Channel sensing for Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signals in New Radio (NR) systems operating in unlicensed spectrum

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) or other network component may be operable to configure channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in a random access procedure involving unlicensed spectrum. By configuring one or more gaps or a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure, at least some of the messages for the random access procedure may share the COT based on the gaps or based on whether the COT sharing is UE-initiated or gNB-initiated. Some configurations may depend on where in the random access procedure the COT sharing is obtained.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is an application entering the national phase of International Patent Application No. PCT / US2020 / 038728 filed on June 19, 2020. This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 863,691, filed on June 19, 2019, entitled “CHANNEL SENSING FOR PHYSICAL RANDOM ACCESS CHANNEL (PRACH) SIGNALS IN NEW RADIO (NR) SYSTEMS OPERATING IN THE UNLICENSED SPECTRUM”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to wireless technologies and, in addition, to channel sensing for a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) signal in New Radio (NR) in an unlicensed spectrum. Background Art

[0004] Mobile communications in the next generation wireless communication system 5G or New Radio (NR) networks will provide ubiquitous connectivity and access to information and the ability to share data around the world. 5G networks and network slices will be unified, service-based frameworks that will target common and sometimes conflicting performance standards and provide services to extremely diverse application domains ranging from enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) to massive machine type communications (mMTC), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) and other communications. In general, NR will evolve based on the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced technology and additional enhanced radio access technologies (RATs) to achieve seamless and faster wireless connectivity solutions.

[0005] Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early voice systems to today's highly complex integrated communications platforms. The next generation of wireless communication systems, 5G or New Radio (NR), will provide access to information and data sharing anytime, anywhere for a variety of users and applications. NR is expected to be a unified network / system designed to meet very different and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. Such different multi-dimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. In general, NR will evolve based on 3GPP LTE-Advanced and additional potential new air access technologies (RATs), enriching people's lives with better simple and seamless wireless connectivity solutions. NR will enable everything to be connected wirelessly and provide fast, rich content and services.

[0006] Recently, the first version of the NR (5G) specification provides a set of baseline features and components for future cellular communication systems. Every year, the number of mobile devices connected to wireless networks increases significantly. In order to meet the demand for mobile data traffic, system requirements must be changed to be able to meet these demands. The three key areas that need to be enhanced to achieve this traffic increase are larger bandwidth, lower latency and higher data rates. One of the main limiting factors in wireless innovation is the availability of spectrum. To alleviate this situation, unlicensed spectrum has always been an area of ​​interest in extending the availability of long-term evolution (LTE). In this context, a major enhancement of LTE in the 13th release of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) has been to enable it to operate in unlicensed spectrum via licensed assisted access (LAA), which extends the system bandwidth by utilizing the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) framework introduced by the advanced LTE system. Since the main building blocks of the framework of the new air interface (NR) have been established, the natural enhancement is to allow the framework to operate on unlicensed spectrum as NR-U, especially with respect to channel occupancy time (COT) sharing, to achieve a traffic increase with one of larger bandwidth, lower latency or higher data rate. Summary of the invention

[0007] According to one aspect of the present application, a device used in a user equipment UE includes a processing circuit, which configures a random access process through a shared channel occupancy time COT, and the processing circuit is configured to: generate and transmit a first message, the first message including a preamble code of a random access channel RACH; receive a second message from a base station, the second message indicates the reception of the preamble code and the second message includes a time adjustment command and a scheduling authorization via a physical downlink channel, wherein the second message includes two bits of an LBT indication for indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the UE is to perform; generate and transmit a third message based on the resources indicated by the scheduling authorization of the second message; receive a fourth message from the base station, the fourth message including contention resolution information; and generate a hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ feedback based on the fourth message.

[0008] According to another aspect of the present application, a method for a base station includes: configuring a random access process by sharing a channel occupancy time COT, including: receiving a first message from a user equipment UE, the first message including a preamble code of a random access channel RACH to configure the random access process; generating and transmitting a second message, the second message indicating the reception of the preamble code and the second message including a time adjustment command and a scheduling authorization for configuring a third message via a physical downlink channel, wherein the second message includes two bits of an LBT indication for indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the UE is to perform; receiving the third message from the UE based on the resources indicated by the scheduling authorization of the second message; generating and transmitting a fourth message to convert the user equipment to a connected state; and receiving HARQ feedback from the UE based on the fourth message.

[0009] According to another aspect of the present application, a method for user equipment UE comprises: generating a first message, the first message comprising a preamble code of a random access channel RACH; receiving a second message, the second message indicating the reception of the preamble code and comprising a scheduling authorization via a physical downlink channel, wherein the second message comprises two bits of LBT indication for indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the UE is to perform; generating a third message based on the resources indicated by the scheduling authorization of the second message; receiving a fourth message, the fourth message comprising contention resolution information; and generating a hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ feedback based on the fourth message; wherein at least two of the following items share the channel occupancy time COT during the random access process: the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message or the HARQ feedback. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a user equipment (UE) communicatively coupled via a network with a network component as a peer device, which can be used in conjunction with various aspects described herein.

[0011] Figure 2 is an exemplary architecture of a system of networks according to various aspects.

[0012] Figure 3 is an exemplary simplified block diagram of a user equipment (UE) wireless communication device or other network device / component (e.g., eNB, gNB) according to various aspects.

[0013] Figure 4 is an illustration of exemplary messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0014] Figure 5is an exemplary table of physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) processing times for capability 1 according to various aspects.

[0015] Figure 6 is an exemplary table of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) preparation times for capability 1 according to various aspects.

[0016] Figure 7 is an illustration of exemplary messages configured for a random access procedure for next generation Node B (gNB) initiated channel occupancy time (COT) sharing according to various aspects.

[0017] Figure 8 is an exemplary table of priority level information for COT sharing according to various aspects.

[0018] Fig. 9 are examples of fields in a table for random access response (RAR) grant messaging for COT sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0019] Fig.10 is another exemplary table of fields in a table for COT shared random access response (RAR) grant messaging in accordance with various aspects.

[0020] Fig.11 is another illustration of example messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0021] Fig.12 is an example of a value of a logical channel ID of a physical shared channel for random access response (RAR) grant message transmission in COT sharing according to various aspects.

[0022] Fig.13 is another illustration of example messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0023] Fig.14 is another illustration of example messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0024] Fig.15 is another illustration of example messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0025] Fig.16 is another illustration of example messages of a random access procedure configured for channel occupancy time (COT) sharing in accordance with various aspects.

[0026] Fig.17is another block diagram illustrating an example process flow for COT sharing in unlicensed spectrum in accordance with various aspects.

[0027] Fig.18 is another block diagram illustrating an example process flow for COT sharing in unlicensed spectrum in accordance with various aspects. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0029] The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein throughout the text, similar (or similar at the end) figure numbers are used to refer to similar elements, and the structures and devices shown therein need not be drawn to scale. As used herein, the terms "component", "system", "interface", etc. are intended to refer to entities, hardware, software (e.g., in execution) and / or firmware related to a computer. For example, a component may be a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, a controller or other processing device), a process running on a processor, a controller, an object, an executable file, a program, a storage device, a computer, a tablet computer and / or a user equipment (e.g., a mobile phone, etc.) with a processing device. By way of example, an application program and a server running on a server may also be a component. One or more components may reside in a process, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. This article may describe a set of elements or other component sets, wherein the term "set" may be interpreted as "one or more".

[0030] In addition, the components can execute from various computer-readable storage media having various data structures stored thereon, such as using modules, for example. The components can communicate via local and / or remote processes, such as according to signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacts with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or throughout a network, such as the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, or a similar network with other systems via signals).

