Uplink transmission in TDD that supports feNB-IoT operation

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to uplink transmission in TDD supporting feNB‑IOT operation. Implementations of a user equipment (UE), a next generation Node‑B (gNB), and a communication method are generally described herein. The UE may receive a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) including uplink scheduling parameters. The UE may determine an uplink scheduling delay for transmitting a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) based on time division duplexing (TDD). The uplink scheduling delay may be based on the sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes. The second number of subframes may be based on a variable-sized window, the window starting when the first number of subframes has passed since the NPDCCH was received, and ending when a certain number of uplink subframes has passed since the start of the window. The certain number of uplink subframes may be indicated by the uplink scheduling parameters.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application with an application date of August 9, 2018, application number 201880060113.7, and invention name “Uplink transmission in TDD supporting feNB-IOT operation”.

[0002] Priority claim

[0003] This patent application claims U.S. patent application Ser. No. 62,543,644, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148745-Z (4884.954PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,718, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148818-Z (4884.957PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,708, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148746-Z (4884.958PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,719, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148747-Z (4884.958PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,700, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148748-Z (4884.958PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,710, filed on August 10, 2017 [Reference No. D148749-Z (4884.959PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62,543,701, filed on August 10, 2017 No. 62,548,266 filed on January 1, 2017 [reference number AA3385-Z (4884.956 PRV)], U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62,565,784 filed on September 29, 2017 [reference number AA4579-Z (4884.955 PRV)], and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62,586,734 filed on November 15, 2017 [reference number AA6273-Z (4884.959 PRV)], all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0004] Embodiments relate to wireless communications. Some embodiments relate to wireless networks, including 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) networks, 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks, and 3GPP LTE-A (LTE-Advanced) networks. Some embodiments relate to fifth generation (5G) networks. Some embodiments relate to new radio (NR) networks. Some embodiments relate to further enhanced Internet of Things (feNB-IoT) technologies. Some embodiments relate to Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Background Art

[0005] Mobile devices may exchange data according to a time division duplex (TDD) arrangement. Such a system may be useful in various scenarios. For example, when a spectrum block is available but a paired spectrum block is not available, a TDD arrangement may be a good choice. In some scenarios, different configurations of uplink subframes and downlink subframes within a radio frame may be possible. Resource allocation and / or transmission scheduling for such configurations may be challenging. Therefore, methods and systems that can perform TDD operations in these and other scenarios are generally needed. Summary of the invention

[0006] An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a method for communicating by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: decoding, by the UE, a system information block type 1 narrowband SIB1-NB, the SIB1-NB indicating a subframe configuration of a radio frame configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation; and encoding, by the UE, a narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) preamble for transmission based on the subframe configuration, wherein the NPRACH preamble is mapped to a plurality of symbol groups, and wherein each symbol group includes a continuous symbol period and a cyclic prefix (CP) part.

[0007] One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE), comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio in communication with the antenna; and at least one processor in communication with the at least one radio and configured to cause the UE to perform the method described in the present disclosure.

[0008] One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions can be executed by one or more processors to enable a user equipment (UE) to perform the method described in the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1A is a functional block diagram of an exemplary network according to some embodiments;

[0010] Figure 1B is a functional block diagram of another exemplary network according to some embodiments;

[0011] Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an exemplary machine according to some embodiments;

[0012] Figure 3 A user device according to some aspects is shown;

[0013] Figure 4 A base station according to some aspects is shown;

[0014] Figure 5 An exemplary communication circuit according to some aspects is shown;

[0015] Figure 6 shows an example of a radio frame structure according to some embodiments;

[0016] Fig. 7A and Figure 7B illustrates exemplary frequency resources according to some embodiments;

[0017] Figure 8 illustrates the operation of a communication method according to some embodiments;

[0018] Fig. 9 illustrates the operation of another communication method according to some embodiments;

[0019] Fig.10 illustrates an exemplary repeating pattern according to some embodiments;

[0020] Fig.11 shows an example of frequency hopping according to some embodiments;

[0021] Fig.12 Another example of frequency hopping according to some embodiments is shown; and

[0022] Fig.13 Another example of frequency hopping according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The following description and accompanying drawings fully illustrate specific embodiments so that those skilled in the art can practice these embodiments. Other embodiments may incorporate structural changes, logical changes, electrical changes, process changes, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in portions and features of other embodiments, or replace portions and features of other embodiments. The embodiments set forth in the claims cover all available equivalents in these claims.

[0024] Figure 1A is a functional block diagram of an exemplary network according to some embodiments. Figure 1B is a functional block diagram of another exemplary network according to some embodiments. Figure 1A and Figure 1B. In some embodiments, network 100 may be a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network. In some embodiments, network 150 may be a 3GPP network. In one non-limiting example, network 150 may be a new radio (NR) network. However, it should be noted that embodiments are not limited to the use of 3GPP networks, as other networks may be used in some embodiments. For example, in some cases, a fifth generation (5G) network may be used. As another example, in some cases, a new radio (NR) network may be used. As another example, in some cases, a wireless local area network (WLAN) may be used. However, embodiments are not limited to these exemplary networks, as other networks may be used in some embodiments. In some embodiments, the network may include Figure 1A Some embodiments may not necessarily include one or more components shown. Figure 1A All components shown, and some embodiments may include Figure 1A In some embodiments, the network may include Figure 1B Some embodiments may not necessarily include one or more components shown. Figure 1B All components shown, and some embodiments may include Figure 1B In some embodiments, the network may include Figure 1A One or more components shown and Figure 1B In some embodiments, the network may include one or more components shown. Figure 1A One or more of the components shown, Figure 1B One or more of the components shown and one or more additional components.

[0025] The network 100 may include a radio access network (RAN) 101 and a core network 120 (e.g., shown as an evolved packet core (EPC)) coupled together via an S1 interface 115. For convenience and brevity, only a portion of the core network 120 and the RAN 101 are shown. In one non-limiting example, the RAN 101 may be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN). In another non-limiting example, the RAN 101 may include one or more components of a new radio (NR) network. In another non-limiting example, the RAN 101 may include one or more components of an E-UTRAN and one or more components of another network (including but not limited to an NR network).

[0026] The core network 120 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 122, a serving gateway (serving GW) 124, and a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) 126. In some embodiments, the network 100 may include (and / or support) one or more evolved Node-Bs (eNBs) 104 (which may operate as base stations) for communicating with user equipment (UE) 102. In some embodiments, the eNBs 104 may include macro eNBs and low power (LP) eNBs.

[0027] In some embodiments, network 100 may include (and / or) one or more next generation Node-Bs (gNBs) 105. In some embodiments, one or more eNBs 104 may be configured to operate as gNBs 105. The embodiments are not limited to Figure 1A The number of eNBs 104 shown or Figure 1A The number of gNBs 105 shown. In some embodiments, network 100 may not necessarily include eNBs 104. Embodiments are not limited to Figure 1A Connection of components shown.

[0028] It should be noted that references herein to eNB 104 or gNB 105 are not limiting. In some embodiments, one or more operations, methods, and / or techniques (such as those described herein) may be implemented by base station components (and / or other components), including but not limited to gNB 105, eNB 104, serving cells, transmission reception points (TRPs), and / or others. In some embodiments, the base station components may be configured to operate in accordance with new radio (NR) protocols and / or NR standards, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, the base station components may be configured to operate in accordance with fifth generation (5G) protocols and / or 5G standards, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0029] In some embodiments, one or more of UE 102 and / or eNB 104 may be configured to operate in accordance with NR protocols and / or NR technologies. References to UE 102, eNB 104, and / or gNB 105 as part of the description herein are not limiting. For example, descriptions of one or more operations, techniques, and / or methods implemented by gNB 105 are not limiting. In some embodiments, one or more of those operations, techniques, and / or methods may be implemented by eNB 104 and / or other base station components.

[0030] In some embodiments, one or more of UE 102, eNB 104 and / or gNB 105 may be configured to operate according to one or more technologies, one or more protocols and / or one or more standards related to one or more of the following: Internet of Things (IoT), narrowband IoT (NB IoT), enhanced NB IoT (cNB-IoT), further enhanced narrowband IoT (feNB-IoT) and / or other networks.

[0031] In some embodiments, UE 102 may transmit signals (in the form of data, control, and / or other signals) to gNB 105 and may receive signals (in the form of data, control, and / or other signals) from gNB 105. In some embodiments, UE 102 may transmit signals (in the form of data, control, and / or other signals) to eNB 104 and may receive signals (in the form of data, control, and / or other signals) from eNB 104. These embodiments are described in more detail below.

[0032] The MME 122 is similar in function to the control plane of a traditional Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN). The MME 122 manages mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The Serving GW 124 terminates the interface toward the RAN 101 and routes data packets between the RAN 101 and the core network 120. In addition, the Serving GW 124 can be a local mobility anchor for inter-eNB node handovers and can also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include legal interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The Serving GW 124 and the MME 122 can be implemented in one physical node or in separate physical nodes. The PDN GW 126 terminates the SGi interface toward the Packet Data Network (PDN). The PDN GW 126 routes data packets between the EPC 120 and external PDNs and can be a key node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. It can also provide an anchor for mobility for non-LTE accesses. The external PDN can be any type of IP network or an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) domain. The PDN GW 126 and the Serving GW 124 may be implemented in one physical node or in separate physical nodes.

[0033] In some embodiments, the (macro and micro) eNB 104 terminates the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 102. In some embodiments, the eNB 104 may fulfill various logical functions of the network 100, including, but not limited to, RNC (Radio Network Controller functions), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0034] In some embodiments, UE 102 may be configured to communicate orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with eNB 104 and / or gNB 105 over a multi-carrier communication channel in accordance with an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication technique. In some embodiments, eNB 104 and / or gNB 105 may be configured to communicate OFDM communication signals with UE 102 over a multi-carrier communication channel in accordance with an OFDMA communication technique. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0035] The S1 interface 115 is an interface that separates the RAN 101 and the EPC 120. It can be divided into two parts: S1-U, which carries traffic data between the eNB 104 and the serving GW 124; and S1-MME, which is a signaling interface between the eNB 104 and the MME 122. The X2 interface is an interface between the eNBs 104. The X2 interface includes two parts, X2-C and X2-U. X2-C is a control plane interface between the eNBs 104, and X2-U is a user plane interface between the eNBs 104.

[0036] In some embodiments, similar functionality and / or connections described for eNB 104 may be used for gNB 105, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In one non-limiting example, the S1 interface 115 (and / or similar interfaces) may be divided into two parts: S1-U, which carries traffic data between gNB 105 and serving GW 124; and S1-MME, which is a signaling interface between gNB 104 and MME 122. The X2 interface (and / or similar interfaces) may enable communication between eNBs 104, between gNBs 105, and / or between eNB 104 and gNB 105.

[0037] For cellular networks, LP cells are typically used to extend coverage to indoor areas where outdoor signals cannot reach well, or to increase network capacity in areas where phone use is very dense, such as train stations. As used herein, the term low power (LP) eNB refers to any suitable relatively low power eNB for implementing narrower cells (narrower than macro cells), such as femtocells, microcells, or microcells. Femtocell eNBs are typically provided by mobile network operators to their residential or enterprise customers. Femtocells are typically the size of residential gateways or smaller and are typically connected to the user's broadband line. Once inserted, the femtocell is connected to the mobile operator's mobile network and provides additional coverage for residential femtocells, typically within 30 to 50 meters. Therefore, since the LP eNB is coupled through the PDN GW126, it may be a femtocell eNB. Similarly, a microcell is a wireless communication system that typically covers a small area, such as within a building (office, shopping mall, train station, etc.), or more recently on an airplane. A picocell eNB may typically be connected to another eNB, such as a macro eNB, via an X2 link through its base station controller (BSC) functionality. Thus, since the LP eNB is coupled to the macro eNB via an X2 interface, the LP eNB may be implemented using a picocell eNB. A picocell eNB or other LP eNB may incorporate some or all of the functionality of a macro eNB. In some cases, this may be referred to as an access point base station or an enterprise femtocell base station. In some embodiments, various types of gNBs 105 may be used, including but not limited to one or more of the above eNB types.

[0038] In some embodiments, network 150 may include one or more components configured to operate in accordance with one or more 3GPP standards, including but not limited to NR standards. Figure 1B The illustrated network 150 may include a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 155, which may include one or more gNBs 105. In some embodiments, the network 150 may include an E-UTRAN 160, which may include one or more eNBs. The E-UTRAN 160 may be similar to the RAN 101 described herein, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0039] In some embodiments, network 150 may include MME 165. MME 165 may be similar to MME 122 described herein, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. MME 165 may perform one or more operations or functions similar to the operations or functions described herein with respect to MME 122, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0040] In some embodiments, network 150 may include SGW 170. SGW 170 may be similar to SGW 124 described herein, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. SGW 170 may perform one or more operations or functions similar to the operations or functions described herein with respect to SGW 124, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0041] In some embodiments, the network 150 may include one or more components and / or one or more modules for a user plane function (UPF) and a user plane function (PGW-U) for a PGW, as shown at 175. In some embodiments, the network 150 may include one or more components and / or one or more modules for a session management function (SMF) and a control plane function (PGW-C) for a PGW, as shown at 180. In some embodiments, the one or more components and / or one or more modules indicated by 175 and / or 180 may be similar to the PGW 126 described herein, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The one or more components and / or one or more modules indicated by 175 and / or 180 may perform one or more operations or functions similar to the operations or functions described herein with respect to the PGW 126, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. One or both of the components 170, 172 may perform at least a portion of the functions described herein for the PGW 126, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0042] The implementation plan is not limited to Figure 1B The number or type of components shown. The embodiments are not limited to Figure 1B Connection of components shown.

[0043] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from eNB 104 to UE 102, while uplink transmissions from UE 102 to eNB 104 may utilize similar techniques. In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from gNB 105 to UE 102, while uplink transmissions from UE 102 to gNB 105 may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes the allocation of radio resources intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element (RE). Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels. Of particular relevance to the present disclosure, two of these physical downlink channels are the Physical Downlink Shared Channel and the Physical Downlink Control Channel.

[0044] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), electronic circuit, processor (shared, dedicated or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, combinational logic circuits and / or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functions, as part of or including them. In some embodiments, the circuit may be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functions associated with the circuit may be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuit may include a logic component that may operate at least partially in hardware. The embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any appropriately configured hardware and / or software.

[0045] Figure 2A block diagram of an exemplary machine according to some embodiments is shown. Machine 200 is an exemplary machine on which any one or more of the techniques and / or methods discussed herein may be executed. In an alternative embodiment, machine 200 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, machine 200 may operate as a server machine, a client machine, or both in a server-client network environment. In one example, machine 200 may act as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. Machine 200 may be UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, access point (AP), site (STA), user, device, mobile device, base station, personal computer (PC), tablet computer, set-top box (STB), personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, smart phone, network device, network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequentially or otherwise) specifying the actions to be taken by the machine. Further, while only one machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing software as a service (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations, etc.

