 200 for determining the availability of soft time-domain resources for nodes in an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) network that includes an IAB provider. At step 202, the process involves receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message from the IAB provider. At step 204, the method involves determining, based on the RRC message, whether soft time-domain resources are available for the IAB node. At step 206, the method involves, in response to determining that soft time-domain resources are available, scheduling transmissions with child nodes using the available soft time-domain resources.

[0060] In some implementations, determining, based on the RRC message, whether the soft time domain resources are available for the IAB node includes determining whether the RRC includes two slot format indicators. In some implementations, further comprising determining, in response to determining that the RRC includes two slot format indicators, that the soft time domain resources are available. In some implementations, the RRC message includes two slot format indicators (SFIs), and wherein a second SFI indicates a slot format for the soft time domain resources.

[0061] In some implementations, the first SFI indicates a slot format of time domain resources for a mobile termination (MT) of the IAB node to communicate with a parent node. In some implementations, the second SFI specifies a per-distributed unit (DU) configuration, and wherein all child links of the IAB node use the slot format indicated in the second SFI. In some implementations, scheduling transmissions with child nodes using the available soft time domain resources includes establishing connections between distributed units of the IAB node and child nodes using the available soft time domain resources.

[0062] Figure 2B is a flow diagram of an example process 210. At step 212, the process involves determining availability of soft time domain resources for an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node. At step 214, the process involves generating, in response to determining the availability of the soft time domain resources, a message including two slot format indicators (SFIs), wherein one of the two SFIs indicates a slot format for the soft time domain resources. At step 216, the process involves transmitting the message to the IAB node.

[0063] In some implementations, the message including two slot format indicators is generated using a multi-slot scheduling mechanism. In some implementations, the two SFIs overlap in time or frequency. In some embodiments, the message is a radio resource control (RRC) message. In some implementations, the two SFIs are included in a RRC IE SlotFormatCombination. In some implementations, the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU), wherein one of the two SFIs has a per-DU configuration, and wherein all child links of the DU use the slot format for the soft time domain resources. In some implementations, the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU), wherein one of the two SFIs has a per-link configuration, wherein child links of the DU are configured with respective slot formats, and wherein the slot format for the soft time domain resources is associated with one of the child links of the DU.

[0064] Figure 2A and 2B The example processes illustrated in FIGS. 1-8 can be modified or configured to include additional, fewer, or different steps Figure 2A and Figure 2B(Not shown in the image), these steps may be performed in the order shown or in a different order.

[0065] Figure 3 Exemplary architectures of system 300 for networks according to various implementations are shown. The following description is provided for example system 300 operating in combination with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary implementations are not limited in this respect, and the implementations can be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), etc.

[0066] like Figure 3 As shown, system 300 includes UE 301a and UE 301b (collectively referred to as "UE 301" or "UE301"). In this example, multiple UE 301 are shown as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronics devices, mobile phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablets, wearable computing devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptops, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile devices (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.

[0067] In some implementations, any of UEs 301 can be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed to utilize low-power IoT applications with short-lived UE connections. The IoT UE may use technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe, or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchange may be machine-initiated. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keeping track of activity messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity within the IoT network.

[0068] The UEs 301 can be configured to communicate directly with the RAN 310, e.g., via a PC5 interface 305. In embodiments, the RAN 310 can be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term“NG RAN” or similar terminology can refer to a RAN 310 that operates in an NR or 5G system 300, and the term“E-UTRAN” or similar terminology can refer to a RAN 310 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 300. The UEs 301 utilize connections (or channels) 303 and 304, respectively, to communicate with the RAN 310. Each connection 303 and 304 comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0069] In this example, the connections 303 and 304 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3 GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 301 can directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 305. The ProSe interface 305 can alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 305 and can comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

[0070] The UE 301b is illustrated transmitting a communication signal to the AP 306 via a connection 307. The connection 307 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, Bluetooth connection, and / or connectivity such as RS-232, RS-422, and / or RS-485, among other possibilities. In embodiments, the UE 301b, RAN 310, and AP 306 can be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. The LWA operation can involve the UE 301b being configured by the RAN node 311a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. The LWIP operation can involve the UE 301b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 307) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection 307. The AP 306 is illustrated as connected to the Internet without direct connections to the core network (described in further detail below) of the wireless system. In various embodiments, the UE 301b, RAN 310, and AP 306 can be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. The LWA operation can involve the UE 301b being configured by the RAN node 311a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. The LWIP operation can involve the UE 301b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 307) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection 307. IPsec tunneling can include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, so the original header of the IP packet is not visible after encapsulation.

[0071] The RAN 310 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 311a and 311b (collectively referred to as“RAN nodes 311” or“RAN nodes 311”) that enable the connections 303 and 304. As used herein, the term“access node,”“access point” or the like can describe equipment through which a network and one or more users can interface with each other. These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN nodes, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and can include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage to a geographic area (e.g., a cell) over which the access nodes can provide service to users. As used herein, the term“NG RAN node” or the like can refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 300, while the term“E-UTRAN node” or the like can refer to a RAN node 311 (e.g., eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 300. According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes 311 can be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as macrocells base stations and / or low power (LP) base stations configured to provide millimeter wave, microcell, picocell, or other like coverage as compared to a macrocell or to provide service to specific maters such as small business, home, or other like areas.

[0072] In some embodiments, all or part of multiple RAN nodes 311 can be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer, e.g., as part of a virtual network that can be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP can implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split, where RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 311; a MAC / PHY split, where RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 311; or a“lower PHY” split, where RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper part of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while a lower part of the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 311. This virtualized framework allows the free Figure 3 Individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces Figure 5), and the gNB-CU can be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 310 or by a pool of servers in a similar manner as the CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more RAN nodes 311 of the plurality of RAN nodes 311 can be a Next Generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations and that connects to a 5GC via an NG interface (discussed infra).

