Response to message B during two-step random access channel procedure

Abstract

Systems, devices, and techniques for random access in a wireless communication network are described. The described techniques, performed by a user equipment (UE), include: transmitting a first message of a two-step random access procedure to a node of the wireless communication network; receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in response to the first message and receiving a second message of the two-step random access procedure via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) according to the DCI message; determining, by the UE, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource based on the second message; and transmitting, by the UE, a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback of the second message on the determined PUCCH resource.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This disclosure claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 858,140, ​​entitled “TWO STEP RANDOM ACCESS CHANNEL (RACH) PROCEDURE MsgB RESPONSES,” filed on June 6, 2019. The entirety of the above-described patent application is incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

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

[0004] Base stations, such as nodes of a radio access network (RAN), can communicate wirelessly with wireless devices, such as user equipment (UE). Downlink (DL) transmissions refer to communications from a base station to a wireless device. Uplink (UL) transmissions refer to communications from a wireless device to another device, such as a base station. A base station can transmit control signaling in order to control wireless devices operating within its network. Summary of the invention

[0005] Systems, devices, and techniques for random access in a wireless communication network are described. The wireless communication network may provide one or more random access procedures, such as a two-step procedure and a four-step procedure, to enable a UE to initiate communication with a base station, etc. The technique performed by the UE includes: transmitting a first message (e.g., MsgA) of the two-step random access procedure to a node of the wireless communication network; in response to the first message, receiving a downlink control information (DCI) message via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and receiving a second message (e.g., MsgB) of the two-step random access procedure according to the DCI message via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); determining, by the UE, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource based on the second message; and transmitting, by the UE, a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback of the second message on the determined PUCCH resource. Other specific implementations include corresponding systems, devices, communication processors, and computer programs for performing the actions of the method defined by instructions encoded on a computer-readable storage device.

[0006] These and other implementations may include one or more of the following features. In some implementations, the second message includes an uplink grant field indicating one or more resources. In some implementations, the determined PUCCH resources are based on the uplink grant field. In some implementations, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI), such as a cell RNTI (C-RNTI). In some implementations, the CRC associated with the DCI message is scrambled by an RNTI associated with the second message (e.g., MsgB-RNTI). An implementation may include receiving information providing a configuration of a PUCCH resource set. The second message may include a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set, and the determined PUCCH resources are based on the PUCCH resource indicator field.

[0007] In some embodiments, the second message includes a HARQ feedback timing indicator. In some embodiments, the second message includes a random access response (RAR) message, the RAR message includes a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback may include using a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field. In some embodiments, transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback includes using a spatial domain transmission filter used in a previous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission from the UE. In some embodiments, the UE is configured to use the same demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) antenna port quasi-co-location attribute as for a synchronization signal (SS) physical broadcast channel (PBCH) block, which the UE uses for a physical random access channel (PRACH) association.

[0008] The UE may include one or more processors, a transceiver, and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, the one or more communication processors in the UE may include: a circuit, such as a transceiver or an interface of a transceiver, configured to communicate with one or more base stations; and one or more processors coupled to the circuit. The one or more processors may be configured to perform a random access procedure and provide HARQ feedback.

[0009] The base station may include: a transceiver; and one or more processors coupled to the transceiver. The one or more processors may be configured to perform a random access procedure, such as a 2-step or 4-step random access procedure. The one or more processors may be configured to receive HARQ feedback from the UE.

[0010] The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the following drawings and detailed description. Other features and advantages will be apparent from the detailed description and drawings, and from the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 2 An example of a four-step procedure for an initial contention-based random access procedure is shown.

[0013] Figure 3 An example of a two-step random access procedure is shown.

[0014] Figure 4 An example of infrastructure equipment is shown.

[0015] Figure 5 Examples of platforms or devices are shown.

[0016] Figure 6 Exemplary components of baseband circuitry and radio front-end circuitry are illustrated.

[0017] Figure 7 Exemplary components of a cellular communications circuit are shown.

[0018] FIG. 8A to FIG. 8F Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown, including medium access control functions.

[0019] Fig. 9 An example of a two-step random access procedure that additionally includes feedback transmission is shown.

[0020] Fig.10 An example of a process for determining PUCCH resources for HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB transmission is shown.

[0021] Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system 100 is illustrated. For convenience and not limitation, the exemplary system 100 is described in the context of LTE and 5G NR communication standards defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. However, other types of communication standards are possible.

[0023] System 100 includes UE 101a and UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UE 101"). In this example, UE 101 is shown as a smartphone (eg, a handheld, touch-screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks). In other examples, any of the multiple UEs 101 may include other mobile computing devices or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, cellular phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, on-board mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECUs), electronic / engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, machine type communication (MTC) devices, machine-to-machine (M2M) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or combinations thereof, etc.

[0024] In some implementations, any of the UEs 101 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device using, for example, a public land mobile network (PLMN), a short-range service (ProSe), a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, an IoT network, or a combination thereof. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages or status updates) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0025] The UE 101 may be configured to be connected (e.g., communicatively coupled) to the RAN 110. The RAN 110 includes one or more RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 111”). In some implementations, the RAN 110 may be a next generation RAN (NG RAN), an evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), or a legacy RAN, such as a UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) or a GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN). As used herein, the term “NG RAN” may refer to the RAN 110 operating in a 5G NR system 100, while the term “E-UTRAN” may refer to the RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100.

[0026] In order to connect to the RAN 110, multiple UEs 101 utilize connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of which may include a physical communication interface or layer, as described below. In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with cellular communication protocols, such as global system for mobile communications (GSM) protocols, code division multiple access (CDMA) network protocols, push-to-talk (PTT) protocols, cellular PTT (POC) protocols, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) protocols, 3GPP LTE protocols, 5G NR protocols, or combinations thereof, as well as other communication protocols.

[0027] The RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 111") that enable connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data or voice connections, or both, between a network and one or more users. These nodes 111 may be referred to as base stations (BS), gNodeBs, gNBs, eNodeBs, eNBs, NodeBs, RAN nodes, road side units (RSUs), 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), etc. As used herein, the term "NG RAN node" may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) operating in a 5G NR system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN node" may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., an eNB) operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. In some implementations, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, 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.

[0028] The RAN node 111 and the UE 101 may be configured for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) communications, including single-beam or multi-beam communications. For example, the UE 101 may receive transmissions from one RAN node 111 at a time, or simultaneously from multiple RAN nodes 111. The RAN node 111 and the UE 101 may use beamforming for UL, DL, or both. For example, one or more RAN nodes 111 may transmit (Tx) beams to the UE 101, and the UE 101 may simultaneously receive data via one or more receive (Rx) beams. In some implementations, each of the RAN nodes 111 may be configured as a transmission and reception point (TRP). The RAN 110 may provide signaling for configuring beamforming, such as by providing transmission configuration indication (TCI) state configuration information.

[0029] Any of the RAN nodes 111 may serve as a termination point for the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 101. In some implementations, any of the RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of the RAN 110, including but not limited to functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0030] In some implementations, multiple UEs 101 may be configured to communicate with each other or any of RAN nodes 111 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink communications), although the scope of the techniques described herein is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0031] In some specific implementations, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 to the UE 101, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a frequency grid or a time-frequency 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 may be represented as a resource element (RE). Each resource grid may include multiple resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. A resource block (RB) may include a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks may be used to transmit physical downlink channels and uplink channels. In some cases, an RB may be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB).

[0032] In some implementations, each RE is uniquely identified by an index pair (k, l) in a time slot, where and are indices in the frequency domain and time domain, respectively. RE(k, l) on antenna port p corresponds to the complex value In some implementations, antenna ports may be defined such that the channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is transmitted may be inferred from the channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is transmitted. There may be one resource grid per antenna port. The set of antenna ports supported may depend on the reference signal configuration in the cell, see, e.g., 3GPP TS 36.211.

[0033] The RAN node 111 may transmit to the UE 101 via one or more DL channels. Various examples of DL communication channels include a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), and a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH). The PDSCH may carry user data and higher layer signaling to multiple UEs 101. Other types of downlink channels are possible. The UE 101 may transmit to the RAN node 111 via one or more UL channels. Various examples of UL communication channels include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and a physical random access channel (PRACH). Other types of uplink channels are possible. Devices such as the RAN node 111 and the UE 101 may transmit reference signals. Examples of reference signals include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), sounding reference signals (SRSs), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RSs), demodulation reference signals (DMRSs or DM-RSs), and phase tracking reference signals (PTRSs). Other types of reference signals are also possible.

[0034] A channel such as a PDCCH may convey different types of scheduling information for one or more downlink channels and uplink channels. Scheduling information may include downlink resource scheduling, uplink power control instructions, uplink resource grants, and indications for paging or system information. The RAN node 111 may transmit one or more downlink control information (DCI) messages on the PDCCH to provide scheduling information, such as the allocation of one or more PRBs. In some implementations, the DCI message transmits control information, such as a request for aperiodic CQI reporting, a UL power control command for a channel, and a notification of a slot format for a group of UEs 101. Downlink scheduling (e.g., allocating control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 101b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on a PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) a UE 101 or each UE in a group of UEs. In some implementations, the PDCCH carries information about transport formats and resource allocations related to a PDSCH channel, among other information. The PDCCH may also inform the UE 101 about transport format, resource allocation, and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) information for providing HARQ feedback on uplink channels based on PDSCH reception.

[0035] Downlink and uplink transmissions may occur in one or more component carriers (CCs). One or more bandwidth part (BWP) configurations may be configured for each component carrier. In some implementations, the DL BWP includes at least one control resource set (CORESET). In some implementations, a CORESET includes one or more PRBs in the frequency domain and one or more OFDM symbols in the time domain. In some implementations, a channel such as a PDCCH may be transmitted via one or more CORESETs, where each CORESET corresponds to a set of time-frequency resources. CORESET information may be provided to the UE 101, and the UE 101 may monitor the time-frequency resources associated with one or more CORESETs to receive PDCCH transmissions.

[0036] For NR, in some implementations, DL and UL transmissions may be organized into frames with 10 ms duration, each consisting of ten 1 ms subframes. The number of consecutive OFDM symbols per subframe may be In some implementations, each frame is divided into two equally sized half-frames of five subframes, each with half-frame 0 including subframes 0-4 and half-frame 1 including subframes 5-9. There is one set of frames in the UL and one set of frames in the DL on the carrier. The uplink frame number i for transmission from the UE will be in N TA,offset T starts before the start of the corresponding downlink frame at the UE given by 3GPP TS 38.213 TA =(N TA +N TA,offset )T c For a subcarrier spacing configuration μ, the time slots are numbered in increasing order within a subframe. and are numbered in increasing order within the frame as Existence in the time slot Consecutive OFDM symbols, where Depends on the cyclic prefix given in Tables 4.3.2-1 and 4.3.2-2 of 3GPP TS 38.211. Slots in a subframe The start of the OFDM symbol in the same subframe in time OFDM symbols in a time slot may be classified as "downlink", "flexible", or "uplink", where downlink transmissions occur in "downlink" or "flexible" symbols and UE 101 transmits in "uplink" or "flexible" symbols.

[0037] For each parameter and carrier, define subcarriers and The resource grid of symbols starts at a common There is a set of resource grids per transmission direction (i.e., uplink or downlink), where the subscript x is set to DL for downlink and x is set to UL for uplink. For a given antenna port p, subcarrier spacing configuration μ, and transmission direction (i.e., downlink or uplink), there is one resource grid.

[0038] In some implementations, RB is defined as In the frequency domain with subcarrier spacing configuration μ, the common RBs are numbered from 0 upwards. In some implementations, the center of subcarrier 0 of common resource block 0 with subcarrier spacing configuration μ coincides with “point A”. Common resource block numbering in the frequency domain The relationship between the resource elements (k, l) of the subcarrier spacing configuration μ is given by Given, where k is defined relative to point A such that k=0 corresponds to a subcarrier centered at point A. Point A is used as a common reference point for the resource block grid and is obtained from offsetToPointA for the PCell downlink, where offsetToPointA represents the frequency offset between point A and the lowest subcarrier of the lowest resource block, offsetToPointA has a subcarrier spacing provided by a higher layer parameter subCarrierSpacingCommon and overlaps with the synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block used by the UE 101 for initial cell selection, expressed in units of resource blocks, assuming a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz for FR1 and 60 kHz for FR2; and absoluteFrequencyPointA for all other cases, where absoluteFrequencyPointA represents the frequency position of point A as expressed in the ARFCN.

[0039] In some implementations, the PRBs for subcarrier configuration μ may be defined within a BWP and numbered from 0 to Where i is the number of BWPs. The physical resource blocks in BWPi With the public The relationship between Given, where is a common RB, where BWP starts relative to common RB 0. VRBs can be defined within a BWP and are numbered from 0 to Where i is the number of BWPs.

[0040] Furthermore, in NR-based systems, each element in the resource grid for antenna port p and subcarrier spacing configuration μ may be referred to as RE and may be represented by (k, l) p,μUniquely identifies a resource element (k, l), where k is an index in the frequency domain and l refers to the symbol position in the time domain relative to some reference point. p,μ Corresponding to physical resources and complex values In some implementations, antenna ports are defined such that a channel over which a symbol on the antenna port is transmitted can be inferred from a channel over which another symbol on the same antenna port is transmitted. In some implementations, two antenna ports are considered quasi-co-located if a large-scale property of a channel over which a symbol on one antenna port is transmitted can be inferred from a channel over which a symbol on another antenna port is transmitted. The large-scale property may include one or more of delay spread, Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters.

[0041] In some implementations, BWP is a given parameter set μ in BWPi on a given carrier. i A subset of contiguous common resource blocks as defined in clause 4.4.4.3 of 3GPP TS 38.211. Starting position and resource blocks in BWP The number of and The configuration of the BWP is described in clause 12 of 3GPP TS 38.213. In some implementations, the UE 101 may be configured with up to four BWPs in the DL, with a single DLBWP being active at a given time. It is not expected that the UE 101 receives PDSCH, PDCCH, or CSI-RS (except RRM) outside of the active BWP. In some implementations, the UE 101 may be configured with up to four BWPs in the UL, with a single UL BWP being active at a given time. If the UE 101 is configured with a supplemental UL, the UE 101 may be configured with up to four additional BWPs in the supplemental UL, with a single supplemental UL BWP being active at a given time. The UE 101 does not transmit PUSCH or PUCCH outside of the active BWP, and for active cells, the UE does not transmit SRS outside of the active BWP.