[0046] Examples as described herein may include a logical component or multiple components, modules or mechanisms, or may operate on a logical component or multiple components, modules or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) that can perform a specified operation and can be configured or arranged in a certain way. In one example, a circuit may be arranged as a module in a specified manner (e.g., internally or relative to an external entity such as other circuits). In one example, all or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., independent computer systems, client computer systems, or server computer systems) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, application program parts, or applications) to operate to perform a specified operation of the module. In one example, the software may reside on a machine-readable medium. In one example, when the software is executed by the underlying hardware of the module, the hardware is caused to perform the specified operation.

[0047] Thus, the term "module" should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, i.e., a physically constructed entity, which is specifically configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily (e.g., temporarily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operations described herein. Considering an example where a module is temporarily configured, each module need not be instantiated at any one time. For example, if the module includes a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as corresponding different modules at different times. The software may configure the hardware processor accordingly, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance in time and to constitute a different module at a different instance in time.

[0048] The machine (e.g., computer system) 200 may include a hardware processor 202 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 204, and a static memory 206, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interconnection link (e.g., a bus) 208. The machine 200 may also include a display unit 210, an alphanumeric input device 212 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 214 (e.g., a mouse). In one example, the display unit 210, the input device 212, and the UI navigation device 214 may be a touch screen display. The machine 200 may additionally include a storage device (e.g., a drive unit) 216, a signal generating device 218 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 220, and one or more sensors 221, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensors. The machine 200 may include an output controller 228, such as a serial (e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB)) connection, a parallel connection, other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.).

[0049] The storage device 216 may include a machine-readable medium 222 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 224 (e.g., software) embodied or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functionality described herein. During execution of the instructions 224 by the machine 200, the instructions may also reside, in whole or in part, within the main memory 204, within the static memory 206, or within the hardware processor 202. In one example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 202, the main memory 204, the static memory 206, or the storage device 216 may constitute a machine-readable medium. In some embodiments, the machine-readable medium may be or may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In some embodiments, the machine-readable medium may be or may include a computer-readable storage medium.

[0050] Although the machine-readable medium 222 is shown as a single medium, the term "machine-readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers) configured to store one or more instructions 224. The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 200, and causing the machine 200 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting examples of machine-readable media may include solid-state memory, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of machine-readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; random access memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. In some examples, the machine-readable medium may include non-transitory machine-readable media. In some examples, the machine-readable medium may include machine-readable media that is not a temporary propagation signal.

[0051] The instructions 224 may also be transmitted or received in the communication network 226 via the network interface device 220 using a transmission medium, the transmission or reception utilizing any of a plurality of transmission protocols (e.g., frame relay, Internet Protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Exemplary communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), a mobile telephone network (e.g., a cellular network), a plain old telephone (POTS) network, and a wireless data network (e.g., the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 series known as The IEEE 802.16 series of standards is known as ), IEEE802.15.4 series of standards, Long Term Evolution (LTE) series of standards, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) series of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In one example, the network interface device 220 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial cable, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communication network 226. In one example, the network interface device 220 may include multiple antennas to use at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) technology for wireless communication. In some examples, the network interface device 220 may use multi-user MIMO technology for wireless communication. The term "transmission medium" should be deemed to include any intangible medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions executed by the machine 200, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other intangible media to facilitate the communication of such software.

[0052] Figure 3 A user device according to some aspects is shown. In some embodiments, the user device 300 may be a mobile device. In some embodiments, the user device 300 may be or may be configured to operate as a user equipment (UE). In some embodiments, the user device 300 may be arranged to operate according to a new radio (NR) protocol. In some embodiments, the user device 300 may be arranged to operate according to a third generation partnership protocol (3GPP) protocol. In some embodiments, the user device 300 may be suitable for use as a UE 102 as shown in Figure 1. It should be noted that in some embodiments, a UE, a device of a UE, a user device, or a device of a user device may include Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 5 In some embodiments, such UE, user equipment and / or device may include one or more additional components.

[0053] In some aspects, user device 300 may include an application processor 305, a baseband processor 310 (also referred to as a baseband module), a radio front end module (RFEM) 315, a memory 320, a connectivity module 325, a near field communication (NFC) controller 330, an audio driver 335, a camera driver 340, a touch screen 345, a display driver 350, a sensor 355, a removable memory 360, a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 365, and a smart battery 370. In some aspects, user device 300 may be a user equipment (UE).

[0054] In some aspects, the application processor 305 may include, for example, one or more CPU cores, as well as cache memory, a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as a serial peripheral interface (SPI), an inter-integrated circuit (I 2 C) or one or more of a general purpose programmable serial interface module, a real-time clock (RTC), a timer, including an interval timer and a watchdog timer, a general purpose input / output (I / O), a memory card controller such as a secure digital / multimedia card (SD / MMC) or similar product, a universal serial bus (USB) interface, a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface, and a joint test access group (JTAG) test access port.

[0055] In some aspects, baseband module 310 may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, and / or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0056] Figure 4 A base station according to some aspects is shown. In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be or may be configured to operate as an evolved Node-B (eNB). In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be or may be configured to operate as a next generation Node-B (gNB). In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be arranged to operate according to a new radio (NR) protocol. In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be arranged to operate according to a third generation partnership protocol (3GPP) protocol. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the base station 400 may be a fixed non-mobile device. In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be suitable for use as an eNB 104 as shown in Figure 1. In some embodiments, the base station 400 may be suitable for use as a gNB 105 as shown in Figure 1. It should be noted that in some embodiments, the eNB, the device of the eNB, the gNB, the device of the gNB, the base station and / or the device of the base station may include Figure 2 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 In some embodiments, such eNBs, gNBs, base stations and / or devices may include one or more additional components.

[0057] Figure 4A base station or infrastructure equipment radio head 400 is shown according to one aspect. The base station 400 may include one or more of an application processor 405, a baseband module 410, one or more radio front-end modules 415, a memory 420, a power management circuit 425, a power tee circuit 430, a network controller 435, a network interface connector 440, a satellite navigation receiver module 445, and a user interface 450. In some aspects, the base station 400 may be an evolved Node-B (eNB), which may be arranged to operate according to a 3GPP protocol, a new radio (NR) protocol, and / or a fifth generation (5G) protocol. In some aspects, the base station 400 may be a next generation Node-B (gNB), which may be arranged to operate according to a 3GPP protocol, a new radio (NR) protocol, and / or a fifth generation (5G) protocol.

[0058] In some aspects, the application processor 405 may include one or more CPU cores, as well as cache memory, a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I 2 C or general purpose programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timers including interval timers and watchdog timers, general purpose I / O, memory card controller such as SD / MMC or similar products, USB interface, MIPI interface and one or more of Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access port.

[0059] In some aspects, baseband processor 410 may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, and / or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0060] In some aspects, memory 420 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), non-volatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as "flash memory"), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), and / or three-dimensional cross-point memory. Memory 420 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in packaged integrated circuit, a socketed memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0061] In some aspects, the power management integrated circuit 425 may include one or more of a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or a capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition.

[0062] In some aspects, the power tee circuit 430 can provide power extracted from the network cable to use a single cable to provide both power and data connectivity for the base station 400. In some aspects, the network controller 435 can provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet. The network connectivity can be provided using a physical connection that is one of an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a copper interconnect), an optical connection, or a wireless connection.

[0063] In some aspects, the satellite navigation receiver module 445 may include circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted by one or more navigation satellite constellations, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation System (GLONASS), Galileo, and / or BeiDou. The receiver 445 may provide data to the application processor 405, which may include one or more of position data or time data. The application processor 405 may use the time data to synchronize operations with other radio base stations. In some aspects, the user interface 450 may include one or more of physical or virtual buttons, such as a reset button, one or more indicators, such as a light emitting diode (LED), and a display screen.

[0064] Figure 5 500 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication circuit according to some aspects. Alternatively, the circuit 500 is grouped according to function. For exemplary purposes, the components shown in 500 are shown here and may include Figure 5 Other components not shown in the figure. In some aspects, the communication circuit 500 can be used for millimeter wave communication, but the aspects are not limited to millimeter wave communication. In some aspects, the communication circuit 500 can perform communication at any suitable frequency.

[0065] It should be noted that in some aspects, devices such as UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200 and / or other devices may include one or more components of the communication circuit 500.

[0066] The communication circuit 500 may include a protocol processing circuit 505 that may implement one or more of a medium access control (MAC), a radio link control (RLC), a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), a radio resource control (RRC), and a non-access stratum (NAS) function. The protocol processing circuit 505 may include one or more processing cores (not shown) for executing instructions and one or more memory structures (not shown) for storing program and data information.

[0067] The communication circuit 500 may also include a digital baseband circuit 510, which may implement physical layer (PHY) functions, including one or more of the following: hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) function, scrambling and / or descrambling, encoding and / or decoding, layer mapping and / or demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol and / or bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding and / or decoding, which may include space-time, space-frequency or space coding, reference signal generation and / or detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation and / or detection, control channel signal blind decoding and one or more of other related functions.

[0068] The communication circuit 500 may also include a transmission circuit 515, a reception circuit 520, and / or an antenna array circuit 530. The communication circuit 500 may also include a radio frequency (RF) circuit 525. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the RF circuit 525 may include multiple parallel RF chains for one or more of the transmission or reception functions, each RF chain connected to one or more antennas in the antenna array 530.

[0069] In one aspect of the present disclosure, the protocol processing circuit 505 may include one or more instances of a control circuit (not shown) to provide control functionality for one or more of the digital baseband circuit 510, the transmit circuit 515, the receive circuit 520, and / or the RF circuit 525.

[0070] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry may perform one or more operations described herein and / or other operations. In a non-limiting example, the processing circuitry may include one or more components, such as the processor 202, the application processor 305, the baseband module 310, the application processor 405, the baseband module 410, the protocol processing circuitry 505, the digital baseband circuitry 510, the like, and / or other components.

[0071] In some embodiments, the transceiver may transmit one or more elements (including but not limited to those described herein) and / or receive one or more elements (including but not limited to those described herein). In a non-limiting example, the transceiver may include one or more components, such as radio front end module 315, radio front end module 415, transmission circuit 515, reception circuit 520, radio frequency circuit 525, similar components, and / or other components.

[0072] One or more antennas (such as 230, 312, 412, 530 and / or other antennas) may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for RF signal transmission. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementations, one or more antennas (such as 230, 312, 412, 530 and / or other antennas) may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

[0073] In some embodiments, UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200, and / or other devices described herein may be mobile devices and / or portable wireless communication devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops or portable computers with wireless communication capabilities, web tablets, wireless phones, smartphones, wireless headsets, pagers, instant messaging devices, digital cameras, access points, televisions, wearable devices such as medical devices (e.g., heart rate monitors, blood pressure monitors, etc.), or other devices that can wirelessly receive and / or transmit information. In some embodiments, UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200, and / or other devices described herein may be configured to operate according to 3GPP standards, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200 and / or other devices described herein may be configured to operate according to a new radio (NR) standard, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200 and / or other devices described herein may be configured to operate according to other protocols or standards, including IEEE 802.11 or other IEEE standards. In some embodiments, UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200 and / or other devices described herein may include one or more of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, and other mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen including a touch screen.

[0074] Although UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, user equipment 300, base station 400, machine 200 and / or other devices described herein may each be shown as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements such as processing elements (including digital signal processors (DSPs)) and / or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0075] Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transient mechanism for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, a computer-readable storage device may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory, (RAM), a disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash memory device, and other storage devices and media. Some embodiments may include one or more processors and may be configured by instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

[0076] It should be noted that in some embodiments, the apparatus used by UE 102, eNB 104, gNB 105, machine 200, user equipment 300 and / or base station 400 may include Figures 2 to 5 The various components shown. Therefore, the techniques and operations described herein involving UE 102 may be applicable to the device of UE. In addition, the techniques and operations described herein involving eNB 104 may be applicable to the device of eNB. In addition, the techniques and operations described herein involving gNB 105 may be applicable to the device of gNB.

[0077] Figure 6 An example of a radio frame structure according to some embodiments is shown. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B 7 may include Fig. 7A and Figure 7B It should be noted that in some cases Figure 6 The examples shown in FIG. 7 may illustrate some or all of the concepts and techniques described herein, but the embodiments are not limited to these examples. For example, the embodiments are not limited to Figure 6The names, quantities, types, sizes, ordering, arrangements and / or other aspects of the time resources, symbol periods, frequency resources, PRBs and other elements shown in FIG. 7 may be used to determine the time resources, symbol periods, frequency resources, PRBs and other elements shown in FIG. Figure 6 Some of the elements shown in the examples of FIG. 7 may be included in the 3GPP LTE standard, the 5G standard, the NR standard, and / or other standards, but embodiments are not limited to using such elements included in the standards.

[0078] Figure 6 An example of a radio frame structure that may be used in some aspects is shown in . In this example, a radio frame 600 has a duration of 10 ms. The radio frame 600 is divided into time slots 602, each of which has a duration of 0.5 ms and is numbered from 0 to 19. In addition, each pair of adjacent time slots 602 numbered 2i and 2i+1 (where i is an integer) is referred to as a subframe 601.

[0079] In use Figure 6 According to some aspects of the radio frame format of , each subframe 601 may include a combination of one or more of downlink control information, downlink data information, uplink control information, and uplink data information. A combination of information type and direction may be independently selected for each subframe 602.

[0080] See also Fig. 7A and Figure 7B In some aspects, a subcomponent of a transmission signal consisting of one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one symbol interval in the time domain may be referred to as a resource element. A resource element may be Fig. 7A and Figure 7B The grid form shown is used to depict this.

[0081] In some aspects, such as Fig. 7A As shown, the resource elements may be grouped into a rectangular resource block 700 consisting of 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain and P symbols in the time domain, where P may correspond to the number of symbols contained in a time slot and may be 6, 7, or any other suitable number of symbols.

[0082] In some alternative aspects, such as Figure 7B As shown, resource elements may be grouped into resource blocks 700, which consist of 12 subcarriers (shown as 702) in the frequency domain and one symbol in the time domain. Fig. 7A and Figure 7B In the depiction, each resource element 705 may be indexed as (k, 1), where k is the index number of the subcarrier, in the range of 0 to NM-1 (as shown at 703), where N is the number of subcarriers in the resource block, and M is the number of resource blocks across the component carriers in the frequency domain.

[0083] According to some embodiments, UE 102 may receive a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that schedules transmission of a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) by UE 102 in one or more radio frames. The radio frame may be configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. The subframes of the radio frame may include uplink subframes and downlink subframes. UE 102 may determine an uplink scheduling delay for transmission of the NPUSCH based on a sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes. The second number of subframes may be based on a window of variable size. The window may start when a first number of subframes have passed since the NPDCCH was received. The window may end when a certain number of uplink subframes have passed since the start of the window. The certain number of uplink subframes may be indicated by an uplink scheduling parameter included in the NPDCCH. These embodiments will be described in more detail below.

