Method and apparatus for cell-specific reference signal muting

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to further enhanced cell-specific reference signal muting for machine type communications. The present disclosure relates to a network device such as an evolved NodeB (eNB) or a next generation NodeB (gNB), which can configure a group of user equipment (UE) for cell reference signal (CRS) muting to provide better channel quality and power efficiency in communications. In the case where the eNB mutes any CRS transmission that is not required by the UE, an increase in downlink throughput and a reduction in connection drop rate can be generated. The CRS muting capability can be determined based on user equipment (UE) capability information. Based on the CRS muting capability of the UE, CRS muting can be generated outside of narrowband (NB) or wideband (WB) plus / minus X physical resource blocks (PRBs) based on the CRS muting capability, where X is a non-negative integer.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of a Chinese patent application filed on March 22, 2018, with application number 201880020682.9 and invention name “Design of Cell-Specific Reference Signal (CRS) Silence for Further Enhanced Machine Type Communications (EFEMTC)”.

[0002] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0003] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 476,590, filed on March 24, 2017, entitled “DESIGN OF CRS MUTING FOR EVEN FURTHER ENHANCED MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION (EFEMTC)” and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 476,012, filed on March 24, 2017, entitled “DESIGN OF CRS MUTING FOR EVEN FURTHER ENHANCED MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION (EFEMTC)”, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0004] The present disclosure relates to wireless technologies, and more particularly to techniques for cell-specific reference signal (CRS) muting with machine type communications (MTC), especially further enhanced MTC (EFEMTC) communications. Background Art

[0005] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between a node (e.g., a transmission station) and a wireless device (e.g., a mobile device) or a user equipment (UE). Some wireless devices use orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in downlink (DL) transmissions and single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) in uplink (UL) transmissions to communicate. Standards and protocols for signal transmission using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) include the third generation partnership project (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard (e.g., 802.16e, 802.16m) referred to as WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) by industry organizations, and the IEEE 802.11 standard commonly referred to as WiFi by industry groups.

[0006] In a 3GPP radio access network (RAN) LTE system, an access node may be an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB) with or without one or more radio network controllers (RNCs), which may communicate with a UE. A DL transmission may be a communication from an access point / node or base station (e.g., a macro cell device, eNodeB, eNB, WiFi node, or other similar network device) to a UE, and a UL transmission may be a communication from a wireless network device to a node.

[0007] Additionally, as consumers, businesses and governments recognize the benefits of connecting devices to the Internet, the Internet of Things (IoT) has begun to grow significantly. An important part of the industry aims to operate over a wide area through an active low-power wide area network (LP-WAN), which should provide a global solution for licensed and unlicensed spectrum. The following cellular technologies recently standardized in 3GPP mean operating in licensed spectrum: enhanced coverage global mobile communication system (GSM) based on the general packet radio service (GPRS) standard in the context of Rel-13; the evolution of LTE machine type communication (eMTC) solution (commonly referred to as Cat M1), which is based on the evolution of traditional Cat 0; and narrowband (NB) IOT, i.e., a new non-backward compatible radio access technology, which is specially optimized to meet the requirements required for typical IoT solutions (commonly referred to as Cat NB1), such as through enhanced MTC (eMTC). Other categories and above technologies can include further enhanced MTC (FeMTC), further enhanced MTC (efeMTC / efeMTC), etc.

[0008] In LTE networks, for example, minimizing inter-cell interference or inter-radio access technology (RAT) interference can help increase the probability that downlink high-order modulation (e.g., 64QAM, 256QAM) can be utilized to increase downlink throughput for users experiencing good coverage conditions. Cell Reference Signal (CRS) muting has been shown, where an eNB or network device mutes one or more CRS transmissions not required by a UE to improve downlink throughput and reduce connection drop rates. Summary of the invention

[0009] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, it relates to an apparatus configured for a base station, comprising: a processing circuit configured to: process user equipment UE capability information, the UE capability information indicating support for cell reference signal CRS muting; provide CRS muting configuration parameters based on the UE capability information via a system information block SIB, the CRS muting configuration parameters including cell-specific parameters or UE-specific parameters; and transmit the CRS at a frequency position based on the CRS muting configuration parameters.

[0010] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, it relates to an apparatus configured for use with a user equipment UE, comprising: a processing circuit configured to: generate user equipment UE capability information, the UE capability information indicating support for cell reference signal CRS muting; receive CRS muting configuration parameters based on the UE capability information via a system information block SIB; and process data of a physical channel based on the CRS muting configuration parameters so that the CRS is received within 6 physical resource blocks PRBs or 24 PRBs within a cell bandwidth; and a radio frequency RF interface configured to provide the RF circuit with data for transmission based on the CRS muting configuration parameters.

[0011] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a method for silencing a cell reference signal (CRS) of a base station is provided, comprising: providing a CRS silencing capability through a cell reference signal (CRS) silencing configuration parameter via a system information block (SIB), wherein the CRS silencing configuration parameter indicates resource allocation for transmitting the CRS and includes a cell-specific parameter or a user equipment (UE)-specific parameter; and transmitting the CRS within a 6-physical resource block (PRB) channel bandwidth or a 24-PRB channel bandwidth of the UE based on the CRS silencing configuration parameter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary user equipment (UE) in a network, wherein network components may be used in conjunction with various aspects described herein.

[0013] Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating example components of a device that can be employed in accordance with various aspects discussed herein.

[0014] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example interface of baseband circuitry that may be employed in accordance with various aspects discussed herein.

[0015] Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating a system or apparatus that can be employed at a UE that enables cell reference signal (CRS) muting in accordance with various aspects described herein.

[0016] Figure 5is a block diagram illustrating a system or apparatus that may be employed at an eNB / gNB or other base station in accordance with various aspects described herein that enables cell reference signal (CRS) muting.

[0017] Figure 6 is a flow chart of an example method that may be employed at an eNB / gNB in ​​accordance with various aspects described herein that allows cell reference signal (CRS) muting.

[0018] Figure 7 is a flow chart of an example method that may be employed at a UE that allows for cell reference signal (CRS) muting. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present disclosure will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the same figure numerals are used throughout to represent the same elements, and the structures and devices shown therein are not necessarily drawn to scale. As used herein, the terms "component", "system", "interface", etc. are intended to refer to entities, hardware, software (e.g., in execution) and / or firmware associated with a computer. For example, a component can be a processor (e.g., a microprocessor, a controller, or other processing device), a process running on a processor, a controller, an object, an executable program, a program, a storage device, a computer, a tablet PC, and / or a user device (e.g., a mobile phone, etc.) with a processing device. For example, an application program and a server running on a server can also be a component. One or more components can reside in a process, and a component can be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. A group of elements or a group of other components can be described herein, wherein the term "group" can be interpreted as "one or more".

[0020] In addition, these components can be executed from various computer-readable storage media having various data structures stored thereon, for example, through modules. Components can communicate through local and / or remote processes, such as according to signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from a component, the interaction of the component with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or other systems across a network (such as the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network, or the like) via signals).

[0021] As another example, a component may be a device having a specific functionality provided by mechanical parts operated by electrical or electronic circuits, where the electrical or electronic circuits may be operated by a software application or firmware application executed by one or more processors. The one or more processors may be internal or external to the device and may execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. As yet another example, a component may be a device providing a specific functionality by electronic components without mechanical parts; the electronic components may include one or more processors therein to execute the software and / or firmware that at least partially imparts the functionality to the electronic components.

[0022] The word "exemplary" is intended to present concepts in a specific way. As used in this application, the term "or" is intended to represent an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or". That is, unless otherwise specified or clear from the context, "X adopts A or B" is intended to represent any natural inclusive arrangement. That is, if X adopts A; X adopts B; or X adopts both A and B, then "X adopts A or B" is satisfied in any of the foregoing cases. In addition, the articles "one" and "an" used in this application and the appended claims are generally understood to mean "one or more", unless otherwise specified or clearly pointed to the singular form from the context. In addition, in the detailed description and claims, the terms "including", "including", "having", "has", "with" or their variations are used, and such terms are intended to be included in a manner similar to the term "including". Additionally, in the case of discussing one or more numbered items (e.g., "first X", "second X", etc.), generally one or more numbered items may be different or they may be the same, but in some cases, the context may indicate that they are different or they are the same.

[0023] As used herein, the term "circuit" may refer to, be a part of, or include an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and / or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuit may be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functionality associated with the circuit may be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuit may include logic that is at least partially operable in hardware.

