Facilitating bandwidth portion selection in wireless communication systems

Abstract

The wireless device is configured to facilitate UE-assisted bandwidth part (BWP) selection in a wireless communication system. According to an example, a scheduled entity may receive an RRC reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell, identify uplink data in a buffer, and send an enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) to the target cell, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred BWP for the target cell. In addition, the scheduled entity may receive an enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity indicating a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity, and select a preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity from the enhanced UAI. Other aspects, examples, and features are also included.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to and the benefit of Non-Provisional Application No. 17 / 230,741 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on April 14, 2021, and Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 015,440 filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on April 24, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth in their entirety below and for all applicable purposes. Technical Field

[0003] The techniques discussed below relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to facilitating UE-assisted bandwidth part (BWP) selection in wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These systems may be accessed by various types of devices configured to facilitate wireless communications, with multiple devices sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power).

[0005] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is an organization that develops and maintains telecommunication standards for fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE) networks. Recently, 3GPP has begun developing the next generation LTE evolution known as New Radio (NR), which may correspond to the fifth generation (5G) network. As it stands, 5G NR networks may exhibit a higher degree of flexibility and scalability than LTE and are envisioned to support a very diverse set of requirements. Technologies that may be applicable in such networks to promote power savings and improved coverage may be desirable. Summary of the invention

[0006] A summary of one or more aspects of the disclosure is presented below to provide a basic understanding of this aspect. This summary is not a broad overview of all expected features of the disclosure, and is neither intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor to outline the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in some form as a preface to a more detailed description presented later.

[0007] Various examples and implementations of the present disclosure facilitate bandwidth part (BWP) selection in a wireless communication system. According to at least one implementation, a scheduled entity may include: a transceiver, a memory, and a buffer, each coupled to a processor. The processor and the memory may be configured to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell via the transceiver, identify uplink data in a buffer, and transmit enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) to the target cell via the transceiver in response to the RRC reconfiguration message and the identified uplink data in the buffer, wherein the enhanced UAI indicates a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

[0008] Another aspect includes a method operating on a scheduled entity. The method includes: receiving an RRC reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell, and identifying uplink data in a buffer. The method also includes: transmitting an enhanced UAI to the target cell in response to the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data in the buffer, wherein the enhanced UAI indicates a preferred BWP for the target cell.

[0009] According to at least one implementation, a scheduling entity may include: a transceiver and a memory each coupled to a processor. The processor and the memory may be configured to: receive an enhanced UAI transmission indicating a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity from the scheduled entity via the transceiver, and select a preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI.

[0010] Additional aspects include a method operational at a scheduling entity.The method includes receiving an enhanced UAI transmission from a scheduled entity indicating a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity, and selecting the preferred BWP for communications with the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI.

[0011] By reviewing the detailed description below, these and other aspects of the present invention will be more fully understood. By reviewing the following description of the specific examples of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features and examples of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Although the features of the present invention below can be discussed with respect to certain examples and figures, all examples of the present invention may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more examples can be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features can also be used according to the various examples of the present invention discussed herein. In a similar manner, although examples can be discussed below as device, system or method examples, it should be understood that such examples can be implemented in various devices, systems and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system according to some examples.

[0013] Figure 2 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example of a radio access network according to some examples.

[0014] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the organization of wireless resources in an air interface using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

[0015] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating various bandwidth configurations including various BWP configurations.

[0016] Figure 5 is a flow diagram illustrating an example for communication enhancement UAI according to at least one example.

[0017] Figure 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example for communication enhancement UAI according to at least one example.

[0018] Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example for communication enhancement UAI according to at least one example.

[0019] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of transmitting enhanced UAI in a MAC CE and a MAC subheader in a PUSCH of message A of a 2-step RACH procedure.

[0020] Fig. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of specifying a mapping relationship between enhanced UAI and UCI and multiplexing UCI with a PUSCH of message A or message 3 using a deterministic multiplexing scheme.

[0021] Fig.10 is a flow diagram illustrating an example for communication enhancement UAI according to at least one example.

[0022] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduled entity according to some examples.

[0023] Fig.12 is a flow chart illustrating a method of wireless communication (eg, operating on or via a scheduled entity) according to some examples.

[0024] Fig.13 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a scheduling entity according to some examples.

[0025] Fig.14is a flow chart illustrating a method of wireless communication (eg, operating on or via a scheduling entity) according to some examples. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configuration in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. For the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the various concepts, the detailed description includes specific details. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring such concepts.

[0027] Although various aspects and examples are described in this application by the description of some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional implementations and use cases may occur in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovation described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, various aspects and / or uses may occur via integrated chip examples and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail / procurement equipment, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may or may not be specifically for use cases or applications, a wide variety of applicability of the described innovations may occur. Implementations may vary from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed, or OEM devices or systems incorporating one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some actual settings, the device incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the claimed and described examples. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processor(s), interleavers, adders / summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, end-user devices, etc., of different sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0028] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a wide variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Figure 1, various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated with reference to a wireless communication system 100, by way of illustrative example and not limitation. The wireless communication system 100 includes three interacting domains: a core network 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a user equipment (UE) 106. With the wireless communication system 100, the UE 106 may be enabled to perform data communications with an external data network 110 such as (but not limited to) the Internet.

[0029] The RAN 104 may implement any suitable one or more wireless communication technologies to provide radio access to the UE 106. As an example, the RAN 104 may operate in accordance with the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) specification, often referred to as 5G. As another example, the RAN 104 may operate under a mix of 5G NR and the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN) standard, often referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE). 3GPP refers to such a hybrid RAN as the Next Generation RAN or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples may be utilized within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0030] As shown, the RAN 104 includes a plurality of base stations 108. Broadly speaking, a base station is a network element in a radio access network that is responsible for radio transmission and reception to or from a UE in one or more cells. In different technologies, standards, or contexts, a base station may be referred to as a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNode B (gNB), a transmission and reception point (TRP), or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. In some examples, a base station may include two or more TRPs, which may be collocated or non-collocated. Each TRP may communicate on the same or different carrier frequencies within the same or different frequency bands. In an example in which the RAN 104 operates according to both the LTE and 5GNR standards, one of the base stations may be an LTE base station, and the other may be a 5G NR base station.

[0031] The RAN 104 supporting wireless communications for multiple mobile devices is further illustrated. The mobile device may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE) in the 3GPP standard, but may also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal (AT), a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handheld device, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. A UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides a user with access to network services.

[0032] In the present disclosure, a "mobile" device does not necessarily need to have mobile capabilities and can be fixed. The term "mobile device" or "mobile device" refers to a wide variety of devices and technologies. A UE may include a plurality of hardware structural components whose size, shape, and arrangement are designed to facilitate communication; such components may include antennas, antenna arrays, RF chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, etc. electrically coupled to each other. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile phones, cellular (cell) phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and a variety of embedded systems corresponding to the "Internet of Things (IoT)", for example.

[0033] In addition, the mobile device can be a car or other means of transportation, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotic device, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, an object tracking device, a drone, a multi-rotor helicopter, a quadcopter, a remote control device, a consumer and / or wearable device, such as glasses, a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, etc. In addition, the mobile device can be a digital home device or a smart home device, such as a home audio, video and / or multimedia device, an appliance, a vending machine, smart lighting, a home security system, a smart meter, etc. In addition, the mobile device can be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a municipal infrastructure device that controls power (e.g., a smart grid), lighting, water, etc., an industrial automation and enterprise device, a logistics controller, and / or agricultural equipment, etc. Still further, the mobile device can provide connected medical or telemedicine support, for example, medical care at a distance. Telemedicine devices may include telemedicine monitoring devices and telemedicine management devices, whose communications may be given preferential treatment or priority access over other types of information, for example, in terms of priority access for transmission of critical service data and / or associated QoS for transmission of critical service data.

[0034] Wireless communication between RAN 104 and UE 106 can be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmission from a base station (e.g., base station 108) to one or more UEs (e.g., similar to UE 106) over an air interface can be referred to as downlink (DL) transmission. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term "downlink" may refer to point-to-multipoint transmission originating from a base station (e.g., base station 108). Another way to describe the scheme may be to use the term "broadcast channel multiplexing". Transmission from a UE (e.g., UE 106) to a base station (e.g., base station 108) may be referred to as uplink (UL) transmission. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term "uplink" may refer to point-to-point transmission originating from a UE (e.g., UE 106).

