Techniques for transmitting random access messages based on beam refinement in wireless communications

Abstract

Aspects described herein relate to sending a first random access message in a random access procedure based on whether beam refinement is configured. In one aspect, it can be determined whether a base station uses beam refinement to receive a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure. Based on whether the base station uses beam refinement, one or more parameters for sending the first random access message can be determined, and the first random access message can be sent to the base station based on the one or more parameters.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority to Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 980,031, filed on February 21, 2020, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR COMMUNICATING RANDOM ACCESS MESSAGES BASED ON BEAM REFINING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS,” and U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 179,290, filed on February 18, 2021, entitled “TECHNIQUES FOR COMMUNICATING RANDOM ACCESS MESSAGES BASED ON BEAM REFINING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS,” which are assigned to the assignee of this application and are hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to random access procedures. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content, such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, and single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems.

[0005] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at a city, country, region, and even global level. For example, the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication technology, which may be referred to as 5G New Radio (5G NR), is envisioned to expand and support different usage scenarios and applications relative to current mobile network generations. In one aspect, 5G communication technologies may include: enhanced mobile broadband addressing human-centric use cases for accessing multimedia content, services, and data; ultra-reliable-low latency communications (URLLC), with specific latency and reliability specifications; and massive machine-type communications, which may allow very large numbers of connected devices and the transmission of relatively small amounts of non-latency sensitive information.

[0006] In some wireless communication technologies, a user equipment (UE) may use a random access procedure to establish a connection with a base station. The random access procedure may generally include four steps of transmitting messages between the UE and the base station to establish a connection. Recent proposals have introduced a two-step random access procedure, in which the UE sends a first message including a random access preamble and a payload in a shared random access opportunity, and the base station receiving the first message may send a second message including a random access response (e.g., to the random access preamble) and contention resolution information (at least for a contention-based random access procedure). The first message may include two separate transmissions (e.g., in time) of the preamble and payload portions of the message, but may be transmitted before receiving the random access response. In addition, the gap between the preamble transmission and the payload transmission may be configurable. Summary of the invention

[0007] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is neither intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects, nor to delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later.

[0008] According to one aspect, a method of wireless communication is provided. The method includes selecting one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure based on whether a base station uses beam refinement in the two-step random access procedure, and sending the first random access message to the base station as part of the two-step random access procedure based on the one or more parameters.

[0009] In another example, a method for wireless communication is provided. The method includes sending a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure, and receiving a first random access message from a device based on the configuration.

[0010] In another example, a device for wireless communication is provided, the device comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The memory stores instructions executable by one or more processors to perform the operations of the methods described herein. On the other hand, a device for wireless communication is provided, the device comprising a device module for performing the operations of the methods described herein. On the other hand, a computer-readable medium is provided, including code executable by one or more processors to perform the operations of the methods described herein.

[0011] In one example, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, the apparatus comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The memory stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to select one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure based on whether a base station uses beam refinement in the two-step random access procedure, and to send the first random access message to the base station based on the one or more parameters as part of the two-step random access procedure.

[0012] In another example, an apparatus for wireless communication is provided, the apparatus comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The memory stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to send a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure, and receive the first random access message from a device based on the configuration.

[0013] To accomplish the foregoing and related ends, one or more aspects include features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of one or more aspects. However, these features are indicative of only some of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The disclosed aspects will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which are provided to illustrate rather than limit the disclosed aspects, wherein like reference numerals represent like elements, and wherein:

[0015] Figure 1 An example of a wireless communication system according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a UE according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a base station according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for sending a first random access message according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a method for indicating whether beam refinement is configured according to various aspects of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 6An example of a system for sending a random access message according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown; and

[0021] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a MIMO communication system including a base station and a UE according to various aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Various aspects are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of one or more aspects. However, it is apparent that these aspects can be practiced without these specific details.

[0023] The described features generally relate to transmitting messages in a two-step random access process, although these concepts can also be applied to random access processes with more or less than two steps. In the random access process, the base station can broadcast a signal with parameters for establishing a connection with the base station. These signals can include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), system information blocks (SIBs), reference signals (RSs), etc. The user equipment (UE) can receive the broadcast signal and can synchronize with the downlink from the base station, perform system information decoding and measurements, etc. In addition, the UE can determine one or more random access opportunities for sending a random access message to establish a connection with the base station based on the parameters in the broadcast signal. In the two-step random access process, when the UE desires to establish a connection with the base station, the UE can send a first message (also referred to as "msgA" herein), which can include a preamble part and a payload part (for example, wherein the payload part can include physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) data), and these parts can be sent in a manner separated in time by a transmission gap. The base station may receive the first message (e.g., as a preamble and a payload portion) and may send a response message (also referred to herein as "msgB") to the UE, wherein the response message may include a random access response. At least for a contention-based random access procedure, the response message may also include contention resolution information.

[0024] As described above, for example, there may be a transmission gap defined and used by the UE between the transmission of the preamble portion and the payload portion of the first message. For example, the transmission gap may allow a timing adjustment (TA) for the first message transmission, where the TA (e.g., a previous TA for communication by or with the UE) may be unknown or outdated. In addition, for example, the transmission gap may allow different parameter sets, bandwidths, beam selections, power control schemes, sampling rates of the preamble and payload between the preamble and payload portions, compatibility with a listen-before-talk (LBT) scheme (e.g., via a new radio (NR)-U interface), etc. In addition, for example, the transmission of the preamble portion of the first message may include a guard time between transmissions (e.g., as defined by a wireless communication technology (such as NR) for any time division duplex (TDD) transmission of the signal). In this example, the transmission gap may be reduced to take into account the increased guard time (compared to no guard time). In this regard, in one example, the preamble and payload portions of the first message may be sent in different time slots (or the same time slot) based on the transmission gap and / or the guard time.