[0024] In view of the various deficiencies or solutions described herein, various embodiments / aspects are disclosed for network components to generate and process CRS muting in physical channels to obtain better signal quality and power efficiency. Specifically, for UEs utilizing even further enhanced machine type communications (efeMTC), especially in bandwidth reduced (BR) low complexity (BL) UEs, additional frequency domain CRS muting can be performed if the eNB can assume that the UE does not rely on CRS outside of its narrowband (NB) (for Cat-M1) or wideband (WB) (for Cat-M2). In LTE networks, minimizing inter-cell interference can help increase the probability that downlink high-order modulation (64QAM, 256QAM) can be utilized to increase the downlink throughput of users experiencing good coverage conditions. Time domain CRS muting has been shown, where the eNB or network equipment mutes one or more CRS transmissions not required by any UE to improve downlink throughput and reduce connection drop rates. For BL UEs, additional frequency domain CRS muting is possible if the eNB can assume that the UE does not rely on CRS outside its narrowband (for Cat-M1) or wideband (for Cat-M2).

[0025] In an embodiment, the purpose of efeMTC related to CRS muting is to utilize capability signaling to support CRS muting outside the BL UE NB / WB by enabling the BL UE to indicate CRS capabilities via UE capability information. The BL UE can indicate that it does not rely on CRS outside its narrowband / wideband + / -X PRBs. The motivation for this proposal is to mute some reference symbols to save network power and reduce inter-cell or inter-RAT (e.g. NR) interference. CRS muting can only be applied to BL UEs. In current eMTC or feMTC systems, although the UE declares itself as a BL UE, if it is actually capable of receiving a larger bandwidth, it can still utilize wideband transmission of CRS to improve its channel estimation and time-frequency tracking. Therefore, wider bandwidth CRS transmission is preferred to improve UE performance. The embodiments of this article provide a design of a configuration of CRS muting, and a value of parameter X for CRS muting in BL UEs for efeMTC.

[0026] Additional aspects and details of the disclosure are further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027] The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and / or software. Figure 1The architecture of a network system 100 according to some embodiments is shown. System 100 is shown to include user equipment (UE) 101 and UE 102, which may be BL UEs according to 3GPP Release 15 or higher, for example, via efeMTC. UEs 101 and 102 are shown as smartphones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as personal data assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface. As discussed herein, UEs 101 and 102 may be communicatively coupled to a network (e.g., a HST (HSR) LTE network, a public LTE network (or a non-site network), or other networks, such as a boarding station network, etc.) of network devices 111, 112.

[0028] In some embodiments, any of UEs 101 and 102 may include an Internet of Things (IoT) UE or an MTC device, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. IoT UEs may utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) to exchange data with MTC servers or devices via a public land mobile network (PLMN), proximity-based services (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. IoT networks describe interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-term connections. IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep valid messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to IoT networks.

[0029] UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to connect (e.g., be communicatively coupled) to a radio access network (RAN) 110, which may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. UEs 101 and 102 utilize connections 103 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communicatively coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a Fifth Generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0030] In this embodiment, UE 101 and 102 may also directly exchange communication data via the ProSe interface 105. Alternatively, the ProSe interface 105 may be referred to as a sidelink interface including one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), and a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH).

[0031] UE 102 is shown as being configured to access an access point (AP) 106 via connection 107. Connection 107 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 106 would include wireless fidelity. In this example, AP 106 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below).

[0032] The RAN 110 may include one or more access nodes that enable connections 103 and 104. These access nodes (ANs) may be referred to as base stations (BS), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next generation NodeBs (gNBs), RAN nodes, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 110 may include one or more RAN nodes (e.g., macro RAN nodes 111) for providing macro cells, and one or more RAN nodes (e.g., low power (LP) RAN nodes 112) for providing femto cells or pico cells (e.g., cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macro cells).

[0033] Any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UEs 101 and 102. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 may implement various logical functions of the RAN 110, including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0034] According to some embodiments, UEs 101 and 102 may be configured to communicate with each other using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals, or to communicate with any of RAN nodes 111 and 112 via multi-carrier communication channels according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0035] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 to the UEs 101 and 102, while uplink transmissions may use similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. This time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource unit. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource units. Each resource block includes a set of resource units; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels transmitted using such resource blocks.

[0036] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UEs 101 and 102. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocation associated with the PDSCH channel, etc. It may also inform the UEs 101 and 102 of the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information associated with the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UEs 102 within the cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 111 and 112 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 101 and 102. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 101 and 102.

[0037] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to transmit control information. Before mapping to resource elements, PDCCH complex symbols can first be organized into four tuples, which can then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE can correspond to nine groups of four physical resource elements called resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel conditions. Four or more different PDCCH formats (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8) with different numbers of CCEs are defined in LTE.

[0038] Some embodiments may use concepts of resource allocation for control channel information, which are extensions of the above concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH), which uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more enhanced control channel elements (ECCEs) may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine groups of four physical resource units referred to as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). In some cases, ECCEs may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0039] RAN 110 is shown communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 120 via an S1 interface 113. In an embodiment, CN 120 may be an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, S1 interface 113 is divided into two parts: S1-U interface 114, which carries traffic data between RAN nodes 111 and 112 and a Serving Gateway (S-GW) 122; and S1-Mobility Management Entity (MME) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN nodes 111 and 112 and MME 121.

[0040] In this embodiment, CN 120 includes MME 121, S-GW 122, Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 123 and Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 124. MME 121 can be similar in function to the control plane of a conventional Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN). MME 121 can manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. HSS 124 can include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting the handling of communication sessions by network entities. CN 120 can include one or more HSS 124, depending on the number of mobile users, the capacity of the devices, the organization of the network, etc. For example, HSS 124 can provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc.

[0041] The S-GW 122 may terminate the S1 interface 113 towards the RAN 110 and route data packets between the RAN 110 and the CN 120. In addition, the S-GW 122 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0042] The P-GW 123 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN. The P-GW 123 may route data packets between the EPC network 123 and an external network such as a network including an application server 130 (alternatively referred to as an application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 125. Typically, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources over a core network (e.g., a UMTS packet service (PS) domain, a LTE PS data service, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 123 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the application server 130 via an IP communication interface 125. The application server 130 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 101 and 102 via the CN 120.

[0043] The P-GW 123 may also be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. The Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 126 is a policy and charging control element of the CN 120. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF associated with the UE's Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN). In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the UE's IP-CAN session: the Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within the HPLMN and the Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within the Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 126 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 130 via the P-GW 123. The application server 130 may signal the PCRF 126 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate quality of service (QoS) and charging parameters. PCRF 126 may provide the rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate Traffic Flow Template (TFT) and QoS Class Identifier (QCI), which initiates the QoS and charging specified by application server 130 .

[0044] Figure 2 Exemplary components of a device 200 according to some embodiments are shown. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include at least an application circuit 202, a baseband circuit 204, a radio frequency (RF) circuit 206, a front end module (FEM) circuit 208, one or more antennas 210, and a power management circuit (PMC) 212 coupled as shown. . The components of the device 200 shown may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 200 may include fewer elements (e.g., the RAN node may not utilize the application circuit 202, but instead include a processor / controller to process IP data received from the EPC). In some embodiments, the device 200 may include additional elements, such as a memory / storage device, a display, a camera, a sensor, or an input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., the circuit may be separately included in more than one device for a Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementation).

[0045] The application circuit 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuit 202 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of a general-purpose processor and a special-purpose processor (e.g., a graphics processor, an application processor, etc.). The processor may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage device, and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 200. In some embodiments, the processor of the application circuit 202 may process IP data packets received from the EPC.

[0046] The baseband circuit 204 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core processors or multi-core processors. The baseband circuit 204 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 and generate baseband signals for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206. The baseband processing circuit 204 may interface with the application circuit 202 for generating and processing baseband signals and for controlling the operation of the RF circuit 206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 204A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 204B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 204C, or other baseband processors 204D for other existing generations, generations under development or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuit 204 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 204A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 206. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 204A-D may be included in a module stored in the memory 204G and executed via the central processing unit (CPU) 204E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping functions. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The embodiments of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments.

[0047] In addition, memory 204G (and other memory components discussed herein, such as memory 430, memory 530, etc.) may include one or more machine-readable media, which include instructions, according to the embodiments and examples described herein, when these instructions are executed by a machine or component, the machine performs the action of a method or device or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies. It should be understood that the aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the function can be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium (e.g., a memory or other storage device described herein) or transmitted through it. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, including any media that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media or computer-readable storage devices can be any available media that can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-temporary media that can be used to carry or store desired information or executable instructions. Moreover, any connection may also be referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies (such as infrared, radio, and microwave), then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) are included in the definition of medium.

[0048] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 204F. The audio DSP 204F may include elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuit may be appropriately combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or arranged on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 204 and the application circuit 202 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0049] In some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 204 may support communications over an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuit 204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuits.

[0050] The RF circuit 206 may use modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium to enable communication with a wireless network. In various embodiments, the RF circuit 206 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. The RF circuit 206 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from the FEM circuit 208 and providing baseband signals to the baseband circuit 204. The RF circuit 206 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by the baseband circuit 204 and providing RF output signals to the FEM circuit 208 for transmission.

[0051] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a mixer circuit 206a, an amplifier circuit 206b, and a filter circuit 206c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 206 may include a filter circuit 206c and a mixer circuit 206a. The RF circuit 206 may also include a synthesizer circuit 206d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 208 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 206d. The amplifier circuit 206b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 206c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to the baseband circuit 204 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0052] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 206d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 208. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 204 and may be filtered by filter circuit 206c.

