Enhanced channel access mechanism in shared radio wireless communications

Abstract

A next generation evolved Node B (gNB) configured to provide an unlicensed bandwidth for communication with a user equipment (UE), the gNB performing a listen-before-talk procedure to determine an occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth as busy or idle. When the occupancy state is determined by the gNB to be idle, the gNB signals the UE via a downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, the measurement comprising at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement. A measurement report is received from the UE, the measurement report comprising an indication of the occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE.

Description

Background Art

[0001] A user equipment (UE) may be configured with a variety of different capabilities. For example, the UE may be able to establish a connection with a network. In one example, the UE may be connected to a 5G New Radio (NR) network. When connected to a 5G NR network, the UE may utilize capabilities associated with the network. In the 5G-NR standard, NR-U involves the management of unlicensed spectrum. Similar to Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) in the LTE standard, NR-U provides modifications to the carrier aggregation (CA) functionality that allow unlicensed bandwidth to be used for secondary component carriers (SCCs). NR-U may also be utilized in a standalone configuration, where a single cell provides unlicensed bandwidth for data transmission.

[0002] The network cells may self-organize to use the unlicensed bandwidth, for example, if it is determined that the bandwidth is available, the resources may be used. However, the self-organization of the use of unlicensed bandwidth by various network cells in a multi-cell NR-U configuration may cause problems when an unlicensed band is determined by a first cell to be available for use by a first UE, but the first UE senses that the channel is busy because a second cell within the range of the UE is transmitting on the unlicensed band to at least a second UE. Summary of the invention

[0003] In some exemplary embodiments, a computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor of a next generation Node B (gNB) configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with a user equipment (UE), causes the processor to perform operations. The operations include: executing a listen-before-talk procedure to determine whether an occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth is busy or idle. The operations also include: when the occupancy state is determined by the gNB to be idle, signaling the UE via a downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, the measurement including at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement. The operations also include: receiving a measurement report from the UE, the measurement report including an indication of the occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE.

[0004] In a further exemplary embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE) communicating with a next generation evolved Node B (gNB), the processor being configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with the UE, causes the processor to perform operations including: receiving a signal from the gNB by a downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, the measurement including at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement. The operations also include: performing measurements on the unlicensed bandwidth; and transmitting a measurement report to the gNB, the measurement report including an indication of an occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE.

[0005] In a further exemplary embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions that, when executed by a processor of a next generation Node B (gNB) configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with a user equipment (UE), cause the processor to perform operations. The operations include: signaling the UE via a first downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, the measurement including at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement. The operations also include: based on the measurement of the unlicensed bandwidth signaled by the first DCI, receiving a measurement report from the UE, the measurement report including an indication of whether the occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth is idle or busy as determined by the UE. The operations also include: when the measurement report indicates that the occupancy state is idle, signaling the UE via a second DCI to transmit on the PUSCH.

[0006] In a further exemplary embodiment, a computer-readable storage medium includes a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising: at a user equipment (UE) communicating with a next generation evolved Node B (gNB) configured to provide an unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with the user equipment (UE), receiving a first signal from the gNB via a first downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, the measurement comprising at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement. The operations also include: performing measurements on the unlicensed bandwidth; transmitting a measurement report to the gNB, the measurement report comprising an indication of an occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE; and receiving a second signal from the gNB via a second DCI for transmission on a PUSCH. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 Exemplary network arrangements are shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0008] Figure 2 An exemplary UE according to various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 3 Exemplary network cells are shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0010] Figure 4 A network arrangement is shown in which the UE is within the sensing range of two respective network cells, and the two network cells are not within the sensing range of each other.

[0011] Figure 5 A signaling diagram of a UE and network cells for determining the channel status of one or more unlicensed channels is shown.

[0012] Figure 6 Methods for determining channel status of one or more unlicensed channels according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown.

[0013] Figure 7 Shown according to Figure 6 A first embodiment of the method includes a signaling diagram of CSI-IM resources for performing CAM operations.

[0014] Figure 8 Shown according to Figure 6 A second embodiment of the method includes a signaling diagram for puncturing DL resources for performing a CAM operation.

[0015] Fig. 9 A signaling diagram of a UE and network cells for determining the channel state of unlicensed resources and scheduling PUSCH resources using a two-stage uplink (UL) grant is shown.