[0035] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station 108) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. In the present disclosure, as discussed further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, allocating, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UE 106). That is, for scheduled communications, multiple UEs 106, which may be scheduled entities, may utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity 108.

[0036] Base station 108 is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE can act as a scheduling entity that schedules resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). For example, a UE can communicate directly with other UEs in a peer-to-peer or device-to-device manner and / or in a relay configuration.

[0037] like Figure 1 As illustrated, the scheduling entity 108 may broadcast downlink traffic 112 to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more UEs 106). Broadly speaking, the scheduling entity 108 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in a wireless communication network, including downlink traffic 112 and, in some examples, uplink traffic 116 from one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more UEs 106) to the scheduling entity 108. On the other hand, the scheduled entity (e.g., UE 106) is a node or device that receives downlink control information 114, including but not limited to scheduling information (e.g., grants), synchronization or timing information, or other control information from another entity in the wireless communication network (such as the scheduling entity 108).

[0038] In addition, uplink and / or downlink control information and / or traffic information may be sent on a waveform that may be time-divided into frames, subframes, time slots and / or symbols. As used herein, a "symbol" may refer to a unit of time that carries one resource element (RE) per subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform. A time slot may carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. A subframe may refer to a duration of 1 ms. Multiple subframes or time slots may be combined to form a single frame or radio frame. In the present disclosure, a frame may refer to a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) for wireless transmission, wherein each frame is composed of, for example, 10 subframes of 1 ms each. Of course, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme may be utilized for organizing waveforms, and the various time divisions of waveforms may have any suitable duration.

[0039] In general, the base stations 108 may include a backhaul interface for communicating with a backhaul portion 120 of the wireless communication system 100. The backhaul portion 120 may provide a link between the base stations 108 and the core network 102. Furthermore, in some examples, a backhaul network may provide interconnections between the respective base stations 108. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as a direct physical connection using any suitable transport network, a virtual network, etc.

[0040] The core network 102 may be part of the wireless communication system 100 and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 104. In some examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to a 5G standard (e.g., 5GC). In other examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to a 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or any other suitable standard or configuration.

[0041] Reference now Figure 2 , by way of illustrative example and not limitation, a schematic diagram of a radio access network (RAN) 200 according to some aspects of the present disclosure is provided. In some examples, the RAN 200 may be similar to the one described above and in Figure 1 The same as RAN104 shown in FIG.

[0042] The geographic area covered by the RAN 200 may be divided into multiple cellular areas (cells) that may be uniquely identified by a user equipment (UE) based on an identity broadcast from an access point or base station over the geographic area. Figure 2Cells 202, 204, 206, and 208 are illustrated, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a sub-area of ​​a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. A radio link within a sector may be identified by a single logical identifier belonging to the sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within a cell may be formed by antenna groups, where each antenna is responsible for communication with a UE in a portion of the cell.

[0043] Various base station arrangements can be used. Figure 2 2, two base stations, base station 210 and base station 212, are shown in cells 202 and 204. A third base station, base station 214, is shown as controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 216 in cell 206. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna or may be connected to an antenna or RRH 216 via a feeder cable. In the illustrated example, cells 202, 204, and 206 may be referred to as macro cells because base stations 210, 212, and 214 support cells with larger sizes. In addition, base station 218 is shown in cell 208, which may overlap with one or more macro cells. In this example, cell 208 may be referred to as a small cell (e.g., a macro cell, a micro cell, a femto cell, a home base station, a home Node B, a home eNode B, etc.) because base station 218 supports a cell with a relatively small size. The size design of the cell may be done according to the system design and component constraints.

[0044] It will be appreciated that the RAN 200 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells. In addition, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of ​​a given cell. Base stations 210, 212, 214, 218 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, 214, and / or 218 may be similar to those described above and in conjunction with Figure 1 The scheduling entity 108 shown in FIG.

[0045] Figure 2 Also included is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 220, which can be a drone or a quadcopter. UAV 220 can be configured to act as a base station, or more specifically as a mobile base station. That is, in some examples, the cell may not necessarily be fixed, and the geographic area of ​​the cell can move according to the location of the mobile base station (such as UAV 220).

[0046] Within the RAN 200, cells may include UEs that may communicate with one or more sectors of each cell. In addition, each base station 210, 212, 214, 218, and 220 may be configured to provide access to the core network 102 (see FIG. 1 ) for all UEs in the corresponding cell. Figure 1) access point. For example, UEs 222 and 224 may communicate with base station 210; UEs 226 and 228 may communicate with base station 212; UEs 230 and 232 may communicate with base station 214 via RRH 216; UE 234 may communicate with base station 218; and UE 236 may communicate with mobile base station 220. In some examples, UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, and / or 242 may communicate with the base stations described above and Figure 1 202. In some examples, UAV 220 (e.g., a quadcopter) may be a mobile network node and may be configured to act as a UE. For example, UAV 220 may operate within cell 202 by communicating with base station 210.

[0047] In further aspects of the RAN 200, sidelink signals may be used between UEs without relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. For example, sidelink communications may be utilized in a device-to-device (D2D) network, a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network, a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network, and / or other suitable sidelink networks. For example, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 238, 240, and 242) may communicate with each other using sidelink signals 237 without relaying the communication through a base station. In some examples, UEs 238, 240, and 242 may each act as a scheduling entity or a sending sidelink device and / or a scheduled entity or a receiving sidelink device to schedule resources and communicate sidelink signals 237 between them without relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. In other examples, two or more UEs (e.g., UEs 226 and 228) within the coverage area of ​​a base station (e.g., base station 212) may also communicate sidelink signals 227 via a direct link (sidelink) without transmitting the communication through base station 212. In this example, base station 212 may allocate resources to UEs 226 and 228 for sidelink communications.

[0048] In order to obtain a low block error rate (BLER) for transmission over the air interface while still achieving very high data rates, channel coding can be used. That is, wireless communications can generally utilize suitable error correction block codes (blockcodes). In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is divided into code blocks (CBs), and then an encoder (e.g., a codec (CODEC)) at the transmitting device mathematically adds redundancy to the information message. Utilizing this redundancy in the encoded information message can improve the reliability of the message, enabling correction of any bit errors that may occur due to noise.

[0049] Data coding can be implemented in multiple ways. In early 5G NR specifications, user data is coded using quasi-cyclic low-density parity check (LDPC) with two different basemaps, one basemap is used for large code blocks and / or high code rates, and the other basemap is used in other ways. Control information and the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) are coded based on nested sequences using polar coding. For these channels, puncturing, shortening, and repetition are used for rate matching.

[0050] Various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented using any suitable channel coding. Various implementations of base stations and UEs may include suitable hardware and capabilities (eg, encoders, decoders, and / or CODECs) to utilize one or more of these channel codings for wireless communications.

[0051] In the RAN 200, the ability of a UE to communicate independently of its location while moving is called mobility. The various physical channels between the UE and the RAN 200 are generally set up, maintained, and released under the control of an access and mobility management function (AMF). In some scenarios, the AMF may include a security context management function (SCMF) and a security anchor function (SEAF) that performs authentication. The SCMF may manage the security context of both the control plane and user plane functionalities in whole or in part.

[0052] In various aspects of the present disclosure, the RAN 200 may enable mobility and handover (i.e., the transfer of a UE's connection from one radio channel to another) using either DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility. In a network configured for DL-based mobility, during a call with a scheduling entity, or at any other time, a UE may monitor various parameters of a signal from its serving cell and various parameters of neighboring cells. Depending on the quality of these parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more of the neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if the signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may proceed with a handoff or handover from the serving cell to a neighboring (target) cell. For example, a UE 224 may move from a geographic area corresponding to its serving cell 202 to a geographic area corresponding to a neighboring cell 206. When the signal strength or quality from a neighboring cell 206 exceeds the signal strength or quality of its serving cell 202 for a given amount of time, the UE 224 may send a report message to its serving base station 210 indicating the condition. In response, UE 224 may receive a handover command, and the UE may undergo a handover to cell 206 .

