Method in integrated access and backhaul system

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods, systems, apparatus, and computer programs for determining a starting symbol of available soft resources of a New Radio (NR) Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node in an IAB system. In one aspect, a method includes determining, by a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node, a configuration of available soft resources for a sublink of the IAB node based on a configuration signal received from a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor. The method also includes determining a starting symbol of available soft resources based on the configuration of available soft resources. The method also includes using available soft resources for one or more sublink transmissions starting from the starting symbol.

Description

[0001] Priority claim

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 853,475, filed on May 28, 2019, entitled “SOFT RESOURCE SIGNALING IN RELAY NETWORK,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] User Equipment (UE) can transmit data wirelessly using a wireless communication network. To transmit data wirelessly, the UE connects to a node of a Radio Access Network (RAN) and synchronizes with the network. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present disclosure relates to a method, system, apparatus, computer program, or a combination thereof for determining a starting symbol of available soft resources of a New Radio (NR) Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node in an IAB system.

[0005] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes determining, by a distributed unit (DU) of an IAB node, a configuration of available soft resources for a sub-link of the IAB node based on a configuration signal received from a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor; determining a starting symbol of the available soft resources based on the configuration of the available soft resources; and using the available soft resources for one or more sub-link transmissions starting from the starting symbol.

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

[0007] In some implementations, the configuration of available soft resources is applied relative to the slot timing of the DU.

[0008] In some implementations, if the downlink timing and uplink timing of a DU are configured differently, the configuration of available soft resources is indicated by a configuration signal on a symbol level per transmission direction.

[0009] In some implementations, the start symbol is based on at least one of: the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link, the resource type or transmission direction of the soft resources in the child link, the downlink propagation delay (T D ), the uplink timing advance of the parent link (T A ), or the downlink / uplink timing difference at the DU (T D / U ).

[0010] In some specific implementations, when the IAB node receives a transmission from the parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is downlink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to the parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is uplink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to the child node, the transmission direction of the child link is downlink, and when the IAB node receives a transmission from the child node, the transmission direction of the child link is uplink.

[0011] In some specific implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link and the available soft resources is downlink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

[0012] In some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is greater than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ), the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0013] In some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is less than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ), the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

[0014] In some specific implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is downlink, the available soft resources overlap with the uplink symbols of the parent link, the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0015] In some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A) is less than the symbol duration, the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0016] In some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A ) is greater than the symbol duration, the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n.

[0017] In some implementations, the CU receives information indicating protection symbols of the DU via an F1-AP interface message.

[0018] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes determining a parameter indicating a number of guard symbols between a last used symbol of a parent link of an IAB node and a first available symbol in a child link of the IAB node; and transmitting the parameter to a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor.

[0019] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by the instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.These and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0020] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a method includes determining, by a distributed unit (DU) whose IAB donor is an IAB node, a parameter indicating the number of guard symbols between a last used symbol and a first available symbol; and determining configuration of available resources based on the number of guard symbols.

[0021] Other versions include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by the instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.These and other versions may optionally include one or more of the following features.

[0022] In some implementations, the process further involves transmitting a configuration signal to the DU to indicate the configuration of available resources.

[0023] In some implementations, the process further involves receiving a parameter from the DU indicating the number of guard symbols.

[0024] In some implementations, the process further involves determining a starting symbol of the available soft resources; and including the starting symbol of the available soft resources in the configuration of the available resources. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1An exemplary time domain resource configuration for an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0026] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C A flowchart illustrating an exemplary process according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0027] Figure 3 An exemplary IAB architecture according to some implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0028] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system of networks according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0029] Figure 5 An exemplary architecture of a system including a first CN according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0030] Figure 6 The architecture of a system including a second CN according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0031] Figure 7 Examples of infrastructure equipment according to some implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0032] Figure 8 An example of a platform according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0033] Fig. 9 Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure are shown.

[0034] Fig.10 A block diagram of components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods described herein according to some specific implementations of the present disclosure is shown.

[0035] Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The present disclosure relates to an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, which is a feature that enables multi-hop routing in a cellular network (e.g., as described in 3GPP Release 16). Generally speaking, the IAB network includes an IAB donor (e.g., a base station) that serves multiple IAB nodes that operate as relays. In addition, the IAB network implements a central unit-distributed unit (CU-DU) split. In this architecture, the IAB node terminates the DU and the IAB donor terminates the CU. In addition, each IAB node may include a mobile terminal (MT) function. The IAB node may communicate with a parent IAB node and / or an IAB donor via the MT (e.g., using a parent link between the MT and the parent node / IAB donor). And the IAB node may communicate with a user equipment (UE) and / or an MT of a child IAB node via the DU (e.g., using a child link between the DU and the UE or child IAB node). The signaling between the MT of the IAB node and the CU of the IAB donor may use a radio resource control (RRC) protocol. Furthermore, the signaling between the DU of the IAB node and the CU of the IAB donor can use the F1-AP protocol. Figure 3 This is explained in more detail in (discussed below).

[0037] In an IAB network, time domain resource allocation has the following properties. Generally speaking, time domain resources (e.g., symbols within a time slot) can be configured as downlink ("DL" or "D") resources, uplink ("UL" or "U") resources, or flexible (F) resources. For example, time domain resources may include a time division duplex (TDD) structure of a time slot or a group of time slots in a radio frame. The configuration of a particular time domain resource may specify a potential transmission direction (e.g., DL, UL, or F) for the resource. From the perspective of the MT, the parent link may use D / U / F time domain resources, and from the perspective of the DU, the sublink may use D / U / F time domain resources. In addition, the D / U / F time domain resources of the DU (e.g., for the sublink) may be configured as hard (H), soft (S), or unavailable (NA). These configurations indicate the resource availability of the configured D / U / F resources as unconditionally available (H), conditionally available (S), or unavailable (NA).

[0038] In addition, according to 3GPP, the parent IAB node has the ability to know the semi-static DU resource configuration of its child IAB node. If the complete DU resource configuration information of the child node is not required, only the necessary configuration information is signaled to the parent IAB node. Therefore, the IAB CU (e.g., of the IAB donor) can configure the semi-static resource configuration of the parent IAB DU in a centralized manner. Specifically, the resource configuration may include DU D / U / F configuration and DU H / S / NA configuration. In some examples, the parent IAB node can use soft resources to make resources available to the child node, regardless of the result of any implicit determination of availability by the child node. Therefore, the parent IAB node does not need to know the result of the implicit determination of the availability of DU soft resources at the child node.

[0039] In some examples, the DU H / S / NA configuration (also known as "resource availability") is explicitly indicated by resource type (D / U / F) in each time slot of the time domain resources. However, in such examples, time misalignment of DU resources and MT resources may occur. To avoid this potential misalignment (e.g., when determining the validity of H / S / NA at the DU), three approaches are considered. In the first approach, H / S / NA is applied with respect to the DU resource configuration time slot timing without considering the MT resource configuration or timing. In the second approach, H / S / NA is applied with respect to the MT resource configuration time slot timing. In the third approach, H is applied with respect to the DU resource configuration time slot timing, S is implicitly determined by the DU based on whether the corresponding MT configuration indicates that the MT resource is F (DU-S), and the remaining resources are assumed to be NA at the sub-DU.

[0040] Disclosed herein are methods and systems for applying H / S / NA with respect to DU resource configuration time slot timing (i.e., first methods). In addition, the methods and systems define restrictions on the use of semi-static configurations (e.g., guard symbols) based on deployment scenarios or DL / UL switching times within an IAB node. In addition, the methods and systems enable a CU of an IAB donor to obtain information about guard symbols for a given DU configuration (if necessary). These methods and systems enable flexible resource availability configuration to coordinate time resources between MTs and DUs of an IAB node, which is an improvement over existing and conventional solutions.

[0041] In one embodiment, resource availability is explicitly configured by resource type based on the transmission direction in each time slot relative to the DU time slot timing. Therefore, the granularity of the resource availability configuration is either at the resource type level when multiple resource types are configured within the time slot, or at the time slot level. In order to avoid potential time misalignment of the configured DU resources and MT resources, when signaling available soft resources to the DU, if the DU DL and UL timing are configured differently, the CU may indicate the available resources by transmission direction at the symbol level, thereby enabling the switching time of the sub-link. In addition, in order to maximize the soft resource allocation, the CU may indicate the starting symbol of the available soft resources. In one example, the starting symbol is based on at least one of the following: the transmission direction and overlapping soft resources of the last used symbol in the parent link, downlink propagation delay, uplink timing advance, or DU internal DL / UL timing difference.

[0042] In some examples, the CU may also determine the starting symbol based on the number of soft resource protection symbols. Therefore, another embodiment involves the DU signaling information indicating the number of soft resource protection symbols to the CU. In this embodiment, the CU may receive information for a given DU via an F1-AP interface management signaling message. In one example, the information element (IE) transmitted in SIB1 is enhanced to include a parameter for signaling the number of protection symbols.