[0016] Fig.10 A method for determining a channel state of unlicensed resources and scheduling PUSCH resources using a two-stage uplink (UL) grant according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and associated drawings, in which similar elements have the same figure numbers. The exemplary embodiments describe mechanisms for managing unlicensed bands for NR-U functions in 5G New Air (NR) networks. Although the exemplary embodiments will be described with reference to the 5GNR network, those skilled in the art will appreciate that these exemplary embodiments may be modified and / or may be used with any network that supports functions that utilize bandwidths outside of designated or licensed spectrum. For example, conventional networks such as LTE support CA functions, in which SCCs may be established for unlicensed bands, and certain exemplary embodiments of the exemplary embodiments may be used with such networks, for example when a licensed assisted access (LAA) function is configured. In addition, NR-U may be used as a standalone function for connecting to unlicensed bandwidth, independent of any CA function. Therefore, the exemplary embodiments described below may also be used in CA configurations or in the absence of CA configurations.

[0018] The CA functionality includes a primary component carrier (PCC) and at least one secondary component carrier (SCC), the PCC and the at least one SCC corresponding to the same radio access technology (RAT) for facilitating communication with the network. In addition, in 5G NR, EUTRA NR dual connectivity (ENDC) may be enabled, wherein connections are established with both the 5G NR RAT and the LTE RAT, and an exemplary implementation may be used when ENDC is enabled. The PCC may be used in part for control information, such as scheduling requests, uplink grants, downlink grants, and the like. The CA functionality enables the PCC and at least one SCC to combine bandwidth to exchange data with the UE. Thus, using CA, the PCC may provide a first portion of the total bandwidth for the data to be exchanged, and the SCC may provide a second portion of the total bandwidth. The combination of the PCC and a single SCC may be characterized as a CC combination including two carriers. In order to further increase the total available bandwidth for data to be exchanged with the UE, additional SCCs may be incorporated. For example, for CA for LTE, there may be CC combinations including, but not limited to, two carriers, four carriers, five carriers, eight carriers, ten carriers, thirty-two carriers, and the like. For CA for 5G NR, there may be CC combinations including but not limited to two carriers, five carriers, ten carriers, twelve carriers, sixteen carriers, twenty carriers, twenty-five carriers, thirty-two carriers, sixty-four carriers, etc.

[0019] In NR-U, various unlicensed bands can be deployed for network connections. NR-U can use multiple different bands, including 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 6GHz and 60GHz unlicensed bands and 3.5GHz and 37GHz shared access bands. Specifically, the 60Hz unlicensed band may be an attractive option for NR-U because it is not currently very crowded and can provide a large amount of continuous bandwidth. NR-U can be deployed in carrier aggregation, dual connection and independent operation. As described above, exemplary embodiments can be described with respect to carrier aggregation and dual connection situations, in which a single UE has simultaneous connections to multiple cells, however, these exemplary embodiments are also applicable to independent NR-U operations.

[0020] Figure 4A network arrangement is shown in which a UE is within the sensing range of two respective network cells, and the two network cells are not within the sensing range of each other. As shown, a first cell (e.g., gNB1) and a second cell (e.g., gNB2) are close enough to provide respective services to a single UE (e.g., UE1), but because the two cells are each located far enough outside the sensing range of the other cell, they cannot sense each other. In this scenario, complications may occur when gNB1 senses a given unlicensed channel as idle but UE1 senses the channel as busy because gNB2, which is also within its range, is providing services to one or more other UEs (e.g., UE2) on the same unlicensed channel that is sensed as idle by gNB1.

[0021] Before transmitting a UL grant to UE1 on a given channel, gNB1 senses that the channel is idle (e.g., available) by using a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (e.g., an LBT category 4 procedure). However, unknown to gNB1, gNB2 is using the channel for a connection with UE2 that is out of range of gNB1. After receiving the UL grant from gNB1, UE1 may sense that the channel is busy by using an LBT procedure (e.g., 25μs one-time LBT) and sense a connection between gNB2 and UE2. Therefore, UE1 does not perform an UL transmission to gNB1 and the scheduled UL resources are wasted, which may degrade UL performance and result in inefficient spectrum utilization.

[0022] An exemplary embodiment relates to a network cell that triggers a UE to perform measurements on a set of unlicensed resources and reports the measurement results to a gNB to assist the UE in subsequent PUSCH scheduling. The network may additionally trigger a set of UEs to perform corresponding measurements on different unlicensed resources.

