Communication device and method for random access reporting

Abstract

This disclosure relates to communication devices and methods for reporting random access. This application relates to devices and components including apparatus, systems, and methods for reporting random access configuration information in a wireless network.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to network communications, and more specifically to reporting random access configuration information in a wireless network. Background Technology

[0002] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specifications (TS) define standards for New Radio (NR) wireless networks. These TS describe aspects related to the collection, analysis, and utilization of data centered on the Radio Access Network (RAN). Attached Figure Description

[0003] Figure 1 A network environment according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0004] Figure 2 The frequency domain resources of the physical random access channel are shown according to some implementation schemes.

[0005] Figure 3 A flowchart describing the reporting of random access information according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0006] Figure 4 The operational flow / algorithm structure according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0007] Figure 5 Another operational flow / algorithm structure according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0008] Figure 6 User equipment according to some implementation schemes is shown.

[0009] Figure 7 Network devices according to some implementation schemes are shown. Detailed Implementation

[0010] The following detailed description relates to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, specific details, such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, and techniques, are set forth for illustrative and non-limiting purposes to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples departing from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods have been omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of this document, the phrases “A / B” and “A or B” refer to (A), (B), or (A and B); and the phrase “(A)B” refers to (B) or (A and B), therefore, A is optional.

[0011] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0012] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to a portion of or includes said hardware component configured to provide the described functionality. Hardware components may include electronic circuitry, logic circuitry, processors (shared, dedicated, or grouped) or memories (shared, dedicated, or grouped), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field-programmable devices (FPDs) (e.g., field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), structured ASICs, or programmable system-on-a-chip (SoCs)), or digital signal processors (DSPs). In some embodiments, a circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the said functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and program code for performing the functionality (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuit.

[0013] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" means, is part of, or includes the following: a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may also refer to an application processor, baseband processor, central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit, single-core processor, dual-core processor, triple-core processor, quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional procedures).

[0014] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" can refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as buses, I / O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, and network interface cards.

[0015] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to equipment having radio communication capabilities that allow a user to access network resources within a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, or reconfigurable mobile device. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" can include any type of wireless / wired equipment or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0016] As used herein, the term "computer system" means any type of interconnected electronic device, computer device, or component thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to the various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to each other. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to share computing resources or network resources.

[0017] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to physical or virtual devices, physical or virtual components within a computing environment, or physical or virtual components within a particular device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU utilization, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or utilization, power supply, input / output operations, port or network sockets, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory utilization, storage, network, database, and application or workload units. "Hardware resource" can refer to computing, storage, or networking resources provided by physical hardware components. "Virtualized resource" can refer to computing, storage, or networking resources provided by virtualized infrastructure to applications, devices, or systems. The terms "network resource" or "communication resource" can refer to resources accessible by a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resource" can refer to any kind of shared entity providing a service and can include computing or network resources. System resources can be considered as a coherent set of functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0018] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium used for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent with "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," or any other similar term indicating a path or medium through which data is transmitted. Additionally, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection between two devices used for transmitting and receiving information.

[0019] As used in this article, the terms "instantiate" and "instantiate" refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0020] The term "connection" can mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0021] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, network hardware, network equipment, network node, or virtualized network function.

[0022] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual content of an information element, or the data element that contains that content. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0023] Figure 1 A network environment 100 according to some embodiments is illustrated. Network environment 100 may include a UE 104 communicatively coupled to one or more base stations of a radio access network (RAN) 108. The UE 104 and the base stations may communicate via air interfaces compatible with 3GPP TS, such as those defining fifth-generation (5G) NR system standards. The base station may be a next-generation node B (gNB) to provide one or more 5G New Radio (NR) cells, thereby providing NR user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 104. In other embodiments, the base station may provide one or more cells of earlier generations (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) cells) or later generations (e.g., sixth-generation (6G) cells).

[0024] Network environment 100 may also include a core network (CN) 112. For example, CN 112 may include a 5th generation core network (5GC). CN 112 may be coupled to a base station of RAN 108 via fiber optic or wireless backhaul. CN 112 may provide functionality to UE 104 via RAN 108. These functions may include managing subscriber profile information, subscriber location, service authentication, or handover of voice and data sessions.

[0025] UE 104 can use the Random Access (RA) procedure to access RAN 108. The RA procedure can be used for various services, including initial access from Radio Resource Control (RRC) idle mode, transition from RRC inactivity to RRC connection, handover, downlink / uplink data arrival when UE 104 loses synchronization, uplink data arrival for UE 104 without Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) allocation, on-demand system information, beam fault recovery, scheduling request failure, synchronization reconfiguration, and time alignment establishment during secondary cell addition.