[0053] In a network configured for UL-based mobility, the UL reference signal from each UE can be utilized by the network to select a serving cell for each UE. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, and 214 / 216 can broadcast a unified synchronization signal (e.g., a unified primary synchronization signal (PSS), a unified secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a unified physical broadcast channel (PBCH)). UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, and 232 can receive a unified synchronization signal, derive carrier frequency and slot timing from the synchronization signal, and send an uplink pilot or reference signal in response to the derived timing. An uplink pilot signal sent by a UE (e.g., UE 224) can be received concurrently by two or more cells (e.g., base stations 210 and 214 / 216) within RAN 200. Each of the cells may measure the strength of the pilot signal, and the radio access network (e.g., one or more of the base stations 210 and 214 / 216 and / or the central node within the core network) may determine a serving cell for the UE 224. As the UE 224 moves through the RAN 200, the RAN 200 may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signals sent by the UE 224. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by the neighboring cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, the RAN 200 may handover the UE 224 from the serving cell to the neighboring cell, with or without notifying the UE 224.

[0054] Although the synchronization signals transmitted by base stations 210, 212 and 214 / 216 may be uniform, the synchronization signals may not identify a specific cell, but may identify a zone of multiple cells operating on the same frequency and / or with the same timing. The use of zones in 5G networks or other next generation communication networks enables an uplink-based mobility framework and improves the efficiency of both the UE and the network because the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network can be reduced.

[0055] In various implementations, the air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or shared spectrum. Licensed spectrum provides exclusive use of a portion of the spectrum, generally by virtue of a mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government regulator. Unlicensed spectrum provides shared use of a portion of the spectrum without the need for a government-mandated license. While some technical rules are generally still required to access unlicensed spectrum, generally any operator or device can gain access. Shared spectrum may be between licensed and unlicensed spectrum, where technical rules or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, but the spectrum may still be shared by multiple operators and / or multiple RATs. For example, a license holder of a portion of a licensed spectrum may provide licensed shared access (LSA) to share the spectrum with other parties, for example, with appropriate license-determined conditions for obtaining access.

[0056] Devices communicating in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more multiplexing techniques and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) to provide multiple access for UL transmission from UEs 222 and 224 to the base station 210, and provides multiplexing for DL ​​transmission from the base station 210 to one or more UEs 222 and 224. In addition, for UL transmission, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP (also known as single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)). However, within the scope of the present disclosure, multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above schemes, and may be provided using time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource extension multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes. In addition, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 210 to UEs 222 and 224 may be provided using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

[0057] The equipment in the radio access network 200 can also utilize one or more duplex algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-point communication link, in which both endpoints can communicate with each other in both directions. Full-duplex means that both endpoints can communicate with each other at the same time. Half-duplex means that only one endpoint can send information to the other at a time. Half-duplex simulation is frequently implemented for wireless links using time division duplex (TDD). In TDD, the transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using time division multiplexing. That is, in some scenarios, the channel is dedicated to transmission in one direction, while at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmission in another direction, where the direction may change very quickly, for example, several times per time slot. In wireless links, full-duplex channels generally rely on physical isolation of transmitters and receivers, as well as suitable interference elimination techniques. Full-duplex simulation is frequently implemented for wireless links by utilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or space division duplex (SDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions can operate at different carrier frequencies (e.g., in paired spectrum). In SDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using spatial division multiplexing (SDM). In other examples, full-duplex communication can be implemented within an unpaired spectrum (e.g., within a single carrier bandwidth), where transmissions in different directions occur within different sub-bands of the carrier bandwidth. This type of full-duplex communication may be referred to herein as sub-band full-duplex (SBFD), also known as flexible duplex.

[0058] Reference will be made to Figure 3 Various aspects of the present disclosure are described with reference to the OFDM waveforms schematically illustrated in FIG. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various aspects of the present disclosure may be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described below. That is, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on OFDM links for clarity, it will be appreciated that the same principles may also be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms.

[0059] Reference now Figure 3 , illustrates an expanded view of an exemplary subframe 302 showing an OFDM resource grid. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the PHY transmission structure for any particular application may differ from the example described herein, depending on any number of factors. Here, time is measured in units of OFDM symbols in the horizontal direction; and frequency is measured in units of subcarriers of a carrier in the vertical direction.

[0060] Resource grid 304 can be used to schematically represent the time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation where multiple antenna ports are available, a corresponding number of resource grids 304 can be used for communication. Resource grid 304 is divided into multiple resource elements (REs) 306. RE is 1 subcarrier × 1 symbol, which is the smallest discrete part in the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation method used in a specific implementation, each RE can represent one or more information bits. In some examples, a block of REs can be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB) or more simply a resource block (RB) 308, which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB can include 12 subcarriers, which is a number independent of the parameter set (numerology) used. In some examples, depending on the parameter set, an RB can include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. In the present disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB (such as RB 308) corresponds entirely to a single communication direction (sending or receiving for a given device).

[0061] A collection of contiguous or discontinuous resource blocks may be referred to herein as a resource block group (RBG), a subband, or a bandwidth part (BWP). A collection of subbands or BWPs may span the entire bandwidth. Scheduling by a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmission typically involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more subbands or bandwidth parts (BWPs). Therefore, the UE generally utilizes only a subset of the resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest resource unit that may be allocated to a UE. Therefore, the more RBs scheduled for a UE and the higher the modulation scheme selected for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. The RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity such as a base station (e.g., a gNB, an eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D sidelink communication.

[0062] In this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of subframe 302, with some subcarriers illustrated above and below RB 308. In a given implementation, subframe 302 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Furthermore, in this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying a duration that is less than the entire duration of subframe 302, although this is merely one possible example.

[0063] Each 1 ms subframe 302 may be composed of one or more adjacent time slots. Figure 3In the example shown, as an illustrative example, a subframe 302 includes four time slots 310. In some examples, a time slot can be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, a time slot can include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include mini-slots, which are sometimes referred to as shortened transmission time intervals (TTIs) with shorter durations (e.g., one to three OFDM symbols). These mini-slots or shortened transmission time intervals (TTIs) may be transmitted in some cases, occupying resources scheduled for the same or different UE's ongoing time slot transmissions. Any number of resource blocks may be utilized within a subframe or time slot.

[0064] An expanded view of one of the time slots 310 illustrates the time slot 310 including a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, the control region 312 may carry control channels, and the data region 314 may carry data channels. Of course, a time slot may contain all DL, all UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. Figure 3 The structure illustrated in is merely exemplary in nature and different slot structures may be utilized and may include one or more of each of the control region(s) and the data region(s).

[0065] Although in Figure 3 Although not shown in the figure, various REs 306 within RB 308 can be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including control channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. Other REs 306 within RB 308 can also carry pilot or reference signals. These pilot or reference signals can be provided for receiving devices to perform channel estimation of corresponding channels, which can enable coherent demodulation / detection of control and / or data channels within RB 308.

[0066] In some examples, time slot 310 can be utilized for broadcast, multicast, groupcast, or unicast communication. For example, broadcast, multicast, or groupcast communication can refer to point-to-multipoint transmission from one device (e.g., a base station, UE, or other similar device) to other devices. Here, broadcast communication is delivered to all devices, while multicast or groupcast communication is delivered to multiple intended receiving devices. Unicast communication can refer to point-to-point transmission from one device to a single other device.

[0067] In an example of cellular communication over a cellular carrier via a Uu interface, for DL ​​transmissions, a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within a control region 312) to carry DL control information including one or more DL control channels (such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UEs). The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI), including, but not limited to, power control commands (e.g., one or more open-loop power control parameters and / or one or more closed-loop power control parameters), scheduling information, grants, and / or assignments of REs for DL ​​and UL transmissions. The PDCCH may further carry HARQ feedback transmissions, such as acknowledgements (ACKs) or negative acknowledgements (NACKs). HARQ is a technique well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, wherein the integrity of packet transmissions may be checked for accuracy at the receiving end, for example, using any suitable integrity checking mechanism, such as a checksum or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be sent, and if it is not confirmed, a NACK may be sent. In response to the NACK, the transmitting device may issue a HARQ retransmission, which may enable chase combining, incremental redundancy, and the like.