[0025] In addition, in a two-step random access procedure, multiple devices performing a two-step random access procedure can share the same PUSCH opportunity (PO) to send the payload portion, for example, if their first message transmission uses a similar modulation and coding scheme (MCS) / waveform / payload size, etc. The resource allocation of the PO can be specified relative to the random access channel (RACH) opportunity (RO) used to send the first message (or at least its preamble portion) by semi-statically or dynamically configured time and / or frequency offset. One or more of the separate ROs or the shared RO may be configured for the two-step random access procedure. For example, in one example, when the RO is shared between a two-step random access procedure and a four-step random access procedure, the pool of random access preambles that can be used for the random access procedure can be divided into mutually exclusive subsets that are used by different types of random access procedures.

[0026] As described above, msgB in the two-step random access procedure is similar to the second message (msg2) and the fourth message (msg4) in the four-step random access procedure, so if msgA transmission is successful, msgB can perform contention resolution (in a contention-based random access procedure) and completion of the RACH procedure. In addition, for example, if msgA preamble detection is successful but msgA payload decoding fails, msgB can request retransmission of msgA payload on granted resources. At this point, the reception of msgB may be important or critical to the random access procedure.

[0027] Aspects described herein relate to using beam refinement when sending one or more parts (e.g., a preamble portion and / or a payload portion) of a first random access message. For example, transmission parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access process may be determined based at least in part on whether a base station configures or uses beam refinement. For example, beam refinement or beam subdivision may refer to a base station scanning multiple beams when receiving a first random access message or a portion thereof to determine a desired beam for communicating with a device. More specifically, for example, beam refinement for receiving a msgA PUSCH may refer to a mechanism in which a msgA preamble is received by scanning multiple narrow beams by a base station, and the best beam therein is used to receive the msgA PUSCH.

[0028] In an example, a base station may inform a device whether it uses beam refinement, and the device may use this information to determine transmission parameters for sending a first random access message. For example, in the case where the base station uses beam refinement, the device may determine whether to use repetition (e.g., based on multiple beams) or the like to send the first random access message (or its preamble or payload portion) on a particular resource or timing. In the case where the device uses multiple beams to send the first random access message (or the preamble portion of its payload portion), this may improve the base station's determination of a favorable beam for the device, where the base station uses beam refinement. In the case where the device does not use multiple beams at this point, for example, in the case where beam refinement is not configured, the base station may save resources (e.g., by using fewer resources for the random access preamble or payload or not using repetition).

[0029] The following will refer to Figure 1-Figure 7 Describe the described features in more detail.

[0030] As used in this application, the terms "component", "module", "system", etc. are intended to include computer-related entities, such as but not limited to hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For example, a component can be but not limited to a process, a processor, an object, an executable program, an execution thread, a program, and / or a computer running on a processor. As an illustration, both an application running on a computing device and a computing device can be a component. One or more components can reside in the process and / or thread of execution, and a component can be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components can be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. These components can communicate through local and / or remote processes, for example, according to a signal with one or more data packets, such as data from a component, the component interacts with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacts with other systems through a network such as the Internet.

[0031] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless communication systems, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" are usually used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement wireless technologies such as CDMA2000, Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA). CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 versions 0 and A are commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Speed ​​Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includes Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) and other variants of Code Division Multiple Access. A TDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). OFDMA systems can implement radio technologies such as Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Advanced LTE (LTE-A) are new versions of UMTS using E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3gpp 2). The technology described herein can be used for the above-mentioned systems and radio technologies and other systems and radio technologies, including cellular (e.g., LTE) communications on a shared radio spectrum band. However, the description below describes an LTE / LTE-A system for example purposes, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below, even though the techniques are applicable beyond LTE / LTE-A applications (e.g., to fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) networks or other next generation communications systems).

[0032] The following description provides examples and does not limit the scope, applicability or examples set forth in the claims. The functions and arrangements of the elements discussed may be changed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Various examples may appropriately omit, replace or add various processes or components. For example, the described methods may be performed in a different order than described, and various steps may be added, omitted or combined. In addition, the features described with respect to some examples may be combined in other examples.

[0033] Various aspects or features will be presented in terms of systems that may include multiple devices, components, modules, etc. It should be understood and appreciated that various systems may include additional devices, components, modules, etc. and / or may not include all devices, components, modules, etc. The discussion is presented in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Combinations of these methods may also be used.

[0034] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and / or a 5G core (5GC) 190. The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low power cellular base station). A macro cell may include a base station. A small cell may include a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell. In an example, the base station 102 may also include a gNB 180, as further described herein. In one example, according to aspects described herein, some nodes of the wireless communication system may have a modem 240 and a communication component 242 for sending a first random access message to the base station 102 based at least in part on whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102. In addition, according to aspects described herein, some nodes may have a modem 340 and a configuration component 342 for indicating whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102. Although UE 104 is shown as having a modem 240 and a communication component 242, and base station 102 / gNB 180 is shown as having a modem 340 and a configuration component 342, this is an illustrative example, and substantially any node or node type may include a modem 240 and a communication component 242 and / or a modem 340 and a configuration component 342 to provide the corresponding functionality described herein.

[0035] The base station 102 configured for 4G LTE (which may be collectively referred to as the Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with the EPC 160 via a backhaul link 132 (e.g., using an S1 interface). The base station 102 configured for 5G NR (which may be collectively referred to as the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with the 5GC 190 via a backhaul link 184. Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform one or more of the following functions: user data transmission, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), user and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other via a backhaul link 134 (e.g., using an X2 interface) directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC 160 or 5GC 190). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0036] The base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with one or more UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group, which may be referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming and / or transmission diversity. The communication link may be through one or more carriers. The base station 102 / UE 104 may use spectrum with a per-carrier bandwidth of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400, etc. MHz) allocated in carrier aggregation for transmission in the DL and / or UL direction for a total of up to Yx MHz (e.g., for x component carriers). The carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0037] In another example, specific UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through various wireless D2D communication systems, such as FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on IEEE 802.11 standards, LTE, or NR.