[0026] The RA procedure can be a contention-based random access (CBRA) procedure or a contention-free random access (CFRA) procedure. For a CBRA procedure, UE 104 selects an RA preamble from the preamble pool and transmits the selected RA preamble to the base station in Message 1 (MSG1) transmission. The base station can respond with a random access response, which can be referred to as Message 2 (MSG2) transmission, providing uplink resource allocation. UE 104 can then transmit a Common Control Channel (CCCH) transmission, which can be referred to as Message 3 (MSG3) transmission. The base station can receive and decode MSG3 and transmit a contention-resolved message (MSG4). UE 104 can decode MSG4 to determine that the base station successfully received MSG3 transmitted by UE 104.

[0027] For the CFRA procedure, UE 104 can use the RA preamble that is specifically assigned to UE 104 by the base station.

[0028] Figure 2 The Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) frequency domain resource 200 according to some implementation schemes is shown. The PRACH frequency domain resource 200 can be defined relative to an absolute frequency point A (or simply "point A") that defines the absolute frequency location of a reference resource block. Point A can correspond to the center of the lowest subcarrier belonging to common resource block (RB) 0, i.e., subcarrier 0.

[0029] Relative to the carrier offset (offsetToCarrier) value The frequency domain offset between point A and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier can be defined. The offset value relative to the carrier can be provided in the number of physical resource blocks (PRBs).

[0030] Carrier bandwidth value The size of the carrier in the PRB can be defined.

[0031] Location and Bandwidth (starting values) The start of the frequency domain location of the bandwidth portion of the RA resources to be used by UE 104 can be defined.

[0032] Location and bandwidth (locationAndBandwidth) values The size of the bandwidth portion of the RA resources that will be used by UE 104 can be defined.

[0033] MSG1 frequency start value (msg1-FrequencyStart) It can provide the offset of the lowest PRACH transmission timing in the frequency domain relative to the lowest PRB (PRB 0) in the bandwidth portion.

[0034] The MSG1 Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM) (msg1-FDM) value M can indicate the number of PRACH transmission opportunities for FDM in a time instance.

[0035] UE 104 can determine the number of PRBs for each PRACH transmission timing based on the network configuration that defines the preamble length, MSG1 subcarrier spacing, and physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) subcarrier spacing.

[0036] Table 1 below, corresponding to Table 6.3.3.2-1 of 3GPP TS 38.211v16.6.0 (2021-06), describes the supported preamble sequence lengths (L). RA ), PRACH subcarrier spacing (Δf) RA ), subcarrier spacing of PUSCH (Δf) RA And the number of resource blocks occupied by each PRACH transmission opportunity. The combination of RBs. Assuming the allocation of the number of RBs occupied is expressed in terms of the number of RBs used for PUSCH, then the subcarrier spacing of PUSCH may be required.

[0037]

[0038] Table 1

[0039] As can be seen, the sequence length of the RA preamble can include values ​​of 839, 139, 571, or 1151. To describe the various implementations, a preamble with a sequence length of 139 can be called a short preamble, a preamble with a sequence length of 571 can be called a medium preamble, a preamble with a sequence length of 839 can be called a long preamble, and a preamble with a sequence length of 1151 can be called an extra-long preamble.

[0040] The long preambles that can be listed in the first six rows of Table 1 can be unique preambles associated with the 1.25kHz and 5kHz SCS. For long preambles, RAN 108 can provide RA configuration information to UE 104 using the PRACH configuration index instead of RRC signaling. Table 2, which corresponds to part of Table 6.3.3.2-3 in 3GPP TS38.211, provides an example of random access configuration based on the PRACH configuration index. The network can provide the PRACH configuration index to UE 104, and UE 104 can access a table similar to Table 2 to determine the preamble length and MSG1 subcarrier spacing.

[0041]

[0042] Table 2

[0043] For preambles other than long preambles, RAN 108 can explicitly indicate the MSG1 subcarrier spacing using RRC signaling. In previous networks, this subcarrier spacing was limited to 15 kHz and 30 kHz in frequency range 1 (FR1) and 60 kHz and 120 kHz in frequency range 2 (FR2). FR1 can correspond to a frequency range of 410 MHz to 7,125 MHz, and FR2 can correspond to a frequency range of 24,250 MHz to 52,600 MHz.

[0044] In some implementations, UE 104 can provide RA information to the base station of RAN 108. This information can be provided to base stations other than the one that configured UE 104 with RA information. This may occur after UE 104 establishes an RRC connection with another base station due to a successful RLF or cell reselection.

[0045] Base stations can use the reported RA information to improve RACH operation in several ways. For example, RACH operation can be improved by: reducing the probability of RACH collisions and thus reducing access establishment latency; reducing data recovery latency caused by uplink asynchrony; reducing handover latency; reducing transition latency caused by inactivity; reducing beam failure recovery latency; ensuring that RACH is performed on the most appropriate downlink beam, thereby avoiding unnecessary power ramping; avoiding unnecessary interference in the network; and reducing experience latency and UE power consumption.