[0042] In some implementations, the PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 101. Typically, DL scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 101 within the cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on a PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 101. The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to transmit control information (e.g., DCI), and a group of CCEs may be referred to as a "control region." A control channel is formed by an aggregation of one or more CCEs, where different coding rates for the control channel are achieved by aggregating different numbers of CCEs. The CCEs are numbered from 0 to N. CCE,k -1, where N CCE,k -1 is the number of CCEs in the control region of subframe k. Before being mapped to REs, the PDCCH complex symbols may first be organized into quaternions, which may then be arranged using a subblock interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, each of which may correspond to nine sets of four physical REs, referred to as resource element groups ("REGs"). Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs may be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8 in LTE, L=1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 in NR). UE 101 monitors a set of PDCCH candidates on one or more activated serving cells as configured by higher layer signaling for control information (e.g., DCI), where monitoring means attempting to decode each of the PDCCHs (or PDCCH candidates) in the group according to all monitored DCI formats. UE 101 monitors (or attempts to decode) the corresponding PDCCH candidate set in one or more configured monitoring occasions according to the corresponding search space configuration.

[0043] In some NR implementations, the UE 101 monitors (or attempts to decode) the corresponding PDCCH candidate set in one or more configured monitoring opportunities in one or more configured CORESETs according to the corresponding search space configuration. A CORESET may include a PRB set having a duration of 1 to 3 OFDM symbols. A CORESET may additionally or alternatively include and in the time domain Symbol. A CORESET may include six REGs numbered in an ascending order in a time-first manner, where a REG is equal to one RB during one OFDM symbol. UE 101 may be configured with multiple CORESETs, where each CORESET is associated with one CCE to REG mapping. Interleaved and non-interleaved CCE to REG mappings are supported in a CORESET. Each REG that carries a PDCCH carries its own DMRS.

[0044] UE 101 may perform a 4-step or 2-step random access procedure to initiate data transmission. The 4-step or 2-step random access procedure may be triggered when a higher layer or PDCCH command requests a PRACH transmission. In some implementations, the 4-step random access procedure may include transmission of a random access preamble (Msg1) in PRACH, a random access response (RAR) message with PDCCH / PDSCH (Msg2), and, if applicable, a PUSCH transmission carrying Msg3 scheduled by a RAR UL grant, and a PDSCH transmission carrying Msg4 for contention resolution.

[0045] Figure 2 An example of a four-step process for an initial contention-based random access process in NR is shown. The process may also be referred to as a "RACH process". At 205, the UE transmits a PRACH in the uplink to the gNB including a randomly selected preamble signature (e.g., Msg1: Random Access Preamble). Transmitting the PRACH may enable the gNB to estimate the delay between the gNB and the UE for subsequent UL timing adjustments. In some implementations, the random access preamble may be selected according to clause 8.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213. At 210, the gNB transmits a RAR message (e.g., Figure 2 The RAR message may include timing advance (TA) command information and uplink grant for uplink transmission. In some implementations, the UE expects to receive the RAR within a time window, and the gNB configures the start and end of the time window via the SIB (System Information Block). In some implementations, various aspects of the random access procedure are based on Section 8 of 3GPP TS 38.213.

[0046] At 212, the UE adjusts its uplink timing based on the TA command information. At 215, the UE transmits an L2 / L3 message (e.g., Figure 2Msg3 in ). Msg3 may include a contention resolution identifier. Msg3 is a message transmitted on the UL-SCH containing a C-RNTI MAC control element (MAC CE) or a common control channel (CCCH) service data unit (SDU), which is submitted from higher layers and associated with the UE contention resolution identifier as part of the random access procedure. At 220, the UE receives a contention resolution message, also referred to as Msg4, from the gNB. If the UE locates its contention resolution identifier, the UE may send an acknowledgment on the PUCCH to complete the 4-step random access procedure.

[0047] Figure 3 An example of a two-step random access procedure is shown. This may also be referred to as a 2-step RACH procedure, which may include a first message called MsgA and a second message called MsgB. At 305, the UE sends a message to the gNB (e.g., Figure 1 The RAN node 111 transmits MsgA. MsgA includes a PRACH preamble and a PUSCH carrying a payload, and the PRACH preamble and the PUSCH are multiplexed in a time division multiplexing (TDM) manner. The PUSCH carrying a payload may include Figure 2 310, the gNB transmits MsgB to the UE. MsgB includes the contents of Msg2 and Msg4 of the 4-step RACH procedure. For the 2-step RACH procedure, MsgA is a signal for the gNB to detect the UE and its associated payload, while MsgB is used for contention resolution for contention-based random access (CBRA) with possible payload. MsgA may include equivalent information transmitted in Msg3 of the 4-step RACH procedure. Contention resolution in the 2-step RACH procedure is performed by including a UE identifier in a first message (e.g., MsgA), which is echoed in a second message (e.g., MsgB).

[0048] In some implementations, before initiating (or triggering) a PRACH process, L1 receives a set of SS / PBCH block indices from a higher layer and provides a corresponding set of RSRP measurements to the higher layer. The information received by L1 from the higher layer includes: configuration of PRACH transmission parameters (e.g., PRACH preamble format, time resources, and frequency resources for PRACH transmission); and parameters for determining the root sequence and its cyclic shift in the PRACH preamble sequence set (e.g., index to the logical root sequence table, cyclic shift (N CS ) and set type (unrestricted, restricted set A or restricted set B). As described in clause 7.4 of 3GPP TS 38.213, using a transmission power of P PRACH,b,f,c The selected PRACH format of (i) transmits the PRACH on the indicated PRACH resources (see e.g. Figure 2 Step 205 (Msg1) and / or Figure 3 Step 305 (MsgA)).

[0049] In response to a PRACH transmission (see e.g. Figure 2 Step 210 (Msg2) and / or Figure 3 In step 305 (MsgA) of 3GPP TS 38.213, UE 101 attempts to detect DCI format 1_0 during a window controlled by higher layers, where the CRC is scrambled by the corresponding random access-RNTI (RA-RNTI) (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321). The window starts at the first symbol of the earliest CORESET for which UE 101 is configured to receive a PDCCH of a type 1-PDCCH CSS set, as defined in clause 10.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213, i.e., at least one symbol after the last symbol of a PRACH opportunity corresponding to a PRACH transmission, where the symbol duration corresponds to the SCS of the type 1-PDCCH CSS set as defined in clause 10.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213. The window length in number of slots is provided by ra-ResponseWindow, which is based on the SCS of the type 1-PDCCH CSS set.

[0050] If the UE 101 detects a transport block in DCI format 1_0 and corresponding PDSCH with CRC scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI within the window, the UE 101 passes the transport block to the higher layer. The higher layer parses the transport block to obtain the random access preamble identifier (RAPID) associated with the PRACH transmission. If the higher layer recognizes the RAPID in the RAR message of the transport block, the higher layer indicates an uplink grant to the physical layer. This is called a random access response (RAR) UL grant in the physical layer.

[0051] The RAR UL grant may schedule a PUSCH transmission from UE 101 (see e.g. Figure 2 Step 215 (Msg3) and / or Figure 3 Step 310 (MsgB) of ). In some specific implementations, the content of the RAR UL grant is provided by Table 1. If the value of the frequency hopping flag is 0, the UE 101 transmits the PUSCH without frequency hopping; otherwise, the UE 101 transmits the PUSCH with frequency hopping. The UE 101 determines the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for PUSCH transmission based on the sixteen indices of the applicable MCS index table for PUSCH, as described in 3GPP TS 38.214. The TPC command value δ msg2,b,f,cUsed to set the power of PUSCH transmission (as described in clause 7.1.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213) and interpreted according to Table 2. The CSI request field is reserved.

[0052] RAR Authorization Field Number of digits Frequency Hopping Mark 1 PUSCH frequency resource allocation 14 PUSCH time resource allocation 4 MCS 4 TPC commands for PUSCH 3 CSI Request 1

[0053] Table 1: Random access response grant content field size

[0054]

[0055]

[0056] Table 2: TPC commands for PUSCH

[0057] In some implementations, if the UE 101 does not detect a DCI format 1_0 with a CRC scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI within the window, or if the UE 101 does not correctly receive a transport block in the corresponding PDSCH within the window, or if the higher layers do not recognize the RAPID associated with the PRACH transmission from the UE, the higher layers may indicate to the physical layer to transmit the PRACH. If requested by the higher layers, the UE 101 expects the PRACH to be transmitted no later than N after the last symbol of the window or the last symbol of the PDSCH reception. T,1 +0.75 ms to transmit PRACH, where N T,1 is the duration of N1 symbols, which corresponds to the PDSCH reception time for UE 101 processing capability 1 when additional PDSCH DM-RS is configured.

[0058] If UE 101 detects DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI and receives a transport block in the corresponding PDSCH, UE 101 may assume the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property, as described in 3GPP TS 38.214, as the same SS / PBCH blocks or CSI-RS resources used for PRACH association for UE 101, as described in clause 8.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213, regardless of whether the TCI-state of the CORESET is provided for UE 101, where UE 101 receives PDCCH with DCI format 1_0. If the UE 101 attempts to detect a DCI format 1_0 (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321) in which the CRC is scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI in response to a PRACH transmission initiated by a PDCCH command (which triggers a non-contention-based random access procedure for the SpCell), the UE 101 may assume that the PDCCH including the DCI format 1_0 and the PDCCH command have the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property. If the UE 101 attempts to detect a DCI format 1_0 in which the CRC is scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI in response to a PRACH transmission initiated by a PDCCH command (which triggers a non-contention-based random access procedure for the secondary cell), the UE 101 may assume the DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property of the CORESET associated with the type 1-PDCCH CSS set used to receive the PDCCH including the DCI format 1_0.

[0059] In some implementations, unless the UE 101 is configured with a subcarrier spacing (SCS), the UE 101 receives subsequent PDSCHs using the same SCS as for the PDSCH reception providing the RAR message. If the UE 101 does not detect a DCI format with a CRC scrambled by the corresponding RA-RNTI within the window or the UE 101 does not correctly receive the corresponding transport block, the UE 101 process may be as described in 3GPP TS 38.321.

[0060] UE 101 transmits Msg3 or MsgB in response to the RAR (see, e.g. Figure 2 Step 215 (Msg3) and / or Figure 3Step 310 (MsgB) of 3GPP TS 38.211). As described in clause 12 of 3GPP TS 38.211, the active UL BWP for PUSCH transmission scheduled by the RAR UL grant may be indicated by a higher layer. To determine the frequency domain resource allocation for PUSCH transmission within the active UL BWP, if the active UL BWP and the initial UL BWP have the same SCS and the same CP length and the active UL BWP includes all RBs of the initial UL BWP, or the active UL BWP is the initial UL BWP, the initial UL BWP is used; otherwise, the RB numbering starts from the first RB of the active UL BWP, and the maximum number of RBs of the frequency domain resource allocation is equal to the number of RBs in the initial UL BWP.

[0061] Frequency domain resource allocation is performed by uplink resource allocation type 1 (see, for example, 3GPP TS 38.214). RBs, UE 101 processes the frequency domain resource allocation field as follows: The frequency domain resource allocation field is truncated to its The least significant bit is the least significant bit, and the truncated frequency resource allocation field is interpreted for the frequency resource allocation field of DCI format 0_0 as described in 3GPP TS38.212; otherwise, N UL,hop The value after the bit is set to "0" The most significant bit is inserted into the frequency domain resource allocation field, where if the frequency hopping flag is set to "0", then N UL,hop = 0, and if the frequency hopping flag bit is set to "1", then N is provided in Table 3 UL,hop , and the extended frequency resource allocation field is interpreted for the frequency resource allocation field of DCI format 0_0 as described in 3GPP TS 38.212; otherwise, the UE 101 is indicated by msg3-transformPrecoder, indicating whether the UE 101 should apply transform precoding for PUSCH transmissions scheduled by RAR UL grants, as described in 3GPP TS 38.211. For frequency hopping PUSCH transmissions scheduled by RAR UL grants, the frequency offset of the second hop is given in Table 3 (see, for example, 3GPP TS 38.214).

[0062]

[0063] Table 3: Frequency offset of the second hop of a PUSCH transmission scheduled by an RAR UL grant

[0064] The SCS for PUSCH transmission may be provided by SubcarrierSpacing in BWP-UplinkCommon. UE 101 transmits PRACH and PUSCH on the same uplink carrier of the same serving cell. UE 101 transmits transport blocks in PUSCH scheduled by RAR UL grant in the corresponding RAR message using redundancy version number 0. For Msg3, PUSCH retransmissions of the transport blocks (if any) are scheduled by DCI format 0_0, where the CRC is scrambled by the TC-RNTI provided in the corresponding RAR message (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321). UE 101 transmits PUSCH scheduled by RAR UL grant without repetition.

[0065] Referring to the time slot of the PUSCH transmission scheduled by the RAR UL grant, if UE 101 receives a PDSCH from the UE that ends in time slot n for the corresponding PRACH transmission RAR message, then UE 101 transmits PUSCH in time slot n+k2+Δ, where k2 and Δ are provided in 3GPP TS 38.214.

[0066] UE 101 may assume that the minimum time between the last symbol of the PDSCH reception conveying a RAR message with a RAR UL grant and the initial symbol of the corresponding PUSCH transmission scheduled by the RAR UL grant is equal to N T,1 +N T,2 +0.5 ms, where N T,1 is the duration of N1 symbols, which corresponds to the PDSCH reception time for UE 101 processing capability 1 when additional PDSCH DM-RS is configured, N T,2 is the duration of N2 symbols, which corresponds to the PUSCH preparation time for UE 101 processing capability 1 (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.214), and to determine this minimum time, UE 101 considers that N1 and N2 correspond to the smaller of the SCS configurations of PDSCH and PUSCH.

[0067] After transmitting Msg3, UE 101 receives the PDSCH with the UE contention resolution indicator (see, for example Figure 2 Step 220 (Msg4) and / or Figure 3Step 310 (MsgB) of . In response to a PUSCH transmission scheduled by a RAR UL grant when a C-RNTI has not been provided to UE 101, UE 101 attempts to detect a DCI format 1_0 whose CRC is scrambled by the corresponding TC-RNTI that schedules a PDSCH including a UE contention resolution identifier (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321). In response to a PDSCH reception with a UE contention resolution identifier, UE 101 transmits HARQ-ACK information in a PUCCH. The PUCCH transmission is within the same active UL BWP as the PUSCH transmission. The minimum time between the last symbol of a PDSCH reception and the first symbol of a corresponding PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information is equal to N T,1 +0.5 ms. N T,1 is the duration of N1 symbols, which corresponds to the PDSCH reception time for UE processing capability 1 when additional PDSCH DM-RS is configured.

[0068] When a DCI format is detected in response to a PUSCH transmission scheduled by a RAR UL grant (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321) or a corresponding PUSCH retransmission scheduled by DCI format 0_0 (where the CRC is scrambled by the TC-RNTI provided in the corresponding RAR message) (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.321), UE 101 may assume that the PDCCH carrying the DCI format has the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.214) as the SS / PBCH blocks used for PRACH association for UE 101 (see, e.g., clause 8.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213), regardless of whether the TCI-state of the CORESET in which UE 101 receives the PDCCH with the DCI format is provided.