[0038] The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communication to determine whether the channel is available.

[0039] The small cell 102' can operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' can employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' using NR in the unlicensed spectrum can expand the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0040] The base station 102, whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), may include an eNB, a gNodeB (gNB), or other types of base stations. Some base stations (such as gNB 180) may communicate with UE 104 in conventional sub-6 GHz spectrum, millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and / or near mmW frequencies. When the gNB 180 operates at or near mmW frequencies, the gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. The EHF range is 30 GHz to 300 GHz with wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in the frequency band may be referred to as mmWaves. Near mmWaves may extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using the mmWave / near mmWave radio frequency bands have extremely high path loss and short range. The mmW base station 180 can utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distance. The base station 102 mentioned here may include a gNB 180.

[0041] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may communicate with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. Typically, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are transmitted through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functions for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may be used as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS services to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area that broadcasts specific services, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and collecting charging information related to eMBMS.

[0042] 5GC 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may communicate with unified data management (UDM) 196. AMF 192 may be a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and 5GC 190. Typically, AMF 192 may provide QoS flow and session management. User Internet Protocol (IP) packets (e.g., from one or more UEs 104) may be transmitted through UPF 195. UPF 195 may provide UE IP address allocation and other functions for one or more UEs. UPF 195 is connected to IP services 197. IP services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0043] A base station may also be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmit receive point (TRP), or some other suitable term. Base station 102 provides an access point to EPC 160 or 5GC 190 for UE 104. Examples of UE 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a healthcare device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, or any other similar functional device. Some of UE 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., a parking meter, a gas pump, a toaster, a vehicle, a heart monitor, etc.). IoT UEs may include machine type communication (MTC) / enhanced MTC (eMTC, also known as Category (CAT)-M, CAT M1) UEs, NB-IoT (also known as CAT NB1) UEs, and other types of UEs. In the present disclosure, eMTC and NB-IoT may refer to future technologies that may be developed from or may be based on these technologies. For example, eMTC may include FeMTC (further eMTC), eFeMTC (enhanced further eMTC), mMTC (massive MTC), etc., and NB-IoT may include eNB-IoT (enhanced NB-IoT), FeNB-IoT (further enhanced NB-IoT), etc. UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a user station, a mobile unit, a user unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile user station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a mobile phone, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0044] In an example, the communication component 242 can initiate a two-step random access procedure with the base station 102 by sending a first random access message (msgA) to the base station, to which the base station 102 can respond with a second random access message (msgB). The communication component 242 can send the first random access message based at least in part on whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102. For example, where beam refinement is configured, the communication component 242 can send the first random access message based on a specific mechanism related to transmission using beam refinement, specific associated resources for sending the first random access message, a specific mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities, a specific random access preamble (with or without repetition), etc. In an example, the configuration component 342 can indicate to the UE 104 whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102 (e.g., for receiving the first random access message).

[0045] Now turn to Figure 2-Figure 7 , various aspects are depicted with reference to one or more components and one or more methods that can perform the actions or operations described herein, where aspects in dashed lines may be optional. Figure 4-Figure 5 The operations described in the present invention are presented in a particular order and / or performed by example components, but it should be understood that the order of actions and components performing the actions may vary depending on the implementation. In addition, it should be understood that the following actions, functions, and / or components described may be performed by a specially programmed processor, a processor executing specially programmed software, or a computer-readable medium, or by any other combination of hardware components and / or software components capable of performing the described actions or functions.

[0046] refer to Figure 2 , an example of an implementation of UE 104 may include various components, some of which have been described above and will be further described herein, including components such as one or more processors 212 and memory 216 and transceiver 202 that communicate via one or more buses 244, which can operate in conjunction with modem 240 and / or communication component 242 to send a first random access message to base station 102 based at least in part on whether beam refinement is configured at base station 102 in accordance with aspects described herein.

[0047] In one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include the modem 240 and / or may be part of the modem 240 using one or more modem processors. Thus, various functions associated with the communication component 242 may be included in the modem 240 and / or the processor 212, and in one aspect, may be performed by a single processor, while in other aspects, different functions may be performed by a combination of two or more different processors. For example, in one aspect, the one or more processors 212 may include any one or any combination of a modem processor, a baseband processor, a digital signal processor, a transmit processor, a receiver processor, or a transceiver processor associated with the transceiver 202. In other aspects, some of the features of the one or more processors 212 and / or the modem 240 associated with the communication component 242 may be performed by the transceiver 202.

[0048] In addition, the memory 216 can be configured to store data used herein and / or local versions of the applications 275 or the communication component 242 and / or one or more of its subcomponents executed by the at least one processor 212. The memory 216 may include any type of computer-readable medium usable by a computer or the at least one processor 212, such as a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a tape, a disk, an optical disk, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, and any combination thereof. In one aspect, for example, when the UE 104 operates the at least one processor 212 to execute the communication component 242 and / or one or more of its subcomponents, the memory 216 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores one or more computer-executable codes defining the communication component 242 and / or one or more of its subcomponents and / or data associated therewith.

[0049] The transceiver 202 may include at least one receiver 206 and at least one transmitter 208. The receiver 206 may include hardware and / or software code executable by a processor for receiving data, the code including instructions and stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). The receiver 206 may be, for example, a radio frequency (RF) receiver. In one aspect, the receiver 206 may receive a signal transmitted by at least one base station 102. Additionally, the receiver 206 may process the signal received in this manner and may also obtain measurements of the signal, such as, but not limited to, Ec / Io, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), etc. The transmitter 208 may include hardware and / or software code executable by a processor for transmitting data, the code including instructions and stored in a memory (e.g., a computer-readable medium). Suitable examples of the transmitter 208 may include, but are not limited to, an RF transmitter.

