Communication System

Abstract

A method is disclosed, wherein downlink control information transmitted by a wireless access network provides an indication of at least one control resource set configured at a UE or at least one search space configured at the UE, the indication being that the UE will stop monitoring for DCI, start monitoring for DCI, or continue monitoring for DCI.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to communication systems. The present invention particularly, but not exclusively, relates to wireless communication systems and apparatus thereof operating in accordance with the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards or equivalents or derivatives thereof, including LTE-Advanced and next generation or 5G networks. The present invention is particularly (but not necessarily exclusively) related to improved apparatus and methods that support flexible monitoring of transmission of control information in downlink control channels, such as physical downlink control channels (PDCCHs). Background Art

[0002] The latest developments in 3GPP standards are referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE) (also commonly referred to as "4G") of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network and the Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). In addition, the terms "5G" and "New Radio (NR)" refer to evolved communication technologies that are expected to support a variety of applications and services. Various details of 5G networks are described, for example, in the "NGMN 5G White Paper" V1.0 of the Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) Alliance, which is available at https: / / www.ngmn.org / 5g-white-paper.html. 3GPP aims to support 5G through the so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) Radio Access Network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen Core Network.

[0003] Under the 3GPP standard, a NodeB (or "eNB" in LTE, "gNB" in 5G) is a base station through which a communication device (user equipment or "UE") connects to the core network and communicates with other communication devices or remote servers. For simplicity, this application will use the term base station to refer to any such base station.

[0004] In the current 5G architecture, for example, the gNB structure can be split into two parts called the Central Unit (CU) and the Distributed Unit (DU) connected via the F1 interface. This enables the use of a "split" architecture, whereby typically "higher" CU layers (e.g., but not necessarily or exclusively, PDCP) and typically "lower" DU layers (e.g., but not necessarily or exclusively, RLC / MAC / PHY) are implemented separately. Thus, for example, higher layer CU functionality for multiple gNBs can be implemented centrally (e.g., by a single processing unit, or in a cloud-based or virtualized system), while retaining lower layer DU functionality locally in each gNB.

[0005] For simplicity, this application will use the term mobile device, user device or UE to refer to any communication device that can connect to a core network via one or more base stations. Although this application often refers to mobile devices in the specification, it should be understood that the described technology can be implemented on any communication device (mobile and / or generally fixed) that can connect to a communication network to send / receive data, regardless of whether such communication device is controlled by human input or by software instructions stored in memory.

[0006] In 5G, the concept of a control resource set (CORESET) is introduced. A CORESET is a set of time-frequency resources that a UE can search for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by a base station on a PDCCH. A CORESET is similar to the control region at the starting LTE subframe. However, unlike LTE, where the frequency domain of the control region corresponds to the total system bandwidth, the frequency domain position of a CORESET is located to a specific region in the frequency domain and has a variable width that can be set to any suitable value (a multiple of 6 resource blocks, where each resource block includes 12 subcarriers in the frequency domain).

[0007] The base station can transmit control information for a specific UE in a PDCCH using resources of a UE-specific CORESET defined for the specific UE. The PDCCH consists of a number of control channel elements (CCEs) depending on the required aggregation level (L). Each CCE includes a set of time / frequency resources, which includes a bundle of resource element groups, each group including multiple resource elements.

[0008] Allowing different UEs to be assigned different sets of resources for their dedicated PDCCH signaling reduces, but does not eliminate, the probability of a PDCCH blocking event in which there are no idle CCEs for scheduling a given UE at a particular aggregation level in its search space.

[0009] Many different DCI formats can be used for transmission on the PDCCH, and the format of the transmission is unknown in advance to the UE. Therefore, the UE typically needs to make multiple blind attempts to detect the DCI format. Although the CCE and CORESET structure helps to reduce the number of blind decoding attempts required, this is not enough to reduce the number of blind decoding attempts to a practical level. To alleviate this problem, while still providing scheduling flexibility to the base station, a discrete number of search spaces are defined in which the UE will search for possible PDCCH resource locations (PDCCH "candidates") for the DCI. Each search space is a set of candidate PDCCHs formed by CCEs of a given aggregation level that the UE can attempt to decode.

[0010] Since there are multiple different possible aggregation levels, there may be several search spaces for a given CORESET, and since there may be multiple CORESETs, the number of blind decoding attempts may still be relatively high. Thus, the respective number of PDCCH candidates for each PDCCH search space set is also configurable to enable blind decoding attempts to be spread across search spaces of different aggregation levels.

[0011] Each PDCCH search space set may form a UE-specific search space (USS) configured for a single UE, or a common search space (CSS) which is similar in structure to the USS but has a set of CCEs that are predefined and therefore known to all UEs.

[0012] Typically, at least the following five PDCCH search space sets are configured to support basic communication functions:

[0013] A common search space set for system information block type 1 (SIB1),

[0014] A common set of search spaces for other system information,

[0015] A common search space set for RACH,

[0016] A common set of search spaces for paging, and

[0017] UE-specific search space set for data transmission and reception.

[0018] Before a UE can attempt to decode a PDCCH candidate, it must first perform channel estimation based on the demodulation reference signals (DMRS) transmitted in the CCEs forming the PDCCH candidate. The number of PDCCH DMRS used for channel estimation depends on the number of CCEs forming the PDCCH candidate.

[0019] In order to reduce device complexity, the maximum number of blind decoding attempts permitted to the UE and the number of CCEs for channel estimation are both limited according to the subcarrier spacing and therefore according to the time slot duration. When the UE is searching for control information, any PDCCH candidates that are not searched will be skipped (or "discarded") when the number of blind decoding attempts or the number of CCEs exceeds the maximum value defined for the UE. This means that in some cases, not all search spaces will be searched, so rules are used to determine which search spaces should be searched first. According to the rule, the common search space set is prioritized over the UE-specific search space set, and the UE-specific search space set is prioritized based on their identification, where the USS with a smaller index is prioritized over the USS with a larger index.

[0020] At the 3GPP Technical Standards Group (TSG) RAN meeting #86, a new study was initiated to develop so-called Reduced Capability ("RedCap" or "REDCAP") UEs for a number of specific use cases including, but not limited to, industrial wireless sensing, video surveillance, and wearables.

[0021] REDCAP UEs typically: have significantly reduced device complexity compared to early versions of high-end enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC) devices (especially for industrial sensors); support reduced device size, as most use cases require the capabilities of a device design with a compact form factor; and support all frequency bands of both 5G frequency ranges (i.e., FR1 and FR2) for both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD).

[0022] Different use cases of REDCAP UE each have different technical requirements, making the design of communication protocols and devices supporting REDCAP UE more challenging. For example, the requirements of some key use cases can be summarized as follows:

[0023] Industrial Wireless Sensors

[0024] Communication service availability should ideally be at least 99.99% and end-to-end latency less than 100ms. The reference bit rate should ideally be less than 2Mbps for all use cases (e.g., possibly uplink / downlink asymmetric due to heavy uplink (UL) traffic), and the device should be stationary. The battery should ideally last at least a few years. For safety-related sensors, the latency requirement can be lower, e.g., 5 to 10ms.

[0025] Video surveillance

[0026] Reference economic video bit rate capabilities will ideally be in the range of 2 to 4 Mbps. Latency should ideally be less than 500ms. Reliability should ideally be 99% to 99.9%. High-end video for example for agriculture may require higher video bit rate capabilities in the range of 7.5 to 25 Mbps. Traffic patterns dominated by UL transmissions should be supported.

[0027] Wearable products

[0028] The reference bitrate for smart wearable application capabilities will ideally be in the range of 5 to 50 Mbps in the downlink (DL) and in the range of 2 to 5 Mbps in the UL. The peak bitrate capability of the device should ideally be higher (in the range of 10 to 150 Mbps for DL ​​and 5 to 50 Mbps for UL). The battery of the device should last for multiple days (up to 1-2 weeks).

[0029] It can be seen that for REDCAP UEs, power saving is an important design aspect, for example due to smaller form factor and longer battery life requirements. Therefore, to help support such power saving, the ability of REDCAP UEs to monitor control information on the PDCCH will generally be reduced, with stricter restrictions on the number of blind decoding attempts allowed and the maximum number of CCEs that can be subject to channel estimation.

[0030] Some REDCAP UEs may not support the use of small aggregation levels (such as L=1 or L=2, etc.), while other REDCAP UEs may not be able to support high aggregation levels (eg, L=16) due to bandwidth limitations.

[0031] Furthermore, the PDCCH blocking probability may increase due to a possible reduced bandwidth, a possible larger aggregation level, and / or a possible reduced number of CCEs available for REDCAP UEs. Summary of the invention

[0032] The present invention aims to provide improved apparatus and methods which overcome or at least partially ameliorate the above-mentioned problems.

[0033] Example aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent claims. Optional but advantageous features are set out in the accompanying dependent claims.

[0034] According to an exemplary aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the method comprises: receiving first information and second information from the wireless access network, wherein the first information is used to configure at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, and the second information is used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein control information is searched within the at least one search space; monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network within the at least one search space within the at least one control resource set; receiving a packet from the wireless access network A DCI including third information, wherein the third information is used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information; and within the at least one search space within the control resource set reconfigured by the third information, monitoring the DCI transmitted by the wireless access network, wherein the third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI within the indication.

[0035] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a user equipment, i.e., UE, is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising: obtaining information for mapping each power saving configuration among a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration; and providing UE auxiliary information to the wireless access network, the UE auxiliary information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration among the plurality of power saving configurations that represents a configuration or capability of the UE.

[0036] According to an exemplary aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising: during a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS); wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element, and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set (PDCCH candidate set), and DCI is searched within the corresponding PDCCH candidate set; wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity: (a) treating a first search space of the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as the current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in turn until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered; and (b) after the current search space has been fully searched and the multiple search spaces are included in the current time slot. In the case of at least one remaining search space that has not been searched, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot is selected for next search, and steps (a) and (b) are repeated with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) in the case of triggering the end of the search in the current time slot, steps (a) to (c) are repeated during the period in which the subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is used as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein, before performing step (b) , for the current time slot, assigning at least one USS as a highest priority USS; wherein, when selecting a search space to be searched next in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search spaces that have not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, the priority scheme requiring the USSs to be prioritized starting from the USS with the highest priority, and wherein the method further includes: before repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity, reassigning a different USS as the highest priority USS.

[0037] According to an exemplary aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising: during a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS); wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element (CCE), and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set (PDCCH candidate set), and DCI is searched within the corresponding PDCCH candidate set, each PDCCH candidate comprising at least one CCE; wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity: (a) treating a first search space of the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as the current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in turn until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered; and (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the multiple search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot. , unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, select the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to search next, and repeat steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeat steps (a) to (c) during the period when the subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and in the case where the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues, the UE is triggered. signaling the end of the search in the current time slot; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts that can be used to search the CSS; and when selecting the next search space to be searched in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, wherein the priority scheme requires prioritizing the CSS that has not been searched in the current time slot until further searching in the CSS will result in exceeding the maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts, after which priority is given to the USS that has not been searched in the current time slot.

