Method and apparatus for random access

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for random access. A method that can be implemented by a terminal device includes: determining a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission to a network node in a two-step contention-free random access process. The method also includes: implementing the uplink shared channel transmission to the network node in the two-step contention-free random access process according to the determined frequency hopping configuration. According to various embodiments of the present disclosure, frequency hopping can be configured for uplink shared channel transmission in a two-step contention-free random access process in a flexible and effective manner, thereby improving the performance of the random access process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to communication networks, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for random access. Background Art

[0002] This section introduces various aspects that may help to better understand the present disclosure. Accordingly, the contents stated in this section should be read in this manner and should not be understood as an admission of what is or is not prior art.

[0003] Communication service providers and network operators are continually faced with the challenge of delivering value and convenience to consumers (e.g., by providing compelling network services and performance). With the rapid development of networking and communication technologies, wireless communication networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks and New Radio (NR) networks are expected to achieve high service capacity and end-user data rates with lower latency. In order to connect to a network node, a random access (RA) process may be initiated for a terminal device. During the RA process, system information (SI) and synchronization signals (SS) as well as related radio resources and transmission configurations may be notified to the terminal device via signaling information from the network node. The RA process may enable a terminal device to establish a session with a network node for a specific service. Summary of the invention

[0004] This summary is provided to introduce selected concepts in a simplified form that are further described in the following detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0005] Wireless communication networks such as NR / 5G networks are capable of supporting flexible network configurations. Different signaling methods (e.g., four-step method, two-step method, etc.) can be used for the RA process of the terminal device to establish a connection with the network node. During the RA process, the terminal device can implement RA preamble transmission and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) transmission to the network node in different messages (e.g., in message 1 / msg1 and message 3 / msg3 for four-step RA, respectively) or in the same message (e.g., in message A / msgA for two-step RA). The RA preamble can be transmitted in a time-frequency physical random access channel (PRACH) opportunity (also referred to as RA opportunity, RACH opportunity, or RO for short). PUSCH transmission can occur in a PUSCH opportunity (PO) configured with one or more demodulation reference signal (DMRS) resources. PO may include time-frequency radio resources allocated to PUSCH transmission. In different RA processes, such as contention-based random access (CBRA) and contention-free random access (CFRA), PUSCH transmission can be implemented using frequency hopping. However, there is no existing solution to configure frequency hopping for msgA PUSCH transmission in CFRA. Therefore, there may be a need to efficiently implement frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA.

[0006] Various embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for RA, which can enable frequency hopping to be configured for msgA PUSCH transmission from a terminal device to a network node in a CFRA process, for example through dedicated signaling and / or utilizing some existing information, so as to implement msgAPUSCH transmission in the CFRA process using frequency hopping in a flexible and efficient manner.

[0007] It can be understood that the terms "four-step RA procedure" and "four-step RACH procedure" mentioned herein may also be referred to as a type-1 random access procedure as defined in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 38.213 V16.0.0, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. These terms may be used interchangeably herein.

[0008] Similarly, it can be understood that the terms "two-step RA procedure" and "two-step RACH procedure" mentioned herein may also be referred to as a Type-2 random access procedure as defined in 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0, and these terms may be used interchangeably herein.

[0009] In addition, it can be understood that the two-step CFRA process described herein can refer to a contention-free random access process, wherein, as a first step, the terminal device is configured to send msgA to the network node, and as a second step, it is expected that the terminal device receives msgB in response to msgA from the network node. It can be understood that the term "two-step CFRA" mentioned herein can also be referred to as "CFRA with a two-step RA type", and the two terms can be used interchangeably herein.

[0010] Similarly, it is understood that the two-step CBRA process described herein may refer to a contention-based random access process, wherein, as a first step, the terminal device is configured to send msgA to the network node, and as a second step, it is expected that the terminal device receives msgB in response to msgA from the network node. It is understood that the term "two-step CBRA" mentioned herein may also be referred to as "CBRA with a two-step RA type", and the two terms may be used interchangeably herein.

[0011] It can be appreciated that the terms "PRACH opportunity", "random access channel (RACH) opportunity" or "RA opportunity" mentioned herein may refer to time-frequency resources that can be used for preamble transmission during the RA process, which may also be referred to as "random access opportunity (RO)". These terms may be used interchangeably herein.

[0012] Similarly, it can be appreciated that the terms "PUSCH opportunity", "uplink shared channel opportunity" or "shared channel opportunity" mentioned herein may refer to the time-frequency resources that can be used for PUSCH transmission during the RA process, which may also be referred to as "physical uplink shared channel opportunity (PO)". These terms may be used interchangeably herein.

[0013] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a terminal device such as a user equipment (UE) is provided. The method includes: determining a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission (e.g., msgA PUSCH transmission, etc.) to a network node in a two-step CFRA process. According to some exemplary embodiments, the method further includes: implementing the uplink shared channel transmission to the network node in the two-step CFRA process according to the determined frequency hopping configuration.

[0014] It can be understood that the term "frequency hopping configuration" described herein may refer to a configuration that may indicate enabling or disabling of frequency hopping and / or indicate how to implement frequency hopping.

[0015] According to some example embodiments, the determining of the frequency hopping configuration may be performed by the terminal device based at least in part on dedicated signaling from the network node for the two-step CFRA procedure.

[0016] According to some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated signaling may include one or more of the following:

[0017] A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled;

[0018] A set of frequency offset values; and

[0019] • An indicator of the frequency offset of the frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission.

[0020] According to some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated signaling may include a specific field having one or more bits. According to exemplary embodiments, at least a portion of the one or more bits may be configured to indicate the frequency hopping configuration used for the uplink shared channel transmission in the two-step CFRA procedure.

[0021] According to some example embodiments, the at least a portion of the one or more bits may be related to a size of an active uplink (UL) bandwidth part (BWP).

[0022] According to some example embodiments, the at least a portion of the one or more bits may include a fixed number of bits.

[0023] According to some example embodiments, the determining of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the terminal device based at least in part on one or more of the following:

[0024] First configuration information, which may be related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device in a two-step CBRA procedure;

[0025] · second configuration information, which may be related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission for said terminal device having configuration permission; and

[0026] The third configuration information may be related to the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device indicated by a higher layer signaling.

[0027] According to some example embodiments, the determining of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the terminal device based at least in part on one or more of the following messages from the network node:

[0028] Switch command message;

[0029] Beam failure recovery messages; and

[0030] • Downlink Control Channel Commands for the two-step CFRA procedure.