[0073] In V2X scenarios, one or more RAN nodes 311 can be or act as a RSU. The term“Road Side Unit” or“RSU” can refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. A RSU can be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where a RSU implemented in or by a UE can be referred to as a“UE-type RSU,” a RSU implemented in or by an eNB can be referred to as an“eNB-type RSU,” a RSU implemented in or by a gNB can be referred to as a“gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, a RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a road side that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 301 (vUEs 301). The RSU can also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high speed events such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU can operate on the cellular V2X frequency band to provide the

[0074] Any of the RAN nodes 311 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for a UE 301. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 311 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 310 including, but not limited to, RNC functions such as radio

[0075] In embodiments, multiple UEs 301 can be configured to communicate using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the multiple RAN nodes 311 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0076] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 311 to the UEs 301, while uplink transmissions can utilize a similar approach. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. For an OFDM system, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice. The resource grids correspond to physical resources in the downlink and each resourc e grid is for one downlink slot. Each time slot conveys information using physical channels. In the time domain, the resource grids can consist of consecutive subframes, each subframe containing a variety of time slots. In the frequency domain, the resource grids can consist of subcarriers that are interlaced or non-interlaced. Some of these resources are used to convey information from a base station to a UE.

[0077] According to various embodiments, the UEs 301 and the RAN nodes 311 communicate data (for example, transmit data and receive data) using a licensed medium (also referred to as“licensed spectrum” and / or“licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as“unlicensed spectrum” and / or“unlicensed band”). The licensed spectrum can include channels that operate at frequencies ranging from about 400 MHz to about 3.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum can include the 5 GHz band.

[0078] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 301 and the RAN nodes 311 can operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs 301 and the RAN nodes 311 can perform one or more known clear channel assessment (CCA) mechanisms and / or carrier sensing mechanisms to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The CCA mechanisms and / or carrier sensing mechanisms can be performed in accordance with an listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0079] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (for example, UEs 301, RAN nodes 311, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation can include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel, in order to determine if a channel is clear or not. This LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with other systems, such as Wi-Fi, in unlicensed spectrum. ED can include sensing RF energy level on the intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy level to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0080] In general, incumbent 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 (for example, mobile station (MS), such as UE 301, AP 306, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node can first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, in cases where more than one WLAN node senses the channel to be idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The backoff mechanism can be a counter that is randomly introduced within the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon a collision and reset to a minimum value upon successful transmission. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for a DL or UL transmission burst (comprising PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions) can have a variable length LAA contention window 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 can be 9 microseconds (ps); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (for example, transmission burst) can be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0081] The LAA mechanism builds on the CA technology of LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is known as 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 aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz. In FDD systems, 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, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC is generally the same for DL and UL.

[0082] A CA can also contain individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage range of a serving cell can differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell can provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and can handle RRC and NAS related activities. Other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each can provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs can be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC can require the UE 301 to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells can operate in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as“LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE can receive UL grants on configured LAA SCells with different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe.

[0083] The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 301. Among other information, the PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel. It can also carry information about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 301b within a cell) can be performed at any of the RAN nodes 311 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 301. The downlink resource assignment information can be sent to a UE 301 on the PDCCH.

[0084] The PDCCH uses CCE to carry control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver to spread out the probability of any given symbol being lost due to fading. 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 known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel condition, one or more CCEs can be used to send a PDCCH. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with varying numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8) that carry the DCI.

[0085] Some implementations may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some implementations may utilize EPDCCH, which uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similarly, each ECCE may correspond to a set of nine, each consisting of four physical resource elements, called EREG. In some cases, an ECCE may have a different number of EREGs.

[0086] RAN nodes 311 can be configured to communicate with each other via interface 312. In implementations where system 300 is an LTE system (e.g., when CN 320 is...), Figure 4 In the case of EPC 420, interface 312 can be an X2 interface 312. The X2 interface can be defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more eNBs) connected to EPC 320, and / or between two eNBs connected to EPC 320. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). X2-U can provide flow control mechanisms for user packets transmitted via the X2 interface and can be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, X2-U can provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from MeNB to SeNB; information about the successful in-order delivery of PDCP PDUs from SeNB to UE 301 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs not delivered to UE 301; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and so on. The X2-C provides LTE intra-eNB access mobility functions, including context transmission from the source eNB to the destination eNB, user plane transmission control, load management functions, and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0087] In embodiments where the system 300 is a 5G or NR system, the interface 312 can be an Xn interface 312. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 311 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to a 5GC 320, between a RAN node 311 (e.g., gNB) connected to a 5GC 320 and an eNB, and / or between two eNBs connected to a 5GC 320. In some implementations, the Xn interface can include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U can provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and traffic control functionality. The Xn-C can provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the connected mode mobility for the UE 301 including functionality to manage the connected mode mobility of UEs 301 between one or more RAN nodes 311; include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 311 to new (target) serving RAN node 311; and control of user plane tunnels between the old (source) serving RAN node 311 to new (target) serving RAN node 311. The protocol stack of the Xn-U can include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of the UDP and / or IP layer to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack can include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. The SCTP can be on top of the IP layer, and can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack can be the same as or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0088] The RAN 310 is shown to include base stations 311 and 312, and a core network 320. A base station 311 is shown to be directly connected to the core network 320. A base station 312 is shown to be connected to the core network 320 via the base station 311. In embodiments, the RAN 310 can be or include elements of a 5G network. For example, the base stations 311 and 312 can be gNBs, and the core network 320 can be a 5GC. In other embodiments, the RAN 310 can be or include elements of an E-UTRAN, such as eNodeBs, and the core network 320 can be or include elements of an EPC.

[0089] Generally, the application server 330 can be an element of a system that provides content, or a plurality of services available through the use of IP bearer resources (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.) with the core network. The application server 330 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 301 via the EPC 320.

[0090] In embodiments, the CN 320 can be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 320” or the like), and the RAN 310 can connect with the CN 320 via an NG interface 313. In embodiments, the NG interface 313 can split into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 314, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 311 and a UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 315, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 311 and AMFs.

[0091] In embodiments, the CN 320 can be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 320” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN 320 can be a EPC. Where the CN 320 is a EPC (referred to as “EPC 320” or the like), the RAN 310 can interface with the CN 320 via an S1 interface 313. In embodiments, the S1 interface 313 can be split into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 314, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 311 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 315, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 311 and MMEs.