[0084] Figure 8 The operation of a communication method according to some embodiments is shown. Fig. 9 1 to 900. Fig.13 , but it should be understood that any other suitable systems, interfaces, and components may be used to implement methods 800 and 900. In some cases, the description herein of one or more of the concepts, operations, and / or techniques for one of the methods described herein (800, 900, and / or other methods) may be applicable to at least one of the other methods described herein (800, 900, and / or other methods).

[0085] Some embodiments of method 800 may include Figure 8 Additional operations compared to the operations shown include, but are not limited to, the operations described herein. Some embodiments of method 800 may not necessarily include Figure 8 In addition, the implementation of method 800 need not be limited to Figure 8 In some embodiments, UE 102 may perform one or more operations of method 800, but embodiments are not limited to the execution of method 800 and / or the operation thereof by UE 102. Therefore, although reference may be made to the execution of one or more operations of method 800 by UE 102 in the description herein, it should be understood that in some embodiments, eNB 104, gNB 105 and / or other devices may perform one or more operations that may be the same, similar and / or opposite to one or more operations of method 800. In some embodiments, UE 102 may perform one or more operations that are the same, similar and / or opposite to one or more operations of method 800.

[0086] Some embodiments of method 900 may include Fig. 9 Additional operations compared to the operations shown include, but are not limited to, the operations described herein. Some embodiments of method 900 may not necessarily include Fig. 9 In addition, the implementation of method 900 need not be limited to Fig. 9 900. In some embodiments, the gNB 105 may perform one or more operations of the method 900, but the embodiments are not limited to the execution of the method 900 and / or the operation thereof by the gNB 105. Therefore, although the description herein may refer to the execution of one or more operations of the method 900 by the gNB 105, it should be understood that in some embodiments, the eNB 104, the UE 102 and / or other devices may perform one or more operations that may be the same, similar and / or opposite to one or more operations of the method 900. In some embodiments, the gNB 105 may perform one or more operations that are the same, similar and / or opposite to one or more operations of the method 900.

[0087] In some cases, the operations and techniques described as part of method 800 may be related to method 900. In some cases, the operations and techniques described as part of method 900 may be related to method 800. Moreover, embodiments of method 900 may include one or more operations that may be the same, similar, or opposite to one or more operations (and / or other operations) of method 800 described herein. For example, the operations of method 800 may include receiving an element (such as a frame, block, message, and / or other element) by UE 102, and method 900 may include transmitting the same or similar elements by gNB 105.

[0088] Although methods 800 and 900 and other methods described herein may refer to eNB 104, gNB 105, or UE 102 operating according to 3GPP standards, 5G standards, NR standards, feNB-IoT standards, and / or other standards, implementations of those methods are not limited to those eNB 104, gNB 105, or UE 102, and may also be implemented on other devices such as Wi-Fi access points (APs) or user stations (STAs). In addition, methods 800, 900, and other methods described herein may be implemented by wireless devices configured to operate in other suitable types of wireless communication systems, including systems configured to operate according to various IEEE standards such as IEEE 802.11. Methods 800, 900, and other methods described herein may also be applicable to devices of UE 102, devices of eNB 104, devices of gNB 105, and / or devices of another device described above.

[0089] It should also be noted that the embodiments are not limited to the references to the transmission, reception and / or exchange of elements such as frames, messages, requests, indicators, signals or other elements herein (such as in the description of methods 800, 900 and / or other descriptions herein). In some embodiments, such elements may be generated, encoded or otherwise processed by a processing circuit (such as by a baseband processor included in the processing circuit) for transmission. In some cases, the transmission may be performed by a transceiver or other components. In some embodiments, such elements may be encoded, detected or otherwise processed by a processing circuit (such as by a baseband processor). In some cases, the element may be received by a transceiver or other components. In some embodiments, the processing circuit and the transceiver may be included in the same device. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, because in some embodiments, the transceiver may be separated from the device including the processing circuit.

[0090] One or more messages described herein may be included in standards and / or protocols, including but not limited to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE), 4th Generation (4G), 5th Generation (5G), New Radio (NR), feNB-IoT, and / or other protocols. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the use of elements included in the standards.

[0091] In some embodiments, UE 102 may be arranged to operate in accordance with a further enhanced narrowband Internet of Things (feNB-IoT) protocol, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, gNB 105 may be arranged to operate in accordance with a further enhanced narrowband Internet of Things (feNB-IoT) protocol, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0092] At operation 805, UE 102 may receive a system information block type 1 narrowband (SIB1-NB). In some embodiments, SIB1-NB may indicate a subframe configuration of a radio frame configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. In some embodiments, a radio frame may include a subframe. A subframe may include one or more uplink subframes, one or more downlink subframes, and / or one or more special subframes. In some embodiments, SIB1-NB may include configuration information in addition to or in place of a subframe configuration. In some embodiments, SIB1-NB may be included in a 3GPP protocol, a feNB-IoT protocol, and / or other protocols. It should be noted that the implementation is not limited to using SIB1-NB in ​​this operation and / or other operations described herein, as any suitable elements may be used.

[0093] In some embodiments, the subframe configuration may include: one or more downlink subframes, one or more uplink subframes, and one or more special subframes. In some embodiments, each of the special subframes may occur immediately after one of the downlink subframes and immediately before one of the uplink subframes. In some embodiments, at least one of the special subframes may occur immediately after one of the downlink subframes and immediately before one of the uplink subframes. In some embodiments, uplink subframes may be allocated for uplink transmissions, downlink subframes may be allocated for downlink transmissions, and special subframes may be allocated to enable transitions between downlink and uplink transmissions.

[0094] At operation 810, UE 102 may determine a subframe configuration for a radio frame. In some embodiments, the subframe configuration for a radio frame may be determined based on SIB1-NB. For example, UE 102 may use an indicator in SIB1-NB and / or a parameter in SIB1-NB to determine the subframe configuration. The scope of the implementation is not limited to the use of SIB1-NB in ​​this operation. In some embodiments, UE 102 may use other messages and / or other techniques to determine the subframe configuration.

[0095] At operation 815, UE 102 may transmit a narrowband physical downlink random access channel (NPRACH) preamble. In some embodiments, the NPRACH preamble may be mapped to a plurality of symbol groups. In some embodiments, each symbol group may include consecutive symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion. In some embodiments, one or more of the symbol groups may include consecutive symbol periods and a CP portion. In a non-limiting example, the number of symbol periods per symbol group may depend at least in part on the number of consecutive uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

[0096] In some embodiments, UE 102 may select an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats that includes multiple symbol groups for each NPRACH preamble and also includes multiple symbol periods for each symbol group. Example candidate NPRACH formats are given below. In some embodiments, one or more of the example candidate NPRACH formats may be used. In some embodiments, one or more additional candidate NPRACH formats may be used.

[0097] In an exemplary candidate NPRACH format, the NPRACH preamble may be mapped to two symbol groups. In another exemplary candidate NPRACH format, the NPRACH preamble may be mapped to four symbol groups. In another exemplary candidate NPRACH format, the NPRACH preamble may be mapped to six symbol groups. The implementation is not limited to the number of symbol groups given in the above exemplary candidate NPRACH formats. The NPRACH preamble may be mapped to any suitable number of symbol groups.

[0098] In some implementations, UE 102 may transmit the NPRACH based on frequency hopping between symbol groups.

[0099] At operation 820, UE 102 may receive a NPDCCH. In some embodiments, the NPDCCH may include information related to transmission of a NPUSCH by UE 102 in one or more radio frames. At operation 825, UE 102 may determine time resources and / or frequency resources for transmission of the NPUSCH. At operation 830, UE 102 may determine an uplink scheduling delay based at least in part on the information included in the NPDCCH. At operation 835, UE 102 may transmit the NPUSCH. At operation 840, UE 102 may avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs.

[0100] In some embodiments, the NPDCCH may indicate information related to the transmission of the NPUSCH. In some embodiments, the NPDCCH may schedule the transmission of the NPUSCH. In some embodiments, the NPDCCH may indicate one or more of the following: time resources for transmitting the NPUSCH, frequency resources for transmitting the NPUSCH, uplink scheduling parameters, and / or other information. In some embodiments, the uplink scheduling parameters may indicate the number of uplink subframes used by the UE 102 to determine the uplink scheduling delay. In some embodiments, the NPDCCH may indicate the number of uplink subframes for the uplink scheduling delay for transmitting the NPUSCH.

[0101] In some embodiments, the uplink scheduling delay for transmitting the NPUSCH may be based on the sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes. The second number of subframes may be based on a window of variable size. The window may start when a first number of subframes have passed since the NPDCCH was received. The window may end when a certain number of uplink subframes have passed since the start of the window. In a non-limiting example, the certain number of uplink subframes (related to the end of the window as described above) may be indicated by an uplink scheduling parameter included in the NPDCCH. In some embodiments, the window may include: the certain number of uplink subframes indicated by the uplink scheduling parameter, and a variable number of downlink subframes depending on the starting subframe index of the window within one or more radio frames.

[0102] In some embodiments, the uplink scheduling delay may be based on the earliest subframe after: a predetermined number of subframes have passed relative to the subframe of the NPDCCH, and a window of subframes that have passed after the predetermined number of subframes, wherein the number of uplink subframes in the window is equal to the number of uplink subframes indicated by the NPDCCH.

[0103] In one non-limiting example, the NPUSCH may be a type 1 NPUSCH based on data bits. The first number of subframes may be 8, and the number of uplink subframes indicated by the uplink scheduling parameter may be one of: 0, 8, 16, and 32. In another non-limiting example, the NPUSCH may be a type 2 NPUSCH based on control bits. The first number of subframes may be 12. The number of uplink subframes indicated by the uplink scheduling parameter may be one of: 0, 8, 16, and 32. The implementation is not limited to the exemplary numbers given above. The implementation is also not limited to the numbers used for the NPUSCH types (type 1 and / or type 2) given above.

[0104] In some embodiments, NPUSCH may be transmitted according to: single-tone transmission in one subcarrier per symbol period, or multi-tone transmission in 3, 6, or 12 subcarriers per symbol period.

[0105] In some embodiments, UE 102 may determine a transmission window for transmitting the NPUSCH. In one non-limiting example, if the transmission window includes one or more downlink subframes, UE 102 may avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs during the downlink subframes of the transmission. In another non-limiting example, if the transmission window includes one or more downlink subframes, and if the NPUSCH is a type 2 NPUSCH for transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback, UE 102 may avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs during the downlink subframes of the transmission window.

[0106] In some embodiments, UE 102 may transmit NPUSCH according to an uplink scheduling delay. For example, UE 102 may transmit NPUSCH after the uplink scheduling delay has elapsed. In some embodiments, UE 102 may transmit NPUSCH according to a determined window for transmitting NPUSCH.

[0107] In some embodiments, if UE 102 is configured for two hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) processes for multiple NPDSCHs, UE 102 may avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs in a window where: the second window starts two milliseconds before the earliest type 2 NPUSCH is scheduled for HARQ feedback, and / or the second window ends after the latest type 1 NPUSCH is scheduled for data transmission.

[0108] In some embodiments, UE 102 may transmit NPUSCH according to a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kilohertz (kHz) or 15 kHz. In some embodiments, if NPUSCH is transmitted according to a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz, the candidate subframe configurations may be limited to: a first candidate subframe configuration, the first candidate subframe configuration including: a downlink subframe, followed by a special subframe, followed by two uplink subframes, followed by two other downlink subframes, followed by another special subframe, followed by two other uplink subframes, followed by another downlink subframe; and a second candidate subframe configuration, the second candidate subframe configuration including: a downlink subframe, followed by a special subframe, followed by two uplink subframes, followed by six other downlink subframes. In some embodiments, if NPUSCH is transmitted according to a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, the candidate subframe configurations may include the first candidate subframe configuration and the second candidate subframe configuration and at least one other candidate subframe configuration.

[0109] In one non-limiting example, the UE 102 may encode the NPUSCH based on a maximum transport block size of 1000 bits or 2536 bits.

[0110] It should be noted that the description of some operations and / or techniques herein may refer to specific time resources and / or frequency resources (such as PRBs, symbol periods and / or subframes), but such reference is not restrictive. In some embodiments, other time resources and / or frequency resources may be used in one or more of those operations and / or techniques.

[0111] In some embodiments, the device of UE 102 may include a memory. The memory may be configured to store information identifying uplink scheduling parameters. The memory may store one or more other elements, and the device may use these elements to perform one or more operations. The device may include a processing circuit that may perform one or more operations (including but not limited to the operations of method 800 and / or other methods described herein). The processing circuit may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuit and / or the processing circuit may perform one or more operations described herein, including but not limited to the decoding of the NPDCCH. The device may include a transceiver to receive the NPDCCH. The transceiver may transmit and / or receive other blocks, messages, and / or other elements.

[0112] At operation 905, the gNB 105 may determine a subframe configuration of a radio frame. At operation 910, the gNB 105 may transmit SIB1-NB. At operation 915, the gNB 105 may receive a NPRACH preamble. At operation 920, the gNB 105 may determine time resources and / or frequency resources for transmitting the NPUSCH. At operation 925, the gNB 105 may determine an uplink scheduling delay for the NPUSCH. At operation 930, the gNB 105 may transmit the NPDCCH. At operation 935, the gNB 105 may receive the NPUSCH. In some embodiments, the gNB 105 may monitor the NPUSCH based on the uplink scheduling delay.

[0113] In some embodiments, the device of gNB 105 may include a memory. The memory may be configured to store at least a portion of the NPDCCH. The memory may store one or more other elements, and the device may use these elements to perform one or more operations. The device may include a processing circuit that may perform one or more operations (including but not limited to the operations of method 900 and / or other methods described herein). The processing circuit may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuit and / or the processing circuit may perform one or more operations described herein, including but not limited to the encoding of the NPDCCH. The device may include a transceiver to transmit the NPDCCH. The transceiver may transmit and / or receive other blocks, messages, and / or other elements.

[0114] Fig.10 An exemplary repeating pattern is shown according to some embodiments. Fig.11An example of frequency hopping is shown in accordance with some embodiments. Fig.12 Another example of frequency hopping according to some embodiments is shown. Fig.13 Another example of frequency hopping according to some embodiments is shown. It should be noted that in some cases, Figures 10 to 13 The examples shown in the may illustrate some or all of the concepts and techniques described herein, but the embodiments are not limited to these examples. For example, the embodiments are not limited to Figures 10 to 13 The names, quantities, types, sizes, ordering, arrangements and / or other aspects of the frames, subframes, signals, time resources, frequency resources and other elements shown. Figures 10 to 13 Some elements shown in the examples may be included in the 3GPP LTE standard, the 5G standard, the NR standard, the feNB-IoT standard, and / or other standards, but the embodiments are not limited to the use of such elements included in the standards.