[0038] According to an exemplary aspect, a method performed by a user equipment, i.e., a UE, is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising: during a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information, i.e., DCI, transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space, i.e., CSS, and at least one UE-specific search space, i.e., USS; wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element, i.e., CCE, and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, i.e., PDCCH candidate set, in which DCI is to be searched, each PDCCH candidate comprising at least one CCE; wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity: (a) treating a first search space of the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as the current search space, and attempting to search each PDCCH candidate in the current search space in turn; (a) performing blind decoding until the end of the search in the current search space is triggered; (b) in the case where the current search space has been completely searched and the multiple search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to search next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during the period where a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is used as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and even in the case where the current search space has not been completely searched, the end of the search in the current search space and the current time slot is triggered when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues.

[0039] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a user equipment, i.e., UE, is provided, wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising: identifying a continuous time slot sequence for forming a monitoring opportunity; and during the monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information, i.e., DCI, transmitted by the wireless access network within multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, wherein when performing the monitoring, the UE monitors the control information within a time slot in the continuous time slot sequence, and the time slots in the continuous time slot sequence are separated by a non-monitoring interval having at least one other time slot in the continuous time slot sequence.

[0040] According to an exemplary aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to: receive first information and second information from the wireless access network, the first information being used to configure at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, the second information being used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein control information is to be searched within the at least one search space; monitor downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network within the at least one search space within the at least one control resource set; and A wireless access network receives a DCI including third information, wherein the third information is used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information; and monitors the DCI transmitted by the wireless access network within the at least one search space within the control resource set reconfigured by the third information, wherein the third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0041] According to an example aspect, a user equipment, i.e., UE, is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to: obtain information for mapping each of a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration; and control the transceiver to provide UE auxiliary information to the wireless access network, the UE auxiliary information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration among the plurality of power saving configurations that represents a configuration or capability of the UE.

[0042] According to an exemplary aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to: during a monitoring opportunity, monitor downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS); wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element, and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set (PDCCH candidate set), and DCI will be searched within the corresponding PDCCH candidate set; wherein the controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to: (a) regard a first search space of the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempt to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in turn until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered; and (b) after the current search space has been fully searched and the multiple search spaces are included in the current time slot, blindly decode the PDCCH candidates of the current search space in turn. In the case where there is at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the previous time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot is selected for next search, and steps (a) and (b) are repeated with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, steps (a) to (c) are repeated during the period when the subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is used as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein, before performing step (b), for the current time slot, at least one USS is assigned as a highest priority USS; wherein the controller is configured to control the UE so that, when selecting a search space to be searched next in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search spaces that have not been searched in the current time slot based on a prioritization scheme, wherein the prioritization scheme requires that the USSs be prioritized starting from the USS with the highest priority, and wherein the controller is configured to control the UE to reassign a different USS as the highest priority USS before repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity.

[0043] According to an exemplary aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to: during a monitoring opportunity, monitor downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS); wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element, and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate A set, namely a PDCCH candidate set, will search for DCI within the corresponding PDCCH candidate set; wherein the controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to: (a) regard a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as the current search space, and attempt to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in turn until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered; (b) when the current search space has been completely searched and the multiple search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, except If the end of the search in the current time slot is not triggered, otherwise the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot is selected for next search, and steps (a) and (b) are repeated with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) if the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, steps (a) to (c) are repeated during the period in which the subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is used as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and if the search continues, the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded, the UE is triggered in the current time slot. The end of the search; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum share for searching the CSS that can enable the maximum number of blind decoding attempts; and the controller is configured to control the UE so that when the next search space to be searched is selected in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, wherein the priority scheme requires prioritizing the CSS that has not been searched in the current time slot until further searching in the CSS will result in exceeding the maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts, after which the USS that has not been searched in the current time slot is prioritized.

[0044] According to an exemplary aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to: during a monitoring opportunity, monitor downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set, the multiple search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS); wherein the control resource set comprises at least one control channel element, and each search space comprises a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set (PDCCH candidate set), and DCI is searched within the corresponding PDCCH candidate set; wherein the controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to: (a) regard a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempt to search each search space of the current search space in turn; (a) performing blind decoding on PDCCH candidates until the end of the search in the current search space is triggered; (b) when the current search space has been fully searched and the multiple search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot for next search, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and (c) when the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during the period in which a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity is used as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered; wherein the UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and even when the current search space has not been fully searched, the end of the search in the current search space and the current time slot is triggered when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts would be exceeded if the search continues.

[0045] According to an example aspect, a user equipment, i.e., UE, is provided for communicating with a wireless access network in a communication system, the UE comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to identify a continuous time slot sequence for forming a monitoring opportunity, and control the transceiver to monitor downlink control information, i.e., DCI, transmitted by the wireless access network in multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set during the monitoring opportunity, wherein the controller is configured to control the UE to monitor control information in time slots in the continuous time slot sequence, the time slots in the continuous time slot sequence being separated by non-monitoring intervals having at least one other time slot in the continuous time slot sequence.

[0046] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a wireless access network is provided, wherein the wireless access network is used to communicate with a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting first information and second information to the UE, the first information being used to configure at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, and the second information being used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein control information will be searched within the at least one search space; and transmitting DCI including third information from the wireless access network to the UE, the third information being used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein the third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0047] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a wireless access network is provided, wherein the wireless access network is used to communicate with a user equipment, i.e., UE, in a communication system, the method comprising: obtaining information for mapping each power saving configuration among a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration; receiving UE auxiliary information from the UE, the UE auxiliary information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration among the plurality of power saving configurations that represents a configuration or capability of the UE; and configuring communication with the UE based on the received UE auxiliary information.

[0048] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a wireless access network is provided, wherein the wireless access network is used to communicate with a user equipment, i.e., UE, in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting to the UE information for configuring at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network is capable of transmitting control information, and second information for configuring multiple search spaces within at least one control resource set including at least one UE-specific search space, i.e., USS, wherein the information includes information for configuring the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and the maximum share of the common search space, i.e., CSS, that can be used by the UE to search.

[0049] According to an example aspect, a method performed by a wireless access network is provided, wherein the wireless access network is used to communicate with a user equipment, i.e., UE, in a communication system, the method comprising: transmitting to the UE information indicating a continuous time slot sequence for forming a monitoring opportunity, wherein the information includes information indicating intervals between time slots in the continuous time slot sequence that have not yet been monitored by the UE.

[0050] According to an example aspect, a wireless access network node is provided for communicating with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to: transmit first information and second information to the UE, the first information being used to configure at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, the second information being used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein control information will be searched within the at least one search space; and transmit DCI including third information from the wireless access network to the UE, the third information being used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein the third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will monitor for the DCI, start monitoring for the DCI, or continue monitoring for the DCI.

[0051] According to an example aspect, a wireless access network node is provided for communicating with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to: obtain information for mapping each power saving configuration among a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration; control the transceiver to receive UE auxiliary information from the UE, the UE auxiliary information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration among the plurality of power saving configurations representing a configuration or capability of the UE; and configure communication with the UE based on the received UE auxiliary information.

[0052] According to an example aspect, a wireless access network node is provided for communicating with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to transmit to the UE information for configuring at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, and second information for configuring multiple search spaces including at least one UE-specific search space, i.e., USS, within at least one control resource set, wherein the information includes information for configuring the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and the maximum share of the common search space, i.e., CSS, that can be used by the UE to search.

[0053] According to an example aspect, a wireless access network node is provided for communicating with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising: a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to transmit to the UE information indicating a continuous time slot sequence for forming a monitoring opportunity, wherein the information includes information indicating the interval between time slots in the continuous time slot sequence that have not yet been monitored by the UE.

[0054] Example aspects of the invention extend to corresponding systems, apparatus and computer program products, such as computer-readable storage media storing instructions, which are operable to program a programmable processor to perform the methods as set forth above or described in the example aspects and possibilities recited in the claims and / or to program a suitably adapted computer to provide the apparatus recited in any one of the claims.

[0055] Each feature disclosed in this specification (which term includes the claims) and / or shown in the drawings may be incorporated into the invention independently of (or in combination with) any other disclosed and / or shown feature. In particular, but not limited to, the features of any claim dependent on a particular independent claim may be introduced into that independent claim in any combination or alone. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0056] Example embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0057] Figure 1 Schematically shown Figure 1 mobile ("cellular" or "wireless") telecommunications systems;

[0058] Figure 2 Shows that it can be Figure 1 Typical frame structures used in telecommunication systems;

[0059] Figure 3A yes Figure 1 A simplified illustration of a time slot including a plurality of CORESETs in a telecommunication system;

[0060] Figure 3B yes Figure 1 A simplified illustration of the relationship between PDCCH candidates and various resource groupings in a telecommunications system;

[0061] Figure 4A is a simplified illustration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism;

[0062] Figure 4B is a simplified illustration of the contents of a DCI format for notifying power saving information outside of DRX active time;

[0063] Figure 5 It is shown Figure 1 A schematic block diagram of the main components of a user equipment used in the telecommunications system shown;

[0064] Figure 6 It is shown Figure 1 A schematic block diagram of the main components of a base station used in the telecommunication system shown;

[0065] Fig. 7A is a simplified illustration of a DRX cycle, where a wake-up signal is used to indicate whether the UE should become active;

[0066] Figure 7B is another simplified illustration of another DRX cycle, in which a wake-up signal is used to indicate whether the UE should become active;

[0067] Fig. 8A It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified timing diagram of a process implemented in a telecommunications system;

[0068] Figure 8B It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified timing diagram of another process implemented in a telecommunications system;

[0069] Fig. 9 It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified timing diagram of another process implemented in a telecommunications system;

[0070] Fig.10 It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified flow chart of a process performed by a UE in a telecommunications system;

[0071] Fig.11 It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified flow chart of another process performed by a UE in a telecommunications system;

[0072] Fig.12 It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified flow chart of another process performed by a UE in a telecommunications system of; and

[0073] Fig.13 Shown in Figure 1 PDCCH monitoring during monitoring opportunities of the telecommunication system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0074] Overview

[0075] Now refer to Figure 1 4 illustrate an exemplary telecommunications system by way of example only.

[0076] Figure 1 There is schematically shown a mobile ("cellular" or "wireless") telecommunications system 1 to which example embodiments of the present invention may be applied.

[0077] In the network 1, user equipment (UE) 3-1, 3-2, 3-3 (e.g., mobile phones and / or other mobile devices) can communicate with each other via base stations 5, and can communicate with each other via radio access network (RAN) nodes 5 operating according to one or more compatible radio access technologies (RATs). In the example shown, the RAN nodes 5 include NR / 5G base stations or "gNBs" 5 operating one or more associated cells 9. Communications via the base stations 5 are typically routed through a core network 7 (e.g., a 5G core network or an evolved packet core (EPC) network).

[0078] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, although for purposes of illustration, Figure 1 Three UEs 3 and one base station 5 are shown in FIG. 5 , but the system when implemented will typically include other base stations and UEs.

[0079] Each base station 5 controls (one or more) associated cells directly or indirectly via one or more other nodes (such as home base stations, repeaters, remote radio heads, distributed units and / or the like). It will be understood that the base stations 5 can be configured to support both 4G and 5G, and / or any other 3GPP or non-3GPP communication protocols.