[0043] Determine and signal the maximum available soft resource for the DU

[0044] In one embodiment, resource availability (e.g., H / S / NA) is explicitly configured (e.g., by the CU) by resource type based on the transmission direction (e.g., D / U / F) in each slot relative to the DU slot timing. Thus, the granularity of the resource availability configuration is either at the slot level or, in the case where multiple resource types are configured within a slot, at the resource type level. To avoid potential time misalignment of the configured DU resources and MT resources, when signaling available soft resources to the DU, the available resources are indicated at the symbol level by transmission direction. This enables switching times of sub-links if the DU DL / UL timing is configured differently. However, when signaling resource availability in this way, there may be additional restrictions on the use of semi-static configurations (e.g., guard symbols) based on the deployment scenario or DL / UL switching times within the IAB node. These additional restrictions may be used Figure 1 Example.

[0045] Figure 1An exemplary time domain resource configuration 100 of an IAB node according to some specific implementations is shown. In this example, it is assumed that the IAB node has a parent link established with a parent IAB node (or IAB donor) and a child link established with a child IAB node. The time domain resource configuration 100 includes two groups of time domain resources 110, 120 of the IAB node. The first group 110 includes resources located in symbol indexes n, n+1, and n+2. The second group 120, which appears later in time than the first group, includes resources located in symbol indexes k, k+1, and k+2. These resources can be used by the MT for the parent link or by the DU for the child link. In Figure 1 In FIG. 1 , two exemplary sub-link cases are shown. In case 1, the sub-link is configured for DL ​​transmission, and in case 2, the sub-link is configured for UL transmission.

[0046] Starting from the first set of resources 110, a DL transmission is scheduled at symbol n of the parent link. Therefore, the DL RX of the MT of the IAB node can receive a transmission from the DL TX of the parent DU at symbol n. Due to propagation delay, the MT is delayed by time T D Then, DL symbol n is received. Figure 1 As shown in , because symbol n is used by the parent link, the symbol is designated as a used resource in the parent link. Figure 1 As shown, the parent link does not use symbols located in symbol indexes n+1 and n+2. Therefore, the sub-link resources corresponding to the unused parent link resources are available soft resources that the DU can use to schedule sub-link communication traffic. However, depending on several factors, the available resources may have different offsets relative to the last used symbol in the parent link.

[0047] For example, in case 1 where the sublink is configured for DL ​​transmission, the available soft DL resource starts from symbol n+2. This is because symbol n of the parent link overlaps with symbols n and n+1 in the sublink. Therefore, since symbols n and n+1 cannot be used by DU, the symbol is designated as a "soft NA" resource. On the other hand, since symbol n+2 can be used by DU, the symbol is designated as a "soft available" resource. For another example, in case 2 where the sublink is configured for UL transmission, the first available soft UL resource is found in symbol index n+1 of the sublink. In this example, due to the DL / UL switching time T D / U , symbol n of the parent link overlaps only with symbol n of the child link. Therefore, in Case 2, only symbol n is designated as "soft NA", and symbols n+1 and n+2 are designated as "soft available".

[0048] Turning to the second set of resources 120, a UL transmission is scheduled at symbol k of the parent link. Thus, the UL RX of the parent DU can receive a transmission from the UL TX of the MT. Figure 1As shown, the resources of the parent link may include resources at symbol indexes k, k+1, and k+2. Due to the required timing advance, the MT is time-advanced T A Transmit UL symbol k. Here, the subsequent symbols k+1 and k+2 are not used by the parent link, so the corresponding resources can be used as soft resources for DU scheduling sub-link communication services. Figure 1 As shown, in both Case 1 and Case 2, only symbol k of the sublink overlaps with symbol k of the parent link. Therefore, only symbol k of the sublink is designated as "soft NA", and symbols k+1 and k+2 are designated as "soft available".

[0049] Figure 1 These examples show that the first available soft symbol or starting available soft symbol of a DU may vary depending on the DU configuration (among other factors). In one embodiment, in order to maximize the utilization of soft resources, the first starting available soft symbol may be determined and signaled by the CU. Specifically, the CU may generate a configuration signal indicating the configuration of available resources, possibly by transmission direction at the symbol level. The configuration signal may also indicate the first available soft resource of the DU.

[0050] In one embodiment, the first available soft resource may be determined based on one or more factors. Figure 1 As shown, when the CU explicitly indicates the available soft resources to the DU of the IAB node (e.g., by transmission direction at the symbol level), the first available soft symbol or the starting available soft symbol depends on one or more of the following factors: (i) the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link of the IAB node; (ii) the resource type or transmission direction of the soft resources in the child link of the IAB node; (iii) the DL propagation delay T of the parent link. D ; (iv) UL timing advance T of the parent link A ; or (v) DL / UL timing difference T at DU D / U (eg, DL / UL switching time). Based on one or more of these factors, the following options are derived and applied to corresponding scenarios of DU / MT resource configuration.

[0051] In the first scenario, the transmission direction of the parent link and the sublink is downlink, and one or more DL soft resources of the sublink overlap with one or more DL resources of the parent link. In this scenario, if the last used DL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, then the first available DL soft symbol in the sublink is determined to start from symbol index n+2. This scenario corresponds to Figure 1 Case 1 in the first set of resources 110.

[0052] In the second scenario, the transmission direction of the parent link is downlink, and the transmission direction of the sublink is uplink. In addition, one or more UL soft resources of the sublink overlap with one or more DL resources of the parent link, and the DU DL / UL timing difference T D / U Greater than DL propagation delay T D In this scenario, if the last used DL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, then the first available UL soft symbol in the child link is determined to start from symbol index n+1. This scenario corresponds to Figure 1 Case 2 in the first set of resources 110.

[0053] In the third scenario, the transmission direction of the parent link is downlink, and the transmission direction of the sublink is uplink. In addition, one or more UL soft resources of the sublink overlap with one or more DL resources of the parent link, and the DU DL / UL timing difference T D / U Less than DL propagation delay T D In this scenario, if the last used DL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, then the first available UL soft symbol in the child link is determined to start from symbol index n+2.

[0054] In the fourth scenario, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink, and the transmission direction of the sublink is downlink. In addition, one or more DL soft resources of the sublink overlap with one or more UL resources of the parent link. In this scenario, if the last used UL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, it is determined that the first available DL soft symbol in the sublink starts from symbol index n+1. This scenario corresponds to Figure 1 Case 1 in the second set of resources 120.

[0055] In the fifth scenario, the transmission direction of the parent link and the sublink is uplink. In addition, one or more UL soft resources of the sublink overlap with one or more UL resources of the parent link, and the DU DL / UL timing difference T D / U and the UL timing advance T of the parent link A The sum of is less than the symbol duration. In this scenario, if the last used UL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, then the first available UL soft symbol in the child link is determined to start from symbol index n+1. This scenario corresponds to Figure 1 Case 2 in the second set of resources 120.

[0056] In the sixth scenario, the transmission direction of the parent link and the child link is uplink. In addition, the DU DL / UL timing difference T D / U and the UL timing advance T of the parent link AThe sum of is greater than the symbol duration. In this scenario, if the last used UL symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, then the first available UL soft symbol in the child link starts from symbol index n.

[0057] F1-AP based DU signaling for soft resource protection symbols

[0058] In one embodiment, in order for the CU to correctly signal the correct start of the soft available resources, the CU may determine the number of guard symbols between the last used symbol in the parent link of the DU and the first available soft resource for the child link. In one example, the DU may determine the number of guard symbols and may signal an indication of the number of guard symbols to the CU.

[0059] In one embodiment, the DU uses an F1-AP-based method for signaling an indication of the number of protection symbols. In this method, the CU may receive information about the required protection symbols for a given DU via an F1-AP interface management signaling message. In one example, the message is GNB-DU-CONFIGURATION-UPDATE. In this example, information elements such as TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon transmitted in SIB1 are enhanced to include parameters for signaling the number of protection symbols. In the example, the parameters may correspond to the six scenarios described above. For the first and fourth scenarios, the number of symbol index offsets between the first available DL soft symbol and the last used DL or UL symbol in the parent link is fixed to 2 and 1, respectively. Therefore, in one example, if the transmission direction of the parent link is downlink, the DU does not signal the number of symbol index offsets because they are fixed. However, the DU may signal the number of symbol offsets between the first available UL soft symbol and the last used DL / UL symbol in the parent link (e.g., the second, third, fifth, and sixth scenarios described above).