[0069] UE 101 may report uplink control information (UCI) in the PUCCH. The types of UCI reported in the PUCCH include HARQ-ACK information, SR, and / or CSI. The UCI bits include HARQ-ACK information bits (if any), SR information bits (if any), and CSI bits (if any). In some implementations, the HARQ-ACK information bits correspond to the HARQ-ACK codebook as described in clause 9.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213. UE 101 may 1 symbols in a time slot, one or two PUCCHs are transmitted on the serving cell in different symbols within a time slot of 100 symbols, as defined in 3GPP TS 38.211. When UE 101 transmits two PUCCHs in a time slot, at least one of the two PUCCHs uses PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 2. To determine the number of PRBs in clauses 9.2.3, 9.2.5.1, and 9.2.5.2 of 3GPP TS 38.213, if the number of corresponding UCI bits is greater than or equal to 360, UE 101 assumes 11 CRC bits; otherwise, UE 101 determines the number of CRC bits based on the number of corresponding UCI bits as described in 3GPP TS 38.212. In addition, PUCCH transmissions with HARQ-ACK information may be subject to the restrictions on UE 101 transmissions as described in clauses 11.1 and clause 11.1.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213.

[0070] If UE 101 is not transmitting PUSCH and UE 101 is transmitting UCI, UE 101 transmits UCI in PUCCH using the following: if the transmission exceeds 1 symbol or 2 symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK information bits with positive or negative SR (HARQ-ACK / SR bits) is 1 or 2, use PUCCH format 0; if the transmission exceeds 4 or more symbols and the number of HARQ-ACK / SR bits is 1 or 2, use PUCCH format 1; if the transmission exceeds 1 symbol or 2 symbols and the number of UCI bits is greater than 2, use PUCCH format 2; if the transmission exceeds 4 or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is greater than 2, and the PUCCH resources do not include orthogonal cover codes, use PUCCH format 3; and / or if the transmission exceeds 4 or more symbols, the number of UCI bits is greater than 2, and the PUCCH resources include orthogonal cover codes, use PUCCH format 4.

[0071] If the UE 101 is configured with a single value for pucch-SpatialRelationInfoId, the spatial setting for PUCCH transmission may be provided by PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo; otherwise, if the UE 101 is provided with multiple values ​​for PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo, the UE 101 determines the spatial setting for PUCCH transmission as described in 3GPP TS 38.321. The UE 101 applies the corresponding actions in 3GPP TS 38.321 and the corresponding settings of the spatial domain filter to transmit the PUCCH 3ms after the time slot, where the UE 101 transmits the ACK value corresponding to the HARQ-ACK information received by the PDSCH providing the PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo. If PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo provides ssb-Index, the UE 101 transmits PUCCH using the same spatial domain filter as for reception of SS / PBCH blocks, where the index of the SS / PBCH block is provided by the ssb-Index for the same serving cell (or if servingCellId is provided, for the serving cell indicated by servingCellId); otherwise, if PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo provides csi-RS-Index, the UE 101 transmits PUCCH using the same spatial domain filter as for reception of CSI-RS, where the resource index of the CSI-RS is provided by the csi-RS-Index for the same serving cell (or if servingCellId is provided, for the serving cell indicated by servingCellId); otherwise, PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo provides srs, and the UE 101 transmits PUCCH using the same spatial domain filter as for transmission of SRS, where the resource index of the SRS is provided by the csi-RS-Index for the same serving cell and / or active UL The resource for the BWP (or for the serving cell indicated by servingCellId and / or for the UL BWP indicated by uplinkBWP if servingCellId and / or uplinkBWP are provided) is provided.

[0072] In some implementations, multiple DM-RS symbols for PUCCH transmission using PUCCH format 3 or 4 may be provided by additionalDMRS.For PUCCH transmission using PUCCH format 3 or 4, the use of π / 2-PBSK instead of QPSK may be indicated by pi2BPSK.

[0073] In some implementations, the UE 101 is not expected to transmit more than one PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information in a slot. For DCI format 1_0, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-Timing_Indicator field value maps to {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}. For DCI format 1_1, if present, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-Timing-Indicator field value maps to a set of multiple slots provided by dl-DataToUL-ACK as defined in Table 4.

[0074] For SPS PDSCH reception ending in slot n, UE 101 transmits PUCCH in slot n+k, where k is provided by the PDSCH-to-HARQ-Timing-Indicator field in DCI format 1_0 or in DCI format 1_1 (if present) that activates SPS PDSCH reception.

[0075] If UE 101 detects DCI format 1_1 that does not include the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field, and schedules PDSCH reception or activates SPS PDSCH reception that ends in time slot n, UE 101 provides corresponding HARQ-ACK information in a PUCCH transmission in time slot n+k, where k is provided by dl-DataToUL-ACK.

[0076] With reference to the time slot used for PUCCH transmission, if UE 101 detects DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 scheduling PDSCH reception ending in time slot n, or if UE 101 detects DCI format 1_0 indicating SPS PDSCH release by PDCCH reception ending in time slot n, UE 101 provides corresponding HARQ-ACK information in PUCCH transmission in time slot n+k, where k is the number of time slots and is indicated by the PDSCH-to-HARQ_Timing-Indicator field in the DCI format (if present) or provided by dl-DataToUL-ACK. k=0 corresponds to the last time slot of PUCCH transmission overlapping with PDSCH reception or with PDCCH reception in case of SPS PDSCH release.

[0077]

[0078] Table 4: Mapping of PDSCH-to-HARQ_Feedback Timing Indicator field value to number of slots

[0079] For PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information, UE 101 determines UCIThe PUCCH resource is determined after the PUCCH resource set of the HARQ-ACK information bits (see, e.g., clause 9.2.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213). The PUCCH resource determination is based on the PUCCH resource indicator field in the last DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 in the following DCI formats 1_0 or DCI formats 1_1 (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.212), which have the value of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_Feedback Timing Indicator field of the same time slot indicating the PUCCH transmission, the UE 101 detects these DCI formats 1_0 or DCI formats 1_1 and the UE 101 transmits the corresponding HARQ-ACK information in the PUCCH, wherein for the PUCCH resource determination, the detected DCI formats are first indexed in ascending order in the serving cell index for the same PDCCH monitoring opportunity and then indexed in ascending order in the PDCCH monitoring opportunity index.

[0080] In some implementations, the PUCCH resource indicator field value is mapped to a value of a PUCCH resource index set as defined in Table 5, which is provided by a ResourceList for a PUCCH resource from a PUCCH resource set provided by a PUCCH-ResourceSet having a maximum of eight PUCCH resources.

[0081] For the first PUCCH resource set, and when the size of resourceList is R PUCCH When the value of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_FeedbackTimingIndicator field indicates the same time slot used for PUCCH transmission, the UE 101 determines that the PDCCH with index r is greater than eight, when the UE 101 provides HARQ-ACK information in a PUCCH transmission in response to detecting the last DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 in the DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 in the PDCCH reception (where the value of the PDSCH-to-HARQ_FeedbackTimingIndicator field indicates the same time slot used for PUCCH transmission). PUCCH PUCCH resources, 0≤r PUCCH ≤R PUCCH -1, such as

[0082]

[0083] Where N CCE,p is the number of CCEs in CORESETp for PDCCH reception of DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 as described in clause 10.1, n CCE,p is the index of the first CCE received for PDCCH, and Δ PRIIt is the value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1.

[0084]

[0085] Table 5: PUCCH resource indication field values ​​to PUCCH resources in a PUCCH resource set with a maximum of 8 PUCCH resources Source Mapping

[0086] If UE 101 detects a first DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 indicating a first resource for PUCCH transmission with corresponding HARQ-ACK information in a time slot and also detects a second DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1 indicating a second resource for PUCCH transmission with corresponding HARQ-ACK information in a time slot at a later time, then if a PDCCH including the second DCI format is received no earlier than N3 symbols from the first symbol of the first resource for PUCCH transmission in the time slot, then UE 101 is expected not to multiplex HARQ-ACK information corresponding to the second DCI format in the PUCCH resources in the time slot, wherein, for UE 101 processing capability 1 and SCS configuration μ, N3=8 when μ=0, N3=10 when μ=1, N3=17 when μ=2, N3=20 when μ=3, and for UE 101 processing capability 1 and SCS configuration μ, N3=8 when μ=0, N3=10 when μ=1, N3=17 when μ=2, N3=20 when μ=3, and N3=20 when μ=4 for UE 101 processing capability 1 and SCS configuration μ 101 processing capacity 2 and SCS configuration μ, when μ=0, N3=3, when μ=1, N3=4.5, when μ=2, N3=9.

[0087] In some implementations, if UE 101 transmits HARQ-ACK information corresponding only to a PDSCH reception without a corresponding PDCCH, then n1PUCCH-AN provides a PUCCH resource for a corresponding PUCCH transmission with HARQ-ACK information. In some implementations, if UE 101 transmits a PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information using PUCCH format 0, then UE 101 determines the values ​​m0 and m1 used to calculate the value of the cyclic shift α. CS (See, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.211), where m0 is provided by the initialCyclicShift of PUCCH-format0, or if initialCyclicShift is not provided, by the initial cyclic shift index as described in clause 9.2.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213, and m CS It is determined according to the value of one HARQ-ACK information bit or according to the value of two HARQ-ACK information bits, as shown in Table 6 and Table 7 respectively.

[0088] HARQ-ACK value 0 1 Sequence cyclic shift <![CDATA[m CS =0]]> <![CDATA[m CS =6]]>

[0089] Table 6: Mapping of a HARQ-ACK information bit value to a PUCCH format 0 sequence

[0090] HARQ-ACK value {0,0} {0,1} {1,1} {1,0} Sequence cyclic shift <![CDATA[m CS =0]]> <![CDATA[m CS =3]]> <![CDATA[m CS =6]]> <![CDATA[m CS =9]]>

[0091] Table 7: Mapping of two HARQ-ACK information bit values ​​to PUCCH format 0 sequences

[0092] If UE 101 uses PUCCH format 1 to transmit PUCCH with HARQ-ACK information, the value for m0 is provided to UE 101 by initialCyclicShift of PUCCH-format1. PUCCH format 2 or PUCCH format 3 is used to transmit PUCCH with 0 ACK HARQ-ACK information bits and O CRC If the PUCCH is a single-digit number, the number of PRBs that UE 101 will use for PUCCH transmission Determined as the minimum number of PRBs, which is less than or equal to the number of PRBs provided by nrofPRBs of PUCCH-format2 or nrofPRBs of PUCCH-format3, respectively, and starting from the first PRB in the number of PRBs This leads to And if but in Q m and r are defined in clause 9.2.5.2 of 3GPP TS 38.213. If Then UE 101 passes PRBs are used to transmit PUCCH.

[0093] The RAN nodes 111 are configured to communicate with each other using the interface 112. In an example, such as if the system 100 is an LTE system (eg, when the core network 120 is Figure 2101 ), the interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 120, or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 120, or both. In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to 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 primary eNB to the secondary eNB; information about successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP protocol data units (PDUs) from the secondary eNB to the UE 101 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 101; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the secondary eNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from the source eNB to the target eNB, or user plane transmission control; load management function; inter-cell interference coordination function; and so on.

[0094] In some implementations, such as when the system 100 is a 5G NR system (e.g., when the core network 120 is a 5G core network), the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. The Xn interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5G core network 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5G core network 120, or between two eNBs connected to the 5G core network 120, or a combination of the above. In some 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 functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE 101 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED), including functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 111; and the like. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111, and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP-U) layer for carrying user plane PDUs on top of a user datagram protocol (UDP) or IP layer or both. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP or XnAP)) and a transport network layer built on a stream control transmission protocol (SCTP). SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack or the Xn-C protocol stack or both may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0095] RAN 110 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network 120 (referred to as "CN 120"). CN 120 includes one or more network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 101) connected to CN 120 using RAN 110. Components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes and may include 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 specific implementations, network function virtualization (NFV) may be used to virtualize some or all of the network node functions described herein using executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media, as will be described in further detail below. A logical instance of CN 120 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 120 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. 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, a NFV system may be used to perform virtual or reconfigurable implementations, or both, of one or more network components or functions.

[0096] The application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS packet service (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 101 using the CN 120 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.). The application server 130 may use the IP communication interface 125 to communicate with one or more network elements 122.

[0097] In some specific implementations, CN 120 may be a 5G core network (referred to as “5GC 120” or “5G core network 120”), and RAN 110 may be connected to CN 120 using a next generation interface 113. In some specific implementations, the next generation interface 113 may be divided into two parts: a next generation user plane (NG-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 111 and the UPF (user plane function); and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 111 and the access and mobility management function (AMF).

[0098] In some implementations, the CN 120 may be an EPC (referred to as “EPC 120” or the like), and the RAN 110 may be connected to the CN 120 using an S1 interface 113. In some implementations, the S1 interface 113 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 111 and a serving gateway (S-GW); and an S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 111 and a mobility management entity (MME).

[0099] In some implementations, some or all of the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a cloud RAN (CRAN) and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). The CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN functional split, such as a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) split, where the radio resource control (RRC) and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and other layer 2 (e.g., data link layer) protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 111; a medium access control (MAC) / physical layer (PHY) split, where the RRC, PDCP, MAC, and radio link control (RLC) layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111; or a "lower PHY" split, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers and the upper portion of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portion of the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 111. The virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 111 to execute, for example, other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a single RAN node 111 may represent a single virtualized application using each F1 interface ( Figure 1 ) are connected to the gNB Central Unit (CU). In some implementations, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Figure 4 ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110 or by a server pool in a manner similar to the CRAN / vBBUP. In addition or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), including a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 101 and is connected to a 5G core network (e.g., the core network 120) using a next generation interface.

[0100] In a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 111 may be or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" refers 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 some specific implementations, 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 101 (vUE 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications or other 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) or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications, or both. 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 or a backhaul network, or both.

[0101] Figure 4 An example of infrastructure equipment 400 is shown. Infrastructure equipment 400 (or "system 400") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 111 shown and described previously), an application server 130, or any other component or device discussed herein. In other examples, system 400 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0102] System 400 includes: application circuit 405, baseband circuit 410, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 415, memory circuit 420, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 425, power tee circuit 430, network controller circuit 435, network interface connector 440, satellite positioning circuit 445 and user interface circuit 450. In some implementations, system 400 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory, storage, display, camera, one or more sensors or input / output (I / O) interfaces or combinations thereof. In other examples, the components described with reference to system 400 may be included in more than one device. For example, various circuits may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other implementations.

[0103] The application circuit 405 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, 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), 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 405 may be coupled to or may include a memory or storage element, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory or storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 400. In some implementations, the memory or storage element may include on-chip memory circuitry that may include any suitable volatile or nonvolatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, or combinations thereof as well as other types of memory.

[0104] The processor of the application circuit 405 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 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 a combination thereof, etc. In some specific implementations, the application circuit 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor or controller configured to perform the various techniques described herein. In some specific implementations, the system 400 may not utilize the application circuit 405, and may instead include a dedicated processor or controller to process, for example, IP data received from the EPC or 5GC.