[0080] The UE 3 and its serving base station 5 are connected via a suitable air interface (e.g., a so-called "Uu" interface and / or the like). Neighboring base stations 5 may be connected to each other via a suitable base station to base station interface (such as a so-called "X2" interface, "Xn" interface and / or the like).

[0081] The core network 7 includes a plurality of logical nodes (or "functions") for supporting communications in the telecommunications system 1. In this example, the core network 7 includes a control plane function (CPF) 10 and one or more user plane functions (UPFs) 11. The CPF 10 includes one or more access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 10-1, one or more session management functions (SMFs), and a plurality of other functions 10-n.

[0082] The base station 5 is connected to the core network node via an appropriate interface (or "reference point"), such as an N2 reference point between the base station 5 and the AMF 10-1 for communication of control signaling, and an N3 reference point between the base station 5 and each UPF 11 for communication of user data. The UEs 3 are each connected to the AMF 10-1 via a logical non-access stratum (NAS) connection over an N1 reference point (similar to the S1 reference point in LTE). It will be understood that N1 communications are transparently routed via the base station 5.

[0083] The (one or more) UPF 11 is connected to an external data network (eg, an IP network such as the Internet) via a reference point N6 for communication of user data.

[0084] AMF 10-1 performs mobility management related functions, maintains non-NAS signaling connections with each UE 3, and manages UE registration. AMF 10-1 is also responsible for managing paging. SMF 10-2 provides session management functions (forming part of the MME function in LTE) and additionally combines some control plane functions (provided by the serving gateway and packet data network gateway in LTE). SMF 10-2 also allocates an IP address to each UE 3.

[0085] In this example, one of the UEs 3-1 is a so-called reduced capability (REDCAP) UE (e.g., a UE with reduced device complexity (compared to earlier versions of high-end enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) devices)) that supports a compact form factor and supports frequency bands FR1 and FR2 for both FDD and TDD.

[0086] Referring to FIG. 1 , a typical frame structure that may be used in telecommunication system 1 is shown. Figure 2 , a base station 5 and a UE 3 of a telecommunication system 1 communicate with each other using resources organized in a time domain as frames of length 10 ms. Each frame comprises 10 equally sized subframes of length 1 ms. Each subframe is divided into one or more time slots, which comprise 14 orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols of equal length.

[0087] [Mathematics 1]

[0088] like Figure 2 As shown, the telecommunication system 1 supports a number of different system parameters (subcarrier spacing (SCS), time slot length and thus OFDM symbol length). In particular, each system parameter is identified by a parameter μ, where μ=0 represents 15 kHz (corresponding to LTE SCS). At this point, the SCS for other values ​​of μ can actually be derived from μ=0 by scaling by a power of 2 (i.e., SCS=15×2 μkHz). The relationship between the parameter μ and SCS (Δf) is shown in Table 1:

[0089] [Table 1]

[0090] μ <![CDATA[Δf=2 μ ·15[kHz]]]> Number of slots per subframe Slot length (ms) 0 15 1 1 1 30 2 0.5 2 60 4 0.25 3 120 8 0.125 4 240 16 0.0625

[0091] Table 1-5G digital solutions

[0092] Referring to Figure 3, Figure 3A yes Figure 1 A simplified illustration of a telecommunication system including time slots of a plurality of CORESETs, and Figure 3B yes Figure 1 A simplified illustration of the relationship between PDCCH candidates and various resource groupings in a telecommunications system.

[0093] like Figure 3A As shown, a base station 5 of a telecommunications system 1 may configure a UE 3 (such as a REDCAP UE 3-1) with one or more CORESETs 310 that include a set of time-frequency resources that the UE 3 may search for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the base station 5 on a PDCCH. Each CORESET may be up to 3 OFDM symbols in length. The CORESETs configured for the UE 3 will typically include one or more UE-specific CORESETs configured, for example, by RRC signaling and one or more common CORESETs configured by system information (e.g., by a master information block (MIB)). For example, the base station 5 is configured to use the MIB to configure an initial CORESET (CORESET 0) in which a PDCCH is searched that provides scheduling for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) that provides a system information block type 1 (SIB1).

[0094] Therefore, the base station 5 can transmit downlink control information (DCI) for the specific UE 3 in the PDCCH using the resources of the UE-specific CORESET defined for the specific UE 3.

[0095] [Mathematical formula 2]

[0096] like Figure 3BAs shown, the PDCCH consists of multiple (usually 1, 2, 4, 8, 16) control channel elements (CCEs) depending on the required aggregation level (L∈[1,2,4,8,16)). Each CCE consists of multiple (usually 1, 2, 3) resource element group bundles (REG bundles), each of which includes multiple resource element groups (REGs) consisting of resource elements (REs). Each RE is actually the smallest unit of the resource grid and consists of one subcarrier in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. REG corresponds to one resource block (i.e., 12 REs / subcarriers) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain.

[0097] Multiple search spaces may be dynamically configured by the base station 5, or may be predefined, in which the UE 3 may search for DCI. Each search space comprises a set of candidate PDCCHs formed by the CCEs of a CORESET of a given aggregation level that the UE 3 may attempt to decode. The search space may comprise one or more UE-specific search spaces (USSs) configured for a single UE (e.g., using RRC signaling from the base station to the UE) and / or one or more common search spaces (CSSs) that are predefined and therefore known in advance to all UEs 3.

[0098] For example, the following five PDCCH search space sets are usually configured to support basic communication functions:

[0099] A common search space set for system information block type 1 (SIB1),

[0100] A common set of search spaces for other system information,

[0101] A common search space set for RACH,

[0102] A common set of search spaces for paging, and

[0103] UE-specific search space set for data transmission and reception.

[0104] The parameters configuring each CORESET define the time / frequency resources of the CORESET in which downlink control information is searched. Each CORESET may be identified by a CORESET identifier / index (e.g., using a ControlResourceSetID IE or similar). The parameters configuring each search space define how / where to search for PDCCH candidates in the CORESET associated with that search space. Each search space may be identified by a search space identifier / index (e.g., using a SearchSpaceID or similar). Each search space may be associated with one or more additional search spaces forming part of a group of search spaces or a "search space set" by means of a common group identifier or index (e.g., searchSpaceGroupId or similar).

[0105] The UE 3 is configured to make a channel estimation requirement based on the Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) transmitted by the base station in the CCEs forming the PDCCH candidate before making any attempt to decode any control DCI provided in the PDCCH candidate.

[0106] The base station 5 may use a plurality of different DCI formats as required to transmit on a PDCCH corresponding to one of the PDCCH candidates within one of the search spaces configured for a given UE 3. For example, the base station 5 may be able to transmit DCI using one or more of the currently standardized DCI formats as listed in Table 2:

[0107] [Table 2]

[0108]

[0109]

[0110] Table 2 - DCI format summary

[0111] The reduced capabilities of a REDCAP UE may mean that detection is not performed for all of these DCI formats. For example, a REDCAP UE 3-1 will typically not have the capability to monitor DCI format 2_0 (slot format indicator) on the licensed band for search space set group switching.

[0112] Referring to Figure 4, Figure 4A is a simplified illustration of a discontinuous reception (DRX) mechanism, and Figure 4B is a simplified illustration of the content of a DCI format used to signal power saving information outside of the DRX active time of one or more UEs.

[0113] Each UE 3 is configured to be able to implement a number of power saving functions including the ability to operate in DRX mode, similar to Figure 4A The following situation is shown: UE 3 is configured to turn off the RF circuit and front-end hardware during the DRX inactivity, sleep or "OFF" time period of the DRX cycle, and turn on the circuit and hardware during the activity or "ON" time period of the DRX cycle to detect and receive control information such as scheduling information on the PDCCH.

[0114] However, in the case of occasional traffic, it may be inefficient for the UE 3 to periodically wake up for each DRX ON period to monitor PDCCH candidates before returning to an inactive state during the OFF period. Therefore, each UE 3 including REDCAPUES 3-1 is configured to continue monitoring for a special DCI format (DCI format 2_6) during the OFF period. The DCI format includes a wake-up signal (WUS) field 410, which is used to inform a given UE 3 whether to wake up at the beginning of the ON period of the next DRX cycle for potential data scheduling.

[0115] like Figure 4A As shown, in the current version of DCI format 2_6, the WUS field 410 includes a single bit, which is set to "1" to indicate to the UE 3 that it should wake up, and is set to "0" to indicate to the UE 3 that it should not wake up.

[0116] like Figure 4B As shown, DCI format 2_6 also includes a secondary cell (SCell) sleep indication to indicate whether one or more SCells should remain dormant after the UE wakes up. In order to reduce blocking rate and resource overhead, DCI format 2_6 can be used to transmit multiple WUS 410-1 to 410-n and SCell sleep indication 412-1 to 412-n for one or more UEs in the group, wherein each UE in the group is configured with a location for the wake-up indication.

[0117] Advantageously, the telecommunications network 1 implements a number of advantageous procedures and features. These procedures and features are particularly beneficial in the context of REDCAP UEs, but may be extended to other types of UEs to provide additional PDCCH monitoring flexibility, reliability and / or efficiency. It will be appreciated that these procedures and features are neither dependent on nor mutually exclusive of each other, and thus may be implemented separately or in combination in isolation from each other.

[0118] Dynamic CORESET / Search Space ON / OFF

[0119] For example, the telecommunications network 1 beneficially implements a number of procedures for enabling CORESETs and / or search spaces to be dynamically switched on or off for a given UE 3 .

[0120] In a particularly advantageous procedure, the base station 5 is able to configure the UE 3 to reconfigure the CORESET and / or search space once the UE 3 wakes up from the inactive or OFF portion of the DRX cycle. Specifically, in the telecommunications system 1, when the UE 3 wakes up and becomes active during the DRX ON period, the DCI format 2_6 is modified to inform each UE 3 of the (one or more) CORESET and / or (one or more) search space set to be monitored by the UE 3 outside the DRX active time.

[0121] Advantageously, the WUS field of DCI format 2_6 is modified to provide an indication of each CORESET and / or PDCCH search space set to be monitored by UE 3.

[0122] Thus, the base station 5 is able to dynamically configure the UE 3 and in particular the REDCAP UE 3-1 to update the CORESET(s) and / or search space set(s) to be monitored after a period of sleep (e.g. when some of the originally configured CCEs are being occupied by other active UEs 3 and thus the blocking risk is high). Thus, dynamic search space "ON / OFF" is supported by the UE 3 (including the REDCAP UE 3-1) and can be applied in conjunction with the DRX operating mode to ensure that once the UE 3 wakes up, it starts monitoring the correct search space / CORESET.

[0123] This approach thus allows reducing the number of search space sets monitored simultaneously and allows dynamically reconfiguring the active search space set while the UE is awake without increasing PDCCH monitoring. Thus, it can be seen that the CORESET / search space can be beneficially configured based on data traffic and thereby reduce the number of blind decoding attempts and blocking probability while maintaining scheduling flexibility.

[0124] It will be appreciated that it may also be beneficial for the UE 3, and in particular the REDCAP UE 3-1, to be able to update the monitored search space sets if some of the configured search space sets are being blocked by other (higher priority) UEs while the UE 3 is active.