[0046] RA reports can be used in self-organizing network (SON) or minimal drive test (MDT) scenarios. RA information can be carried in radio link failure (RLF) reports, connection establishment failure (CEF) reports, or normal successful RA report lists (RA-ReportList). Various embodiments of this disclosure describe RA resource reporting carried in RLF reports or normal RA reports.

[0047] Existing RA resource reports include information about BWP resources and PRACH resources (for CFRA and CBRA) within the RA information public IE. BWP resources can be defined by the absoluteFrequencyPointA field, the locationAndBandwidth field, and the subcarrierSpacing field. These values ​​can correspond to the information mentioned above. Figure 2 The parameters shown and described.

[0048] For short preambles, the network can retrieve RA resources based on the following fields of the RA-InformationCommon IE: msg1-FrequencyStart; msg1-SubcarrierSpacing and msg1-FDM (as well as msg1-FrequencyStartCFRA; msg1-SubcarrierSpacingCFRA and msg1-FDMCFRA for CFRA scenarios). However, due to limitations of the existing msg1-subcarrierspacing field abstract syntax symbol 1 (ASN.1) value, the UE cannot report RA resources for long preambles, and the network cannot retrieve RA resources for long preambles. Therefore, the implementation describes a signaling aspect that allows UE 104 to fully report RA resources to the base station of RAN 108.

[0049] Figure 3 A flowchart 300 is shown for reporting RA information in an RLF report or a normal RA report according to the description of some implementation schemes.

[0050] Flowchart 300 can be described relative to UE 304, base station 1 (BS1) 308, and base station 2 (BS2) 312. UE 304 can correspond to UE 104 and is substantially interchangeable with it, and BS1 308 and BS2 312 can be one of the base stations of RAN 108.

[0051] In section 316, UE 304 can be in a connected state with BS1 308. BS1 308 can configure UE 304 using RA configuration, which includes information that allows UE 304 to determine the number of PRBs to use in each PRACH transmission timing. For example, the RA configuration may include indications of preamble length, MSG1 subcarrier spacing, and PUSCH subcarrier spacing.

[0052] At 320, UE 304 can declare an RLF and perform cell selection. The cell selection process may result in UE 304 selecting BS2 312. At 324, UE 304 can establish an RRC connection with BS2 312. The RRC connection can be established by UE 304 performing the RRC connection establishment or RRC reconstruction procedure.

[0053] UE 304 can provide an indication during RRC connection establishment that the UE has RLF / RA information that BS2 312 may be interested in. Although BS1 308 can provide RA configuration to UE 304, BS2 312 may not be aware of the RA configuration.

[0054] In 324, if an RRC connection is established during the RRC connection establishment procedure, UE 304 may provide an indication that it has RLF / RA information in the RRC establishment completion message. If an RRC connection is established via the RRC reconstruction procedure, UE 304 may provide an indication that it has RLF / RA information in the RRC reconstruction completion message. In other implementations, other RRC messages may be used to transmit the indication that UE 304 has RLF / RA information.

[0055] In some implementations, UE 304 can provide an indication by setting the RLF-InfoAvailable field to true. The RLF-InfoAvailable field can be included in the UE-MeasurementsAvailable information element (IE).

[0056] In 328, BS2 312 can request UE 304 to report RLF / RA information by transmitting a message with a UE Information Request (IE). The UE Information Request (IE) may include either a RA Report Request (ra-ReportReq) field set to "true" or an RLF Report Request (rlf-ReportReq) field set to "true" as needed.

[0057] In 332, UE 304 may transmit the requested information in a message that has an RLF report or is included in a normal RA report in a UE Information Response IE. The UE Information Response IE may include a normal RA report carried in an RA report list (ra-ReportList) or an RLF report (rlf-Report).

[0058] Existing RA reports only report absoluteFrequencyPointA, which may be insufficient for the network to retrieve the true resource location of the BWP. To address these shortcomings, RA reports according to some implementations may include an OffsetToCarrier field, which allows UE 104 to report the corresponding carrier offset value of the subcarrier spacing of the UL BWP from the network configuration in the RA-InformationCommon IE. For example, the ASN.1 text of the RA-InformationCommon IE, which can be found in 3GPP TS 38.331v16.5.0 (2021-06), can be updated with the underlined portion as follows:

[0059] RA-InformationCommon::=SEQUENCE{absoluteFrequencyPointA ARFCN-ValueNR,locationAndBandwidth INTEGER(0..37949),subcarrierSpacingSubcarrierSpacing,msg1-FrequencyStart INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-FrequencyStartCFRA INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacingCFRA SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-FDM ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,msg1-FDMCFRA ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,perRAInfoList PerRAInfoList-r16, offsetToCarrierINTEGER(0..2199) ...}

[0060] The `offsetToCarrier` field can indicate the frequency domain offset between point A (the lowest subcarrier of common RB 0) and the lowest available subcarrier on that carrier using the number of PRBs, corresponding to `subcarrierSpacing`. In some implementations, the value relative to the carrier offset can be an integer from 0 to 2199 as shown above.