[0092] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture including a first CN 420 is shown in accordance with various embodiments. In this example, the system 400 can implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 420 is an EPC 420 that corresponds to Figure 3 the CN 320 of FIG. 1. Additionally, the UE 401 can be the same or similar to the UEs 301 of Figure 3 FIG. 1, and the E-UTRAN 410 can be a RAN that is the same or like the RAN 310 of Figure 3 FIG. 1, and it can include the RAN nodes 311 discussed previously. The CN 420 can include a MME 421, a S-GW 422, a P-GW 423, a HSS 424, and a SGSN 425.

[0093] The MME 421 can be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN and can implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of UEs 401. The MME 421 can perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) can refer to all applicable

[0094] The SGSN 425 can be a node that serves the UE 401 by tracking its location and performing security functions. Furthermore, the SGSN 425 can perform inter-EPC node signaling to facilitate mobility across 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MME 421; handling of UE 401 time zone functions as specified by the MME 421; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks. The S3 reference point between the MME 421 and the SGSN 425 can enable exchange of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the EPC 420 between the HSS 424 and the MME 421.

[0095] The HSS 424 can comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The EPC 420 can comprise one or several HSSs 424, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 424 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, and more. An S6a reference point between the HSS 424 and the MME 421 can enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing user access to the EPC 420 between the HSS 424 and the MME 421.

[0096] The S-GW 422 can terminate the S1 interface 313 (see Figure 4 , in this case “S1-U”) towards the RAN 410, and routes data packets between the RAN 410 and the EPC 420. In addition, the S-GW 422 can be a local mobile anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also can provide an anchor for inter-3 GPP mobility. Other responsibilities can include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S-GW 422 can be coupled with the MME 421 by an S11 reference point, which provides a control plane between the MME 421 and the S-GW 422. The S-GW 422 can be coupled with the P-GW 423 via an S5 reference point.

[0097] The P-GW 423 can terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 430. The P-GW 423 can route data packets between the EPC 420 and external networks such as the Internet 435, including the application server 330 (alternatively referred to as an “AF”), via an IP interface 325 (see, e.g., Figure 3 ). In embodiments, the P-GW 423 can be communicatively coupled to an Figure 3 application server 330, or Figure 3 application server 330 via the IP communications interface 325 (see, e.g., Figure 4The S5 reference point between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422 can provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 423 and the S-GW 422. The S5 reference point can also be used for S-GW 422 relocation due to UE 401 mobility and if the S-GW 422 needs to be connected to a non-collocated P-GW 423 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 423 can also include a node for policy enforcement, charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, an SGi reference point between the P-GW 423 and a packet data network (PDN) 430 can be an operator's external public, private PDN, or an intra operator PDN, e.g., for provision of IMS services. The P-GW 423 can be coupled with a home subscriber server (HSS) 440 via an HSS reference point H9. The P-GW 423 can also be coupled with a diagnostic & optimization function (DOF) 450 via a D9 reference point.

[0098] The PCRF 426 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 420. In a non-roaming scenario, there is a single PCRF 426 associated with a UE 401's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there can be two PCRFs associated with a UE 401's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) in the home public land mobile network (HPLMN) and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 426 can be in communication with the application server 430 via a Gx reference point between the PCRF 426 and the P-GW 423. The application server 430 can signal the PCRF 426 to set QoS and charging parameters for a session. The PCRF 426 can provision the appropriate QoS treatment to be enforced by a RAN node 311 and / or P-GW 423 via the PCEF 426. The Gx reference point between the P-GW 423 and the PCRF 426 can allow transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF 426 to the PCEF 426 in the P-GW 423. An Rx reference point can reside between the PDN 430 (or "AF 430") and the PCRF 426.

[0099] Figure 5 An example of infrastructure equipment 500 is shown in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 500 (or “system 500”) can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN nodes 311 and / or the AP 306 shown and described previously), the application server 330, and / or any of the other elements / devices discussed herein. In other examples, the system 500 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0100] The system 500 includes application circuitry 505, baseband circuitry 510, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 515, memory circuitry 520, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 525, power control circuitry 530, network controller circuitry 535, network interface connector 540, satellite positioning circuitry 545, and user interface 550. In some embodiments, the device 500 can include additional elements such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the

[0101] The application circuitry 505 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I2C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters for interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry 505 can be coupled with or include memory / storage elements and can be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500. In some implementations, the memory / storage elements can be on-chip memory circuitry, which can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory storage devices, such as those discussed herein.

[0102] The processor(s) of application circuitry 505 can 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 (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In some embodiments, application circuitry 505 can include or can be a proprietary application processor / controller. As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 505 can include one or more Apple A-series processors, Intel x86, ARM-based, or AMD processors; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors; ARM Holdings, Ltd. licensed processors, such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors or processors; Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors, Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Processors; ARM Holdings, Ltd. licensed processors, such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors and the ARM Cortex-M series processors provided by Cavium, TM), Inc.; MIPS-based designs licensed from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and / or the like. In some embodiments, the system 500 can not utilize application circuitry 505, and instead can comprise a proprietary application processor / controller to process, for example, IP data received from an EPC or 5GC.

[0103] ​In some implementations, the application circuitry 505 can include one or more hardware accelerators, which can be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators can include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing devices can be one or more field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) or the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), or the like; ASICs, such as structured ASICs or the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); or the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of the application circuitry 505 can include logic blocks or logic fabric, as well as other interconnected resources that together allow the

[0104] The baseband circuitry 510 can be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module including two or more integrated circuits. Figure 7 Various hardware electronic elements of the baseband circuitry 510 are discussed below with respect to FIG. 5B.

[0105] The user interface circuitry 550 can include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 500 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 500. The user interface can 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 touchscreen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface can include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc.

[0106] The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 515 can include millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEMs and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs can be physically separate from the mmWave RFEMs. The RFICs can include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., the antenna array 525). Figure 7The antenna array 711 is used, and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, the radio functions of both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave antennas.

[0107] The memory circuit 520 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (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., and may be combined with and A three-dimensional (3D) XPOINT memory. The memory circuit 520 can be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in packaged integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and an insertable memory card.

[0108] The PMIC 525 may include a voltage regulator, surge protector, power alarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources, such as batteries or capacitors. The power alarm detection circuitry can detect one or more of a power outage (undervoltage) and a power surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 530 can provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment 500 using a single cable.