[0125] Thus, in another particularly advantageous process, the base station 5 is able to configure the UE 3 to reconfigure the CORESET and / or search space when the UE 3 is active (e.g., during the ON time period of the DRX cycle). Specifically, the telecommunications system 1 also implements modified DCI formats 1_1 and / or 0_1, which can be used by the base station 5 to reconfigure the CORESET and / or associated PDCCH search space set monitored by the UE 3 and in particular the REDCAP UE3-1 during the active time. Beneficially, in this example, in order to avoid an increase in the DCI size, the purpose of one or more existing fields of the DCI format is changed to provide an indication of each CORESET and / or PDCCH search space set to be monitored by the UE 3. Thus, beneficially, there is no increase in PDCCH monitoring caused by the change. Specifically, in this example, the code block group (CBG) transmission information (CBGTI) field is reused, but it will be understood that the purpose of different fields can be changed instead. However, it will be appreciated that various existing fields may be repurposed to provide the indication, or that additional dedicated fields may be added rather than repurposed fields.

[0126] It will be understood that modifications of DCI format 1_1 / 0_1 may be used in place of, or in conjunction with, modifications of DCI format 2_6. Fields used in DCI format 1_1, 0_1, or 2_6 to reconfigure CORESETs and / or search spaces may, for example, take the form of a bitmap with individual bits representing the ON / OFF configuration of each CORESET and / or search space set that the UE 3 may be configured with (e.g., where: "1" indicates "ON"; "0" indicates "OFF", or vice versa). For example, if a REDCAP UE 3-1 may support three search space sets, three bits may be introduced in the DCI for turning on or off dynamic indication of the three active search space sets, where: "1" indicates "ON"; "0" indicates "OFF".

[0127] After establishing the RRC connection, the search space set for SIB1 and other system information can be advantageously released to reduce the number of search space sets monitored simultaneously and thereby reduce the number of blind decoding attempts. In addition, search space sets for other functions can be configured to replace the released search space sets. For example, the PDCCH search space set to be searched by the UE 3 can be reconfigured to control information related to preemption, slot format indication (SFI), group transmission power control (TPC), power saving, and / or the like.

[0128] Advantageously, in the telecommunications system 1, the maximum number of search space sets that the UE 3 monitors simultaneously is configurable (e.g., between 3 and 8 (inclusive)). It will be appreciated that the maximum number of search space sets that are monitored simultaneously may be configured using RRC signaling, or may be configured by UE power saving assistance information for the UE 3, from which the base station 5 may derive an appropriate value for the specific configuration of the UE.

[0129] UE assistance information for reduced PDCCH monitoring

[0130] To support various types of terminals and services, multiple reduced PDCCH monitoring capabilities may be configured for the REDCAP UE 3-1 in the telecommunication system 1. To support this, the REDCAP UE 3-1 is advantageously configured to report its reduced PDCCH monitoring capabilities to the base station.

[0131] However, in order to mitigate the network complexity and inefficiency that may be caused by freely reporting different sets of UE capabilities in an unrestricted manner, a UE power saving preference table or set of sub-tables defining multiple different UE power saving configurations is configured, each power saving configuration representing a different set of individual parameters. In this example, an indication of the power saving configuration of a particular UE 3 is reported by the UE 3 to the base station 5 as part of the UE assistance information. The base station 5 is configured to determine from the received indication a set of requirements for appropriately configuring the UE 3 based on the corresponding power saving configuration.

[0132] PDCCH candidate discarding

[0133] Each UE 3 is pre-configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts and a maximum number of CCEs to be used for channel estimation purposes in a given time slot. When a UE 3 is searching for control information, any unsearched PDCCH candidates will be skipped (or "discarded") when the number of blind decoding attempts or the number of CCEs exceeds the maximum value defined for the UE 3 in that time slot.

[0134] This creates the possibility that some search spaces (especially high index USSs) will only be searched rarely, if ever. This is a particular problem for REDCAP UEs, where the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and the maximum number of CCEs used for channel estimation purposes can be reduced.

[0135] Therefore, the telecommunication system 1 beneficially implements a modified set of rules for determining which search spaces should be monitored. Specifically, the telecommunication system may implement one or more of the following rule variations to provide an improved balance between the search space sets, thereby improving PDCCH detection performance.

[0136] In one regular variation, once each CSS has been searched, the first USS searched by the UE changes slot by slot, rather than always starting from the lowest index USS. This can be achieved by assigning the highest priority to different USSs in each slot. For example, the highest priority USS can be cycled slot by slot starting with the USS with the lowest index in the first slot, and then reassigned to the USS with the next lowest index in ascending order in the next slot, and so on. The USSs are then searched starting with the highest priority USS in order of increasing USS index. When the highest index USS is searched, if there are any lower index USSs that have not been searched (and the maximum blind decoding / CCE has not been reached), the UE returns to the lowest index USS and continues to search for unsearched USSs in order of increasing USS index starting from the lowest index USS. After the USS with the highest index is assigned the highest priority, the process can basically restart in the next slot, where the lowest index USS is assigned the highest priority.

[0137] In another rule variation, the maximum number of blind decoding attempts is substantially shared between the CSS and the USS (e.g., based on a fractal value configured at the UE 3, etc.). Once the share of blind decoding attempts is reached for the CSS search, the UE 3 begins searching the USS until the maximum number of blind decoding attempts or the maximum number of CCEs is reached (or there are no more USSs to search). If all USSs have been searched and the maximum number of blind decoding attempts has not been reached, any remaining CSSs may be searched. It will be understood that the prioritization of the USSs may be in ascending order of USS indices, or in a loop based on the highest priority USS described above. Furthermore, in addition to or as an alternative to sharing the maximum number of blind decoding attempts, the maximum number of CCEs may be shared between the USSs or CSSs.

[0138] In the current system, during the search process, if the number of PDCCH candidates in a given search space (e.g., USS) is greater than the number that can be searched without exceeding the maximum number of blind decoding attempts (and / or the maximum number of CCEs), the entire search space set is discarded without searching for any PDCCH candidates in the search space set.

[0139] Beneficially, in another rule variation, UE 3 is configured to continue searching for PDCCH candidates in the search space set until the maximum number of blind decoding attempts (and / or the maximum number of CCEs) is reached, even if the number of PDCCH candidates in the search space set is greater than the number that can be searched without exceeding the maximum number of blind decoding attempts (and / or the maximum number of CCEs).

[0140] Non-continuous PDCCH monitoring

[0141] In order to know when to search for control information, the UE 3 is configured to determine a PDDCH monitoring occasion, typically comprising a plurality of time slots, during which the UE 3 should search for control information. Advantageously, in the telecommunication system 1, the UE 3 may be configured to be able to monitor the PDCCH continuously in each consecutive time slot or discontinuously every other time slot or every few time slots.

[0142] This is particularly beneficial for supporting a higher number of UE connections, considering the short symbol duration that may be used for PDCCH monitoring in higher system parameters (eg, for supporting higher frequency bands of frequency range FR2).

[0143] User Equipment

[0144] Figure 5 It is shown as Figure 1 A schematic block diagram of the main components of a UE 3, and in particular a REDCAP UE 3-1 (e.g., an industrial wireless sensor, a surveillance video device, a wearable device, or other user equipment) is shown. It will be understood that although the UE 3 is described as a REDCAP UE, the UE 3 may be configured to operate as another non-REDCAP UE 3.

[0145] As shown, UE 3 has a transceiver circuit 31, which is operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from a base station 5 via one or more antennas 33. UE 3 has a controller 37 to control the operation of UE 3. Controller 37 is associated with memory 39 and coupled to transceiver circuit 31. Although not necessarily required for the operation of UE 3, UE 3 can of course have all the common functions of a traditional UE 3 (e.g., a user interface 35, such as a touch screen / keypad / microphone / speaker and / or the like for allowing direct control and interaction with a user), and this can be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software and firmware as appropriate. For example, the software can be pre-installed in the memory 39 and / or can be downloaded via a telecommunications network or from a removable data storage device (RMD).

[0146] The controller 37 is configured to control the overall operation of the UE 3 through program instructions or software instructions stored in (in this example) the memory 39. As shown in the figure, these software instructions include an operating system 41, a communication control module 43, a control information management module 45, a power saving management module 47, an auxiliary information management module 49, an RRC module 51 and a system information module 53, etc.

[0147] The communication control module 43 is operable to control the communication between the UE 3 and its (one or more) serving base stations 5 (and other communication devices connected to the base stations 5, such as more UEs and / or core network nodes, etc.). The communication control module 43 is configured for overall processing of uplink communications via associated uplink channels (e.g., via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), and for processing the reception of downlink communications via associated downlink channels (e.g., via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)). The communication control module 43 is responsible for determining the resources to be used by the UE 3, and determining which bandwidth portion (or subband) to allocate to the UE 3 (e.g., based on the bandwidth supported by the transceiver circuit 31).

[0148] The control information management module 45 is responsible for managing tasks related to receiving downlink control information from the base station. These tasks include, but are not limited to: identifying monitoring opportunities within which to search for control information; configuring and reconfiguring the CORESET and search space within which to search for PDCCH candidates; monitoring for downlink control information in the CSS and / or USS, including performing channel estimation and performing correlation searches; decoding downlink control information transmitted by the base station to the UE 3 using the appropriate DCI format.

[0149] The power saving management module 47 is responsible for managing power saving tasks at the UE 3, such as: operation in DRX mode; for example, by responding to a WUS provided by the base station 5 using DCI format 2_6 and received and decoded by the control information management module 45, turning on or off appropriate parts of the transceiver circuit 31 at appropriate times in the DRX cycle. The power saving management module 47 maintains a UE power saving preference table.

[0150] The assistance information management module 49 manages the generation of UE assistance information for assisting the base station 5 to properly configure communications with the UE, and the sending of the UE assistance information to the base station 5 when necessary. The assistance information may include any appropriate information related to the capabilities and / or configuration of the UE, such as an indication of the UE power saving configuration.

[0151] The RRC module 51 is responsible for receiving RRC signaling from the base station 5 and transmitting RRC signaling to the base station 5 .

[0152] The system information module 53 is responsible for receiving system information from the base station 5 .

[0153] Base Station

[0154] Figure 6 It is shown Figure 1Schematic block diagram of the main components of a base station 5 used in the telecommunications system 1 shown. As shown, the base station 5 has: a transceiver circuit 51 for transmitting and receiving signals to and from a communication device (such as UE 3) via one or more antennas 53 (e.g., antenna arrays / massive antennas); and a core network interface 55 (e.g., including N2, N3 and other reference points / interfaces) for transmitting and receiving signals to and from network nodes in the core network 7. Although not shown, the base station 5 can also be coupled to other base stations via appropriate interfaces (e.g., so-called "Xn" interfaces in NR). The base station 5 has a controller 57 to control the operation of the base station 5. The controller 57 is associated with a memory 59. For example, the software can be pre-installed in the memory 59 and / or can be downloaded via the communication network 1 or from a removable data storage device (RMD). The controller 57 is configured to control the overall operation of the base station 5 through program instructions or software instructions stored in (in this example) the memory 59.