[0031] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus that can be implemented as a terminal device. The apparatus includes one or more processors and one or more memories including computer program codes. The one or more memories and the computer program codes are configured to, together with the one or more processors, enable the apparatus to at least implement any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0032] According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable medium is provided, which contains computer program code. When executed on a computer, the computer program code causes the computer to implement any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0033] According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a device that can be implemented as a terminal device is provided. The device includes a determination unit and an implementation unit. According to some exemplary embodiments, the determination unit is operable to at least perform the determination step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. The implementation unit is operable to at least perform the implementation step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the implementation unit can be implemented as a sending unit to at least perform the step of implementing uplink shared channel transmission in the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0034] According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented by a network node such as a base station is provided. The method comprises: determining a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of a terminal device in a two-step CFRA process. According to some exemplary embodiments, the method further comprises: receiving the uplink shared channel transmission from the terminal device in the two-step CFRA process according to the determined frequency hopping configuration.

[0035] According to some exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure may correspond to the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission according to the first aspect of the present disclosure. Thus, the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission according to the first aspect and the fifth aspect of the present disclosure may have the same or similar content and / or feature elements.

[0036] According to some exemplary embodiments, the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure may further include: sending dedicated signaling to the terminal device to indicate the determined frequency hopping configuration.

[0037] According to some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated signaling according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure may correspond to the dedicated signaling according to the first aspect of the present disclosure, and thus may have the same or similar content and / or characteristic elements.

[0038] According to some exemplary embodiments, the determination of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the network node at least in part based on first configuration information related to CBRA configuration (e.g., first configuration information according to the first aspect of the present disclosure), second configuration information related to configuration permission (e.g., second configuration information according to the first aspect of the present disclosure), and / or third configuration information related to high-layer signaling (e.g., third configuration information according to the first aspect of the present disclosure).

[0039] According to some exemplary embodiments, the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure may further include: indicating the determined frequency hopping configuration to the terminal device in a switching command message, a beam failure recovery message and / or a downlink control channel command for the two-step CFRA process.

[0040] According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a device that can be implemented as a network node. The device includes one or more processors and one or more memories including computer program code. The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, together with the one or more processors, enable the device to at least implement any step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0041] According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided, which contains computer program code. When executed on a computer, the computer program code enables the computer to implement any step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0042] According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a device that can be implemented as a network node is provided. The device includes a determining unit and a receiving unit. According to some exemplary embodiments, the determining unit is operable to at least perform the determining step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure. The receiving unit is operable to at least perform the receiving step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0043] According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, the communication system may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may include: providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may include: initiating, at the host computer, a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including a base station, the base station may implement any steps of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0044] According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system comprising a host computer. The host computer may include: a processing circuit configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The cellular network may include a base station having a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the base station may be configured to implement any step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0045] According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, and the communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method may include: providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may include: initiating, at the host computer, a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network including the base station. The UE may implement any steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0046] According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, a communication system including a host computer is provided. The host computer may include: a processing circuit configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The UE may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the UE may be configured to implement any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0047] According to a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, and the communication system may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method may include: at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted from the UE to the base station, and the UE may implement any steps of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0048] According to a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system comprising a host computer. The host computer may include a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The UE may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the UE may be configured to implement any step of the method according to the first aspect of the present disclosure.

[0049] According to a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method implemented in a communication system, the communication system may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may include: at the host computer, receiving from the base station user data originating from a transmission that the base station has received from the UE. The base station may implement any steps of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure.

[0050] According to a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a communication system, which may include a host computer. The host computer may include a communication interface, and the communication interface is configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The base station may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the base station may be configured to implement any step of the method according to the fifth aspect of the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0051] The present disclosure itself, preferred modes of use and further objects may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description of embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0052] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary four-step RA process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0053] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary two-step RA process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0054] Figure 2B is a diagram showing an exemplary CFRA having a two-step RA type according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0055] Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0056] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating another method according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0057] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0058] Fig. 6A is a block diagram illustrating another apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0059] Figure 6B is a block diagram illustrating yet another apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0060] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunications network connected to a host computer via an intermediate network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0061] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a host computer communicating with a UE over a partially wireless connection via a base station according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0062] Fig. 9 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0063] Fig.10 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0064] Fig.11 is a flowchart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0065] Fig.12 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0066] Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that these embodiments are discussed only to enable those skilled in the art to better understand and thereby realize the present disclosure, rather than to imply any limitation in terms of the scope of the present disclosure. References to features, advantages or similar language throughout the specification do not mean that all features and advantages that can be implemented in accordance with the present disclosure should be in or in any single embodiment of the present disclosure. On the contrary, the language related to the features and advantages is understood to mean that the specific features, advantages or characteristics described in conjunction with the embodiments are included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, the features, advantages and characteristics of the present disclosure described can be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. Those skilled in the relevant art will recognize that the present disclosure can be practiced without one or more specific features or advantages of a specific embodiment. In other cases, additional features and advantages can be found in certain embodiments, which may not appear in all embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0067] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), etc. In addition, the communication between terminal devices and network nodes in the communication network can be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), 4G, 4.5G, 5G communication protocols and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future.

[0068] The term "network node" refers to a network device in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. A network node may refer to a base station (BS), an access point (AP), a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), a controller, or any other suitable device in a wireless communication network. A BS may be, for example, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a next generation NodeB (gNodeB or gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a repeater, a low power node such as a femtocell, a picocell, and the like.

[0069] Some further examples of network nodes include: MSR radio equipment such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmission node and / or a positioning node, etc. However, more generally, a network node may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) that is capable of, configured to, arranged to and / or operable to enable and / or provide a terminal device with access to a wireless communication network or to provide some services to a terminal device that has access to the wireless communication network.

[0070] The term "terminal device" refers to any end device that can access a communication network and receive services therefrom. As an example and not limitation, a terminal device may refer to a mobile terminal, a user equipment (UE), or other suitable device. A UE may be, for example, a subscriber station, a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), or an access terminal (AT). A terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a portable computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a wearable device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a vehicle, etc.

[0071] As another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a terminal device may also be referred to as an IoT device, and refers to a machine or other device that implements monitoring, sensing and / or measurement, etc. and transmits the results of such monitoring, sensing and / or measurement, etc. to another terminal device and / or a network device. In this case, the terminal device may be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may be referred to as a machine type communication (MTC) device in the context of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

[0072] As a specific example, the terminal device may be a UE implementing the 3GPP Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) standard. Specific examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering equipment such as power meters, industrial machinery, or household or personal devices such as refrigerators, televisions, personal wearables such as watches, etc. In other scenarios, the terminal device may represent a vehicle or other equipment, such as a medical instrument capable of monitoring, sensing and / or reporting its operating status or other functions related to its operation.