[0068] The base station may further allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., in the control region 312 or the data region 314) to carry other DL signals, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS); a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS); and a synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSB may be broadcast based on a periodicity (e.g., 5, 10, 20, 30, 80, or 130 ms) at fixed intervals. The SSB includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast control channel (PBCH). The UE may utilize the PSS and SSS to achieve radio frame, subframe, time slot, and symbol synchronization in the time domain, identify the center of the channel (system) bandwidth in the frequency domain, and identify the physical cell identity (PCI) of the cell.

[0069] The PBCH in the SSB may also include a master information block (MIB), which includes various system information, together with parameters for decoding a system information block (SIB). For example, the SIB may be SystemInformationType 1 (SIB1), which may include various additional system information. The MIB and SIB1 together provide minimum system information (SI) for initial access. Examples of system information sent in the MIB may include, but are not limited to, subcarrier spacing (e.g., a default downlink parameter set), a system frame number, a configuration of a PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) (e.g., PDCCH CORESET0), a cell barring indicator, a cell reselection indicator, a raster offset, and a search space for SIB1. Examples of remaining minimum system information (RMSI) sent in SIB1 may include, but are not limited to, a random access search space, a paging search space, downlink configuration information, and uplink configuration information. The base station may also send other system information (OSI).

[0070] In an UL transmission, a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) may utilize one or more REs 306 to carry UL control information (UCI) including one or more UL control channels, such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), to a scheduling entity. UCI may include a variety of packet types and categories, including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. Examples of uplink reference signals may include sounding reference signals (SRS) and uplink DMRS. In some examples, UCI may include a scheduling request (SR), i.e., requesting a scheduling entity to schedule uplink transmissions. Here, in response to the SR sent on the UCI, the scheduling entity may send downlink control information (DCI), which may schedule resources for uplink packet transmissions. UCI may also include HARQ feedback, channel state feedback (CSF) (such as a CSI report), or any other suitable UCI.

[0071] In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., within the data region 314) may be allocated for data traffic. This data traffic may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as, for DL ​​transmissions, on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); or for UL transmissions, on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In some examples, one or more REs 306 within the data region 314 may be configured to carry other signals, such as one or more SIBs and DMRS.

[0072] In an example of sidelink communication on a sidelink carrier via a ProSe (ProSe) PC5 interface, a control region 312 of a time slot 310 may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) including sidelink control information (SCI) sent by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device (e.g., a Tx V2X device or other Tx UE) toward a set of one or more other receiving sidelink devices (e.g., an Rx V2X device or other Rx UE). A data region 314 of the time slot 310 may include a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) including sidelink data traffic sent by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device in resources reserved by the transmitting sidelink device via the SCI on the sidelink carrier. Other information may be further sent on various REs 306 within the time slot 310. For example, HARQ feedback information may be sent from a receiving sidelink device to a transmitting sidelink device in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) within the time slot 310. In addition, one or more reference signals, such as a sidelink SSB, a sidelink CSI-RS, a sidelink SRS and / or a sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS), may be sent within time slot 310 .

[0073] These physical channels are generally multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for processing at the medium access control (MAC) layer. The transport channels carry information blocks called transport blocks (TBs). The transport block size (TBS) may correspond to the number of information bits, which may be a controlled parameter based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission.

[0074] Figure 3 The channels or carriers illustrated in are not necessarily all channels or carriers that may be utilized between devices, and one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other channels or carriers may be utilized in addition to those illustrated, such as other traffic, control, and feedback channels.

[0075] In some examples, a wireless communication system may partition the system bandwidth into multiple BWPs to facilitate power conservation for scheduled entities and flexibility of the network to facilitate communication by scheduled entities with different RF requirements through the network.

[0076] Figure 4 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of dividing the system bandwidth into BWPs. As shown, for example, a scheduling entity (such as a gNB) may utilize an 800 MHz bandwidth channel 402 in some implementations, or may utilize 800 MHz bandwidth in two adjacent 400 MHz channels 404, 406 in other implementations. On the scheduled entity side, Figure 4Two cases are depicted, one for a first UE (UE1) and the other for a second UE (UE2). UE 1 may utilize two 200 MHz component carriers. For each carrier, a different BWP may be configured. For example, for a first carrier 408, UE 1 may support BWP1 and BWP2, each with an equal bandwidth of 100 MHz. On a second component carrier 410, there are three BWPs. BWP1 is 100 MHz, while BWP2 and BWP3 are each 50 MHz.

[0077] Go to Figure 4 UE 2 in FIG. 2 , in a first configuration of UE 2 (UE 2a), the BWP may be configured for load balancing or reducing UE capabilities. As shown, the two BWPs (BWP1 412 and BWP2 414) configured for UE 2a in a 400MHz component carrier (CC) are not contiguous in frequency. For a second configuration of UE 2 (UE 2b), BWP1 416 and BWP2 418 of the 400MHz CC partially overlap. As depicted, BWP2 utilizes a larger bandwidth than BWP1.

[0078] It should be understood that the bandwidth size can be related to Figure 4 The examples depicted and described above are different. These examples are provided for convenience in describing various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0079] In various implementations, the UE may provide UE assistance information (UAI) for BWP adaptation in an RRC message. The RRC message may be sent to the core network 102 on a signaling radio bearer layer. The RRC message may include information indicating the UE's preferred BWP index, the maximum aggregate bandwidth, and the number of component carriers for carrier aggregation. In some implementations, the maximum aggregate bandwidth and the number of component carriers may be those preferred by the UE, while in other implementations, the maximum aggregate bandwidth and the number of component carriers may represent what the UE is configured to support.

[0080] In some implementations of BWP, the UE may receive an RRC reconfiguration message from a source cell in order to switch to a target cell. The received RRC reconfiguration message may include a BWP configuration and a random access channel (RACH) resource configuration of the target cell.

[0081] In some instances, the UE may be configured for reduced capability (referred to as "RedCap"). RedCap (also referred to as NR-Light or NR-Lite) is a feature supported in some 5G NR networks where the UE may operate with fewer antennas (e.g., 1 or 2 antennas) and / or other reduced capabilities, as well as other features. RedCap UEs typically include reduced capabilities for low cost and low complexity. As a result, RedCap UEs may compensate for the reduced capabilities with enhancements to coverage and power savings.

[0082] One or more aspects of the present disclosure may include modifications to UE Assistance Information (UAI) transmission during handover, where the UAI may be transmitted along with the measurement report, or transferred separately during the RACH procedure. In addition to the power saving benefits resulting from BWP adaptation, the proposed UAI may also facilitate coverage enhancement and resource allocation / utilization efficiency for UEs (including RedCap UEs) in the target cell.

[0083] Figure 5 is a flow chart illustrating an example for communicating enhanced UAI according to at least one example. For purposes of illustration, a source gNode B 502, a UE 504, and a target gNode B 506 are depicted. As shown, the source gNode B 502 may issue an RRC reconfiguration message 508 to the UE 504. As noted above, the RRC reconfiguration message 508 may include a first active BWP and RACH resource configuration for a target cell for handover. In some implementations, the RRC reconfiguration message 508 may also include a confirmation message for the enhanced UAI.

[0084] At 510, the UE 504 may identify data in its buffer for transmission. For example, the UE 504 may have user plane data or control plane data in the buffer. As a result, the UE 504 may issue an enhanced UAI 512 to the target gNode B 506. The enhanced UAI 512 is shown as being sent directly to the target gNode B 506, but it should be understood that various examples may include the UE 504 indirectly issuing the enhanced UAI to the target gNode B 506 (e.g., via the source gNode B 502).

[0085] In at least one implementation of the present disclosure, the enhanced UAI 512 may include various information used to assist the target gNode B 506 in performing BWP selection for the UE 504. For example, the enhanced UAI 512 of the present disclosure may include one or more of a preferred bandwidth index, a preferred bandwidth aggregation, and / or a preferred number of component carriers for bandwidth aggregation.

[0086] In addition, when the UE 504 (e.g., RedCap UE) has data (e.g., user plane data, control plane data) in its buffer at the time of handover, the UE 504 can transmit the data to the target gNode B 506 using contention-based random access or contention-free random access during handover. To facilitate such early data transmission during handover, the enhanced UAI 512 can indicate a preferred BWP and RACH type configuration. In addition, the enhanced AI 512 can include a report of one or more UE capabilities from the UE 504. When early data transmission during handover is successful, this data transmission can facilitate power savings and reduction of signaling overhead in the UE 504.