[0105] In some implementations, the application circuit 405 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) or deep learning (DL) accelerators or both. In some implementations, 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) or high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs); ASICs, such as structured ASICs; programmable SoCs (PSoCs), or combinations thereof, etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 405 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions described herein. In some implementations, the circuitry of application circuit 405 may include a memory unit (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM) or an antifuse)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, or other data in a lookup table (LUT) or the like.

[0106] The user interface circuit 450 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 400 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system 400. 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, or a combination thereof, 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.

[0107] The radio front end module (RFEM) 415 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., Figure 6 The baseband circuit 410 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.

[0108] The memory circuit 420 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM); and a non-volatile memory (NVM), such as a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), or a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), or a combination thereof, etc. For example, the memory circuit 420 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in packaged integrated circuit, a socketed memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0109] The PMIC 425 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 430 may provide power extracted from the network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 400 using a single cable.

[0110] The network controller circuit 435 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to and from the infrastructure equipment 400 using a network interface connector 440 using a physical connection, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 435 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs, or both, for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 435 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0111] The positioning circuit 445 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted or broadcast by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of 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) for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 445 may include 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 specific implementations, the positioning circuit 445 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking and estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 445 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 410 or the RFEM 415 or both to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 445 may also provide data (e.g., location data, time data) to the application circuit 405, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures (e.g., RAN node 111, etc.).

[0112] Figure 5An example of a platform 500 (or "device 500") is shown. In some implementations, the computer platform 500 may be suitable for use as a UE 101, 201, 301, an application server 130, or any other component or device discussed herein. The platform 500 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components (or portions thereof) of the platform 500 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof adapted in the computer platform 500, or as components otherwise incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. Figure 5 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of platform 500. However, in some implementations, platform 500 may include fewer, additional, or alternative components, or Figure 5 Different arrangements of components are shown.

[0113] The application circuit 505 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces (such as SPI), I2C or general programmable serial interface modules, RTCs, timer-counters (including interval timers and watchdog timers), general I / Os, memory card controllers (such as SD MMC or similar controllers), USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 505 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory or storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 500. In some specific implementations, the memory or storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit, which may include any suitable volatile memory or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, or combinations thereof, as well as other types of memory.

[0114] The processor of the application circuit 505 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 specific implementations, the application circuit 405 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for performing the techniques described herein. In some specific implementations, the application circuit 505 may be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 505 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package.

[0115] In some implementations, the application circuit 505 may include: circuits, such as but not limited to one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs; PLDs such as CPLDs, HCPLDs; ASICs such as structured ASICs; PSoCs, or combinations thereof, etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 505 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 described herein. In some implementations, the application circuit 505 may include memory cells, such as EPROMs, EEPROMs, flash memory, static memory (such as SRAM or anti-fuse) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, or other data in LUTs, etc.

[0116] Baseband circuit 510 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Figure 6 The various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 510 are discussed.

[0117] The RFEM 515 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs. In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., Figure 6 The antenna array 611 of the platform 500 may be connected to a plurality of antennas. In some implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 515 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter wave. In some implementations, the RFEM 515, the baseband circuit 510, or both are included in the transceiver of the platform 500.

[0118] The memory circuit 520 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 520 may include one or more of volatile memory (such as RAM, DRAM, or SDRAM) and NVM (such as high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), PRAM, or MRAM), or a combination thereof, etc. In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 520 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 505. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 520 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, for example, a solid-state drive (SSD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory, etc.

[0119] The removable memory circuit 523 may include a device, circuit, housing, case, port or socket, etc. for coupling a portable data storage device to the platform 500. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage and may include, for example, a flash memory card (e.g., a secure digital (SD) card, a micro SD card, an xD picture card), as well as a USB flash drive, an optical disk, or an external HDD or a combination thereof, etc. The platform 500 may also include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting an external device to the platform 500. External devices connected to the platform 500 using the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 521 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 522, as well as a removable memory device coupled to the removable memory circuit 523.

[0120] Sensor circuit 521 includes a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment and send information about the detected events (e.g., sensor data) to one or more other devices, modules, or subsystems. Examples of such sensors include: an inertial measurement unit (IMU), such as an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, or a magnetometer; a liquid 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 audio capture device, or a combination thereof, etc.

[0121] The EMC 522 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable the platform 500 to change its state, position, or orientation or to move or control a mechanism, system or subsystem. In addition, the EMC 522 may be configured to generate messages or signaling and send messages or signaling to other components of the platform 500 to indicate the current state of the EMC 522. Examples of EMC 522 include one or more power switches, relays (such as electromechanical relays (EMRs) or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors or stepper motors), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, or combinations thereof, in addition to other electromechanical components. In some specific implementations, the platform 500 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 522 based on one or more capture events, instructions or control signals received from a service provider or a client or both.

[0122] In some specific implementations, the interface circuit can connect the platform 500 with the positioning circuit 545. The positioning circuit 545 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding a signal transmitted or broadcast by a positioning network of a GNSS. The positioning circuit 545 includes 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 specific implementations, the positioning circuit 545 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking or estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 545 can also be a part of the baseband circuit 510 or the RFEM 515 or both or interact with it to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 545 can also provide data (e.g., position data, time data) to the application circuit 505, which can use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures (e.g., radio base stations) for turn-by-turn navigation applications, etc.

[0123] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 500 with a near field communication (NFC) circuit 540. The NFC circuit 540 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 540 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 500. The NFC circuit 540 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip or IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 540 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 540, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 540 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smart phone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) close to the platform 500.

[0124] The driver circuit 546 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 500. The driver circuit 546 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 500 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 500. For example, the driver circuit 546 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 500, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 521 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 521, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 522 or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 522, 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.

[0125] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 525 (also referred to as “power management circuit 525”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 500. Specifically, the PMIC 525 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to the baseband circuit 510. The PMIC 525 may be included when the platform 500 is capable of being powered by a battery 530, for example, when the device is included in a UE 101, 201, 301.

[0126] In some implementations, the PMIC 525 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 500. For example, if the platform 500 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 500 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for a longer period of time, the platform 500 may transition to the RRC_IDLE state, in which it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback or handover. This may allow the platform 500 to enter a very low power state in which it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers off again. In some implementations, the platform 500 may not receive data in the RRC_IDLE state, but must transition back to the RRC_CONNECTED state to receive data. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device may not be able to connect to the network and may lose power completely. Any data sent during this time may be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0127] The battery 530 can power the platform 500, but in some implementations, the platform 500 can be deployed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 530 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, or a lithium-air battery, etc. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 530 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0128] The user interface circuit 550 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 500, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 500 or peripheral component interfaces designed to implement interaction with peripheral components of the platform 500. The user interface circuit 550 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including 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, or a headset, or a combination thereof, 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 information). The output device circuitry may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, including one or more simple visual outputs or indicators (e.g., binary state indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as a display device or touch screen (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD), an LED display, a quantum dot display, or a projector), where the output of characters, graphics, or multimedia objects is generated or produced by the operation of the platform 500. The output device circuitry may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, or a printer. In some implementations, the sensor circuitry 521 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, or a motion capture device) and one or more EMCs may be used as an output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag 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, or a power interface.

[0129] Figure 6 6 and 615. The baseband circuit 610 may correspond to Figure 4 The baseband circuit 410 and Figure 5 The baseband circuit 510 of FIG. RFEM 615 may correspond to Figure 4 RFEM415 and Figure 5 RFEM 515. As shown, RFEM 615 may include radio frequency (RF) circuit 606, front end module (FEM) circuit 608, and antenna array 611 coupled together. In some implementations, RFEM 615, baseband circuit 610, or both are included in a transceiver.

[0130] The baseband circuitry 610 includes circuitry configured to execute various radio or network protocols and control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks using the RF circuitry 606. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation and demodulation, encoding and decoding, and radio frequency shifting. In some implementations, the modulation and demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping and demapping functions. In some implementations, the encoding and decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 610 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder and decoder functions. The modulation and demodulation and encoder and decoder functions are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other examples. The baseband circuitry 610 is configured to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 606 and to generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 606. The baseband circuitry 610 is configured to communicate with application circuitry (e.g., Figure 4 and Figure 5 4 and 505) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuitry 606. Baseband circuitry 610 may handle various radio control functions.

[0131] The aforementioned circuits and control logic components of the baseband circuit 610 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 604A, a 4G or LTE baseband processor 604B, a 5G or NR baseband processor 604C, or some other baseband processors 604D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G)). In some specific implementations, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 604A-604D may be included in a module stored in the memory 604G and executed using one or more processors such as a central processing unit (CPU) 604E. In some specific implementations, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 604A-604D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA or ASIC) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in corresponding memory units. In some implementations, the memory 604G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 604E (or other processor), is used to enable the CPU 604E (or other processor) to manage resources, schedule tasks, or perform other operations of the baseband circuit 610. In some implementations, the baseband circuit 610 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 604F. The audio DSP 604F may include elements for compression and decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in some implementations.

[0132] In some implementations, each of processors 604A-604E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to and receive data from memory 604G. Baseband circuit 610 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits or devices, such as an interface for sending data to and receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 610; an interface for sending data to and receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figure 4 and Figure 5 The application circuit interface for sending data to the application circuit 405, 505 and receiving data from the application circuit; Figure 6 RF circuit 606 to send data and receive data from the RF circuit; an RF circuit interface for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, A wireless hardware connection interface for sending data to and receiving data from wireless hardware elements (such as low-power components, Wi-Fi components, etc.); and a power management interface for sending power or control signals to and receiving power or control signals from the PMIC 525.

[0133] In some specific implementations (which may be combined with the above examples), the baseband circuit 610 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem, and the interface subsystem using an interconnection subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem using another interconnection subsystem. Each of the interconnection subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a network on chip (NOC) structure, or some other suitable bus or interconnection technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, etc. In some specific implementations, the baseband circuit 610 may include a protocol processing circuit having one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions to the digital baseband circuit or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 615).

[0134] In some implementations, the baseband circuit 610 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") for operating one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices for implementing PHY layer functions. In some implementations, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In some implementations, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers or entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. For example, when the baseband circuit 610 or the RF circuit 606 or both are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate an LTE protocol entity or a 5G NR protocol entity or both. In this example, the protocol processing circuit may operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In some implementations, when the baseband circuit 610 or the RF circuit 606 or both are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In this example, the protocol processing circuit may operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 604G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 610 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0135] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 610 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In some implementations, the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In some implementations, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the RF circuit 606 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In some implementations, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 606 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 606). In some implementations, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 610 and the application circuits 405, 505 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0136] In some implementations, the baseband circuit 610 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. The RF circuit 606 may use modulated electromagnetic radiation to achieve communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium. In some implementations, the RF circuit 606 may include switches, filters, or amplifiers and other components to facilitate communication with a wireless network. The RF circuit 606 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 608 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 610. The RF circuit 606 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 610 and providing RF output signals for transmission to the FEM circuit 608.

[0137] The receiving signal path of the RF circuit 606 includes a mixer circuit 606a, an amplifier circuit 606b, and a filter circuit 606c. In some specific implementations, the transmitting signal path of the RF circuit 606 may include a filter circuit 606c and a mixer circuit 606a. The RF circuit 606 also includes a synthesizer circuit 606d for synthesizing the frequency used by the mixer circuit 606a for the receiving signal path and the transmitting signal path. In some specific implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receiving signal path can be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 608 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 606d. The amplifier circuit 606b can be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 606c can be a low-pass filter (LPF) or a band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal can be provided to the baseband circuit 610 for further processing. In some implementations, the output baseband signal can be a zero-frequency baseband signal, but this is not required.In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path can include a passive mixer.

[0138] In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path can be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 606d to generate an RF output signal for the FEM circuit 608. The baseband signal can be provided by the baseband circuit 610 and can be filtered by the filter circuit 606c.

[0139] In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some implementations, the mixer circuit 606a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 606a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0140] In some implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals. In some implementations, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals, and the RF circuit 606 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and the baseband circuit 610 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuit 606. In some dual-mode examples, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, but the techniques described herein are not limited in this regard.

[0141] In some implementations, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, although other types of frequency synthesizers may also be used. For example, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. Synthesizer circuit 606d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on a frequency input and a frequency divider control input for use by mixer circuit 606a of RF circuit 606. In some implementations, synthesizer circuit 606d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0142] In some implementations, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 610 or the application circuit 405 / 505 according to the desired output frequency. In some implementations, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 405, 505.

[0143] The synthesizer circuit 606d of the RF circuit 606 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some implementations, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some implementations, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry output) to provide a fractional frequency division ratio. In some implementations, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. The delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0144] In some implementations, the synthesizer circuit 606d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other examples, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some implementations, the output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some implementations, the RF circuit 606 can include an IQ or polarity converter.

[0145] FEM circuitry 608 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 611, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 606 for further processing. FEM circuitry 608 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by RF circuitry 606 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in antenna array 611. Amplification by either the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be accomplished only in RF circuitry 606, only in FEM circuitry 608, or in both RF circuitry 606 and FEM circuitry 608.

[0146] In some implementations, the FEM circuit 608 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 608 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 608 may include an LNA to amplify a received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuit 606). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 608 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 606), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 611.

[0147] The antenna array 611 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 610 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted using the antenna elements of the antenna array 611 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 611 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 611 may be formed as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) of various shapes and may be coupled to the RF circuit 606 and / or the FEM circuit 608 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0148] The processor of the application circuit 405 / 505 and the processor of the baseband circuit 610 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 610 can perform layer 3, layer 2 or layer 1 functions individually or in combination, and the processor of the application circuit 405, 505 can utilize the data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0149] Figure 7 2 shows exemplary components of the communication circuit 700. In some implementations, the communication circuit 700 may be implemented as Figure 4 and Figure 5The communication circuit 700 may be communicatively coupled (e.g., directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as antennas 711a, 711b, 711c, and 711d. In some implementations, the communication circuit 700 includes or is communicatively coupled to dedicated receive chains, processors, or radio components, or a combination thereof, for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 7 As shown, the communication circuit 700 includes a modem 710 and a modem 720, which may correspond to or be Figure 4 and Figure 5 4 and 510. Modem 710 may be configured to communicate in accordance with a first RAT (such as LTE or LTE-A), and modem 720 may be configured to communicate in accordance with a second RAT (such as 5G NR). In some implementations, processor 705, such as an application processor, may interact with modems 710, 720.

[0150] The modem 710 includes one or more processors 712 and a memory 716 in communication with the processor 712. The modem 710 is in communication with a radio frequency (RF) front end 730, which may correspond to Figure 4 and Figure 5 RFEM 415 and 515 are shown or are part of them. RF front end 730 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 730 includes RX circuit 732 and TX circuit 734. In some specific implementations, receiving circuit 732 communicates with DL front end 752, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals from one or more antennas 711a. Transmitting circuit 734 communicates with UL front end 754, which is coupled to one or more antennas 711b.