[0109] Network controller circuitry 535 may provide connectivity to a network using standard network interface protocols such as Ethernet, GRE-tunneled Ethernet, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)-based Ethernet, or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to / from infrastructure equipment 500 via a physical connection via network interface connector 540, which may be an electrical connection (typically referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. Network controller circuitry 535 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, network controller circuitry 535 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0110] The positioning circuitry 545 includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States’ Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo system, China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system, or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NavIC utilizing the Indian constellation, the Japanese QZSS, France’s Doppler Orbitography and Satellite Integration’s DORIS, etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 545 comprises 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 a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellations. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 545 can include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 545 can also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 510 and / or RFEMs 515 to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry 545 can also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuitry 505, which can use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure, and the like (e.g., RAN node 311, etc.).

[0111] Figure 5 The illustrated components may

[0112] Figure 6 An example of a platform 600 (or “device 600”) is shown in accordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform 600 can be suitable for use as the UE 301, 401, application server 330, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 600 can include any combination of the components shown in the example. The components of platform 600 can be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 600, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 6The block diagram of FIG. 6 is intended to show a high-level view of components of the computer platform 600. However, some of the components shown can be omitted in some embodiments, additional components can be present, and different arrangements of the components shown can occur in other embodiments.

[0113] The application circuitry 605 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces (such as SPI, I2C, or universal programmable serial interface modules), RTC, timers (including interval timers and watchdog timers), general purpose I / O, memory card controllers (such as SD MMC or similar controllers), USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry 605 can be coupled with or include memory / storage elements and can be configured to

[0114] The processor of the application circuitry 505 can 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 DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known

[0115] By way of example, the processor of the application circuitry 605 can include an Apple A-series processor. The processor of the application circuitry 1105 can also be one or more of a: Architecture Core TM Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor, or an MCU-class processor, or can be TM available from TM Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, California. another such processor from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processor or accelerated processing unit (APU); Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. TM processor from Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP) TM processor from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; and the like. In some implementations, the application circuitry 605 can be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) where application circuitry 605 and other parts of the system are formed

[0116] In addition or as an alternative to the above, the application circuitry 605 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high- capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry 605 can include logic blocks or logic fabric, as well as other interconnected resources that

[0117] The baseband circuitry 610 can be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module including two or more integrated circuits. Figure 7 Various hardware electronic elements of the baseband circuitry 610 are discussed infra.

[0118] The RFEM 615 can include one or more radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and / or one or more millimeter wave (mmWave) RFICs. In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs can be physically separate from the mmWave RFIC(s). The RFICs can include connections (see, e.g., antenna array 711 below) to one or more antennas, and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-mmWave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 615 that incorporates both mmWave and sub-mmWave antennas. Figure 7

[0119] The memory circuit 620 can include any number and type of memory devices to provide a given amount of system memory. For example, the memory circuit 620 can include one or more of: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including flash memory, phase change RAM (PRAM), magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 620 can be developed according to Joint Electron Devices

[0120] ​​​The removable memory circuit 623 can include devices, circuitry, enclosures / housings, ports or sockets, etc. for coupling portable data storage devices with the platform 600. These portable data storage devices can be used for mass storage and can include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like), as well as USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, etc.

[0121] The platform 600 can also include interface circuitry (not shown) for connecting external devices with the platform 600. The external devices connected to the platform 600 via the interface circuitry include the sensor circuitry 621 and the electro-mechanical components (EMCs) 622, as well as removable memory devices coupled to the removable memory circuitry 623.

[0122] The sensor circuitry 621 includes devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in the environment of the platform 600 and send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) or nano-electromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric sensor; a gravimeter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other like audio capture device; etc.

[0123] The EMCs 622 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable the platform 600 to change its state, position, and / or orientation, or move or control mechanisms or (sub)systems. Additionally, the EMCs 622 can be configured to generate and send messages / signalling to other components of the platform 600 to indicate a current state of the EMCs 622. Examples of the EMCs 622 include 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 like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments, the platform 600 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 622 based on one or more captured events and / or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and / or various clients.

[0124] In some implementations, the interface circuitry can connect the platform 600 with positioning circuitry 645. The positioning circuitry 645 includes circuitry to receive and decode signals from the positioning network that are transmitted / broadcasted by GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) can include United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS, the European Union’s Galileo system, China’s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g. NAVIC, Japan’s QZSS, France’s DORIS, etc.), and / or the like. The positioning circuitry 645 comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and / or the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellations’ nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 645 can include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 645 can also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 510 and / or RFEMs 615 to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry 645 can also provide location and / or time data to the application circuitry 605, which can use this data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for navigation applications that track the progress of a vehicle, etc.

[0125] In some implementations, the interface circuitry can connect the platform 600 with near-field communication (NFC) circuitry 640. The NFC circuitry 640 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on radio-frequency identification (RFID) standards, with magnetic field induction used to enable communication between the NFC circuitry 640 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”) external to the platform 600. The NFC circuitry 640 includes an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller can be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuitry 640 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack is executable by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware is executable 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 circuitry 640, or initiate data transmission between the NFC circuitry 640 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 600.

[0126] The drive circuitry 646 can include software and hardware elements that are to control a particular device embedded in the platform 600, attached to the platform 600, or otherwise coupled to the platform 600. The drive circuitry 646 can include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform 600 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that can be present in or connected to the platform 600. For example, the drive circuitry 646 can include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform 600, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings from the sensor circuitry 621 and control and allow access to the sensor circuitry 621, EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions from the EMCs 622 and / or control and allow access to the EMCs 622, a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices.

[0127] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 625 (also referred to as “power management circuitry 625”) can manage power supplied to various components of the platform 600. In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry 610, the PMIC 625 can control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC 625 can typically be included on the device when the platform 600 is capable of being powered by a battery 630, for example, when the device is included in a UE 301, 401.

[0128] In some embodiments, the PMIC 625 can control, or otherwise be part of, various power-saving mechanisms of the platform 600. For example, if the platform 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to a RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, the platform 600 can enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During the DRX state, the platform 600 can power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 600 can transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The platform 600 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to receive data and then powers down again. The platform 600 can not receive data while in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode can be flight mode, where the device is completely powered off and does not connect to the network. Any data incoming during this time period will not be received and any outgoing data will not be transmitted.