[0053] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0054] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the RF circuit 206 may include an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuit, and the baseband circuit 204 may include a digital baseband interface for communicating with the RF circuit 206.

[0055] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0056] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 206 d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 206 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0057] Synthesizer circuit 206d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 206a of RF circuit 206. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 206d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0058] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 204 or application processor 202, depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by application processor 202.

[0059] The synthesizer circuit 206d of the RF circuit 206 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional frequency division ratio. In some exemplary embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to decompose the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0060] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 206d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 206 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0061] The FEM circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 210, amplify the receive signal, and provide an amplified version of the receive signal to the RF circuitry 206 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission to one or more of the one or more antennas 210. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be accomplished only in the RF circuitry 206, only in the FEM 208, or in both the RF circuitry 206 and the FEM 208.

[0062] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 208 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., provided to the RF circuit 206). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 206), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission (e.g., through one or more of the one or more antennas 210).

[0063] In some embodiments, PMC 212 can manage the power provided to baseband circuit 204. Specifically, PMC 212 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. When device 200 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE, PMC 212 can generally be included. PMC 212 can improve power conversion efficiency while providing a desired implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0064] Although Figure 2 PMC 212 is shown coupled only to baseband circuit 204. However, in other embodiments, PMC 212 may additionally or alternatively be coupled to other components and perform similar power management operations for other components, such as, but not limited to, application circuit 202, RF circuit 206, or FEM 208.

[0065] In some embodiments, PMC 212 may control or otherwise be a part of various power saving mechanisms of device 200. For example, if device 200 is in RRC_Connected

[0066] (RRC_CONNECTED) state (e.g., as an RRC_CONNECTED UE), in which it remains connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, it may enter a state called discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 200 may be powered off for brief time intervals and thereby save power.

[0067] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the device 200 may transition to the RRC_IDLE state (e.g., as an RRC_IDLE UE), where it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 200 enters a very low power state and it performs paging, where it wakes up periodically again to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 200 cannot receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC_Connected state.

[0068] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for a period longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to access the network and may be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, assuming the delay is acceptable.

[0069] The processor of the application circuit 202 and the processor of the baseband circuit 204 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 204 (alone or in combination) can be used to perform the functions of layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1, and the processor of the application circuit 204 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform the functions of layer 4 (e.g., transport communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layer). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include a radio resource control (RRC) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a media access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a physical (PHY) layer of a UE / RAN node.

[0070] Figure 3 An exemplary interface of a baseband circuit according to some embodiments is shown. As described above, Figure 2 The baseband circuit 204 may include processors 204A-204E and a memory 204G used by the processors. Each of the processors 204A-204E may include a memory interface 304A-304E to send / receive data to / from the memory 204G, respectively.

[0071] The baseband circuit 204 may also include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuits / devices, such as a memory interface 312 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204), an application circuit interface 314 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204), and an application circuit interface 315 (e.g., an interface for sending / receiving data to / from a memory external to the baseband circuit 204). Figure 2 202), an RF circuit interface 316 (for example, for transmitting / receiving data to / from the application circuit 202), Figure 2an interface for sending / receiving data to / from the RF circuit 206), a wireless hardware connection interface 318 (e.g., for sending / receiving data to / from a near field communication (NFC) component, Components (e.g., low power ), components and other communication components to send / receive data), and a power management interface 320 (for example, an interface for sending / receiving power or control signals to / from the PMC 212).

[0072] refer to Figure 4 , a block diagram of a system 400 that can be employed at a UE or other network device (e.g., MTC, efeMTC, loT device) to facilitate / enable CRS muting for BL UEs of efeMTC according to various aspects described herein. The system 400 may include: one or more processors 410 (e.g., one or more baseband processors, such as in combination with Figure 2 and / or Figure 3 One or more baseband processors discussed) that include processing circuitry and associated interfaces (e.g., in conjunction with Figure 3 410 or one or more interfaces discussed above); transceiver circuitry 420 (e.g., including a portion or all of RF circuitry 206, which may include transmitter circuitry (e.g., associated with one or more transmit chains) and / or receiver circuitry (e.g., associated with one or more receive chains) that may employ common circuit elements, different circuit elements, or a combination thereof); and memory 430 (which may include any of a variety of storage media and may store instructions and / or data associated with one or more of processor 410 or transceiver circuitry 420). In various aspects, system 400 may be included within a user equipment (UE).

[0073] In various aspects discussed herein, signals and / or messages may be generated and output for transmission, and / or messages for transmission may be received and processed. Depending on the type of signal or message generated, the output for transmission (e.g., by processor 410, processor 510, etc.) may include one or more of: generating a set of related bits indicating the content of the signal or message, encoding (e.g., which may include adding a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) and / or encoding via one or more of turbo codes, low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, tail-biting convolutional codes (TBCC), etc.), scrambling (e.g., based on a scrambling seed), modulation (e.g., via one of binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), or some form of quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), etc.), and / or resource mapping (e.g., to a set of scheduled resources, to a set of time and frequency resources authorized for uplink transmission, etc.). Depending on the type of signal or message received, processing (e.g., by processor 410, processor 510, etc.) may include one or more of: identifying physical resources associated with the signal / message, detecting the signal / message, resource unit group deinterleaving, demodulating, descrambling, and / or decoding.

[0074] refer to Figure 5 , a block diagram of a system 500 that can be used at a base station (BS), eNB, gNB, or other network device, which can enable CRS muting to increase channel quality and power communication efficiency. The system 500 may include: one or more processors 510 (e.g., one or more baseband processors, such as a combination of Figure 2 and / or Figure 3 One or more baseband processors discussed) that include processing circuitry and associated interfaces (e.g., in conjunction with Figure 310 ); communication circuitry 520 (e.g., which may include circuitry for one or more wired (e.g., X2, etc.) connections and / or part or all of RF circuitry 206, which may include one or more transmitter circuits (e.g., associated with one or more transmit chains) and / or receiver circuits (e.g., associated with one or more receive chains)), wherein the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may employ common circuit elements, discrete circuit elements, or a combination thereof; and memory 530 (which may include any of a variety of storage media and may store instructions and / or data associated with one or more of the processor 510 or the communication circuitry 520). In various aspects, the system 500 may be included within an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (evolved Node B, eNodeB, or eNB), a next generation Node B (gNodeB or gNB), or other base stations or TRPs (transmit / receive points) in a wireless communication network. In some aspects, the processor 510, the communication circuitry 520, and the memory 530 may be included in a single device, while in other aspects, they may be included in different devices, such as as part of a distributed architecture. As described in greater detail below, system 500 can enable UE configuration for CRS muting.

[0075] In various embodiments, CRS muting may be processed via one or more processors 410 and a transmission may be generated based on CRS muting received via transceiver circuitry 420. UE 400 may be configured to generate UE capability information having UE capabilities for supporting CRS muting. For example, the capability may be generated via processor 410 and transmitted to a cell network or eNB / gNB (e.g., UECapability information, etc.) in a UE capability information element (e.g., UECapability information, etc.). Figure 5 system 500).

[0076] The processor 410 of the UE 400 may be configured to process the CRS as being muted outside of its narrowband (NB) / wideband (WB) with plus / minus number of physical resource blocks (PRBs) of X. For example, the NBs may be defined similarly to Release 13 (e.g., TS 36.213 or other 3GPP TS) for enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). The NBs may be non-overlapping or non-overlapping with each other, while occupying different numbers of NBs for different system BWs. For example, for a system BW of about 1.4 MHz, there may be about 1 NB; for a bandwidth of about 5 MHz, there may be about four NBs; for a system BW of 15 MHz, there may be about 8 NBs, and for a system BW of about 20 MHz, there may be 16 NBs. The WBs may include non-overlapping or overlapping bandwidths with respect to the NBs that include the WBs, and each WB may consist of 4 NBs.

[0077] The processor 410 of the UE 400 may semi-statically process CRS muting via higher layer signaling based on one or more CRS muting configuration parameters. The CRS muting configuration parameters may be at least partially or completely cell-specific, and at least partially or completely UE-specific. For example, cell-specific CRS muting configuration parameters may be received and processed via a master information block (MIB) / system information block (SIB) of a physical layer channel (e.g., a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for MIB and a PDSCH for SIB), while any UE-specific cell configuration muting parameters may be received and processed via UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling. The CRS muting configuration parameters may include a set of subframes where the CRS is muted (or not muted), and a set of PRBs / NBs / WBs where the CRS is muted (or not muted).

[0078] In one example, the processor 410 of the UE 400 may process an indication including a bitmap from an eNB or a related cell, or directly via a resource index (e.g., subframe / PRB / NB / WB / index) to derive CRS muting configuration parameters for CRS muting processing.