[0151] Similarly, the modem 720 includes one or more processors 722 and a memory 726 in communication with the one or more processors 722. The modem 720 is in communication with the RF front end 740, which may correspond to Figure 4 and Figure 5RFEM 415 and 515 shown or part thereof. RF front end 740 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, RF front end 740 includes receiving circuit 742 and transmitting circuit 744. In some specific implementations, receiving circuit 742 may communicate with DL front end 760, and the DL front end may include circuits for receiving radio signals from one or more antennas 711c. Transmitting circuit 744 communicates with UL front end 765, and the UL front end is coupled to one or more antennas 711d. In some specific implementations, one or more front ends may be combined. For example, an RF switch may selectively couple modems 710, 720 to a single UL front end 772 for transmitting radio signals using one or more antennas.

[0152] The modem 710 may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operation) and various other technologies described herein. The processor 712 may include one or more processing elements configured to implement the various features described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on a memory 716 (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). In some specific implementations, the processor 712 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA or an ASIC. In some specific implementations, the processor 712 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the processor 712. For example, each IC may include a circuit configured to perform the functions of the processor 712.

[0153] The modem 720 may include hardware and software components for time division multiplexing UL data (e.g., for NSA NR operation) and various other techniques described herein. The processor 722 may include one or more processing elements configured to implement the various features described herein, such as by executing instructions stored on a memory 726 (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium). In some implementations, the processor 722 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA or ASIC. In some implementations, the processor 722 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the processor 722.

[0154] FIG. 8A to FIG. 8F Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown, including MAC functions. Fig. 8A Various protocol functions that can be implemented in a wireless communication device are shown. Specifically, Fig. 8A An arrangement 800 is included that shows 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. 8A The following description, but Fig. 8A Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0155] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 800 may also include one or more of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, SDAP 847, RRC 855, and NAS layer 857. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig. 8A Items 859, 856, 850, 849, 845, 835, 825 and 815).

[0156] PHY 810 can transmit and receive physical layer signals 805, which can be received or transmitted from one or more other communication devices to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 805 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 810 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 measurement items used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 855). PHY 810 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 810 may process a request from an instance of MAC 820 via one or more PHY-SAP 815 and provide an indication thereto. According to some specific implementations, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 815 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0157] An instance of MAC 820 processes requests from and provides indications to an instance of RLC 830 via one or more MAC-SAPs 825. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 825 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 820 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 810 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 810 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.

[0158] Figure 8BAn example of the structure of the MAC entity 820 is shown when a secondary cell group (SCG) is not configured. Note that a similar structure may be used when an SCG is configured. The MAC 820 entity of the UE 101 (and / or the RAN node 111) handles the following transport channels: broadcast channel (BCH); downlink shared channel (DL-SCH); paging channel (PCH); uplink shared channel (UL-SCH); and random access channel (RACH). When the UE 101 is configured with an SCG, two MAC 820 entities are configured to the UE 101: one for the primary cell group (MCG) and one for the SCG. Unless otherwise specified, the functions of the different MAC 820 entities in the UE 101 operate independently. Unless otherwise specified, the timers and parameters used in each MAC 820 entity are configured independently. Unless otherwise specified, the serving cell, C-RNTI, radio bearer, logical channel, higher and lower layer entities, logical channel group (LCG) and HARQ entity considered by each MAC 820 entity refer to those corresponding components mapped to the MAC 820 entity.

[0159] If the MAC 820 entity is configured with one or more secondary cells (SCells), each MAC entity has multiple DL-SCHs and may have multiple UL-SCHs and multiple RACHs; there is one DL-SCH, one UL-SCH, and one RACH on the SpCell, and one DL-SCH, zero or one UL-SCH, and zero or one RACH on each SCell. If the MAC 820 entity is not configured with any SCell, each MAC entity has one DL-SCH, one UL-SCH, and one RACH.

[0160] In addition, an instance of MAC 820 performs various aspects of a random access procedure, including various aspects of a 2-step or 4-step RACH procedure as discussed herein. For events in accordance with 3GPP TS 38.300, the random access procedure may be initiated by a PDCCH command, by the MAC entity 820 itself, or by the RRC 855. The RRC 855 configures the parameters discussed in Section 5.1.1 of 3GPP TS 38.321 for the random access procedure. In some implementations, at any point in time in an instance of MAC entity 820, there is a random access procedure in progress. In some implementations, an instance of MAC 820 selects a random access resource in accordance with Section 5.1.2 of 3GPP TS 38.321, transmits a random access preamble in accordance with Section 5.1.3 of 3GPP TS 38.321, and receives a RAR in accordance with Section 5.1.4 of 3GPP TS 38.321. Instances of MAC 820 also perform various contention resolution operations in accordance with Section 5.1.5 of 3GPP TS 38.321.

[0161] The uplink grant may be received dynamically on the PDCCH, in the RAR, or semi-permanently configured by the RRC 855. The MAC 820 entity uses the uplink grant to be transmitted on the UL-SCH. To perform the requested transmission, the MAC 820 receives HARQ information from lower layers. If the MAC entity has a C-RNTI, a temporary C-RNTI, or a CS-RNTI, the MAC entity performs the operations of Section 5.4.1 of 3GPP TS 38.321 for each PDCCH opportunity and for each serving cell belonging to a TAG with a running timeAlignmentTimer and for each grant received for that PDCCH opportunity.

[0162] An instance of MAC 820 performs multiplexing and assembly operations. The MAC 820 entity multiplexes MAC CE and MAC SDU in the MAC PDU according to clauses 5.4.3.1 and 6.1.2 of 3GPP TS 38.321. The multiplexing and assembly operations include logical channel prioritization (LCP). The LCP process is applied whenever a new transmission is performed. RRC 855 controls the scheduling of uplink data by signaling for each logical channel of each MAC 820 entity: priority, where increasing priority values ​​indicate lower priority levels; prioritizedBitRate, which sets the prioritized bit rate (PBR); and bucketSizeDuration, which sets the bucket size duration (BSD). RRC 855 additionally controls the LCP process by configuring mapping restrictions for each logical channel: allowedSCS-List, which sets the allowed subcarrier spacing for transmission; maxPUSCH-Duration, which sets the maximum PUSCH duration allowed for transmission; configuredGrantType1Allowed, which sets whether configured grant type 1 can be used for transmission; and allowedServingCells, which sets the allowed cells for transmission.

[0163] A UE variable Bj is used for the LCP procedure, which is maintained for each logical channel j. When a logical channel is established, the MAC 820 entity initializes Bj for the logical channel to zero. For each logical channel j, the MAC 820 entity increments Bj by the product PBR×T before each instance of the LCP procedure, where T is the time that has passed since Bj was last incremented; and if the value of Bj is greater than the bucket size (e.g., PBR×BSD): then the MAC 820 entity sets Bj to the bucket size. The exact moment when the UE updates Bj between LCP procedures depends on the UE specific implementation, as long as Bj is up to date when the grant is processed by the LCP.

[0164] The MAC 820 entity selects a logical channel for each UL grant when performing a new transmission. The logical channel for each UL grant may be selected to satisfy the following conditions: the set of allowed subcarrier spacing index values ​​in allowedSCS-List (if configured) includes the SCS index associated with the UL grant; and maxPUSCH-Duration (if configured) is greater than or equal to the PUSCH transmission duration associated with the UL grant; and configuredGrantType1Allowed (if configured) is set to true if the UL grant is configured grant type 1; and allowedServingCells (if configured) includes cell information associated with the UL grant. It does not apply to logical channels associated with DRBs configured with PDCP replication within the same MAC entity (e.g., CA replication) for which PDCP replication is deactivated. The SCS index, PUSCH transmission duration, and cell information are included in the uplink transmission information received from the lower layer for the corresponding scheduled uplink transmission.

[0165] When a new transmission is performed, the MAC 820 entity allocates resources to the logical channels as follows. The logical channels selected for the UL grant with Bj>0 in clause 5.4.3.1.2 of 3GPP TS 38.321 are allocated resources in descending priority order. If the PBR of the logical channel is set to infinity, the MAC entity should allocate resources for all data available for transmission on the logical channel before the PBR of the lower priority logical channel is met. Next, the MAC 820 entity may reduce Bj by the total size of the MAC SDU serving the above logical channel j (the value of Bj may be negative). If any resources remain, all logical channels selected in clause 5.4.3.1.2 can be served in a strictly decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until the data of the logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted (whichever comes first). Logical channels configured with equal priority can be served identically.

[0166] If the MAC 820 entity is requested to transmit multiple MAC PDUs simultaneously, or if the MAC 820 entity receives multiple UL grants within one or more overlapping PDCCH opportunities (eg, on different serving cells), it is UE-specific implementation dependent in which order the grants are processed. UE 101 (or MAC 820 entity) also follows the following rules during the above-mentioned scheduling process: if the entire SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLC PDU) fits into the remaining resources of the associated MAC entity, the UE 101 should not split the RLC SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLC PDU); if UE 101 splits RLC SDUs from logical channels, it may maximize the size of the segments to fill the grant of the associated MAC entity as much as possible; UE 101 may maximize the transmission of data; and / or if the MAC 820 entity is given a UL grant size equal to or greater than 8 bytes while having data available and allowed (according to clause 5.4.3.1 of 3GPP TS 38.321) for transmission, the MAC entity may not transmit only padding BSR and / or padding.

[0167] In some implementations, the MAC 820 entity does not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if the following conditions are met: the MAC 820 entity is configured with skipUplinkTxDynamic with a value of true, and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is addressed to the C-RNTI and is not included in the MsgB of the 2-step random access procedure, or the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant; there is no aperiodic CSI for the PUSCH transmission request, as specified in 3GPP TS38.212; the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and the MAC PDU includes a periodic buffer status report (BSR) and no data is available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only a padding BSR. In some implementations, the MAC 820 entity generates a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is included in the MsgB of the 2-step random access procedure.

[0168] Ability to prioritize logical channels according to the following order (highest priority listed first): C-RNTI MAC CE or data from UL-CCCH; Configuration authorization confirmation MAC CE; MAC CE for BSR, except BSR included for padding; single-entry PHR MAC CE or multi-entry PHR MAC CE; data from any logical channel, except data from UL-CCCH; MAC CE for recommended bit rate query; MAC CE for BSR included for padding.

[0169] The MAC PDU includes one or more MAC subPDUs and optionally includes padding. Each MAC subPDU may include: only a MAC subheader (including padding); a MAC subheader and a MAC SDU; a MAC subheader and a MAC CE; or a MAC subheader and padding. Each MAC subPDU may include one of the following: a MAC subheader with a backoff indicator only; a MAC subheader with a RAPID only (i.e., an acknowledgment of an SI request); or a MAC subheader with a RAPID and a MAC RAR.

[0170] Figure 8C An example of a MAC subheader with a backoff indicator (BI) including the five header fields E / T / R / R / BI is shown. If included, a MAC subPDU with only a backoff indicator is placed at the beginning of the MAC PDU. "MAC subPDU with RAPID only" and "MAC subPDU with RAPID and MAC RAR" may be placed anywhere between the MAC subPDU with only a backoff indicator (if any) and the padding (if any). Fig.8D An example of a MAC subheader with RAPID including three header fields E / T / RAPID is shown. If present, padding is placed at the end of the MAC PDU. The presence and length of the padding is implicit, based on the TB size, the size of the MAC subPDU.

[0171] Fig. 8E An example of a MAC PDU including a MAC RAR is shown. The MAC subheader of the RAR includes one or more of the following fields (and the MAC subheader is octet aligned). The MAC subheader may include an extension (E) field, which is a flag indicating whether the MAC subPDU including the MAC subheader is the last MAC subPDU in the MAC PDU or is not present therein. The E field is set to "1" to indicate that at least another MAC subPDU follows. The E field is set to "0" to indicate that the MAC subPDU including the MAC subheader is the last MAC subPDU in the MAC PDU.

[0172] The MAC subheader may include a Type (T) field, which is a flag indicating whether the MAC subheader contains a random access preamble ID or a backoff indicator. The T field is set to "0" to indicate the presence of the backoff indicator field in the subheader (BI). The T field is set to "1" to indicate the presence of the RAPID field in the subheader.

[0173] The MAC subheader may include a reserved (R) bit. The R bit may be set to zero. The MAC subheader may include a backoff indicator (BI) field that identifies an overload condition in the cell. The size of the BI field is 4 bits. The MAC subheader may include a RAPID field that identifies the transmitted random access preamble. In some implementations, the size of the RAPID field is 6 bits. In some implementations, if the RAPID in the MAC subheader of the MAC subPDU corresponds to one of the random access preambles configured for SI request, the MAC RAR is not included in the MAC subPDU.

[0174] Fig.8F An example of a MAC payload for a random access response ("MAC RAR") is shown. The MAC payload for a RAR may include Fig.8F The MAC RAR may be fixed and may be octet aligned. The MAC RAR may include one or more of the following fields. The RAR may include a reserved (R) bit. The R bit may be set to zero. The RAR may include a timing advance command field that indicates an index value T used to control the timing adjustment amount that the MAC entity must apply. A , see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.213. The size of the Timing Advance Command field is 12 bits. The RAR may include an Uplink Grant field, which indicates the resources to be used on the uplink (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.213). In some implementations, the size of the UL Grant field is 27 bits. In some implementations, the RAR may include a Temporary C-RNTI field, which indicates a temporary identity to be used by the MAC entity during the random access procedure. The size of the Temporary C-RNTI field is 16 bits.

[0175] An instance of RLC 830 may process requests from an instance of PDCP 840 and provide indications thereto via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 835. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 835 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 830 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 830 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 830 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.

[0176] An instance of PDCP 840 may process requests from an instance of RRC 855 and / or an instance of SDAP 847 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 845 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 845 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 840 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 layers when reestablishing lower layer SDUs 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.).

[0177] An instance of SDAP 847 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities and provide indications thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 849. These requests and indications transmitted via SDAP-SAP 849 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 847 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 847 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 110 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 847 of UE 101 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 847 of UE 101 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 110 may mark the DL packets with the QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 855 configuring the SDAP 847 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 847. In some implementations, the SDAP 847 may be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0178] The RRC 855 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 810, MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840, and SDAP 847, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In some implementations, instances of the RRC 855 may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 857 via one or more RRC-SAPs 856. The main services and functions of the RRC 855 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 101 and the RAN 110 (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. NAS 857 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 101 and AMF. NAS 857 may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 101 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0179] In some implementations, one or more protocol entities of arrangement 800 may be implemented in UE 101, RAN node 111, AMF in NR implementation or MME in LTE implementation, UPF in NR implementation or S-GW and P-GW in LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE 101, gNB 111, AMF, etc. are capable of communicating 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 implementations, the gNB-CU of gNB 111 may host the RRC 855, SDAP 847, and PDCP 840 of the gNB that control the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 111 may each host the RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 of gNB 111.

[0180] In some implementations, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 857, RRC 855, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810. In this example, upper layers 860 may be built on top of NAS 857, which includes an IP layer 861, SCTP 862, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 863.