[0115] In some embodiments, TDD for in-band, guard band, and standalone modes of operation for NB-IoT may be supported. In some cases, UL backoff gaps may not necessarily be required or used by UE 102, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some embodiments, new TDD configurations for further enhanced narrowband Internet of Things (feNB-IoT) may be supported in addition to the TDD configurations in LTE.

[0116] In some embodiments, the TDD configuration in conventional LTE may be signaled by SIB 1. One or more TDD configurations (including but not limited to one or more of the 7 TDD configurations shown in the table below) may be used in conventional LTE protocols and / or other protocols.

[0117]

[0118] In some embodiments, NPUSCH for TDD feNB-IoT cells may be used. The two NPUSCH formats in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT are NPUSCH format 1 for UL data and NPUSCH format 2 for A / N feedback for UL. For NPUSCH format 1, it is dynamically scheduled by NPDCCH, where 2 bits in DCI format N0 are used to indicate the scheduling delay. Unlike the NPDSCH scheduling delay that only counts valid DL subframes, the scheduling delay for NPUSCH indicates the absolute number of subframes. NPUSCH supports two types of subcarrier spacing: 15kHz and 3.75kHz, where multi-tone transmission uses a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz and single-tone transmission uses 15kHz or 3.75kHz. For 15kHz subcarrier spacing, the slot and subframe definitions follow the traditional LTE design. For 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing, a 2ms NB slot is defined, where each NB slot consists of 7 symbols. With a subcarrier spacing of 3.75kHz, the duration of each symbol is 275μs, including a CP of length 8.33μs. After 7 symbols and their CPs, a duration of 75μs is reserved as a guard period for each NB slot. A resource unit (RU) is defined as Xms, where X=1, 2, 4, and 8 for NPUSCH with 12, 6, 3, and 1 tones with a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, respectively, and X=32 for single-tone NPUSCH with a subcarrier spacing of 3.75kHz. A single TB can be scheduled by multiple RUs of NPUSCH. QPSK is used for multi-tone NPUSCH format 1, while π / 2BPSK and π / 4QPSK can be used for single-tone NPUSCH format 1. Regarding coding, NPUSCH format 1 still uses convolutional turbo coding and supports 2 RVs. The repetition pattern is achieved by using cyclic repetition, where in each cycle, each UL subframe / NB slot in the allocated resources is repeated Z times continuously, where for multi-tone NPUSCH, Z = min{4, indicated number of repetitions / 2}, and for single-tone transmission, Z = 1. After one cycle of 1 RV, another RV will be used. Fig.10 Scenario 1000 in FIG. 1 shows an exemplary repetition pattern 1005 for NPUSCH format 1.

[0119] An example of a TBS lookup table is given below.

[0120]

[0121] For NPUSCH format 2, it carries 1-bit HARQ-ACK feedback. Repetition coding is used without CRC. NPUSCH format 2 supports only single-tone transmission. The RU of NPUSCH format 2 is smaller than that of NPUSCH format 1: 2ms for 15kHz subcarrier spacing and 8ms for 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing. NPUSCH format 2 has a higher DMRS density than NPUSCH format 1. The modulation order supported by NPUSCH format 2 is only π / 2BPSK. The frequency resources and time resources used for NPUSCH format 2 transmission are indicated in the DCI that schedules the corresponding NPDSCH. The number of repetitions is semi-statically configured by RRC signaling.

[0122] In some embodiments, NPUSCH format 1 for TDD fcNB-IoT cells may be based at least in part on LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT designs. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard, as one or more techniques, operations, and / or methods described herein may be applicable to embodiments that may not necessarily be based on LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT designs.

[0123] In some embodiments, both 15kHz and 3.75kHz subcarrier spacings may be supported. In some embodiments, 15kHz subcarrier spacing may be supported. One possible motivation for using such an embodiment (with 15kHz spacing) may be that the number of valid UL subframes depends on the TDD configuration and they are non-contiguous. Therefore, NPUSCH transmissions with a large number of subframes / NB slots may result in large delays.

[0124] In some embodiments, multi-tone and single-tone NPUSCH format 1 transmissions may be supported. In some embodiments, multi-tone NPUSCH format 1 transmissions may be supported. In some embodiments, different TDD configurations may support different sub-PRB NPUSCHs and / or different subcarrier spacings. For example, 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing may be supported for one or more TDD configurations, including but not limited to TDD configurations 0, 1, 3, 4, and / or 6. 4-tone NPUSCH (if supported) may be supported for TDD configurations 0, 3, and / or 6.

[0125] In some embodiments, NPUSCH transmission with 15kHz subcarrier spacing is supported in all supported UL / DL configurations for NB-IoT TDD. In some embodiments, 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing is also supported in UL / DL configurations #1, #4 with the same NB slot and resource unit definition as FDD.

[0126] In some embodiments, the supported number of subcarriers that can be allocated for sub-PRB NPUSCH transmissions can be based at least in part on the LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT design. For example, single-tone, 3-tone, and / or 6-tone NPUSCH transmissions can be used.

[0127] In some embodiments, for NPUSCH transmission with 15kHz subcarrier spacing, both multi-tone (3, 6, 12 subcarriers, RU length of 4ms, 2ms, 1ms respectively) and single-tone (RU length of 8ms) transmission are supported as in FDD NB-IoT for all supported TDD configurations in TDD NB-IoT. In some embodiments, the RU length may be the same as the RU length used in FDD.

[0128] Alternatively, other sub-PRB NPUSCH allocations may be used. For example, 2-tone or 4-tone NPUSCH may be defined and supported in one or more TDD configurations, including but not limited to TDD configurations 0, 3, and / or 6.

[0129] In some embodiments, the repetition pattern may differ from Rel-13 NB-IoT for different values ​​of parameter Z. For example, Z may be determined by min{X, indicated number of repetitions / 2} in a TDD feNB-IoT cell, where X may be any integer, e.g., X=5 for multi-tone NPUSCH format 1 transmission (similar to the eMTC design in CE mode B), and Z=1 for single-tone NPUSCH format 1 transmission (if supported).

[0130] In some embodiments, for monitoring the NPDCCH during a DL subframe in the middle of a NPUSCH transmission, one or more of the following techniques may be used. In some embodiments, it may not be necessary for the UE 102 to monitor the NPDCCH until the NPUSCH transmission is completed.

[0131] In some embodiments, the UE 102 may not need to monitor certain DCI formats (e.g., DCI format N0) before the NPUSCH transmission is completed, but may need to monitor other DCI formats. In some embodiments, the UE may continue to monitor the NPDCCH. For example, for DCI format N0, in the middle of an ongoing NPUSCH transmission, the scheduling delay between the end of the DCI and the start of the NPUSCH transmission may be large enough to allow the ongoing NPUSCH transmission to complete. Otherwise, the NPUSCH scheduled by the DCI may be transmitted in other frequency resources (e.g., other tones in the NB) different from the ongoing NPUSCH transmission. It should be noted that in some cases, performance may be degraded due to non-continuous UL subframes in a TDD system.

[0132] In a non-limiting example, the number of repetitions supported may be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}. Although the scope of the implementation is not limited to values ​​from the LTE Rel-13 protocol, these values ​​may be the same as the values ​​in LTE Rel-13. In some implementations, values ​​such as 256 and / or 384 may also be used. In a non-limiting example, the amount of the number of repetitions supported may be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}. In a non-limiting example, the amount of the number of repetitions supported may be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}, wherein two elements are excluded, wherein these two elements may be any number in the set (e.g., 1 and 384). In another non-limiting example, one or more additional values ​​may be added to the value {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}. In another non-limiting example, a subset of the values ​​{1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384} may be used. In another non-limiting example, a subset of the values ​​{1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384} and one or more additional values ​​may be used.

[0133] In some embodiments, the maximum UL TBS supported may be reduced compared to TBS values ​​used in other protocols, including but not limited to LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT and Rel-14eNB-IoT. In one non-limiting example, a TBS table may be used in which at least some entries have a smaller TBS than the TBS value used in another protocol. For example, the TBS value for a particular resource allocation may be reduced to the integer closest to X multiplied by the TBS value in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT or LTE Rel-14eNB-IoT, where X may be any value within (0,1), such as 0.5 or 1 / 3.

[0134] In some implementations, the TBS lookup table may be punctured to support only up to 1 RU <=Y, where Y can be any integer less than 7, such as Y=2, 3 or 4. The parameter Y can be predefined or can be configured through RRC signaling. Before indicating Y, the default value of Y can be predefined, such as Y=7.

[0135] In some embodiments, depending on the UE capabilities, the maximum UL TBS may be the same as in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT (i.e., 1000 bits), or the same as in LTE Rel-14 eNB-IoT (i.e., 2536 bits).

[0136] In some embodiments, the maximum UL and DL TBS for Class NB1 and Class NB2 remain the same as Rel-13 / Rel-14(e) NB-IoT FDD systems.

[0137] Alternatively, a maximum UL TBS of 2536 may be supported in TDD feNB-IoT. In some embodiments, the maximum UL TBS may also be increased. In these embodiments, the achievable MCL may be relaxed (e.g., less than 164 dB).

[0138] In some embodiments, the DMRS density may be increased. In a non-limiting example, performance may be degraded due to one or more factors, such as non-contiguous valid UL subframes in a TDD system and / or other factors. To improve performance, the DMRS density may be increased.

[0139] In some embodiments, the increased DMRS density may be used for all NPUSCH format 1 transmissions. In some embodiments, the increased DMRS density may be used for NPUSCH format 1 transmissions where the number of repetitions is greater than a certain value represented by Y. Parameter Y may be any integer, such as Y=16, 32, 64, and / or other integers. In some embodiments, the use of the increased DMRS density may be configurable and may be indicated via a DCI scheduling NPUSCH format 1 and / or may be configured via high-level signaling when the number of NPUSCH repetitions is greater than a specified value. For example, the DMRS density may be doubled, where the DMRS may be transmitted as symbols #2 and #4 in a 0.5ms slot of NPUSCH format 1 with a 15kHz subcarrier spacing, and may be transmitted as symbols #3 and #5 in a 2ms NB slot of NPUSCH format 1 with a 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing. Note that other examples are not excluded. In a non-limiting example, any N symbols out of every 7 symbols may be used for DMRS transmission, where N may be any integer, such as N=2, 3, and / or other integers.

[0140] In some embodiments, the DMRS sequence may be the same or similar to the DMRS sequence used for LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0141] In some embodiments, for transmission of NPUSCH format 1, one or more valid UL subframes may be defined as subframes that can be used for the NB-IoT system and are configured as UL subframes based on the TDD configuration. The valid UL subframes may be indicated by MIB or SIB1-NB or other system information.

[0142] In some embodiments, all UL subframes according to the indicated TDD configuration may be assumed to be valid NB-IoT UL subframes without any additional configuration. When a scheduled NPUSCH occurs on an invalid UL subframe (e.g., on a DL subframe according to a TDD configuration), the NPUSCH transmission may be postponed to the next valid UL subframe.

[0143] Regarding the scheduling delay, one or more of the following techniques and / or other techniques may be used. In some embodiments, the scheduling delay may indicate an absolute number of subframes. The NPUSCH may be transmitted in the first valid UL subframe after the scheduling delay. In a non-limiting example, new values ​​for the scheduling delay may be introduced. For example, in order to account for DL ​​subframes between UL grants and scheduled NPUSCH transmissions, larger scheduling delays may be supported. Instead of the traditional values ​​{8, 16, 32, 64} in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, the scheduling delay may be {16, 32, 64, 96} or {16, 32, 64, 128} in TDD systems.

[0144] In another non-limiting example, the scheduling delay may have a finer granularity, which in some cases can support more flexible UL scheduling. For example, any one or more values ​​{12, 24, 48, 96, 128} may be added to the supported scheduling delays. One or more of the following options and / or other options may be used to indicate the scheduling delay. In option #1, more bits may be used to indicate the scheduling delay. For example, when there are 3 bits in the field for scheduling delay indication, the potential scheduling delay may be {8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128}. In option #2, there may be multiple groups of scheduling delays, and RRC signaling may indicate the group to be used, cell-specific or UE-specific. Similar to in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, there may still be 4 candidate values ​​in each group of scheduling delays, and 2 bits in the DCI may be used for indication. Alternatively, if the number of candidate values ​​in each configured group is greater than 4, more bits may be used in the DCI. A set of default values ​​may be predefined, such as {8, 16, 32, 64}. In option #3, there may be multiple groups of scheduling delays, and the group to use may be a function of Rmax, the number of repetitions scheduled for NPUSCH / NPDSCH, the maximum number of repetitions that may be scheduled for NPUSCH / NPDSCH, and / or one or more other factors. Similar to in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, there may still be 4 candidate values ​​in each group of scheduling delays, and 2 bits in the DCI may be used to indicate. Alternatively, if the number of candidate values ​​in each configured group is greater than 4, more bits may be used in the DCI.

[0145] In some embodiments, the scheduling delay takes into account valid UL subframes in the feNB-IoT TDD cell. In some embodiments, the scheduling delay only takes into account valid UL subframes in the feNB-IoT TDD cell.

[0146] In some embodiments, the HARQ of NPUSCH format 1 in the TDD cell may be asynchronous and / or adaptive. In other words, the HARQ process number (if more than 1 HARQ process is supported) and the new transmission or retransmission may be dynamically indicated by the NPDCCH. In some embodiments, after LTE Rel-13 and LTE Rel-14 (e) NB-IoT, the UE 102 may support 1 HARQ process or 2 HARQ processes. Alternatively, the UE 102 may support more than 2 HARQ processes for DL ​​and UL depending on its capabilities. As an example, the maximum number of HARQ processes may depend not only on the UE capabilities but also on the TDD configuration, and the minimum number of HARQ processes depends on the UE 102 capabilities, the maximum number of HARQ processes in the considered TDD configuration, and / or one or more other factors. In some embodiments, the maximum number of HARQ processes in the considered TDD configuration may be the same as in a conventional LTE TDD system, or the same as the number of HARQ processes that can be supported by an eMTC TDD system, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0147] In some embodiments, NPUSCH format 2 for TDD feNB-IoT cells may be used. The one or more techniques may be the same or similar to the one or more techniques used for LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT design, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0148] In some embodiments, both 15kHz and 3.75kHz subcarrier spacings may be supported, as in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT. In some embodiments, only 15kHz subcarrier spacing may be supported. In some embodiments, for certain physical signals or channels, different TDD configurations may support different parameter sets, including but not limited to NPUSCH format 1 and / or NPUSCH format 2. In a non-limiting example, one or more TDD configurations (e.g., TDD configurations 0, 1, 3, 4, and / or 6) with 2 consecutive UL subframes may support NPUSCH format 2 and / or NPUSCH format 1 at 3.75kHz. In another non-limiting example, only TDD configurations (e.g., TDD configurations 0, 1, 3, 4, and / or 6) with 2 consecutive UL subframes may support NPUSCH format 2 and / or NPUSCH format 1 at 3.75kHz.

[0149] In some cases, performance may be degraded due to non-contiguous UL subframes in TDD systems.