[0129] The battery 630 can power the platform 600, but in some examples, the platform 600 can be mounted in a fixed location, and can have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 630 can be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and so forth. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 630 can be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0130] In some implementations, the battery 630 can be a“smart battery” or coupled with a battery monitoring integrated circuit or a battery management system (BMS). The BMS can be included in the platform 600 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 630. The BMS can be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 630, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery 630 to provide failure predictions. The BMS can communicate the information of the battery 630 to the application circuitry 605 or other components of the platform 600. The BMS can also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuitry 605 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 630 or the current flow from the battery 630. The battery parameters can be used to determine actions that the platform 600 can perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and so forth.

[0131] A power block or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid can be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 630. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to draw power wirelessly, such as through a loop antenna in the computer platform 600. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The particular charging circuit chosen can depend on the size of the battery 630, and thus the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Airline Fuel Consortium, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Alliance for Wireless Power.

[0132] User interface circuitry 650 includes various input / output (I / O) devices located at or near platform 600 and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with platform 600 and / or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with platform 600. User interface circuitry 650 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information. Output device circuitry can include any number and / or combinations of audio or visual displays that include, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), which output characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like, generated or produced by the operation of platform 600. Output device circuitry can also include a speaker or other audio emission device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, sensor circuitry 621 can function as input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs can function as output device circuitry (e.g., actuators to provide tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, NFC circuitry can be included to read electronic tags and / or connect with another NFC-enabled device, which includes an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device. Peripheral component interfaces can include, without limitation, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc.

[0133] Although not shown, the components of platform 600 can communicate using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology. The technology can include, for example, ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCI Express, a time- triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, e.g., used in a based-on-SoC system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, power bus interfaces, etc.

[0134] Figure 7 Exemplary components of baseband circuitry 710 and radio front end modules (RFEMs) 715 are shown, according to various embodiments. Baseband circuitry 710 corresponds to baseband circuitry 510 and RFEMs 715 correspond to RFEMs 510 of Figure 5 Figure 6 ​baseband circuitry 610. The RFEMs 715 correspond to Figure 5 RFEMs 515 and Figure 6 RFEMs 615. As shown, the RFEMs 715 can include radio frequency (RF) circuitry 706, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 708, antenna array 711 coupled at least as shown.

[0135] The baseband circuitry 710 includes circuitry and / or control logic configured to carry out various radio / network protocols and radio control functions to enable connected or connected communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 706. The radio control functions can include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 710 can include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 710 can include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and can include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 710 is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 706 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 706. The baseband circuitry 710 is configured to interface with application circuitry 505 / 605 (see Figure 5 and Figure 6 ) to generate and process baseband signals and to control operations of the RF circuitry 706. The baseband circuitry 710 can handle various radio control functions.

[0136] The aforementioned circuitry and / or control logic of the baseband circuitry 710 can include one or more single or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors can include a 3G baseband processor 704A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 704B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 704C, or some other baseband processor(s) 704D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., 6th Generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 704A-D can be included in modules stored in the memory 704G, and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 704E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 704A-D can be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, the memory 704G can store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 704E (or other baseband processor), would cause the CPU 704E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 710, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOSs can include the Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided by Mentor TM Nucleus RTOS provided by Mentor TM Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express ThreadX provided by Express Logic TM FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by OpenKernel (OK) OKL4 provided by OpenKernel (OK), or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. Moreover, the baseband circuitry 710 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSP) 704F. The audio DSP(s) 704F include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and can include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0137] In some embodiments, each of the processors 704A-704E include a respective memory interface to send / receive data to / from the memory 704G. The baseband circuitry 710 can further include one or more interfaces to communicate with other circuitries / devices, such as an interface to send / receive data to / from memory external to the baseband circuitry 710; an interface to send / receive data to / from a RF circuitry 720; an interface to send / receive data to / from a display; an interface to send / receive data to / from a camera; an interface to send / receive data to / from a Bluetooth module; an interface to send / receive data to / from a Wi-Fi module; an interface to send / receive data to / from a GPS chipset; an interface to send / receive data to / from a sensor; or an interface to send / receive data to / from a microphone. Figure 5 to Figure 7 ​​​​application circuitry 505 / 605; an application circuit interface for sending data to and receiving data from the application circuitry 505 / 605; an RF circuit interface for sending Figure 7 data to and receiving data from the RF circuitry 706; a wireless hardware connectivity interface for sending data to and receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Bluetooth®, near-field communication (NFC) components, Wi-Fi® components, ZigBee® components, and / or the like); and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to and receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 625.

[0138] In alternate embodiments, which can be combined with the above described embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 includes one or more digital baseband systems that are coupled with one another via an interconnection subsystem. The one or more digital baseband systems are also coupled to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems can also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems can include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network-on-chip (NOC) structure, and / or some other suitable interconnection technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem can include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech

[0139] processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry that includes one or more of amplifiers and filters, and / or other like components. In an aspect of the disclosure, the baseband circuitry 710 can include protocol Figure 7Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 includes individual processing devices to operate various processing functions (e.g., a “multi-protocol baseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuitry 710 and / or RF circuitry 706 are part of millimeter wave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry, the protocol processing circuitry can operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuitry 710 and / or RF circuitry 706 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuitry can operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry can include one or more memory structures (e.g., 704G) to store program codes and data for operating the protocol functions, and one or more processing kernels to execute the program codes and use the data to perform various operations. The baseband circuitry 710 can also support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol.

[0140] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 710 discussed herein can be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered directly to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module including two or more ICs located together on a substrate. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry 710 can be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposed in different chips or chipsets, as suitable or desired.

[0141] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 can provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 710 can support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 710 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol can be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0142] RF circuitry 706 can enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 706 can include a receive signal path, which can include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 708 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 710. RF circuitry 706 can also include a transmit signal path, which can include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 710 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 708 for transmission.