[0061] OffsetToCarrier can be configured for each SCS via scs-SpecificCarrierList carried within the FrequencyInfoUL IE.

[0062] Various options can be used to address UE reporting of subcarrier spacing with long preambles. In a first option, the current msg1-SubcarrierSpacing field can be expanded to carry the SCS corresponding to the long preamble. For example, the msg1-SubcarrierSpacing field can be expanded to include options for 1.25kHz and 5kHz SCS. The msg1-SubcarrierSpacing field of the RA-InformationCommonIE can include a SubcarrierSpacingIE that can be used to determine the subcarrier spacing. In some implementations, limitations applicable to certain frequencies, channels, or signals can be specified in the field using the SubcarrierSpacing IE. To accommodate SCS with long preambles, the ASN.1 text of the SubcarrierSpacing IE can be updated with the underlined portion as follows:

[0063] --ASN1START

[0064] --TAG-SUBCARRIERSPACING-START

[0065] SubcarrierSpacing::=ENUMERATED{kHz15,kHz30,kHz60,kHz120,kHz240,

[0066] kHz 1.25 , kHz5 ,spare1}

[0067] --TAG-SUBCARRIERSPACING-STOP

[0068] --ASN1STOP

[0069] The 1.25kHz and 5kHz values ​​added to the SubcarrierSpacing IE can replace the alternative values ​​currently defined in the SubcarrierSpacing IE in 3GPP TS38.331.

[0070] In another option for UE reporting to resolve long preamble subcarrier spacing, one or more fields can be added to msg1-SubcarrierSpacing to report the SCS of the long preamble. This provides a flexible and scalable aspect for RA reporting to resolve MSG1 subcarrier spacing. The ASN.1 text of RA-InformationCommon IE can be updated to include the underlined portion as follows:

[0071] RA-InformationCommon::=SEQUENCE{absoluteFrequencyPointA ARFCN-ValueNR,locationAndBandwidth INTEGER(0..37949),subcarrierSpacingSubcarrierSpacing,msg1-FrequencyStart INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-FrequencyStartCFRA INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacingCFRA SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-FDM ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,msg1-FDMCFRA ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,perRAInfoList PerRAInfoList-r16, msg1-SubcarrierSpacingLPSubcarrierSpacingLPO PTIONAL, ...}

[0072] The MSG1 subcarrier spacing field of the RA-InformationCommon IE may include a Long Preamble Subcarrier Spacing (SubcarrierSpacingLP) IE that determines the subcarrier spacing of the long preamble. In some implementations, limitations applicable to certain frequencies, channels, or signals may be specified in the fields using the SSubcarrierSpacingLP IE. The ASN.1 text of the SubcarrierSpacingLP IE may be as follows:

[0073] --ASN1START

[0074] --TAG-SUBCARRIERSPACING-START

[0075] SubcarrierSpacingLP::=ENUMERATED{kHz1.25,kHz5,spare6,spare5,spare4,spare3,spare2,spare1}

[0076] --TAG-SUBCARRIERSPACING-STOP

[0077] --ASN1STOP

[0078] It can be seen that the SubcarrierSpacingLP IE may only include the SCS corresponding to the long preamble, such as SCS 1.25kHz and 5kHz. In other implementations, the SubcarrierSpacingLP IE may be extended to include additional / optional SCS.

[0079] In another option for UE reporting long preamble subcarrier spacing, UE 104 can send back prach-ConfigurationIndex, and the network can retrieve the long preamble MSG1 subcarrier spacing based on tables such as Table 1 and Table 2.

[0080] The ASN.1 text in RA-InformationCommon IE can be updated to include the underlined portion as follows:

[0081] RA-InformationCommon::=SEQUENCE{absoluteFrequencyPointA ARFCN-ValueNR,locationAndBandwidth INTEGER(0..37949),subcarrierSpacingSubcarrierSpacing,msg1-FrequencyStart INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-FrequencyStartCFRA INTEGER(0..maxNrofPhysicalResourceBlocks-1)OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-SubcarrierSpacingCFRA SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL,msg1-FDM ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,msg1-FDMCFRA ENUMERATED{one,two,four,eight}OPTIONAL,perRAInfoList PerRAInfoList-r16, prach-ConfigurationIndexINTEGER(0..262) OPTIONAL ...}

[0082] The prach-ConfigurationIndex can include integer values ​​from 0 to 2^62, corresponding to the PRACH configuration index in a predefined table (e.g., Table 6.3.3.2-3 of 3GPP TS 38.211). In this way, the base station can derive the MSG1 subcarrier spacing and any other relevant information from the predefined table.