[0031] As another example, a component may be a device having a specific function provided by a mechanical component operated by electrical or electronic circuitry, wherein the electrical or electronic circuitry may be operated by a software application or firmware application executed by one or more processors. The one or more processors may be internal or external to the device and may execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. As another example, a component may be a device that provides a specific function by an electronic component without the need for a mechanical component; the electronic component may include one or more processors therein to execute at least a portion of the software and / or firmware that imparts the function to the electronic component.

[0032] The use of the word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a specific way. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, "X employs A or B" is intended to mean any natural inclusive arrangement. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B, then "X employs A or B" is satisfied in any of the foregoing cases. In addition, the articles "one" and "an" used in this application and the appended claims should generally be interpreted as meaning "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clear from the context to point to a singular form. In addition, to the extent that the terms "including", "comprising", "having", "having", "with" or variations thereof are used in the detailed description and claims, such terms are intended to be included in a manner similar to the term "comprising". In addition, where one or more numbered items (e.g., "first X", "second X", etc.) are discussed, generally, the one or more numbered items may be different or they may be the same, but in some cases, the context may indicate that they are different or that they are the same.

[0033] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to, may be a part of, or may include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuit, processor (shared, dedicated, or group), or associated memory (shared, dedicated, or group) operably coupled to the circuit that executes one or more software or firmware programs, combinational logic circuits, or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functionality associated with the circuit may be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuit may include logic that is at least partially operable in hardware.

[0034] In view of various issues for operating New Radio (NR) 5G communications in unlicensed access as NR-U or in licensed access to coexist fairly with different radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., Wifi or another RAT), various aspects of this document are related to operating a cellular system on an unlicensed spectrum, such as operating a cellular system in a time division duplex (TDD) system. Specifically, embodiments relate to channel sensing, for example, with respect to a shared perspective of a channel occupancy time (COT) associated with a physical random access channel (PRACH). COT may include, for example, a maximum continuous transmission time after channel sensing, and is a defined time length for an unlicensed spectrum.

[0035] A next generation Node B (gNB) and a UE or other network device (e.g., load based equipment (LBE), etc.) may operate together to initiate sharing of the same COT (as a gNB initiated COT or a UE initiated COT) for a random access procedure. COT sharing may be utilized in a random access procedure involving four or fewer messages such that at least two or more messages used to establish a random access may share the same COT. For example, at least two of a first message, a second message, a third message, a fourth message, or a HARQ feedback corresponding to the fourth message may share the same COT of a random access procedure or a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0036] For example, the UE may generate a first message including a preamble of a random access channel (RACH), and may generate a third message based on the resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message generated by the gNB. The gNB may generate a fourth message including contention resolution information and transition the UE to a connected state. The UE may also generate hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message.

[0037] In other aspects, the gNB may configure or the UE may generate different configurations for uplink (UL) physical channels for uplink (UL) to downlink (DL) channel occupancy time (COT) sharing to coexist with unlicensed spectrum or another RAT. For example, only by making the gap equal to a duration of about 16 microseconds (us) or about 25us, the third message can be shared in the same COT as the COT of the second message, while other messages (the first message, the fourth message, and the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, etc.) may or may not necessarily share the same COT. On the other hand, the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback or HARQ_ACK may be shared in the same COT as the COT of the fourth message by making the gap equal to a duration of about 16us or about 25us. Other aspects and details of the present disclosure are further described below with respect to the accompanying drawings.

[0038] Figure 1An exemplary architecture of a system 100 of a network according to various embodiments (various aspects) is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 100 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), etc.

[0039] like Figure 1 As shown, system 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UE 101"). In this example, UE 101 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-car entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, a machine type communication (MTC) device, a machine to machine (M2M) device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.

[0040] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 101 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), a short-range service (ProSe) or a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0041] UE 101 may be configured to connect (e.g., be communicatively coupled) to a radio access network (RAN) 110. In an embodiment, RAN 110 may be a next generation (NG) RAN or 5G RAN, an evolved-UMTS terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN), or a traditional RAN such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. UE 101 utilizes connections (or channels) 102 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface / layer.

[0042] Alternatively or in addition, each UE in UE 101 may be configured with dual connectivity (DC) as multi-RAT or multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), where a UE with multi-Rx / Tx capability may be configured to utilize resources provided by two different nodes (e.g., 111a, 111b, or other network nodes) that can be connected via a non-ideal backhaul, for example, one of which provides NR access and the other provides E-UTRA for LTE or NR access for 5G. One node may act as a master node (MN) and the other node may act as a secondary node (SN). The MN and the SN may be connected via a network interface, and at least the MN is connected to the core network 120. At least one of the MN and / or the SN may operate using shared spectrum channel access. All functions specified for the UE may be used for an integrated access and backhaul mobile terminal (IAB-MT). Similar to UE 101, the IAB-MT may access the network using one network node or using two different nodes having an EN-DC architecture, an NR-DC architecture, etc.

[0043] UE 101b is shown configured to access AP 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106," "WLAN 106," "WLAN terminal 106," "WT 106," etc.) via connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 will include Wireless Fidelity. router. In this example, AP 106 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to utilize LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) operation and / or LTE / WLAN radio level operation integrated with IPsec tunnel (LWIP). LWA operation may involve UE 101b in a radio resource control RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 111a, 111b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 101b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 107. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0044] The RAN 110 includes one or more access nodes (ANs) or RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 111") that enable connections 102 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, Node Bs, RSUs, transmit receive points (TRxPs), or TRPs, and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN nodes," and the like may refer to RAN nodes 111 (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or 5G systems 100, while the terms "E-UTRAN nodes," and the like may refer to RAN nodes 111 (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 100. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0045] In some embodiments, all or part of the plurality of RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a centralized RAN (CRAN) and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional partitioning such as a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) partitioning, where the radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a media access control (MAC) / physical (PHY) layer partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or a "lower PHY" partitioning, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layer, and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes 111. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the plurality of RAN nodes 111 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, the individual RAN nodes 111 may represent individual gNB distributed units (DUs) connected to a gNB central unit (CU) via respective F1 interfaces. In these implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RF front end modules (RFEMs) (not shown), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the multiple RAN nodes 111 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 101 and is connected to the 5GC via an NG interface.

[0046] Any of the RAN nodes 111 may serve as a termination point for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 101. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 110, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0047] In an embodiment, UE 101 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 111 on a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments (aspects) is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0048] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 to the UE 101, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0049] According to various embodiments, UE 101 and RAN node 111 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 2.8 GHz, while the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0050] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may operate using license assisted access (LAA), eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 101 and the RAN node 111 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0051] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, etc.) senses the medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include a clear channel assessment (CCA) that utilizes at least energy detection (ED) to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or clear. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an intended transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0052] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLAN adopts a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 101, AP 106, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism can be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS, which increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA / CA for WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT process for a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) transmission burst (including a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission) may have a variable length LAA contention window between X extended CCA (ECCA) slots and Y extended CCA (ECCA) slots, respectively, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the contention window size (CWS) for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs or us); however, the size of the CWS and the maximum channel occupancy time (MCOT) (e.g., a transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0053] The LAA mechanism is built on the carrier aggregation (CA) technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a component carrier (CC). In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a time division duplex (TDD) system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC may be the same for DL ​​and UL. CA also includes individual service cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the service cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary service cell or PCell may provide the primary component carrier for both UL and DL, and may handle radio resource control (RRC) and non-access layer (NAS) related activities. Other service cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide a single secondary component carrier (SCC) for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 101 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCell"), and the LAA SCell is assisted by the PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe.

[0054] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 101. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UE 101 about the transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 101b within a cell) may be performed at any one of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any one of the UEs 101. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 101.