[0181] In some NR implementations, AP 863 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 863 for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF, or AP 863 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 863 for the Xn interface 112 defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

[0182] The NG-AP 863 may support the functionality of the NG interface 113 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN point 111 and the AMF. The NG-AP 863 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 111 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF and the NG-RAN node 111; a mobility function for the UE 101 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 101 and the AMF; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF and the UE 101; 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 to transmit a warning message via the NG interface or cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 111 via the CN 120; and / or other similar functions.

[0183] The XnAP 863 may support the functionality of the Xn interface 112 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 110 (or E-UTRAN 110), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0184] In an LTE specific implementation, AP 863 can be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 for the S1 interface 113 defined between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME, or AP 863 can be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 863 for the X2 interface 112 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

[0185] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 863 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 111 and the MME within the LTE CN 120. The S1-AP 863 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.

[0186] The X2AP 863 may support the functions of the X2 interface 112 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 120, 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 101, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0187] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 862 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 862 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 111 and the AMF / MME based in part on the IP protocol supported by the IP 861. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 861 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 861 may deliver and transmit the PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 111 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0188] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 847, PDCP 840, RLC 830, MAC 820, and PHY 810 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 101, RAN node 111, and UPF in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW and P-GW in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 851 may be built on top of SDAP 847 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 852, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol layer (GTP-U) 853 for the user plane, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 863.

[0189] The transport network layer 854 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of the IP transport, and the GTP-U 853 may be used on top of the UDP / IP layer 852 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry the user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0190] GTP-U 853 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data may be a packet in any of the IPv4, IPv6 or PPP formats. UDP / IP 852 may provide a checksum for data integrity, a port number for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 111 and the S-GW may utilize the S1-U interface via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 810), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 820, RLC 830, PDCP 840 and / or SDAP 847), a UDP / IP layer 852, and a GTP-U 853 to exchange user plane data. The S-GW and the P-GW may utilize the S5 / S8a interface via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 852, and a GTP-U 853 to exchange user plane data. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility of UE 101 and session management procedures to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 101 and the P-GW.

[0191] In addition, despite Fig. 8A Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 863 and / or transport network layer 854. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 101, RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with, for example, a software application executed by an application circuit or application circuits, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as baseband circuits) of the UE 101 or RAN node 111. In some implementations, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0192] In order to reduce access delay, the 4-step RACH process can be simplified (for example, Figure 2 ) to allow fast access and low latency uplink transmission. The 4-step RACH process can be combined into a 2-step RACH process (e.g., Figure 3 ), where the UE combines Msg1 and Msg3 in a 4-step RACH process for low-latency PRACH transmission. In addition, the 2-step RACH process can also be beneficial to support MTC, where MTC devices can simply wake up using the 2-step RACH process, transmit uplink data and go back to sleep.

[0193] The 2-step RACH procedure may be used for initial access and handover. In some implementations, the 2-step RACH procedure may be triggered by the UE in RRC idle mode or RRC connected mode. If the 2-step RACH procedure is used for initial access, the parameters of the 2-step RACH procedure including resources for MsgA may be broadcast.

[0194] In the case where Msg2 and Msg4 are multiplexed in a single MsgB transmission carried by PDSCH and assuming that the MsgB transmission may be for multiple UEs (e.g., for UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE mode), the UE may provide feedback to the gNB to indicate whether the MsgB was successfully received. In the event that the UE does not successfully receive the MsgB, the gNB may schedule a retransmission of the MsgB for the UE. In order to enable these features, certain mechanisms for MsgB responses may need to be defined for a 2-step RACH procedure. The present disclosure provides techniques for providing such MsgB responses for a 2-step RACH procedure. Techniques for mapping between PRACH preambles and PUSCH resource elements for a 2-step RACH procedure are also disclosed.

[0195] The network may configure uplink resources for the UE to use or cause the UE to use predefined resources to transmit feedback in response to receiving MsgB. In some NR implementations, a PUCCH resource set that may include 256 PUCCH resources may be defined for initial access to the wireless network. In some implementations, a 4-bit field in the NR Remaining Minimum System Information (RMSI) is used to indicate one of the 16 cell-specific PUCCH resources. The 4-bit field is the pucch-ResourceCommon in the PUCCH-ConfigCommon IE, which can be used to configure cell-specific PUCCH parameters. Table 8 provides an excerpt example of the PUCCH-ConfigCommon information element. The information element may include a hoppingId field, which is a cell-specific scrambling code ID for group hopping and sequence hopping (if enabled) (see, for example, 3GPP TS 38.211, clause 6.3.2.2). The information element may include a p0-nominal field, which provides the power control parameter P0 for PUCCH transmission, whose value can be in dBm (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.213, clause 7.2). The information element may include a pucch-GroupHopping field: configuration of group hopping and sequence hopping for all PUCCH formats 0, 1, 3, and 4. An enabled value for this field may enable group hopping and disable sequence hopping, while a disabled value may disable group hopping and enable sequence hopping (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.211, clause 6.3.2.2). The element may include a pucch-ResourceCommon field, which represents an entry into a 16-row table, where each row configures a set of cell-specific PUCCH resources / parameters. The UE uses those PUCCH resources during initial access on the initial uplink BWP. Once the network provides a dedicated PUCCH-Config for this bandwidth part, the UE applies this bandwidth part instead of the bandwidth part provided in this field (see 3GPP TS 38.213, clause 9.2).

[0196]

[0197] Table 8

[0198] For initial access (e.g., HARQ-ACK feedback for the corresponding Msg4 transmission in a 4-step RACH procedure) or for a UE that is not provided with a dedicated PUCCH resource configuration, the PUCCH resource indicator (PRI) in the DCI and the starting control channel element (CCE) of the corresponding PDCCH can be used to determine the PUCCH resource from the 16 resources used to carry 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback.

[0199] If the UE does not have a dedicated PUCCH resource configuration that can be provided by PUCCH-ResourceSet in PUCCH-Config, the PUCCH resource set is provided by pucch-ResourceCommon by index to a row of Table 9 (which provides the PUCCH resource set before the dedicated PUCCH resource configuration) for use in The HARQ-ACK information is transmitted on the PUCCH in the initial UL BWP. The PUCCH resource set includes sixteen resources, each of which corresponds to the PUCCH format, first symbol, duration, PRB offset and a set of cyclic shift indices for PUCCH transmission. The UE transmits PUCCH using frequency hopping. An orthogonal cover code with index 0 is used for PUCCH resources with PUCCH format 1 in Table 9. In some implementations, the UE transmits PUCCH using the same spatial domain transmit filter as for PUSCH transmission scheduled by RAR UL grant (see, e.g., 3GPP TS 38.213, clause 8.3). In some implementations, the UE is not expected to generate more than one HARQ-ACK information bit before establishing an RRC connection, as described in 3GPP TS 38.331.

[0200]

[0201] Table 9: PUCCH resource set before dedicated PUCCH resource configuration

[0202] In some implementations, if the UE provides HARQ-ACK information in a PUCCH transmission in response to detecting a message based on DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, the UE determines that the UE has index r PUCCH PUCCH resources, 0≤r PUCCH ≤15, such as Where N CCE is the number of CCEs in the CORESET for PDCCH reception with DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1, n CCE,0 is the index of the first CCE received for PDCCH, and Δ PRI is the value of the PUCCH resource indicator field in DCI format 1_0 or DCI format 1_1. The UE determines the PRB index of the PUCCH transmission in the first hop as And the PRB index of the PUCCH transmission in the second hop is determined as Where N CS is the total number of initial cyclic shift indices in the initial cyclic shift index set; or / and the UE determines the initial cyclic shift index in the initial cyclic shift index set as r PUCCH mod NCS .if The UE determines the PRB index of the PUCCH transmission in the first hop as And the PRB index of the PUCCH transmission in the second hop is determined as Or / and the UE determines the initial cyclic shift index in the initial cyclic shift index set as (r PUCCH -8)mod N CS .

[0203] If the UE has a dedicated PUCCH resource configuration, the UE is provided with one or more PUCCH resources by higher layers. In some implementations, the PUCCH resources include the following parameters: the PRI provided by pucch-ResourceId; the index of the first PRB before frequency hopping or in the absence of frequency hopping provided by startingPRB; the index of the first PRB after frequency hopping provided by secondHopPRB; the indication of intra-slot frequency hopping provided by intraSlotFrequencyHopping; and the configuration of the PUCCH format (from PUCCH format 0 to PUCCH format 4) provided by the format parameter.

[0204] If the format parameter indicates PUCCH-format0, the PUCCH format configured for the PUCCH resource is PUCCH format 0, where the PUCCH resource also includes the index of the initial cyclic shift provided by initialCyclicShift, the number of symbols used for PUCCH transmission provided by nrofSymbols, and the first symbol used for PUCCH transmission provided by startingSymbolIndex. If the format indicates PUCCH-format1, the PUCCH format configured for the PUCCH resource is PUCCH format 1, where the PUCCH resource also includes the index of the initial cyclic shift provided by initialCyclicShift, the number of symbols used for PUCCH transmission provided by nrofSymbols, the first symbol used for PUCCH transmission provided by startingSymbolIndex, and the index of the orthogonal cover code provided by timeDomainOCC. If format indicates PUCCH-format2 or PUCCH-format3, the PUCCH format configured for the PUCCH resources is PUCCH format 2 or PUCCH format 3, respectively, where the PUCCH resources also include the number of PRBs provided by nrofPRBs, the number of symbols used for PUCCH transmission provided by nrofSymbols, and the first symbol used for PUCCH transmission provided by startingSymbolIndex. If format indicates PUCCH-format4, the PUCCH format configured for the PUCCH resources is PUCCH format 4, where the PUCCH resources also include the number of symbols used for PUCCH transmission provided by nrofSymbols, the length of the orthogonal cover code provided by occ-Length, the index of the orthogonal cover code provided by occ-Index, and the first symbol used for PUCCH transmission provided by startingSymbolIndex.

[0205] In some implementations, a UE may be configured with up to four PUCCH resource sets. A PUCCH resource set may be provided by PUCCH-ResourceSet and associated with a PUCCH resource set index provided by pucch-ResourceSetId, with a set of PUCCH resource indices provided by resourceList (which provides the set of pucch-ResourceIds used in the PUCCH resource set), and with a maximum number of UCI information bits that the UE can transmit using the PUCCH resources in the PUCCH resource set provided by maxPayloadMinus1. In some implementations, for one or more PUCCH resource sets, the maximum number of UCI information bits is 2. The maximum number of PUCCH resource indices for a PUCCH resource set may be provided by maxNrofPUCCH-ResourcesPerSet. In some implementations, the maximum number of PUCCH resources in a PUCCH resource set is 32, and the maximum number of PUCCH resources in another PUCCH resource set is 8.

[0206] In some implementations, if the UE transmits a 0 including HARQ-ACK information bit UCI UCI information bits, the UE determines the PUCCH resource set as follows: (1) If O UCI ≤2, including 1 or 2 HARQ-ACK information bits and a positive or negative SR at the SR transmission opportunity. If the transmission of HARQ-ACK information and SR occurs simultaneously, it is the first PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=0; (2) if provided by a higher layer, if 2<O UCI ≤N2, then it is the second PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=1, where if maxPayloadMinus1 is provided for the PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=1, then N2 is equal to maxPayloadMinus1; otherwise N2 is equal to 1706; (3) if provided by a higher layer, if N2<O UCI ≤ N3, then the third PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=2, where if maxPayloadMinus1 is provided for the PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=2, then N3 is equal to maxPayloadMinus1; otherwise N3 is equal to 1706; or (4) if provided by a higher layer and if N3<0 UCI ≤1706, it is the fourth PUCCH resource set with pucch-ResourceSetId=3.

[0207] MsgB transmission may be for multiple UEs (e.g., for UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE mode). Therefore, the UE may need to provide feedback to the gNB to indicate whether the MsgB was successfully received. When the UE does not receive the MsgB correctly, the gNB may schedule the retransmission of the MsgB for the UE.

[0208] In some implementations, the UL grant is included in the MAC CE of the MsgB for the 2-step RACH procedure. This may apply to contention-based random access (CBRA), contention-free random access (CFRA), or both. In addition, this may apply to UEs in RRC_IDLE mode, RRC_INACTIVE mode, or RRC_CONNECTED mode. This may also apply to some or all triggers of the 2-step RACH procedure. In some implementations, a PUSCH transmission based on the UL grant may indicate that the UE successfully received MsgB from the gNB. For some triggers, when the UE has no data in the buffer (e.g., the UE's MAC entity UL buffer, one or more HARQ process buffers, and / or Msg3 buffer), the UE may send dummy data on the PUSCH.

[0209] In some specific implementations, the MAC entity does not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if the following conditions are met: the MAC entity is configured with skipUplinkTxDynamic with a value of true, and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is addressed to the C-RNTI and is not included in the MsgB of the 2-step RACH process, or the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant; there is no aperiodic CSI for the PUSCH transmission request, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.212; the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and the MAC PDU includes only periodic BSRs and no data is available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only padding BSRs (see, for example, clause 5.4.3.1.3 in 3GPP TS 38.321). If the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is included in the MsgB of the 2-step RACH, the MAC entity may generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity.

[0210] In some implementations, for UEs in RRC_CONNECTED mode, MsgB transmission may be scheduled by PDCCH with CRC scrambled by C-RNTI. In some implementations, the UE may provide HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the MsgB transmission on PUCCH resources based on clause 9.2.3 of 3GPP TS 38.213. In some implementations, when the UE is provided with dedicated PUCCH resources, the UE may determine PUCCH resources from a configured PUCCH resource set based on PRI and starting CCE to transmit HARQ-ACK feedback. When the UE is not provided with dedicated PUCCH resources, the UE may determine PUCCH resources from a PUCCH resource set based on PRI and starting CCE to transmit HARQ-ACK feedback. In some implementations, the resource set may be configured by pucch-ResourceCommon.

[0211] When the UL grant is included in MsgB and the PRI is included in the DCI for scheduling MsgB transmission, the UE may transmit both PUSCH and HARQ-ACK feedback for the corresponding MsgB on the determined PUCCH resources. When PUCCH and PUSCH overlap in time in a time slot within a PUCCH group, the UE may multiplex HARQ-ACK on PUSCH and discard PUCCH transmission.

[0212] In some implementations, the UE may transmit one of the PUSCH or PUCCH carrying HARQ-ACK feedback. For example, the UE may transmit the PUSCH and discard the PUCCH transmission, or vice versa. In the former case, this may indicate that the UE will ignore the PRI field in the DCI scheduled MsgB transmission.

[0213] In some implementations, for UEs in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE modes, MsgB transmission may be scheduled by PDCCH with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI or RNTI associated with MsgB (which may be referred to as MsgB-RNTI). The RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI may be the same or different from the existing RA-RNTI defined for the Rel-15 4-step RACH procedure, which is used on the PDCCH when transmitting RAR messages and explicitly identifies the time-frequency resources used by the MAC entity to transmit the random access preamble.