[0083] In some implementations, the above options are not used or cannot be used to report RA information with long preambles. In these implementations, the network can interpret the absence of the msg1-SubcarrierSpacing field in the RA report as an indication of the use of a long preamble. The network can then know whether a 1.25 kHz SCS or a 5 kHz SCS was used, although it may not know the exact SCS used without additional information.

[0084] Figure 4 An operational flow / algorithm structure 400 is provided according to some implementation schemes. The operational flow / algorithm structure 400 can be executed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 104 or its components such as baseband processor circuitry 604A.

[0085] At 404, the operation procedure / algorithm structure 400 may include receiving a request for RA information. The base station may transmit the request for RA information after receiving an indication from the UE including RA information. This indication may be provided to the base station as part of the RRC connection establishment.

[0086] A request for RA information can be a UE information request message that includes an RA report request or an RLF report request.

[0087] The operation flow / algorithm structure 400 may also include generating an RA report at 408 to include the requested information. In some embodiments, the RA report may be generated to include a carrier offset value relative to the carrier, indicating the frequency offset between point A (e.g., the lowest subcarrier of common resource block 0) and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier. This value may be an integer from 0 to 2199 and may indicate the frequency offset in the number of PRBs. The frequency offset may correspond to the subcarrier spacing defined for the carrier.

[0088] The RA report may additionally / optionally include an indication of the subcarrier spacing for MSG1 transmissions with long RACH preambles. In some embodiments, the subcarrier spacing may be 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz. The indication of the subcarrier spacing may be in a subcarrier spacing IE that provides subcarrier spacing for short and long preambles (and possibly, medium and very long preambles); or the indication of the subcarrier spacing may be in a subcarrier spacing IE that provides subcarrier spacing only for long preambles.

[0089] The operation procedure / algorithm structure 400 may also include transmitting the RA report to the base station in step 412. The RA report may be included in a UE information response message transmitted in response to a UE information request message.

[0090] Figure 5 An operational flow / algorithm structure 500 is provided according to some implementation schemes. The operational flow / algorithm structure 500 can be executed or implemented by a base station such as RAN 108 or its components such as baseband processor circuit 704A.

[0091] In step 504, the operation flow / algorithm structure 500 may include transmitting a request for information related to RACH. This information request may be included in a UE information request message, which may include an RA report request or an RLF report request.

[0092] The operation flow / algorithm structure 500 may also include an indication of receiving configuration information at 508. This indication may be received in a UE information response message transmitted in response to a UE information request. In some embodiments, the indication of configuration information may be directly included in the UE information response message. For example, the UE information response message may include a RA information common IE, which indicates the long preamble relative to the carrier offset value or the MSG1 subcarrier spacing. In other embodiments, the indication may be an index used by the base station to access configuration information. For example, the base station may receive a PRACH index from the UE and may use the PRACH index to access a predefined table to determine configuration information associated with the RACH.

[0093] The operation flow / algorithm structure 500 may also include configuring RA resources based on configuration information in step 512. RA resources can be configured for the UE indicating the transmission configuration information, or for other UEs in the serving cell provided by the base station. RA resources can be configured to improve RACH operation in the serving cell. For example, improved operation can be achieved by: reducing RACH collision probability and thus reducing access establishment delay; reducing data recovery delay caused by uplink asynchrony; reducing handover delay; reducing transition delay caused by inactivity; reducing beam failure recovery delay; ensuring RACH is performed on the most suitable downlink beam, thereby avoiding unnecessary power ramping; avoiding unnecessary interference in the network; or reducing experience latency and UE power consumption.

[0094] Figure 6 A UE 600 according to some implementation schemes is shown. UE 600 may be similar to Figure 1 The UE104 is essentially interchangeable with it.

[0095] UE 600 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as, for example, mobile phones, computers, tablets, XR devices, glasses, industrial wireless sensors (e.g., microphones, carbon dioxide sensors, pressure sensors, humidity sensors, thermometers, motion sensors, accelerometers, laser scanners, fluid level sensors, stock sensors, voltmeters / ammeters, or actuators), video surveillance / monitoring devices (e.g., cameras or camcorders), wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches), or Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

[0096] UE 600 may include a processor 604, RF interface circuitry 608, memory / storage device 612, user interface 616, sensor 620, drive circuitry 622, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 624, antenna structure 626, and battery 628. Components of UE 600 may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions of integrated circuits, discrete electronic devices or other modules, logic components, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof. Figure 6 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of some of the components of the UE 600. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other specific implementations.

[0097] The components of UE 600 can be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 632, which can represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, or optical connector, allowing various circuit components (on common or different chips or chipsets) to interact with each other.