[0060] In one example, the information element TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon may include one or both of the following two fields: symbOffsetFromDLUsedSymbToULSoftSymb and symbOffsetFromULUsedSymbToULSoftSymb. The first field defines the symbol offset between the last used DL symbol in the parent link and the first available UL soft symbol. Depending on whether the second scenario or the third scenario described above occurs, this parameter is set to 1 or 2. For example, the second scenario may be signaled as 1 and the third scenario may be signaled as 2, or vice versa. The second field defines the symbol offset between the last used UL symbol in the parent link and the first available UL soft symbol. Depending on whether the fifth scenario or the sixth scenario described above occurs, this parameter should be set to 0 or 1. For example, the fifth scenario may be signaled as 0 and the sixth scenario may be signaled as 1, or vice versa.

[0061] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Flowcharts of exemplary processes 200, 220, and 240 according to some specific implementations are shown. For clarity of presentation, the following description generally describes processes in the context of other figures in this specification. For example, the process may be performed by an IAB node or an entity thereof (e.g., Figure 3 However, it should be understood that these processes can be performed by any suitable system, environment, software and hardware or a combination of systems, environments, software and hardware as appropriate. In some specific implementations, the various steps of the process can be run in parallel, in combination, in a loop or in any order.

[0062] Figure 2A 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary process 200 for determining a starting symbol of available soft resources of an IAB node of an IAB system, wherein the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU) and a mobile terminal (MT), and wherein the IAB node has a parent link and a sub-link. At step 202, the process involves determining, by the distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node, a configuration of available soft resources for a sub-link of the IAB node based on a configuration signal received from a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor. At step 204, the process involves determining a starting symbol of available soft resources based on the configuration of available soft resources. At step 206, the process involves using the available soft resources for one or more sub-link transmissions starting from the starting symbol.

[0063] In some implementations, the configuration of available soft resources is applied relative to the slot timing of the DU.

[0064] In some implementations, if the downlink timing and uplink timing of a DU are configured differently, the configuration of available soft resources is indicated by a configuration signal on a symbol level per transmission direction.

[0065] In some implementations, the start symbol is based on at least one of: the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link, the resource type or transmission direction of the soft resources in the child link, the downlink propagation delay (T D ), the uplink timing advance of the parent link (T A ), or the downlink / uplink timing difference at the DU (T D / U ).

[0066] In some specific implementations, when the IAB node receives a transmission from the parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is downlink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to the parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is uplink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to the child node, the transmission direction of the child link is downlink, and when the IAB node receives a transmission from the child node, the transmission direction of the child link is uplink.

[0067] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol and the available soft resources in the parent link is downlink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2. Therefore, in some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol and the available soft resources in the parent link is downlink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

[0068] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is greater than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ), determine that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determine that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1. Therefore, in some specific implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U) is greater than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ), the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0069] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is less than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ); determine that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determine that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2. Therefore, in some specific implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is less than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ), the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

[0070] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is downlink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the uplink symbol of the parent link; determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1. Therefore, in some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink, the transmission direction of the available soft resources is downlink, the available soft resources overlap with the uplink symbol of the parent link, the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0071] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A) is less than the symbol duration; determining the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determining the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1. Therefore, in some implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol and the available soft resources in the parent link is uplink, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A ) is less than the symbol duration, the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

[0072] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A ) is greater than the symbol duration; determining that the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; and responsively determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resource is at symbol index n. Therefore, in some specific implementations, the transmission direction of the last used symbol and the available soft resource in the parent link is uplink, and the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A ) is greater than the symbol duration, the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n.

[0073] In some implementations, the CU receives information indicating protection symbols of the DU via an F1-AP interface message.

[0074] Figure 2B 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary process 220 for determining a number of guard symbols in a child link of an IAB node, wherein the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU) and a mobile terminal (MT), and wherein the IAB node also has a parent link. At step 222, the process involves determining a parameter indicating a number of guard symbols between a last used symbol of the parent link of the IAB node and a first available symbol in the child link of the IAB node. At step 224, the process involves transmitting the parameter to a central unit (CU) of an IAB donor.

[0075] In some implementations, the number of guard symbols is based on at least one of: the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link, the resource type or transmission direction of the soft resources in the child link, the downlink propagation delay (T D ), the uplink timing advance of the parent link (TA ), or the downlink / uplink timing difference at the DU (T D / U ).

[0076] In some specific implementations, the process also involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link and the available soft resources is downlink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2; and responsively determining that the number of protection symbols is 2.

[0077] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is greater than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ); determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1; and responsively determining that the number of protection symbols is 1.

[0078] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) is less than the downlink propagation delay of the parent link (T D ); determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2; and responsively determining that the number of protection symbols is 2.

[0079] In some specific implementations, the process also involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink; determining that the transmission direction of the available soft resources is downlink; determining that the available soft resources overlap with the uplink symbol of the parent link; determining that the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1; and responsively determining that the number of protection symbols is 1.

[0080] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A) is less than the symbol duration; determining that the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1; and responsively determining the number of protection symbols to be 2.

[0081] In some implementations, the process further involves: determining that the transmission direction of the last used symbol and available soft resources in the parent link is uplink; determining the downlink / uplink timing difference (T D / U ) and the uplink timing advance (T A ) is greater than the symbol duration; determining that the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n; determining that the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n; and responsively determining that the number of protection symbols is 0.

[0082] Figure 2C 2 is a flow chart of an exemplary process 240 for determining a configuration of available resources for a child link of an IAB node, wherein the IAB node includes a distributed unit (DU) and a mobile terminal (MT), and wherein the IAB node also has a parent link. At step 242, the process determines, by the IAB donor being a distributed unit (DU) of the IAB node, a parameter indicating the number of guard symbols between a last used symbol and a first available symbol. At step 244, the process involves determining a configuration of available resources based on the number of guard symbols.

[0083] In some implementations, the process further involves transmitting a configuration signal to the DU to indicate the configuration of available resources.

[0084] In some implementations, the process further involves receiving a parameter from the DU indicating the number of guard symbols.

[0085] In some implementations, the process further involves determining a starting symbol of the available soft resources; and including the starting symbol of the available soft resources in the configuration of the available resources.

[0086] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C The exemplary processes shown may be modified or reconfigured to include additional, fewer, or different steps (not shown in the figures), which may be performed in the order shown or in a different order.

[0087] Figure 3 An exemplary integrated access and backhaul (IAB) architecture according to various embodiments is shown. Specifically, Figure 3 The IAB architecture in standalone (SA) mode is shown. Figure 3 The IAB architecture can use the same infrastructure and spectrum resources for both access communications and backhaul communications. Figure 3A reference diagram showing an IAB in standalone mode includes one IAB donor 304 (also referred to as an "anchor node", etc.) and multiple IAB nodes such as IAB nodes 306a, 306b (also referred to as IAB relay nodes (RNs), relay transmission / reception points (rTRPs), etc.). The IAB donor 304 is treated as a single logical node that includes a set of functions such as gNB-DU 308a, gNB-CU-CP 308b, gNB-CU-UP 308c, and possibly other functions. In some specific implementations, the IAB donor 304 may be split according to the aforementioned functions, which may be all collocated or non-collocated as allowed by the 3GPP NG-RAN architecture. Some functions currently associated with the IAB donor 304 may be moved outside the IAB donor.

[0088] exist Figure 3 In each UE (e.g., discussed below), Figure 4 , Figure 5 and Figure 6 UE 310, UE 401, 501 and 601 in the IAB deployment) access the IAB node. The IAB node is a network node that has (at least part of) the functionality of a UE and a gNB in ​​an IAB deployment. Figure 3 As shown, some IAB nodes access other IAB nodes, and some IAB nodes access IAB donors. IAB donors are network nodes in an IAB deployment that terminate NG interfaces via wired connections. IAB donors are nodes that provide access to core network 302 (e.g., Figure 3 5GC and Figure 6 The RAN node is a UE interface of the CN 620 in the UE and provides wireless backhaul functions to the IAB node. The IAB node is a relay node and / or a RAN node that supports wireless access and wireless backhaul access communication services to the UE (eg, via the wireless access link 314).

[0089] IAB strives to reuse existing functions and interfaces defined for access. Specifically, the mobile terminal (MT), gNB-DU, gNB-CU, UPF, AMF and SMF and the corresponding interfaces NR Uu (between MT and gNB), F1, NG, X2 and N4 are used as the baseline of the IAB architecture. Modifications or enhancements to these functions and interfaces to support IAB will be explained in the context of the architecture discussion. Mobile terminal (MT) functions such as 320 have been defined as components of mobile equipment. In the context of IAB, MT is referred to as a function residing on an IAB node that terminates the radio interface layer of the backhaul Uu interface to the IAB donor or other IAB nodes. Additional functions such as multi-hop forwarding are included in the architecture.