[0055] PDCCH uses control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0056] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize an extended (E)-PDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0057] The RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with each other via an interface 112. In an embodiment where the system 100 is an LTE system, the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to an evolved packet core (EPC) or core network 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 120. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U provides a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the master eNB (MeNB) to the secondary eNB (SeNB); information about successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP packet data units (PDUs) from the SeNB to the UE 101 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 101; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; etc. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0058] In an embodiment where the system 100 is a 5G or NR system, whether or not there is a coexisting RAT, the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 120, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 120. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 101 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer and a user plane GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP-U) layer on top of a user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on a stream control transmission protocol (SCTP). SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0059] RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 120. CN 120 may include a plurality of network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 101) connected to CN 120 via RAN 110. The components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. Network Function Virtualization (NFV) architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more Evolved Packet Core (EPC) components / functions.

[0060] In general, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Packet Service (UMTS PS) domain, LTE PS data service, etc.). The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 101 via the EPC 120 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0061] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 120”, etc.), and RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an NG interface 112. In an embodiment, NG interface 112 may be divided into two parts: a next generation (NG) user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and user plane function (UPF); and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and access and mobility management function (AMF). Core network CN 120 may also be 5GC 120.

[0062] In an embodiment, CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 120”, etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 120 may be an evolved packet core (EPC). In the case where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 120”, etc.), RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 via an S1 interface 112. In an embodiment, S1 interface 112 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and MME.

[0063] Figure 2 Exemplary components of a device 200 according to some embodiments are shown. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include at least an application circuit 202, a baseband circuit 204, a radio frequency (RF) circuit 206, a front-end module (FEM) circuit 208, one or more antennas 210, and a power management circuit (PMC) 212 coupled together as shown. The components of the illustrated device 200 may be included in a UE or a RAN node, such as a UE 101 or a RAN node 111. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include fewer elements (e.g., the RAN node cannot utilize the application circuit 202, but includes a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 200 may include additional elements, such as a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device (e.g., the circuit may be separately included in more than one device for a cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

[0064] The application circuit 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 202 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processor may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage device, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 200. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 202 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0065] The baseband circuit 204 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 204 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic components to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206. The baseband processing circuit 204 may interact with the application circuit 202 to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of the RF circuit 206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 204A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 204C, or other baseband processors 204D of other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 204 (e.g., one or more baseband processors 204A-204D) may handle various radio control functions, which may communicate with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 206. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 204A-204D may be included in a module stored in the memory 204G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 204E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0066] In addition, memory 204G (and other memory components discussed herein, such as memory, data storage device, etc.) may include one or more machine-readable media, including instructions, which when executed by the machine or component herein, cause the machine to perform the method or device or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to the embodiments and examples described herein. It should be understood that the aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the function can be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium (e.g., a memory or other storage device described herein) or transmitted by a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, and the communication media include any media that helps to transfer a computer program from one place to another. Storage media or computer-readable storage devices can be any available media that can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer. By way of example only and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices or other tangible and / or non-transient media, which can be used to carry or store required information or executable instructions. Moreover, any connection may also be referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.

[0067] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 204F. The audio DSP 204F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 204 and the application circuit 202 may be implemented together, such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0068] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 204 may support communications with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0069] RF circuit 206 can communicate with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 206 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 206 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits that down-convert RF signals received from FEM circuit 208 and provide baseband signals to baseband circuit 204. RF circuit 206 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits that up-convert baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 204 and provide RF output signals to FEM circuit 208 for transmission.

[0070] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a mixer circuit 206a, an amplifier circuit 206b, and a filter circuit 206c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a filter circuit 206c and a mixer circuit 206a. The RF circuit 206 may also include a synthesizer circuit 206d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 208 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 206d. The amplifier circuit 206b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 206c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 204 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, although this is not required.In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0071] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path can be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 206d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 208. The baseband signal can be provided by baseband circuit 204 and can be filtered by filter circuit 206c.

[0072] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmission signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for orthogonal down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmission signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmission signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receiving signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmission signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0073] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuit 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuit 204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuit 206.

[0074] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0075] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 206d may 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 may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 206d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0076] Synthesizer circuit 206d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 206a of RF circuit 206. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 206d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0077] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 204 or application circuitry 202 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application circuitry 202.

[0078] The synthesizer circuit 206d of the RF circuit 206 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop set. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0079] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 206d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 206 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0080] The FEM circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from the one or more antennas 210, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the RF circuitry 206 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission via one or more of the one or more antennas 210. In various embodiments, amplification by either the transmit or receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 206, only in the FEM 208, or in both the RF circuitry 206 and the FEM 208.

[0081] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 208 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify a received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 206). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 206), and one or more filters to generate an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 210).

[0082] In some embodiments, PMC 212 can manage the power provided to baseband circuit 204. Specifically, PMC 212 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When device 200 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE, PMC 212 can generally be included. PMC 212 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing a desired implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0083] and Figure 2 PMC 212 is shown coupled only to baseband circuit 204. However, in other embodiments, PMC 212 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components (such as, but not limited to, application circuit 202, RF circuit 206, or FEM 208) and perform similar power management operations.

[0084] In some embodiments, the PMC 212 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the device 200. For example, if the device 200 is in the RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as expected to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, it may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the device 200 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power.

[0085] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 200 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 200 enters a very low power state, and it performs paging, in which it wakes up periodically again to listen to the network, and then powers down again. The device 200 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it transitions back to the RRC_Connected state.

[0086] For low latency / low power operation, the device 200 can be configured to suspend / resume in 5GNR by utilizing the RRC_Inactive state, which can significantly reduce latency and minimize battery consumption. During the suspension process, both the UE and the RAN store information about the transition from connected to inactive UE along with the UE radio protocol configuration. The resume process optimizes the transition from inactive to connected by restoring the UE radio protocol configuration. RAN-based location management and RAN paging allow UEs in an inactive state to move around in an area without notifying the network.

[0087] The processor of the application circuit 202 and the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used alone or in combination to perform the functions of Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1, and the processor of the application circuit 204 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform the functions of Layer 4 (e.g., Transport Communication Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) layers). As mentioned herein, Layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, Layer 2 may include a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, Layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0088] refer to Figure 3 , a block diagram of a user equipment (UE) wireless communication device (UE) or other network device / component (e.g., a gNB, eNB, or other participating network entity / component) is shown. The UE device 300 includes: one or more processors 310 (e.g., one or more baseband processors), the one or more processors including processing circuits and associated interfaces; transceiver circuits 320 (e.g., including RF circuits, the RF circuits may include transmitter circuits (e.g., associated with one or more transmit chains) and / or receiver circuits (e.g., associated with one or more receive chains), the transmitter circuits and receiver circuits may use common circuit elements, different circuit elements, or a combination thereof); and a memory 330 (which may include any of a variety of storage media and may store instructions and / or data associated with one or more of the processors 310 or the transceiver circuits 320).

[0089] According to various aspects, the UE 300 / 101 or the RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) may be operable to configure each message in the random access process to share the channel occupancy time between two or more messages. For example, a first message generated by / via the UE 300 may initiate a random access process for a physical random access channel. A second message via the RAN node 111 may indicate the reception of a random access preamble in the first message, and may indicate a scheduling grant for a third message via a physical downlink channel (e.g., PRACH, etc.) as a random access response (RAR) message. For example, the third message via the UE 300 may include a device identity (e.g., UE id, capability information, or other identification information) for the RAN node 111. A fourth message via the RAN node 111 may include contention resolution information and convert the UE 300 to a connected state. HARQ feedback via the UE 300 may be generated based on the fourth message. Any two or more of the messages may obtain a COT in an unlicensed spectrum for TDD communication and share it with each other.