[0073] As used herein, the terms "first", "second", etc. refer to different elements. Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the singular forms "one" and "an" are also intended to include the plural forms. The terms "include", "comprise", "have", "contain", "include" and / or "comprises" used in the text indicate the presence of the described features, elements and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof. The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part". The terms "one embodiment" and "embodiment" will be interpreted as "at least one embodiment". The term "another embodiment" should be understood as "at least one other embodiment". Other definitions may be explicitly and implicitly included below.

[0074] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services such as voice, video, data, messaging, broadcast, etc. As mentioned above, in order to connect to a network node such as a gNB in ​​a wireless communication network, a terminal device such as a UE may need to implement a RA procedure in order to exchange basic information and messages for communication link establishment with the network node.

[0075] Figure 1 is a diagram showing an exemplary four-step RA process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, the UE may detect a synchronization signal (SS) by receiving 101 SSBs (e.g., a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH)) from a gNB in ​​the NR system. The UE may decode 102 some system information (e.g., remaining minimum system information (RMSI) and other system information (OSI)) broadcast in the downlink (DL). The UE may then send 103 a PRACH preamble (message 1 / msg1) in the uplink (UL). The gNB may respond 104 with a random access response (RAR, message 2 / msg2). In response to the RAR, the UE may send 105 identification information of the UE on the PUSCH (message 3 / msg3). The gNB may then send 106 a contention resolution message (CRM, message 4 / msg4) to the UE.

[0076] In this exemplary process, the UE sends message 3 / msg3 on PUSCH after receiving the timing advance command in the RAR, which allows message 3 / msg3 on PUSCH to be received with timing accuracy within the cyclic prefix (CP). Without this timing advance, a very large CP may be required to demodulate and detect message 3 / msg3 on PUSCH unless the communication system is applied in a cell with a very small distance between the UE and the gNB. Since the NR system can also support larger cells, the timing advance command needs to be provided to the UE, so this RA process requires a four-step approach.

[0077] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating an exemplary two-step RA process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 The process shown in Figure 2A In the process shown, the UE can detect the SS by receiving 201 SSB (e.g., including PSS, SSS, and PBCH) from the gNB in ​​the NR system, and decoding 202 system information (e.g., RMSI and OSI) broadcast in the DL. Figure 1 Compared to the four-step RA process shown, implementation Figure 2A A UE that follows the procedure in msgA can complete random access in only two steps. First, the UE sends 203a / 203b message A (msgA) to the gNB, which includes the RA preamble and higher layer data (such as a radio resource control (RRC) connection request with some payload on PUSCH). Second, the gNB sends 204RAR (also called message B or msgB) to the UE, which includes UE identifier allocation, timing advance information, contention resolution information, etc. It can be seen that since msgB comes after msgA, there may be no explicit grant from msgB for the PUSCH in msgA.

[0078] In the two-step RA procedure, the preamble and msgA PUSCH may be sent by the UE in one message called message A. For the transmission of msgA PUSCH, i.e., the PUSCH part of msgA, the concept of PUSCH resource unit may be introduced, where the PUSCH resource unit may include the time-frequency radio resources for the transmission and the DMRS sequence configuration. The receiver may distinguish two simultaneous msgA PUSCH transmissions based on the different PUSCH resource units used for the two msgA PUSCH transmissions. The concept of PUSCH opportunity may also be introduced, where the PUSCH opportunity may include the time-frequency radio resources used for the transmission of msgA PUSCH.

[0079] According to some exemplary embodiments, RA procedures such as two-step RACH and four-step RACH can be implemented in two different ways, for example, contention-based (CBRA) and contention-free (CFRA). The difference lies in which preamble is used. In the contention-based case, the UE can randomly select a preamble from a series of preambles. For this case, if two UEs select the same preamble, a conflict may occur. In the contention-free case, the network can provide a specific preamble to the UE, which ensures that two UEs do not select the same preamble, and thus the RA is conflict-free. CBRA can typically be used when the UE is in an idle / inactive state and wants to enter a connected state, while CFRA can be used to implement switching and / or be used during beam failure.

[0080] Figure 2B is a diagram illustrating an exemplary CFRA having a two-step RA type according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2B The process shown in can also be called a two-step CFRA process. Figure 2B As shown, in the case of CFRA with two-step RA type, the UE may receive a RA preamble and PUSCH allocation from the gNB in ​​step 0 before sending msgA (including RA preamble and PUSCH payload) to the gNB in ​​step A and receiving msgB (RAR) from the gNB in ​​step B.

[0081] According to some exemplary embodiments, by using the resource allocation field in the detected physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) downlink control information (DCI), the UE can determine the resource block allocation in the frequency domain, except for PUSCH transmission scheduled by RAR UL grant or fallback RAR UL grant, in which case the frequency domain resource allocation can be determined according to Section 8.3 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0 or Section XY of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0, respectively. Three uplink resource allocation schemes Type 0, Type 1, and Type 2 can be supported. Uplink resource allocation scheme Type 0 is supported for PUSCH only when transform precoding is disabled. For both cases when transform precoding is enabled or disabled, uplink resource allocation schemes Type 1 and Type 2 are supported for PUSCH.

[0082] According to some exemplary embodiments, frequency hopping may be configured for msg3 PUSCH transmission in four-step RA and for normal PUSCH transmission (e.g., dynamically granted scheduled PUSCH). For msg3 PUSCH transmission, the frequency hopping flag parameter provided in the RAR may be used to determine whether frequency hopping for msg3 PUSCH transmission is enabled. Uplink resource allocation type 1 may be used for msg3 PUSCH transmission, as described in Section 6.1.2.2.2 of 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.0.0 (the entire contents of this technical specification are hereby incorporated into the present disclosure by reference), for which the processing of the frequency domain resource allocation field provided in the RAR may be performed based on Section 8.3 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0. For example, Table 1 shows RAR grant fields with different contents and sizes.

[0083] Table 1

[0084]

[0085] According to an exemplary embodiment, a 14-bit field in the RAR may be provided for such type 1 frequency domain resource allocation (e.g., a 14-bit field "PUSCH frequency resource allocation" for operation without shared spectrum channel access), wherein some bits may be used as N according to Table 8.3-1 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0. UL,hop A hopping bit is used to determine the frequency offset of the second hop. For ease of description, at least some items in Table 8.3-1 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0 are listed in Table 2 shown below.