[0087] Thus, the enhanced UAI 512 may include an indication of the UE's preferred bandwidth, modulation and coding scheme (MCS), and RACH type configuration. These selections may depend on the buffered data size, coverage, and latency requirements. The coverage may be derived from the SSB or CSI-RS by the UE 504 based on measurements of the target gNode B 506. In addition, based on the latency requirements associated with the buffered data, the UAI 512 may include an indication of whether contention-free random access or contention-based random access is preferred by the UE 504, wherein contention-free random access may typically have lower latency than contention-based random access, and contention-based random access may utilize resources more efficiently.

[0088] Additionally, subject to any bandwidth reduction constraints of the UE 504, such as when the UE 504 is a RedCap UE, the enhanced UAI 512 may include an indication of a preference for a bandwidth greater than the minimum CORESET 0. This preference may be beneficial for the UE 504 to achieve higher downlink coverage for random access response (RAR) and contention resolution messages during a random access procedure.

[0089] The enhanced UAI 512 may also include a partial UE capability report. Typically, the UE 504 may send a complete UE capability report after the RRC connection. According to one or more aspects, the enhanced UAI 512 may include an implicit or partial UE capability report that is received before the RRC connection is completed. In some examples, the UE capability report in the enhanced UAI 512 may be utilized by the target gNode B 506 in optimizing resource allocation.

[0090] In some implementations, the UE 504 may transmit the enhanced UAI 512 using multiplexing to multiplex the enhanced UAI 512 with a measurement report of a target cell (e.g., a CSI report of the target cell). In this example, the transmission with the multiplexed enhanced UAI 512 and the measurement report is sent indirectly to the target gNode B 506. For example, the multiplexed transmission with the enhanced UAI and the measurement report is sent to the source gNode B 502, and the source gNode B 502 forwards the enhanced UAI to the target gNode B 506. The enhanced UAI 512 may be multiplexed with the measurement report as a MAC control element (CE) or uplink control information (UCI). This multiplexing may be utilized when buffer data (e.g., user plane data, control plane data) arrives before the UE 504 transmits the measurement report. In addition, when reporting measurements of multiple beams, the UAI may be beam-specific or cell-specific. In the case where the UAI is beam-specific, the UAI may be provided for each beam.

[0091] Figure 6 An example communication flow is depicted in FIG. 1 . As shown, a UE 602 may receive a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration 608 for a neighbor cell from a source gNode B 604 and receive at least one SSB / CSI-RS beam 610 from a target gNode B 606. The UE 602 may measure the RSRP or SINR of the SSB / CSI-RS beam(s) and issue an enhanced UAI multiplexed with a measurement report 612 including the measured RSRP or SINR to the source gNode B 604, which is later forwarded to the target gNode B 606.

[0092] Reference again Figure 5, the UE 504 may implicitly transmit the enhanced UAI 512 through physical RACH (PRACH) resource selection in some implementations. For example, in cases where multiplexing with measurement reports is not feasible or buffer data arrives after the transmission of measurement reports, the UE 504 may implicitly transmit information through PRACH resource selection. In such implementations, the RRC reconfiguration message 508 may include a mapping rule between multiple BWP configurations and RACH resources, such that each of the multiple BWPs is associated with a specific RACH resource. The UE 504 may determine a preferred BWP and may select a PRACH resource associated with the preferred BWP based on the mapping rule. The UE 504 may then transmit Message 1 (in a 4-step RACH) or Message A (in a 2-step RACH) with a PRACH preamble using the selected PRACH resource associated with the preferred BWP. The target gNode B 506 is then informed of the preferred BWP by identifying the PRACH resource utilized to send Message 1 or Message A transmissions and then identifying the BWP associated with the specific PRACH resource.

[0093] Figure 7 An example communication flow is depicted. As shown, the UE 702 may receive an RRM measurement configuration 708 for a neighbor cell from a source gNode B 704 and receive at least one SSB / CSI-RS beam 710 from a target gNode B 706. The UE 702 may measure the RSRP or SINR of the SSB / CSI-RS beam(s) and issue a measurement report 712 of the target gNode B 706 to the source gNode B 704. The UE 702 may then receive an RRC reconfiguration message 714 from the source gNode B 704, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message 714 indicates a mapping rule between a BWP configuration and a RACH resource. The UE 702 may issue a message 1 (in a 4-step RACH) or a message A (in a 2-step RACH) with a PRACH preamble 716 to the target gNode B 706 using the selected PRACH resource associated with the preferred BWP.

[0094] As an example, in a 2-step RACH, the UE 702 may send a MsgA 716 to the target gNode B 706. The MsgA 716 transmission may include a PRACH transmission and a PUSCH transmission, respectively. The PRACH transmission may include a PRACH preamble sequence. In an example of a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure, the UE may randomly select a PRACH preamble sequence from a set of available preamble sequences. In an example of a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure, the target gNode B 706 may assign a PRACH preamble to the UE 702. In some examples, the PUSCH transmission may include a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) and / or other information. In some examples, the PUSCH may include information associated with a cell RNTI (C-RNTI) specific to the UE. The target gNode B 706 may use the C-RNTI in subsequent transmissions addressed to the UE 702. For example, the target gNode B 706 may scramble the PDCCH to the UE with the UE-specific C-RNTI. When the target gNode B 706 receives the MsgA 716, the target gNode B 706 detects the PRACH preamble. If the MsgA 716 includes a PUSCH transmission, the target gNode B 706 may further decode the PUSCH. In response to the MsgA 716, the target gNode B 706 may send a MsgB including a random access response (RAR) to the UE 702 in the two-step RACH procedure, not shown for simplicity. The MsgB may include, for example, a PDSCH including the RAR. In the CBRA example, the MsgB may also include a contention resolution message in the PDSCH.

[0095] In a 4-step RACH, the UE 702 may send a Msg1 including a selected PRACH preamble to the target gNode B 706. In one example of a CBRA procedure, the UE may randomly select a PRACH preamble. In an example of a CFRA procedure, the target gNode B 706 may assign a PRACH preamble to the UE 702. If the preamble is successfully detected by the target gNode B 706, the target gNode B 706 may send a Msg2 including a RAR. The RAR may include a PDCCH and a PDSCH. Msg2 (PDCCH+PDSCH) may include an identifier of the preamble sent by the UE 702, a timing advance (TA), a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI) or a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI) for the UE 702, and a grant of uplink resources. The MAC CE within the PDSCH may also include an acknowledgment of Msg1 and an uplink grant. UE 702 may then use the uplink resources to send an uplink message (Msg3) to target gNode B 706. After successfully decoding Msg3, target gNode B 706 may send a contention resolution message (Msg4) to UE 702.

[0096] Reference again Figure 5 , the UE 504 may, in some implementations, send the enhanced UAI 512 in the payload of the RACH message. In some examples, such implementations may be utilized when the RRC reconfiguration message 508 indicates multiple BWP configurations, when no mapping rules are configured between BWP resources and RACH resources, and when multiplexing with measurement reports is not feasible or buffer data arrives after the transmission of measurement reports. Initially, the UE 504 may determine a preferred BWP.

[0097] exist Figure 8 In at least one example depicted in , a new MAC CE and MAC sub-header 802 may be specified to support UAI transmission in PUSCH for message A of a 2-step RACH procedure or message 3 of a 4-step RACH procedure. Fig. 9 In at least one other example depicted in , a mapping relationship between UAI and UCI can be specified, and UCI 902 can be multiplexed with PUSCH 904 of message A or message 3 using deterministic UCI resource allocation and a piggyback mechanism. In one aspect of the second example, the piggyback mechanism can include puncturing of a fixed number of REs around the DMRS of the PUSCH.

[0098] Fig.10An example communication flow is depicted. As shown, the UE 1002 may receive an RRM measurement configuration 1008 for a neighbor cell from a source gNode B 1004 and receive at least one SSB / CSI-RS beam 1010 from a target gNode B 1006. The UE 1002 may measure the RSRP or SINR of the SSB / CSI-RS beam(s) and issue a measurement report 1012 of the target gNode B 1006 to the source gNode B 1004. The UE 702 may then receive an RRC reconfiguration message 1014 for the target gNode B 1006 from the source gNode B 1004. The UE 1002 may then issue an enhanced UAI 1016 to the target gNode B 1006 in a MsgA payload of a 2-step RACH or a Msg3 payload of a 4-step RACH, as described above.