[0150] In some embodiments, the number of repetitions supported may be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}. This may be similar or identical to the number of repetitions supported in LTE Rel-13, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, the target MCL may be reduced. In some embodiments, the number of repetitions may be increased. For example, 256 and / or 384 may be introduced. In some embodiments, the indication of the number of repetitions for NPUSCH format 2 may be similar to the indication used in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT (including but not limited to the indication of high-layer signaling). In a non-limiting example, the amount of the number of repetitions supported may be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}. In another non-limiting example, the amount of supported repetitions can be one of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}, where two elements are excluded, where the two elements can be any number in the set (e.g., 1 and 384). In another non-limiting example, new values ​​can be added to an existing set, such as {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 384}. Embodiments are not limited to these exemplary numbers. Additional values ​​and / or different values ​​can be used in some embodiments.

[0151] In some embodiments, when NPUSCH format 2 transmission occurs on an invalid UL subframe (eg, on a DL subframe according to a TDD configuration), the NPUSCH transmission may be postponed to the next valid UL subframe.

[0152] With respect to the time offset indicated by the DCI that schedules the corresponding NPDSCH transmission, one or more of the following techniques and / or one or more additional techniques may be used. In some embodiments, the time offset may indicate the absolute number of subframes. The NPUSCH may be transmitted in the first valid UL subframe after the offset. In a non-limiting example, a new value for the timing offset may be used (in addition to or in place of one or more values ​​used in the conventional LTE protocol). For example, in order to account for the DL subframes between the end of the NPDSCH and the start of the HARQ-ACK transmission, a larger time offset may be supported. Instead of the traditional values ​​of {0,2,4,5} milliseconds for 15kHz subcarrier spacing and {0,8} milliseconds for 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, the supported time offset set may be a subset of {0,2,4,5,Tl} or {0,8,T2} in a TDD system, where T1 and T2 may be predefined as any positive integer (including but not limited to T1=7 and T2=16). Alternatively, the number of bits used to indicate the time offset may be the same or similar to the number used in LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, and thus there may be 4 time offset values ​​for 15kHz subcarrier spacing and 2 time offset values ​​for 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing, where the offset set may be any subset of {0,2,4,5,Tl} with 4 elements (e.g., {0,2,4,T1}), or a subset of {0,8,T2} with 2 elements (e.g., {0,T2} or {8,T2}). The implementation is not limited to the exemplary values ​​given above.

[0153] In some embodiments, the time offset may take into account valid UL subframes in the feNB-IoT TDD cell. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing may be supported. One or more of the following techniques and / or one or more other techniques may be used for time resource indication of NPUSCH format 2. In a non-limiting example, a range of time offset values ​​may be defined. For example, two different time offset sets may be defined, one set for UEs that support only 1 HARQ process or for UEs 102 that are not configured with HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing, and the other set for UEs 102 configured with HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing. The former time offset set may be designed as the above-mentioned embodiment. The latter time offset set may include larger values, such as a subset of {0, 2, 4, 5, 16, 32, 64, 128} for 15kHz subcarrier spacing and / or {0, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256} milliseconds for 3.75kHz subcarrier spacing. The implementation is not limited to the exemplary values ​​given above.

[0154] In another non-limiting example, a one-bit counter (which may be the same and / or similar to the DAI in conventional LTE) may be introduced to indicate whether the current DCI is the last DCI in the bundling / multiplexing window. If the current DCI is not the last DCI in the bundling / multiplexing window, the time offset indication field may be ignored, or the last DCI may overwrite the time offset indicated by the previous DCI.

[0155] In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing for category NB2 UEs supporting 2 or more HARQ processes may be used. In LTE Rel-14 eNB-IoT, up to 2 HARQ processes may be supported. For UE 102 supporting N HARQ processes with N>=2, HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing may be supported. UE 102 may indicate its ability to support HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing via conventional capability signaling methods. Based on UE capabilities, eNB 104 may indicate the use of HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing via higher layer signaling.

[0156] One or more of the following techniques and / or one or more additional techniques may be used for HARQ-ACK bundling / multiplexing. In some embodiments, for a UE 102 supporting N DL HARQ processes, the UE 102 may feed back a bitmap of length N in a NPUSCH format 2 transmission, with each bit being used for one DL HARQ process. In one example of this embodiment, higher order modulation may be used, including but not limited to π / 4QPSK. In some embodiments, for a UE 102 supporting N DL HARQ processes, HARQ-ACK feedback for these N HARQ processes may be bundled. For example, when all M HARQ processes have ACK feedback, NPUSCH format 2 may carry ACK, otherwise, NPUSCH format 2 may carry NACK, where M is a positive integer not greater than N. The determination of M may depend on the bundling configuration. The bundling configuration may be indicated by RRC signaling and / or DCI. The indication information may include the number of HARQ processes to be bundled, the index of the current HARQ process in the bundle, the bundling index, and / or the HARQ process index in the current bundle. Any suitable technique may be used for bundling configuration indication. For example, the DCI may include a time offset indication for HARQ-ACK feedback, bundling on / off, the number of TBs in the HARQ-ACK bundling, and / or other information.

[0157] In some embodiments, for a UE 102 supporting N DL HARQ processes, the HARQ-ACK feedback of 2 HARQ processes out of the N HARQ processes may be multiplexed by applying a scrambling sequence to carry an additional 1 bit. The scrambling sequence may be any binary sequence, such as a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence, a Hadamard sequence, or a pseudo-noise sequence. The sequences of ACK and NACK may have low cross-correlation. For example, two orthogonal sequences may be used, such as a ZC sequence with different cyclic shifts or two orthogonal Hadamard sequences. In a non-limiting example, the DMRS sequence may follow LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT. Alternatively, different DMRS sequences or the same sequence with different cover codes may be used for cases with ACK and with NACK.

[0158] In some embodiments, for a UE 102 supporting N DL HARQ processes, HARQ-ACK feedback for 2 HARQ processes out of the N HARQ processes may be multiplexed by channel selection. For example, two subcarriers may be reserved for HARQ-ACK feedback transmission, one of which corresponds to ACK and the other corresponds to NACK for the second HARQ process. In a non-limiting example, both subcarriers may be indicated by DCI. In another non-limiting example, one of the subcarriers is indicated by DCI, and the other subcarrier may be determined based on the indicated subcarrier plus an offset. In some embodiments, the offset may be predefined or indicated by high-layer signaling.

[0159] In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK bundling may be enabled when there are no repetitions for NPDSCH transmission or the number of repetitions scheduled for NPDSCH is not greater than R, where R may be a predefined / configured positive integer. In one non-limiting example, when HARQ-ACK feedback starts from the same subframe, HARQ bundling or multiplexing as disclosed above may be used. In another non-limiting example, bundling / multiplexing may be configured via higher layer signaling. Once configured, in one example, the time offset indicated by the DCI scheduling the NPDSCH corresponding to the bundled / multiplexed HARQ-ACK ensures that they produce the same subframe for HARQ-ACK transmission. Alternatively, the latter DCI may overwrite the first DCI indication for the HARQ-ACK resources.

[0160] In some embodiments, if no additional DCI is received prior to the transmission of the HARQ-ACK feedback indicated by the Kth DCI, the UE 102 may assume that the remaining DCI in the configured bundle (if there is a bundle configured with more than K HARQ processes) has been lost. In this case (e.g., when HARQ-ACK bundling is used), the UE 102 may not send HARQ-ACK feedback, or (e.g., when HARQ-ACK multiplexing or HARQ-ACK bitmap is used), no HARQ-ACK is fed back in the resources indicated by the first K DCIs.

[0161] In some embodiments, NPUSCH may be used in TDD feNB-IoT. In some embodiments, the subcarrier spacing of NPUSCH for TDD feNB-IoT may be 15kHz and / or 3.75kHz. In some embodiments, NPUSCH format 1 for TDD feNB-IoT may support: single-tone transmission and multi-tone transmission; or multi-tone transmission. In some embodiments, the repetition pattern of NPUSCH format 1 may follow FDD feNB-IoT, or the parameter Z may be different (for example, Z=1 for single-tone transmission, and / or Z=5 for multi-tone transmission). In some embodiments, the repetition number may be the same as FDD feNB-IoT, or may be increased. In some embodiments, the TBS may be the same as Rel-14eNB-IoT, or may be reduced, or may be mapped to more resources. In some embodiments, the DMRS density may be increased. In some embodiments, the scheduling delay of NPUSCH format 1 and / or the time offset of NPUSCH format 2 may be increased or finer. In some embodiments, HARQ-ACK bundling or multiplexing may be supported for NPUSCH format 2. In some embodiments, different TDD configurations may support different sub-PRBNP USCHs (eg, in terms of the number of tones supported, subcarrier spacing, and / or other aspects).

[0162] In some embodiments, NPRACH may be a single tone transmission with a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz. The NPRACH symbol duration is 266.7 μs. In some embodiments, two CP lengths may be supported for different cell radii: 66.7 μs and 266.7 μs. Frequency hopping of NPRACH may occur between symbol groups. Fig.11 In the example 1100 shown, a symbol group 1105 includes one CP and five identical symbols with a value equal to 1. The duration of one symbol group may be 1.4 ms for a CP of 66.7 μs and 1.6 ms for a CP of 266.7 μs. Regarding the frequency hopping scheme of NPRACH, there are two frequency hopping levels, such as Fig.11As shown in Example 1150 in . The first level of frequency hopping may be single subcarrier hopping between the first / second and third / fourth symbol groups (for example, in Example 1150, the first / second symbol groups are 1155, 1156, and the third / fourth symbol groups are 1160, 1161). The second level of frequency hopping may be 6 subcarrier hopping between the second / third symbol groups (for example, 1156, 1160 in Example 1150). Pseudo-random hopping may be used every 4 symbol groups. The number of NPRACH repetitions supported may be {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}, where the repetition unit is a NPRACH symbol group or a NPRACH preamble. Within one period of the NPRACH, the repetitions of the NPRACH are transmitted back-to-back in temporally consecutive subframes in the UL NB-IoT carrier.

[0163] In some embodiments, in a TDD system, the number of UL subframes that are consecutive in time may be limited. Therefore, direct application of the NPRACH design in Rel-13 NB-IoT may result in non-continuous NPRACH transmissions, especially in the case of a large number of repetitions. For example, even for a configuration with most UL subframes in legacy LTE having 1 special subframe followed by 3 UL subframes (e.g., existing TDD configuration 0), consecutive UL subframes may only accommodate at most 2 NPRACH symbol group repetitions. In some embodiments, a NPRACH design for a TDD feNB-IoT cell may be used with a restriction on the number of consecutive UL subframes.

[0164] In some embodiments, the NPRACH in the TDD feNB-IoT cell may be based on a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz, including but not limited to the techniques used in the LTE Rel-13 protocol. In some embodiments, the NPRACH in the TDD feNB-IoT cell may be based on a subcarrier spacing of 1.25 kHz or 7.5 kHz, including but not limited to the techniques used in the legacy LTE protocol.

[0165] In some embodiments, the NPRACH may use a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz. In some embodiments, the NPRACH may be based at least in part on the LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT design, and may be further based on one or more of the following techniques. However, the embodiments are not limited to NPRACH based on the LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT design or any other NPRACH design. In addition, the description herein may involve specific values ​​of one or more parameters (such as subcarrier spacing and / or other parameters). However, the embodiments are not limited to those values. One or more of the techniques, operations, and / or methods described herein may be applicable to situations where different values ​​are used.

[0166] In some embodiments, NPRACH transmissions may be non-continuous, where NPRACH transmissions may be postponed in invalid UL subframes. The symbol group definition may be based on a CP other than five symbols (which may be similar to the technology of LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT), but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The number of repetitions may be in units of NPRACH symbol groups. It may be implemented by the eNB 104 to avoid conflicts between two sets of NPRACH resources. If the NPRACH sequence design follows Rel-13 NB-IoT, a scrambling sequence may be used to facilitate timing estimation. For example, a Hadamard sequence or a ZC sequence of length 3 may be used, where the CP and the first symbol use the first element of the sequence, the second symbol and the third symbol use the second element of the sequence, and the fourth symbol and the fifth symbol use the third element of the sequence.

[0167] In some embodiments, each symbol group may be transmitted in consecutive UL subframes, while different groups of symbol groups may be transmitted in different groups of UL subframes, which may be non-contiguous. In a non-limiting example of such an embodiment, the symbol groups may be defined as in Rel-13 NB-IoT. For TDD configurations with a limited number of UL subframes, the remainder of the NPRACH symbol group may be truncated. For example, if the existing TDD configuration 5 has 1 special subframe followed by 1 UL subframe, the NPRACH may start from the UpPTS and continue until the end of the next UL subframe, or alternatively the NPRACH may be transmitted on this one UL subframe. Recall that the duration of the NPRACH symbol group in Rel-13 NB-IoT is 1.4ms or 1.6ms, depending on the CP length, which does not fit into the duration of 1 UL subframe or 1 UpPTS + 1 UL subframe. The remainder of the NPRACH symbol group may be truncated. It should be noted that in some cases, the above examples may also be applicable to other TDD configurations having more consecutive UL subframes but with a limited number (e.g., 1 or 2 or other) of consecutive UL subframes configured for NPRACH transmission.

[0168] In another non-limiting example of such an embodiment, the symbol group may be different from Rel-13 NB-IoT. For example, each symbol group may have N symbols, where N may be a positive integer such as 1, 2, 3, or 4. In the case of N=3, the duration of the symbol group may be 867μs and 1.1ms, depending on the CP length, which may be suitable for 1 UL subframe and 1 UpPTS (e.g., including 2 UL symbols) + 1 UL subframe, respectively. In the case of N=4, the duration of the symbol group may be 1.13ms and 1.33ms, depending on the CP length, which may be suitable for 1 UpPTS + 1 UL subframe and 2 UL subframes, respectively. In the case of N<=2, the duration of the symbol group may be less than 1ms and may be suitable for 1 UL subframe. In TDD configurations 2 and 5, there may be only 1 UL subframe every 5ms. Symbol groups with N=l may be used, and two symbol groups may fit into 1 UL subframe. In order to make the CP duration and the guard time almost the same, the CP duration can be reduced to 155.5 μs, and the remaining time after transmitting two symbol groups can be used as the guard time. The value of N can be predefined or configured via high-layer signaling. For the latter case, high-layer signaling can directly indicate the value of N, or can indicate the number of consecutive UL subframes for NPRACH transmission, and N can be the maximum integer that satisfies the symbol group duration, which does not exceed the configured number of consecutive UL subframes for NPRACH transmission.

[0169] In some embodiments, if the NPRACH sequence design follows Rel-13 NB-IoT, a scrambling sequence may be used to facilitate timing estimation. In one example, the length of the scrambling sequence may depend on the number of symbols in the symbol group. In a non-limiting example, the length may be floor((N+l) / 2), where N may be the number of symbols in the symbol group. In some embodiments, similar formulas and / or other formulas may be used.