[0086] Table 2

[0087]

[0088] Table 2 lists some options for the frequency offset of the second hop of the msg3 PUSCH retransmission or the PUSCH transmission with frequency hopping scheduled by the RAR UL grant. As shown in Table 2, the bandwidth part (BWP) size In the case where the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) in the initial ULBWP is less than 50 PRBs, a 1-bit parameter N UL,hop To indicate frequency deviation and frequency offset If the BWP size If the number of PRBs is not less than 50, a 2-bit parameter N can be used. UL,hop to indicate more options for frequency offset.

[0089] For frequency hopping of normal PUSCH dynamically scheduled by DCI, specific parameters (e.g., frequency hopping flag) may be provided in DCI to enable frequency hopping, and an information element (IE) frequencyHoppingOffsetLists may be provided from a higher layer to configure a set of frequency offset values, which may be configured by the N value of the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" field provided in the DCI according to the procedure described in Section 6.3 of 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.0.0. UL,hop The most significant bit (MSB) bits are used to determine the offset to be used from the set of frequency offset values.

[0090] According to some exemplary embodiments, frequency hopping may be configured for msgA PUSCH transmission in CBRA. For msgA PUSCH transmission in CBRA with frequency hopping in a slot, a flag such as msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping may be configured according to the BWP to enable or disable frequency hopping, and as described in Section 8.3 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0, msgA-HoppingBits may be used instead of N in Table 8.3-1 of 3GPP TS 38.213 V16.0.0. UL,hop The frequency offset of the second hop is determined by using the hop bits.

[0091] As about Figure 2A and Figure 2B As described, in the two-step RA process, the preamble and msgA PUSCH may be transmitted by the UE in one message called message A. According to an exemplary embodiment, msgA PUSCH may be a dynamically scheduled PUSCH in the two-step CFRA, and the frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH transmission may be adaptively configured.

[0092] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure propose a solution for RA, which can implement frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH transmission in a two-step CFRA process. According to the proposed solution, frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH transmission can be flexibly configured in CFRA. According to some exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH transmission in CFRA can be provided at least in part by dedicated signaling. According to other exemplary embodiments, some existing signaling or parameters for frequency hopping configuration can be utilized or reused to configure the frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH transmission in CFRA. In this way, the frequency hopping configuration of msgAPUSCH in the two-step CFRA process can be implemented with enhanced resource utilization and improved transmission efficiency and flexibility.

[0093] According to some exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration for msgAPUSCH may be provided in dedicated signaling for the two-step CFRA procedure. According to exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration may be explicitly provided by one or more of the following elements in the dedicated signaling:

[0094] A flag or indicator for enabling frequency hopping;

[0095] A set of frequency offset values ​​(eg, some candidate frequency offset values ​​from which a frequency offset value may be selected for a frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH transmission); and

[0096] An indicator of the frequency offset of the second hop configured for msgA PUSCH transmission or other appropriate indication information.

[0097] For example, two parameters msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping and msgA-HoppingBits as shown in Table 3 may be provided in a specific information element (IE) such as RACH-ConfigDedicated IE for frequency hopping configuration of msgA PUSCH transmission of UEs in CFRA.

[0098] Table 3

[0099]

[0100] According to some exemplary embodiments, at least a portion of the frequency hopping configuration may be indicated by a portion of the frequency domain resource allocation bits, which are also provided for frequency domain resource allocation with uplink resource allocation type 1 as described in Section 6.1.2.2.2 of 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.0.0. In an embodiment, the "portion of the frequency domain resource allocation bits" may be related to at least the active UL BWP size. In another embodiment, the "portion of the frequency domain resource allocation bits" may be a fixed number, such as 2 bits.

[0101] For example, Table 4 lists a "PUSCH frequency resource allocation" field, which may include multiple bits to indicate the frequency domain resource allocation for PUSCH transmission. According to an exemplary embodiment, in the case where msgA PUSCH frequency hopping is enabled, 1 MSB bit (e.g., for the case where the BWP size is less than 50 PRBs) or 2 MSB bits (e.g., for the case where the BWP size is not less than 50 PRBs) of the "PUSCH frequency resource allocation" field provided in the RACH-ConfigDedicated IE may be used for frequency offset determination. Table 4 also lists a flag msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping signaled in the RACH-ConfigDedicated IE, which may be used to indicate whether the frequency hopping configuration is enabled for the msgA PUSCH.

[0102] Table 4

[0103]

[0104] According to some exemplary embodiments, some frequency hopping configurations for msgA PUSCH for CFRA may be provided in a switching command message, a beam failure recovery message, a PDCCH command (which may be related to random access with two-step CFRA) and / or any other possible signaling / message (e.g., various physical layer signaling, higher layer signaling such as RRC signaling, etc.).

[0105] According to some exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA may be implemented by utilizing or reusing one of the frequency hopping configurations used for msgA PUSCH in CBRA. According to exemplary embodiments, each BWP may have up to four msgA PUSCH configurations. In this case, one of the four frequency hopping configurations used for msgA PUSCH in CBRA may be selected to configure the frequency hopping of msgA PUSCH in CFRA.

[0106] Alternatively or additionally, the frequency hopping configuration for msgAPUSCH in CFRA may be implemented by using or reusing the frequency hopping configuration provided for PUSCH transmission with configuration grant as described in Section 6.1.2.3 of 3GPP TS 38.214 V16.0.0.

[0107] Alternatively or additionally, the frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA may be implemented by utilizing or reusing the frequency hopping configuration provided for normal PUSCH transmission in the PUSCH-config IE from higher layers.

[0108] It can be appreciated that the signaling, messages, parameters, variables and settings related to the frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA described herein are only examples. Other suitable signaling transmissions, parameter settings, related configurations and their specific values ​​may also be applicable to implement the proposed method.

[0109] It should be noted that some embodiments of the present disclosure are described primarily with respect to 5G or NR specifications, which are used as non-limiting examples of specific exemplary network configurations and system deployments. As such, the description of the exemplary embodiments given here specifically refers to terms directly related thereto. Such terms are only used in the context of the non-limiting examples and embodiments presented, and naturally do not limit the present disclosure in any way. Instead, any other system configuration or radio technology may be used equally, as long as the exemplary embodiments described here are applicable.