[0090] See also Figure 4 , an example of a random access procedure message configuration 400 in COT sharing according to gNB initiated COT or UE initiated COT in unlicensed spectrum according to various aspects is shown. One of the main limiting factors in wireless innovation is the availability of spectrum. To alleviate this situation, unlicensed spectrum can be utilized to extend the availability of LTE. In this context, one of the main enhancements to LTE in 3GPP Release 13 is to enable it to operate in unlicensed spectrum via License Assisted Access (LAA), which extends the system bandwidth by leveraging the flexible carrier aggregation (CA) framework introduced by the advanced LTE system.

[0091] Since many of the major building blocks of the framework of NR have been established, the communication system can be configured to allow it to operate on unlicensed spectrum as well. The objectives of various studies are to study NR-based operations in unlicensed spectrum, including but not limited to: 1) Physical channels inherit the choices of duplex mode, waveform, carrier bandwidth, subcarrier spacing, frame structure and physical layer design made as part of the NR study and avoid unnecessary divergence from other decisions made; this may consider unlicensed bands below and above 6 GHz and up to 52.6 GHz; unlicensed bands above 52.6 GHz to the extent that the waveform design principles remain unchanged with respect to bands below 52.6 GHz, and similar forward compatibility principles made in NR work items (WI). Other objectives may include: 2) initial access, channel access and scheduling / HARQ, and mobility, including connected / inactive / idle mode operation and radio link monitoring / failure; and 3) coexistence methods between NR-based operations in unlicensed spectrum and LTE-based LAA, and with other existing RATs, based on regulatory requirements for example for 5 GHz, 37 GHz, 60 GHz bands. The coexistence methods already defined for the 5 GHz band in the context of LTE-based LAA can be assumed as a baseline for 5 GHz operation. Enhancements based on these methods in 5 GHz should not be ruled out. NR-based operation in unlicensed spectrum should not have a greater impact on deployed Wi-Fi services (data, video, and voice services) than additional Wi-Fi networks on the same carrier.

[0092] Various aspects (various implementations) may be utilized to enhance NR when operating in unlicensed spectrum. In this case, one of the challenges is that the wireless communication system should maintain fair coexistence with other existing technologies, and to this end, some limitations may be considered when designing the system, depending on the specific frequency band in which it may operate. For example, if operating in the 5 GHz band or higher, a listen-before-talk (LBT) process may be performed in at least some parts of the world to acquire the medium before transmission may occur. For example, three ways to acquire a channel may include: A) CAT-1 LBT without listen-before-talk; B) CAT-2 LBT, listen-before-talk without random backoff; C) CAT-4 LBT, equivalent to CAT-2 LBT plus random backoff with variable contention window size.

[0093] COT sharing in New Radio Unlicensed Spectrum (NR-U) may be configured to be enabled by the RAN node 111 and the UE 101 to share the medium without having to perform CAT-4 LBT each time the medium is accessed. This may allow for more efficient use of the medium or unlicensed spectrum. For example, COT sharing may be accomplished in Wi-Fi between an access point (AP) and a Wi-Fi station (STA) that is capable of communicating using the 802.11 standard when sending a data packet and later sends its Ack without performing LBT for a short interface space (SIFS) duration. In Wi-Fi, an Ack (e.g., approximately 14 bytes) transmitted at 6 Mbps may have a duration of approximately 44 us, and a Block Ack (BA, 32 bytes, with BA information consisting of 10 bytes of compressed Block Ack information) transmitted at 6 Mbps may have a duration of approximately 68 us. For example, Tables 10-5 and 10-6 of 802.11-2016 may be configured to enable the RAN node 111 and the UE 101 to share the medium without having to perform CAT-4 LBT each time the medium is accessed. This may allow for more efficient use of the medium or unlicensed spectrum. For example, Tables 10-5 and 10-6 of 802.11-2016 may be configured to enable the RAN node 111 and the UE 101 to share the medium without having to perform CAT-4 LBT each time the medium is accessed. Figure 9-3 5 for further details, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.

[0094] In various embodiments herein, in NR-U, the RAN node 111 may be configured to share the COT with the UE 101, and vice versa, the UE 101 shares the COT with the RAN node 111. Various embodiments or aspects herein may involve a random access procedure, which may include at least four messages, such as Figure 4 As shown in the random access process message 400.

[0095] In various aspects, the UE 101 may be operable to generate a first message 402 including a preamble of a random access message, and, for example, encode the first message to the RAN node 111. In response to transmitting the first message 402 indicating reception of the preamble, the UE 101 may receive a second message 404, together with a time adjustment and resources for generating a third message 406. The time adjustment may, for example, indicate a timing advance value associated with or used to generate a next message (e.g., Msg3, 406), as a time delay or advance value. The UE 101 may then receive a fourth message 408 configured by the RAN node 111, for example, in response to receiving the third message 406. The UE 101 may then generate HARQ feedback 410 (e.g., HARQ acknowledgement (ACK)) corresponding to the fourth message 408.

[0096] In various aspects, the first message 402 may include a physical random access channel (PRACH) (also known as message 1 or Msg1) transmission, where a preamble is sent by the UE 101. The first message 402 may be initiated by the CAT 4LBT 412 and is not performed again by the RAN node 111 as part of the COT sharing or COT sharing window during the process. The second message 404 may include a random access response (RAR) (also known as message 2 or Msg2) by the RAN node 111 indicating the receipt of the preamble and providing a time adjustment command. The second message 404 may be transmitted as a PDCCH / PDSCH and may also include a scheduling grant indicating one or more resources allocated for the message 3 406. A time threshold or predefined time may be configured between the second message 404, or the end of the second message 404 to the beginning of the third message 406 may be specified as Tmin2 414, where Tmin2 may be 18 OFDM symbols plus 500us. If the UE 101 does not detect the second message (eg, RAR) 404 within a certain time window (eg, Tmin2 or other time), the first message (eg, PRACH) 402 may be retransmitted at a higher power than the first transmission.

[0097] For example, message 3 (406) may be generated by UE 300 and include a device identity, which may be separated from the second message 404 by at least N1+N2+0.5 ms, where N1 corresponds to the PDSCH reception time of UE processing capability 1, and N2 corresponds to the PUSCH preparation time of UE processing capability 1 as detailed in TS 38.214. Message 4 (Msg 4 408) may be generated by RAN node 111 to include information that may resolve any contention resolution, and is also configured to transition UE 101 to a connected state (RRC_Connected). For HARQ feedback based on or corresponding to message 4 (408), HARQ feedback or HARQ_Ack 410 may also be transmitted by UE 101. The minimum time between the last symbol of message 4 and the HARQ_Ack or HARQ feedback may be N1+0.5 ms, where N1 corresponds to the PDSCH reception time of UE processing capability 1. For example, the minimum time may be Tmin4 416 and equal to 8 OFDM symbols plus 500us.

[0098] The value of N1 may depend on the following subcarrier spacing (SCS) μ(mu)=0 / 1 / 2 / 3 values ​​and corresponds to 15kHz / 30kHz / 60kHz / 120kHz SCS), which can be obtained by Figure 5500, similar to TS 38.214. Here, depending on the mu value, N1 may take different values ​​of the demodulation reference signal (DMRS) downlink configuration (DMRS-downlink configuration) in both mapping type A and mapping type B, for example for PDSCH. The value of N2 may depend on the SCS (as shown in the following mu value) and is given by Figure 6 Here, the PUSCH preparation time for PUSCH timing capability 1 is given in the number of symbols for each mu value.