[0079] On the other hand, CRS muting can be enabled / disabled via data control information (DCI). In this way, a mechanism similar to the semi-persistent scheduling mechanism can be used to activate / deactivate CRS muting via DCI, which can be a supplement to the RRC signaling of the CRS muting configuration parameter to indicate the CRS muting configuration. The CRS mutes the configuration parameter or its activation / deactivation.

[0080] In one example, a DCI format may be reused from DCI format 6-0A or DCI format 6-1A. Specifically, one or more specific fields may be used for activation / deactivation, which may follow Tables 9.2-1B and 9.2-1C in TS 36.213, respectively, where an additional or further Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) may be utilized.

[0081] Alternatively or additionally, in another example, DCI format 0 may be reused, where a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) cell RNTI (SPS-C-RNTI) is used to specify CRS to silence configuration parameters, or activate / deactivate. The verification field of DCI format 0 may be set for activation and release based on Tables 9.2-1 and 9.2-1A in TS 36.213, respectively.

[0082] The tables discussed below are reproduced below for ease of reference.

[0083] Table 9.2-1: Specific fields for semi-persistent scheduling activation PDCCH / EPDCCH verification

[0084]

[0085] Table 9.2-1A: Specific fields for semi-persistent scheduling release PDCCH / EPDCCH verification

[0086]

[0087] Table 9.2-1B: Specific fields for semi-persistent scheduling activation MPDCCH verification

[0088]

[0089] Table 9.2-1C: Specific fields for semi-persistent scheduling release MPDCCH verification

[0090]

[0091] The CRS muting configuration parameters may include subframes with muted CRS or CRS resources / symbols. A periodicity may be included, which further indicates a set of subframes with CRS muting, wherein the muted subframe set may be within each period of the periodicity. In one example, the set of CRS muting subframes within a period may be indicated based on the number of subframes, or via a bitmap having an i-th bit indicating whether the CRS is muted in the i-th subframe within the period.

[0092] In addition, the DCI processed by the processor 410 of the UE 400 may include a portion of a CRS muting configuration or a CRS muting configuration parameter, and the RRC may signal other CRS muting configuration parameters. For example, a set of frequency domain resources in which the CRS is muted may be signaled in the activation DCI, and a set of subframes in which the CRS is muted may be signaled by the RRC. For example, bits other than the verification bits, or bits in a field used to verify data in the DCI may be used for indication of the CRS configuration or related parameters. Alternatively or additionally, for example, a smaller number of verification bits may be used for verification, and the remaining bits in the total number of bits may be used for indication of the CRS configuration or related parameters.

[0093] In other aspects, CRS muting may also take into account or depend on non-BL UEs, frequency hopping of MPDCCH / PDSCH transmissions, and BL UEs in RRC_IDLE mode and RRC_CONNECTED mode, respectively. Likewise, the processor 410 of the UE 400 that processes data from the transceiver circuit 420 may determine that the PRB / NB / WB portion within the range outside the central core set of PRB / NB / WB is not CRS muted.

[0094] For example, the processor 410 may process a subframe with CRS muting received in a physical channel based on the central six PRBs, where positive / negative Y PRBs are not muted, where Y may be from one or each side of the PRB / NB / WB (e.g., twice Y), where Y may be a non-negative integer. In one aspect, the processor 410 may take into account during processing a physical channel where the CRS is not muted when the subframe and the corresponding PRB carry system information for a UE with reduced bandwidth (e.g., bandwidth reduction in system information block 1 (SIB1-BR)).

[0095] Specifically, regarding frequency domain resources, CRS cannot be muted for the entire system BW, or the central 6 PRBs plus / minus Y PRBs and NB plus / minus Y PRBs for SIB transmission. Specifically, SIB1-BR and other SIBs can be transmitted on NBs other than the central 6 PRBs.

[0096] As used herein, plus / minus may refer to before, after, during, or any combination thereof with respect to the variable or parameter it modifies. For example, plus / minus Y PRBs may be before the central six PRBs, after the central six PRBs, during the central six PRBs, or any combination thereof.

[0097] In one example, Y may be any integer or non-negative integer, including, for example, Y=0, 3, or 6. When Y is a large number, this may mean that the CRS is not muted across the entire system bandwidth. Specifically, Y may be predefined or configured to the UE 400 via RRC signaling to process the CRS accordingly.

[0098] In other related aspects, Y may depend on the maximum bandwidth (BW) supported by the UE in the cell, for example, the processor 410 may generate / indicate the maximum bandwidth in the UE capability information. For example, if the UE 400 supports a maximum BW of 5 MHz, 6 PRBs plus 2 (Y) or twice Y PRBs may be greater than 5 MHz. As an example, 6 PRBs plus / minus (+ / -) Y may be interpreted as 6 PRBs with Y PRBs inserted on each side of the 6 PRBs.

[0099] In other aspects, the set of subframes in which CRS is never muted may be a subframe containing MIB / SIB-BR, each valid DL subframe, or N subframes before, after, during, or in combination with MIB / SIB-BR, and (or plus) a subframe carrying MIB / SIB-BR. N may also be any non-negative integer, which may be predefined or received, for example, by signaling processed by the processor 410. In one example, the processor 410 may derive the time resources or frequency resources in which CRS is to be muted from a communication from the eNB 500 via UE-specific RRC signaling or CRS muting configuration parameters in the MIB / SIB or configuration for CRS muting.

[0100] In other embodiments, CRS muting cannot be supported for a system BW not greater than Z, where Z may be 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, or 5 MHz. For example, CRS muting may be supported only for a system BW greater than Z MHz, where Z may be 5 MHz.

[0101] Other embodiments of UE 400 may consider whether the UE is in RRC connected mode, as an RRC_CONNECTED UE, or in RRC idle mode, as an RRC_IDLE UE.

[0102] For example, if the UE 400 is in RRC_IDLE mode and camps on a cell of an eNB, the processor 400 may not be configured to handle CRS muting. Alternatively, the UE 400 may support CRS muting in RRC_IDLE mode.

[0103] For an RRC_CONNECTED UE, various embodiments may be implemented depending on the subframe that the UE 400 is processing.

[0104] For subframes in which the UE monitors the enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) without receiving PDSCH, if the maximum PDSCH BW is configured as 1.4 MHz, the CRS may be muted outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs. Alternatively or additionally, if the maximum PDSCH BW is configured as 5 MHz, frequency resources outside the WB covering the MPDCCH monitoring resources plus / minus X PRBs may be muted, where the WB may be defined as a WB for MPDCCH monitoring starting from or ending at the NB (i.e., as an overlapping WB) or a non-overlapping WB including the NB for MPDCCH monitoring. The maximum PDSCH bandwidth may also be processed as part of the UE capability information for the eNB to determine the CRS muting configuration of the UE 400.

[0105] For subframes where the UE 400 receives PDSCH and the scheduled PDSCH transmission and the monitored MPDCCH NB fall within the maximum PDSCH BW, other CRS muting configurations or CRS muting configuration parameters for CRS muting may be considered. For example, if there is only one NB or one WB that can cover the PDSCH and MPDCCH regions, the CRS may be muted outside of the NB / WB plus / minus X PRBs. In another example, if the UE 400 is configured with a maximum PDSCH BW of 5 MHz and there are multiple WBs that can cover the MPDCCH and PDSCH regions (in the case of defining overlapping WBs), the reference WB may be defined as the WB with the lowest index, the WB with the highest index, or the WB starting from the MPDCCH or scheduled PDSCH NB. CRS outside of the reference WB + / - X PRBs may be muted, depending on the CRS muting configuration or CRS muting parameters, including X as a non-negative integer.

[0106] For subframes in which the UE 400 receives PDSCH and the scheduled PDSCH transmission and the monitored MPDCCH NB do not fall within the subframe of the maximum PDSCH BW, other CRS muting configurations or CRS muting configuration parameters for CRS muting may also be considered. For example, if the UE 400 is configured with a maximum PDSCH BW of 1.4 MHz, the NB in ​​which the scheduled PDSCH transmission falls may be a reference NB; then, the CRS may be muted outside the reference NB plus / minus X PRBs, depending on the CRS muting configuration or parameter (e.g., X). If the UE is configured with a maximum PDSCH BW of 5 MHz, the reference WB may be defined as the WB starting from the lowest NB allocated for PDSCH transmission, or the WB ending at the highest NB allocated for PDSCH, where the WB here is the overlapping WB in the system; then, the CRS may be muted outside the reference WB + / - X PRBs, depending on the CRS muting configuration.

[0107] In the time domain of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs, or for time domain resources related to CRS muting configuration parameters, various other aspects may be applied to CRS muting configuration, via related parameters in the processing of the processor 410 of the UE 400. In one example, in each valid DL subframe, CRS cannot be muted in a certain frequency region (depending on the above options for frequency domain muting configuration or pattern). In another example, CRS cannot be muted in a certain frequency region (depending on the above options for frequency domain muting pattern) during at least one of the following: a valid subframe for actually transmitting an MPDCCH, a subframe corresponding to an MPDCCH search space, or a subframe scheduled for PDSCH transmission.