[0050] Additionally, in one aspect, the UE 104 may include an RF front end 288 that may communicate with the one or more antennas 265 and the transceiver 202 to receive and transmit radio transmissions, such as wireless communications transmitted by at least one base station 102 or wireless transmissions transmitted by the UE 104. The RF front end 288 may be connected to the one or more antennas 265 and may include one or more low noise amplifiers (LNAs) 290, one or more switches 292, one or more power amplifiers (PAs) 298, and one or more filters 296 for transmitting and receiving RF signals.

[0051] In one aspect, the LNA 290 can amplify the received signal at a desired output level. In one aspect, each LNA 290 can have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a specific LNA 290 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value for a particular application.

[0052] In addition, for example, the RF front end 288 can use one or more PAs 298 to amplify the signal of the RF output at a desired output power level. In one aspect, each PA 298 can have a specified minimum and maximum gain value. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a specific PA 298 and its specified gain value based on the desired gain value of a specific application.

[0053] In addition, for example, the RF front end 288 can use one or more filters 296 to filter the received signal to obtain an input RF signal. Similarly, in one aspect, for example, a corresponding filter 296 can be used to filter the output from the corresponding PA 298 to produce an output signal for transmission. In one aspect, each filter 296 can be connected to a specific LNA 290 and / or PA 298. In one aspect, the RF front end 288 can use one or more switches 292 to select a transmit or receive path using a specified filter 296, LNA 290, and / or PA 298 based on a configuration specified by the transceiver 202 and / or the processor 212.

[0054] As such, the transceiver 202 may be configured to transmit and receive wireless signals via the RF front end 288 through the one or more antennas 265. In one aspect, the transceiver may be tuned to operate at a specified frequency so that the UE 104 may communicate with, for example, one or more base stations 102 or one or more cells associated with the one or more base stations 102. For example, in one aspect, the modem 240 may configure the transceiver 202 to operate at a specified frequency and power level based on the UE configuration of the UE 104 and the communication protocol used by the modem 240.

[0055] In one aspect, modem 240 can be a multi-band multi-mode modem that can process digital data and communicate with transceiver 202 so that digital data is sent and received using transceiver 202. In one aspect, modem 240 can be multi-band and configured to support multiple frequency bands for a specific communication protocol. In one aspect, modem 240 can be multi-mode and configured to support multiple operating networks and communication protocols. In one aspect, modem 240 can control one or more components (e.g., RF front end 288, transceiver 202) of UE 104 to realize the transmission and / or reception of signals from the network based on the specified modem configuration. In one aspect, the modem configuration can be based on the mode of the modem and the frequency band in use. On the other hand, the modem configuration can be based on the UE configuration information associated with UE104 provided by the network during cell selection and / or cell reselection.

[0056] In one aspect, according to aspects described herein, the communication component 242 may optionally include a beam refinement determination component 252 for determining whether beam refinement is configured at the bae station 102, and / or a msgA generation component 254 for generating and sending a first random access message for a two-step random access procedure based on whether beam refinement is configured.

[0057] In one aspect, processor(s) 212 may correspond to a processor that is associated with Figure 7 Similarly, the memory 216 may correspond to the one or more processors described in conjunction with the UE. Figure 7 The memory described by the UE in .

[0058] refer to Figure 3In accordance with the described aspects, an example of an implementation of a base station 102 (e.g., base station 102 and / or gNB 180 as described above) may include various components, some of which have been described above, but include components that communicate via one or more buses 344, such as one or more processors 312 and memory 316 and a transceiver 302, which may operate in conjunction with a modem 340 and a configuration component 342 for indicating whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102.

[0059] As described above, the transceiver 302, receiver 306, transmitter 308, one or more processors 312, memory 316, application 375, bus 344, RF front end 388, LNA 390, switch 392, filter 396, PA 398 and one or more antennas 365 can be the same as or similar to the corresponding components of UE 104, but configured or programmed for base station operation as opposed to UE operation.

[0060] In one aspect, according to aspects described herein, the configuration component 342 may optionally include a beam refinement component 352 and a msgA processing component 354, wherein the beam refinement component 352 is used to indicate whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102 and / or perform beam refinement to determine the desired beam of the UE 104, and the msgA processing component 354 is used to receive and / or process a first random access message received from the UE 104.

[0061] In one aspect, processor(s) 312 may correspond to a processor that is associated with Figure 7 Similarly, the memory 316 may correspond to the one or more processors described in the base station in the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 7 The memory described by the base station in.

[0062] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of a method 400 for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure based on whether beam refinement is configured at a base station. In the example, UE 104 may use Figure 1 and Figure 2 One or more components described in the method 400 may be used to perform the functions described in the method 400.

[0063] In the method 400, optionally, at block 402, the UE may determine whether the base station uses beam refinement to receive a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure. In one aspect, the beam refinement determination component 252, for example in combination with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine whether the base station uses beam refinement to receive a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure. For example, the beam refinement determination component 252 may determine whether the base station uses beam refinement based on receiving a configuration indicating whether the base station 102 uses beam refinement. For example, the beam refinement determination component 252 may receive a configuration in a remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a primary broadcast channel (PBCH) signaling, or other signaling from the base station 102, and the configuration may include an explicit or implicit indicator of whether the base station 102 uses beam refinement in a random access procedure. In an example, the configuration may include an explicit one-bit flag indicating whether beam refinement is configured for the random access procedure, or may include an implicit indicator of other data from which the presence or absence of beam refinement for the random access procedure may be inferred at the base station 102. For example, the implicit indicator of beam refinement may include an indication of supported features, configured system bandwidth, other parameters configured for the UE 104, and the like.