[0099] Fig.11 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a scheduled entity 1100 employing a processing system 1102 according to at least one example of the present disclosure. For example, the scheduled entity 1100 may correspond to the above referenced Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 and / or Fig.10 Any of the UEs or other scheduled entities are shown and described.

[0100] In this example, the processing system 1102 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by bus 1104. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 1102, the bus 1104 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1104 communicatively couples various circuits together, including one or more processors (generally represented by processing circuit 1106), memory 1108, and computer readable media (generally represented by storage media 1110). The bus 1104 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are known in the art and therefore will not be described further. The bus interface 1112 provides an interface between the bus 1104 and the transceiver 1114. The transceiver 1114 provides components for communicating with various other devices via a transmission medium. For example, the transceiver 1114 may include a receive chain that receives one or more wireless signals, and / or a transmit chain that transmits one or more wireless signals. Depending on the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 1116 (eg, keyboard, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

[0101] The processing circuit 1106 is responsible for managing the bus 1104 and general processing, including the execution of programming stored on the storage medium 1110. The programming, when executed by the processing circuit 1106, causes the processing system 1102 to perform various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable storage medium 1110 and the memory 1108 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processing circuit 1106 when executing the programming. As used herein, the term "programming" should be broadly interpreted to include, but not be limited to, instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, programs, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or otherwise.

[0102] The processing circuit 1106 is arranged to acquire, process and / or send out data, control data access and storage, issue commands, and control other desired operations. The processing circuit 1106 may include circuits configured to implement desired programming provided by appropriate media, and / or circuits configured to perform one or more functions described in the present disclosure. For example, the processing circuit 1106 may be implemented as one or more processors, one or more controllers, and / or other structures configured to execute executable programming and / or perform specific functions.

[0103] Examples of processing circuitry 1106 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. In various examples, the scheduled entity 1100 can be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, as utilized in the scheduled entity 1100, the processing circuitry 1106 can be used to implement any one or more of the processes and procedures described below.

[0104] The processing circuit 1106 may be implemented via a baseband or modem chip in some instances, and in other implementations, the processing circuit 1106 may include multiple devices that are distinct and different from the baseband or modem chip (e.g., in such scenarios that may work together to implement the examples discussed herein). Also as mentioned above, various hardware arrangements and components other than a baseband modem processor may be used in implementations, including RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, interleavers, adders / summers, etc. These examples of the processing circuit 1106 are for illustration, and other suitable configurations are also contemplated within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0105] In some examples, the processing circuit 1106 may include a BWP circuit 1118. The BWP circuit 1118 may generally include circuitry configured to receive an RRC reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell, identify uplink data in a buffer (e.g., a buffer implemented by the memory 1108 and / or the storage medium 1110), and issue an enhanced UAI transmission to the target cell, wherein the enhanced UAI transmission indicates a preferred BWP, as described in the present disclosure.

[0106] The storage medium 1110 may represent one or more computer-readable devices that are used to store programming, such as processor executable code or instructions (e.g., software, firmware), electronic data, databases, or other digital information. The storage medium 1110 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processing circuit 1106 when executing programming. The storage medium 1110 may be any available non-temporary medium that can be accessed by a general or special processor, including portable or fixed storage devices, optical storage devices, and various other media capable of storing, containing, and / or carrying programming. By way of example and not limitation, the storage medium 1110 may include non-temporary computer-readable storage media, such as magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical storage media (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, key drives), random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM), registers, removable disks, and / or other media for storing programming, and any combination thereof.

[0107] Storage medium 1110 may be coupled to processing circuitry 1106 such that processing circuitry 1106 may read information from, and write information to, storage medium 1110. That is, storage medium 1110 may be coupled to processing circuitry 1106 such that storage medium 1110 is at least accessible to processing circuitry 1106, including examples in which storage medium 1110 is integrated with processing circuitry 1106 and / or examples in which storage medium 1110 is separate from processing circuitry 1106 (e.g., resident in processing system 1102, external to processing system 1102, distributed across multiple entities).

[0108] The programming stored by the storage medium 1110, when executed by the processing circuit 1106, can cause the processing circuit 1106 to perform one or more of the various functions and / or processing steps described herein. In at least some examples, the storage medium 1110 can include BWP operations 1120 that are generally configured to cause the processing circuit 1106 to perform the following operations: receive an RRC reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell, identify uplink data in a buffer (e.g., a buffer implemented by the memory 1108 and / or the storage medium 1110), and issue an enhanced UAI transmission to the target cell, wherein the enhanced UAI transmission indicates a preferred BWP, as described herein.

[0109] Generally speaking, the scheduled entity 1100 may execute the above reference Figures 5 to 10 Describe any or all of the methods. Fig.12 A flow chart illustrating a wireless communication method (e.g., operating on or via a scheduled entity 1100) according to some examples is shown. As described below, in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted, and some of the illustrated features may not be required for all example implementations. In some examples, the process may be performed by Fig.11 In some examples, the process may be implemented by any suitable device or component for implementing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0110] As shown, at 1202, the scheduled entity may receive an RRC reconfiguration message from a source cell indicating a handover from the source cell to the target cell. Fig.11 The processing circuit 1106 shown and described may provide means for receiving an RRC reconfiguration message from a source cell via a transceiver 1114. In some implementations, the received RRC reconfiguration message may indicate multiple BWP configurations. In some implementations, the received RRC reconfiguration message may include a mapping rule between a BWP configuration and a RACH resource configuration.

[0111] At 1204, the scheduled entity may determine that uplink data exists in the buffer. Fig.11 The BWP circuit 1118 shown and described may provide means for determining that uplink data is present in the buffer. This uplink data may include user plane data and / or control plane data.

[0112] At 1206, the scheduled entity may transmit an enhanced UAI to the target cell, the enhanced UAI indicating the BWP for the target cell. Fig.11The BWP circuit 1118 shown and described may provide means for transmitting enhanced UAI toward a target cell via the transceiver 1114. In some implementations, the enhanced UAI may be transmitted directly from the scheduled entity to the target cell, or in other implementations, may be transmitted indirectly to the target cell, such as through a source cell.

[0113] In various implementations, the enhanced UAI transmission may further indicate at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

[0114] In one or more implementations, the scheduled entity may transmit the enhanced UAI transmission by multiplexing the enhanced UAI transmission with the measurement report of the target cell. The scheduled entity may further transmit the multiplexed enhanced UAI transmission and the measurement report of the target cell to the source cell.

[0115] As noted above with reference to the reception of the RRC reconfiguration message at 1202, the received RRC reconfiguration message may include a mapping rule between the BWP configuration and the RACH resource configuration. In such an instance, the scheduled entity may transmit the UAI by selecting a preferred BWP, selecting a PRACH resource associated with the selected BWP according to the mapping rule between the BWP configuration and the RACH resource configuration, and sending a PRACH preamble using the selected PRACH resource associated with the selected BWP.

[0116] In one or more implementations, the scheduled entity may transmit the UAI by sending an indication of the preferred BWP in the payload of the RACH message. In some examples, the scheduled entity may utilize a MAC CE and a MAC subheader configured to support the transmission of enhanced UAI in the PUSCH of msgA or msg3. In some examples, the scheduled entity may utilize a mapping relationship between UAI and UCI, and may use deterministic UCI resource allocation and piggybacking mechanisms to multiplex the UCI with the PUSCH of msgA or msg3.

[0117] In one configuration, the scheduled entity 1100 includes: a component for receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell, a component for identifying uplink data in a buffer, and a component for transmitting enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) to the target cell in response to the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data in the buffer, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell. In one aspect, the aforementioned components may be Fig.11The processor 1104 shown in FIG. 1 is configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned components. In another aspect, the aforementioned components may be a circuit or any device configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned components.