[0143] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 706 can include mixer circuitry 706a, amplifier circuitry 706b and filter circuitry 706c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 706 can include filter circuitry 706c and mixer circuitry 706a. RF circuitry 706 can also include synthesizer circuitry 706d for synthesizing frequencies for use by the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path can be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 708 based on the synthesized frequencies provided by synthesizer circuitry 706d. The amplifier circuitry 706b can be configured to amplify the down-converted signals, and the filter circuitry 706c can be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals can be provided to the baseband circuitry 710 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals can be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path can include passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0144] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert input baseband signals, based on the synthesized frequencies provided by the synthesizer circuitry 706d, to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 708. The baseband signals can be provided by the baseband circuitry 710 and can be filtered by filter circuitry 706c.

[0145] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path can include two or more mixers and can be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path can include two or more mixers and can be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path can be arranged, respectively, for direct downconversion and direct upconversion. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 706a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 706a of the transmit signal path can be configured for superheterodye operation.

[0146] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals can be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals can be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 can include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 710 can include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 706.

[0147] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio ICs can be provided for processing signals for the

[0148] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 706d can be a fractional N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers can be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 706d can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer that includes a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0149] The synthesizer circuitry 706d can be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 706a of the RF circuitry 706 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 706d can be a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0150] In some embodiments, the frequency input can be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not a requirement. The divider control input can be provided by the baseband circuitry 710 or the application circuitry 505 / 605 based on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 505 / 605.

[0151] Synthesizer circuitry 706d of the RF circuitry 706 can include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider can be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator can be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD can be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL can include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements can be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal phase segments. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help assure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0152] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 706d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 706 can include an IQ / polar converter.

[0153] FEM circuitry 708 can include a receive signal path, which can include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 711, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 706 for further processing. FEM circuitry 708 can also include a transmit signal path, which can include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 706 for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array 711. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths can be done solely in the RF circuitry 706, solely in the FEM circuitry 708, or in both the RF circuitry 706 and the FEM circuitry 708.

[0154] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 708 can include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 708 can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 708 can include a LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 706). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 708 can include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify signals for transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antenna elements of the antenna array 711) and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by the one or more antenna elements.

[0155] The antenna array 711 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuitry 710 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., an modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 711 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements can be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements can form multiple arrays of antennas to support MIMO or anonymous antenna arrays. The antenna array 711 can include parasitic elements or dipoles that are not connected to any wires but interact with the connected elements. The antenna array 711 can be manufactured as part of a printed circuit board or attached to a housing of the device 700.

[0156] The processors of the application circuitry 505 / 605 and the baseband circuitry 710 can be used to execute instructions of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, the processors of the baseband circuitry 710 can be used to execute layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions in conjunction with the radio circuitry 735, while the processors of the application circuitry 505 / 605 can utilize data received by and / or instructions provided by these layers (e.g., packet data) to further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, layer 3 can include a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, layer 2 can include a MAC layer, a RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, layer 1 can include a PHY layer of the UE / RAN nodes, described in further detail below.

[0157] Figure 8 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, Figure 8 An arrangement 800 is included that shows interconnections between various protocol layers / entities. The interconnections are provided for various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards Figure 8the following description, but Figure 8 Some or all of the aspects of the described herein can also apply to other wireless communication network systems.

[0158] The protocol layers of the arrangement 800 can include one or more of a PHY 810, a MAC 820, a RLC 830, a PDCP 840, a SDAP 847, a RRC 855, and a NAS layer 857, in addition to other higher layer functions not shown. These protocol layers can include one or more service access points (e.g., Figure 8 The items 859, 856, 850, 849, 845, 835, 825, and 815 in can provide communication between two or more of the protocol layers.

[0159] The PHY 810 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 805 that can be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals 805 can comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY 810 can 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., the RRC 855). The PHY 810 can further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding on the transport channels, modulation / demodulation on the physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance of PHY 810 can process requests from and provide indications to an instance of the MAC 820 via one or more PHY-SAPs 815. According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via the PHY-SAP 815 can include one or more transport channels.

[0160] An instance of the MAC 820 can process requests from and provide indications to an instance of the RLC 830 via one or more MAC-SAPs 825. These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 825 can comprise one or more logical channels. The MAC 820 can perform mapping between the logical channels and the transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to the PHY 810 via the transport channels, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered via the transport channels from the PHY 810, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0161] Instance(s) of RLC 830 can process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of PDCP 840 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP) 835. These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP 835 can comprise one or more logical channels. RLC 830 can operate in multiple modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). RLC 830 can execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), retransmission of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, and reordering of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. RLC 830 can also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0162] Instance(s) of PDCP 840 can handle requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC 855 and / or instance(s) of SDAP 847 via one or more packet data convergence protocol service points (PDCP-SAP) 845. These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP 845 can comprise one or more radio bearers. PDCP 840 can perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs upon PDCP re-establishment, eliminate duplicate lower layer SDUs for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM on re-establishment of lower layers SDUs, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0163] Instance(s) of SDAP 847 can process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP 849. These requests and indications communicated via the SDAP-SAP 849 can comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 847 can map QoS Flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and can also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 847 can be configured for a individual PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 310 can control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective QoS or explicit QoS). For reflective QoS, the SDAP 847 of the UE 301 can monitor the QFIs for DL packets per DRB, and can apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For the DRB, the SDAP 847 of the UE 301 can map UL packets belonging to the QoS flow that corresponds to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN can mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. Explicit mapping can involve the RRC 855 configuring the SDAP 847 with an explicit QoS to DRB mapping rule, which the SDAP 847 can store and follow. In embodiments, the SDAP 847 can only be used in NR implementations and can not be used in LTE implementations.

[0164] The RRC 855 can configure, via one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which can include one or more instances of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, and SDAP 847. In embodiments, an instance of RRC 855 at the UE 301 can process requests from, and provide indications to, one or more NAS entities 857 via one or more RRC-SAP 856. The main services and functions of the RRC 855 include the broadcast of system information, the establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection

[0165] The NAS 857 can form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 301 and AMF. The NAS 857 can support mobility and session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity in LTE systems for the UE 301 between a UE 301 and a P-GW.