[0023] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a plurality of UEs 110, 112. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a UE may be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, such as a component of a connected car, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a smart phone, a tablet phone, an embedded device, a wearable device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. It should also be appreciated that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Therefore, an example with two UEs 110, 112 is provided for illustrative purposes only. In some exemplary embodiments described below, a UE group may be employed to perform corresponding channel measurements.

[0024] UE 110, 112 can communicate directly with one or more networks. In the example of network configuration 100, the networks with which UE 110, 112 can wirelessly communicate are 5G NR radio access network (5G NR-RAN) 120, LTE radio access network (LTE-RAN) 122, and wireless local area network (WLAN) 124. Therefore, UE 110, 112 may include a 5G NR chipset that communicates with 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE chipset that communicates with LTE-RAN 122, and an ISM chipset that communicates with WLAN 124. However, UE 110, 112 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., traditional cellular networks), and UE 110 may also communicate with the network via a wired connection. Referring to the exemplary embodiment, UE 110, 112 may establish a connection with 5G NR-RAN 122 and / or LTE-RAN 120.

[0025] 5G NR-RAN 120 and LTE-RAN 122 may be part of cellular networks that may be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks 120, 122 may include, for example, cells or base stations (NodeB, eNodeB, HeNB, eNBS, gNB, gNodeB, macrocell base stations, microcell base stations, small cell base stations, femtocell base stations, etc.) configured to send and receive traffic from UEs equipped with appropriate cellular chipsets. WLAN 124 may include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, hotspot, IEEE 802.11x network, etc.).

[0026] UE 110, 112 may be connected to 5G NR-RAN via at least one of the next generation Node B (gNB) 120A and / or gNB 120B. gNB 120A, 120B may be configured with necessary hardware (e.g., antenna array), software and / or firmware to perform massive multiple input multiple output (MIMO) functions. Massive MIMO may refer to a base station configured to generate multiple beams for multiple UEs. Reference to two gNBs 120A, 120B is for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments may be applied to any appropriate number of gNBs. Specifically, UE 110, 112 may be simultaneously connected to multiple gNBs 120A, 120B in a multi-cell CA configuration and exchange data with them. UE 110, 112 may also be connected to LTE-RAN 122 via either or both of eNBs 122A, 122B, or to any other type of RAN, as described above. In network arrangement 100, UE 110 is shown as having a connection to gNB 120A, while UE 112 is shown as having a connection to gNB 120B. The connection of UE 110 to gNB 120A may be, for example, an NR-U connection, via which gNB 120A may signal UE 110 to perform measurements on unlicensed bandwidth for subsequent PUSCH scheduling. The connection of UE 112 to gNB 120B may also be an NR-U connection that utilizes unlicensed bandwidth. When UE 110 is within range of gNB 120B, UE 110 may sense the use of unlicensed spectrum between UE 112 and gNB 120B, as described above with respect to Figure 4 described.

[0027] In addition to the networks 120, 122, and 124, the network arrangement 100 includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network service backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 can be viewed as an interconnected collection of components that manage the operation and traffic of the cellular network. The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic flowing between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 can be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 can communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide multimedia services to the UE 110. The network service backbone 160 communicates directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network service backbone 160 can be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a set of services that can be used to extend the functionality of the UE 110 to communicate with various networks.

[0028] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. Figure 1 100 is used to describe the UE 110. The UE 110 may represent any electronic device and may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery providing a limited power source, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the UE 110 to other electronic devices, a sensor for detecting the status of the UE 110, and the like. Figure 2 The UE 110 shown may also represent UE 112.

[0029] Processor 205 may be configured to execute multiple engines of UE 110. For example, the engines may include CAM engine 235. CAM engine 235 may perform operations including initiating channel access measurements for unlicensed bandwidth and reporting the results to the network.

[0030] The above-mentioned engine is merely exemplary as an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205. The functions associated with the engine may also be represented as an independently integrated component of the UE 110, or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, for example, an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include an input circuit for receiving a signal and a processing circuit for processing the signal and other information. The engine may also be embodied as an application or multiple separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is shared between two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an application processor. The exemplary implementation scheme may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the UE. The memory 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to the operations performed by the UE 110.

[0031] The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to display data to a user, and the I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables user input. The display device 215 and the I / O device 220 may be separate components or may be integrated together (such as a touch screen). The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G-NR RAN 120, the LTE RAN 122, etc. Thus, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous frequency group).