[0110] Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3 The method 300 shown in the figure may be implemented by a terminal device or an apparatus communicatively coupled to a terminal device. According to an exemplary embodiment, a terminal device such as a UE may be configured to connect to a network node such as a gNB, for example, by implementing a RA procedure (e.g., a two-step CFRA procedure).

[0111] according to Figure 3 In the exemplary method 300 shown, a terminal device may determine a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission to a network node in a two-step CFRA process, as shown in box 302. The uplink shared channel transmission may include a msgA PUSCH transmission from the terminal device to the network node. According to some exemplary embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration may indicate whether to enable or disable frequency hopping for the uplink shared channel transmission from the terminal device to the network node in the two-step CFRA process. The frequency hopping configuration may also indicate how to implement the frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device. Based on the determined frequency hopping configuration, the terminal device may implement the uplink shared channel transmission to the network node in the two-step CFRA process, as shown in box 304.

[0112] According to some example embodiments, the determination of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the terminal device at least partly based on dedicated signaling (eg, RACH-ConfigDedicated, etc.) from the network node for the two-step CFRA procedure.

[0113] According to some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated signaling may include one or more of the following:

[0114] A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled (e.g., msgA-intraSlotFrequencyHopping, etc.);

[0115] A set of frequency offset values; and

[0116] • An indicator of the frequency offset of the frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission (eg, msgA-HoppingBits, etc.).

[0117] It can be understood that the dedicated flag can also be used to indicate whether to disable the frequency hopping of the uplink shared channel transmission in the two-step CFRA process.

[0118] According to some exemplary embodiments, the dedicated signaling may include a specific field having one or more bits, and at least a portion of the one or more bits may be configured to indicate a frequency hopping configuration for the uplink shared channel transmission in the two-step CFRA process. According to an exemplary embodiment, the at least a portion of the one or more bits may be related to the size of the initial or active UL BWP. For example, the specific field may be a "PUSCH frequency resource allocation" field provided in a RACH-ConfigDedicated IE or other resource block allocation information element, and 1 MSB bit (e.g., if the BWP size is less than 50 PRBs) or 2 MSB bits (e.g., if the BWP size is not less than 50 PRBs) of the "PUSCH frequency resource allocation" field may be used for frequency offset determination of msgA PUSCH in CFRA. According to another exemplary embodiment, the at least a portion of the one or more bits may include a fixed number of bits (e.g., 2 bits or other appropriate number of bits).

[0119] According to some exemplary embodiments, the determination of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the terminal device at least in part based on one or more of the following:

[0120] First configuration information, which may be related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device in a two-step CBRA procedure;

[0121] · second configuration information, which may be related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission for said terminal device having configuration permission; and

[0122] The third configuration information may be related to the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device indicated by higher layer signaling (eg, in a PUSCH-config IE from a higher layer, through specific RRC signaling, etc.).

[0123] According to some exemplary embodiments, the determination of the frequency hopping configuration may be implemented by the terminal device at least in part based on one or more of the following messages from the network node: a switching command message, a beam failure recovery message, and a downlink control channel command (e.g., a PDCCH command) for the two-step CFRA process.

[0124] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 4 The method 400 shown may be implemented by a network node or a device communicatively coupled to a network node. According to an exemplary embodiment, the network node may include a base station such as a gNB. The network node may be configured to communicate with one or more terminal devices such as UEs, and the one or more terminal devices may be connected to the network node by implementing a RA procedure (e.g., a two-step CFRA procedure).

[0125] according to Figure 4 In the exemplary method 400 shown, the network node may determine a method for a terminal device (eg, as described with respect to FIG. 1 ) in a two-step CFRA process. Figure 3 The network node may determine a frequency hopping configuration for an uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device) as shown in block 402. Based on the determined frequency hopping configuration, the network node may receive the uplink shared channel transmission from the terminal device in the two-step CFRA process as shown in block 404.

[0126] Understandably, Figure 4 The steps, operations and related configurations of the method 400 shown may correspond to Figure 3 The steps, operations and related configurations of the method 300 shown in FIG. Figure 4 The frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission may correspond to Figure 3 Thus, the frequency hopping configuration determined by the terminal device as described in relation to method 300 may have the same or similar content and characteristic elements as the frequency hopping configuration determined by the network node as described in relation to method 400.

[0127] According to some exemplary embodiments, the network node may send dedicated signaling to the terminal device (e.g., as described in relation to Figure 3 The dedicated signaling) is used to indicate the determined frequency hopping configuration.

[0128] According to some exemplary embodiments, the network node may, at least in part, configure the CBRA based on first configuration information related to the CBRA (e.g., Figure 3 The first configuration information), the second configuration information related to the configuration permission (for example, Figure 3 ), and third configuration information related to high-layer signaling (for example, Figure 3 The frequency hopping configuration may be determined by using the third configuration information described in the specification and / or any other relevant information.

[0129] According to some exemplary embodiments, the network node may indicate the determined frequency hopping configuration to the terminal device in one or more of the following messages: a switching command message, a beam failure recovery message, and a downlink control channel command (e.g., a PDCCH command, etc.) for the two-step CFRA process.

[0130] Various exemplary embodiments according to the present disclosure may enable frequency hopping to be configured for msgA PUSCH in a two-step CFRA process. According to some exemplary embodiments, based on some flexible signaling that may be dynamically provided in a dedicated message from a network node, a terminal device may determine a frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA. Optionally or additionally, in order to reduce signaling overhead, frequency hopping for msgA PUSCH in CFRA may be implemented by reusing some existing parameters and / or signaling for frequency hopping configuration. The application of various exemplary embodiments may improve the flexibility of frequency hopping configuration for msgA PUSCH in CFRA and enhance the performance of the two-step CFRA process.

[0131] Figure 3 to Figure 4 The various blocks shown in the can be viewed as method steps, and / or operations generated by the operation of computer program code, and / or multiple coupled logic circuit elements configured to perform related functions. The schematic flow charts described above are generally described as logic flow charts. Thus, the depicted order and labeled steps indicate a specific embodiment of the proposed method. Other steps and methods can be envisioned, which are equivalent to one or more steps or parts thereof of the illustrated method in function, logic or effect. In addition, the order in which a particular method occurs may or may not strictly follow the order of the corresponding steps shown.