[0155] As shown in the figure, these software instructions include an operating system 61, a communication control module 63, a control information management module 65, a power saving management module 67, an auxiliary information management module 69, an RRC module 71 and a system information module 73, etc.

[0156] The communication control module 63 is operable to control communications between the base station 5 and the UE 3 and other network entities connected to the base station 5. The communication control module 63 is configured for overall control of the reception of uplink communications via associated uplink channels (e.g., via a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and / or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)), and for handling the transmission of downlink communications via associated downlink channels (e.g., via a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)).

[0157] The control information management module 65 is responsible for managing tasks related to the transmission of downlink control information from the base station. These tasks include, but are not limited to: generating parameters for UE 3 to use to identify monitoring opportunities within which to search for control information, and transmitting these parameters to UE 3; generating configuration information for configuring (and reconfiguring) the CORESET and search space within which to search for PDCCH candidates; generating downlink control information for reception by a specific UE 3 or group of UEs 3, and transmitting the downlink control information using a PDCCH in a corresponding PDCCH candidate of the search space using an appropriate DCI format.

[0158] The power saving management module 67 is responsible for managing the power saving of the UE 3 from the base station side. This may include, for example, triggering the UE 3 to wake up from an inactive state using a WUS provided to the UE 3 using DCI format 26. The power saving management module 67 may also be responsible for triggering (in the case where the power saving preference table is configured by the base station 5) the sending of configuration information at the UE 3 for configuring the table.

[0159] Assistance information management module 69 manages the reception and interpretation of UE assistance information from UE 3 for assisting base station 5 to appropriately configure communications with the UE. The assistance information may include any suitable information relating to the capabilities and / or configuration of the UE, such as an indication of a UE power saving configuration.

[0160] The RRC module 71 is responsible for receiving RRC signaling from the UE 3 and transmitting RRC signaling to the UE 3 .

[0161] The system information module 73 is responsible for transmitting system information to UEs in the cell(s) 9 of the base station.

[0162] Dynamic CORESET / Search Space ON / OFF

[0163] Different possible mechanisms for providing dynamic reconfiguration of CORESET(s) / search space(s) will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8 .

[0164] DCI format 2_6

[0165] Fig. 7A is a simplified illustration of a DRX cycle, where a wake-up signal is used to indicate whether a given UE 3 should become active during the ON period of the DRX cycle. Fig. 7A As shown, the WUS field 410 of DCI format 2_6 is set to provide a CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication before UE 3 wakes up.

[0166] In this example, the WUS field 410 is provided in the form of a bitmap with individual bits representing ON / OFF configurations for each CORESET and / or each search space set that the UE 3 can use to configure (e.g., where: "1" indicates "ON"; "0" indicates "OFF", or vice versa). The mapping of each bit of the WUS field to a specific CORESET (and therefore the associated search space(s) configured for that CORESET) may be based on a CORESET identifier / index (e.g., controlResourceSetId IE), where each bit represents a different configured CORESET in ascending (or descending) order of the CORESET identifier.

[0167] The mapping of each bit of the WUS field to a specific search space set (or group of search space sets) can be based on the search space (e.g., using SearchSpaceID or the like) or a common search space group identifier / index (e.g., searchSpaceGroupId or the like), where each bit represents a different configured search space set or group of search space sets in ascending (or descending) order of the identifier / index.

[0168] It will be appreciated that the WUS field may be set to all zeros to indicate that the UE 3 should not wake up in the next DRX cycle.

[0169] Fig. 8A is a simplified timing diagram showing the following process, which can be Figure 1 The invention is implemented in a telecommunication system 1, and in the process, the WUS field of DCI format 2_6 is used to provide a CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication before the UE 3 wakes up.

[0170] like Fig. 8A As shown, at S810, when UE 3 is operating in DRX mode and is in DRX inactive during the DRX OFF period, UE 3 still monitors for control information using DCI format 2_6. When base station 5 determines at S812 that UE 3 is to wake up, base station 5 determines the appropriate CORESET and / or search space set configuration. Then, at S814, base station 5 sends downlink control information using DCI format 2_6, wherein the WUS field is set to provide a corresponding CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or search space ON / OFF indication indicating the new configuration.

[0171] At S816, the UE 3 moves to the Active state at the start of the next DRX ON period and appropriately configures its CORESET(s) and / or search space set(s) based on the content of the WUS field.

[0172] DCI format 0_1 / 1_1

[0173] Figure 7B is a simplified illustration of a DRX cycle, where a wake-up signal is used to indicate whether a given UE 3 should become active during the next ON period of the DRX cycle. Figure 7B In the example, the WUS signal may form part of a conventional DCI 2_6, where the WUS field 410 is a single bit, or as shown in FIG. Fig. 7AThe WUS field, wherein the WUS field 410 provides a CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication before the UE 3 wakes up.

[0174] like Figure 7B As shown, when UE 3 is active during the ON time period of the DRX cycle, base station 5 uses DCI format 0_1 ​​(as summarized in Table 3) and / or DCI 1_1 (as summarized in Table 4) to provide DCI 710. The DCI 710 is configured to provide a CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication when reconfiguration of (one or more than one) CORESETs and / or (one or more than one) search space sets is required.

[0175] [Table 3]

[0176]

[0177] Table 3 - DCI format 0_1 ​​[Table 4]

[0178]

[0179] Table 4-DCI format 4_1

[0180] In this example, a field of the DCI 710 (e.g., a CBGTI field or other appropriate field) may take the form of a bitmap with individual bits representing the ON / OFF configuration of each CORESET and / or each search space set with which the UE 3 may be configured (e.g., where: "1" indicates "ON"; "0" indicates "OFF", or vice versa). The mapping of each bit of the DCI field to a specific CORESET (and thereby the associated search space(s) configured for that CORESET) may be based on a CORESET identifier / index (e.g., controlResourceSetId IE), where each bit represents a different configured CORESET in ascending (or descending) order of the CORESET identifier.

[0181] The mapping of each bit of the field of DCI 710 to a specific search space set (or group of search space sets) can be based on the search space (e.g., using SearchSpaceID or the like) or a common search space group identifier / index (e.g., searchSpaceGroupId or the like), where each bit represents different configured search space sets or groups of search space sets in ascending (or descending) order of the identifier / index.

[0182] Figure 8B is a simplified timing diagram showing the following process, which can be Figure 1The invention is implemented in a telecommunication system 1, and in the process, fields of DCI format 0_1 ​​and / or DCI format 1_1 are used to provide a CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication when the UE 3 is active (for example, in a DRX ON period of a DRX cycle).

[0183] like Figure 8B As shown, at S820, when UE 3 is operating in DRX mode and is active during the DRX ON period, UE 3 monitors control information using DCI formats 0_1 and / or 1_1. When base station 5 determines at S822 that UE 3 needs CORESET and / or search space set reconfiguration, base station 5 sends downlink control information using DCI formats 0_1 and / or 1_1 at S824, wherein a field (e.g., CBGTI field or other appropriate field) is set to provide a corresponding CORESET ON / OFF indication and / or a search space ON / OFF indication indicating a new configuration.

[0184] At S826, UE 3 appropriately reconfigures its CORESET(s) and / or search space set(s) based on the content of the received DCI field.

[0185] The UE 3 may configure its CORESET(s) and / or search space set(s) more than once while it is active by repeating the reconfiguration process as shown in steps S822' to S824'.

[0186] UE assistance information for reduced PDCCH monitoring

[0187] Now refer to Fig. 9 Possible mechanisms for using UE assistance information to facilitate reduced PDCCH monitoring are explained in more detail by way of example only.

[0188] Fig. 9 It shows that it can be Figure 1 A simplified timing diagram of a procedure implemented in a telecommunication system 1 for a UE 3 to report its reduced PDCCH monitoring capability to a base station.

[0189] like Fig. 9 As shown, the UE stores a power saving preference table (or a set of sub-tables) including multiple discrete power saving configurations at S912. The power saving table (or a set of sub-tables) may be a preconfigured standardized table, or may be configurable by the base station 5 using RRC signaling (as shown in S910) or system information (as shown in S911).

[0190] The UE power saving preference table defines a plurality of different UE power saving configurations, each of which represents different individual power saving assistance information including a set of characteristic parameters.

[0191] The UE power saving assistance information may include any suitable parameters related to the configuration, power saving capabilities and / or constraints of the UE (e.g., REDCAP UE). For example, the power saving information will typically include configurable PDCCH monitoring parameters (for each SCS) and search space configuration parameters, such as the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and / or the maximum number of PDCCH candidates for each aggregation level. In addition, since some devices may not support the use of small aggregation levels, the information related to the supported aggregation levels may also form part of the information representing the specific power saving configuration in the UE power saving preference table.

[0192] Although there may be up to 10 configured search space sets in Release 16, for REDCAP UEs, the maximum number of configured search space sets may be reduced. Furthermore, as described above, for such UEs, it is not necessary to monitor all configured search space sets simultaneously. For example, a REDCAP UE may support five configured search space sets, but may only be able to monitor three search space sets at any one time. To support reporting of such information, the UE power saving preference table may also include the maximum number of configurable search space sets and / or the maximum number of simultaneously monitored search space sets in the power saving assistance information for each power saving configuration.

[0193] The UE power saving assistance information can also provide information related to use case scenarios, such as expected UE battery life, reference bit rate, peak bit rate and latency.

[0194] An example format of a pair of sub-tables that may form the power saving preference information (or a portion thereof) is provided below in Table 5 and Table 6. It will be appreciated that the example tables are purely illustrative.

[0195] [Table 5]

[0196]

[0197] Table 5 - Example Power Saving Assistance Information 1 [Table 6]

[0198]

[0199] Table 6 - Example Power Saving Assistance Information 2

[0200] At appropriate junctions, such as Fig. 9After the RRC reconfiguration process shown in S914 of , UE 3 provides UE assistance information to base station 5 at S916, the UE assistance information including one or more indexes or similar identifiers representing the power configuration corresponding to its reduced capability / use case. For example, the identifier may take the form of individual indexes corresponding to the rows of the tables or sub-tables forming the power saving configuration.

[0201] Based on this information, at S918, the base station 5 can efficiently determine appropriate parameters and configurations to be used to configure communications with the UE 3. For example, the base station can determine suitable PDCCH monitoring parameters and appropriate configurations of periodicity and multiplexing options.

[0202] PDCCH candidate discarding

[0203] Now refer to Figures 10 to 12 Various search space prioritization schemes for determining the order in which search spaces should be monitored and / or when PDCCH candidates should be discarded are described in more detail.

[0204] USS priority round robin

[0205] Fig.10 is a simplified flow chart showing the following process, which can be Figure 1 A UE 3 in a telecommunication system 1 of the present invention searches for control information in a plurality of search spaces using a prioritization scheme based on USS priority cycles.

[0206] like Fig.10 As shown, at the beginning of a given PDCCH monitoring opportunity in a particular time slot, at S1010, the search space to be searched is initially set to the highest priority unsearched search space. Typically, if there is a CSS to be searched, the CSS will be the highest priority CSS. As shown in S1012, the process continues with the highest priority unsearched search space as the current search space.