[0214] Fig. 9 An example of a two-step random access procedure that also includes feedback transmission is shown. At 905, the UE transmits a first message (e.g., MsgA) of the two-step random access procedure to the gNB. In some implementations, the first message includes the following: Figure 3 MsgA shown.

[0215] At 910, the UE receives a DCI message from the gNB via the PDCCH in response to the first message and receives a second message of the two-step random access procedure via the PDSCH according to the DCI message. In some implementations, the second message includes: Figure 3 MsgB shown. The DCI message may schedule the second message, and the UE may use the DCI message to receive the second message on one or more scheduled resources. The CRC associated with the DCI message may be scrambled by an RNTI (such as a C-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI). In some implementations, the second message is included in a MAC CE or MAC PDU carried by a PDSCH. In some implementations, the second message includes an uplink grant field indicating one or more resources for an uplink. In some implementations, the determined PUCCH resources are based on the uplink grant field.

[0216] At 915, the UE determines the PUCCH resources based on the second message. In some implementations, the UE may receive information providing a configuration of a PUCCH resource set. The second message may include a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set, and the determined PUCCH resources may be based on the PUCCH resource indicator field.

[0217] At 920, the UE transmits HARQ-ACK feedback for the second message on the determined PUCCH resources. In some implementations, the second message includes a RAR message, the RAR message includes a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback may include using a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field. If the UE correctly detects the transport block associated with MsgB, the HARQ-ACK feedback may include an ACK. If the UE incorrectly detects the transport block associated with MsgB, the HARQ-ACK feedback may include a NACK.

[0218] In some implementations, transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback includes using a spatial domain transmit filter used in a previous PUSCH transmission from the UE (e.g., a PUSCH transmission associated with Msg A). In some implementations, the UE is configured to use the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property as for the SS / PBCH block that the UE uses for PRACH association.

[0219] Fig.10An example of a process for determining PUCCH resources for HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB transmission is shown. At 1005, the UE receives a PDCCH with a CRC scrambled by the MsgB-RNTI and a PDSCH carrying MsgB. At 1010, the UE determines PUCCH resources from a configured PUCCH resource set based on fields in the DCI in the PDCCH and / or the MAC CE in the MsgB and the RAPID of the associated MsgA PRACH. At 1015, the UE transmits HARQ-ACK feedback on the determined PUCCH resources. After 1015, the process may end or repeat as needed.

[0220] The PUCCH resource set for the 2-step RACH procedure can be configured using parameters such as the 4-bit pucch-ResourceCommon field in the RMSI. In some implementations, the PUCCH resource set includes 16 cell-specific PUCCH resources. In some implementations, in order to determine the PUCCH resources and transmission timing of the PUCCH from the configured PUCCH resource set, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator and / or the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH It can be included in the DCI scheduling MsgB transmission or in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB.

[0221] In some implementations, a K-bit PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator may be included in the DCI for scheduling MsgB transmissions, which may reuse the reserved bits in the DCI format with CRC scrambled by MsgB-RNTI or RA-RNTI, where K may be predefined (e.g., K=3) or configured by NR RMSI, NR Other System Information (OSI), or RRC signaling. In some implementations, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator value may be an integer between 1 and 8.

[0222] The gNB may use DCI format 1_0 for scheduling of PDSCH in one DL cell, where the following information is transmitted in DCI format 1_0 scrambled by MsgB-RNTI with the help of CRC: Frequency domain resource allocation— bits, where if CORESET 0 is configured for a cell, then is the size of CORESET 0, and if CORESET 0 is not configured for a cell, then The size of the initial DL bandwidth portion; time domain resource allocation—4 bits, as defined in clause 5.1.2.1 of 3GPP TS 38.214; VRB to PRB mapping—1 bit, according to Table 7.3.1.1.2-33; modulation and coding scheme—5 bits, as defined in clause 5.1.3 of 3GPP TS 38.214 using Table 5.1.3.1-1; TB scaling—2 bits, as defined in clause 5.1.3.2 of 3GPP TS 38.214; PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator—3 bits, as defined in clause 9.2.3 of 3GPP TS 38.213; and reserved bits—13 bits. Other parameters discussed in 3GPP TS 38.212 may also be included in DCI format 1_0. In some implementations, the PDSCH-to-HARQ_Feedback Timing Indicator may be included in a MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission.

[0223] In some implementations, the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH May be included in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission. PUCCH is a 4-bit parameter used to select a PUCCH resource from the 16 PUCCH resources in the configured PUCCH resource set. In some implementations, the PRI (3 bits) may be included in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission. The UE may derive the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH The PUCCH resource is determined based on the PRI indicated in MsgB and the starting CCE index of the PDCCH that schedules the MsgB transmission. In some implementations, the PUCCH resource index r is used to derive PUCCH The formula may be based on clause 9.2.1 of 3GPP TS 38.213.

[0224] In some implementations, a timer may be defined on the network side to determine whether the UE has sent HARQ feedback. If the timer expires, the network considers that the MsgB reception at the UE has failed, such as HARQ NACK. Otherwise, if the network has received HARQ ACK, the network stops the timer and considers that the 2-step RACH process has been successfully completed.

[0225] In some implementations, the spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUSCH (re)transmission (which is scheduled by UL grant in MsgB) may be the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmission. For example, if different spatial filters are applied to the transmission of MsgA PRACH and PUSCH, the UE may apply the same spatial filter to the MsgA PUSCH and PUSCH transmissions scheduled by UL grant in MsgB. In some implementations, the spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUCCH transmission carrying HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB may be the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmission. In some implementations, the spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUCCH transmission carrying HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB may be configured by higher layer signaling (e.g., spatial relationship information indicated by MAC CE or RRC signaling). If the spatial relationship information is not configured, such spatial filter or Tx beam may be the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam corresponding to MsgAPRACH or MsgAPUSCH transmission.

[0226] In some specific implementations, when a DCI format is detected in response to a PUSCH transmission scheduled by a MsgB UL grant or a corresponding PUSCH retransmission scheduled by DCI format 0_0 (where the CRC is scrambled by the TC-RNTI provided in the corresponding MsgB message), the UE may assume that the PDCCH carrying the DCI format has the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property, which is the same as the SS / PBCH blocks used for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH association for the UE, regardless of whether the TIC-state of the CORESET is provided for the UE, where the UE receives the PDCCH with the DCI format.

[0227] In some implementations, when the UE decodes a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA during the MsgB receive timer window and the DCI contains a DL allocation but the UE cannot decode the corresponding allocated PDSCH (including, for example, a timing advance command (TAC)), the UE responds with a NACK on the PUCCH indicated by the DCI and restarts the MsgB receive timer. The UE continues to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA for resource allocations for the PDSCH. For each subsequent failure to decode the PDSCH, the UE responds with a NACK and restarts the MsgB receive timer. In addition, the UE may also monitor the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI to fall back to the 4-step RACH during the subsequent MsgB receive duration. If the UE does not receive a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI or RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI when the MsgB receive timer expires, the UE may retry the 2-step RACH procedure. In some implementations, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA during the existing MsgB receive timer window, instead of restarting the MsgB receive timer window. This means that the MsgB receive timer must also take into account the retransmission of MsgB. Upon expiration of the timer, the UE may retry the 2-step RACH procedure. When the UE decodes the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA during the MsgB receive window and the DCI contains an UL grant (e.g., the UE has a valid TA), the UE considers that the contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure is successfully completed.

[0228] In some implementations, when the UE decodes a PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI and the UE cannot decode the assigned PDSCH during the MsgB reception timer window, the UE considers that there is no reception of MsgB and continues to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI until the MsgB reception timer window expires. When the MsgB reception timer window expires, the UE retries the 2-step RACH procedure.

[0229] When the UE decodes the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI and the UE is able to decode the allocated PDSCH, and if the PDSCH contains an UL grant for HARQ feedback, the UE stops the MsgB receive timer and sends a PUSCH with or without HARQ-ACK on the PUSCH, and considers that contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure is successfully completed. When the UE decodes the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI and the UE is able to decode the allocated PDSCH, and if the PDSCH contains a PUCCH allocation index for HARQ feedback, the UE stops the MsgB receive timer and sends an indicated ACK on the PUCCH resources, and considers that contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure is successfully completed.

[0230] The random access process may include: the UE transmitting MsgA, the UE receiving a PDCCH whose CRC is scrambled by an MsgB radio network temporary identifier (MsgB-RNTI), and receiving a PDSCH carrying MsgB; the UE determining a PUCCH resource from a configured PUCCH resource set based on a field in a DCI in the PDCCH, a MAC CE and / or an RAR in MsgB and a RAPID of an associated MsgA PRACH; and the UE transmitting HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB on the determined PUCCH resources.

[0231] In some implementations, the UL grant is included in the MAC CE in the MsgB for the 2-step RACH process. In some implementations, when the UE has no data in the buffer, the UE may send dummy data on the PUSCH. In some implementations, for UEs in RRC_CONNECTED mode, the UE may follow the Rel-15 UE behavior to provide HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the MsgB transmission on the PUCCH resources. In some implementations, when the UL grant is included in the MsgB and the PRI is included in the DCI for scheduling the MsgB transmission, the UE may transmit both the PUSCH and the HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to the MsgB on the determined PUCCH resources. In some implementations, the UE may transmit only one of the PUSCH or PUCCH carrying the HARQ-ACK feedback. In some implementations, the PUCCH resource sets used for 2-step RACH may be configured using the same parameters (eg, the 4-bit pucch-ResourceCommon field in the RMSI), or based on separately configured new parameters.

[0232] In some implementations, in order to determine the PUCCH resources and the transmission timing of the PUCCH from the configured PUCCH resource set, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator and / or the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH May be included in the DCI for scheduling MsgB transmissions or in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB. In some implementations, a K-bit PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator) may be included in the DCI for scheduling MsgB transmissions, which may reuse the reserved bits in the DCI format with the CRC scrambled by the MsgB-RNTI or RA-RNTI, where K may be predefined. In some implementations, the PDSCH-to-HARQ_feedback timing indicator may be included in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission. In some implementations, the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH The PRI (3 bits) may be included directly in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission. In some implementations, the PRI (3 bits) may be included in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission, where the UE derives the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH The PUCCH resource is determined based on the PRI indicated in the MsgB and the starting CCE index of the PDCCH that schedules the MsgB transmission. In some implementations, a timer may be defined on the network side to determine whether the UE has sent HARQ feedback.

[0233] In some implementations, the spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUSCH transmissions (which are scheduled by UL grants in MsgB) may be the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam used for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmissions. In some implementations, the spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUCCH transmissions carrying HARQ-ACK feedback corresponding to MsgB may be the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam used for MsgAPRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmissions. In some specific implementations, when a DCI format is detected in response to a PUSCH transmission scheduled by a MsgB UL grant or a corresponding PUSCH retransmission scheduled by DCI format 0_0 (where the CRC is scrambled by the TC-RNTI provided in the corresponding MsgB message), the UE may assume that the PDCCH carrying the DCI format has the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property, which is the same as the SS / PBCH block used for the UE for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH association, regardless of whether the TIC-state of the CORESET is provided for the UE, where the UE receives the PDCCH with the DCI format.

[0234] In some implementations, in the case where the UE decodes a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA during an MsgB receive timer window and the DCI contains a DL allocation but the UE cannot decode the corresponding allocated PDSCH (containing, for example, a TAC), the UE responds with a NACK on the PUCCH resources indicated by the DCI and restarts the MsgB receive timer. In some implementations, the UE continues to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA during the existing MsgB receive timer window instead of restarting the MsgB receive timer window. In some implementations, in the case where the UE decodes a PDCCH addressed to a RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI and the UE cannot decode the allocated PDSCH during the MsgB receive timer window, the UE considers that there is no reception of MsgB and continues to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI until the end of the MsgB receive timer window.

[0235] Another random access technique may include: generating feedback for a MsgB received during a 2-step RACH procedure; and transmitting the feedback. The feedback may indicate successful or unsuccessful reception and decoding of the MsgB. The technique may include: receiving a PDCCH transmission with a CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI, the PDCCH transmission scheduling an MsgB transmission; and receiving a PDSCH transmission carrying the MsgB. In some implementations, the feedback is HARQ feedback, and the transmission includes transmitting the HARQ feedback on a PUCCH resource.

[0236] In some implementations, the UL grant is included in a MAC CE in MsgB for a 2-step RACH procedure. In some implementations, a PUSCH transmission based on the UL grant indicates successful reception and decoding of MsgB. In some implementations, the transmission includes transmitting dummy data on the PUSCH when no data is present in the UL buffer.

[0237] The technique may include operating the MAC entity to not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if the MAC entity is configured with skipUplinkTxDynamic with a value of true and the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is addressed to the C-RNTI and is not included in MsgB of a 2-step RACH procedure, or the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured UL grant. The technique may include operating the MAC entity to generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity if the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is included in MsgB of a 2-step RACH procedure.

[0238] The technique may include: when one or more dedicated PUCCH resources are provided or configured, determining the PUCCH resources on which HARQ feedback is transmitted from one or more configured PUCCH resource sets based on the PRI and the starting CCE. The technique may include: when one or more dedicated PUCCH resources are not provided or configured, determining the PUCCH resources on which HARQ feedback is transmitted based on the PRI and the starting CCE. In some specific implementations, the PRI and / or the starting CCE are indicated by the received DCI. In some specific implementations, when the UL grant is included in the MsgB and the PRI is included in the DCI for scheduling the MsgB transmission, the transmission includes transmitting both the PUSCH transmission and the HARQ feedback on the determined PUCCH resources. In some specific implementations, when the PUCCH and PUSCH overlap in time in a time slot within a PUCCH group, the technique includes: multiplexing the HARQ feedback on the PUSCH; and discarding the PUCCH transmission. In some implementations, transmitting includes transmitting only one of a PUSCH transmission or a PUCCH transmission carrying HARQ feedback on the determined PUCCH resources.

[0239] The technique may include receiving a PDCCH transmission with a CRC scrambled by a RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI, the PDCCH transmission scheduling an MsgB transmission; and receiving a PDSCH transmission carrying MsgB. The technique may include determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets based on a field in a DCI carried by the PDCCH, a MAC CE or RAR in MsgB, and / or a RAPID of an associated MsgA PRACH. In some implementations, the feedback is HARQ feedback, and the transmission includes transmitting the HARQ feedback on the determined PUCCH resource.

[0240] Determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets may include determining the PUCCH resource based on a value of a PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field in the DCI. In some implementations, determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets includes determining the PUCCH resource based on a value of a PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field in a MAC CE in MsgB or a RAR. In some implementations, determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets includes determining the PUCCH resource based on a value of a PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field in a MAC CE in MsgB or a RAR. In some implementations, determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets includes determining the PUCCH resource based on a PUCCH resource index r included in the DCI. PUCCH In some implementations, determining a PUCCH resource from one or more preconfigured PUCCH resource sets includes determining a PUCCH resource index r included in a MAC CE or RAR in MsgB.PUCCH The technique may include determining the transmission timing of the PUCCH based on the value of the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field in the DCI. The technique may include determining the transmission timing of the PUCCH based on the value of the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator field in the MAC CE in MsgB or the RAR. The technique may include determining the transmission timing of the PUCCH based on the PUCCH resource index r included in the DCI PUCCH The transmission timing of the PUCCH is determined based on the value of r. This technique may include determining the transmission timing of the PUCCH based on the PUCCH resource index r included in the MAC CE or RAR in MsgB. PUCCH The value of determines the transmission timing of PUCCH.