[0132] Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an apparatus 500 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 5 As shown, the apparatus 500 may include one or more processors (e.g., processor 501) and one or more memories (e.g., memory 502 storing computer program code 503). The memory 502 may be a non-transitory machine / processor / computer readable storage medium. According to some exemplary embodiments, the apparatus 500 may be implemented as an integrated circuit chip or module, which may be inserted into or installed in a computer system such as a computer system. Figure 3 The terminal device described, or can be inserted into or installed in Figure 4In this case, the apparatus 500 may be implemented as described in Figure 3 The terminal device described, or as described in Figure 4 The network node described.

[0133] In some implementations, the one or more memories 502 and the computer program code 503 may be configured to work with the one or more processors 501 to cause the apparatus 500 to at least implement the Figure 3 In other implementations, the one or more memories 502 and the computer program code 503 may be configured to work with the one or more processors 501 to cause the apparatus 500 to at least implement the method described in conjunction with Figure 4 Alternatively or additionally, the one or more memories 502 and the computer program code 503 may be configured to, together with the one or more processors 501, enable the apparatus 500 to at least implement more or fewer operations to realize the method proposed according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0134] Fig. 6A 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus 610 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig. 6A As shown, the apparatus 610 may include a determining unit 611 and an implementing unit 612. In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 610 may be implemented in a terminal device such as a UE. The determining unit 611 may be operable to perform the operations in block 302, and the implementing unit 612 may be operable to perform the operations in block 304. In an exemplary embodiment, the implementing unit 612 may be implemented as a sending unit to perform the operations in block 304. Optionally, the determining unit 611 and / or the implementing unit 612 may be operable to perform more or less operations to implement the method proposed according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0135] Figure 6B 6 is a block diagram illustrating an apparatus 620 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 6B As shown, the apparatus 620 may include a determining unit 621 and a receiving unit 622. In an exemplary embodiment, the apparatus 620 may be implemented in a network node such as a base station. The determining unit 621 may be operated to perform the operations in block 402, and the receiving unit 622 may be operated to perform the operations in block 404. Optionally, the determining unit 621 and / or the receiving unit 622 may be operated to perform more or less operations to implement the method proposed according to the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0136] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a telecommunications network connected to a host computer via an intermediary network according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0137] refer to Figure 7 According to an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 710 (such as a cellular network of the 3GPP type), which includes an access network 711 (such as a radio access network) and a core network 714. The access network 711 includes a plurality of base stations 712a, 712b, 712c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each of which defines a corresponding coverage area 713a, 713b, 713c. Each base station 712a, 712b, 712c may be connected to the core network 714 via a wired or wireless connection 715. A first UE 791 located in the coverage area 713c is configured to be wirelessly connected to the corresponding base station 712c or to be paged by the corresponding base station 712c. A second UE 792 in the coverage area 713a may be wirelessly connected to the corresponding base station 712a. Although multiple UEs 791, 792 are shown in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to situations where a sole UE is in the coverage area or a sole UE is connected to the corresponding base station 712.

[0138] The telecommunications network 710 itself is connected to a host computer 730, which may be embodied in the hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as a processing resource in a server farm. The host computer 730 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by or on behalf of a service provider. The connections 721 and 722 between the telecommunications network 710 and the host computer 730 may extend directly from the core network 714 to the host computer 730, or may pass through an optional intermediate network 720. The intermediate network 720 may be one of a public network, a private network, or a managed network, or a combination of more than one of these; the intermediate network 720 (if any) may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 720 may include two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0139] Figure 7The communication system generally realizes the connection between the connected UE 791, 792 and the host computer 730. The connection can be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 750. The host computer 730 and the connected UE 791, 792 are configured to use the access network 711, the core network 714, any intermediate network 720 and possible other infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries to transmit data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 750. The OTT connection 750 can be transparent in terms of the fact that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 750 passes do not know the routes of the uplink and downlink communications. For example, the base station 712 may not be informed or need not be informed of the past routes of the incoming downlink communications with data from the host computer 730 to be forwarded (e.g., switched) to the connected UE 791. Similarly, the base station 712 does not need to know the future routes of the outgoing uplink communications from the UE 791 toward the host computer 730.

[0140] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating a host computer communicating with a UE over a partially wireless connection via a base station according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0141] Now refer to Figure 8 Describe the example implementation of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the previous paragraph according to the embodiment. In the communication system 800, the host computer 810 includes hardware 815, the hardware 815 includes a communication interface 816, and the communication interface 816 is configured to establish and maintain a wired or wireless connection with the interface of different communication devices of the communication system 800. The host computer 810 also includes: a processing circuit 818, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuit 818 may include one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these components (not shown) suitable for executing instructions. The host computer 810 also includes software 811, which is stored in the host computer 810 or can be accessed by the host computer 810 and can be executed by the processing circuit 818. The software 811 includes a host application 812. The host application 812 is operable to provide services to a remote user (e.g., a UE 830 connected via an OTT connection 850 terminated at the UE 830 and the host computer 810). When providing services to remote users, the host application 812 may provide user data transmitted using the OTT connection 850 .

[0142] The communication system 800 also includes a base station 820 provided in the telecommunication system, and the base station 820 includes hardware 825 that enables it to communicate with the host computer 810 and the UE 830. The hardware 825 may include a communication interface 826 for establishing and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with different communication devices of the communication system 800, and a communication interface 826 for establishing and maintaining a connection with the coverage area ( Figure 8 The communication interface 826 may be configured to facilitate a connection 860 to the host computer 810. The connection 860 may be direct, or it may pass through a core network (eg, a wireless network) of the telecommunications system. Figure 8 820) and / or traverse one or more intermediate networks external to the telecommunications system. In the illustrated embodiment, the hardware 825 of the base station 820 also includes processing circuitry 828, which may include one or more programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these components (not shown) suitable for executing instructions. The base station 820 also has software 821 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0143] The communication system 800 also includes the UE 830 already cited. Its hardware 835 may include a radio interface 837, which is configured to establish and maintain a wireless connection 870 with a base station serving the coverage area where the UE 830 is currently located. The hardware 835 of the UE 830 also includes a processing circuit 838, which may include one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or a combination of these components (not shown) suitable for executing instructions. The UE 830 also includes software 831, which is stored in the UE 830 or can be accessed by the UE 830 and can be executed by the processing circuit 838. The software 831 includes a client application 832. The client application 832 is operable to provide services to human users or non-human users via the UE 830 under the support of the host computer 810. In the host computer 810, the executing host application 812 can communicate with the executing client application 832 via an OTT connection 850 terminated at the UE 830 and the host computer 810. When providing services to users, client application 832 can receive request data from host application 812 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 850 can transmit both request data and user data. Client application 832 can interact with the user to generate the user data it provides.