[0108] Alternatively or additionally, in the time domain of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs, for N subframes after, before, during, or a combination thereof (i.e., subframes corresponding to the MPDCCH search space) that may carry the MPDCCH, or scheduled for PDSCH transmission, the CRS is not muted in a specific frequency region (depending on the above options for monitoring the MPDCCH-related frequency domain muting configuration or mode when the PDSCH is not received or received). N may be any non-negative integer, which may be predefined or signaled by higher layer signaling. This may further enable cross-subframe channel estimation for demodulation of the MPDCCH / PDSCH.

[0109] In other embodiments, for RRC_IDLE UE, when UE 400 is camped on a cell of eNB 500 in RRC_IDLE UE, for example, other aspects may be considered when handling CRS muting to enhance power / signal quality, etc.

[0110] In one aspect, for example, CRS muting cannot be supported by RRC_IDLE UE 400. In this case, the eNB needs to ensure that there are no RRC_IDLE UEs when it mutes CRS.

[0111] In another aspect, UE 400 as an RRC_IDLE UE may support CRS muting. Certain default NB / WBs may be predefined / configured by signaling, where CRS may be muted outside of the default NB / WB plus / minus X PRBs. Here, some default NB / WBs may be cell-specific, while some NB / WBs may be UE-specific.

[0112] In another aspect, where UE 400 (eg, as a BL UE) supports a maximum channel BW of 5 MHz and camps in a cell, CRS can only be muted outside the wideband (spanning 5 MHz, or approximately 24 or 25 PRBs) plus / minus X PRBs.

[0113] The default time / frequency resources where CRS is not muted may be cell specific, where, for example, the NB / WB may include the central 6 PRBs, or the central 6-PRBs, plus / minus Y PRBs, as also discussed above. Alternatively or additionally, the default NB / WB may be UE specific. Possible CRS muting frequency regions for UE 400 as an RRC_IDLE UE may depend on the NB in ​​which the UE monitors paging, as provided in the following example.

[0114] Specifically, in the frequency domain, various examples may be utilized based on the UE 400 monitoring paging or paging channel data. In one example, the processor 410 may process the CRS to be muted outside the NB for paging monitoring plus / minus X PRBs. In another example, if the UE 400 is configured with 5 MHz before it enters idle mode, the CRS may be muted outside the reference WB plus / minus X PRBs, where the reference WB may be a WB that starts from or ends at a specific NB for paging monitoring (i.e., as an overlapping WB), or as a non-overlapping WB that will subsequently include a NB for paging monitoring.

[0115] Specifically, in the time domain, various examples may also be utilized based on UE 400 monitoring paging or paging channel data. In one example, in each valid DL subframe, CRS may be processed by UE 400 (or generated by eNB 500) as not muted in a certain frequency region (depending on the above-mentioned options of the frequency domain muting mode).

[0116] Alternatively or additionally, for N subframes before, after, and during the paging occasion, as well as subsequent subframes used to carry paging DCI (in MPDCCH) and subframes used to carry paging records (in PDSCH), CRS cannot be muted in a certain frequency region (depending on the above options of the frequency domain muting mode). N can be any non-negative integer, which can be predefined or signaled by higher layers.

[0117] In aspects / embodiments herein, CRS muting outside of a PRB / NB / WB plus / minus X PRBs may be interpreted as CRS not being muted in the PRS / NB / WB and the additional X PRBs at both sides of the PRB / NB / WB, i.e., for example, the considered resources (PRB / NB / WB) except for a total of 2(X) / 2x(X) PRBs. In one aspect, all of the above examples may be extended to CRS muting outside of the considered PRB / NB / WB except for the X PRBs inside the system bandwidth when the considered PRB / NB / WB is at the system band edge, or may be extended to CRS muting outside of the considered PRB / NB / WB except for the 2(X) PRBs inside the system bandwidth, for example.

[0118] In other additional embodiments, the design of one or more CRS muting configurations or CRS muting configuration parameters X (or any other non-negative integers such as N, Y, Z, etc. as discussed herein) may be implemented (generated by eNB 500 or processed by UE 400) according to various aspects of the following examples.

[0119] For example, X may be predefined as a non-negative integer. In this way, X may be predefined regardless of the maximum uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) channel BW supported by the UE. In one example, X may be 0, 3, 6, 9, or 12 PRBs, but is not limited to any specific non-negative integer.

[0120] In another example, the CRS muting configuration parameter X may be indicated by the eNB 500. In one embodiment, the RRC signaling for configuring CRS muting may include the value of X. In another embodiment, the DCI activating CRS muting may indicate the value of X. Alternatively, or in addition, the system information may include the value of X. A set of predefined X values ​​may be defined, and the signaling only indicates the index of the value within the predefined set. For example, for the set {0,3,6,12}, 2 bits are required for indication. Alternatively, the absolute value of X may be indicated. For example, for a system BW of 20 MHz and a BL UE with a maximum 1 NB channel BW, 7 bits may be used for indication, for example from the set {0,1,94}.

[0121] Alternatively or additionally, in other aspects, X (or other parameters herein) may be defined as a function of the maximum PDSCH channel BW or the maximum physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) channel BW or both. In one aspect, for example, X may be defined as a function of the maximum value of the maximum PDSCH channel BW on all UEs in the cell 500. In another aspect, X may be a function of only the maximum PDSCH channel BW of the UE, which indicates the UE capability for supporting CRS muting in the UE capability information. For example, the function may be X=ceil(A*NDL) or floor(A*NDL), where, for example, NDL is the maximum PDSCH channel BW supported by the UE 400, and A may be a real number (e.g., A=0, 1, 0.5, 2, or other real numbers). In another embodiment, X may be a function of only the maximum PUSCH channel BW of the UE 400, which indicates the UE capability for supporting CRS muting in the UE capability information. For example, the function may be X=A*NUL, where NUL is the maximum PUSCH channel BW supported by UE 400, and A is a real number (e.g., A=0, 1, 0.5, 2, or other real numbers). Alternatively or additionally, X may be a function of the maximum PDSCH and PUSCH channel BWs of UE 400, which indicates the UE capability for supporting CRS muting in the UE capability information. For example, the function may be X=A*max{NDL,NUL}, where NDL and NUL are the maximum PDSCH channel BW and the maximum PUSCH channel BW supported by UE 400, respectively, and A is a real number (e.g., A=0, 1, 0.5, 2, or other real numbers).

[0122] Alternatively or additionally, in other aspects, X may be a function of the number of PRBs where the UE 400 monitors the MPDCCH, which may be based on the MPDCCH common search space (CSS) (=6 PRBs) or the MPDCCH UE search space (USS) MPDCCH PRB set configuration, or a function of the number of PRBs allocated for PDSCH / PUSCH. Similar to the above aspects, as an example, the function may be X=A*N, where N may be the number of PRBs where the UE 400 monitors the MPDCCH, or the number of PRBs allocated for PDSCH / PUSCH transmission, or the number of PRBs across the frequency domain region covering the PRBs for MPDCCH monitoring and PDSCH reception. A may be a real number (e.g., A=0, 1, 0.5, 2, or other real numbers). The parameter A proposed here and above may be predefined, or indicated by the eNB 500, for example, by enabling CRS muting via / through RRC signaling or DCI.

[0123] In a first set of general examples of various aspects / embodiments herein, as described below, the following exemplifications are described below.

[0124] Example 1 may include systems and methods for supporting CRS muting in a certain frequency resource in efeMTC.

[0125] Example 2 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein CRS muting may be configured via RRC signaling or RRC+SPS-like mechanisms, depending on UE capabilities.

[0126] Example 3 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein for some or all SFs, CRS is not muted in the center 6 PRBs + / - Y PRBs, and CRS muting may depend on PSS / SSS / MIB / SIB transmission.

[0127] Example 4 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein for RRC_CONNECTED UE, CRS may be muted outside of NB / WB + / - X PRBs, where NB / WB relies on NB for PD SCH resources for MPDCCH monitoring and scheduling.

[0128] Example 5 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein for RRC_IDLE UE, the CRS may not be muted, or may be muted outside of predefined / configured NB / WB+ / -X PRBs.

[0129] Example 6 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein in each valid DL subframe, or in N subframes before and during a subframe that may carry an MPDCCH or be scheduled for PDSCH transmission, the CRS is not muted in a certain frequency region.

[0130] Example 7 may include the method of embodiment 1 or some other example herein, wherein X may be predefined, or configured, or a function of the maximum PDSCH and / or PUSCH channels.

[0131] The BW is or may be a function of the number of PRBs used for MPDCCH monitoring or PDSCH reception.

[0132] Example 8 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-7, or any other method or process described herein.

[0133] Example 9 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-7, or any other method or process described herein.

[0134] Example 10 may include an apparatus including logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-7, or any other method or process described herein.

[0135] Example 11 may include a method, technique, or process as described or related to any of Examples 1-7, or a portion or sub-portion thereof.