[0098] Processor 604 may include processor circuitry such as baseband processor circuitry (BB) 604A, central processing unit circuitry (CPU) 604B, and graphics processing unit circuitry (GPU) 604C. Processor 604 may include any type of circuitry or processor circuitry that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, or functional processes from memory / storage device 612) to cause UE 600 to perform the operations described herein.

[0099] In some implementations, the baseband processor circuitry 604A can access the communication protocol stack 636 in the memory / storage device 612 to communicate over a 3GPP-compliant network. Generally, the baseband processor circuitry 604A can access the communication protocol stack 636 to perform the following operations: user plane functions at the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, and PDU layers; and control plane functions at the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS layers. In some implementations, PHY layer operations may additionally / optionally be performed by components of the RF interface circuitry 608.

[0100] The baseband processor circuit 604A can generate or process baseband signals or waveforms carrying information in a 3GPP-compliant network. In some implementations, the waveforms used for NR can be based on cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM) in the uplink or downlink, and Discrete Fourier Transform Extended OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink.

[0101] Memory / storage device 612 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, including instructions (e.g., communication protocol stack 636) that can be executed by one or more processors in processor 604 to cause UE 600 to perform the various operations described herein. Memory / storage device 612 includes any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that can be distributed throughout UE 600. In some embodiments, some memory / storage devices 612 may be located on processor 604 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage devices 612 may be located external to processor 604 but accessible via a memory interface. Memory / storage device 612 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0102] RF interface circuitry 608 may include transceiver circuitry and a radio frequency front-end module (RFEM), which allows UE 600 to communicate with other devices via a radio access network. RF interface circuitry 608 may include various components arranged in the transmit or receive path. These components may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuitry, and control circuitry.

[0103] In the receiving path, the RFEM can receive the radiated signal from the air interface via antenna structure 626 and continue to filter and amplify the signal (using a low-noise amplifier). This signal can be provided to the receiver of the transceiver, which downconverts the RF signal into a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of processor 604.

[0104] In the transmission path, the transceiver's transmitter upconverts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides the RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM amplifies the RF signal using a power amplifier before it is radiated across the air interface via antenna 626.

[0105] In various implementations, the RF interface circuit 608 can be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0106] Antenna 626 may include antenna elements to convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves back into electrical signals. These antenna elements may be arranged in one or more antenna panels. Antenna 626 may have omnidirectional, directional, or combinations thereof antenna panels to enable beamforming and multiple-input / multiple-output communication. Antenna 626 may include a microstrip antenna, a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards, a patch antenna, or a phased array antenna. Antenna 626 may have one or more panels designed for a specific frequency band (including bands in FR1 or FR2).

[0107] User interface circuitry 616 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable users to interact with UE 600. User interface 616 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, particularly including one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). Output device circuitry may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, particularly including one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and multi-character visual outputs), or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, and projectors), wherein the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc., is generated or produced by the operation of UE 600.

[0108] Sensor 620 may include devices, modules, or subsystems designed to detect events or changes in their environment and transmit information about the detected events (sensor data) to other devices, modules, or subsystems. Examples of such sensors include: inertial measurement units including accelerometers, gyroscopes, or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) including triaxial accelerometers, triaxial gyroscopes, or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless aperture sensors); light detection and ranging sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detectors, etc.); depth sensors; ambient light sensors; ultrasonic transceivers; and microphones or other similar audio capture devices.

[0109] The driving circuitry 622 may include software and hardware elements for operating specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 600. The driving circuitry 622 may include various drivers that allow other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may exist within or be connected to the UE 600. For example, the driving circuitry 622 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device; a touchscreen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touchscreen interface; a sensor driver for acquiring sensor readings of sensor circuitry 620 and controlling and allowing access to sensor circuitry 620; a driver for acquiring actuator positions of electromechanical components or controlling and allowing access to electromechanical components; a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device; and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0110] The PMIC 624 manages the power supplied to various components of the UE 600. Specifically, relative to the processor 604, the PMIC 624 controls power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0111] In some implementations, the PMIC 624 may control or otherwise become part of various power-saving mechanisms of the UE 600, including DRX, as discussed herein.

[0112] Battery 628 can power UE 600, but in some examples, UE 600 may be installed or deployed in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to the grid. Battery 628 may be a lithium-ion battery; a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery; an aluminum-air battery; a lithium-air battery; and so on. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, battery 628 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

[0113] Figure 7 A network device 700 according to some embodiments is shown. The network device 700 may be similar to... Figure 1 The RAN108 base station is basically interchangeable with it.

[0114] Network device 700 may include processor 704, RF interface circuitry 708 (if implemented as a base station), core network (CN) interface circuitry 712, memory / storage device circuitry 716, and antenna structure 726 (if implemented as a base station).