[0207] UE 3 will continue to perform channel estimation on the CCE of each PDCCH candidate in the current search space in sequence at S1014, and then attempt to blindly decode the PDCCH candidate at S1016, as long as there is still another unsearched PDCCH candidate in the current search space at S1018.

[0208] When there are no more unsearched PDCCH candidates at S1018, UE 3 determines at S1020 whether there are any more unsearched search space sets for the current time slot. If there are still unsearched search spaces at S1020, UE 3 checks at S1022 whether searching the search space will result in exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1022. If the search can be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1022, UE 3 sets the current search space to be searched to the next highest priority search space at S1024, and then repeats the process from S1012 to S1024 for the new current search space until all search spaces are searched at S1020 or the search cannot be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1022.

[0209] In S1024, the priority of the search space is determined according to the following order:

[0210] If there is an unsearched CSS for the current time slot, the unsearched CSS is considered to have the highest priority.

[0211] • The USS with the highest priority at the start of the search process will have the next highest priority considered. As described in more detail below, this highest priority USS may be any of the USSs that have not been searched, and changes from slot to slot.

[0212] • The USSs are then prioritized in ascending order of index, starting from the most recently searched USS, until the highest indexed USS is searched.

[0213] • The USSs are then prioritized in ascending order of index, starting from the lowest index USS (assuming that this USS is not the highest priority USS and has therefore not been searched).

[0214] If the search cannot continue without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1022, the remaining PDCCH candidates are skipped and the highest USS priority is reassigned at S1026. Specifically, after the current highest priority USS, the highest USS priority is cyclically reassigned to the USS with the next index in ascending order. If the current highest priority USS has the highest index USS, the highest USS priority is reassigned to the USS with the lowest index.

[0215] Once the highest USS priority is reassigned at S1026 or all search spaces are searched at S1020 , UE 3 waits for the next time slot of the current (or next) PDCCH monitoring opportunity at S1028 and then repeats the process started at S1010 .

[0216] It will be appreciated that this merely represents one example of how a prioritization scheme based on USS priority cycling may be used to determine the order in which the search spaces should be monitored. It will also be appreciated that a reassignment of the highest priority USS at S1026 may also occur in the event that all search spaces have been searched at S1020, followed by waiting at S1028 for the next time slot of the current (or next) PDCCH monitoring opportunity at S1010.

[0217] CSS / USS shared PDDCH candidates

[0218] Fig.11 is a simplified flow chart showing the following process, which can be Figure 1 A UE 3 in a telecommunication system 1 is configured to search for control information in a plurality of search spaces using a shared PDCCH candidate prioritization scheme.

[0219] In this example, the UE 3 may be pre-configured (or dynamically configured using RRC signaling or system information) with a parameter indicating how the maximum number of PDCCH candidates should be shared between the CSS and USS. This may simply be an information element indicating a fraction or percentage of the maximum number of PDCCH candidates that can be searched in the CSS (or USS).

[0220] like Fig.11 As shown, at the beginning of a given PDCCH monitoring opportunity in a particular time slot, at S1110, the search space to be searched is initially set to the highest priority unsearched search space. Typically, if there is a CSS to be searched, the CSS will be the highest priority CSS. As shown in S1112, the process continues with the highest priority unsearched search space as the current search space.

[0221] UE 3 will continue to perform channel estimation on the CCE of each PDCCH candidate in the current search space in sequence at S1114, and then attempt to blindly decode the PDCCH candidate at S1116, as long as there is another unsearched PDCCH candidate in the current search space at S1118.

[0222] When there are no more unsearched PDCCH candidates at S1118, UE 3 determines at S1120 whether there are any more unsearched search space sets for the current time slot. If there are still unsearched search spaces at S1120, UE 3 checks at S1122 whether searching the search space will result in exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1122. If the search can be continued at S1122 without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings, UE 3 sets the current search space to be searched to the next highest priority search space at S1124, and then repeats the process from S1112 to S1124 for the new current search space until all search spaces are searched at S1120, or the search cannot be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1122.

[0223] In S1124, the priority of the search space is determined according to the following order:

[0224] If there is an unsearched CSS for the current time slot and searching that CSS will not exceed the share of the maximum blind decoding attempts configured for the CSS, then the unsearched CSS is considered to have the highest priority.

[0225] • If searching for a CSS would exceed the maximum blind decode attempts configured for that CSS, then the USS with the lowest index is considered to have the next highest priority.

[0226] • The USSs are then prioritized in ascending order of index, starting from the most recently searched USS, until the highest indexed USS has been searched.

[0227] If every USS is searched, any unsearched CSS may be searched, as long as doing so does not result in exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1122.

[0228] If the search cannot be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1122 , the remaining PDCCH candidates are skipped at S1126 .

[0229] When the remaining PDCCH candidates are skipped at S1126 or all search spaces are searched at S1120 , UE 3 waits for the next time slot of the current (or next) PDCCH monitoring opportunity at S1128 and then repeats the process started at S1110 .

[0230] It will be appreciated that this merely represents one example of how a prioritization scheme based on shared PDCCH candidates may be used to determine the order in which the search spaces should be monitored. It will also be appreciated that this may be used in conjunction with Fig.10 The above described reassignment of the highest priority USS per time slot is used in conjunction with.

[0231] Partial search of the search space

[0232] Fig.12 is a simplified flow chart showing the following process, which can be Figure 1 The invention is performed by a UE 3 in a telecommunication system 1 to facilitate a partial search for control information in a search space (eg, USS).

[0233] like Fig.12 As shown, at the beginning of a given PDCCH monitoring opportunity in a particular time slot, at S1210, the search space to be searched is initially set to the highest priority unsearched search space. Typically, if there is a CSS to be searched, the CSS will be the highest priority CSS. As shown in S1212, the process continues with the highest priority unsearched search space as the current search space.

[0234] UE 3 will continue to perform channel estimation on the CCE of each PDCCH candidate in the current search space at S1214 in turn, and then attempt to blind decode the PDCCH candidate at S1216, as long as there is still another unsearched PDCCH candidate in the current search space at S1218 and the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings is not reached at S1222.

[0235] When there are no more unsearched PDCCH candidates at S1218, UE 3 determines whether there are any more unsearched search space sets for the current time slot at S1220. If there are still unsearched search spaces at S1220, UE 3 sets the current search space to be searched to the next highest priority search space at S1224, and then repeats the process from S1212 to S1224 for the new current search space until all search spaces are searched at S1220, or the search cannot be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1222.

[0236] In S1224, the priority of the search space may be based on standard rules in which CSS takes precedence over USS and USSs are prioritized in ascending order of USS index. However, it will be appreciated that the search space may be modified. Fig.12 The process is incorporated into the USS priority round-robin method, in which the USS priority round-robin method, as shown in reference Fig.10 As described above, the highest priority USS is reassigned slot by slot. It will also be understood that the Fig.12 The process is incorporated into the shared PDCCH candidate method, in which the shared PDCCH candidate method is as shown in reference Fig.11 As described above, PDCCH candidates are shared between the CSS and the USS.

[0237] If the search cannot be continued without exceeding the maximum number of channel estimation CCEs and / or the maximum number of blind decodings at S1222 , the remaining PDCCH candidates are skipped at S1226 even if the current search space is not completely searched.

[0238] When the remaining PDCCH candidates are skipped at S1226 or all search spaces are searched at S1220, UE 3 waits for the next time slot of the current (or next) PDCCH monitoring opportunity at S1228, and then repeats the process started at S1210.

[0239] It will be appreciated that this represents only one example of how a partial search space search mechanism may be implemented.

[0240] Non-continuous PDCCH monitoring

[0241] Now refer to Fig.13 The mechanism of non-continuous PDCCH monitoring is described only by way of example. Fig.13 Show Figure 1 The telecommunication system 1 monitors the PDCCH during a monitoring opportunity.

[0242] [Mathematics 3]

[0243] In order to know when to search for control information, the UE 3 is configured to determine a PDDCH monitoring opportunity, typically comprising a plurality of time slots, within which the UE 3 should search for control information. The starting time slot of each monitoring opportunity is determined based on a plurality of parameters configured at the UE 3 by the base station 5 (e.g., in the parameters defining the search space). These parameters include: s PDDCH monitoring periodicity of time slots; s The PDDCH monitoring offset of the time slots; the PDDCH monitoring pattern of the first symbol (one or more) of the CORESET within the time slot for PDDCH monitoring; and the T indicating the number of time slots that the search space set can be extended. s ( <k s ) time slot duration.

[0244] [Mathematics 4]

[0245] Specifically, for a given search space s, if (in, is the number of time slots of each frame for the current SCS configuration μ), then the PDCCH monitoring opportunity is determined to exist in (number n f ) of a given frame (number ) in a given time slot. Starting T s monitor the PDCCH candidates in the search space s in consecutive time slots, and s -T s The PDCCH candidates of the search space set s are not monitored in consecutive time slots.

[0246] [Mathematics 5]

[0247] like Fig.13 As shown, in the telecommunication system 1, the UE 3 can be configured to be able to s One time slot is monitored every G time slots slot of N consecutive time slots, where G is a configurable "monitoring regularity" parameter or the like indicating how often the time slot of the monitoring opportunity should be monitored.

[0248] [Mathematics 6]

[0249] like Fig.13 As shown, the parameter G may be set to an integer value selected from a set of integer values ​​representing the number of time slots (e.g., G = {1, 2, 4, ...}). The second and each subsequent consecutive value (in ascending order) in the set of integer values ​​may advantageously double the previous value. This intentionally enables scaling the regularity of monitoring the time slots of the monitoring opportunities based on the system parameter μ in use, with higher values ​​of G generally being used for higher values ​​of μ.

[0250] [Mathematics 7]

[0251] Parameter G may be implicitly configured based on configured system parameters, or may be explicitly configured using RRC signaling by base station 5. For example, parameter G may be implicitly linked to system parameter μ through a table or mathematical function that provides a mapping between each system parameter μ and the corresponding value of parameter G.

[0252] [Mathematics 8]

[0253] Although the use of configurable parameters such as G provides greater flexibility to modify the regularity of monitoring time slots for PDCCH within a given monitoring occasion, the UE 3 may be configured to monitor time slots continuously, or for T s Every other time slot of a continuous time slot is monitored.

[0254] Modifications and Replacements

[0255] Detailed examples of various improvements are described above. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, many modifications and substitutions may be made to the above examples while still benefiting from the inventions embodied in these modifications and substitutions.

[0256] For example, it will be appreciated that although new and beneficial features of the apparatus of the telecommunications network have been described with particular reference to 5G / NR communication technology, the beneficial features may be implemented in apparatus of a telecommunications system using other communication technologies (e.g., other communication technologies developed as part of 3GPP, etc.). For example, although the base station and UE have been described as 5G base stations (gNBs) and corresponding UEs, it will be appreciated that the above features may be applied to RAN nodes (eNBs) and UEs implementing LTE / LTE-Advanced communication technology, or RAN nodes and UEs implementing other communication technologies developed using 3GPP-derived communication technologies.

[0257] It will be appreciated that the various improvements described above have particular utility when appropriately implemented in REDCAP UEs and in base stations and other equipment used to support REDCAP UEs. However, these improvements may also be implemented in non-REDCAP UEs and related equipment to provide similar benefits.