[0032] Using the CA functionality, gNB 120A may be used as a PCell and gNB 120B may be used as at least one of the SCells. The SCell may also be, for example, a small cell. However, the exemplary embodiments will be described with respect to a UE that establishes a connection with a single network cell and is within the sensing range of another network cell that may not be employed in a CA configuration with the UE. Although the UE may be configured with CA functionality, the exemplary embodiments are also applicable to standalone NR-U scenarios where only a single network cell is providing an unlicensed band connection to the UE and a second network cell is providing an unlicensed band connection to a second UE instead of the first UE.

[0033] Figure 3 An exemplary network cell, in this case a gNB 120A, is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. As described above with reference to UE 110, gNB 120A may represent a cell that provides service as a PCell or SCell or is configured independently from UE 110. gNB 120A may represent any access node of a 5G NR network through which UEs 110, 112 may establish connections and manage network operations. Figure 3 The gNB 120A shown may also represent gNB 120B.

[0034] The gNB 120A may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input / output (I / O) device 320, a transceiver 325, and other components 330. The other components 330 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting the gNB 120A to other electronic devices, and the like.

[0035] The processor 305 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the gNB 120A. For example, the engines may include a CAM engine 335. The CAM engine 335 may perform operations including DCI configuration and transmission to the UE to trigger the UE to perform measurements of the unlicensed bandwidth.

[0036] The engines described above are each represented as an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 and are merely exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as independently integrated components of the gNB 120A, or may be modular components coupled to the gNB 120A, such as integrated circuits with or without firmware. For example, an integrated circuit may include input circuits for receiving signals and processing circuits for processing signals and other information. In addition, in some gNBs, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split between multiple processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an application processor, etc.). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the gNB.

[0037] The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110, 112. The I / O device 320 may be a hardware component or port that enables a user to interact with the gNB 120A. The transceiver 325 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110, 112 and any other UE in the system 100, for example, when the gNB 120A is used as a PCell or SCell for either or both of the UEs 110, 112. The transceiver 325 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a set of continuous frequencies). When used as a PCell, the transceiver 325 may operate on a licensed channel / bandwidth to communicate with the corresponding UE as a PCC, and may additionally operate on an unlicensed bandwidth to communicate with the corresponding UE as an SCC. When used as an SCell, the transceiver 225 may operate on a licensed channel / bandwidth to communicate with the corresponding UE via conventional CA functionality, or operate on an unlicensed bandwidth to communicate with the corresponding UE via NR-U functionality. Thus, the transceiver 325 may include one or more components (eg, radio components) to enable data exchange with various networks and UEs.

[0038] Figure 5 A signaling diagram 500 of a UE and a network cell for determining the channel state of one or more unlicensed channels is shown. The channel state may include either "idle" or "busy". Figure 6 A signaling diagram 500 is described. Figure 6 A method 600 for determining a channel state of one or more unlicensed channels according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As will be described in further detail below, the signaling diagram 500 includes an LBT 505 initiated by a network cell, a trigger signal 510 sent from the network cell on the DL to one or more UEs indicating information including resources to be measured, a channel access measurement (CAM) resource 515 for performing channel measurements at the UE, a CAM measurement signal 520 sent to the network to transmit measurement results, and a measurement report 525 transmitted from the UE on the UL (e.g., PUCCH) to the network cell.

[0039] At 605, a network cell (e.g., gNB 120A) performs a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure (e.g., Cat 4 LBT) for a plurality of unlicensed bands to determine whether resources are idle or busy. At 510, the network cell determines that a set of one or more of the plurality of unlicensed bands is idle, e.g., available for connection thereto by a UE (e.g., UE 110) within range of the network cell. Other unlicensed bands of the plurality of unlicensed bands may be determined to be busy, e.g., unavailable for connection thereto because the resources are being used to connect to other devices. A successful LBT for a set of resources is shown in signaling diagram 500 as LBT 505.

[0040] In 615, the network cell selects one or more UEs to perform channel measurements. For example, each of these UEs may be selected based on the corresponding UE-specific buffer status and / or based on the likelihood that the corresponding UE is scheduled for future transmission. The following process is described with respect to a single selected UE, but it should be noted that the process can be implemented at each of the selected UEs. The signaling described below can be configured separately for different UEs, such as directing different UEs to measure different unlicensed bandwidths, or can be similarly configured for all UEs or multiple UEs in a group.