[0115] The components of network device 700 can be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnectors 728.

[0116] The processor 704, RF interface circuit 708, memory / storage device circuit 716 (including communication protocol stack 710), antenna structure 726, and interconnector 728 are similar to those in the reference citation. Figure 6 Similar named elements are shown and described.

[0117] The CN interface circuit 712 can provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5G core network (5GC) compatible network interface protocol (such as Carrier Ethernet) or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity can be provided to / from base station 700 via fiber optic or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 712 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 712 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0118] In some implementations, base station 700 may be coupled to transmit-receive point (TRP) using antenna structure 726, CN interface circuitry or other interface circuitry.

[0119] As is widely recognized, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are generally accepted to meet or exceed industry or governmental requirements for protecting user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly explained to users.

[0120] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods as described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuitry described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples below. As another example, circuitry associated with the UE, base station, or network element described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the Examples section below.

[0121] Example

[0122] Further exemplary implementations are provided in the following sections.

[0123] Example 1 includes a method comprising: receiving a request for random access (RA) information from a base station; generating an RA report to include a relative carrier offset field having a value indicating a frequency offset between the lowest subcarrier of common resource block 0 and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier; and transmitting the RA report to the base station.

[0124] Example 2 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the value is an integer from 0 to 2199.

[0125] Example 3 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the value indicates the frequency offset in terms of the number of physical resource blocks.

[0126] Example 4 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the frequency offset corresponds to a subcarrier spacing defined for the carrier.

[0127] Example 5 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: generating the RA report to include an RA information common information element (IE), the RA information common information element including the relative carrier offset field.

[0128] Example 6 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the lowest subcarrier of the common resource block 0 is point A.

[0129] Example 7 includes the method according to Example 1 or some other embodiment herein, wherein generating the RA report includes: generating a list of radio link failure (RLF) reports or successful RA reports.

[0130] Example 8 includes a method comprising: receiving a request for random access (RA) information from a base station; generating an RA report to include a subcarrier spacing field having a value indicating a subcarrier spacing of 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz for RA resources; and transmitting the RA report to the base station.

[0131] Example 9 includes the method according to Example 8 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the subcarrier spacing is used for a random access channel (RACH) preamble with a sequence length of 839.

[0132] Example 10 includes the method according to Example 9 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: generating the RA report to include an RA information common information element (IE), the RA information common information element including the subcarrier spacing field.

[0133] Example 11 includes the method according to Example 10 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the subcarrier spacing field is a first subcarrier spacing field, and the method further includes: generating the RA information public IE to include a second subcarrier spacing field, the second subcarrier spacing field having a value indicating the subcarrier spacing of a RACH preamble with a sequence length of 839.

[0134] Example 12 includes the method according to Example 8 or some other embodiment herein, wherein generating the RA report includes: generating a list of radio link failure (RLF) reports or successful RA reports.

[0135] Example 13 includes a method comprising: transmitting to a user equipment (UE) a request for configuration information related to a random access channel (RACH); and receiving from the UE an instruction to receive the configuration information, wherein the configuration information includes a frequency offset between the lowest subcarrier of common resource block 0 and the lowest available subcarrier of a carrier, or a subcarrier spacing of 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz for random access resources.

[0136] Example 14 includes the method according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication is received in a Random Access Information Common Information Element (IE), the Random Access Information Common IE including a relative carrier offset field of frequency offset value between the lowest subcarrier having common resource block 0 and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier.

[0137] Example 15 includes the method according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication is received in a Random Access Information Common Information Element (IE), the Random Access Information Common IE including a subcarrier spacing field having a value indicating a subcarrier spacing of 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz for random access resources.

[0138] Example 16 includes the method according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the instruction is received in a Random Access Information Common Information Element (IE), the Random Access Information Common IE element including a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration index field, the PRACH configuration index field including a value, the method further comprising: accessing a predefined table based on the value to obtain the configuration information.

[0139] Example 17 includes the method according to Example 16 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the value is an integer value from 0 to 262.

[0140] Example 18 includes the method according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: establishing a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the UE; receiving from the UE an indication that the UE has information related to the RACH; and transmitting the request in a UE Information Request message based on the indication that the UE has information related to the RACH.

[0141] Example 19 includes the method according to Example 18 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the indication for receiving the configuration information includes: receiving a UE information response message, the UE information response message including a random access (RA) report having the indication of the configuration information.

[0142] Example 20 includes the method according to Example 13 or some other embodiment herein, the method further comprising: configuring random access resources within the serving cell based on the configuration information.

[0143] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising one or more elements for performing the method or any other method or process described herein, as described in or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0144] Example 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, the 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 the method or any other method or process described herein, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0145] Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuitry for performing one or more elements of the method described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20 or any other method or process described herein.