[0118] Of course, in the above examples, the circuits included in the processor 1104 are provided only as examples, and other components for implementing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium 1106, or in Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figures 5 to 7 , Fig.10 and / or Fig.11 any of the descriptions and using, for example, the present invention with respect to Fig.12 Any other suitable means or components of the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0119] Fig.13 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a scheduling entity 1300 employing a processing system 1302 according to at least one example of the present disclosure. Fig.11 Similar to the processing system 1102 in FIG. 1 , the processing system 1302 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by a bus 1304. Depending on the specific application and overall design constraints of the processing system 1302, the bus 1304 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1304 communicatively couples various circuits together, including one or more processors (generally represented by processing circuit 1306), memory 1308, and computer readable media (generally represented by storage media 1310). The bus 1304 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are known in the art and therefore will not be further described. The bus interface 1312 provides an interface between the bus 1304 and the transceiver 1314. The transceiver 1314 provides components for communicating with various other devices via a transmission medium. For example, the transceiver 1314 may include a receive chain for receiving one or more wireless signals, and / or a transmit chain for transmitting one or more wireless signals. Depending on the nature of the apparatus, a user interface 1316 (eg, keyboard, display, speaker, microphone, joystick) may also be provided.

[0120] The processor 1306 is responsible for managing the bus 1304 and general processing, including the execution of programming stored on the computer-readable storage medium 1310. The programming, when executed by the processing circuit 1306, causes the processing system 1302 to perform the various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable storage medium 1310 and the memory 1308 may also be used to store data that is manipulated by the processing circuit 1306 when executing the programming.

[0121] The processing circuit 1306 is arranged to acquire, process and / or send out data, control data access and storage, issue commands, and control other desired operations. The processing circuit 1306 may include circuits configured to implement desired programming provided by appropriate media in at least one example, and / or circuits configured to perform one or more functions described in the present disclosure. The processing circuit 1306 may be implemented and / or configured according to any of the examples of the processing circuit 1106 described above.

[0122] In some instances, the processing circuit 1306 may include a BWP circuit 1318. In some examples, the BWP circuit 1318 may generally include circuitry configured to receive an enhanced UAI transmission from a scheduled entity, wherein the enhanced UAI indicates a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity, as described herein. In some examples, the BWP circuit 1318 may generally include circuitry configured to issue an RRC reconfiguration message to the scheduled entity, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message includes a mapping rule between a BWP configuration and a RACH resource configuration, as described herein.

[0123] Storage media 1310 may represent one or more computer-readable devices that are used to store programming, such as processor executable code or instructions (e.g., software, firmware), electronic data, databases, or other digital information. Storage media 1310 may be configured and / or implemented in a manner similar to storage media 1110 described above.

[0124] The programming stored by the storage medium 1310, when executed by the processing circuit 1306, may cause the processing circuit 1306 to perform one or more of the various functions and / or processing steps described herein. In at least some examples, the storage medium 1310 may include a BWP operation 1320 configured to cause the processing circuit 1306 to receive an enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity, wherein the enhanced UAI indicates a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity, as described herein. In at least some examples, the storage medium 1310 may include a BWP operation 1320 configured to cause the processing circuit 1306 to issue an RRC reconfiguration message to the scheduled entity, wherein the RRC reconfiguration message includes a mapping rule between a BWP configuration and a RACH resource configuration, as described herein. In general, the scheduling entity 1300 may perform the above with reference to the above Figures 5 to 10 Any or all of the methods described for the source gNode B and / or the target gNode B.

[0125] Fig.14is a flow chart illustrating a wireless communication method (e.g., operating on or via a scheduling entity) according to some examples. As described below, in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted, and some of the illustrated features may not be required for all example implementations. In some examples, the process may be performed by Fig.13 In some examples, the process may be implemented by any suitable device or component for implementing the functions or algorithms described below.

[0126] At 1402, the scheduling entity may receive an enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity. Fig.13 The processing circuitry 1306 (eg, the BWP circuitry 1318 ) shown and described may provide means for receiving an enhanced UAI transmission from a scheduled entity via the transceiver 1314 .

[0127] In some implementations, the received enhanced UAI may further indicate at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

[0128] In some implementations, the scheduling entity may receive enhanced UAI multiplexed with measurement reports of cells associated with the scheduling entity.

[0129] In some implementations, the scheduling entity may include a mapping rule stored thereon. The mapping rule may include a mapping between a BWP configuration and a RACH resource configuration. In such implementations, the scheduling entity may receive a PRACH preamble from a scheduled entity utilizing a specific PRACH resource, and then determine a preferred BWP based on the BWP configuration associated with the specific PRACH resource utilized by the scheduled entity for the PRACH preamble.

[0130] In some implementations, the scheduling entity may receive an enhanced UAI indicating a preferred BWP in the payload of a RACH message. In some examples, the enhanced UAI may be received in a MAC CE and a MAC subheader in a PUSCH of msgA or msg3. In some examples, a mapping relationship may exist between UAI and UCI, and UCI multiplexed with a PUSCH of msgA or msg3 may be received using a deterministic UCI resource allocation and a piggybacking mechanism.

[0131] At 1404, the scheduling entity may select a preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI. Fig.13The BWP circuitry 1318 shown and described may provide means for selecting a preferred BWP for communications with a scheduled entity based on a received enhanced UAI.

[0132] In one configuration, the scheduling entity 1300 includes: means for receiving, from a scheduled entity, an enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) transmission indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) for the scheduled entity, and means for selecting a preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI. In one aspect, the aforementioned means may be Fig.13 The processor 1304 shown in FIG. 1 is configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned components. In another aspect, the aforementioned components may be a circuit or any device configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned components.

[0133] Of course, in the above examples, the circuits included in the processor 1304 are provided only as examples, and other components for implementing the described functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium 1306, or in Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figures 5 to 7 , Fig.10 and / or Fig.13 any of the descriptions and using, for example, the present invention with respect to Fig.14 Any other suitable means or components of the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0134] The following provides a summary of various aspects of the disclosure:

[0135] Aspect 1: A method operating on a scheduled entity, the method comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell; identifying uplink data in a buffer; and transmitting enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) to the target cell in response to the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data in the buffer, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

[0136] Aspect 2: The method according to aspect 1, wherein the uplink data includes user plane data or control plane data.

[0137] Aspect 3: A method according to aspect 1 or 2, wherein the enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

[0138] Aspect 4: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein transmitting the enhanced UAI transmission comprises: multiplexing the enhanced UAI transmission with a measurement report of the target cell; and sending the multiplexed enhanced UAI transmission and the measurement report of the target cell to the source cell.

[0139] Aspect 5: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein the received RRC reconfiguration message includes a mapping rule between the BWP configuration and the RACH resource configuration.

[0140] Aspect 6: The method according to aspect 5, wherein transmitting the enhanced UAI transmission comprises: selecting a preferred BWP; selecting a PRACH resource associated with the selected BWP; and transmitting a PRACH preamble using the selected PRACH resource associated with the selected BWP.

[0141] Aspect 7: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein transmitting the enhanced UAI transmission comprises: transmitting an indication of the preferred BWP in a payload of a RACH message.

[0142] Aspect 8: The method according to any one of aspects 1 to 7, wherein transmitting the enhanced UAI transmission comprises: transmitting the enhanced UAI transmission directly or indirectly to the target cell.

[0143] Aspect 9: A scheduled entity, comprising: a transceiver, a buffer, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the buffer, the processor being configured to perform the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 8.

[0144] Aspect 10: A method operating on a scheduling entity, comprising: receiving an enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) transmission from a scheduled entity indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) for the scheduled entity; and determining a preferred BWP for the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI.

[0145] Aspect 11: A method according to Aspect 10, wherein the received enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

[0146] Aspect 12: The method according to aspect 10 or 11, wherein receiving the enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity comprises: receiving the enhanced UAI multiplexed with the measurement report of the cell associated with the scheduling entity.

[0147] Aspect 13: The method according to any one of aspects 10 to 12, further comprising: storing a mapping rule between BWP configuration and RACH resource configuration.

[0148] Aspect 14: The method according to Aspect 13 further comprises: receiving a PRACH preamble from a scheduled entity using a specific PRACH resource; and determining a preferred BWP based on a BWP configuration associated with the specific PRACH resource according to the stored mapping rule.

[0149] Aspect 15: According to the method of any one of Aspects 10 or 11, enhanced UAI is received in a payload of a RACH message.