[0166] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 800 can be implemented in the UE 301, RAN node 311, AMF in NR implementations or MME 421 in LTE implementations, UPF in NR implementations or S-GW 422 and P-GW 423 in LTE implementations, etc. for a control plane or user plane communication protocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that can be implemented in one or more of the UE 301, gNB 311, AMF, etc. can communicate with respective peer protocol entities that can be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB 311 can host the RRC 855, SDAP 847, and PDCP 840 of the gNB that control the operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 311 can each host the RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 of the gNB 311.

[0167] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack can include, in order from highest to lowest stratum, NAS 857, RRC 855, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810. In this example, an upper layer 860 can be built on top of the NAS 857, which includes an IP layer 861, an SCTP 862, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 863.

[0168] In NR implementations, the AP 863 can be an NG Application Protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 863 for the NG interface 313 defined between NG-RAN nodes 311 and AMFs, or the AP 863 can be an Xn Application Protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 863 for the Xn interface 312 defined between two or more RAN nodes 311.

[0169] The NG-AP 863 can support the functions of the NG interface 313 and can comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). The NG-AP 863 can be the set of EPs defined for the interaction between an NG-RAN node 311 and an AMF. The NG-AP 863 services can be grouped into two categories: UE-associated and non-UE-associated services. The UE-associated services relate to services dedicated to the context of a UE 301, and the non-UE-associated services relate to services that are not dedicated to the context of a UE 301 (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the AMF and NG-RAN nodes 311). These services can include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to NG-RAN nodes 311 involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF to establish, modify, and / or release a UE context in the AMF and NG-RAN nodes 311; a mobility function for UEs 301 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HO support of mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HO support of mobility to / from EPS systems; a NAS signaling transfer function to transport or reroute NAS messages between the UE 301 and AMF; a NAS node selection function to determine the association between the AMF and UE 301; an NG interface management function to set up the NG interface and monitor for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function to provide means to transmit warning messages via the NG interface or to cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a configuration transfer function to request and transfer RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 311 via the CN 320; and / or other like functions.

[0170] The XnAP 863 can support the functions of the Xn interface 312 and can comprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures can include procedures to handle UE mobility within the NG RAN 311 (or E-UTRAN 410) such as, for example, handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN status transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures can include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 301 such as, for example, Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0171] In LTE implementations, the AP 863 can be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 for the S1 interface 313 defined between an E-UTRAN node 311 and a MME, or the AP 863 can be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 863 for the X2 interface 312 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 311.

[0172] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 can support the functions of the S1 interface and, similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP can comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP can be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node 311 and a MME 421 within an LTE CN 320. The S1-AP 863 services can include two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transfer, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0173] The X2AP 863 can support the functions of the X2 interface 312 and can comprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures can include procedures to handle UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 320, such as handover preparation and cancelation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedures can include procedures that are not specific to a certain UE 301, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0174] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 862 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). The SCTP 862 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN nodes 311 and AMF / MME 421 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 861. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 861 can be used to execute packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations, the IP layer 861 can use point-to-point transmission to deliver and transmit PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 311 can comprise an L2 and an L1 layer communication link (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0175] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack can include SDAP 847, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 in order from highest layer to lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack can be used for communication between the UE 301, RAN node 311, and UPF in NR implementations, or between the S-GW 422 and P-GW 423 in LTE implementations. In this example, upper layers 851 can be built on top of SDAP 847, and can include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 852, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol layer for user plane (GTP-U) 853, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 863.

[0176] The transport network layer 854 (also called the "transport layer") can be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 853 can be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 852 (including a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also called the "Internet layer") can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. The IP layer can assign IP addresses to the user data packets, for example, in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0177] The GTP-U 853 can be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP / IP 852 can provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination of the packets, and encryption and authentication on selected data flows. The RAN node 311 and the S-GW 422 can utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer (e.g., PHY 810), the L2 layer (e.g., MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, and / or SDAP 847), the UDP / IP layer 852, and the GTP-U 853. The S-GW 422 and the P-GW 423 can utilize a S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer, the L2 layer, the UDP / IP layer 852, and the GTP-U 853. As discussed previously, NAS protocols can support the mobility of the UE 301 and session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 301 and the P-GW 423.

[0178] Furthermore, although Figure 8Not shown, but present, can be an application layer above the AP 863 and / or transport network layer 854. The application layer can be a layer in which a user of the UE 301, RAN node 311, or other network element interacts with software applications, for example, executed by application circuitry 505 or application circuitry 605, respectively. The application layer can also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with the communications system of the UE 301 or RAN node 311, such as the baseband circuitry 710. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer can provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model.

[0179] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine, apparatus, or device that are, in some examples, capable of reading instructions from a machine- or computer- readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. Specifically, the Figure 9 A diagram illustrating a schematic of hardware resources 900, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 910, one or more memory / storage devices 920, and one or more communication resources 930, each of which can be communicatively coupled via a bus 940. For embodiments wherein node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 902 can be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 900.

[0180] The processors 910 can include, for example, a processor 912 and a processor 914. The processors 910 can 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.

[0181] The memory / storage devices 920 can include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage devices 920 can include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatile 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.

[0182] The communication resources 930 can include interconnection devices or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 904 or one or more databases 906 via a network 908. For example, the communication resources 930 can include wired communication devices (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication devices, NFC devices, (Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) devices, Wi-Fi® devices, ZigBee® devices, and other communication devices.

[0183] The instructions 950 can include software, programs, applications, applets, application programs, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 910 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 950 can reside completely, or a portion thereof, within at least one of the processors 910 (e.g., within the cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage devices 920, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 950 can be transferred between or among any combination of the external devices 904 and the databases 906 to the hardware resources 900. Accordingly, the memory of the processors 910, the memory / storage devices 920, the external devices 904, and the databases 906 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication in an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) network, the method comprising: Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages are received from IAB donors in the IAB network, wherein the RRC messages include two Slot Format Indicators (SFIs), and wherein the second SFI of the RRC message indicates (i) that soft time-domain resources are available for IAB nodes in the IAB network and (ii) the slot format for the soft time-domain resources, and wherein an RRC message without the second SFI indicates that no soft time-domain resources are available for the IAB nodes; Based on the RRC message, it is determined that the soft time domain resource can be used for the IAB node; as well as In response to determining that the soft time domain resource is available, the available soft time domain resource is used to schedule transmissions with child nodes.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the soft time-domain resource can be used for the IAB node based on the RRC message comprises: In response to determining that the RRC message includes two SFIs, the soft time domain resource is determined to be available.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first SFI of the RRC message indicates the time slot format of the time domain resources used by the mobile terminal MT of the IAB node to communicate with the parent node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second SFI specifies the configuration for each distribution unit (DU), and wherein all sublinks of the IAB node use the time slot format indicated in the second SFI.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein using the available soft time-domain resources to schedule transmissions with child nodes comprises: Use the available soft time-domain resources to establish a connection between the DU of the IAB node and the child node.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Scheduling the transmission includes using the available soft time-domain resources to schedule the transmission with the child node.