[0090] The IAB node can operate in SA or NSA mode. When operating in NSA, the IAB node uses only NR links for backhaul. UEs connected to the IAB node (e.g. Figure 4 UEs 401 operating in NSA mode may select a different operating mode than the IAB node. A UE may also connect to a core network of a different type than the IAB node to which it is connected. In this case, Decor or slices may be used for CN selection. IAB nodes operating in NSA mode may connect to the same or different eNBs. UEs also operating in NSA mode may connect to the same or different RAN nodes (e.g., Figure 4 RAN node 411).

[0091] Examples of operation in SA and NSA modes include: (1) UE and IAB node operate in SA for NGC; (2) UE operates in NSA with EPC, and IAB node operates in SA with NGC; and (3) UE and IAB node operate in NSA with EPC. For the third example, UE and IAB node operate in NSA with EPC (or 5GC for NR specific implementation), and IAB node can use LTE branch (or NR branch for NR specific implementation) for IAB node initial access and configuration, topology management, routing selection and resource partitioning.

[0092] In an implementation scheme that supports multi-hop and topology adaptation, the IAB node includes a topology management mechanism and a routing selection and optimization (RSO) mechanism. The topology management mechanism includes a protocol stack, an interface between rTRPs or IAB nodes, and control and user plane programs for identifying one or more hops in the IAB network, forwarding communication services via one or more wireless backhaul links (e.g., wireless backhaul 312) in the IAB network, processing QoS, etc. The RSO mechanism includes a mechanism for discovering and managing backhaul links of TRPs with integrated backhaul and access functions; a RAN-based mechanism for supporting dynamic routing selection (possibly without core network involvement) to adapt to short-term blocking and transmission of delay-sensitive traffic on the entire backhaul link; and a mechanism for evaluating different resource allocation / routing across multiple nodes for end-to-end RSO.

[0093] The operation of different links may be performed on the same frequency ("in-band") or on different frequencies ("out-of-band"). In-band backhaul includes scenarios where the access link and the backhaul link at least partially overlap in frequency, resulting in half-duplex or interference constraints, which may mean that the IAB node may not transmit and receive on both links simultaneously. In contrast, out-of-band scenarios may not have such constraints. In an embodiment, one or more of the IAB nodes include a mechanism for dynamically allocating resources between the backhaul link and the access link, the mechanism including a mechanism for efficiently multiplexing the access link and the backhaul link (for both the DL direction and the UL direction) in time, frequency, or space under a per-link half-duplex constraint on one or more backhaul link hops for both TDD and FDD operations; and cross-link interference (CLI) measurement, coordination, and suppression between rTRP and UE.

[0094] Architecture Groups and Types

[0095] There are five different types of IAB architectures divided into two architecture groups. Architecture Group 1 includes architectures 1a and 1b, which include CU / DU split architectures. Architecture 1a includes backhaul of F1-U using the adaptation layer or GTP-U combined with the adaptation layer, and hop-by-hop forwarding across intermediate nodes using the adaptation layer to operate with the NGC or using PDN connection layer routing to operate with the EPC. Architecture 1b includes backhaul of F1-U on the access node using GTP-U / UDP / IP, and hop-by-hop forwarding across intermediate nodes using the adaptation layer.

[0096] Architecture Group 2 includes Architectures 2a, 2b, and 2c. Architecture 2a includes backhaul of F1-U or NG-U on access nodes using GTP-U / UDP / IP, and hop-by-hop forwarding across intermediate nodes using PDU session layer routing. Architecture 2b includes backhaul of F1-U or NG-U on access nodes using GTP-U / UDP / IP, and hop-by-hop forwarding across intermediate nodes using GTP-U / UDP / IP nested tunnels. Architecture 2c includes backhaul of F1-U or NG-U on access nodes using GTP-U / UDP / IP, and hop-by-hop forwarding across intermediate nodes using GTP-U / UDP / IP / PDCP nested tunnels.

[0097] Architecture Group 1

[0098] Architecture 1a utilizes a CU / DU split architecture. In this architecture, each IAB node holds a DU (e.g., DU 322) and an MT (e.g., MT 320). Via the MT, the IAB node is connected to an upstream IAB node or an IAB donor. Via the DU, the IAB node establishes an RLC channel to the UE and to the MT of the downstream IAB node. For the MT, the RLC channel may refer to a modified RLC*. The IAB node may be connected to more than one upstream IAB node or IAB donor DU. The IAB node may contain multiple DUs, but each DU portion of the IAB node has an F1-C connection with only one IAB donor CU-CP.

[0099] The donor also maintains DUs to support UEs and MTs of downstream IAB nodes. The IAB donor maintains CUs for DUs of all IAB nodes as well as its own DUs. This is used to further study whether different CUs can serve DUs of IAB nodes. Each DU on the IAB node is connected to the CU in the IAB donor using a modified form of F1 called F1*. F1*-U runs on the RLC channel on the wireless backhaul between the MT on the serving IAB node and the DU on the donor. F1*-U transmission between the MT and DU on the serving IAB node and between the DU and CU on the donor is for further study. An adaptation layer is added that holds routing information to enable hop-by-hop forwarding. The adaptation layer replaces the IP functionality of the standard F1 stack. F1*-U can carry a GTP-U header for end-to-end association between CUs and DUs. In further enhancements, the information carried in the GTP-U header may be included in the adaptation layer. In addition, optimizations to the RLC may be considered, such as applying ARQ only to end-to-end connections as opposed to hop-by-hop. The F1*-U protocol stack of the architecture includes enhancements to RLC (referred to as RLC*). The MT of each IAB node further maintains a NAS connection to the NGC, e.g. for authentication of the IAB node, and maintains a PDU session via the NGC, e.g. to provide the IAB node with a connection to the OAM.

[0100] For NSA operation with EPC, the MT is dual connected to the network using EN-DC.The MT of the IAB node maintains a PDN connection with the EPC, for example to provide the IAB node with a connection to the OAM.

[0101] Architecture 1b also utilizes a CU / DU split architecture. In this architecture, the IAB donor maintains only one logical CU. An IAB node may be connected to more than one upstream IAB node or IAB donor DU. An IAB node may contain multiple DUs, but each DU portion of an IAB node has an F1-C connection to only one IAB donor CU-CP.

[0102] In this architecture, each IAB node and IAB donor maintains the same functions as in architecture 1a. In addition, as in architecture 1a, an RLC channel is established for each backhaul link, and an adaptation layer is inserted to achieve hop-by-hop forwarding of F1*.

[0103] In contrast to architecture 1a, the MT on each IAB node establishes a PDU session with the UPF residing on the donor. The MT's PDU session carries the F1* of the collocated DU. In this way, the PDU session provides a point-to-point link between the CU and the DU. On intermediate hops, the PDCP-PDU of F1* is forwarded via the adaptation layer in the same manner as described for architecture 1a.

[0104] For NSA operation with EPC, the MT is dual connected to the network using EN-DC. In this case, the MT of the IAB node maintains a PDN connection with the L-GW residing on the donor.

[0105] Adaptation layer: As mentioned above, the adaptation layer is inserted to enable hop-by-hop forwarding of F1*. In these embodiments, the UE establishes an RLC channel to the DU on the UE's access IAB node in accordance with 3GPP TS 38.300. Each of these RLC channels extends between the UE's access DU and the IAB donor via a potential modified form of F1-U called F1*-U. The information embedded in F1*-U is carried across the backhaul link through the RLC channel. The transmission of F1*-U through the wireless backhaul is enabled by the adaptation layer integrated with the RLC channel. Within the IAB donor (called fronthaul), the baseline will use a native F1-U stack (see Section 9 of 3GPP TR 38.874). The IAB donor DU is relayed between the F1-U on the fronthaul and the F1*-U on the wireless backhaul.

[0106] In architecture 1a, the information carried on the adaptation layer supports the following functions: identification of UE bearers for PDUs; routing across wireless backhaul topology; QoS enforcement by schedulers on DL and UL on wireless backhaul links; mapping of UE user plane PDUs to backhaul RLC channels; and other appropriate functions.

[0107] In architecture 1b, the information carried on the adaptation layer supports the following functions: routing across wireless backhaul topology; QoS enforcement by schedulers on both DL and UL over the wireless backhaul link; mapping of UE user plane PDUs to backhaul RLC channels; and other appropriate functions.

[0108] In the case where the IAB nodes are connected via multiple paths, different identifiers in the adaptation layer (e.g., UE bearer specific Id; UE specific Id; routing Id, IAB node or IAB donor address; QoS information, etc.) will be associated with different paths, thereby enabling adaptive layer routing on different paths. Different paths may be associated with different backhaul RLC channels.