[0136] Example 12 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform methods, techniques, or processes described in or related to any one or part of Examples 1-7.

[0137] Example 13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0138] Example 14 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0139] Example 15 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0140] Although the method described in the present disclosure is shown and described as a series of actions or events in this article, it should be understood that the shown order of these actions or events should not be interpreted as limiting significance. For example, some actions may occur in different orders and / or occur simultaneously with other actions or events except the actions or events shown and / or described here. In addition, all shown actions may not be needed to realize one or more aspects or embodiments described herein. In addition, one or more actions described herein can be performed in one or more separate actions and / or stages.

[0141] refer to Figure 6 , a flow chart of an exemplary method 600 that can be employed at a UE (e.g., 400) is shown. Processing flow 600 can begin at 602, where a processing circuit is configured to: generate UE capability information indicating support for cell reference signal (CRS) muting. Support can be a support level such as BW capability, or any CRS muting configuration parameters associated with UE signal processing and communication signaling.

[0142] At 604, the method further includes processing data of a physical channel with CRS muting based on the UE capability information, wherein the CRS muting is outside of narrowband (NB) or wideband (WB) plus / minus X physical resource blocks (PRBs), where X is a non-negative integer.

[0143] At 606, the method further includes transmitting or processing data based on the CRS muting.

[0144] In other embodiments, the method may include processing one or more CRS muting configuration parameters via at least one of: a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the one or more CRS muting configuration parameters include one or more of the following: a cell-specific parameter or a UE-specific parameter, including a CRS muting subframe set, a PRB set, a NB, or a WB in which the CRS is muted. This may include processing one or more indications of one or more CRS muting configuration parameters, wherein the one or more indications include a bitmap, a resource index, or a periodicity with a subframe set, wherein the subframe set has CRS muting in a period of the periodicity. The one or more CRS muting configuration parameters may be processed in one or more of the following: data control information (DCI) or RRC signaling. These parameters may also include any parameters mentioned or identified in Tables 9.2-1 to 9.2.1C of this document, such as parameters also referenced in TS 36.213.

[0145] In one example, an indication of CRS muting only outside the central six physical resource blocks (PRBs) plus / minus Y PRBs may be processed, where Y comprises a non-negative integer as an indication of CRS muting based on the maximum bandwidth supported in the UE capability information and only outside the central six PRBs on each side relative to the central six PRBs.

[0146] The processing circuit may also be configured to process CRS muting for N subframes muting for at least one of: before, after, or during a monitored subframe of an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) subframe, outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs, or outside the NB for the monitored MPDCCH plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum bandwidth (BW) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) of approximately 1.4 MHz, outside the WB plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum BW of the PDSCH of approximately 5 MHz, where the WB includes or does not include the NB. For example, the above actions may also be applied to a PDSCH including a unicast PDSCH or a PDSCH carrying one or more SIBs.

[0147] In response to receiving a PDSCH, wherein the received PDSCH and MPDCCH are outside a maximum BW of the PDSCH, if the maximum PDSCH BW is approximately 1.4 MHz, the NB includes a reference NB located at a PDSCH transmission, and if the maximum PDSCH BW is approximately 5 MHz, the WB includes a reference WB starting from a lowest NB allocated for the PDSCH or ending with a highest NB allocated for the PDSCH, wherein if the WB is defined in a non-overlapping manner, the WB includes an overlapping WB or a WB covering a PDSCH scheduling frequency resource.

[0148] Based on one or more criteria, CRS muting may be prevented from being generated in a frequency region of N subframes before, after, or during an MPDCCH subframe or a scheduled PDSCH subframe, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of: each valid downlink subframe, or a subframe associated with an MPDCCH transmission, an MPDCCH search space, or a PDSCH transmission, wherein N comprises a non-negative integer.

[0149] refer to Figure 7, a flow chart of an exemplary method 700 that may be employed at a gNB / eNB is shown. Process flow 700 may begin at 702, where UE capability information indicating support for CRS muting is processed. Support may include one or more capability parameters for BL UEs, including BW, frequency, NB configuration, WB configuration, a set of subframes where CRS is muted (or not muted), and a set of PRBs / NBs / WBs where CRS is muted (or not muted), or any other parameters discussed or referenced herein.

[0150] At 704, process flow 700 also includes generating CRS muting in a physical channel to the BL UE. Based on the CRS muting capability, CRS muting is generated out of narrowband (NB) or wideband (WB) plus / minus X physical resource blocks (PRBs), where X is a non-negative integer.

[0151] At 706, the eNB / gNB (e.g., 500) may generate CRS muting based on UE capability information by providing CRS muting configuration parameters via at least one of: a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), or radio resource control (RRC) signaling (e.g., UE-specific RRC signaling), the CRS muting configuration parameters may include one or more of cell-specific parameters or UE-specific parameters.

[0152] At 708, CRS muting may be enabled, disabled, or sequentially enabled or disabled via DCI in response to at least a portion of the CRS muting configuration parameters provided via UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0153] In other embodiments, one or more of the CRS muting configuration parameters or CRS muting resources may be activated / deactivated via data control information (DCI), via / through a radio network temporarily identified (RNTI) for CRS muting, or by reusing a semi-persistently scheduled cell RNTI (SPS-C RNTI) with DCI format 0 for activating / deactivating CRS muting.

[0154] The eNB / gNB (e.g., 500) may further determine the cell reference signal (CRS) muting capability based on the user equipment (UE) capability information. For example, CRS muting may be generated only outside the central six physical resource blocks (PRBs) plus / minus Y PRBs, where Y comprises a non-negative integer based on the bandwidth (BW) indicated by the UE capability information or Y may be predefined.

[0155] For subframes of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs monitoring an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) without receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the CRS may be muted outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs. For subframes of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs monitoring by receiving PDSCH, muting the CRS may be based on the NB or WB covering the PDSCH region and the number of NBs configured for MPDCCH monitoring.

[0156] CRS muting for one or more RRC_ID_UEs by plus / minus X PRBs by NB or WB may also be based on the paging monitoring for frequency domain resources or the paging occasion for time domain resources configured by the NB. X may be predefined or a function of at least one of the following: the maximum PDSCH BW configured before the UE enters RRC_IDLE mode, the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) BW configured before the UE enters RRC_IDLE mode, the number of PRBs scheduled for MPDCCH monitoring, or the number of PRBs allocated for PDSCH reception.

[0157] As used in this specification, the term "processor" may refer to substantially any computing processing unit or device, including, but not limited to, a single-core processor; a single processor with software multithreaded execution capability; a multi-core processor; a multi-core processor with software multithreaded execution capability; a multi-core processor with hardware multithreading technology; a parallel platform; and a parallel platform with distributed shared memory. Additionally, a processor may refer to an integrated circuit, an application-specific integrated circuit, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic controller, a complex programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof intended to perform the functions and / or processes described herein. The processor may utilize nanoscale architectures, such as, but not limited to, transistors, switches, and gates based on molecules and quantum dots, to optimize space usage or enhance the performance of mobile devices. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing processing units.

[0158] In the subject specification, terms such as "storage", "data storage", "data storage device", "database", and substantially any other information storage component related to the operation and functionality of the components and / or processes refer to "memory components" or entities embodied in "memory" or components that include memory. It should be noted that the memory components described herein may be volatile memory or non-volatile memory, or may include volatile and non-volatile memory.

[0159] By way of illustration and not limitation, non-volatile memory may be included, for example, in memory, non-volatile memory (see below), disk storage (see below), and memory storage (see below). In addition, non-volatile memory may be included in read-only memory, programmable read-only memory, electrically programmable read-only memory, electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, or flash memory. Volatile memory may include random access memory, which acts as an external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, random access memory may be available in a variety of forms, such as synchronous random access memory, dynamic random access memory, synchronous dynamic random access memory, double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory, enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory, Synchlink dynamic random access memory, and direct Rambus random access memory. Additionally, the memory components of the systems or methods disclosed herein are intended to include, but are not limited to including, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0160] Examples may include subject matter such as a method, an apparatus for performing the actions or blocks of the method, at least one machine-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a machine (e.g., a processor with memory, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.), causes the machine to perform the actions of a method or apparatus or system for concurrent communication using multiple communication technologies.

[0161] In a second set of general examples of various aspects / embodiments herein, as described below, the following examples are described below.

[0162] Example 1 may be a device configured for use in an evolved Node B (eNB), comprising: a processing circuit configured to: generate a cell reference signal (CRS) muting based on a CRS muting configuration parameter; and a radio frequency (RF) interface configured to provide data for transmission related to the CRS muting to the RF circuit.

[0163] Example 2 may include Example 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to:

[0164] Processing user equipment (UE) capability information indicating support for the CRS muting; and generating the CRS muting based on the UE capability information by providing the CRS muting configuration parameters via at least one of a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling, the CRS muting configuration parameters comprising one or more of a cell-specific parameter or a UE-specific parameter.