[0258] In the above example, the base station uses 3GPP radio communication (radio access) technology to communicate with the UE. However, according to the above example embodiments, any other radio communication technology (i.e., WLAN, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, Bluetooth, etc.) can be used between the base station and the UE. The above example embodiments can also be applied to "non-mobile" or generally fixed user equipment.

[0259] In the above description, for ease of understanding, the UE and the base station are described as having multiple discrete functional components or modules. Although these modules may be provided in this manner for certain applications, such as when an existing system has been modified to implement the present invention, in other applications, such as in a system designed from the outset with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may be built into the entire operating system or code, and therefore these modules may not be discernible as discrete entities.

[0260] In the above example embodiments, a plurality of software modules are described. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the software modules may be provided in compiled or uncompiled form and may be supplied to a base station, a mobility management entity or a UE as a signal over a computer network or on a recording medium. In addition, one or more dedicated hardware circuits may be used to perform some or all of the functions performed by the software. However, the use of software modules is preferred because software modules facilitate updating base stations or UEs to update their functions.

[0261] Each controller may include any suitable form of processing circuitry, including (but not limited to) for example: one or more hardware-implemented computer processors; microprocessors; central processing units (CPUs); arithmetic logic units (ALUs); input / output (IO) circuits; internal memory / cache (program and / or data); processing registers; communication buses (e.g., control, data, and / or address buses); direct memory access (DMA) functions; hardware or software-implemented counters, pointers, and / or timers; and / or the like. Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail herein.

[0262] A base station may comprise a "distributed" base station having a central unit "CU" and one or more separate distributed units (DUs).

[0263] A user equipment (or "UE", "mobile station", "mobile device" or "wireless device") in the present invention is an entity connected to a network via a wireless interface.

[0264] It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to dedicated communication devices and can be applied to any device having a communication function as explained in the following paragraphs.

[0265] The terms "user equipment" or "UE" (as used by 3GPP), "mobile station", "mobile device" and "wireless device" are generally intended to be synonymous with each other, and include standalone mobile stations, such as terminals, mobile phones, smart phones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices and machines, etc. It should be understood that the terms "mobile station" and "mobile device" also include devices that remain stationary for long periods of time.

[0266] UE can be, for example, a device and / or energy-related machinery used for production or manufacturing (for example, equipment or machinery such as: boilers; engines; turbines; solar panels; wind turbines; hydroelectric generators; thermal generators; nuclear power generators; batteries; nuclear systems and / or related equipment; heavy electrical machinery; pumps including vacuum pumps; compressors; fans; blowers; oil pressure equipment; pneumatic equipment; metal processing machinery; manipulators; robots and / or their application systems; tools; extrusion dies or die-casting dies; reels; transmission equipment; lifting equipment; material handling equipment; textile machinery; sewing machines; printing and / or related machinery; paper processing machinery; chemical machinery; mining and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment; machinery and / or tools for agriculture, forestry and / or fisheries; safety and / or environmental protection equipment; tractors; precision bearings; chains; gears; power transmission equipment; lubrication equipment; valves; pipe fittings; and / or application systems of any of the aforementioned equipment or machinery, etc.).

[0267] UE can be, for example, a transportation device (e.g., transportation devices such as: locomotives; motor vehicles; motorcycles; bicycles; trains; buses; carts; rickshaws; ships and other watercraft; airplanes; rockets; satellites; drones; balloons, etc.).

[0268] UE may be, for example, an information and communication device (eg, information and communication devices such as: electronic computers and related devices; communication and related devices; electronic components, etc.).

[0269] UE can be, for example, a refrigerator, a refrigerator application product, a trade and / or service industry equipment, a vending machine, an automatic service machine, an office machine or equipment, consumer electronics and electronic equipment (for example, consumer electronic devices such as: audio equipment; video equipment; speakers; radios; televisions; microwave ovens; rice cookers; coffee machines; dishwashers; washing machines; dryers; electronic fans or related equipment; vacuum cleaners, etc.).

[0270] The UE may be, for example, an electrical application system or device (eg, an electrical application system or device such as: an x-ray system; a particle accelerator; a radioisotope device; an acoustic wave device; an electromagnetic application device; an electronic power application device, etc.).

[0271] UE can be, for example, an electronic lamp, a luminaire, a measuring instrument, an analyzer, a tester, or a measuring or sensing instrument (for example, a measuring or sensing instrument such as: a smoke alarm; a human alarm sensor; a motion sensor; a wireless tag, etc.), a watch or clock, a laboratory instrument, an optical device, a medical device and / or system, a weapon, a cutlery, a hand tool, or the like.

[0272] For example, a UE may be a wirelessly equipped personal digital assistant or related device such as a wireless card or module designed to be attached to or inserted into another electronic device (eg, a personal computer, an electrical measuring machine, etc.).

[0273] A UE may be a part of a device or system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide applications, services and solutions described below regarding the “Internet of Things (IoT)”.

[0274] IoT devices (or "things") may be equipped with appropriate electronics, software, sensors, network connections, and / or the like that enable these devices to collect and exchange data with each other and with other communication devices. IoT devices may include automated devices that follow software instructions stored in internal memory. IoT devices may operate without the need for human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary and / or inactive for long periods of time. IoT devices may be implemented as part of (usually) fixed equipment. IoT devices may also be embedded in non-stationary equipment (e.g., vehicles), or attached to animals or people to be monitored / tracked.

[0275] It should be understood that IoT technology can be implemented on any communication device that can connect to a communication network for sending / receiving data, regardless of whether such communication device is controlled by human input or by software instructions stored in memory.

[0276] It should be understood that IoT devices are sometimes also referred to as machine type communication (MTC) devices or machine to machine (M2M) communication devices. It should be understood that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications. Some examples of MTC applications are listed in the table below. This list is not exhaustive and is intended to indicate some examples of machine type communication applications.

[0277] [Table 7]

[0278]

[0279]

[0280] The applications, services and solutions may be MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) services, emergency radio communication systems, PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems, PHS / digital cordless telecommunication systems, POS (Point of Sale) systems, advertising call systems, MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services), V2X (Vehicle to Everything) systems, train radio systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services, billing services, radio on demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, telecommunications carrier / communication NW selection services, functional restriction services, PoC (Proof of Concept) services, personal information management services, ad-hoc network / DTN (Delay Tolerant Network) services, etc.

[0281] In addition, the above UE categories are merely examples of applications of the technical ideas and exemplary embodiments described in this document. Needless to say, these technical ideas and exemplary embodiments are not limited to the above UEs, and various modifications may be made thereto.

[0282] Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and will not be described in further detail here.

[0283] (Supplementary Note 1)

[0284] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0285] receiving first information and second information from the radio access network, the first information being used to configure at least one set of control resources of the radio access network capable of transmitting control information, and the second information being used to configure at least one search space within the set of control resources, wherein the control information is to be searched within the at least one search space;

[0286] monitoring, within the at least one search space within the at least one control resource set, downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network;

[0287] receiving, from the radio access network, a DCI including third information, the third information being used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information; and

[0288] monitoring, within the at least one search space within the control resource set reconfigured by the third information, DCI transmitted by the radio access network,

[0289] The third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0290] (Supplementary Note 2)

[0291] A method according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein the indication of the third information includes a bitmap, wherein each bit of the bitmap represents a corresponding control resource set configured by the first information or a corresponding at least one search space configured by the second information, optionally, wherein the bit of the bitmap is set to "0" to indicate that the UE will stop monitoring for DCI, and is set to "1" to indicate that the UE will start monitoring for DCI or continue monitoring for DCI.

[0292] (Supplementary Note 3)

[0293] The method according to Supplementary Note 1 or 2, wherein the UE is operating in a discontinuous reception mode (DRX mode) and receives the third information when being in an inactive state during a DRX cycle.

[0294] (Supplementary Note 4)

[0295] The method according to Supplementary Note 3, wherein the UE, when being in an inactive state during an OFF period of the DRX cycle, receives the third information in a field having a DCI format that can be received during the OFF period of the DRX cycle.

[0296] (Supplementary Note 5)

[0297] The method according to Supplementary Note 4, wherein the third information is received in a field having a DCI format 2_6, and optionally received in a wake-up signal field, i.e., a WUS field, having a DCI format 2_6.

[0298] (Supplementary Note 6)

[0299] The method according to Supplementary Note 3, wherein the UE receives the third information when being in an inactive state during an ON period of the DRX cycle.

[0300] (Supplementary Note 7)

[0301] A method according to Supplementary Note 3 or 6, wherein the third information is received in a field having DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, and optionally received in a code block group having DCI format 0_1 ​​or DCI format 1_1, i.e., a CBG transmission information field, i.e., a CBGTI field.

[0302] (Supplementary Note 8)

[0303] The method according to any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 7, wherein the UE stores information identifying a maximum number of search space sets that can be monitored simultaneously by the UE, wherein the information can be configured as any of a plurality of different values.

[0304] (Supplementary Note 9)

[0305] According to the method described in any one of Supplementary Notes 1 to 8, the first information for configuring at least one resource set for reception and / or the second information for configuring at least one search space are received using radio resource control signaling, i.e., RRC signaling.

[0306] (Supplementary Note 10)

[0307] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0308] Obtaining information for mapping each power saving configuration of a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a set of parameters characterizing the power saving configuration; and

[0309] UE assistance information is provided to the radio access network, the UE assistance information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration of the plurality of power saving configurations representing a configuration or capability of the UE.

[0310] (Supplementary Note 11)

[0311] A method according to Supplementary Note 10, wherein the information for mapping each power saving configuration among a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration correspondingly includes at least one index representing each power saving configuration, and wherein the indication of the at least one power saving configuration includes at least one corresponding index corresponding to each power saving configuration among the at least one power saving configuration.

[0312] (Supplementary Note 12)

[0313] The method according to Supplementary Note 10 or 11, wherein the information for mapping each power saving configuration of the possible multiple power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration comprises at least one table.

[0314] (Supplementary Note 13)

[0315] According to the method described in any one of Supplementary Notes 10 to 12, the parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration includes at least one parameter from the following parameter list: at least one parameter for use in configuring a search space; at least one parameter for use in configuring a monitoring opportunity, wherein the UE will monitor control information during the monitoring opportunity; at least one parameter indicating the maximum number of blind decoding attempts supported by the UE; at least one parameter indicating the maximum number of physical downlink control channel candidates, i.e., PDCCH candidates, per aggregation level supported at the UE; at least one parameter indicating the maximum number of control channel elements, i.e., CCEs, used for channel estimation supported at the UE; at least one parameter indicating the corresponding aggregation level supported at the UE; at least one parameter indicating the maximum number of configurable search space sets supported at the UE; at least one parameter indicating the maximum number of search space sets supported for simultaneous monitoring at the UE; at least one parameter representing the expected UE battery life; at least one parameter representing the reference bit rate requirement of the UE; at least one parameter representing the peak bit rate requirement of the UE; and at least one parameter representing the latency requirement of the UE.