[0064] In the method 400, at block 404, the UE may select one or more parameters for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement. In one aspect, the msgA generation component 254, e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may select one or more parameters for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement. For example, in the case where beam refinement is configured at the base station 102 (e.g., in the case where the beam refinement determination component 252 determines that the base station 102 uses or supports beam refinement during the random access procedure), the msgA generation component 254 may use different parameters to generate and / or send the first random access message compared to the case where beam refinement is not configured at the base station 102. For example, the different parameters may include a process or mechanism for sending the first random access message, resources on which to send the first random access message (or at least the preamble portion or its payload portion), a mapping of random access opportunities for sending the preamble portion to payload opportunities for sending the payload portion, a random access preamble sent for the first random access message, whether to use repetition to send the first random access message (or its preamble portion or payload portion), etc. In one example, the msgA generation component 254 can select or determine one or more parameters based on determining whether the base station uses beam refinement to receive the first random access message (e.g., in block 402).

[0065] In a specific example where beam refinement is configured, the msgA generation component 254 may determine to generate and / or send a first random access message using a random access preamble selected from a set of random access preambles for beam refinement (and to send the random access preamble using an associated sequence set and / or (multiple) random access opportunities). In another example where beam refinement is configured, the msgA generation component 254 may determine to generate and / or send a first random access message using repetition. In an example, the msgA generation component 254 may determine which transmission parameters correspond to beam refinement based on a configuration received from the base station 102 (e.g., in an RMSI). Thus, in one example, the base station 102 may send and the msgA generation component 254 may receive (e.g., sent in an RMSI) a configuration indicating which random access preambles are to be used to send the first random access message when beam refinement is configured. In one example, the configuration may also include one or more parameters (or a portion of one or more parameters) for sending the first random access message based on the configured beam refinement.

[0066] In the method 400, at block 406, the UE may send a first random access message to the base station based on one or more parameters. In one aspect, the communication component 242, e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may send the first random access message to the base station based on the one or more parameters. For example, as described, the communication component 242 may send a preamble portion and / or a payload portion of the first random access message based on the one or more parameters determined at block 404, wherein the parameters may be different in the case where beam refinement for the random access procedure is configured at the base station 102. Further, for example, in this regard, the communication component 242 may send the first random access message (or a preamble or payload portion thereof) based on multiple beams (e.g., by sending multiple narrow beams based on the one or more parameters) to allow the base station 102 to scan the beams and select a desired beam for the UE 104 in the beam refinement. Additionally, in an example, in response to the first random access message, the base station 102 can send a second random access message, and the communication component 242 can receive the second random access message, wherein the second random access message can use the beam selected by the base station 102 as part of beam refinement.

[0067] When determining the one or more parameters at block 404, optionally, at block 408, the UE may determine the one or more parameters based at least in part on a signal measurement of a signal received from the base station. In one aspect, the msgA generation component 254, for example in conjunction with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may further determine the one or more parameters based at least in part on a signal measurement of a signal received from the base station 102. For example, the signal measurement may correspond to a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), etc. of a signal received from the base station, wherein the signal may include a synchronization signal block (SSB) or other signal or reference signal received from the base station 102. For example, the signal measurement may represent the quality of a radio environment or channel with the base station 102, and in the event that the signal measurement (e.g., RSRP) does not reach a threshold, the msgA generation component 254 may determine to utilize one or more parameters, such as applying repetition to the preamble portion of the first random access message, to improve the chance of receiving the preamble portion.

[0068] When sending the first random access message at block 406, optionally at block 410, the UE may send one or more repetitions of the random access message to the base station using different beams based on one or more parameters. In one aspect, the communication component 242, for example, in combination with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may send one or more repetitions of the first random access message to the base station using different beams based on one or more parameters. For example, the communication component 242 may send each repetition of the first random access to allow the base station 102 to receive the first random access message using multiple beams, which may allow the base station 102 to perform beam refinement. As described, the communication component 242 may send each repetition in different resources, which may include sending each repetition in different time periods. The time periods for sending the repetitions may include different symbols (e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols), different time slots, where each time slot includes multiple symbols, etc., which may include adjacent or non-adjacent symbols or time slots, etc.

[0069] In the method 400, optionally, at block 412, the UE may determine to perform a two-step random access procedure with the base station. In one aspect, the msgA generation component 254, for example, in conjunction with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may determine to perform a two-step random access procedure with the base station 102. In an example, the msgA generation component 254 may determine whether the base station uses beam refinement based on the determination to perform a two-step random access procedure. However, in other examples, the msgA generation component 254 may determine to perform beam refinement for a four-step random access procedure or other types of random access procedures.

[0070] In the method 400, optionally, at block 414, the UE may receive broadcast signaling from the base station. In one aspect, the msgA generation component 254, e.g., in conjunction with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, the communication component 242, etc., may receive the broadcast signaling from the base station 102. For example, the msgA generation component 254 may receive the broadcast signaling as an indication parameter for performing a two-step random access procedure, which may include an indication of a random access preamble to be used, a preamble opportunity or a payload opportunity for sending a preamble portion (or one or more repetitions thereof) or a payload portion of a first random access message, etc. In addition, as described, for example, the broadcast signaling may include an indication of whether beam refinement is configured at the base station 102 and / or one or more parameters for sending the first random access message using beam refinement, as described above.

[0071] In the method 400, optionally, at block 416, the UE may receive a second random access message from the base station based on the first random access message. In one aspect, the communication component 242, for example, in combination with the processor(s) 212, the memory 216, the transceiver 202, etc., may receive the second random access message from the base station based on the first random access message. For example, in response to the first random access message (e.g., in response to the preamble portion (or one or more repetitions thereof) and / or the payload portion), the communication component 242 may receive the second random access message. In the example, as described, the base station 102 may send the second random access message based on beam refinement using a beam desired by the base station 102, which may be based on one of the beams used by the UE 104 to send the repetition of the first random access message.