[0165] Example 3 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-2, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to enable and disable the CRS muting via data control information (DCI) in response to at least a portion of the CRS muting configuration parameters provided via the UE-specific RRC signaling.

[0166] Example 4 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-3, wherein the DCI includes a DCI format, the DCI format includes at least one of DCI format 6-0A, DCI format 6-1A, or DCI format 0, and the processing circuit is further configured to: indicate a subframe set with the CRS muting based on the CRS muting configuration parameter including periodicity according to the number of subframes or a bitmap corresponding to one or more subframes in the subframe set, and the subframe set is muted during the periodic period.

[0167] Example 5 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-4, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate the CRS muting configuration parameters in one or more of the RRC or DCI, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameters include one or more of the following: one or more frequency domain resources where the CRS is muted, or one or more indications of a set of subframes where the CRS is muted.

[0168] Example 6 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-5, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate the CRS muting only outside of the central six physical resource blocks (PRBs) plus / minus Y PRBs on each side of the central six PRBs, where Y comprises a non-negative integer.

[0169] Example 7 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-6, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to generate an indication of a set of subframes having CRS that are not to be muted.

[0170] Example 8 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-7, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: generate the CRS muting by performing a determination as to whether any RRC_IDLE UE that does not support the CRS muting is camped on the cell, and in response to determining that no RRC_IDLE UE that does not support the CRS muting is camped on the cell, generate the CRS muting based on narrowband (NB) or wideband (WB), plus / minus X PRBs, where X comprises a non-negative integer.

[0171] Example 9 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-8, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to not generate the CRS muting within N subframes of at least one of: before, after, or during a monitored subframe of an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) subframe, outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs, or outside the NB for the monitored MPDCCH plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum bandwidth (BW) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) being approximately 1.4 MHz, and outside the WB plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum BW of the PDSCH being approximately 5 MHz, wherein the WB includes a NB configured for MPDCCH monitoring.

[0172] Example 10 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-9, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: maintain the CRS muting outside a frequency region that is not within N subframes that are at least one of before, after, or during an MPDCCH monitoring subframe or a PDSCH scheduling subframe based on one or more criteria:, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of: each valid downlink subframe, a subframe related to an MPDCCH transmission, an MPDCCH search space, or a PDSCH transmission, wherein N comprises a non-negative integer.

[0173] Example 11 may include the subject matter of any one of Examples 1-10, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: generate the CRS muting to an RRC_IDLE UE residing in the cell outside the NB, or the WB plus / minus X PRBs, wherein the NB or WB includes frequency resources configured for paging monitoring and time domain resources in which the CRS is not muted based on one or more paging standards of a paging area monitored by the UE, and the paging area includes N subframes at least one of before, after, or during a paging opportunity, where N is a non-negative integer.

[0174] Example 12 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 1-11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to, in response to X not being predefined, indicate X via RRC, DCI, or system information; in response to X being a predefined set of values, indicate an index value or an absolute value within the predefined set of values; indicate X as a function of at least one of: a configured maximum PDSCH BW or a configured maximum PUSCH BW; or indicate X as a function of the number of PRBs allocated to the PDSCH, PUSCH, or MPDCCH.

[0175] Example 13 is an apparatus configured for use in a user equipment (UE), comprising: a processing circuit configured to: generate information indicating UE capability, the UE capability information indicating support for cell reference signal (CRS) muting; and process data of a physical channel with CRS muting based on the UE capability information, wherein the CRS muting is outside a narrowband (NB) or a wideband (WB) plus / minus X physical resource blocks (PRBs), where X is a non-negative integer; and a radio frequency (RF) interface configured to provide data for transmission to the RF circuit based on the CRS muting.

[0176] Example 14 may include the subject matter of Example 13, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process one or more CRS muting configuration parameters via at least one of: a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB), or UE-specific radio resource control (RRC) signaling, wherein the one or more CRS muting configuration parameters include one or more of: a cell-specific parameter or a UE-specific parameter, including a CRS muting subframe set, a PRB set, an NB, or a WB in which the CRS is muted.

[0177] Example 15 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 13-14, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: process one or more indications of the one or more CRS muting configuration parameters, wherein the one or more indications include a bitmap, a resource index, or a periodicity with a subframe set, wherein the subframe set has CRS muting during a period of the periodicity, and process the one or more CRS muting configuration parameters in one or more of data control information (DCI) or RRC signaling.

[0178] Example 16 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 13-15, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process an indication of the CRS muting only outside the central six physical resource blocks (PRBs) plus / minus Y PRBs, wherein Y comprises a non-negative integer as an indication of the CRS muting, the CRS muting being based on the maximum bandwidth supported in the UE capability information and only outside the central six PRBs relative to each side of the central six PRBs.

[0179] Example 17 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 13-16, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process the CRS muting outside the time resource, the time resource being N subframes of at least one of: before, after, or during a monitored subframe of an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) subframe, and outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs, or outside the NB for the monitored MPDCCH plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum bandwidth (BW) of a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) being approximately 1.4 MHz, and outside the WB plus / minus X PRBs in response to a maximum BW of the PDSCH being approximately 5 MHz, wherein the WB includes the NB for MPDCCH monitoring.

[0180] Example 18 may include the subject matter of Examples 13-17, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process the CRS muting outside of a time resource, the time resource being N subframes of at least one of: before, after, or during a subframe scheduled for PDSCH reception, and outside of the NB, including frequency resources allocated in response to a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) having a maximum bandwidth (BW) of approximately 1.4 MHz plus / minus X PRBs, and outside of the WB, including frequency resources allocated in response to a PDSCH having a maximum BW of approximately 5 MHz plus / minus X PRBs.

[0181] Example 19 may include the subject matter of Examples 13-18, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process the CRS muting outside of a frequency region of N subframes at least one of before, after, or during an MPDCCH subframe or a scheduled PDSCH subframe based on one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of: each valid downlink subframe, or a subframe related to an MPDCCH transmission, an MPDCCH search space, or a PDSCH transmission, wherein N comprises a non-negative integer.

[0182] Example 20 may include the subject matter of Examples 13-19, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to process CRS muting for RRC_IDLEUE, wherein the CRS muting is outside the frequency region, wherein the NB is configured for paging monitoring plus / minus X PRBs and N subframes of at least one of: before, after, or during a paging occasion, configured to transmit a paging DCI in an MPDCCH and transmit a paging record in a PDSCH.

[0183] Example 21 is a computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions, which in response to execution cause one or more processors of an evolved Node B (eNB) to perform operations including: generating CRS muting in a physical channel, wherein based on the CRS muting capability, the CRS muting is generated outside of a narrowband (NB) or a wideband (WB) plus / minus X physical resource blocks (PRBs), where X is a non-negative integer.

[0184] Example 22 may include the subject matter of Example 21, wherein the operation further includes: providing a bitmap or resource index indicating CRS muting configuration parameters, the parameters including a CRS muting subframe set, a physical resource block (PRB), a NB or a WB, wherein the CRS is muted via at least one of: a master information block (MIB), a system information block (SIB) or a radio resource control (RRC) signaling; or via data control information (DCI), via a radio network temporarily identified (RNTI) for the CRS muting, or reusing a semi-permanently scheduled cell RNTI (SPS-CRNTI) with a DCI format 0 for activating / deactivating the CRS muting, activating and deactivating one or more of the CRS muting configuration parameters or CRS muting resources.

[0185] Example 23 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 21-22, wherein the operation further includes: determining the cell reference signal (CRS) muting capability based on user equipment (UE) capability information; and generating the CRS muting only outside the central six physical resource blocks (PRBs) plus / minus Y PRBs based on the bandwidth (BW) indicated by the UE capability information, where Y comprises a non-negative integer.

[0186] Example 24 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 21-23, wherein the operations further include: for a subframe of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs, monitoring an enhanced machine type communication (eMTC) physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) without receiving a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), muting the CRS outside the NB for MPDCCH monitoring or muting outside the WB including the NB for MPDCCH monitoring plus / minus X PRBs based on a PDSCH bandwidth of the UE capability information; and for a subframe of one or more RRC_CONNECTED UEs monitored by receiving the PDSCH, muting the CRS based on the NB or WB covering the PDSCH region and the number of the NBs configured for MPDCCH monitoring.

[0187] Example 25 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 21-24, wherein the operation further includes: based on a NB configured for paging monitoring frequency domain resources and at least one of N subframes before, after, or during a paging opportunity of time domain resources, silencing the CRS of one or more RRC IDLE UEs outside the NB or the WB plus / minus X PRBs.

[0188] Example 26 may include the subject matter of any of Examples 21-25, wherein X is predefined or is a function of at least one of: a configured maximum PDSCH BW, a configured physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) BW, a number of PRBs scheduled for MPDCCH monitoring, or a number of PRBs allocated for PDSCH reception.

[0189] Example 27 may include an apparatus comprising one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0190] Example 28 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0191] Example 29 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method described or related to any of Examples 1-26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0192] Example 30 may include a method, technique, or process as described or related to any of Examples 1-26, or a portion or sub-portion thereof.