[0241] In some implementations, the PDSCH-to-HARQ-timing-indicator includes K bits, where the value of K is predefined or configured via NR RMSI, OSI, or RRC signaling. In some implementations, the value of K is predefined, K=3. In some implementations, the value of K is mapped to a value from the set {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}. In some implementations, the DCI message is DCI format 1_0. In some implementations, the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH is included directly in the MACCE or RAR in MsgB for the associated RAPID of the corresponding MsgA PRACH transmission, where the PUCCH resource index r PUCCH is a 4-bit parameter used to select a PUCCH resource from 16 PUCCH resources within a preconfigured PUCCH resource set. In some implementations, one or more PUCCH resource sets are configured via a 4-bit field (pucch-ResourceCommon) in the RMSI or some other higher layer parameter. In some implementations, a PUCCH resource set includes 16 cell-specific PUCCH resources. In some implementations, a MAC CE or RAR in MsgB includes a 3-bit PRI, and the technique includes deriving a PUCCH resource index r PUCCH The PUCCH resources are determined based on the PRI indicated in the MsgB and the starting CCE index of the PDCCH that schedules the MsgB transmission.

[0242] In some implementations, transmitting the feedback includes transmitting the feedback using a spatial filter or Tx beam used for PUSCH (re)transmissions scheduled by an UL grant in MsgB, wherein the spatial filter or Tx beam is the same as the spatial filter or Tx beam used for MsgAPRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmissions. The technique may include applying the same spatial filter to MsgA PUSCH and PUSCH transmissions scheduled by an MsgB UL grant when different spatial filters are applied to the transmissions of MsgA PRACH and PUSCH. The technique may include transmitting the feedback using a spatial filter or Tx beam used to transmit a PUCCH carrying HARQ feedback for a received MsgB, wherein the spatial filter or Tx beam is the same spatial filter or Tx beam used for MsgAPRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmissions. The technique may include transmitting the feedback using a spatial filter or a Tx beam used to transmit a PUCCH carrying HARQ feedback corresponding to MsgB, wherein the spatial filter or the Tx beam is configured by higher layer signaling.

[0243] In some implementations, higher layer signaling includes a configuration, and the configuration indicates the spatial relationship information, wherein the higher layer signaling includes a MAC CE or an RRC message. In some implementations, transmitting the feedback includes: when the spatial relationship information is not configured, transmitting the feedback using a spatial filter or Tx beam used to transmit a PUCCH carrying HARQ feedback for the received MsgB, the spatial filter or Tx beam being the same spatial filter or Tx beam used for MsgA PRACH or MsgA PUSCH transmission.

[0244] The technique may include detecting a DCI format in response to a PUSCH transmission scheduled by an MsgB UL grant provided in a corresponding MsgB message or a corresponding PUSCH retransmission scheduled by a DCI format 0_0 where the CRC is scrambled by the TC-RNTI provided in the corresponding MsgB message. The technique may include assuming that a PDCCH carrying the DCI format has the same DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location property as an SS / PBCH block associated with an MsgA PRACH or MsgAPUSCH, regardless of whether the TCI-state of the CORESET is provided in the DCI. The technique may include transmitting HARQ-NACK feedback on the PUCCH indicated by the DCI. The technique may include restarting a MsgB receive timer. The technique may include continuing to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in MsgA for resource allocation for the PDSCH; and / or continuing or causing continued monitoring of the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI to fall back to the 4-step RACH procedure during a subsequent MsgB reception duration.

[0245] The technique may include: when a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI or a PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI / MsgB-RNTI is not received when the MsgB receive timer expires, retrying the 2-step RACH process, wherein the retry includes performing random access preamble and MsgA generation and transmission. The technique may include transmitting HARQ-NACK feedback on the PUCCH indicated by the DCI. The technique may include: continuing to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI included in the MsgA during the existing MsgB receive timer window; and when the MsgB receive timer expires, when a PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI or a PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI / MsgB-RNTI is not received when the MsgB receive timer expires, retrying the 2-step RACH process. The retry may include performing random access preamble and MsgA generation and transmission.

[0246] The technique may include: declaring that contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure will be successfully completed when the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI sent in the MsgA during the MsgB receive window is properly decoded and the DCI contains an UL grant. The technique may include: declaring that MsgB is not received when the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI is properly decoded and the allocated PDSCH is not properly decoded during the MsgB receive timer window; and continuing to monitor the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI until the MsgB receive timer window ends; and when the MsgB receive timer window expires, when the PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI or the PDCCH addressed to the RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI is not received when the MsgB receive timer expires, retrying the 2-step RACH procedure. The retry may include performing random access preamble and MsgA generation and transmission.

[0247] The technique may include: when a PDCCH addressed to a RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI is properly decoded, the allocated PDSCH is properly decoded, and the PDSCH contains an UL grant for HARQ feedback, stopping a MsgB receive timer; transmitting a PUSCH transmission with or without HARQ feedback on the PUSCH; and deeming that contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure will be successfully completed. The technique may include: when a PDCCH addressed to a RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI is properly decoded, the allocated PDSCH is properly decoded, and the PDSCH contains a PUCCH allocation index for HARQ feedback, stopping a MsgB receive timer; and transmitting HARQ feedback on the indicated PUCCH resources; and deeming that contention resolution is successful and the random access procedure will be successfully completed.

[0248] Another technique includes: receiving, at a gNB, a MsgA from a UE during a 2-step RACH procedure, transmitting a MsgB to the UE in response to the MsgA; and receiving feedback indicating whether the UE successfully or unsuccessfully received and decoded MsgB. The technique may include starting a MsgB reception feedback timer, wherein the timer counts the time for receiving feedback. The technique may include: declaring that reception of MsgB has failed and / or unsuccessful completion of the 2-step RACH procedure when feedback is not received before expiration of the timer. The technique may include: declaring successful reception of MsgB and / or successful completion of the 2-step RACH procedure when feedback is received before expiration of the timer; and stopping the timer.

[0249] These and other techniques may be performed by an apparatus implemented or employed in one or more types of network components, user equipment, or both. In some implementations, one or more non-transitory computer-readable media include instructions for causing an electronic device to perform one or more of the techniques described herein when the instructions are executed by one or more processors of an electronic device. An apparatus may include one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more of the techniques described herein.

[0250] In different specific implementations, the methods described herein can be implemented in software, hardware, or a combination thereof. In addition, the order of the blocks of the method can be changed, and various elements can be added, reordered, combined, omitted, modified, etc. Various modifications and changes can be made, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from this disclosure. The various specific implementations described herein are intended to be illustrative and not restrictive. Many variations, modifications, additions, and improvements are possible. Therefore, multiple examples can be provided for the components described herein as a single example. The boundaries between various components, operations, and data repositories are arbitrary to a certain extent, and specific operations are shown in the context of a specific exemplary configuration. Other allocations of functions are contemplated, and they may fall within the scope of the appended claims. Finally, the structure and function presented as discrete components in the exemplary configuration may be implemented as a combined structure or component.

[0251] The methods described herein may be implemented in a circuit, such as one or more of an integrated circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or some combination thereof. Examples of processors may include Apple A series processors, Architecture Core TM Processors, such as Intel processors, ARM processors, AMD processors, and Qualcomm processors. Other types of processors are possible. In some specific implementations, the circuit can execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the functions. The term "circuit" can also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for executing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program codes can be referred to as a specific type of circuit. The circuit can also include a radio circuit, such as a transmitter, a receiver, or a transceiver.

[0252] A plurality of specific implementations have been described. However, it should be understood that various modifications may be made. Elements in one or more specific implementations may be combined, deleted, modified or supplemented to form other specific implementations. As another example, the logic flow shown in the accompanying drawings does not require the specific order or sequential order shown to achieve the desired result. In addition, other steps may be provided or steps may be eliminated from the process, and other components may be added to the system or removed from the system. Therefore, other specific embodiments are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. A method for communication, comprising: transmitting a first message of a two-step random access procedure to a node of a wireless communication network; In response to the first message, receiving a second message of the two-step random access procedure from the node via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); determining a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource based on the second message; Transmitting a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement HARQ-ACK feedback of the second message on the determined PUCCH resource using a spatial domain transmission filter configured by spatial relationship information indicated by radio resource control RRC signaling; as well as In response to the spatial relationship information not being configured, the HARQ-ACK feedback of the second message is transmitted on the determined PUCCH resource using a spatial domain transmission filter used in a previous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises an uplink grant field indicating one or more resources, and wherein the determined PUCCH resources are based on the uplink grant field. 3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second message is included in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a protocol data unit (PDU) carried by the PDSCH.

4. The method according to claim 1, comprising: A downlink control information (DCI) message is received on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the second message is received according to the DCI message. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI). 6 . The method of claim 4 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the second message.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein for a user equipment UE, the DCI message is received on a control resource set CORESET, and the method comprises: Using the same demodulation reference signal DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location attribute as for the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block, regardless of whether the transmission configuration indicator TCI state of the CORESET is provided for the UE, the UE uses the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block for physical random access channel PRACH association.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising: receiving information providing configuration of a PUCCH resource set, The second message includes a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set, wherein the determined PUCCH resource is based on the PUCCH resource indicator field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a HARQ feedback timing indicator.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message, wherein the RAR message comprises a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and wherein transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback comprises using a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field.

11. An apparatus for communication, comprising: Transceiver; as well as One or more processors coupled to the transceiver, wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform operations including: transmitting, via the transceiver, a first message of a two-step random access procedure to a node of a wireless communication network; In response to the first message, receiving, via the transceiver, a second message of the two-step random access procedure from the node via a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); determining a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource based on the second message; transmitting, via the transceiver and using a spatial domain transmission filter configured by spatial relationship information indicated by radio resource control (RRC) signaling, a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback of the second message on the determined PUCCH resource; as well as In response to the spatial relationship information not being configured, the HARQ-ACK feedback of the second message is transmitted on the determined PUCCH resources via the transceiver and using a spatial domain transmission filter used in a previous physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second message comprises an uplink grant field indicating one or more resources, and wherein the determined PUCCH resources are based on the uplink grant field. 13 . The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the second message is included in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or a protocol data unit (PDU) carried by the PDSCH.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operations comprise: A downlink control information (DCI) message is received on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), wherein the second message is received according to the DCI message. 15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI).

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the second message.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the DCI message is received on a control resource set (CORESET), and wherein the operations comprise: Using the same demodulation reference signal DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location attribute as for the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block, regardless of whether the transmission configuration indicator TCI state of the CORESET is provided to the user equipment UE, the UE uses the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block for physical random access channel PRACH association.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the operations comprise: receiving information providing configuration of a PUCCH resource set, The second message includes a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set, wherein the determined PUCCH resource is based on the PUCCH resource indicator field.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second message comprises a HARQ feedback timing indicator.

20. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message, wherein the RAR message comprises a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and wherein transmitting the HARQ-ACK feedback comprises using a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field.

21. An apparatus for communication, comprising: A transceiver, the transceiver being used to communicate with a user equipment UE; as well as A processor coupled to the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to perform operations including: receiving, via the transceiver, a first message of a two-step random access procedure from the UE; transmitting, via the transceiver, a second message of the two-step random access procedure on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the second message provides information to the UE to determine PUCCH resources; and receiving, via the transceiver, a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement HARQ-ACK feedback of the second message from the UE according to the PUCCH resource, wherein the HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted using a spatial domain transmission filter configured by spatial relationship information indicated by radio resource control RRC signaling, and In which, in response to the spatial relationship information not being configured, the HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted using the spatial domain transmission filter used in the last physical uplink shared channel PUSCH transmission.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the second message comprises an uplink grant field indicating one or more PUCCH resources.

23. The apparatus according to claim 21, wherein the second message is included in a medium access control MAC control element CE or a protocol data unit PDU carried by the PDSCH.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the operations comprise: A downlink control information DCI message is transmitted on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, wherein the second message is transmitted according to the DCI message.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI).

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the second message.

27. An apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the DCI message is transmitted on a control resource set CORESET, wherein transmitting the second message includes transmitting the second message so that the UE uses the same demodulation reference signal DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location attribute as for a synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block, regardless of whether a transmission configuration indicator TCI state of the CORESET is provided for the UE, and the UE uses the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block for a physical random access channel PRACH association.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the operations comprise: The second message comprises transmitting information providing a configuration of a PUCCH resource set, and wherein the second message comprises a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the second message comprises a HARQ feedback timing indicator.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message, wherein the RAR message comprises a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and wherein receiving the HARQ-ACK feedback comprises receiving the HARQ-ACK feedback in a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field.

31. A method for communication, comprising: receiving a first message of a two-step random access procedure from a UE; transmitting a second message of the two-step random access procedure on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), wherein the second message provides information to the UE to determine PUCCH resources; and receiving a hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement HARQ-ACK feedback of the second message from the UE according to the PUCCH resource, wherein the HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted using a spatial domain transmission filter configured by spatial relationship information indicated by radio resource control RRC signaling, and wherein, in response to the spatial relationship information not being configured, the HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted using the spatial domain transmission filter used in the last physical uplink shared channel PUSCH transmission.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the second message includes an uplink grant field indicating one or more PUCCH resources.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein the second message is included in a medium access control MAC control element CE or a protocol data unit PDU carried by the PDSCH.

34. The method of claim 31, comprising: A downlink control information DCI message is transmitted on a physical downlink control channel PDCCH, wherein the second message is transmitted according to the DCI message.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI).

36. The method of claim 34, wherein a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) associated with the DCI message is scrambled by a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) associated with the second message.

37. A method according to claim 36, wherein the DCI message is transmitted on a control resource set CORESET, wherein transmitting the second message includes transmitting the second message so that the UE uses the same demodulation reference signal DM-RS antenna port quasi-co-location attribute as for a synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block, regardless of whether a transmission configuration indicator TCI state of the CORESET is provided for the UE, and the UE uses the synchronization signal SS physical broadcast channel PBCH block for a physical random access channel PRACH association.

38. The method of claim 31 , comprising transmitting information providing a configuration of a PUCCH resource set, wherein the second message comprises a PUCCH resource indicator field identifying resources within the PUCCH resource set.

39. The method of claim 31 , wherein the second message comprises a HARQ feedback timing indicator.

40. The method of claim 31 , wherein the second message comprises a random access response (RAR) message, wherein the RAR message comprises a PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field, and wherein receiving the HARQ-ACK feedback comprises receiving the HARQ-ACK feedback in a time slot based on the PDSCH to HARQ feedback timing indicator field.

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