[0109] The content carried in the adaptation layer header may include, for example, a UE bearer-specific Id; a UE-specific Id; a routing Id, an IAB node or an IAB donor address; QoS information; and / or other similar information. The IAB node uses the identifier carried via Adapt to ensure the required QoS processing and to decide which hop the packet should be sent to. The UE bearer-specific Id can be used by the IAB node and the IAB donor to identify the UE bearer of the PDU. The UE's access IAB node will then map the Adapt information (e.g., UE-specific ID, UE bearer-specific ID) to the corresponding C-RNTI and LCID. The IAB donor DU may also need to map the Adapt information to the F1-U GTP-U TEID used between the donor DU and the donor CU. The UE bearer-specific Id, UE-specific Id, routing Id, or IAB node / IAB donor address can be used (in combination or individually) to route the PDU across the wireless backhaul topology. The UE bearer specific Id, UE specific Id, UE's access node IAB ID or QoS information may be used (in combination or individually) on each hop to identify the QoS treatment of the PDU. The QoS treatment of the PDU may also be based on the LCID.

[0110] In some embodiments, the adaptation layer may include one or more sublayers, and therefore, the adaptation header may have different structures in different embodiments. For example, the GTP-U header may be part of the adaptation layer. It is also possible that the GTP-U header is carried on top of the adaptation layer to carry the end-to-end association between the IAB node DU and the CU. Alternatively, the IP header may be part of the adaptation layer or carried on top of the adaptation layer. In one example, the IAB donor DU maintains an IP routing function to extend the IP routing plane of the fronthaul to the IP layer carried by adapt on the wireless backhaul. This allows the native F1-U to be established e2e (e.g., between the IAB node DU and the IAB donor CU-UP). This scenario means that each IAB node maintains an IP address that can be routed from the fronthaul via the IAB donor DU. The IP address of the IAB node can also be used for routing on the wireless backhaul. It should be noted that the IP layer on top of Adapt does not represent a PDU session. Therefore, the first hop router of the MT on the IP layer does not have to maintain the UPF.

[0111] Architecture Group 2

[0112] In architecture 2a, the UE and IAB node use SA mode for NGC. In this architecture, the IAB node maintains the MT to establish an NRUu link with the gNB on the parent IAB node or IAB donor. Via this NR-Uu link, the MT maintains a PDU session with the UPF collocated with the gNB. In this way, an independent PDU session is created on each backhaul link. Each IAB node also supports routing functions to forward data between PDU sessions of adjacent links. This creates a forwarding plane across the wireless backhaul. Based on the PDU session type, the forwarding plane supports IP or Ethernet. In the case where the PDU session type is Ethernet, an IP layer can be established on top. In this way, each IAB node obtains an IP connection to the wired backhaul network. The IAB node can be connected to more than one upstream IAB node or IAB donor.

[0113] All IP-based interfaces such as NG, Xn, F1, N4, etc. are carried on this forwarding plane. For F1, in addition to the UPF for gNB and backhaul link, the UE serving IAB node will also contain the DU for the access link. The CU for the access link will reside in or beyond the IAB donor. The NG-U protocol stack for IP-based and Ethernet-based PDU session types can be used for this architecture.

[0114] In the case where the IAB node holds the DU for UE access, it may not be necessary to support PDCP-based protection on each hop because the end-user data will have been protected using end-to-end PDCP between UE and CU. Details are for further study.

[0115] For NSA operation with EPC, MT uses EN-DC to connect to the network dually. In this case, the MT of the IAB node maintains a PDN connection with the L-GW residing on the parent IAB node or IAB donor. All IP-based interfaces such as S1, S5, X2, etc. are carried on this forwarding plane.

[0116] In architecture 2b, the IAB node maintains the MT to establish an NR Uu link with the gNB on the parent IAB node or IAB donor. Via the NR-Uu link, the MT maintains a PDU session with the UPF. In contrast to architecture 2a, the UPF is located at the IAB donor. In addition, forwarding PDUs across upstream IAB nodes is achieved via tunnels. Therefore, forwarding across multiple hops creates a stack of nested tunnels. As in architecture 2a, each IAB node obtains an IP connection to the wired backhaul network. All IP-based interfaces such as NG, Xn, F1, N4, etc. are carried on the forwarding IP plane. The IAB node can be connected to more than one upstream IAB node or IAB donor.

[0117] For NSA operation with EPC, the MT is dual connected to the network using EN-DC. In this case, the MT of the IAB node maintains a PDN connection with the L-GW residing on the IAB donor.

[0118] Architecture 2c utilizes DU-CU splitting. The IAB node maintains an MT that maintains an RLC channel with the DU on the parent IAB node or IAB donor. The IAB donor maintains a CU and UPF for the DU of each IAB node. The MT on each IAB node maintains an NR-Uu link with the CU and a PDU session with the UPF on the donor. Forwarding on intermediate nodes is achieved via tunnels. Forwarding across multiple hops creates a stack of nested tunnels. As in architectures 2a and 2b, each IAB node obtains an IP connection to the wired backhaul network. However, in contrast to architecture 2b, each tunnel includes an SDAP / PDCP layer. All IP-based interfaces such as NG, Xn, F1, N4, etc. are carried on this forwarding plane. An IAB node can be connected to more than one upstream IAB node or IAB donor.

[0119] For NSA operation with EPC, the MT is dual connected to the network using EN-DC. In this case, the MT of the IAB node maintains a PDN connection with the L-GW residing on the IAB donor.

[0120] Multi-hop backhaul

[0121] In an embodiment, the IAB system architecture supports multi-hop backhaul. IAB multi-hop backhaul provides a wider range of expansion than a single-hop system. Multi-hop backhaul also enables backhaul around obstacles (e.g., cluttered buildings in an urban environment). The maximum number of hops in a deployment may depend on many factors, such as frequency, cell density, propagation environment, traffic load, various KPIs, and / or other similar factors. In addition, the weights assigned to each of these factors may change dynamically over time. As the number of hops increases, scalability issues may arise and limit performance or increase signal load to unacceptable levels; therefore, the scalability of hop counts may be considered an important KPI for planning and deployment (e.g., SON) purposes. In some specific implementations, there may be no limit on the number of backhaul hops.

[0122] Topology Adaptation

[0123] The IAB system architecture also supports topology adaptation. Topology adaptation refers to the process of autonomously reconfiguring the backhaul network in situations such as blocking or local congestion without interrupting service to the UE and / or mitigating service disruption to the UE. For example, wireless backhaul links may be vulnerable to blocking due to moving objects such as vehicles, weather-related events (e.g., seasonal changes (leaves), infrastructure changes (e.g., new buildings), etc. These vulnerabilities may apply to physically stationary IAB nodes and / or mobile IAB nodes. In addition, traffic changes may produce uneven load distribution on the wireless backhaul link, resulting in local link or node congestion. In various specific implementations, topology adaptation is supported for physically fixed IAB nodes to achieve robust operation to mitigate blocking and load changes on the backhaul link.

[0124] IAB physical layer enhancements

[0125] The IAB system architecture may also support the following physical layer features: mechanisms for discovery of IAB nodes and management of backhaul links in both SA and NSA deployments, taking into account half-duplex constraints at IAB nodes and multi-hop topologies, including: solutions for reusing the same set of SSBs used to access UEs and solutions for using SSBs that are orthogonal (TDM and / or FDM) to the SSBs used to access UEs, CSI-RS based IAB node discovery in synchronous deployments, SSB based and CSI-RS based backhaul link RSRP / RSRQ RRM measurements; and configuration of backhaul RACH resources with different timing, longer RACH periodicity and additional preamble formats allowing longer RTT compared to access RACH resources without affecting Rel-15 Enhancements to UE; enhancements to beam failure recovery and radio link failure procedures, including solutions to avoid RLF at child IAB nodes due to parent backhaul link failure; mechanisms for supporting both in-band relaying and out-of-band relaying by multiplexing access links and backhaul links in time (TDM), frequency (FDM) or space (SDM) under per-link half-duplex constraints at IAB nodes and across multiple backhaul hops, including: semi-static configuration of IAB node DU resources, dynamic indication to IAB nodes of the availability of soft resources of IAB node DUs, and power control / coordination of FDM / SDM of access links and backhaul links; OTA timing alignment across multiple backhaul hops, including: mechanisms for DL ​​timing alignment across IAB nodes, alignment of UL transmission timing and DL transmission timing of IAB nodes, and alignment of UL reception timing and DL reception timing of IAB nodes; inter-IAB node cross-link interference (CLI) measurement and measurement coordination / configuration; and support for up to 1024QAM for backhaul links.

[0126] IAB node RACH: IAB supports the network flexibility to configure backhaul RACH resources with different timing, longer RACH periodicity and additional preamble format allowing longer RTT compared to access RACH resources without impacting Rel-15 UEs. Based on Rel-15 PRACH configuration, the network is allowed to configure an offset for the PRACH timing of the MT of the IAB node so that the TDM backhaul RACH resources span adjacent hops.