[0170] In some embodiments, a certain number of symbol groups may be transmitted in consecutive UL subframes. A symbol group may have a different definition than Rel-13 NB-IoT. For example, a symbol group may include 1 CP and N symbols, where N is a positive integer such as 2, 3, or 4. In the case of 2 consecutive UL subframes, up to 2 repeated symbol groups and 3 NPRACH symbols with a CP length of 66.7 μs may be configured.

[0171] In another non-limiting example, there may be two symbol groups transmitted over 2 temporally consecutive UL subframes, where N=2 and CP=266.7μs. Alternatively, there may be two symbol groups transmitted over 2 temporally consecutive UL subframes, where N=3 and CP=133.3μs. NPRACH transmission may start from a subframe boundary (i.e., the start of the first UL subframe) and the remaining time may be reserved as a guard time. In the case of 1 UpPTS followed by 2 consecutive UL subframes, up to two symbol groups may be configured, each of which may include a CP of 66.7μs or 266.7μs and up to 3 NPRACH symbols. The CP length may be adjusted to ensure sufficient guard time after the NPRACH transmission.

[0172] In a non-limiting example, a scrambling sequence may be used. For example, the length of the scrambling sequence may depend on the number of symbols in a symbol group. For example, in the case where the CP has the same length as the NPRACH symbol duration, a length of floor(M*(N+1) / 2) may be used, where N may be the number of symbols in a symbol group and M may be an integer not exceeding the number of symbol groups transmitted over consecutive UL subframes. In another non-limiting example, frequency hopping similar to the Rel-13 NPRACH design may be used.

[0173] In some embodiments, different NPRACH formats may be defined and used for different TDD configurations. For example, TDD configurations 2 and 5 may have two symbol groups transmitted on one UL subframe, where each group includes 1 NPRACH symbol, while other TDD configurations may have two symbol groups transmitted on 2 temporally consecutive UL subframes, where each group includes 2 or 3 NPRACH symbols.

[0174] In a non-limiting example, for TDD configurations with one UL subframe in each half radio frame (e.g., TDD configurations 2 and 5), one NPRACH preamble may need to fit into one UL subframe, or one UL subframe and additionally the UpPTS duration before the UL subframe (if UpPTS is available for NPRACH transmission). In the case of a subcarrier spacing of 3.75kHz, each symbol group may include a CP followed by one symbol to fit into one UL subframe, where the CP length may be 155.5μs. If UpPTS with 1 UL symbol or 2 UL symbols may be used for NPRACH transmission, respectively, the CP length may extend to 179.3μs and 203.1μs.

[0175] In some embodiments, for a TDD configuration with multiple (e.g., 2 or 3) temporally consecutive UL subframes, the NPRACH format may be defined as having two symbol groups suitable for multiple temporally consecutive UL subframes. For example, in the case of a subcarrier spacing of 3.75kHz, two symbol groups (where each symbol group consists of a CP followed by two or three symbols) may be suitable for two consecutive UL subframes, where the CP length is at most 311.1μs or 133.3μs, respectively. In order to fit three consecutive UL subframes, two symbol groups may be sent, where each symbol group consists of a CP followed by four or five symbols, where the CP length is at most 288.8μs or 111μs, respectively. For the UpPTS before one or more consecutive UL subframes that can be used for NPRACH transmission, the NPRACH transmission may start from the UpPTS and the CP length may be extended accordingly. After the NPRACH transmission, it may be necessary to add a guard period before the end of the consecutive UL subframes, which may have a length similar to the CP.

[0176] In some embodiments, for a TDD configuration with multiple consecutive UL subframes, a NPRACH format defined as having two symbol groups suitable for one UL subframe may be repeated in these UL subframes. In one example, only one guard period may be added at the end of these consecutive UL subframes. In other words, if two NPRACH symbol groups are sent on consecutive UL subframes, there may be no guard period between the repetitions of these two NPRACH symbol groups. In one example, the CP length may be extended due to the reduced guard period. For example, for two UL subframes, there may be four NPRACH symbol groups with a CP length and guard period of up to 186.64μs, where each symbol group has a CP followed by a NPRACH symbol, and there may be only one guard period before the end of 2 consecutive UL subframes. Note that in this embodiment, the indirect cost may be greater than the above cost.

[0177] In some embodiments, the start of NPRACH transmission may be at a subframe boundary. Alternatively, the start of NPRACH transmission may be the start of the UpPTS. For embodiments in which NPRACH starts at a subframe boundary, one or more of the following may apply to configurable NPRACH resources: a) For TDD configuration 4 or 5, if supported, NPRACH resources may start at SF 2; b) For TDD configuration 2, if supported, NPRACH resources may be at SF 2 or SF 5; c) For TDD configuration 3, if supported, if NPRACH is designed to be transmitted on 2 time-contiguous SFs, NPRACH resources may start at SF 2 or 3; d) For TDD configuration 1, if supported, if NPRACH is designed to be transmitted on 2 time-contiguous SFs, NPRACH resources may start at SF e) for TDD configuration 6, if supported, if NPRACH is designed to be transmitted on 2 time-contiguous SFs, NPRACH resources may start from SF 2, 3, or 7; f) for TDD configuration 0, if supported, if NPRACH is designed to be transmitted on 2 time-contiguous SFs, NPRACH resources may start from SF 2, 3, 7, or 8.

[0178] In some embodiments, when there are not enough consecutive valid UL subframes to transmit G symbol groups back-to-back, symbol groups for NPRACH are dropped.

[0179] In some embodiments, where NPRACH is designed to support transmissions on non-contiguous SFs, NPRACH resources may start from any valid UL subframe.

[0180] In some embodiments, NPRACH with 1.25 kHz subcarrier spacing may be used. The description herein may refer to specific values ​​of one or more parameters, such as subcarrier spacing and / or other parameters. However, the embodiments are not limited to those values. One or more of the techniques, operations, and / or methods described herein may be applicable to situations where different values ​​are used.

[0181] In some embodiments, the NPRACH design may be based on LTE PRACH formats 0-3. For TDD feNB-IoT systems, the subcarrier spacing of the NPRACH may be 1.25kHz. The NPRACH symbol duration for this embodiment is 800μs.

[0182] In some embodiments, a symbol group may be defined as one CP and one NPRACH symbol. In the case where each symbol group may need to fit into one UL subframe, the CP length may be a positive real number no greater than 200 μs. In the case where there is one UpPTS followed by two UL subframes, two symbol groups may fit into these consecutive UL durations, and the CP may be a positive real number no greater than 200+UpPTS duration / 2. For example, when the UpPTS has a duration of two symbols with a symbol duration of 66.7 μs, the duration may be 271.4 μs.

[0183] In some embodiments, a symbol group may be defined as one CP and N NPRACH symbols, where N is a positive integer, N>1, such as N=2. The CP length may be any real number not exceeding 400 μs or 400+UpPTS duration. For example, when the UpPTS has a duration of two symbols with a symbol duration of 66.7 μs, the duration may be 542.8 μs.

[0184] In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be single tone. In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be multi-tone. In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be single tone and / or multi-tone. In some embodiments using single tone NPRACH transmission, the NPRACH sequence may be all "1". A scrambling sequence may be used. As another example, frequency hopping similar to the scheme in Rel-13 NPRACH may be used.

[0185] In some embodiments using multi-tone NPRACH transmission, the NPRACH sequence may be all "1" or may be a ZC sequence. If a ZC sequence is used, K represents the number of tones allocated to the NPRACH transmission, and the length of the ZC sequence may be M, where M is the largest prime number that does not exceed K. Cyclic extension may be used to extend the ZC sequence to N. For example, in the case of K = 144, a ZC sequence of length 139 may be used.

[0186] It should be noted that in the case where NPUSCH and NPRACH are multiplexed in the frequency domain, a certain number of protection tones may be required. For example, 3 tones and 2 tones may be left blank at both ends of the NPRACH band as protection tones, and a ZC sequence of length 139 may be mapped to the center 139 subcarriers of the PRB. As another example, more tones may be left blank as protection tones. For example, 9 tones and 8 tones may be left blank at both ends of the NPRACH band, and a ZC sequence of length 127 may be mapped to the center 127 subcarriers of the PRB. As another example, for K=36, a ZC sequence of length 31 may be used. This may allow NPRACH and NPUSCH or NPRACH from different UEs 102 to be multiplexed in the frequency domain.

[0187] In some embodiments, the NPRACH may use a subcarrier spacing of 7.5 kHz and / or a NPRACH symbol duration of 133.3 μs. In some embodiments, the NPRACH may be based at least in part on LTE PRACH format 4, and may be further based on one or more of the following techniques. However, the implementation is not limited to NPRACH based on PRACH format 4 or any other NPRACH design. In addition, the description herein may involve specific values ​​of one or more parameters (such as subcarrier spacing and / or other parameters). However, the implementation is not limited to those values. One or more of the techniques, operations, and / or methods described herein may be applicable to situations where different values ​​are used.

[0188] In some embodiments, a symbol group may be defined as one CP and N NPRACH symbols, where N is a positive integer such as 5. For example, as in Rel-13 NPRACH, the CP length may be 66.7 μs or 266.7 μs. Alternatively, the CP length may be any value not exceeding 200 μs when N=6, 333.5 μs when N=5, or 466.8 μs when N=4. Using these examples, one symbol group may fit into one UL subframe. In the case where the CP length is 66.67 μs or 266.7 μs and N=5, the remaining time except for the symbol group in the UL subframe may be reserved as a guard period. For two consecutive UL subframes configured for NPRACH, two symbol groups may be transmitted consecutively.

[0189] In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be a single tone. In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be multi-tone. In some embodiments, the NPRACH transmission may be a single tone and / or multi-tone.

[0190] In some embodiments using single-tone NPRACH transmission, the NPRACH sequence may be all "1". A scrambling sequence may be used. As another example, frequency hopping similar to the scheme in LTE Rel-13 NPRACH may be used. In some embodiments, one symbol group may fit into one UL subframe.

[0191] In some embodiments using multi-tone NPRACH transmission, the NPRACH sequence may be all "1" or may be a ZC sequence. If a ZC sequence is used, K represents the number of tones allocated to the NPRACH transmission, and the length of the ZC sequence may be M, where M is the largest prime number not exceeding K. Cyclic extension can be used to extend the ZC sequence to K, or K protection tones. For example, for K=24 (occupying the entire PRB), a ZC sequence of length 23 can be used. Alternatively, K can be smaller to enable multiplexing between NPRACH and NPUSCH or NPRACH from different UEs in the frequency domain. For example, K can be 12, and a ZC sequence of length 7 can be used, with 3 and 2 tones left blank at each end as protection tones.

[0192] It should be noted that in the case where NPUSCH and NPRACH can be multiplexed in the frequency domain, a certain number of guard tones may be required. In one non-limiting example, 3 tones and 2 tones may be left blank at both ends of the NPRACH band as guard tones, and a ZC sequence of length 19 may be mapped to the center 19 subcarriers of the PRB. In another non-limiting example, more tones are left blank as guard tones. For example, 4 tones and 3 tones may be left blank at both ends, and a ZC sequence of length 17 may be mapped to the center 17 subcarriers of the PRB, or 6 tones and 5 tones may be left blank at both ends of the NPRACH band, and a ZC sequence of length 13 may be mapped to the center 13 subcarriers of the PRB.

[0193] In some embodiments, a scrambling code may be used. The scrambling code may be applied at the symbol level or the symbol group level. The scrambling code may be any binary sequence. For example, a ZC sequence or a Hadamard sequence may be used. For symbol-level scrambling, each element of the scrambling sequence may be mapped to every two symbols to maintain orthogonality of the OFDM symbols in different tones.

[0194] In some embodiments, NPRACH multiplexing may be used. In some embodiments, NPRACH multiplexing in the same time-frequency resources may not necessarily be supported. In some embodiments, orthogonal cover codes may be applied to symbol groups that are transmitted back-to-back for NPRACH multiplexing. For example, in the case of transmitting two symbol groups in consecutive UL subframes, an OCC of length 2 may be used. Alternatively, the OCC may be applied at the symbol level. For example, an OCC of length N may be applied to 2N symbols, where each element of the OCC is applied to every 2 symbols.

[0195] In some embodiments, cyclic shifts and / or different root indices in the frequency domain may be used for NPRACH multiplexing in the case where the NPRACH sequence uses a ZC sequence. In some embodiments, NPRACH may be multiplexed with other NPRACH and / or NPUSCH transmissions in the frequency domain in the case where one NPRACH transmission does not occupy the entire PRB. In the case where NPRACH and NPUSCH use different SC spacings, a certain number of guard tones may be required to multiplex NPRACH and NPUSCH in the frequency domain.

[0196] In some embodiments, NPRACH frequency hopping may be used. In some embodiments, frequency hopping may be similar to LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, but the scope of the implementation is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, frequency hopping may occur between symbol groups. In one example, there may be two levels of frequency hopping. For example, single subcarrier frequency hopping may occur between a first symbol group and a second symbol group, and another frequency hopping may be N subcarrier frequency hopping between a third symbol group and a fourth symbol group. The implementation is not limited to the use of those specific symbol groups. Exemplary values ​​include, but are not limited to, N=1, N=6 (e.g., for an SC spacing of 3.75kHz), N=18 (e.g., for an SC spacing of 1.25kHz), and N=3 (e.g., for an SC spacing of 7.5kHz). In addition, in some examples, M subcarrier frequency hopping may be applied between the second symbol group and the third symbol group, such as M=0, 1, or 6 or other values.

[0197] In some implementations, pseudo-random frequency hopping may be used every X symbol groups (e.g., X=4 or other values). In this example, every 2 symbol groups are transmitted in consecutive UL subframes. Fig.12 In example 1200, symbol groups 1210 and 1211 are transmitted in consecutive UL subframes. In addition, symbol groups 1220 and 1221 are transmitted in consecutive UL subframes. In example 1200, frequency hopping of one hop between 1210 and 1211 is used, and frequency hopping of six subcarriers between 1220 and 1221 is used. The implementation is not limited to those numbers of subcarriers. In example 1200, subcarrier spacings such as 3.75kHz, 15kHz, and / or other spacings may be used, but the scope of the implementation is not limited in this regard. In example 1200, NPRACH does not start at a subframe boundary, but the scope of the implementation is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, NPRACH may start at UpPTS, but the scope of the implementation is not limited in this regard.