[0099] When operating in unlicensed spectrum, one of the challenges is to maintain fair coexistence of the communication system with other existing technologies, and to this end, some restrictions may be considered depending on the specific frequency band in which it may operate. For example, if operating in the 5GHz band, a LBT process needs to be performed to acquire the medium before transmission can occur. For example, three ways to acquire a channel may include: CAT-1 LBT, CAT-2 LBT, or CAT-4 LBT, for example. COT sharing in NR-U allows the gNB and UE to share the medium without having to perform CAT-4 LBT every time the medium is accessed. This allows for more efficient use of the medium.

[0100] Figure 7 An example of gNB-initiated COT according to various aspects is shown. When operating a cellular system on unlicensed spectrum in a TDD system, channel sensing relative to a COT sharing perspective associated with PRACH can be configured. Specifically, two types of COT sharing in NR-U can be configured: gNB-initiated COT 700, where the gNB acquires a channel (e.g., via CAT 4 LBT 702), and UE-initiated COT (e.g., Figure 6 For example, within the gNB-initiated COT 600, if the gap 708 from the end of the DL transmission 704 (e.g., Msg A) to the start of the UL burst 706 is not greater than 16us, the UL burst (e.g., Msg B 706) of the UE 101 consisting of one or more of PUSCH, PUCCH, PRACH may have CAT1 LBT, and when the gap 708 is not greater than 25us, the UL burst may have CAT2 LBT.

[0101] In one embodiment, Figure 4 The second message 404 and the third message 406 in the UE 101 may share the COT. In another embodiment, the fourth message 408 and its corresponding HARQ_ACK 410 may also share the COT. In some embodiments, in order to initiate the COT by the UE 101, the channel access scheme in the following table may be used:

[0102] Table 1 - Channel access scheme for COT initiated by UE as LBE device

[0103]

[0104]

[0105] Note 1 to Table 1: If the COT includes multiple signals / channels with different channel access categories / priority levels, the highest channel access priority level value and the highest channel access category among the channel access priority levels and channel access categories corresponding to the multiple signals / channels may apply. Channel categories include, for example, logical channels, transport channels, and physical channels.

[0106] Note 2 to Table 1: Applicability of channel access schemes other than Cat 4 for the following signals / channels may be configured. In one example, (1) UL control information (e.g., HARQ-ACK), scheduling request, and channel state information including UCI on PUSCH only may be configured. In addition or alternatively, random access may also be configured to utilize schemes other than Cat 4.

[0107] In various aspects of the present invention, there may be a minimum time from the end of message 2 (e.g., 404 or MsgA 704) to the beginning of message 3 (e.g., 406 or MsgB 706) that includes at least 18 OFDM symbols + 0.5ms. For example, when operating at 15kHz / 30kHz / 60kHz / 120kHz SCS, this is at least 1.786 / 1.143 / 0.821 / .66ms. In some embodiments (e.g., according to regulation ETSI EN 301 892v2.1.1 (2017-05)), the highest priority level number (i.e., the lowest priority level) may have a maximum COT limit of 2ms.

[0108] Figure 8Table 800 2 is shown, which includes the minimum contention window size and the maximum contention window size for different levels and locations and the maximum COT time for configuring the LBT scheme in COT sharing. The table includes such information for configuration. As described above, for example, the maximum COT of 6ms can be increased to 8ms by inserting one or more pauses by the UE 101 or the RAN node 111. The minimum duration of the pause may be 100us. The maximum duration channel occupancy before including the pause may be 6ms. The pause duration is not necessarily included in the COT. When a random number q is selected for any backoff before or after the channel occupancy that may exceed 6ms or after the channel occupancy that exceeds 6ms, the maximum COT of 6ms as described in Note 2 can be increased to 10ms by extending the CW to CWx2+1. During the operating time of the device, the selection before or after the channel occupancy may remain unchanged. The values ​​of p0, CWmin, and CWmax may be minimum values, where a larger value may be configured, for example, in the COT sharing of the random access process.

[0109] In another aspect, the second message 404 may include a COT sharing indication bit in the DCI for scheduling. If the bit is set to 0, COT sharing is not enabled, and if it is set to 1, COT sharing is enabled, or vice versa, if the bit is set to 1, COT sharing is not enabled, and if it is set to 0, COT sharing is enabled. Alternatively or in addition, COT sharing may be configured via RRC or higher layer signaling.

[0110] If COT sharing is enabled, various aspects may be configured. First, for the Kth Msg, additional information may be sent by the RAN node 111 and represented by "ExtraK" so that the gap is less than or equal to 16us. This additional information may be sent to the same UE 101 or other UEs. Another embodiment is to have 1 or 2 new bits in the RAR message (Msg2) 404 using PDCCH / PDSCH to indicate to the UE 101 that CAT1 LBT, CAT2 LBT or CAT4 LBT should precede Msg3 406. Secondly, the duration from the end of Msg2404 to the start of Msg3 406 may be configured to be at least 100us, which will allow for the presence of a "suspended COT". In this case, the UE needs to perform CAT2 LBT 25us from the start of the allocated timeslot.

[0111] The RAR content of the second message (e.g., RAR) message 404 may be similarly found in Table 8.2-1 of TS 38.213 (below), but may be modified to take into account the additional signaling information: Table 8.2-1: Random Access Response Grant Content Field Size:

[0112] RAR Authorization Field Number of digits Frequency Hopping Mark 1 PUSCH frequency resource allocation 14 PUSCH time resource allocation 4 MCS 4 TPC commands for PUSCH 3 CSI Request 1

[0113] Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Modifications 900 and 1000 to Table 8.2-1 are shown with respect to the RAR authorization fields and number of bits in various aspects. Fig. 9 Table 900 of illustrative examples shows an additional bit group in the RAR authorization field, where the second to last row may include COT sharing as one bit, and the last row includes a single bit for indicating whether CAT1 LBT or CAT2 LBT is performed by UE 101 after second message 404. In contrast, Fig.10 Table 1000 of FIG. 100 adds rows to specify CAT1, CAT2, or CAT4 LBT based on the position of the two bits. In this way, UE 101 can examine the channel and configure the third message 406 based on the operation of the specific specified LBT scheme.

[0114] Fig.11 An exemplary COT sharing 1100 for a random access procedure is shown, where a fourth message 1108 (e.g., fourth message 408) and a HARQ_ACK 1110 (e.g., 410) COT may, for example, be configured for COT sharing of a gap 1140 having a value equal to or less than 16us. In addition, there is a minimum time from the end of the fourth message 1108 to the start of the HARQ_ACK feedback 1110 including at least 8 OFDM symbols + 0.5ms. When operating at 15kHz / 30kHz / 60kHz / 120kHz SCS, the minimum time may be equal to 1.071 / 0.786 / 0.643 / .571ms. To fill the gap 1140 or the gap 1120 between the second message 1104 and the third message 1106, the RAN node 111 may send additional information 1122 or 1142, respectively, as indicated by "Extra2" or "Extra4", respectively. If the COT sharing bit is present, an additional bit can signal whether CAT1 or CAT2 LBT is to be used, such as Fig. 9 and as shown in table modification 900. If there is no COT shared bit, then 2 bits in the DCI can be allocated to indicate whether CAT1, CAT2 or CAT4 LBT should precede HARQ-ACK, as shown in Fig.10 For example, one example may be to configure one of the reserved fields with indices 33-46 in Table 6.2.1-1 "Values ​​of LCID for DL-SCH" in 38.321, such as Fig.12 As shown in Table 1200.

[0115] refer to Fig.13, shows an exemplary COT sharing 1300 for a random access procedure, where the maximum COT of 6 ms can be increased to 8 ms, for example, by inserting one or more pauses 1340 by the UE 101 or the RAN node 111. The minimum duration of the pause can be, for example, 100 us or other duration. When the random number q is selected for any backoff before or after a channel occupancy that may exceed 6 ms, the maximum COT of 6 ms can also be increased to 10 ms by extending the CW to CWx2+1. During the operating time of the device, the selection of before or after channel occupancy can remain unchanged.