[0127] Backhaul link management: The IAB node supports a mechanism for detecting / recovering from backhaul link failure based on the Rel-15 mechanism. Enhancements to the beam failure recovery and radio link failure procedures may also include enhancements to support the interaction between the beam failure recovery success indication and the RLF; and for the IAB node, enhancements to the existing beam management procedures for faster beam switching / coordination / recovery to avoid backhaul link interruption should be considered. Additional backhaul link condition notification mechanisms from the parent IAB node DU to the child IAB node (for example, if the backhaul link of the parent IAB node fails), and corresponding IAB node behaviors may be included.

[0128] Figure 4 An exemplary architecture of a system 400 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 400 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0129] like Figure 4As shown, system 400 includes UE 401a and UE 401b (collectively referred to as "UE 401"). In this example, UE 401 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine electronic control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine electronic control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an IoT device, etc.

[0130] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 401 may include an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0131] UE 401 may be configured to be communicatively connected to RAN 410, for example. In an embodiment, RAN 410 may be an NGRAN or 5G RAN, E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 410 operating in NR or 5G system 400, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 410 operating in LTE or 4G system 400. UE 401 utilizes connections (or channels) 403 and 404, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0132] In this example, connections 403 and 404 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 401 may directly exchange communication data via ProSe interface 405. ProSe interface 405 may alternatively be referred to as SL interface 405, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0133] UE 401b is shown as being configured to access AP 406 (also referred to as "WLAN node 406," "WLAN 406," "WLAN terminal 406," "WT 406," etc.) via connection 407. Connection 407 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 406 will include wireless fidelity. Router. In this example, AP 406 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 401b, RAN 410, and AP 406 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 401b in RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 411a-411b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 401b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 407) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 407. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0134] RAN 410 includes one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 411a and 411b (collectively referred to as "RAN node 411") that enable connections 403 and 404. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) operating in an NR or 5G system 400, while the terms "E-UTRAN node" and the like may refer to a RAN node 411 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 400. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0135] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 411 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splitting, such as PDCP splitting, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 411; MAC / PHY splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 411; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 411. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 411 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, individual RAN nodes 411 may represent a plurality of RAN nodes 411 connected to the RAN via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 4 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 7), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 410 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 401 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Figure 6 CN 620) RAN node.

[0136] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 411 may be an RSU or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 401 (vUE 401). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or a backhaul network.

[0137] Any of the RAN nodes 411 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 401. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 411 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 410, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0138] In an embodiment, UE 401 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 411 using OFDM communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0139] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 411 to the UE 401, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0140] According to various embodiments, UE 401 and RAN node 411 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0141] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UE 401 and the RAN node 411 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0142] LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (e.g., UE 401 RAN node 411, etc.) utilizes the mechanism to sense the medium (e.g., channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy on an expected transmission band over a period of time, and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0143] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 401, AP 406, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds; however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0144] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, or 20MHz, and up to five CCs may be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers may be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0145] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 401 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0146] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 401. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 401 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 401b within the cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 411 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 401. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the multiple UEs 401.

[0147] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0148] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0149] RAN nodes 411 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 412. In embodiments where system 400 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 420 is a Figure 5 401 ), the interface 412 may be an X2 interface 412. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 420. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 401 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 401; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0150] When system 400 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 420 is Figure 6In an implementation scheme of the 5GC 620 in the 5GC 420, the interface 412 may be an Xn interface 412. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 411 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 420, between a RAN node 411 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 420, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 420. In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 401 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 411. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 411 to the new (target) serving RAN node 411; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 411 and the new (target) serving RAN node 411. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0151] RAN 410 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 420. The CN 420 may include a plurality of network elements 422 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 401) connected to the CN 420 via the RAN 410. The components of the CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of the CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. The NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0152] Generally speaking, the application server 430 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 430 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 401 via the EPC 420 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0153] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 420" or the like), and RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an NG interface 413. In an embodiment, NG interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and AMF. Figure 6 An implementation of CN 420 as 5GC 420 is discussed in more detail.

[0154] In an embodiment, CN 420 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 420", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 420 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 420 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 420", etc.), RAN 410 may be connected to CN 420 via an S1 interface 413. In an embodiment, S1 interface 413 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 414, which carries traffic data between RAN node 411 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 415, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 411 and MME.

[0155] Figure 5 FIG. 5 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 500 including a first CN 520 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 500 may implement the LTE standard, wherein the CN 520 is a Figure 4 In addition, UE 501 may communicate with Figure 4 The UE 401 is the same as or similar to the UE 401, and the E-UTRAN 510 may be Figure 4 The CN 520 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 410 of the mobile network, and may include the RAN node 411 discussed previously. The CN 520 may include an MME 521, an S-GW 522, a P-GW 523, an HSS 524, and an SGSN 525.

[0156] The MME 521 may be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 501. The MME 521 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 501, providing user identity confidentiality, and / or performing other similar services to users / subscribers. Each UE 501 and the MME 521 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 501 and the MME 521. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 501. The MME 521 may be coupled to the HSS 524 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 525 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 522 via an S11 reference point.

[0157] SGSN 525 may be a node that serves UE 501 by tracking the location of individual UE 501 and performing security functions. In addition, SGSN 525 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 521; handling of UE 501 time zone functions, as specified by MME 521; and MME selection for handover to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between MME 521 and SGSN 525 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0158] The HSS 524 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 520 may include one or several HSSs 524, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 524 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 524 and the MME 521 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 520 between the HSS 524 and the MME 521.

[0159] The S-GW 522 may terminate the S1 interface 413 towards the RAN 510 (at Figure 5 The S-GW 522 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 522 and the MME 521 may provide a control plane between the MME 521 and the S-GW 522. The S-GW 522 may be coupled to the P-GW 523 via the S5 reference point.

[0160] The P-GW 523 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 530. The P-GW 523 may communicate with the PDN 530 via the IP interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) routes data packets between EPC 520 and external networks such as a network including application server 430 (alternatively referred to as "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 523 can communicate via IP communication interface 425 (see, e.g., Figure 4 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 4 Application server 430 or Figure 5The S5 reference point between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 523 and the S-GW 522. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 522 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 501 and whether the S-GW 522 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 523 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 523 may also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection, such as a PCEF (not shown). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 523 and the packet data network (PDN) 530 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, such as for providing IMS services. The P-GW 523 may be coupled to the PCRF 526 via a Gx reference point.

[0161] PCRF 526 is a policy and charging control element of EPC 520. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 526 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of UE 501. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of UE 501: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). PCRF 526 may be communicatively coupled to application server 530 via P-GW 523. Application server 530 may signal PCRF 526 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. PCRF 526 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which function starts QoS and charging as specified by application server 530. The Gx reference point between PCRF 526 and P-GW 523 may allow for the transfer of QoS policies and charging rules from PCRF 526 to PCEF in P-GW 523. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 530 (or "AF 530") and PCRF 526.

[0162] Figure 6The architecture of a system 600 including a second CN 620 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 600 is shown to include a UE 601, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 401 and UE 501; a (R) AN 610, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 410 and RAN 510, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 411; and a DN 603, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a 3rd party service; and a 5GC 620. The 5GC 620 may include an AUSF 622; an AMF 621; an SMF 624; an NEF 623; a PCF 626; an NRF 625; an UDM 627; an AF 628; an UPF 602; and an NSSF 629.

[0163] UPF 602 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with DN 603, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. UPF 602 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement) on the user plane, perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 602 may include an uplink classifier for supporting routing of traffic flows to data networks. DN 603 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. DN 603 may include or be similar to the application server 430 discussed previously. UPF 602 may interact with SMF 624 via the N4 reference point between SMF 624 and UPF 602.