[0041] In 620, the network cell signals the UE to trigger the UE to access one or all of the resources (unlicensed band) where LBT was successful and to make measurements on the set of resources. The signaling may be transmitted to the UE at the beginning of a downlink transmission with the UE.

[0042] As shown in the signaling diagram 500, the trigger signal 510 can be a DCI, such as a DCI format X. The DCI includes a set of information fields, each of which indicates a resource block to be measured, namely block number 1, block number 2, ..., block number M. Each information field may include a 1-bit channel access request information element (IE) and a 2-bit transmission power control (TPC) IE. In some embodiments, the starting position of the block may be determined by a parameter startingBitOfFormatX, which is provided by a higher layer of the UE configured with the block. In other embodiments, assuming that each block is of equal size, the UE may be configured with an index of the block for a given UE, for example, different UEs may be configured with different indexes.

[0043] In some implementations, a bit of value zero may be appended to DCI format X to align with other DCI formats and avoid increasing blind decoding attempts. In other implementations, a dedicated radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) may be used to distinguish DCI format X from other size-aligned DCI formats.

[0044] In 625, the UE performs channel access measurements (CAM) on the CAM resources, the measurements including one or both of energy detection measurements and signal strength measurements, as shown in 515 of the signaling diagram 500, for the resources indicated to the UE in the trigger signal. According to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, different resources may be triggered to perform measurements, as described below.

[0045] In some exemplary embodiments, CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resources may be used by the UE to perform CAM operations. Figure 7As shown in the signaling diagram 700 of FIG. 7 , the scheduling offset Z between the last symbol of the trigger signal 710 and the first signal of the non-periodic CSI-IM resource 715 (e.g., a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP-CSI-RS)) is configured by RRC signaling from a set of hard-coded values ​​in the specification, subject to the corresponding capabilities reported by the UE. The scheduling offset Z' between the first symbol of the CSI-IM resource 715 and the first symbol of the UL channel carrying the CAM report 725 may be provided by the trigger signal 710, for example, using a K1 value or a K2 value (depending on which channel is used). The density of the CSI-IM may be fixed in the specification and, for example, have one resource element (RE) per PRB or 3 REs per PRB.

[0046] In another exemplary embodiment, one or more symbols in a DL transmission may be punctured or rate matched to provide gaps of a specific duration for CAM purposes. Figure 8 A signaling diagram 800 is shown in which a CAM resource 815 is provided as a 16 μs or 25 μs gap created, for example, by shortening a DL transmission. The number of punctured symbols S may depend on the subcarrier spacing (SC). For example, an SCS of 15 kHz or 30 kHz may correspond to one shortened symbol, while an SCS of 60 kHz may correspond to two shortened symbols. Similar to the first embodiment discussed above, the offsets Z and Z' may be hard-coded in the specification and provided in the DCI format X discussed above.

[0047] In 630, the UE generates CAM information for resources triggered by the DCI in the following manner.

[0048] In some embodiments, the UE determines the energy parameter of the channel and compares it to a predetermined energy detection threshold. The UE may be configured by the network cell with a higher level parameter EnergyDetectionThreshold X thresh In other embodiments, if X thresh If not configured by the network cell, the default value defined by the regulatory requirements may be used for this X thresh In other exemplary embodiments, X thresh The value may be determined by the maximum transmission power and transmission bandwidth of the channel. The UE may perform energy measurement and compare the measured energy Y with the energy detection threshold. If Y <X thresh , then the UE generates an information bit Used to determine the PUCCH resources Otherwise, for example, if Y>X thresh, the UE may not feed back any information about the trigger (e.g., discontinuous transmission (DTX)) to the network cell, and therefore, in this scenario, the method ends.

[0049] In other exemplary embodiments, the UE measures signal strength, such as L1 receiver signal strength indicator (L1-RSSI) to determine the link quality of the channel. A table may be predefined to divide potential RSSI values ​​into a certain number of ranges, each with a corresponding number. The measured RSSI value may then be correlated with the table value and the number of bits used to determine the index to the table for signaling to the network cell.

[0050] In 635, the UE transmits the CAM information generated for the resource triggered by the DCI. The CAM result information may be transmitted via the PUCCH resource. Carrying.

[0051] According to some embodiments, as described above, when the measured energy Y is less than the energy detection threshold X thresh When the UE generates an information bit And in 635, in the determined PUCCH resource If the measured energy exceeds the threshold, the UE does not transmit anything.