[0116] On the other hand, in Fig.13 The second message 404 as 1304 in the DCI may include a COT sharing indication bit in the DCI for scheduling. If the bit is set to 0, COT sharing is not enabled, and if it is set to 1, COT sharing is enabled, or vice versa. If COT sharing is enabled, various aspects may be configured. First, as part of any of the messages, additional information may be sent by the RAN node 111 and represented by "ExtraK" so that the gap is less than or equal to 16us. The additional information may be sent to the same UE 101 or to other UEs. Another embodiment is to have 1 or 2 new bits in the RAR message (Msg2) 404 using PDCCH / PDSCH to indicate to the UE 101 that CAT1 LBT, CAT2 LBT, or CAT4 LBT should be in Fig.13 In the Msg3 406 before 1306, this Fig.13 404 to the start of Msg3 406 can be configured to be at least 100us, which will allow for the existence of a "suspended COT" 1340. In this case, the UE needs to perform CAT2 LBT 1334 25us from the start of the allocated time slot.

[0117] refer to Fig.14, shows an exemplary COT sharing 1400 for a random access procedure. Some embodiments may include a second message 1404, a third message 1406, and a fourth message 1408 COT sharing (in the same COT) with a gap 1420 and a gap 1432 equal to 16us or 25us. If gap3 1432 is less than 16us, Msg4 1408 may be transmitted using CAT1 LBT. If gap3 is greater than 16us, Msg4 1408 may be transmitted using CAT2 LBT. For example, the first message 1402 and the previous LBT 1412 may not change as a UE-initiated COT. For example, additional information 1422 may also be inserted only into the second message 1404 to dynamically meet the condition of gap2 1420, and the LBT before the fourth message 1408 may be adjusted based only on gap3 1432. HARQ_Ack 1410 may then be sent in response to the fourth message 1408.

[0118] refer to Fig.15 , shows an exemplary COT sharing 1500 for a random access procedure. CAT4LBT 1512 precedes the first message 1502, and then the third message 1506 and the fourth message 1508 follow the second message 1504. HARQ_Ack 1510 follows the fourth message 1508. Some embodiments may include COT sharing (in the same COT) of the second message 1504, the third message 1506, and the fourth message 1508 with a gap 1520, a gap 1532, and a gap 1542 equal to 16us between consecutive transmissions, and COT sharing of HARQ_ACK 1510. Some embodiments may include COT sharing of Msg2, Msg3, Msg4, and HARQ_ACK with a gap less than 16us or greater than or equal to 16us between consecutive transmissions.

[0119] refer to Fig.16, shows an exemplary COT sharing 1600 for a random access procedure. Some embodiments may include UE COT sharing and indicating in Msg3 1606 such that Msg3 1606, Msg4 1608, and HARQ_ACK 1610 are shared in the same COT. Here, a COT sharing bit may be added by the UE 101 in the UCI within Msg3 1606 to indicate to the RAN node 111, for example, that COT sharing is allowed for Msg4 1608. If a COT sharing bit is present, the additional bit may signal whether CAT1 or CAT2 LBT is to be used. If a COT sharing bit is not present, 2 bits in the UCI may be allocated to indicate whether CAT1, CAT2, or CAT4 LBT is to be used. In addition, due to the delay associated with the Msg3 1606 transmission and the HARQ_ACK 1610, the highest channel access priority with a 2ms COT is not possible. The channel access priority level (CAPC) may then be reduced in this case. In another embodiment, the desired CAPC may be indicated. Additionally, gap 1632 and gap 1642 may be approximately 16 us.

[0120] refer to Fig.17 , an exemplary processing flow 1700 for a network device or component (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, AP 106, or other network component) is shown to perform a random access procedure using NR-U in TDD for COT sharing. The processing flow 1700 is initiated at 1702, where the UE 101 generates a first message including a preamble of a random access channel (RACH). At 1704, the processing flow 1700 includes receiving a second message indicating reception of the preamble and including a scheduling grant via a physical downlink channel. At 1706, the processing flow 1700 includes generating a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message. At 1708, the processing flow 1700 includes receiving a fourth message including contention resolution information. At 1710, the processing flow includes generating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message. At least two of the second message, the third message, the fourth message, or the HARQ feedback may share a channel occupancy time (COT) in the random access procedure.

[0121] The COT may include a gNB-initiated COT or a UE-initiated COT. In response to the COT including a gNB-initiated COT, the operations also include generating an UL transmission within the COT including CAT1 listen-before-talk (LBT) or CAT2 LBT based on a duration of a gap between a downlink (DL) transmission and an uplink (UL) transmission.

[0122] In one aspect, the COT may be shared with the third message and the second message, or with the fourth message and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the fourth message. In some aspects, a COT sharing bit may be generated in uplink control information (UCI) from the third message, or a COT sharing bit may be in the DCI to indicate that COT sharing is enabled for a random access procedure in an unlicensed spectrum. For example, in response to COT sharing being enabled, additional information may be received to configure a gap between at least one of the following: the second message and the third message, or the fourth message and the HARQ feedback.

[0123] In response to COT sharing being enabled, the third message can be configured based on the LBT indication in the random access response (RAR) message as the second message according to the CAT1, CAT2 or CAT 4 LBT preceding the third message, and the duration from the end of the second message to the start of the third message can be configured to enable COT suspended between the two.

[0124] refer to Fig.18 , an exemplary process flow 1800 for a network device or component (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, AP 106, or other network component) is shown to implement a random access procedure using NR-U in TDD for COT sharing. The process flow 1800 is initiated at 1802, where the RAN node 111 may configure the random access procedure by sharing the channel occupancy time (COT) by receiving a first message including a preamble of a RACH. At 1804, the process flow 1800 may include generating a second message indicating the reception of the preamble and including a timing adjustment command and a scheduling grant for configuring a third message via a physical downlink channel. At 1806, the process flow 1800 may include receiving a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message. At 1808, the process flow 1800 may include generating a fourth message to transition the user equipment to a connected state. At 1810, the process flow 1800 may include receiving HARQ feedback based on the fourth message.

[0125] The first message may include a PRACH message, the second message may include a RAR message, the third message may include a device identity, and the fourth message includes contention resolution information. A scheduling grant may be configured in the second message, the scheduling grant enabling the third message to be configured in a COT that is the same as a COT of at least one of the following: the second message, the third message, the fourth message, or HARQ feedback.

[0126] In one aspect, the DCI may include a COT sharing bit in the second message to indicate the acquired COT channel for COT sharing between the gNB and one or more user equipment (UE). In one example, a fourth message may be generated to share the COT only with HARQ feedback.

[0127] In another aspect, a COT sharing bit may be configured in uplink control information (UCI) or generated in DCI to indicate that COT sharing is enabled for a random access procedure. In response to COT sharing being enabled, additional information (e.g., one or more reserved bits, padding information, etc.) may be enabled to configure a gap between at least one of the following: the second message and the third message, or the fourth message and the HARQ feedback. The gap may include, for example, less than or equal to sixteen microseconds.

[0128] In response to COT sharing being enabled, a second message as a RAR message may be configured using PDSCH or PDCCH to indicate CAT1, CAT2, or CAT 4 listen-before-talk (LBT) prior to a third message, or in response to COT sharing being enabled, a duration from the end of the second message to the start of the third message may be configured to include at least 100 microseconds to enable a suspended COT.