[0164] The AUSF 622 may store data for authentication of the UE 601 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 622 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 622 may communicate with the AMF 621 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 621 and the AUSF 622; and may communicate with the UDM 627 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 627 and the AUSF 622. In addition, the AUSF 622 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0165] AMF 621 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 601, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 621 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 621 and SMF 624. AMF 621 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 601 and SMF 624, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 621 may also provide a transport for UE 601 and SMSF ( Figure 6 The AMF 621 may provide transport for SMS messages between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 (not shown). The AMF 621 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 622 and the UE 601, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 601 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 621 may retrieve security materials from the AUSF 622. The AMF 621 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 621 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621; and the AMF 621 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0166] The AMF 621 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 601 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3 IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3 IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R) AN 610 and the AMF 621 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R) AN 610 and the UPF 602 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 621 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 624 and the AMF 621, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 via the N1 reference point between the UE 601 and the AMF 621, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 601 and the UPF 602. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 601. The AMF 621 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMF 621 and the AMF 621 and the 5G-EIR ( Figure 6 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0167] UE 601 may need to register with AMF 621 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 601 with the network (e.g., AMF 621) or deregister UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 621). UE 601 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM DEREGISTERED state, UE 601 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 cannot reach UE 601. In the RM REGISTERED state, UE 601 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 621 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 601, so AMF 621 can reach UE 601. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 601 can perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that UE 601 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0168] The AMF 621 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 601, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 621 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 621 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 601 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 621 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0169] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 601 and the CN 620, and includes a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 601 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 610) and the AMF 621. The UE 601 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 601 operates in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 601 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. When the UE 601 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 601 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 621 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 610 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 601. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 may cause the UE 601 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R)AN 610 and the AMF 621 is released, the UE 601 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0170] SMF 624 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering of UPF to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode of the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 601 and a data network (DN) 603 identified by a data network name (DNN). A PDU session may be established upon request by UE 601, modified upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620, and released upon request by UE 601 and 5GC 620 using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between UE 601 and SMF 624. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 620 may trigger a specific application in UE 601. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 601 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 601. The identified applications in UE 601 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. SMF 624 may check whether the UE 601 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 601. In this regard, SMF 624 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 624 level subscription data from UDM 627.

[0171] SMF 624 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In roaming scenarios, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 624 may be included in the system 600, which may be located between an SMF 624 in a visited network and another SMF 624 in a home network. In addition, SMF 624 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0172] NEF 623 may provide components for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 628), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 623 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 623 may also convert information exchanged with AF 628 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 623 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 623 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on the exposure capabilities of other network functions. The information may be stored at NEF 623 as structured data or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 623 and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 623 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0173] NRF 625 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 625 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 625 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0174] PCF 626 may provide policy rules to the control plane functions for enforcement, and may also support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior. PCF 626 may also implement FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of UDM 627. PCF 626 may communicate with AMF 621 via the N15 reference point between PCF 626 and AMF 621, which may include PCF 626 in a visited network and AMF 621 in a roaming scenario. PCF 626 may communicate with AF 628 via the N5 reference point between PCF 626 and AF 628; and communicate with SMF 624 via the N7 reference point between PCF 626 and SMF 624. System 600 and / or CN 620 may also include an N24 reference point between PCF 626 (in the home network) and PCF 626 in the visited network. In addition, PCF 626 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0175] UDM 627 may process subscription-related information to support the handling of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of UE 601. For example, subscription data may be transmitted between UDM 627 and AMF 621 via an N8 reference point between UDM 627 and AMF. UDM 627 may include two parts: application FE and UDR ( Figure 6 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 627 and PCF 626, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 623 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 601). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 627, PCF 626 and NEF 623 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 624 via the N10 reference point between UDM 627 and SMF 624. UDM 627 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as described above. In addition, UDM 627 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0176] AF 628 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 620 and AF 628 to provide information to each other via NEF 623, which can be used for edge computing implementation. In such implementations, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 601 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation, 5GC can select UPF 602 near UE 601 and perform traffic steering from UPF 602 to DN 603 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 628. In this way, AF 628 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 628 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 628 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 628 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0177] NSSF 629 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 601. If necessary, NSSF 629 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 629 may also determine the AMF set, or a list of candidate AMF 621, to serve UE 601 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 625. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 601 may be triggered by AMF 621, where UE 601 registers by interacting with NSSF 629, which may cause AMF 621 to change. NSSF 629 may interact with AMF 621 via the N22 reference point between AMF 621 and NSSF 629; and may communicate with AMF 621 via the N31 reference point ( Figure 6 The NSSF 629 may communicate with another NSSF 629 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 629 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0178] As discussed previously, CN 620 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages from / to other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers, to / from UE 601. SMS may also interact with AMF 621 and UDM 627 for notification procedures that UE 601 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 627 when UE 601 is available for SMS).

[0179] CN 120 may also include Figure 6 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF may communicate with any NF and UDSF ( Figure 6 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores and retrieves unstructured data into and from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Figure 6 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0180] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Figure 6These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 620 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 521) and an AMF 621, to enable intercommunication between CN 620 and CN 520. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0181] Figure 7 An example of infrastructure equipment 700 according to various embodiments is shown. Infrastructure equipment 700 (or "system 700") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 411 and / or AP 406 shown and described previously), an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, system 700 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0182] System 700 may include: application circuit 705, baseband circuit 710, one or more radio front end modules 715, memory circuit 720, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 725, power tee circuit 730, network controller circuit 735, network interface connector 740, satellite positioning circuit 745 and user interface 750. In some embodiments, device 700 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, these components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar implementations.

[0183] The application circuit 705 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I2C or a general programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer-counter including an interval timer and a watchdog timer, a general input / output (I / O or IO), a memory card controller such as a secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar product, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 705 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 700. In some implementations, the memory / storage element can be an on-chip memory circuit that can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0184] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating in accordance with various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 705 may include one or more Apple A series processors, Intel or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or processors; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium(TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, system 700 may not utilize application circuit 705, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0185] In some implementations, the application circuit 705 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 705 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 705 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0186] Baseband circuit 710 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0187] The user interface circuit 750 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 700 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 700. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0188] The radio front end module (RFEM) 715 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-millimeter wave radio functionality may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 715 incorporating both mmWave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0189] The memory circuit 720 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 720 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0190] The PMIC 725 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 730 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 700 using a single cable.

[0191] The network controller circuit 735 may provide a connection to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection may be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 700 via a network interface connector 740, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 735 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some specific implementations, the network controller circuit 735 may include multiple controllers for providing connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0192] The positioning circuit 745 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 745 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 745 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 745 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 710 and / or RFEM 715 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 745 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 705, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 411, etc.), etc.

[0193] Figure 7 The components shown can communicate with each other using interface circuits that can include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0194] Figure 8 An example of a platform 800 (or "device 800") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 800 may be suitable for use as a UE 401, 501, 601, an application server 430, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 800 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 800 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 800, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Figure 8The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 800. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0195] The application circuit 805 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of an LDO, an interrupt controller, a serial interface (such as SPI), I2C or a general programmable serial interface module, an RTC, a timer (including an interval timer and a watchdog timer), a general I / O, a memory card controller (such as an SD MMC or similar controller), a USB interface, a MIPI interface, and a JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 805 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 800. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0196] The processor of the application circuit 705 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 705 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0197] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 805 may include an Apple A series processor. The processor of the application circuit 805 may also be one or more of the following: based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA company( Another such processor is Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia ApplicationsPlatform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 805 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 805 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit.

[0198] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 805 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 805 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0199] Baseband circuit 810 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0200] The RFEM 815 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-millimeter wave radio functionality may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 815 incorporating both mmWave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0201] The memory circuit 820 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 820 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 820 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 820 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 820 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 805. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 820 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 800 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0202] The removable memory circuitry 823 may include devices, circuits, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to the platform 800. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0203] The platform 800 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 800. External devices connected to the platform 800 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 821 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 822, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 823.

[0204] Sensor circuitry 821 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment, and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0205] EMC 822 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable platform 800 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control mechanisms or (sub) systems. In addition, EMC 822 can be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of platform 800 to indicate the current state of EMC 822. EMC 822 includes one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 800 is configured to operate one or more EMC822 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0206] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 to the positioning circuit 845. The positioning circuit 845 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 845 may include various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 845 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 845 may also be part of the baseband circuit 710 and / or the RFEM 815 or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 845 may also provide position data and / or time data to application circuitry 805 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (eg, radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0207] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 800 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 840. The NFC circuit 840 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, where a magnetic field is sensed to enable communication between the NFC circuit 840 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 800. The NFC circuit 840 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 840 by executing an NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 840, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 840 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) proximate to the platform 800.

[0208] The driver circuit 846 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 800. The driver circuit 846 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 800 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 800. For example, the driver circuit 846 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 800, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 821 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 821, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 822 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 822, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0209] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 825 (also referred to as “power management circuit 825”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 800. Specifically, the PMIC 825 may control power selection, voltage regulation, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 810. When the platform 800 is capable of being powered by a battery 830, for example, when the device is included in a UE 401, 501, 601, the PMIC 825 may be generally included.

[0210] In some embodiments, the PMIC 825 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 800. For example, if the platform 800 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 800 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 800 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the platform is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. are performed. The platform 800 enters an extremely low power state and performs paging, in which the platform periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 800 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0211] The battery 830 can power the platform 800, but in some examples, the platform 800 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 830 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 830 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0212] In some implementations, the battery 830 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 800 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 830. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 830, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 830, to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 830 to the application circuit 805 or other components of the platform 800. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 805 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 830 or the current from the battery 830. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 800 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0213] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 830. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 800. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 830 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0214] The user interface circuit 850 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 800, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 800 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 800. The user interface circuit 850 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 800. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 821 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.), and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0215] Although not shown, the components of platform 800 can communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which can include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, time-triggered protocol (TTP) systems, FlexRay systems, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX can be a proprietary bus / IX, for example, used in a SoC-based system. Other bus / IX systems can be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, and a power bus, etc.