[0144] It should be noted that Figure 8 The host computer 810, base station 820 and UE 830 shown in FIG. Figure 7The host computer 730, one of the base stations 712a, 712b, 712c, and one of the UEs 791, 792 may be similar or identical. That is, the internal workings of these entities may be similar to Figure 8 As shown, and independently, the surrounding network topology can be Figure 7 network topology.

[0145] exist Figure 8 8, an OTT connection 850 has been abstractly drawn to illustrate communications between a host computer 810 and a UE 830 via a base station 820, without explicitly involving any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. The network infrastructure may determine the routing, which may be configured to hide the routing from the UE 830 or the service provider operating the host computer 810, or both. The network infrastructure may further make decisions to dynamically change the routing (e.g., based on load balancing considerations or reconfiguration of the network) while the OTT connection 850 is active.

[0146] The wireless connection 870 between the UE 830 and the base station 820 is based on the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 830 using the OTT connection 850, wherein the wireless connection 870 forms the last segment. More specifically, the teachings of these embodiments can improve latency and power consumption, thereby providing advantages such as lower complexity, reduced time required to access a cell, better responsiveness, and extended battery life.

[0147] A measurement process may be provided to monitor data rates, latency, and other factors improved by one or more embodiments. In response to changes in the measurement results, there may also be an optional network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 between the host computer 810 and the UE 830. The measurement process and / or network function for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 may be implemented in the software 811 and hardware 815 of the host computer 810, or in the software 831 and hardware 835 of the UE 830, or in both. In an embodiment, a sensor (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with a communication device through which the OTT connection 850 passes; the sensor may participate in the measurement process by providing the values ​​of the monitoring quantities exemplified above, or by providing the values ​​of other physical quantities from which the software 811, 831 can calculate or estimate the monitoring quantities. The reconfiguration of the OTT connection 850 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routes, etc.; the reconfiguration does not need to affect the base station 820, and the base station 820 may not know or be aware of the reconfiguration. These processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates the host computer 810 to measure throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be implemented as follows: the software 811 and 831 uses the OTT connection 850 to cause messages (particularly empty or "dummy" messages) to be transmitted while it monitors propagation time, errors, etc.

[0148] Fig. 9 1 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE, which can be reference Figure 7 and Figure 8 To simplify this disclosure, only the Fig. 9 . In step 910, the host computer provides user data. In sub-step 911 of step 910 (which may be optional), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 920, the host computer initiates a transmission with the user data to the UE. In step 930 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the base station transmits the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host computer to the UE. In step 940 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

[0149] Fig.10 1 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE, which can be reference Figure 7 and Figure 8To simplify this disclosure, only the Fig.10 . In step 1010 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional sub-step (not shown), the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 1020, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the transmission may pass through a base station. In step 1030 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0150] Fig.11 1 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE, which can be reference Figure 7 and Figure 8 To simplify this disclosure, only the Fig.11 . In step 1110 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or optionally, in step 1120, the UE provides user data. In sub-step 1121 of step 1120 (which may be optional), the UE provides user data by executing a client application. In sub-step 1111 of step 1110 (which may be optional), the UE executes a client application, which provides user data in response to the received input data provided by the host computer. When providing user data, the executed client application may also consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner of providing user data, the UE initiates transmission of user data to the host computer in sub-step 1130 (which may be optional). In step 1140 of the method, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the host computer receives user data transmitted from the UE.

[0151] Fig.12 1 is a flow chart showing a method implemented in a communication system according to an embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE, which can be reference Figure 7 and Figure 8 To simplify this disclosure, only the Fig.12 In step 1210 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout the present disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 1220 (which may be optional), the base station initiates a transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 1230 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0152] According to some exemplary embodiments, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, the communication system may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may include: providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may include: initiating, at the host computer, a transmission carrying user data to the UE via a cellular network including a base station, the base station may implement as described in relation to Figure 4 Any steps of the exemplary method 400 described.

[0153] According to some exemplary embodiments, a communication system including a host computer is provided. The host computer may include: a processing circuit configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The cellular network may include a base station having a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the base station may be configured to implement the Figure 4 Any steps of the exemplary method 400 described.

[0154] According to some exemplary embodiments, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, the communication system may include a host computer, a base station and a UE. The method may include: providing user data at the host computer. Optionally, the method may include: initiating, at the host computer, a transmission carrying user data to the UE via a cellular network including the base station. The UE may implement as described in relation to Figure 3 Any steps of the exemplary method 300 described.

[0155] According to some exemplary embodiments, a communication system including a host computer is provided. The host computer may include: a processing circuit configured to provide user data, and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a UE. The UE may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the UE may be configured to implement the Figure 3 Any steps of the exemplary method 300 described.

[0156] According to some exemplary embodiments, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, which may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method may include: receiving user data sent from the UE to the base station at the host computer, wherein the UE may implement Figure 3 Any steps of the exemplary method 300 described.

[0157] According to some exemplary embodiments, a communication system including a host computer is provided. The host computer may include a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The UE may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the UE may be configured to implement the Figure 3 Any steps of the exemplary method 300 described.

[0158] According to some exemplary embodiments, a method implemented in a communication system is provided, which may include a host computer, a base station, and a UE. The method may include: at the host computer, receiving from the base station user data originating from a transmission that the base station has received from the UE. The base station may implement as described in relation to Figure 4 Any steps of the exemplary method 400 described.

[0159] According to some exemplary embodiments, a communication system is provided that may include a host computer. The host computer may include a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a UE to a base station. The base station may include a radio interface and a processing circuit. The processing circuit of the base station may be configured to implement the Figure 4 Any steps of the exemplary method 400 described.

[0160] In general, various exemplary embodiments may be implemented in hardware or dedicated chips, circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device, although the disclosure is not limited thereto. Although various aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it is understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers, or other computing devices, or some combination thereof, as non-limiting examples.

[0161] As such, it should be appreciated that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit chips and modules. It should therefore be understood that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in an apparatus embodied as an integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit may include at least circuitry (and possible firmware) for embodying one or more of a data processor, a digital signal processor, a baseband circuit, and a radio frequency circuit that may be configured to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0162] It should be understood that at least some aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in computer executable instructions executed by one or more computers or other devices, such as in one or more program modules. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that implement specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types when executed by a processor in a computer or other device. Computer executable instructions may be stored on computer readable media such as hard disks, optical disks, removable storage media, solid-state memory, random access memory (RAM), etc. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the functions of program modules may be combined or distributed as needed in various embodiments. In addition, the functions may be embodied in whole or in part in firmware or hardware equivalents (such as integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.).