[0129] As used in this specification, the term "processor" may refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device, including but not limited to single-core processors; single processors with software multi-threaded execution capabilities; multi-core processors; multi-core processors with software multi-threaded execution capabilities; multi-core processors with hardware multi-threading technology; parallel platforms; and parallel platforms with distributed shared memory. In addition, a processor may refer to an integrated circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic controller, a complex programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions and / or processes described herein. The processor may utilize nanoscale architectures, such as but not limited to molecular and quantum dot-based transistors, switches, and gates, in order to optimize space usage or enhance the performance of mobile devices. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units.

[0130] Embodiments (implementations) may include subject matter, such as methods, devices for performing actions or frames of the method, and at least one machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a machine (e.g., a processor with memory, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.), cause the machine to perform the actions of a method or device or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies according to the embodiments and examples described herein.

[0131] The first embodiment may include a method for sharing COT between gNB and UE during PRACH process, which allows the COT initiated by the gNB to share the COT with the UE.

[0132] The second embodiment may include a method as in the first embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein in the above, Msg3 is shared in the same COT as that of Msg2 by making the duration of the gap equal to 16us or 25us.

[0133] A third embodiment may include a method as described in the first embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein a COT sharing bit is present in the DCI.

[0134] A fourth embodiment may include a method as in the first embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein for CAT1 LBT, CAT2 LBT or CAT4 LBT, there is an LBT indication bit group in the DCI.

[0135] A fifth embodiment may include a method as described in the first embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein in the above, HARQ_ACK is shared in the same COT as that of Msg4 by making the duration of the gap equal to 16us or 25us.

[0136] The sixth embodiment may include the method as described in the first embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein two switching points occur: Msg2 obtains the COT and shares it with Msg3 and Msg4.

[0137] The seventh embodiment may include the method as described in the first embodiment or some other embodiments of the present invention, wherein three switching points occur: Msg2 obtains COT and shares it with Msg3, Msg4 and HARQ_ACK.

[0138] The eighth embodiment may include a method in which the UE shares the COT with the gNB and allows Msg4 to be transmitted in the same COT as the COT of Msg3.

[0139] A ninth embodiment may include a method as described in the eighth embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein a COT sharing bit exists in the UCI.

[0140] The tenth embodiment may include a method as described in the eighth embodiment or some other embodiments herein, wherein there is a set of LBT indication bits in the UCI.

[0141] An eleventh embodiment comprises a method comprising: receiving a first message including a preamble from a user equipment (UE); generating a second message indicating receipt of the preamble and a time adjustment command; and encoding the second message for transmission to the UE.

[0142] A twelfth embodiment comprises the method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message is transmitted via physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) signaling.

[0143] The thirteenth embodiment includes a method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method further includes receiving a third message including a device identity from the UE, and wherein the second message also includes a scheduling grant indicating resources associated with the third message.

[0144] A fourteenth embodiment comprises the method according to the thirteenth embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message and the third message share a channel occupancy time (COT).

[0145] A fifteenth embodiment includes the method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the first message is a physical random access channel (PRACH) message.

[0146] A sixteenth embodiment includes the method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message is a random access response (RAR) message.

[0147] A seventeenth embodiment includes the method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method further includes: generating a fourth message including contention resolution information; and encoding the fourth message for transmission to the UE.

[0148] An eighteenth embodiment comprises the method according to the seventeenth embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the fourth message shares a channel occupancy time (COT) with a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0149] A nineteenth embodiment comprises the method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message comprises downlink control information (DCI) comprising a COT shared bit.

[0150] The twentieth embodiment includes a method according to any one of the eleventh to nineteenth embodiments and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed by a next generation Node B (gNB).

[0151] The twenty-first embodiment includes a method comprising: generating a first message including a preamble; encoding the first message for transmission to a next generation Node B (gNB); and receiving a second message from the gNB indicating reception of the preamble and a time adjustment command.

[0152] A twenty-second embodiment comprises a method according to the twenty-first embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message is transmitted via physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) or physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) signaling.

[0153] The twenty-third embodiment includes a method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method further includes: generating a third message including a device identity; and decoding the third message for transmission to the gNB, wherein the second message also includes a scheduling grant indicating resources associated with the third message.

[0154] A twenty-fourth embodiment comprises a method according to the twenty-third embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message and the third message share a channel occupancy time (COT).

[0155] The twenty-fifth embodiment includes the method according to the twenty-first embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the first message is a physical random access channel (PRACH) message.

[0156] A twenty-sixth embodiment includes a method according to the twenty-first embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message is a random access response (RAR) message.

[0157] The twenty-seventh embodiment includes a method according to the eleventh embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method further includes: receiving a fourth message including contention resolution information from the gNB.

[0158] A twenty-eighth embodiment comprises a method according to embodiment 27 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the fourth message shares a channel occupancy time (COT) with a hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK).

[0159] A twenty-ninth embodiment comprises a method according to the twenty-first embodiment and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the second message comprises downlink control information (DCI) comprising a COT shared bit.

[0160] A thirtieth embodiment includes a method according to any one of embodiments 21 to 29 and / or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed by a user equipment (UE).

[0161] The thirty-first embodiment may be an apparatus adopted in a user equipment (UE), comprising: a processing circuit for configuring a random access process by sharing a channel occupancy time (COT), the processing circuit being configured to: generate a first message including a preamble of a random access channel (RACH); receive a second message indicating reception of the preamble and including a time adjustment command and a scheduling authorization via a physical downlink channel; generate a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling authorization of the second message; receive a fourth message including contention resolution information; and generate a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message.

[0162] The thirty-second embodiment may include the thirty-first embodiment, wherein the COT includes a COT initiated by a next generation Node B (gNB) or a COT initiated by a UE, wherein the fourth message shares the COT with the HARQ feedback.

[0163] A thirty-third embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-second embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process a COT sharing indication from downlink control information (DCI).

[0164] A thirty-fourth embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-third embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate the third message in a COT that includes the same COT as the second message.

[0165] The thirty-fifth embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-fourth embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to configure the third message to share the COT with the second message based on a gap of sixteen microseconds or twenty-five microseconds between the third message and the second message.

[0166] The thirty-sixth embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-fifth embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to configure the third message to share the COT with the fourth message to enable the third message to be transmitted on the COT of the fourth message.

[0167] The thirty-seventh embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-sixth embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate a COT sharing indication in uplink control information (UCI), or to receive an indication of COT sharing via radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling.

[0168] A thirty-eighth embodiment may include any one or more of the thirty-first to thirty-seventh embodiments, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate a listen-before-talk (LBT) indication in the UCI to indicate which LBT is to be performed.

[0169] The thirty-ninth embodiment may be a tangible computer-readable storage device storing executable instructions, which in response to execution cause one or more processors of a network device including an access point or a next-generation node B (gNB) to perform operations, the operations including: configuring a random access process by sharing a channel occupancy time (COT), including: receiving a first message including a preamble of a random access channel (RACH), and the random access process can be configured by sharing a channel occupancy time (COT); generating a second message indicating reception of the preamble and including a time adjustment command and a scheduling grant for configuring a third message via a physical downlink channel; receiving a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message; generating a fourth message to transition the user equipment to a connected state; and receiving hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message.

[0170] A fortieth embodiment may include the ninth embodiment, wherein the first message includes a physical random access channel (PRACH) message, the second message includes a random access response (RAR) message, the third message includes a device identity, and the fourth message includes contention resolution information.

[0171] The forty-first embodiment may include the fortieth embodiment, and the operation also includes: configuring a scheduling grant in the second message, the scheduling grant enabling the third message to be configured in the same COT as the COT of at least one of the following items: the second message, the third message, the fourth message, or the HARQ feedback.