7. A method for conducting wireless communication in an IAB network, the method comprising: Determine the availability of soft time-domain resources for IAB nodes in the IAB network; In response to determining the availability of the soft time domain resource, a message including two SFIs is generated, wherein the second SFI of the two SFIs indicates the time slot format for the soft time domain resource for the child IAB node, and wherein the first SFI of the two SFIs indicates the time slot format for the parent IAB node. as well as The message is transmitted to the IAB node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein a multi-slot scheduling mechanism is used to generate the message comprising the two SFIs.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the second SFI for the child IAB node overlaps with the first SFI for the parent IAB node in time or frequency.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the message is an RRC message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the two SFIs are included in the RRC IE SlotFormatCombination middle.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per DU configuration, and All sub-links of the DU use the slot format for the soft time domain resource indicated by the second SFI.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per-link configuration. The sub-links of the DU are configured with corresponding time slot formats, and The time slot format for the soft time domain resource is associated with one of the sub-links of the DU.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an IAB network, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Determine the availability of soft time-domain resources for the IAB nodes of the IAB network; In response to determining the availability of the soft time-domain resource, a message comprising two SFIs is generated, wherein the second SFI of the two SFIs indicates a time slot format for the soft time-domain resource used by the child IAB node, and the first SFI of the two SFIs indicates a time slot format for the parent IAB node; and The message is transmitted to the IAB node.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 14, wherein a multi-slot scheduling mechanism is used to generate the message comprising the two SFIs.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the second SFI for the child IAB node overlaps with the first SFI for the parent IAB node in time or frequency.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the message is an RRC message.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 17, wherein the two SFIs are included in the RRC IE SlotFormatCombination middle.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device according to claim 14, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per DU configuration, and All sub-links of the DU use the slot format for the soft time domain resource indicated by the second SFI.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device according to claim 14, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per-link configuration, wherein The sub-links of the DU are configured with corresponding time slot formats, and The time slot format for the soft time domain resource is associated with one of the sub-links of the DU.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an IAB network, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Receive an RRC message from the IAB provider of the IAB network, wherein the RRC message includes two SFIs, and wherein the second SFI of the RRC message indicates (i) that soft time domain resources are available for IAB nodes and (ii) the time slot format for the soft time domain resources, and wherein the RRC message without the second SFI indicates that no soft time domain resources are available for the IAB nodes. Based on the RRC message, it is determined that the soft time domain resource can be used for the IAB node; as well as In response to determining that the soft time domain resource is available, the available soft time domain resource is used to schedule transmissions with child nodes.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein determining that the soft time-domain resource can be used for the IAB node based on the RRC message comprises: In response to determining that the RRC message includes two SFIs, the soft time domain resource is determined to be available.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein the first SFI of the RRC message indicates the time slot format of the time domain resources used by the MT of the IAB node to communicate with the parent node.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 21, wherein scheduling transmissions with child nodes using the available soft-temporal resources comprises: Use the available soft time-domain resources to establish a connection between the DU of the IAB node and the child node.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device according to claim 21, wherein: Scheduling the transmission includes using the available soft time-domain resources to schedule the transmission with the child node.

26. An IAB system, the system comprising: IAB nodes; One or more processors; and One or more storage devices that store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Determine the availability of soft temporal resources for the IAB node; In response to determining the availability of the soft time domain resource, a message including two SFIs is generated, wherein the second SFI of the two SFIs indicates the time slot format for the soft time domain resource for the child IAB node, and wherein the first SFI of the two SFIs indicates the time slot format for the parent IAB node. as well as The message is transmitted to the IAB node.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein a multi-slot scheduling mechanism is used to generate the message comprising the two SFIs.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the second SFI for the child IAB node overlaps with the first SFI for the parent IAB node in time or frequency.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the message is an RRC message.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the two SFIs are included in the RRC IE SlotFormatCombination middle.

31. The system according to claim 26, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per DU configuration, and All sub-links of the DU use the slot format for the soft time domain resource indicated by the second SFI.

32. The system according to claim 26, wherein: The IAB node includes DU. The second SFI of the two SFIs has a per-link configuration. The sub-links of the DU are configured with corresponding time slot formats, and The time slot format for the soft time domain resource is associated with one of the sub-links of the DU.

33. An IAB system, the system comprising: IAB donors and IAB nodes; One or more processors; and One or more storage devices that store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Receive an RRC message from the IAB donor, wherein the RRC message includes two SFIs, and wherein the second SFI of the RRC message indicates (i) that soft time domain resources are available for the IAB node and (ii) the time slot format for the soft time domain resources, and wherein the RRC message without the second SFI indicates that no soft time domain resources are available for the IAB node; Based on the RRC message, it is determined that the soft time domain resource can be used for the IAB node; as well as In response to determining that the soft time domain resource is available, the available soft time domain resource is used to schedule transmissions with child nodes.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein determining whether the soft time-domain resource can be used for the IAB node based on the RRC message comprises: In response to determining that the RRC message includes two SFIs, the soft time domain resource is determined to be available.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein the first SFI of the RRC message indicates the time slot format of the time domain resources used by the MT of the IAB node to communicate with the parent node.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the second SFI specifies a per-DU configuration, and wherein all sub-links of the IAB node use the time slot format indicated in the second SFI.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein using the available soft-temporal resources to schedule transmissions with child nodes comprises: Use the available soft time-domain resources to establish connections between the distributed units of the IAB node and the child nodes.

38. The system according to claim 33, wherein: Scheduling the transmission includes using the available soft time-domain resources to schedule the transmission with the child node.

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