[0198] exist Fig.13, an example 1300 of NPRACH multiplexing by frequency hopping is shown. NPRACHs labeled 0-11 are shown for a first symbol group 1310, a second symbol group 1315, a third symbol group 1320, and a fourth symbol group 1325. For example, the first symbol group, the second symbol group, the third symbol group, and the fourth symbol group of NPRACH #0 are 1330, 1331, 1335, and 1336, respectively; the first symbol group, the second symbol group, the third symbol group, and the fourth symbol group of NPRACH #1 are 1340, 1341, 1345, and 1346, respectively. For NPRACH #0, the frequency hopping between the first symbol group and the second symbol group (1330 and 1331) is one subcarrier; the frequency hopping between the second symbol group and the third symbol group (1331 and 1335) is six subcarriers. The implementation is not limited to the number of subcarriers that are frequency hopped (1 and 6 in this example 1300). In example 1300, NPRACH starts at a subframe boundary, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0199] In some embodiments, frequency hopping between the first symbol group 1310 and the second symbol group 1315 may be used for coarse timing estimation, while frequency hopping between the third symbol group 1320 and the fourth symbol group 1325 may be used for finer timing estimation. In addition, if the time difference between the transmissions of the second symbol group 1315 and the third symbol group 1320 is within the channel coherence time, frequency hopping between the second symbol group 1315 and the third symbol group 1320 may also be used for coarse timing estimation. Embodiments are not limited to the use of those specific symbol groups in the above examples.

[0200] In some implementations, frequency hopping may not necessarily be used. For example, in some cases, NPRACH with multi-tone transmission may not necessarily use frequency hopping.

[0201] In some embodiments, multiple NPRACH formats may be supported for LTE Rel-15 TDD feNB-IoT. However, embodiments are not limited to NPRACH based on LTE Rel-15 TDD feNB-IoT design or any other NPRACH design. In addition, the description herein may refer to specific values ​​of one or more parameters (such as subcarrier spacing and / or other parameters). However, embodiments are not limited to those values. One or more of the techniques, operations, and / or methods described herein may be applicable to situations where different values ​​are used.

[0202] In some embodiments, the NPRACH configuration may be indicated by high-layer signaling, including resources, repetition times, and / or NPRACH formats for NPRACH transmission. In a non-limiting example, cell-specific signaling such as SIB1-NB or SIB2-NB may be used. In one example, multiple NPRACH formats may be enabled in the same cell. The time domain and / or frequency domain resources for each NPRACH format may be dedicated.

[0203] In some embodiments, the supported NPRACH formats may depend on the TDD configuration. A mapping from the configured TDD configuration to the supported NPRACH formats may be defined, and in this case, the NPRACH format configuration may be implicitly indicated by indicating the TDD configuration. In some embodiments, the periodicity in the configuration may be an absolute time, or alternatively may take into account valid UL subframes. It may be configured by the eNB to ensure that the periodicity is large enough to avoid collisions between the two sets of NPRACH resources.

[0204] In some embodiments, UL gaps may not necessarily be introduced during the transmission of a set of NPRACH repetitions. In some embodiments, the number of NPRACH repetitions supported may be increased. In some cases, this may compensate for possible coverage loss due to non-continuous transmission of NPRACH. For example, the number of repetitions may be any subset from {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512}, which may still be defined in units of NPRACH symbol groups or NPRACH preambles.

[0205] In some embodiments, when NPRACH resources and NPUSCH collide, NPUSCH may be postponed to the next available UL subframe without NPRACH resources.

[0206] In some embodiments, NPRACH may be used for TDD feNB-IoT. In some embodiments, NPRACH may have a subcarrier spacing of 1.25kHz, 3.75kHz, or 7.5kHz. In some embodiments, NPRACH may be a single-tone transmission or a multi-tone transmission. In some embodiments, NPRACH symbol groups may be defined similarly to Rel-13 NB-IoT, or may be defined with different numbers of NPRACH symbols and CP lengths (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 NPRACH symbols and / or other). In some embodiments, NPRACH transmission may be performed on each UL subframe with X symbol groups, where X may be any integer such as 2, and a certain guard time after the X symbol groups. In some embodiments, NPRACH transmission may be performed on at least two UL subframes that are consecutive in time with X symbol groups, where X is any integer such as 2, and a certain guard time after the X symbol groups. In some embodiments, NPRACH may start at a subframe boundary. In some embodiments, NPRACH may start from UpPTS. In some embodiments, the NPRACH resources may be indicated by high-level signaling, such as SIB2-NB and / or other signaling. In some embodiments, for NPRACH in a TDD system, the number of supported repetitions may be increased. In some embodiments, if NPUSCH conflicts with NPRACH, NPUSCH may be postponed to the next available valid UL subframe without NPRACH. In some embodiments, different NPRACH formats may be configured according to different numbers of NPRACH symbols per symbol group, or different numbers of repetitions of NPRACH symbol groups (e.g., 2 or 4 or 6 symbol groups and / or other) may be configured to suit the case of having multiple consecutive UL subframes. In some embodiments, different NPRACH formats may be configured for NB-IoT cells, and time domain and / or frequency domain resources may be dedicated to each NPRACH format. In some embodiments, the supported NPRACH formats of NB-IoT cells may depend on the TDD configuration. In some embodiments, the supported NPRACH formats may be implicitly indicated by the configured TDD configuration. For example, a mapping from a configured TDD configuration to a supported NPRACH format may be defined.

[0207] In some embodiments, some protocols (such as LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, Rel-14 eNB-IoT and / or other protocols) may support FDD but not TDD. In some embodiments, some protocols (such as LTE Rel-15 feNB-IoT WI) may support TDD and / or FDD.

[0208] In some embodiments, TDD may be supported according to one or more of the following: in-band, guard band, and standalone operation modes of NB-IoT. In some cases, it may be assumed that the UE does not require an UL compensation gap, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0209] In some embodiments, in some protocols (including but not limited to LTE Rel-13 NB-IoT, LTE Rel-14 eNB-IoT and / or other protocols), multiple NB-IoT carriers are supported. The NB-IoT carrier with NPSS / NSSS / NPBCH is defined as the anchor carrier. The configuration of the non-anchor carrier is indicated by SIB1-NB. For systems with multiple NB-IoT carriers, enabling frequency hopping (FH) across NB-IoT carriers can provide frequency diversity gain and help improve performance.

[0210] In some embodiments, the FH mechanism can be used for TDD feNB-IoT cells configured with multiple NB-IoT carriers. In some cases, the use of FH can provide performance improvements.

[0211] In some embodiments, support for FH may be indicated to the eNB 104 via signaling from the UE 102, including but not limited to capability signaling. Prior to receiving such information, the eNB 104 will not configure the NB-IoT UE 102 with FH.

[0212] In some embodiments, the FH may be semi-statically configured via high-layer signaling. In a non-limiting example, the FH configuration may be cell-specific. In another non-limiting example, the use of the FH may be UE-specific, and at least a portion of the FH configuration parameters may be cell-specific (such as FH interval and / or other). In another non-limiting example, the FH configuration may be UE-specific, where the use of the FH for different physical channels and configuration parameters may be UE-specific.

[0213] It should be noted that the configuration mechanism of FH parameters for different channels may be different. For example, the configuration of FH parameters for SIB1-NB or other narrowband system information (NB-SI) messages may be cell-specific, while the FH parameters for unicast NPDSCH / NPUSCH (except for transmission during the random access procedure) may be UE-specific. In some examples, NPUSCH format 2 of message 4 may be cell-specific.

[0214] In some embodiments, for unicast NPDSCH / NPUSCH, if higher layers allow the use of FH, the DCI may include one or more bits (such as a 1-bit flag and / or other flags) to indicate whether the scheduled NPDSCH / NPUSCH uses FH.

[0215] It should be noted that the FH mechanism for SIB1-NB may be applicable to implementations in which SIB1-NB may be transmitted on a non-anchor carrier, but the scope of the implementations is not limited in this respect.

[0216] In some embodiments, when FH is configured, the same NB-IoT carrier is maintained for a specific number of subframes, represented by YCH. In other words, each YCH subframe switches the NB-IoT carrier, which is called a "FH interval". The FH interval YCH may be predefined or may be configured as part of the FH configuration via high-layer signaling. For example, for TDD feNB-IoT, YCH may be {1,5,10,20} or {5,10,20,40}. The above mechanism may be similar to the FH mechanism used in the LTE protocol (including but not limited to Rel-13eMTC), but the scope of the implementation scheme is not limited in this respect.

[0217] In some embodiments, multiple sets may be supported for the FH interval, where which set to use may depend on factors such as coverage and / or one or more other factors. For example, for deep coverage, a set with a larger YCH value may be used, otherwise a set with a smaller YCH value may be used. In a non-limiting example, the coverage may be determined by the coverage of the NPRACH. For example, for CE levels 1 and 2, a set with a larger YCH value, and for CE level 0, a set with a smaller YCH value. In another non-limiting example, the coverage may be determined by the maximum number of repetitions (referred to as Rmax, but not limited to this). For example, for Rmax>X, a set with a larger YCH value, and for Rmax<=X, a set with a smaller YCH value, where X can be any integer (including but not limited to 32).

[0218] In some embodiments, the FH interval takes into account subframes with actual transmissions (i.e., valid DL subframes carrying NPDCCH / NPDSCH or valid UL subframes carrying NPUSCH transmissions). Alternatively, the FH interval depends on the absolute number of subframes.

[0219] In some embodiments, in a TDD feNB-IoT cell, the FH offset granularity may be 1 NB-IoT carrier (ie, 1 PRB). Based on K NB-IoT carriers, where K is a positive integer, the FH offset may be configured through high-layer signaling.

[0220] In some embodiments, the configured NB-IoT carriers are indexed in the order 0, 1, ..., N_NB-1, where N_NB represents the total number of configured NB-IoT carriers. The frequency-hopped NB-IoT carrier can be given by NB1=(NB0+FH_offset) modulo N_NB, where NB1 is the index of the frequency-hopped NB-IoT carrier and NB0 is the previous NB-IoT carrier.

[0221] In some embodiments, a set of NB-IoT carriers to which the UE is to hop may be configured by the eNB 104 and may be indexed in sequence. When FH is enabled, the UE 102 may hop to the NB-IoT carrier according to the FH sequence. The FH sequence may be predefined or may be configured by higher layer signaling (cell-specific or UE-specific signaling). A mapping may also be defined to generate an FH sequence based on the PCID. In a non-limiting example, the sequence may be {(PCID modulo N_NB), (PCID+floor(N_NB / 2))modulo N_NB} or {(PCID modulo N_NB), (PCID+floor(N_NB / 4))modulo N_NB, (PCID+floor(N_NB / 2))modulo N_NB, (PCID+floor(N_NB*3 / 4))modulo N_NB}, where N_NB is the number of NB-IoT carriers to hop to. In a non-limiting example, a FH sequence of {0, 1, ..., N_NB-1} may be used. In another non-limiting example, N_NB=2 and the FH sequence is {0, 1}. Thus, FH occurs between two NB-IoT carriers.

[0222] In some embodiments, different physical channels may use different FH mechanisms. In one non-limiting example, NPUSCH format 2 and SIB1-NB may use FH between K configured NB-IoT carriers (i.e., cycling through a sequence of K carriers), where K may be any integer, such as K=2 or 4. The value of K may also depend on the total number of configured NB-IoT carriers N_NB. For example, for N_NB<=X, K=2, for N_NB>X, K=4, where X may be an integer, such as 3, 4, or 6. In another non-limiting example, unicast NPDSCH and NPUSCH format 1 may use a technique in which the NB-IoT carrier to which UE 102 is to jump may be calculated by (NB0+FH_offset) moduloN_NB.

[0223] In some embodiments, the FH for SIB1-NB may be configured by MIB-NB. For example, a spare bit in MIB-NB may indicate whether FH for SIB1-NB is supported, and / or configure some FH parameters for SIB1-NB FH, such as FH interval, FH offset (if the FH mechanism is based on FH offset), and / or NB-IoT carrier to jump to (e.g., if the FH mechanism causes FH to occur between K NB-IoT carriers).

[0224] In some embodiments, the FH for paging NPDCCH / NPDSCH and system information other than SIB1-NB may be configured by cell-specific high-layer signaling. In a non-limiting example, SIB1-NB may be used.

[0225] In some embodiments, the FH for RAR / Msg3 / Msg4 and NPUSCH format 2 may also be configured by cell-specific high-layer signaling. In a non-limiting example, SIB1-NB may be used. In another non-limiting example, other system information (such as SIB2-NB and / or other information) may be used.

[0226] In some embodiments, for in-band mode, for the frequency retuning mechanism, the operation of retuning to another NB-IoT carrier for DL ​​transmission uses the traditional PDCCH region as a guard period. For UE 102 that requires a two symbol retuning duration, one or more of the following methods may be considered for retuning to another NB-IoT for NPUSCH transmission. In some embodiments, retuning from NPUSCH format 1 to NPUSCH format 1, or retuning from NPUSCH format 2 to NPUSCH format 2, uses the last symbol of the previous subframe and the first symbol of the next subframe as the guard period.

[0227] In some embodiments, to re-tune between NPUSCH format 1 and format 2, one or more of the following methods may be used. In some embodiments, re-tuning from NPUSCH format 2 to NPUSCH format 1 uses the first two symbols of the following subframe as a protection period. Re-tuning from NPUSCH format 1 to NPUSCH format 2 uses the last two symbols of the previous subframe as a protection period. In some embodiments, re-tuning from NPUSCH format 2 to NPUSCH format 1, and re-tuning from NPUSCH format 1 to NPUSCH format 2, uses the last symbol of the previous subframe and the first symbol of the following subframe as a protection period. This is possible because NPUCCH is multiplexed via FDM in NB-IoT instead of CDM as in eMTC via OCC. Therefore, in some cases, no additional protection is required for NPUCCH format 2 compared to NPUSCH format 1 in NB-IoT. In some embodiments, for re-tuning from NPRACH to NPRACH across NB-IoT carriers, the re-tuning gap may depend on the UE 102 implementation.

[0228] In some embodiments, if there are some NB-IoT UEs 102 that support retuning gaps within 1 symbol (this may be indicated by UE capability signaling and / or other signaling), the following retuning gaps may be considered. Retuning from NPUSCH format 1 to NPUSCH format 1 uses the last symbol of the previous subframe as the guard period. Retuning from NPUSCH format 2 to NPUSCH format 2 uses the last symbol of the previous subframe as the guard period. Retuning from NPUSCH format 1 to NPUSCH format 2 uses the last symbol of the previous subframe as the guard period. Retuning from NPUSCH format 2 to NPUSCH format 1 uses the first symbol of the next subframe as the guard period.

[0229] In some embodiments, for guard band / standalone mode, retuning to another NB-IoT carrier for UL transmission may follow the above embodiments. To retune to another NB-IoT carrier for DL ​​transmission, the retuning gap for NPBCH transmission may still follow the in-band mode, where the first few symbols corresponding to the LTE control region may be used. For other NPDCCH / NPDSCH transmissions, one or more of the following embodiments may be considered (but other embodiments are also possible). For UE102 that requires a two-symbol retuning duration: a) in some embodiments, retune from NPDSCH to NPDSCH, or retune from NPDCCH to NPDCCH using the last symbol of the previous subframe and the first symbol of the next subframe as the protection period, b) in some embodiments, retune from NPDSCH to NPDSCH, or retune from NPDCCH to NPDCCH using the last two symbols of the previous subframe as the protection period, c) retune from NPDSCH to NPDSCH, or retune from NPDCCH to NPDCCH, using the first two symbols of the next subframe as the protection period.