[0193] Example 31 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform methods, techniques, or processes described in or related to any one or part of Examples 1-26.

[0194] Example 32 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0195] Example 33 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0196] Example 34 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0197] It should be understood that the aspects described herein can be implemented by hardware, software, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, the function can be stored on or transmitted by a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media or computer-readable storage devices can be any available media that can be accessed by a general or special-purpose computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-temporary media that can be used to carry or store desired information or executable instructions. Moreover, any connection is also appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio and microwave) is used to transmit software from a website, server or other remote source, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio and microwave) are included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

[0198] The various schematic logics, logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed by a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. Additionally, at least one processor may include one or more modules operable to perform one or more steps and / or actions described herein.

[0199] For software implementation, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the functions described herein. Software codes can be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit can be implemented within the processor or outside the processor, in which case the memory unit can be communicatively coupled to the processor by various means known in the art. In addition, at least one processor may include one or more modules that are operable to perform the functions described herein.

[0200] The technology described herein can be used for various wireless communication systems, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other systems. The terms "system" and "network" are usually used interchangeably. A CDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA1800, etc. UTRA includes other variants of Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) and CDMA. In addition, CDMA1800 covers IS-1800, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. A TDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA system can implement radio technologies such as Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.18, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are parts of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a version of UMTS using E-UTRA, which employs OFDMA on the downlink and SC-FDMA on the uplink. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). Additionally, CDMA1800 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). In addition, such wireless communication systems may also include peer-to-peer (e.g., mobile-to-mobile) ad hoc network systems, which often use unpaired unlicensed spectrum, 802.xx wireless LAN, Bluetooth, and any other short-range or long-range, wireless communication technology.

[0201] Single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) using single carrier modulation and frequency domain equalization is a technique that can be used with the disclosed aspects. SC-FDMA has similar performance and substantially similar overall complexity to OFDMA systems. Due to its inherent single carrier structure, SC-FDMA signals have a lower peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). SC-FDMA can be used for uplink communications, where a lower PAPR can benefit mobile terminals in terms of transmit power efficiency.

[0202] In addition, various aspects or features described herein may be implemented as methods, devices or products using standard programming and / or engineering techniques. As used herein, the term "product" is intended to cover computer programs accessible from any computer-readable device, carrier or medium. For example, computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips, etc.), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs), etc.), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., EPROMs, cards, sticks, key drives, etc.). Additionally, the various storage media described herein may represent one or more devices and / or other machine-readable media for storing information. The term "machine-readable medium" may include, but is not limited to, wireless channels and various other media capable of storing, containing and / or carrying instructions and / or data. Additionally, a computer program product may include a computer-readable medium having one or more instructions or codes, which may be operable to cause a computer to perform the functions described herein.

[0203] Communication media embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal such as a modulated data signal (e.g., a carrier wave or other transport mechanism), and includes any information delivery or transmission media. The term "modulated data signal" refers to a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media include wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

[0204] In addition, the actions of the methods or algorithms described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination thereof. The software module may reside in a RAM memory, a flash memory, a ROM memory, an EPROM memory, an EEPROM memory, a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be a component of the processor. In addition, in some aspects, the processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. Additionally, the ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components. Additionally, in some aspects, the steps and / or actions of the method or algorithm may reside on a machine-readable medium and / or a computer-readable medium as one or any combination or set of codes and / or instructions, which may be incorporated into a computer program product.

[0205] The above description of the illustrated embodiments of the subject disclosure (including what is described in the Abstract) is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Although specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications may be considered within the scope of these embodiments and examples as those skilled in the relevant art can recognize.

[0206] In this regard, while the disclosed subject matter has been described in conjunction with various embodiments and corresponding drawings, it should be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments, where applicable, to perform the same, similar, alternative or replacement functions of the disclosed subject matter without departing from the subject matter. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but should be interpreted in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.

[0207] Specifically with respect to the various functions performed by the above-mentioned components (assemblies, devices, circuits, systems, etc.), unless otherwise specified, the terms used to describe these components (including references to "means") are intended to correspond to any component or structure that performs the specific function of the component (e.g., functionally equivalent), even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure that performs the function in the exemplary embodiments shown herein of the present disclosure. In addition, while a particular feature may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several embodiments, such feature may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, as may be desirable and advantageous for any given or particular application.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: Processing user equipment UE capability information, the UE capability information indicating support for cell reference signal CRS muting; Providing, via a system information block SIB, a CRS muting configuration parameter based on the UE capability information, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter indicates that the CRS is not muted on a frequency resource including: The central 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the cell bandwidth; as well as Plus / minus X PRBs for narrowband NB or wideband WB, where X is a non-negative integer.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter is provided so that the CRS is transmitted within a 6 physical resource block (PRB) channel bandwidth of the UE.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter is provided so that the CRS is transmitted within a 24 physical resource block (PRB) channel bandwidth of the UE.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter is provided so that the CRS is transmitted within plus / minus X PRBs of a 6-physical resource block (PRB) channel bandwidth of the UE.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the CRS muting configuration parameters are provided so that the CRS is transmitted within positive / negative Y PRBs of the central 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the cell bandwidth, the Y PRBs being on each side of the central 6 PRBs, wherein Y comprises a non-negative integer.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameters further comprise one or more indications of a set of subframes in which the CRS is muted or not muted.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter is based on the following including a periodicity and the subframe set within a period of the periodicity: a number of subframes, or a bitmap corresponding to one or more subframes of the subframe set.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processing circuit is further configured to: determine whether any RRC_IDLE UE that does not support the CRS muting is camped on the cell, and in response to determining that no RRC_IDLE UE that does not support the CRS muting is camped on the cell, perform the CRS muting based on positive / negative X PRBs of a narrowband NB or a wideband WB, where X includes a non-negative integer.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: based on the CRS muting configuration parameter, not transmit the CRS to the RRC_IDLE UE residing in the cell outside positive / negative X PRBs of a narrowband NB or a wideband WB, wherein the NB or the WB includes frequency resources configured for paging monitoring and time domain resources in which the CRS is not muted based on one or more paging criteria of a paging area monitored by the UE, and the paging area includes N subframes of at least one of the following: before, after or during a paging opportunity, where N is a non-negative integer.

10. An apparatus configured for wireless communication, comprising: The processing circuit is configured to: Generate user equipment UE capability information, where the UE capability information indicates support for cell reference signal CRS muting; receiving a CRS muting configuration parameter via a system information block (SIB); and Processing data of a physical channel based on the CRS muting configuration parameter so that the CRS is received within 6 physical resource blocks PRBs or 24 PRBs within a cell bandwidth; as well as a radio frequency (RF) interface configured to provide data for transmission based on the CRS muting configuration parameters to the RF circuit, The CRS muting configuration parameter indicates that the CRS is not muted on a frequency resource including the following items: The central 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the cell bandwidth; as well as Plus / minus X PRBs for narrowband NB or wideband WB, where X is a non-negative integer.

11. The device according to claim 10, wherein: Based on the CRS muting configuration parameters, the CRS is received within the central 6 PRBs and plus / minus Y PRBs of the cell bandwidth, where Y comprises a non-negative integer based on the maximum bandwidth supported in the UE capability information and relative to each side of the central 6 PRBs.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameters comprise cell-specific parameters or UE-specific parameters, including a CRS muting subframe set, a PRB set, a NB, or a WB in which the CRS is muted.

13. The device according to claim 10, wherein: Based on the CRS muting configuration parameter, in response to a maximum downlink bandwidth of 1.4 MHz, the CRS is received within plus / minus X PRBs of 6 PRBs.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to perform the CRS muting outside of a frequency region of N subframes before, after, or during at least one of an MPDCCH subframe or a scheduled PDSCH subframe based on one or more criteria, wherein the one or more criteria include at least one of: every valid downlink subframe, or a subframe related to an MPDCCH transmission, an MPDCCH search space, or a PDSCH transmission, wherein N comprises a non-negative integer.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: perform CRS muting for RRC_IDLEUE, wherein the CRS muting is outside a frequency region of plus / minus X PRBs with a narrowband NB and outside a frequency region of N subframes of at least one of: before, after, or during a paging occasion configured to carry a paging DCI in an MPDCCH and a paging record in a PDSCH, wherein the NB is configured for paging monitoring.

16. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to: process one or more indications of the CRS muting configuration parameters, wherein the one or more indications include a bitmap, a resource index, or a periodicity with a subframe set, and the subframe set has the CRS muting in a period of the periodicity.

17. A method for silencing a cell reference signal (CRS) of a base station, comprising: The CRS muting capability is provided by a cell reference signal CRS muting configuration parameter via a system information block SIB, wherein the CRS muting configuration parameter indicates that the CRS is not muted on a frequency resource including: The central 6 physical resource blocks (PRBs) of the cell bandwidth; as well as Plus / minus X PRBs for narrowband NB or wideband WB, where X is a non-negative integer.

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