[0052] PUCCH format 0 or PUCCH format 1 may be used to carry 1-bit CAM information to minimize UL control signaling overhead. Specifically, the PUCCH format may be configured through UE-specific RRC signaling on a per-UE basis based on, for example, UE UL SINR geometry.

[0053] Different methods may be used for CAM PUCCH resource mapping. In one embodiment, the CAM PUCCH resources may be configured by higher layers for each UE. In another embodiment, the UE may be configured with a set of PUCCH format 0 resources or PUCCH format 1 resources. A PUCCH resource indication (PRI) field may be included in the DCI transmitted by the network cell to instruct the UE to select one of the configured set of PUCCH resources.

[0054] According to other embodiments, when the UE generates RSSI measurements for a resource, the measured RSSI value may be related to the table value discussed above and the number of bits determined to be used to index the table for signaling to the network cell and carried by the PUCCH resource.

[0055] The network uses the measurement report to determine whether to schedule PUSCH resources for the UE at 640. If it is determined that PUSCH is scheduled for the UE, the resource allocation may be provided using a second DCI format.

[0056] According to other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a two-step UL grant may be used to schedule PUSCH transmission of measurement results.

[0057] Fig. 9 A signaling diagram 900 is shown for a UE and a network cell for determining the channel state of unlicensed resources and scheduling PUSCH resources using a two-stage uplink (UL) grant (eg, a first earlier DCI and a second later DCI). Fig.10 Signaling diagram 900 is described. Fig.10 A method 1000 for determining the channel state of unlicensed resources and scheduling PUSCH resources using a two-stage uplink (UL) grant according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. As will be described in further detail below, the signaling diagram 900 includes two stages of UL grants (DCI) 910, 930, where the UE will transmit on the PUSCH only after receiving the second triggering DCI.

[0058] In 1005, the network cell (e.g., gNB 120A) signals the UE to perform measurements on unlicensed resources. As shown in signaling diagram 900, trigger signal 910 may be a UL grant DCI format modified to trigger CAM measurement 915 and CAM report 920. In one embodiment, a channel access request field may be added to schedule DCI format 0_0 or 0_1 to trigger channel access measurement resources 915 and CAM report 920 on PUCCH 925.

[0059] At 1010, channel access measurement resources are used to perform measurements of unlicensed resources indicated in the DCI. The measurements may be performed in a manner substantially similar to that discussed above with respect to step 625 of method 600. For example, CSI-IM resources may be used for CAM operations, as discussed above.

[0060] In 1015, the UE generates CAM information for submission to the network. The CAM information may be generated in a manner substantially similar to that discussed above with respect to step 630 of method 600. For example, the UE measures energy parameters and / or RSSI of the unlicensed channel.

[0061] At 1020, the UE transmits CAM information on the PUCCH. The CAM information may be transmitted in a manner substantially similar to that discussed above with respect to step 635 of method 600.

[0062] In this method, the UE is configured to perform PUSCH transmission only when detecting both the first DCI format 910 and the second DCI format 930. In the absence of the second DCI 930, even if the UL transmission is scheduled by the earlier first DCI 910, the UE will not perform the UL transmission.

[0063] The network cell sends a signal to the UE to trigger PUSCH transmission in 1025. The second trigger signal 930 may use a DCI similar to the DCI 910, but the DCI includes a PUSCH transmission trigger field set to "1".

[0064] In some embodiments, the downlink control information may be split into two parts and carried by different DCI formats 910, 930. In the first DCI format 910, information related to transport block preparation may be included, such as time domain resource allocation (TDRA), frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA), MCS, HARQ process, channel access request, PUCCH resource indicator (PRI), and aggregation level of the associated DCI format 930. In the second DCI 930, there may be a 1-bit UL transmission trigger, and in some embodiments, the DCI 930 may be targeted to one or more UEs. For example, each UE may be configured with an index by a higher layer to determine the field associated with it in the DCI 930.

[0065] The dedicated RNTI may be used to distinguish the DCI 930 from other size aligned DCI formats.The timing between the first scheduling DCI 910 and the second triggering DCI 930 may be configured as part of the UE capabilities.

[0066] In 1030 , the UE transmits on the scheduled PUSCH based on the trigger signal 930 .