[0172] The forty-second embodiment may include any one or more of the fortieth to forty-first embodiments, and the operation further includes: generating downlink control information (DCI) including a COT sharing bit in a second message to indicate the acquired COT channel for COT sharing between the gNB and one or more user equipments (UEs).

[0173] The forty-third embodiment may include any one or more of the fortieth to forty-second embodiments, and the operation further includes: generating a fourth message to share the COT with the HARQ feedback.

[0174] The forty-fourth embodiment may include any one or more of the fortieth to forty-fourth embodiments, and the operation also includes: receiving a COT sharing bit in uplink control information (UCI) or generating a COT sharing bit in DCI to indicate that COT sharing is enabled for the random access process.

[0175] The forty-fifth embodiment may include any one or more of the fortieth to forty-fifth embodiments, and the operation also includes: in response to COT sharing being enabled, generating additional information to configure a gap between at least one of the following items: the second message and the third message, or the fourth message and HARQ feedback, wherein the gap includes less than sixteen microseconds or equal to sixteen microseconds.

[0176] The forty-sixth embodiment may include any one or more of the fortieth to forty-fifth embodiments, and the operation also includes: in response to COT sharing being enabled, using a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) or a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) to configure a second message as a RAR message to indicate CAT1, CAT2 or CAT4 listen-before-talk (LBT) before a third message, or in response to COT sharing being enabled, configuring the duration from the end of the second message to the start of the third message to include at least 100 microseconds to enable a suspended COT.

[0177] The forty-seventh embodiment may be a tangible computer-readable storage device storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more processors of a user equipment (UE) to perform operations, the operations comprising: generating a first message including a preamble of a random access channel (RACH); receiving a second message indicating reception of the preamble and including a scheduling grant via a physical downlink channel; generating a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message; receiving a fourth message including contention resolution information; and generating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message; wherein at least two of the following items share a channel occupancy time (COT) in the random access process: the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message, or the HARQ feedback.

[0178] The forty-eighth embodiment may include the forty-seventh embodiment, wherein the COT includes a next generation Node B (gNB) initiated COT or a UE initiated COT, and in response to the COT including a gNB initiated COT, the operation also includes generating an UL transmission within the COT including CAT1 listen-before-talk (LBT) or CAT2 LBT based on the duration of the gap between the downlink (DL) transmission and the uplink (UL) transmission.

[0179] The forty-ninth embodiment may include any one or more of the forty-seventh to forty-eighth embodiments, and the operation further includes: sharing the COT with the third message and the second message, or sharing the COT with the fourth message and the HARQ feedback corresponding to the fourth message.

[0180] The fiftieth embodiment may include any one or more of the forty-seventh to forty-ninth embodiments, and the operation also includes: generating a COT sharing bit in uplink control information (UCI) or processing the COT sharing bit in DCI to indicate that COT sharing is enabled for a random access process in an unlicensed spectrum; and in response to COT sharing being enabled, receiving additional information configuring a gap between at least one of: a second message and a third message, or a fourth message and HARQ feedback.

[0181] The fifty-first embodiment may include any one or more of the forty-seventh to fiftieth embodiments, and the operation further includes: in response to COT sharing being enabled, configuring the third message according to a CAT1, CAT2 or CAT 4 LBT preceding the third message based on a listen-before-talk (LBT) indication in a random access response (RAR) message as the second message, and configuring the duration from the end of the second message to the start of the third message to enable the suspended COT.

[0182] In addition, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as methods, devices or articles using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. As used herein, the term "article" is intended to cover a computer program accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, a computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, a magnetic storage device (e.g., a hard disk, a floppy disk, a magnetic strip), an optical disk (e.g., a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), etc.), a smart card, and a flash memory device (e.g., an EPROM, a card, a stick, a key drive, etc.). In addition, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing and / or carrying instructions and / or data. In addition, a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having one or more instructions or codes that are operable to cause a computer to perform the functions described herein.

[0183] Communication media embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information delivery or transmission medium. The term "modulated data signal" or signal refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in a manner that encodes information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as a wired network or direct wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media.

[0184] An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integrated with the processor. In addition, in some aspects, the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components. In addition, in some aspects, the process and / or action of the method or algorithm may reside on a machine-readable medium and / or a computer-readable medium as one or any combination or set of codes and / or instructions, and may be incorporated into a computer program product.

[0185] In this regard, although the subject matter disclosed in the present invention has been described in conjunction with various embodiments and corresponding drawings, it should be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments to perform the same, similar, alternative or alternative functions of the disclosed subject matter without departing from the described embodiments. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but should be interpreted according to the breadth and scope of the following claims.

[0186] In particular, with respect to the various functions performed by the above-mentioned components (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), unless otherwise specified, the terms used to describe such components (including references to "means") are intended to correspond to any component or structure that performs the specified function of the component (e.g., functionally equivalent), even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure that performs the function in the exemplary implementation of the present disclosure shown herein. In addition, although specific features have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, for any given or specific application, such features may be combined with one or more other features of other implementations, which may be desirable and advantageous.

Claims

1. An apparatus used in a user equipment UE, comprising a processing circuit, wherein the processing circuit configures a random access process by sharing a channel occupancy time COT, and the processing circuit is configured to: generating and causing transmission of a first message, wherein the first message comprises a preamble of a random access channel RACH; receiving a second message from a base station, the second message indicating receipt of the preamble and the second message comprising a timing adjustment command and a scheduling grant via a physical downlink channel; generating and causing transmission of a third message based on the resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message, wherein the third message comprises an LBT indication indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the base station is to perform, and wherein the LBT indication comprises one bit of uplink control information (UCI); receiving a fourth message from the base station, the fourth message comprising contention resolution information; and A hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is generated based on the fourth message.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LBT indication comprises two bits of UCI.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a channel access priority class (CAPC) is indicated by the third message.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the one bit in the UCI indicating the LBT is a channel occupancy time (COT) shared bit.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to configure the third message to share the COT with the second message based on a gap between the third message and the second message, wherein the gap is sixteen microseconds or twenty-five microseconds.

7. A method for a base station, comprising: The random access process is configured by sharing the channel occupation time COT, including: receiving a first message from a user equipment UE, wherein the first message includes a preamble code of a random access channel RACH to configure a random access procedure; generating and transmitting a second message indicating receipt of the preamble and comprising a timing adjustment command and a scheduling grant for configuring a third message via a physical downlink channel; receiving the third message from the UE based on the resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message, wherein the third message includes an LBT indication indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the base station is to perform, and wherein the third message includes a UCI, the UCI including two bits, the two bits including the LBT indication; generating and transmitting a fourth message to transition the user equipment to a connected state; and HARQ feedback is received from the UE based on the fourth message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a channel access priority class (CAPC) is indicated by the third message.

10. A method for user equipment UE, comprising: Generate a first message, wherein the first message includes a preamble code of a random access channel RACH; receiving a second message indicating receipt of the preamble and comprising a scheduling grant via a physical downlink channel; generating a third message based on resources indicated by the scheduling grant of the second message; receiving a fourth message, the fourth message comprising contention resolution information; and generating a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback based on the fourth message; At least two of the following items share the channel occupancy time COT during the random access process: the first message, the second message, the third message, the fourth message or the HARQ feedback, wherein the HARQ feedback is transmitted within 16 microseconds of the fourth message, and wherein the third message includes an LBT indication indicating which listen-before-talk LBT type the base station is to perform.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the LBT indication comprises two bits of uplink control information (UCI).

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the LBT indication comprises one bit of uplink control information (UCI).

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the third message comprises a channel occupancy time (COT) shared bit.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first bit of the LBT indication is a channel occupancy time (COT) shared bit.

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