[0146] Example 24 may include a method, technique, or process, or a part or component thereof, described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0147] Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0148] Example 26 may include a signal, or a portion thereof, described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0149] Example 27 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0150] Example 28 may include a signal encoded with data according to or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0151] Example 29 may include a signal, or a portion or component thereof, encoded as a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU, or message, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20, or otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0152] Example 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0153] Example 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element will cause the processing element to perform, or in part with, the methods, techniques or processes described or associated with any of Examples 1 to 20.

[0154] Example 32 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0155] Example 33 may include methods for communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0156] Example 34 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0157] Example 35 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0158] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any of the examples above may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific embodiments provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In light of the teachings above, modifications and variations are possible, or modifications and variations may be derived from practice of various embodiments.

[0159] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, many variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the disclosure is fully understood. This disclosure is intended to render the following claims as encompassing all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A device to be implemented in user equipment, the device having: A receiving circuit is configured to receive a request for Random Access RA information from a base station; processing circuitry to generate the RA report to include a RA-InformationCommon information element (IE) having a first RA-InformationCommon subcarrier spacing (SCS) field, the first RA-InformationCommon SCS field having a value indicating a SCS of 1.25 kilohertz (kHz) or 5 kHz for the RA resource, wherein, The first RA-InformationCommon SCS field differs from the second RA-InformationCommon SCS field, which indicates the SCS at 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz, or 240kHz; and A transmission circuit for transmitting the RA report to the base station.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the SCS indicated in the first RA-InformationCommon SCS field or the second RA-InformationCommon SCS field is used as a preamble for a random access channel (RACH) with a sequence length of 839.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, in order to generate the RA report, the processing circuitry is further configured to: Generate a list of Radio Link Failure (RLF) reports or successful Radio Link (RA) reports.

4. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: Transmit a request to the user equipment (UE) for configuration information related to the random access channel (RACH); as well as The UE receives a Random Access Report (RA) report, wherein the RA report includes an RA-InformationCommon (IE) information element, the RA-InformationCommon IE having a first RA-InformationCommon (SCS) subcarrier spacing field, the first RA-InformationCommon (SCS) field having a value indicating an SCS of 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz for random access resources, wherein the first RA-InformationCommon (SCS) field is different from the second RA-InformationCommon (SCS) field, the second RA-InformationCommon (SCS) field indicating an SCS of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, or 240 kHz.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the RA-InformationCommon IE includes a relative carrier offset field having a value indicating the frequency offset between the lowest subcarrier of common resource block 0 and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the SCS indicated in the first RA-InformationCommon SCS field or the second RA-InformationCommon SCS field is used as a preamble for a random access channel (RACH) with a sequence length of 839.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the RA-InformationCommon IE includes a Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) configuration index field, the PRACH configuration index field including a value, and the method further includes: Access the predefined table based on the value included in the PRACH configuration index field to obtain the configuration information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the value is an integer value from 0 to 262.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the method further comprises: Establish a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the UE; Receive from the UE an indication that the UE has information related to the RACH; as well as Based on the indication that the UE has information related to the RACH, the request is transmitted in the UE information request message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the instruction comprises: Receive a UE information response message, the UE information response message including the RA report with the indication of the configuration information.

11. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: Configure random access resources within the serving cell based on the RA report.

12. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method as described in any one of claims 4-11.

13. An apparatus to be implemented in a base station, the apparatus comprising one or more processors configured to cause the base station to perform the method as described in any one of claims 4-11.

14. A method for wireless communication, the method comprising: Receive a request for Random Access RA information from the base station; A RA report is generated to include a RA-InformationCommon information element (IE), which has a first RA-InformationCommon subcarrier spacing (SCS) field. This first RA-InformationCommon SCS field has a value indicating an SCS of 1.25 kHz or 5 kHz for the RA resources. The first RA-InformationCommon SCS field differs from a second RA-InformationCommon SCS field, which indicates an SCS of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, or 240 kHz. The RA report is transmitted to the base station.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the SCS indicated in the first RA-InformationCommon SCS field or the second RA-InformationCommon SCS field is used as a RACH preamble for a random access channel with a sequence length of 839.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating the RA report: Generate a list of Radio Link Failure (RLF) reports or successful Radio Link (RA) reports.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the RA-InformationCommon IE includes a relative carrier offset field having a value indicating the frequency offset between the lowest subcarrier of common resource block 0 and the lowest available subcarrier of the carrier.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein, The method further includes: Establish a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with the base station; Instructions for outputting RACH-related information for transmission to the base station; and The request in the UE information request message is received based on the indication of the information associated with the RACH.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein, The output of the instruction also includes: Output a UE information response message for transmission, the UE information response message including the RA report with the indication of the information.

20. One or more computer-readable media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method as described in any one of claims 14-19.

Images