[0067] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the exemplary embodiments described above may be implemented with any suitable software configuration or hardware configuration or combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, Intel x86-based platforms with compatible operating systems, Windows OS, Mac platforms and MAC OS, mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. In other examples, the exemplary embodiments of the above methods may be embodied as a program including lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0068] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0069] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is intended to cover modifications and variations of the present disclosure, provided that these modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor of a next generation Node B (gNB) configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with a user equipment UE, causes the processor to perform operations comprising: executing a listen-before-talk procedure to determine whether the occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth is busy or idle; When the occupied state is determined by the gNB to be idle, sending a signal to the UE via a downlink control indicator DCI to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, wherein the measurement includes at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement; as well as A measurement report is received from the UE, the measurement report being based on the measurement and comprising an indication of the occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: PUSCH resources for the UE are scheduled based on the measurement report.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the DCI comprises a set of fields, each field indicating certain resource blocks to be measured by the UE.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise: A CAM resource for the UE is determined to perform a CAM operation. 5 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the CAM resources comprise CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resources.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 4, wherein the CAM resources include one or more punctured downlink symbols.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the UE compares the energy detection measurement to a predetermined threshold, the operations further comprising: The unlicensed bandwidth is determined to be idle based on an indication in the measurement report that the energy detection measurement is less than the predetermined threshold.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the signal quality measurement comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement, the operations further comprising: The occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth is determined based on an indication in the measurement report of the RSSI measurement.

9. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE) communicating with a next generation evolved Node B (gNB) configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with the UE, causes the processor to perform operations comprising: receiving a signal from the gNB via a downlink control indicator (DCI) to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, wherein the signal is sent after the gNB determines that an occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth is idle via a listen-before-talk procedure, and the measurement comprises at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement; performing said measuring of said unlicensed bandwidth; as well as transmitting a measurement report to the gNB, the measurement report being based on the measurement and comprising an indication of the occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the DCI comprises a set of fields, each field indicating certain resource blocks to be measured by the UE.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the measuring is performed via a CAM resource indicated in the DCI.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the CAM resources comprise CSI interference measurement (CSI-IM) resources.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the CAM resources include one or more punctured downlink symbols.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise: comparing the energy detection measurement to a predetermined threshold; as well as Indicating in the measurement report that the energy detection measurement is less than the predetermined threshold.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the signal quality measurement comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) measurement, the operations further comprising: The RSSI measurement is indicated in the measurement report.

16. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor of a next generation evolved Node B (gNB) configured to provide unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with a user equipment (UE), causes the processor to perform operations comprising: executing a listen-before-talk procedure to determine whether the occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth is busy or idle; When the occupied state is determined by the gNB to be idle, sending a signal to the UE via a first downlink control indicator DCI to perform a channel access measurement CAM for the unlicensed bandwidth, wherein the measurement includes at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement; receiving, based on the measurement of the unlicensed bandwidth signaled by the first DCI, a measurement report from the UE, the measurement report comprising an indication of whether an occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth is idle or busy as determined by the UE; as well as When the measurement report indicates that the occupied state is idle, signaling the UE via a second DCI to transmit on the PUSCH.

17. A computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions, wherein the set of instructions, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising: At a user equipment (UE) in communication with a next generation Node B (gNB) configured to provide an unlicensed bandwidth for communicating with the user equipment UE: receiving a first signal from the gNB via a first downlink control indicator DCI to perform a channel access measurement (CAM) on the unlicensed bandwidth, wherein the first signal is sent after the gNB determines that an occupancy state of the unlicensed bandwidth is idle via a listen-before-talk procedure, and the measurement comprises at least one of an energy detection measurement or a signal quality measurement; performing said measuring of said unlicensed bandwidth; transmitting a measurement report to the gNB, the measurement report comprising an indication of the occupancy status of the unlicensed bandwidth as determined by the UE; as well as A second signal is received from the gNB via a second DCI for transmission on the PUSCH.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first DCI provides aggregation level information for monitoring the second DCI in a subsequent opportunity of PDCCH monitoring.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first DCI provides a first set of information for a first PUSCH transmission, the first set of information comprising a time domain resource allocation (TDRA), a frequency domain resource allocation (FDRA), an MCS, a HARQ process, a channel access request, and a PUCCH resource indicator (PRI), and the second DCI comprises a 1-bit UL transmission trigger field for triggering the PUSCH transmission.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the second DCI addresses one or more UEs, each UE being configured with a field index provided by a higher layer to determine the field associated with the UE.

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