[0072] In a specific example, there may be two different methods (and / or different associated resources and / or different mappings of RO to PO) for msgA PUSCH transmission, depending on whether the base station uses beam refinement to receive msgA PUSCH. For example, the base station may inform the UE of the use of beam refinement (for reception of msgA PUSCH) via RMSI or via a one-bit flag in PBCH. In the example, the presence of msgA beam refinement at the base station (and its indication to the UE) may change the msgA preamble (their corresponding sequence sets and / or timing) to msgA PUSCH resource mapping and / or transmission attributes. Based on whether the base station has indicated the use of beam refinement (for reception of PUSCH) in RMSI, the UE may send repeated or non-repeated msgA PUSCH. As described above in one example, the UE may selectively use this procedure based on its SSB-based RSRP. For example, the UE may use this procedure when the SSB-based RSRP corresponds to applying repetition to the msgA preamble.

[0073] Figure 5 A flow chart showing an example of a method 500 for indicating whether beam refinement is configured. In an example, the base station 102 may use Figure 1 and Figure 3 One or more components described in the method 500 may be used to perform the functions described in the method 500.

[0074] In the method 500, at block 502, the base station may transmit a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure. In one aspect, the beam refinement component 352, for example, in combination with the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the configuration component 342, etc., may transmit a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure. For example, as described above, the beam refinement component 352 may transmit the configuration using RMSI, PBCH, etc. In addition, in one example, the configuration or another configuration transmitted by the base station 102 may indicate one or more parameters used by the UE when transmitting the first random access message, wherein beam refinement is configured at the base station 102. For example, when beam refinement is configured, the beam refinement component 352 may transmit one or more configurations indicating a random access opportunity (e.g., a preamble opportunity or a payload opportunity) for transmitting the first random access message (or its corresponding portion in a two-step random access procedure). In another example, the beam refinement component 352 can send one or more configurations indicating one or more of a random access preamble to be used when beam refinement is configured, resources to be used to send a preamble portion or a payload portion of a first random access message when beam refinement is configured, or other transmission attributes to be used.

[0075] In method 500, at box 504, the base station may receive a first random access message from the device based on the configuration. In one aspect, the msgA processing component 354, for example in combination with the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the configuration component 342, etc., may receive a first random access message from the device (e.g., from the UE 104) based on the configuration. For example, as described above, the msgA processing component 354 may receive a first random access message from the device based on the transmission parameters used when configuring beam refinement. In addition, in the example, the msgA processing component 354 may receive (and / or combine) repetitions of the first random access message from the device. In any case, the device may send the first random access message using specific transmission parameters, which may allow the beam refinement component 352 to perform beam refinement by scanning multiple narrow beams to determine a beam for receiving the first random access message.

[0076] In an example, the reception based on multiple beams can include the msgA processing component 354 receiving the first random access message multiple times based on different beams (e.g., using a different receive beam for each repetition). As described above, the multiple reception repetitions can include different symbols, different time slots, etc. In an example, the msgA processing component 354 can generate each of the multiple receive beams to have a different beamforming direction for receiving multiple instances of the first random access message. In an example, when beam refinement is configured, the base station 102 can configure multiple beams for receiving the first random access message.

[0077] In the method 500, optionally, at box 506, the base station may perform beam refinement for the device based on receiving the first random access message. In one aspect, the beam refinement component 352, for example, in combination with the processor 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, the configuration component 342, etc., may perform beam refinement for the device based on receiving the first random access message. For example, the msgA processing component 354 may receive the first random access message based on multiple beams and based on the one or more parameters described above. The beam refinement component 352 may accordingly determine a desired beam for receiving the first random access message and / or for sending a second random access message to the UE 104 in response to the first random access message. For example, the beam refinement component 354 may determine which of the multiple receive beams results in receiving the first random access message with the highest signal power or quality (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI, SNR, etc.).

[0078] In the method 500, optionally, at block 508, the base station may send a second random access message to the device based on the first random access message. In one aspect, the configuration component 342, for example in combination with the processor(s) 312, the memory 316, the transceiver 302, etc., may send a second random access message to the device based on the first random access message to continue the random access process. In an example, the configuration component 342 may send the second random access message using the beam determined by the beam refinement component 352 when performing beam refinement at block 506. For example, when sending the second random access message to the device in response to the first random access message, the configuration component 342 may use the same beam (or reciprocal beam) as determined at block 506.

[0079] Figure 6An example of a system 600 for sending a random access message in a two-step random access procedure is shown. Prior to commencing a two-step RACH, the UE receives and processes SSB / SIB / RS from a serving gNB. For example, the system 600 includes a UE 104 that may send a random access message to a gNB 102 to request to establish a connection therewith. In this example, the gNB 102 may send SSB, SIB, and RS 602. In one example, as described above, the SIB may indicate whether the gNB 102 uses beam refinement or one or more other parameters to perform the random access procedure. At 604, the UE 104 may perform downlink synchronization, system information decoding, and / or measurements. Based on data in a buffer of the UE 104, a UE identifier, and system information, the UE 104 may generate a message A (msgA), which may be generated based on whether the gNB uses beam refinement, as described herein, and the UE 104 may send msgA to the gNB at a RACH opportunity (RO) associated with one or more suitable SSB beams. The UE 104 may send msgA as a preamble portion 606 and a payload portion 608 .

[0080] After possibly receiving and processing the msgA preamble / payload, the gNB 102 may proceed as follows: if both preamble detection and payload decoding are successful at 610 and 612, then at 614, the gNB 102 may generate message B (msgB) and send it to the two-step RACH UE 104, in which case msgB may include a contention resolution ID or an ACK for the msgA payload; if preamble detection is successful at 610, but payload decoding fails at 612, the gNB 102 may also generate msgB and send it to the UE 104, in which case msgB may include a random access preamble index (RAPID) or an ACK for the msgA preamble, and a DCI for msgA retransmission, where the DCI may command retransmission of both the preamble and the payload, or only request retransmission of the payload; or if neither the preamble nor the payload is detected at 610 and 612, the gNB does not send msgB 614. In another example, as described herein, gNB 102 may also perform beam refinement based on the received msgA.