[0230] In some embodiments, if there are some NB-IoT UEs 102 that support a retuning gap within 1 symbol (which may be indicated by UE capability signaling and / or other signaling), one or more of the following may be used (but other embodiments are also possible). In some embodiments, retune from NPDSCH to NPDSCH, or retune from NPDCCH to NPDCCH, using the last symbol of the previous subframe as the protection period. In some embodiments, retune from NPDSCH to NPDSCH, or retune from NPDCCH to NPDCCH, using the first symbol of the next subframe as the protection period. In some of the above embodiments, the affected NPUSCH / NPDCCH / NPDSCH symbols may be punctured.

[0231] In some embodiments, for NPDCCH and NPDSCH in a guard band or in a standalone operation mode, a retuning period is generated at a UE 102 receiver based on receiver-side puncturing. That is, the eNB 104 transmits all symbols in a subframe of the NPDCCH or NPDSCH, and different UEs 102 receive symbols according to their corresponding retuning times via the UE 102 by discarding those symbols or their corresponding soft bit information. For example, a log likelihood ratio (LLR) affected by the retuning may be used.

[0232] In some embodiments, frequency hopping for TDD may be supported in feNB-IoT. In some embodiments, frequency hopping may be supported for different physical channels, such as NPDCCH, NPDSCH, NPUSCH, NPRACH, and / or other channels. In some embodiments, the support of frequency hopping may be indicated by the UE capability. In some embodiments, the frequency hopping configuration may be cell-specific and / or UE-specific, and the configuration may be different for different channels. In some embodiments, the frequency interval may be predefined or configured by high-layer signaling, which may consider subframes or absolute subframes with actual transmissions. In some embodiments, the frequency hopping mechanism may be extended from the eMTC frequency hopping scheme by changing the 6-PRB narrowband to a 1-PRB NB-IoT carrier, or based on a frequency hopping sequence. In some embodiments, the frequency hopping of some common channels may be indicated by MIB-NB or SIB-NB. In some embodiments, the frequency retuning gap may follow the eMTC design, or be symmetric between NPUSCH format 1 and format 2 retuning. In some embodiments, new frequency retuning rules for DL ​​transmissions that are different from in-band mode may be defined for guard band and standalone operation modes. In some embodiments, the eNB 104 / gNB 105 may transmit all symbols for DL ​​transmissions, and it is up to the UE to puncture some symbols to re-tune the guard period.

[0233] In embodiment 1, the device of user equipment (UE) may include a memory. The device may also include a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be configured to decode a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) that schedules the transmission of a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) performed by the UE in one or more radio frames. The radio frame may be configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. The subframes of the radio frame may include uplink subframes and downlink subframes. The processing circuit may also be configured to determine an uplink scheduling delay for the transmission of the NPUSCH based on the sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes. The second number of subframes may be based on a window of variable size. The window may start when a first number of subframes have passed since the NPDCCH was received. The window may end when a certain number of uplink subframes have passed since the start of the window. The certain number of uplink subframes may be indicated by an uplink scheduling parameter included in the NPDCCH. The memory may be configured to store information identifying the uplink scheduling parameter.

[0234] In embodiment 2, according to the subject matter described in embodiment 1, the window may include the certain number of uplink subframes indicated by the uplink scheduling parameters, and a variable number of downlink subframes depending on the starting subframe index of the window within one or more radio frames.

[0235] In embodiment 3, the subject matter according to one or any combination of embodiments 1-2, wherein the size of the window may be based on a count of valid uplink subframes.

[0236] In embodiment 4, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-3, the processing circuit can be further configured to encode the NPUSCH for transmission according to the following items: single-tone transmission in one subcarrier in each symbol period, or multi-tone transmission in 3, 6 or 12 subcarriers in each symbol period.

[0237] In embodiment 5, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-4, the processing circuit can be further configured to determine a transmission window for transmitting NPUSCH. The processing circuit can be further configured to, if the transmission window includes one or more downlink subframes: avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs during the downlink subframes of the transmission.

[0238] In embodiment 6, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-5, the processing circuit can be further configured to determine a transmission window for transmitting NPUSCH. The processing circuit can be further configured to, if the transmission window includes one or more downlink subframes, and if the NPUSCH is a type 2 NPUSCH for transmitting hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback: avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs during the downlink subframes of the transmission window.

[0239] In embodiment 7, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-6, the processing circuit can be further configured to avoid monitoring other NPDCCHs before the transmission end time of NPUSCH.

[0240] In embodiment 8, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-7, the processing circuit may be further configured to decode a system information block type 1 narrowband (SIB1-NB) indicating a subframe configuration of one or more radio frames. The subframe configuration may include one or more downlink subframes, one or more uplink subframes, and one or more special subframes. Each special subframe may occur immediately after one of the downlink subframes and immediately before one of the uplink subframes. The subframe configuration may be included in the candidate subframe configuration. The processing circuit may be further configured to encode the NPUSCH for transmission according to a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kilohertz (kHz) or 15kHz. If the NPUSCH is encoded according to a subcarrier spacing of 3.75 kHz, the candidate subframe configuration may be limited to: a first candidate subframe configuration, comprising: a downlink subframe, followed by a special subframe, followed by two uplink subframes, followed by other two downlink subframes, followed by another special subframe, followed by other two uplink subframes, followed by another downlink subframe; and a second candidate subframe configuration, comprising: a downlink subframe, followed by a special subframe, followed by two uplink subframes, followed by six other downlink subframes.

[0241] In embodiment 9, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-8, wherein if NPUSCH is encoded according to a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz: the candidate subframe configuration may include a first candidate subframe configuration and a second candidate subframe configuration and at least one other candidate subframe configuration.

[0242] In embodiment 10, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-9, the processing circuit can be further configured to encode NPUSCH based on a maximum transport block size of 1000 bits or 2536 bits.

[0243] In embodiment 11, according to the subject matter of one or any combination of embodiments 1-10, the UE can be arranged to operate according to a further enhanced narrowband Internet of Things (feNB-IoT) protocol.

[0244] In embodiment 12, the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-11, wherein the device may also include a transceiver for receiving NPDCCH.

[0245] In embodiment 13, the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 1-12, wherein the processing circuit may include a baseband processor for decoding the NPDCCH.

[0246] In embodiment 14, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions executed by one or more processors to perform operations for communicating by a user equipment (UE). These operations may configure one or more processors to decode a system information block type 1 narrowband (SIB1-NB), which indicates a subframe configuration of a radio frame configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. The subframe configuration may include one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes. These operations may further configure one or more processors to encode a narrowband physical downlink random access channel (NPRACH) preamble for transmission. The NPRACH preamble may be mapped to multiple symbol groups. Each symbol group may include consecutive symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion. The number of symbol periods for each symbol group may depend at least in part on the number of consecutive uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

[0247] In embodiment 15, the subject matter according to embodiment 14, wherein the symbol groups may be temporally consecutive in an uplink subframe.

[0248] In Example 16, the subject matter described in one or any combination of Examples 14-15, wherein the number of symbols in each symbol group may be one of the following: one, two, three, and four.

[0249] In embodiment 17, the subject matter according to one or any combination of embodiments 14-16, wherein the operations may further configure the one or more processors to select an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based at least in part on the subframe configuration indicated in SIB1-NB. Each NPRACH format may include a number of symbol groups for each NPRACH preamble and also include a number of symbol periods for each symbol group.

[0250] In embodiment 18, the subject matter as described in one or any combination of embodiments 14-17, wherein the operations can further configure the one or more processors to encode the NPRACH preamble for transmission based on frequency hopping between symbol groups.

[0251] In embodiment 19, the subject matter of one or any combination of embodiments 14-18, wherein the operations may further configure the one or more processors to encode the NPRACH preamble in the first symbol group, the second symbol group, the third symbol group, and the fourth symbol group. The operations may further configure the one or more processors to encode the NPRACH preamble according to frequency hopping by: a first frequency spacing between the first symbol group and the second symbol group; and a second frequency spacing between the third symbol group and the fourth symbol group.

[0252] In embodiment 20, the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 14-19, wherein the first frequency interval may be one subcarrier and the second frequency interval may be six subcarriers.

[0253] In embodiment 21, the apparatus of the next generation Node-B (gNB) may include a memory. The apparatus may also include a processing circuit. The processing circuit may be configured to encode a narrowband physical downlink control channel (NPDCCH) for transmission, the NPDCCH indicating the number of uplink subframes for uplink scheduling delay of transmission of a narrowband physical uplink shared channel (NPUSCH) performed by a user equipment (UE) in a radio frame. The radio frame may be configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. The subframes of the radio frame may include uplink subframes and downlink subframes. The processing circuit may be further configured to determine the uplink scheduling delay for the NPUSCH based on the earliest subframe after the following items: a predetermined number of subframes have passed relative to the subframe of the NPDCCH, and a window of subframes that have passed after the predetermined number of subframes. The number of uplink subframes in the window may be equal to the number of uplink subframes indicated by the NPDCCH. The memory may be configured to store at least a portion of the NPDCCH.

[0254] In embodiment 22, according to the subject matter of embodiment 21, the number of uplink subframes indicated in the NPDCCH may be based on a count of valid uplink subframes.

[0255] In embodiment 23, the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 21-22, wherein the processing circuit can be further configured to monitor NPUSCH in one or more uplink subframes based on the uplink scheduling delay.

[0256] In embodiment 24, according to one or any combination of embodiments 21-23, the processing circuit may be further configured to encode a system information block type 1 narrowband (SIB1-NB) indicating a subframe configuration of a radio frame for transmission. The subframe configuration may include one or more downlink subframes, one or more uplink subframes, and one or more special subframes.

[0257] In embodiment 25, a device of a user equipment (UE) may include a component for decoding a system information block type 1 narrowband (SIB1-NB), which indicates a subframe configuration of a radio frame configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation. The subframe configuration may include one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes. The device may further include a component for encoding a narrowband physical downlink random access channel (NPRACH) preamble for transmission. The NPRACH preamble may be mapped to multiple symbol groups. Each symbol group may include consecutive symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) portion. The number of symbol periods for each symbol group may depend at least in part on the number of consecutive uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

[0258] In embodiment 26, the subject matter of embodiment 25 is described in which the symbol groups can be temporally consecutive in an uplink subframe.

[0259] In Example 27, the subject matter described in one or any combination of Examples 25-26, wherein the number of symbols in each symbol group may be one of the following: one, two, three, and four.

[0260] In embodiment 28, the subject matter according to one or any combination of embodiments 25-27, wherein the apparatus may further include means for selecting an NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based at least in part on the subframe configuration indicated in SIB1-NB. Each NPRACH format may include a number of symbol groups for each NPRACH preamble, and may also include a number of symbol periods for each symbol group.

[0261] In embodiment 29, the subject matter according to one or any combination of embodiments 25-28, wherein the apparatus may further include means for encoding the NPRACH preamble for transmission based on frequency hopping between symbol groups.

[0262] In embodiment 30, the subject matter of one or any combination of embodiments 25-29, wherein the apparatus may further include means for encoding the NPRACH preamble in the first symbol group, the second symbol group, the third symbol group, and the fourth symbol group. The apparatus may further include means for encoding the NPRACH preamble according to frequency hopping by: a first frequency spacing between the first symbol group and the second symbol group; and a second frequency spacing between the third symbol group and the fourth symbol group.

[0263] In embodiment 31, according to the subject matter described in one or any combination of embodiments 25-30, the first frequency interval may be one subcarrier. The second frequency interval may be six subcarriers.

[0264] This Abstract is provided to comply with the requirement of 37 CFR Section 1.72(b), which requires an abstract of the specification that allows the reader to ascertain the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. This Abstract is provided with the understanding that the technical disclosure will not be used to limit or interpret the scope or meaning of the claims. The following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims

1. A method for communicating via a user equipment UE, the method comprising: Decoding, by the UE, a system information block type 1 narrowband SIB1-NB, the SIB1-NB indicating a subframe configuration of a radio frame configured for a time division duplex TDD operation; as well as By the UE, a narrowband physical random access channel (NPRACH) preamble is encoded for transmission based on the subframe configuration, wherein the NPRACH preamble is mapped to a plurality of symbol groups, wherein each symbol group includes consecutive symbol periods and a cyclic prefix (CP) part, and wherein the number of symbol periods of each symbol group depends at least in part on the number of consecutive uplink subframes in the subframe configuration.

2. The method according to claim 1, in, The subframe configuration includes one or more downlink subframes and one or more uplink subframes.

3. The method according to claim 2, in, The plurality of symbol groups are contiguous in time in the one or more uplink subframes.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, in, The number of symbols in each symbol group is one of: One symbol per symbol group; Two symbols per symbol group; Three symbols per symbol group; or Four symbols per symbol group.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: Selecting, by the UE, a NPRACH format from candidate NPRACH formats based at least in part on the subframe configuration indicated in the SIB1-NB.

6. The method according to claim 5, in, Each NPRACH format includes the number of symbol groups per NPRACH preamble and the number of symbol periods per symbol group.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: By the UE, the NPRACH preamble for transmission is encoded according to frequency hopping between symbol groups.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: The NPRACH preamble is encoded, by the UE, in a first symbol group, a second symbol group, a third symbol group, and a fourth symbol group.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: The NPRACH preamble is encoded, by the UE, through a first frequency interval between the first symbol group and the second symbol group and a second frequency interval between the third symbol group and the fourth symbol group according to frequency hopping.

10. The method according to claim 9, in, The first frequency interval is one subcarrier.

11. The method according to claim 9, in, The second frequency interval is six subcarriers.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: Decoding, by the UE, a narrowband physical downlink control channel NPDCCH, the NPDCCH scheduling transmission of a narrowband physical uplink shared channel NPUSCH by the UE in one or more radio frames; By the UE, an uplink scheduling delay for transmission of the NPUSCH is determined based on a sum of a predetermined first number of subframes and a variable second number of subframes.

13. The method according to claim 12, in, The one or more radio frames are configured for time division duplex (TDD) operation, and wherein subframes of the one or more radio frames include uplink subframes and downlink subframes.

14. The method according to claim 12, in, The second number of subframes is based on a variable-sized window, wherein the window starts when the first number of subframes has passed since the NPDCCH was received, and wherein the window ends when the number of uplink subframes has passed since the start of the window.

15. The method of claim 14, in, The number of uplink subframes is indicated by the uplink scheduling parameters included in the NPDCCH.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising: A transmission window for transmission of the NPUSCH is determined by the UE.

17. The method of claim 16, in, When the transmission window includes one or more downlink subframes, the method also includes: avoiding, by the UE, monitoring other NPDCCHs during the one or more downlink subframes of the transmission window.

18. A user equipment UE, comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio in communication with the at least one antenna; as well as At least one processor in communication with the at least one radio and configured to cause the UE to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions can be executed by one or more processors to enable a user equipment (UE) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 17.

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