[0163] The present disclosure includes any novel feature or feature combination explicitly disclosed herein or arbitrarily summarized thereof. In view of the foregoing description, various modifications and adaptations to the aforementioned exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant art when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, any and all modifications will still fall within the scope of the non-limiting and exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method (300) implemented by a terminal device, comprising: determining (302) a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission to a network node in a two-step contention-free random access procedure; as well as implementing (304) the uplink shared channel transmission to the network node in the two-step contention-free random access procedure according to the determined frequency hopping configuration; The determination of the frequency hopping configuration is based at least in part on dedicated signaling from the network node for the two-step contention-free random access procedure. The dedicated signaling includes one or more of the following: A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled; a set of frequency offset values; and An indicator of a frequency offset for frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The dedicated signaling includes a specific field having one or more bits, and at least a portion of the one or more bits are configured to indicate the frequency hopping configuration used for the uplink shared channel transmission in the two-step contention-free random access procedure.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The at least a portion of the one or more bits is related to a size of an active uplink bandwidth portion.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The at least a portion of the one or more bits comprises a fixed number of bits.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The determination of the frequency hopping configuration is based at least in part on one or more of: first configuration information related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device in a two-step contention-based random access procedure; second configuration information related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device having configuration permission; and The third configuration information is related to the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device indicated by high-level signaling.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The determination of the frequency hopping configuration is based at least in part on one or more of the following messages from the network node: Switch command message; Beam failure recovery message; and A downlink control channel command for the two-step contention-free random access procedure.

7. A method (400) implemented by a network node, comprising: Determining (402) a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of a terminal device in a two-step contention-free random access procedure; as well as receiving (404) the uplink shared channel transmission from the terminal device in the two-step contention-free random access procedure according to the determined frequency hopping configuration; Sending dedicated signaling to the terminal device to indicate the determined frequency hopping configuration; The dedicated signaling includes one or more of the following: A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled; a set of frequency offset values; and An indicator of a frequency offset for frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The dedicated signaling includes a specific field having one or more bits, and at least a portion of the one or more bits are configured to indicate the frequency hopping configuration used for the uplink shared channel transmission in the two-step contention-free random access procedure.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The at least a portion of the one or more bits is related to a size of an active uplink bandwidth portion.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The at least a portion of the one or more bits comprises a fixed number of bits.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The determination of the frequency hopping configuration is based at least in part on one or more of: first configuration information related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device in a two-step contention-based random access procedure; second configuration information related to a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device having configuration permission; and The third configuration information is related to the frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission of the terminal device indicated by high-level signaling.

12. The method according to any one of claims 7 to 11, further comprising indicating the determined frequency hopping configuration to the terminal device in one or more of the following messages: Switch command message; Beam failure recovery message; and A downlink control channel command for the two-step contention-free random access procedure.

13. A terminal device (500), comprising: one or more processors (501); as well as one or more memories (502) including computer program code (503), The one or more memories (502) and the computer program code (503) are configured to, together with the one or more processors (501), cause the terminal device (500) to at least: determining a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmission to a network node in a two-step contention-free random access procedure; as well as implementing the uplink shared channel transmission to the network node in the two-step contention-free random access procedure according to the determined frequency hopping configuration; The determination of the frequency hopping configuration is based at least in part on dedicated signaling from the network node for the two-step contention-free random access procedure. The dedicated signaling includes one or more of the following: A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled; a set of frequency offset values; and An indicator of a frequency offset for frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission.

14. The terminal device according to claim 13, wherein: The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, together with the one or more processors, cause the terminal device to implement the method according to any one of claims 2-6.

15. A computer readable medium having computer program code (503) thereon, which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to carry out any of the steps of the method according to any of claims 1-6.

16. A network node (500), comprising: one or more processors (501); as well as one or more memories (502) including computer program code (503), The one or more memories (502) and the computer program code (503) are configured to, together with the one or more processors (501), cause the network node (500) to at least: determining a frequency hopping configuration for uplink shared channel transmissions of a terminal device in a two-step contention-free random access procedure; as well as receiving the uplink shared channel transmission from the terminal device in the two-step contention-free random access procedure according to the determined frequency hopping configuration; Sending dedicated signaling to the terminal device to indicate the determined frequency hopping configuration; The dedicated signaling includes one or more of the following: A flag indicating whether frequency hopping is enabled; a set of frequency offset values; and An indicator of a frequency offset for frequency hopping configured for the uplink shared channel transmission.

17. The network node according to claim 16, wherein: The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, together with the one or more processors, cause the network node to implement the method according to any of claims 7-12.

18. A computer readable medium having computer program code (503) thereon which, when executed on a computer, causes the computer to carry out any of the steps of the method according to any of claims 7-12.

19. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; as well as a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment UE, The UE comprises a radio interface and a processing circuit, and the processing circuit of the UE is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-6.

20. The communication system according to claim 19, further comprising the UE.

21. The communication system according to claim 20, wherein: The cellular network also includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

22. A communication system according to claim 20 or 21, wherein: The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and The processing circuitry of the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

23. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; as well as a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment UE, The cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and a processing circuit, and the processing circuit of the base station is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 9-16.

24. The communication system of claim 23, further comprising the base station.

25. The communication system according to claim 24, further comprising the UE, wherein: The UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

26. A communication system according to claim 24 or 25, wherein: The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and The UE includes processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.

27. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising: a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment UE to a base station, The UE comprises a radio interface and a processing circuit, and the processing circuit of the UE is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 1-6.

28. The communication system according to embodiment 27 further includes the UE.

29. The communication system according to embodiment 28, further comprising the base station, wherein: The base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward the user data carried by transmissions from the UE to the base station to the host computer.

30. The communication system of embodiment 28 or 29, wherein: The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and The processing circuitry of the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.

31. A communication system comprising a host computer, the host computer comprising: a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment UE to a base station, The base station comprises a radio interface and a processing circuit, and the processing circuit of the base station is configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 7-12.

32. The communication system according to embodiment 31 further includes the base station.

33. The communication system according to embodiment 32 further includes the UE, wherein: The UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

34. The communication system of embodiment 32 or 33, wherein: The processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; The UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.

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