[0081] Figure 7 1 is a block diagram of a MIMO communication system 700 including a base station 102 and a UE 104. The MIMO communication system 700 may be shown with reference to Figure 1 The wireless communication access network 100 described herein may include various aspects of the wireless communication access network 100. The base station 102 may be a reference Figure 11 and 10. Examples of aspects of base station 102 are described. Base station 102 may be equipped with antennas 734 and 735, and UE 104 may be equipped with antennas 752 and 753. In MIMO communication system 700, base station 102 may be able to send data over multiple communication links simultaneously. Each communication link may be referred to as a "layer," and the "rank" of a communication link may indicate the number of layers used for communication. For example, in a 2x2 MIMO communication system where base station 102 sends two "layers," the rank of the communication link between base station 102 and UE 104 is 2.

[0082] At the base station 102, a transmit (Tx) processor 720 may receive data from a data source. The transmit processor 720 may process data. The transmit processor 720 may also generate control symbols or reference symbols. The transmit MIMO processor 730 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols (if applicable), and may provide an output symbol stream to transmit modulators / demodulators 732 and 733. Each modulator / demodulator 732 to 733 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator / demodulator 732 to 733 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a DL signal. In an example, the DL signals from modulators / demodulators 732 and 733 may be transmitted via antennas 734 and 735, respectively.

[0083] UE 104 may be a reference Figure 1-Figure 2 An example of aspects of the UE 104 described. At the UE 104, the UE antennas 752 and 753 can receive DL signals from the base station 102, and the received signals can be provided to the modulators / demodulators 754 and 755, respectively. Each modulator / demodulator 754 to 755 can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the respective received signals to obtain input samples. Each modulator / demodulator 754 to 755 can further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 756 can obtain received symbols from the modulator / demodulators 754 and 755, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. The receive (Rx) processor 758 can process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded UE 104 data to the data output terminal, and provide decoded control information to the processor 780 or the memory 782.

[0084] In some cases, processor 780 may execute stored instructions to instantiate communication component 242 (see, e.g., Figure 1 and Figure 2 ).

[0085] On the uplink (UL), at the UE 104, a transmit processor 764 may receive and process data from a data source. The transmit processor 764 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal. The symbols from the transmit processor 764 may be precoded by a transmit MIMO processor 766, if applicable, further processed by modulators / demodulators 754 and 755 (e.g., for SC-FDMA, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 102 based on the communication parameters received from the base station 102. At the base station 102, the UL signals from the UE 104 may be received by antennas 734 and 735, processed by modulators / demodulators 732 and 733, detected by a MIMO detector 736 (if applicable), and further processed by a receive processor 738. The receive processor 738 may provide decoded data to a data output and to the processor 740 or memory 742.

[0086] In some cases, processor 740 may execute stored instructions to instantiate configuration component 342 (see, e.g., Figure 1 and Figure 3 ).

[0087] The components of the UE 104 may be implemented individually or collectively with one or more ASICs adapted to perform some or all applicable functions in hardware. Each of the mentioned modules may be a device module for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 700. Similarly, the components of the base station 102 may be implemented individually or collectively with one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) adapted to perform some or all applicable functions in hardware. Each of the mentioned components may be a device module for performing one or more functions related to the operation of the MIMO communication system 700.

[0088] The following aspects are merely illustrative, and aspects thereof may be combined with other embodiments or aspects of the teachings described herein without limitation.

[0089] Aspect 1 is a method for wireless communication, comprising: selecting one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access process based on whether the base station uses beam refinement in the two-step random access process; and sending a first random access message to the base station based on the one or more parameters as part of the two-step random access process.

[0090] In aspect 2, the method according to aspect 1 includes, wherein selecting one or more parameters includes selecting resources on which to send the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0091] In aspect 3, the method according to any one of aspects 1 or 2 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters includes selecting a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0092] In aspect 4, the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 3 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters includes selecting a random access preamble for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0093] In aspect 5, the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters includes selecting a payload resource for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0094] In aspect 6, the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 5 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters includes selecting a transmission attribute for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0095] In aspect 7, the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 6 comprises receiving a configuration from a base station indicating whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0096] In aspect 8, the method according to aspect 7 includes, wherein receiving the configuration includes receiving the configuration in a remaining minimum system information or a primary broadcast channel sent by the base station.

[0097] In aspect 9, the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 8 includes, wherein sending the first random access message includes sending one or more repetitions of the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0098] In aspect 10, the method according to aspect 9 includes determining to transmit one or more repetitions of the first random access message based at least in part on a received signal power of a synchronization signal block (SSB) received from a base station.

[0099] Aspect 11 is a method for wireless communication, comprising transmitting a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure, and receiving a first random access message from a device based on the configuration.

[0100] In aspect 12, the method according to aspect 11 includes, wherein the configuration indicates one or more parameters for sending the first random access message when beam refinement is configured.

[0101] In aspect 13, the method according to aspect 12 includes, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message.

[0102] In aspect 14, the method according to aspect 12 includes, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a random access preamble used to transmit the first random access message.

[0103] Aspect 15 is a method for wireless communication, comprising selecting one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure based on whether the base station uses beam refinement in the two-step random access procedure, and sending the first random access message to the base station based on the one or more parameters as part of the two-step random access procedure.