[0216] Fig. 9 Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments are shown. Specifically, Fig. 9An arrangement 900 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig. 9 The following description, but Fig. 9 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0217] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 900 may also include one or more of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, SDAP 947, RRC 955, and NAS layer 957. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig. 9 Items 959, 956, 950, 949, 945, 935, 925 and 915).

[0218] PHY 910 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 905, which can be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 905 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 910 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 955). PHY 910 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 910 may process a request from an instance of MAC 920 via one or more PHY-SAP 915, and provide an indication thereto. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 915 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0219] An instance of MAC 920 may process requests from an instance of RLC 930 via one or more MAC-SAPs 925 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 925 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 920 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 910 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 910 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0220] An instance of RLC 930 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 940 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 935 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 935 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 930 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 930 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 930 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0221] An instance of PDCP 940 may process requests from an instance of RRC 955 and / or an instance of SDAP 947 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 945 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 945 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 940 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0222] An instance of SDAP 947 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP 949 and provide instructions thereto. These requests and instructions transmitted via SDAP-SAP 949 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 947 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 947 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 410 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 947 of UE 401 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 947 of UE 401 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 610 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 955 configuring the SDAP 947 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 947. In an embodiment, the SDAP 947 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0223] The RRC 955 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 910, MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940, and SDAP 947, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 955 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 957 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 956. The main services and functions of the RRC 955 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 401 and the RAN 410 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0224] NAS 957 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 401 and AMF 621. NAS 957 may support mobility and session management procedures of UE 401 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0225] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 900 may be implemented in the UE 401, the RAN node 411, the AMF 621 in the NR implementation or the MME 521 in the LTE implementation, the UPF 602 in the NR implementation or the S-GW 522 and the P-GW 523 in the LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of the UE 401, the gNB 411, the AMF 621, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using the services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 411 may host the RRC 955, SDAP 947, and PDCP 940 of the gNB that control the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 411 may each host the RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910 of gNB 411.

[0226] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 957, RRC 955, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910. In this example, an upper layer 960 may be built on top of NAS 957, which includes an IP layer 961, SCTP 962, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 963.

[0227] In a NR specific implementation, AP 963 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 963 for the NG interface 413 defined between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621, or AP 963 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 963 for the Xn interface 412 defined between two or more RAN nodes 411.

[0228] The NG-AP 963 may support the functionality of the NG interface 413 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621. The NG-AP 963 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 401) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 411 and the AMF 621). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 411 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 621 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 621 and the NG-RAN node 411; a mobility function for the UE 401 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors through the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means for transmitting a warning message via the NG interface or cancelling an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 401 and the AMF 621; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 621 and the UE 401; a ... 420 A configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 411; and / or other similar functions.

[0229] The XnAP 963 may support the functions of the Xn interface 412 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 411 (or E-UTRAN 510), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to a specific UE 401, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0230] In an LTE specific implementation, the AP 963 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 963 for the S1 interface 413 defined between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME, or the AP 963 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 963 for the X2 interface 412 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 411.

[0231] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 963 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 411 and the MME 521 within the LTE CN 420. The S1-AP 963 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0232] The X2AP 963 may support the functions of the X2 interface 412 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 420, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 401, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0233] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 962 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP 962 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 411 and the AMF 621 / MME 521 based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 961. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 961 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 961 may deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 411 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0234] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 947, PDCP 940, RLC 930, MAC 920, and PHY 910 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 401, RAN node 411, and UPF 602 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 522 and P-GW 523 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 951 may be built on top of SDAP 947 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 952, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol layer (GTP-U) 953 for the user plane, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 963.

[0235] The transport network layer 954 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 953 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 952 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of the formats, for example, IPv4, IPv6, or PPP.

[0236] GTP-U 953 can be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data can be a packet in any of the IPv4, IPv6 or PPP formats. UDP / IP 952 can provide a checksum for data integrity, a port number for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of the selected data stream. The RAN node 411 and the S-GW 522 can exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY910), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 920, RLC 930, PDCP 940 and / or SDAP 947), a UDP / IP layer 952, and a GTP-U 953 using an S1-U interface. The S-GW 522 and the P-GW 523 can exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 952, and a GTP-U 953 using an S5 / S8a interface. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility of UE 401 and session management procedures to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 401 and P-GW 523 .

[0237] In addition, despite Fig. 9Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 963 and / or transport network layer 954. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 401, RAN node 411, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 705 or the application circuit 805, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit XT110) of the UE 401 or RAN node 411. In some specific implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the open system interconnection (OSI) model or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0238] Fig.10 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.10 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1000 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory / storage devices 1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1040. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.

[0239] Processor 1010 may include, for example, processor 1012 and processor 1014. Processor 1010 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0240] The memory / storage device 1020 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1020 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0241] The communication resources 1030 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 via the network 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0242] The instructions 1050 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside completely or partially in at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1020, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1050 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 1000 from any combination of the peripheral device 1004 or the database 1006. Therefore, the memory of the processor 1010, the memory / storage device 1020, the peripheral device 1004, and the database 1006 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

Claims

1. A method for communication, the method comprising: Determining, by a distributed unit DU of an integrated access and backhaul IAB node, a configuration of available soft resources for a sub-link of the IAB node based on a configuration signal received from a central unit CU of an IAB donor; determining a starting symbol of the available soft resources based on the configuration of the available soft resources and at least one of a propagation delay of a parent link of the IAB node or an uplink timing advance of the parent link; as well as The available soft resources are used for one or more sub-link transmissions starting from the starting symbol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration of available soft resources is applied relative to the slot timing of the DU.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein if downlink timing and uplink timing of the DU are configured differently, the configuration signal indicates the configuration of available soft resources by transmission direction at a symbol level.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the start symbol is based on at least one of the following: the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link of the IAB node, the resource type or transmission direction of the soft resources in the child link, or the downlink / uplink timing difference T at the DU D / U .

5. The method of claim 4, wherein when the IAB node receives a transmission from a parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is a downlink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to the parent IAB node, the transmission direction of the parent link is an uplink, when the IAB node sends a transmission to a child node, the transmission direction of the child link is a downlink, and when the IAB node receives a transmission from the child node, the transmission direction of the child link is an uplink.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link of the IAB node and the available soft resources is downlink, wherein the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, wherein the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, wherein the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, wherein the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, wherein the downlink / uplink timing difference T at the DU is D / U Greater than the downlink propagation delay T of the parent link D , wherein the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is downlink, wherein the transmission direction of the available soft resources is uplink, wherein the available soft resources overlap with the last used downlink symbol of the parent link, wherein the downlink / uplink timing difference T at the DU is D / U Less than the downlink propagation delay T of the parent link D , wherein the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+2.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link is uplink, wherein the transmission direction of the available soft resources is downlink, wherein the available soft resources overlap with the uplink symbols of the parent link, wherein the last used downlink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link and the available soft resource is uplink, wherein the downlink / uplink timing difference T at the DU D / U and the uplink timing advance T of the parent link A The sum of is less than a symbol duration, wherein the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n+1.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmission direction of the last used symbol in the parent link and the available soft resource is uplink, wherein the downlink / uplink timing difference T at the DU D / U and the uplink timing advance T of the parent link A The sum of is greater than a symbol duration, wherein the last used uplink symbol of the parent link is at symbol index n, and wherein the starting symbol of the available soft resources is at symbol index n.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CU receives information indicating protection symbols of the DU via an F1-AP interface message.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a data processing apparatus, causing the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: determining, by an integrated access and backhaul IAB node, a configuration of available soft resources for a sub-link of the IAB node based on a configuration signal received from an IAB donor; and A starting symbol of the available soft resources is determined based on the configuration of the available soft resources and at least one of a propagation delay of a parent link of the IAB node or an uplink timing advance of the parent link.

14. An integrated access and backhaul IAB system, the IAB system comprising: An IAB node, the IAB node comprising a distributed unit DU and a mobile terminal MT, wherein the IAB node has a parent link and a child link; An IAB donor, the IAB donor comprising a central unit CU; and One or more processors and one or more storage devices storing operable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including: Determining, by the DU, a configuration of available soft resources for the sublink based on a configuration signal received from the CU; as well as A starting symbol of the available soft resources is determined based on the configuration of the available soft resources and at least one of a downlink propagation delay of a parent link of the IAB node or an uplink timing advance of the parent link.

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