[0150] Aspect 16: The method according to any one of aspects 10 to 15, wherein receiving the enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity comprises: receiving the enhanced UAI directly or indirectly from the scheduled entity.

[0151] Aspect 17: A scheduling entity, comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the buffer, the processor being configured to perform the method according to any one of aspects 10 to 16.

[0152] Aspect 18: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: at least one component for performing the method according to any one of aspects 1 to 8 or aspects 10 to 16.

[0153] Aspect 19: A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, the instructions executable by one or more processors of a user device to perform a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 8 or aspects 10 to 16.

[0154] Several aspects of wireless communication networks have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards.

[0155] For example, various aspects may be implemented within other systems defined by 3GPP or a combination of such systems. These systems may include candidate systems such as 5G New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Packet System (EPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and / or Global System for Mobile (GSM). Various aspects may also be extended to systems defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), such as CDMA2000 and / or Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems employing IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and / or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standards, network architectures, and / or communication standards employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0156] In the present disclosure, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance or illustration". Any implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous to other aspects of the present disclosure. Likewise, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the features, advantages or modes of operation discussed. The term "coupling" as used herein refers to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically contacts object B, and object B contacts object C, objects A and C can still be considered to be coupled to each other - even if they are not in direct physical contact with each other. For example, a first object can be coupled to a second object even if the first object has never been in direct physical contact with the second object. The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used broadly and are intended to include both hardware implementations of electrical devices and conductors and software implementations of information and instructions that enable the performance of the functions described in the present disclosure when connected and configured, without limitation to the type of electronic circuits that enable the performance of the functions described in the present disclosure when executed by a processor.

[0157] Although the aspects, arrangements, and examples discussed above have been discussed with particularity and detail, Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Fig. 9 , Fig.10 , Fig.11 , Fig.12 , Fig.13 and / or Fig.14 One or more of the components, steps, features, and / or functions illustrated in the drawings may be rearranged and / or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or embodied in several components, steps, or functions. Additional elements, components, steps, and / or functions may also be added or not utilized without departing from the novel features of the present disclosure. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 , Figure 7 , Fig.10 , Fig.11 and / or Fig.13 The apparatus, devices and / or components illustrated in the drawings may be configured to perform or employ the Figure 3 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 7 , Figure 8 , Fig. 9 , Fig.12and / or Fig.14 One or more of the described methods, features, parameters and / or steps. The novel algorithms described herein may also be effectively implemented in software and / or embedded in hardware.

[0158] It will be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the disclosed methods is an illustration of an exemplary process. Based on design preferences, it is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the methods may be rearranged. The accompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically enumerated therein.

[0159] The various features associated with the examples described herein and shown in the drawings may be implemented in different examples and implementations without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, although certain specific configurations and arrangements have been described and shown in the drawings, such examples are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure, as various other additions and modifications to the described examples and deletions therefrom will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is determined solely by the literal language of the claims that follow and their legal equivalents.

Claims

1. A scheduled entity, comprising: Memory; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell; identifying uplink data in the buffer; and and sending a random access channel (RACH) message including a payload to the target cell in association with the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data, the payload including enhanced UE assistance information (UAI), the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

2. The scheduled entity according to claim 1, wherein: The uplink data includes user plane data or control plane data.

3. The scheduled entity according to claim 1, wherein: The enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred random access channel (RACH) configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

4. The scheduled entity according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is configured to: multiplexing the enhanced UAI transmission with the measurement report of the target cell; and The multiplexed enhanced UAI transmission and the measurement report of the target cell are sent to the source cell.

5. The scheduled entity according to claim 1, wherein: The received RRC reconfiguration message includes a confirmation message for the UAI and a mapping rule between the BWP configuration and the RACH resource configuration.

6. The scheduled entity according to claim 5, wherein: The processor is configured to: Selecting the preferred BWP; selecting a physical RACH (PRACH) resource associated with the preferred BWP based on the mapping rule; and A PRACH preamble is sent using the selected PRACH resource associated with the preferred BWP.

7. The scheduled entity according to claim 1, wherein: The processor is configured to: The enhanced UAI transmission is transmitted indirectly to the target cell.

8. A method operating on a scheduled entity, comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell; identifying uplink data in the buffer; as well as and sending a random access channel (RACH) message including a payload to the target cell in association with the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data, the payload including enhanced UE assistance information (UAI), the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The uplink data includes user plane data or control plane data.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein: Transmitting the enhanced UAI includes: multiplexing the enhanced UAI transmission with the measurement report of the target cell; and The multiplexed enhanced UAI transmission and the measurement report of the target cell are sent to the source cell.

12. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The received RRC reconfiguration message includes a confirmation message for the UAI and a mapping rule between the BWP configuration and the RACH resource configuration.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: Transmitting the enhanced UAI includes: Selecting the preferred BWP; selecting a physical RACH (PRACH) resource associated with the preferred BWP based on the mapping rule; and A PRACH preamble is sent using the selected PRACH resource associated with the preferred BWP.

14. The method according to claim 8, wherein: Transmitting the enhanced UAI includes: The enhanced UAI transmission is transmitted indirectly to the target cell.

15. A scheduling entity, comprising: Memory; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to: receiving enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) in a payload of a random access channel (RACH) message from a scheduled entity, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the scheduled entity; as well as The preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity is selected based on the received enhanced UAI.

16. The scheduling entity according to claim 15, wherein: The received enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

17. The scheduling entity according to claim 15, wherein: The processor is configured to: The enhanced UAI is received multiplexed with a measurement report of a cell associated with the scheduling entity.

18. The scheduling entity according to claim 15, wherein: The memory includes a mapping rule between BWP configuration and RACH resource configuration.

19. The scheduling entity according to claim 18, wherein: The processor is further configured to: receiving a PRACH preamble from the scheduled entity using a specific PRACH resource; and The preferred BWP is determined based on the mapping rule and based on a BWP configuration associated with the specific PRACH resource.

20. The scheduling entity according to claim 15, wherein: The processor is configured to: The enhanced UAI is received indirectly from the scheduled entity.

21. A method operating on a scheduling entity, comprising: receiving enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) in a payload of a random access channel (RACH) message from a scheduled entity, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the scheduled entity; as well as The preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity is selected based on the received enhanced UAI.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein: The received enhanced UAI transmission further indicates at least one of a preferred bandwidth, a preferred modulation and coding scheme (MCS), a preferred RACH configuration, a preference between contention-free random access and contention-based random access, or partial UE capabilities.

23. The method according to claim 21, wherein: Receiving the enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity comprises: The enhanced UAI is received multiplexed with a measurement report of a cell associated with the scheduling entity.

24. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: The mapping rules between BWP configuration and RACH resource configuration are stored.

25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising: receiving a PRACH preamble from the scheduled entity using a specific PRACH resource; as well as The preferred BWP is determined based on the BWP configuration associated with the specific PRACH resource according to the stored mapping rule.

26. The method according to claim 21, wherein: Receiving the enhanced UAI transmission from the scheduled entity comprises: The enhanced UAI is received indirectly from the scheduled entity.

27. A scheduled entity, comprising: means for receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell; means for identifying uplink data in a buffer; as well as means for sending a random access channel (RACH) message including a payload to the target cell in association with the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data, the payload including enhanced UE assistance information (UAI), the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

28. A scheduling entity, comprising: means for receiving enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) in a payload of a random access channel (RACH) message from a scheduled entity, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the scheduled entity; as well as Means for selecting the preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity based on the received enhanced UAI.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for wireless communication at a scheduled entity, the instructions being executable by a processor to: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) reconfiguration message indicating a handover from a source cell to a target cell; identifying uplink data in the buffer; and and sending a random access channel (RACH) message including a payload to the target cell in association with the RRC reconfiguration message and the identification of the uplink data, the payload including enhanced UE assistance information (UAI), the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the target cell.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions for wireless communication at a scheduling entity, the instructions being executable by a processor to: receiving enhanced UE assistance information (UAI) in a payload of a random access channel (RACH) message from a scheduled entity, the enhanced UAI indicating a preferred bandwidth part (BWP) of the scheduled entity; and The preferred BWP for communication with the scheduled entity is selected based on the received enhanced UAI.

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