[0104] In aspect 16, the method according to aspect 15 includes, wherein selecting one or more parameters includes selecting resources on which to send the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0105] In aspect 17, the method according to any of aspects 15 or 16 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters includes selecting a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0106] In aspect 18, the method according to any one of aspects 15 to 17 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a random access preamble for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0107] In aspect 19, the method according to any one of aspects 15 to 18 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a payload resource for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0108] In aspect 20, the method according to any one of aspects 15 to 19 includes, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a transmission attribute for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0109] In aspect 21, the method according to any one of aspects 15 to 20 comprises receiving a configuration from a base station indicating whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0110] In aspect 22, the method according to aspect 21 includes, wherein receiving the configuration includes receiving the configuration in a remaining minimum system information or a primary broadcast channel sent by the base station.

[0111] In aspect 23, the method according to any one of aspects 15 to 22 includes, wherein sending the first random access message comprises sending one or more repetitions of the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

[0112] In aspect 24, the method according to aspect 23 includes determining to transmit one or more repetitions of the first random access message based at least in part on a received signal power of a synchronization signal block (SSB) received from a base station.

[0113] Aspect 25 is an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform one or more methods of any one of aspects 1 to 24.

[0114] Aspect 26 is an apparatus for wireless communication, comprising apparatus modules for performing one or more methods of any one of aspects 1 to 24.

[0115] Aspect 27 is a computer-readable medium comprising code executable by one or more processors for wireless communications, the code comprising code for performing one or more methods of any of aspects 1 to 24.

[0116] The detailed descriptions set forth above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings describe examples and do not represent the only examples that may be implemented or within the scope of the claims. When used in this specification, the term "example" means "used as an example, instance, or illustration," rather than "preferred" or "superior to other examples." The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques. However, these techniques may be implemented without these specific details. In some cases, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring the concepts of the described examples.

[0117] Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, computer executable codes or instructions stored on computer readable media, or any combination thereof.

[0118] The various illustrative blocks and components described in conjunction with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with a specially programmed device, such as, but not limited to, a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The specially programmed processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The specially programmed processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0119] The functions described herein can be implemented with hardware, software executed by a processor, or any combination thereof. Software should be broadly interpreted as instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable programs, execution threads, programs, or functions, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or other. If implemented in software executed by a processor, these functions can be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a non-transitory computer-readable medium or transmitted thereon. Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software, the above functions can be implemented using software, hardware, hard wiring, or any combination thereof executed by a specially programmed processor. The features that implement the functions can also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that some functions are implemented in different physical locations. Additionally, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” used in a list of items beginning with “at least one of” means a separate list, so that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C).

[0120] Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, including any media that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general or special computer. As an example and not a limitation, computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or can be used to carry or store desired program code devices in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a general or special computer or a general or special processor. Any other medium. Similarly, any connection is properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwaves are used to transmit software from a website, server or other remote source, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio and microwaves are included in the definition of the medium. The disks and optical disks used here include compact disks (CDs), laser optical disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks and blue-ray disks, wherein the disks usually reproduce data magnetically, and the optical disks reproduce data optically with lasers. The above combination is also included in the scope of computer-readable media.

[0121] The foregoing description of the present disclosure is provided to enable those skilled in the art to make or use the present disclosure. Various modifications to the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the common principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. In addition, although the elements of the described aspects and / or embodiments may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural number is also contemplated unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular. In addition, all or a portion of any aspect and / or embodiment may be used together with all or a portion of any other aspect and / or embodiment, unless otherwise stated. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein, but conforms to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A device for wireless communication, comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: receiving, from a base station, a configuration indicating whether the base station uses beam refinement; selecting, based on whether the base station uses beam refinement in a two-step random access procedure, one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in the two-step random access procedure; as well as Based on the one or more parameters, the first random access message is sent to the base station as part of the two-step random access procedure, wherein sending the first random access message includes sending one or more repetitions of the first random access message by sending multiple narrow beams based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to select the one or more parameters based on whether the base station uses beam refinement to include resources on which to send the first random access message.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to select the one or more parameters based on whether the base station uses beam refinement to include a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to select the one or more parameters to include a random access preamble for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to select the one or more parameters to include payload resources for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to select the one or more parameters to include transmission attributes for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to receive a configuration in a primary broadcast channel or remaining minimum system information sent by the base station.

8. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory also stores instructions executable by the one or more processors so that the apparatus determines to send one or more repetitions of the first random access message based at least in part on a received signal power of a synchronization signal block (SSB) received from the base station.

9. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory storing instructions executable by the one or more processors to cause the apparatus to: Sending a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure to a user equipment UE; as well as Based on the configuration, one or more repetitions of the first random access message are received by receiving a plurality of narrow beams from the UE.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the configuration indicates one or more parameters for sending the first random access message when beam refinement is configured.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a random access preamble used to send the first random access message.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a payload resource used to send the first random access message.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more parameters indicate transmission properties used to send the first random access message.

15. A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from a base station, a configuration indicating whether the base station uses beam refinement; selecting one or more parameters for sending a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure based on whether the base station uses beam refinement in the two-step random access procedure; as well as Based on the one or more parameters, the first random access message is sent to the base station as part of a two-step random access procedure, wherein sending the first random access message includes sending one or more repetitions of the first random access message by sending multiple narrow beams based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting resources on which to send the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam fine-tuning.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a random access preamble for transmitting the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a payload resource for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting the one or more parameters comprises selecting a transmission attribute for sending the first random access message based on whether the base station uses beam refinement.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving the configuration comprises receiving the configuration in a remaining minimum system information or a primary broadcast channel sent by the base station.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining to send one or more repetitions of the first random access message based at least in part on a received signal power of a synchronization signal block (SSB) received from the base station.

23. A method for wireless communication at a base station, comprising: Sending a configuration indicating whether beam refinement is used for receiving a first random access message in a two-step random access procedure to a user equipment UE; as well as One or more repetitions of the first random access message are received by receiving a plurality of narrow beams from the UE based on the configuration.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the configuration indicates one or more parameters used to send the first random access message when beam refinement is configured.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a mapping of random access opportunities to payload opportunities for sending the first random access message.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a random access preamble used to send the first random access message.

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