[0316] (Supplementary Note 14)

[0317] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0318] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring a plurality of search spaces within at least one control resource set for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0319] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, i.e., a PDCCH candidate set, in which the DCI is to be searched;

[0320] wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity:

[0321] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0322] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0323] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0324] wherein, before performing step (b), for the current time slot, at least one USS is assigned as a highest priority USS;

[0325] wherein, when selecting the next search space to be searched in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search spaces that have not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, wherein the priority scheme requires that the USSs be prioritized starting from the USS with the highest priority, and

[0326] The method further comprises: reassigning a different USS as the highest priority USS before repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity.

[0327] (Supplementary Note 15)

[0328] The method according to Supplementary Note 14, wherein, in the case of selecting the search space to be searched next in step (b), after prioritizing the USS with the highest priority, the USSs are prioritized in ascending order of USS index until the USS with the highest USS index is reached, and then if the USS with the lowest USS index has not been searched in the current time slot, the USSs are prioritized in ascending order of USS index starting from the USS with the lowest USS index.

[0329] (Supplementary Note 16)

[0330] A method according to Supplementary Note 14 or 15, wherein, in the case of reassigning a different USS as a highest priority USS, the UE: in the case where no higher index USS is searched in the current time slot, reassigns the highest priority to a USS having the next USS index in ascending order of the USS index of the current highest priority USS; and in the case where the current highest priority USS is the highest index USS, if the USS having the lowest USS index has not been searched in the current time slot, assigns the highest priority to the USS.

[0331] (Supplementary Note 17)

[0332] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0333] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0334] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, namely, CCE, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, namely, a PDCCH candidate set, in which DCI will be searched, and each PDCCH candidate includes at least one CCE;

[0335] wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity:

[0336] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0337] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0338] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0339] The UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and triggers the end of the search in the current time slot when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues;

[0340] The UE is configured with a maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts that can be used to search for the CSS; and

[0341] When selecting the next search space to be searched in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, which requires that the CSS that has not been searched in the current time slot be prioritized until further searching in the CSS will result in exceeding the maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts, after which the USS that has not been searched in the current time slot is prioritized.

[0342] (Supplementary Note 18)

[0343] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0344] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0345] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, namely, CCE, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, namely, a PDCCH candidate set, in which DCI will be searched, and each PDCCH candidate includes at least one CCE;

[0346] wherein the monitoring comprises during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity:

[0347] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0348] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0349] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0350] The UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and even if the current search space has not been completely searched, the end of the search in the current search space and the current time slot is triggered when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues.

[0351] (Supplementary Note 19)

[0352] A method performed by a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0353] identifying a sequence of consecutive time slots for forming monitoring opportunities; and

[0354] During the monitoring occasion, monitoring is performed in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network,

[0355] Wherein, when performing the monitoring, the UE monitors control information in a time slot in the continuous time slot sequence, and the time slots in the continuous time slot sequence are separated by a non-monitoring interval having at least one other time slot in the continuous time slot sequence.

[0356] (Supplementary Note 20)

[0357] A method according to Supplementary Note 19, wherein the communication system has a plurality of different system parameters that can be used for communication, each system parameter having a different corresponding subcarrier spacing and time slot length, and wherein the non-monitoring interval is determined based on at least one configuration parameter, and the at least one configuration parameter is determined based on the system parameter of the communication system being used for communication.

[0358] (Supplementary Note 21)

[0359] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0360] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to:

[0361] receiving first information and second information from the radio access network, the first information being used to configure at least one set of control resources of the radio access network capable of transmitting control information, and the second information being used to configure at least one search space within the set of control resources, wherein the control information is to be searched within the at least one search space;

[0362] monitoring the at least one search space within the at least one set of control resources for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network;

[0363] receiving, from the radio access network, a DCI including third information, the third information being used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information; and

[0364] monitoring, within the at least one search space within the control resource set reconfigured by the third information, DCI transmitted by the radio access network,

[0365] The third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0366] (Supplementary Note 22)

[0367] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0368] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to:

[0369] Obtaining information for mapping each power saving configuration of a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a set of parameters characterizing the power saving configuration; and

[0370] The transceiver is controlled to provide UE assistance information to the radio access network, the UE assistance information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration of the plurality of power saving configurations representing a configuration or capability of the UE.

[0371] (Supplementary Note 23)

[0372] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0373] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to:

[0374] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring a plurality of search spaces within at least one control resource set for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0375] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, i.e., a PDCCH candidate set, and the DCI will be searched in the corresponding PDCCH candidate set;

[0376] The controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to:

[0377] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0378] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0379] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0380] wherein, before performing step (b), for the current time slot, at least one USS is assigned as a highest priority USS;

[0381] The controller is configured to control the UE so that when selecting the next search space to be searched in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search spaces that have not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, wherein the priority scheme requires that the USSs be prioritized starting from the USS with the highest priority, and

[0382] The controller is configured to control the UE to reassign a different USS as the highest priority USS before repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity.

[0383] (Supplementary Note 24)

[0384] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0385] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to:

[0386] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0387] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, i.e., a PDCCH candidate set, and the DCI will be searched in the corresponding PDCCH candidate set;

[0388] The controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to:

[0389] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0390] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0391] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0392] The UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and triggers the end of the search in the current time slot when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues;

[0393] The UE is configured with a maximum share for searching the CSS capable of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts; and

[0394] The controller is configured to control the UE so that when the next search space to be searched is selected in step (b), the UE prioritizes the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot based on the following priority scheme, wherein the priority scheme requires prioritizing the CSS that has not been searched in the current time slot until further searching in the CSS will result in exceeding the maximum share of the maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and then prioritizing the USS that has not been searched in the current time slot.

[0395] (Supplementary Note 25)

[0396] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0397] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to:

[0398] During a monitoring opportunity, monitoring downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set, the plurality of search spaces comprising at least one common search space (CSS) and at least one UE-specific search space (USS);

[0399] The control resource set includes at least one control channel element, and each search space includes a corresponding physical downlink control channel candidate set, i.e., a PDCCH candidate set, in which the DCI is to be searched;

[0400] The controller is configured to control the UE during a current time slot of the monitoring opportunity to:

[0401] (a) considering a first search space among the multiple search spaces that has not been searched in the current time slot as a current search space, and attempting to blindly decode each PDCCH candidate of the current search space in sequence until the end of the search of the current search space is triggered;

[0402] (b) in a case where the current search space has been completely searched and the plurality of search spaces include at least one remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot, unless the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, selecting the remaining search space that has not been searched in the current time slot to be searched next, and repeating steps (a) and (b) with the selected search space as the current search space; and

[0403] (c) in the case where the end of the search in the current time slot is triggered, repeating steps (a) to (c) during a subsequent time slot of the monitoring opportunity as the current time slot until the end of the search in the monitoring opportunity is triggered;

[0404] The UE is configured with a maximum number of blind decoding attempts, and even if the current search space has not been completely searched, the end of the search in the current search space and the current time slot is triggered when the maximum number of blind decoding attempts will be exceeded if the search continues.

[0405] (Supplementary Note 26)

[0406] A user equipment, namely, UE, is used to communicate with a wireless access network in a communication system, and the UE includes:

[0407] a controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to identify a sequence of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity, and control the transceiver to monitor a plurality of search spaces within at least one set of control resources for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by the radio access network during the monitoring opportunity,

[0408] The controller is configured to control the UE to monitor control information in time slots in the sequence of consecutive time slots, the time slots in the sequence of consecutive time slots being separated by a non-monitoring interval having at least one other time slot in the sequence of consecutive time slots.

[0409] (Supplementary Note 27)

[0410] A method performed by a wireless access network, the wireless access network being used to communicate with a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0411] transmitting first information and second information to the UE, wherein the first information is used to configure at least one control resource set in the radio access network capable of transmitting control information, and the second information is used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein the control information is to be searched within the at least one search space; and

[0412] transmitting, from the radio access network to the UE, a DCI including third information, wherein the third information is used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information,

[0413] The third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will stop monitoring the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0414] (Supplementary Note 28)

[0415] A method performed by a wireless access network, the wireless access network being used to communicate with a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0416] Obtaining information for mapping each power saving configuration of a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a set of parameters characterizing the power saving configuration;

[0417] receiving UE assistance information from the UE, the UE assistance information comprising an indication of at least one power saving configuration of the plurality of power saving configurations representing a configuration or capability of the UE; and

[0418] Communications with the UE are configured based on the received UE assistance information.

[0419] (Supplementary Note 29)

[0420] A method performed by a wireless access network, the wireless access network being used to communicate with a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0421] Information for configuring at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network is capable of transmitting control information, and second information for configuring multiple search spaces including at least one UE-specific search space, i.e., USS, within at least one control resource set is transmitted to the UE, wherein the information includes information for configuring the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and the maximum share of the common search space, i.e., CSS, that can be used by the UE to search.

[0422] (Supplementary Note 30)

[0423] A method performed by a wireless access network, the wireless access network being used to communicate with a user equipment (UE) in a communication system, the method comprising:

[0424] Information indicating a sequence of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity is transmitted to the UE, wherein the information includes information indicating intervals between time slots in the sequence of consecutive time slots that have not yet been monitored by the UE.

[0425] (Supplementary Note 31)

[0426] A wireless access network node, used to communicate with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising:

[0427] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to:

[0428] transmitting first information and second information to the UE, wherein the first information is used to configure at least one control resource set in the radio access network capable of transmitting control information, and the second information is used to configure at least one search space within the control resource set, wherein the control information is to be searched within the at least one search space; and

[0429] transmitting, from the radio access network to the UE, a DCI including third information, wherein the third information is used to reconfigure the at least one control resource set configured by the first information or the at least one search space configured by the second information,

[0430] The third information is configured to provide an indication of at least one control resource set configured by the first information, or an indication of at least one search space configured by the second information, wherein within the indication the UE will monitor the DCI, start monitoring the DCI, or continue monitoring the DCI.

[0431] (Supplementary Note 32)

[0432] A wireless access network node, used to communicate with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising:

[0433] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to: obtain information for mapping each power saving configuration among a possible plurality of power saving configurations to a parameter set characterizing the power saving configuration; control the transceiver to receive UE assistance information from the UE, the UE assistance information including an indication of at least one power saving configuration among the plurality of power saving configurations representing a configuration or capability of the UE; and configure communication with the UE based on the received UE assistance information.

[0434] (Supplementary Note 33)

[0435] A wireless access network node, used to communicate with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising:

[0436] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to transmit to the UE information for configuring at least one control resource set in which the wireless access network can transmit control information, and second information for configuring multiple search spaces including at least one UE-specific search space, i.e., USS, within at least one control resource set, wherein the information includes information for configuring the maximum number of blind decoding attempts and the maximum share of the common search space, i.e., CSS, that can be used by the UE to search.

[0437] (Supplementary Note 34)

[0438] A wireless access network node, used to communicate with a user equipment UE in a communication system, the wireless access network node comprising:

[0439] A controller and a transceiver, wherein the controller is configured to control the transceiver to transmit information indicating a sequence of consecutive time slots for forming monitoring opportunities to the UE, wherein the information includes information indicating intervals between time slots in the sequence of consecutive time slots that have not yet been monitored by the UE.

[0440] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from UK patent application 2012353.5 filed on 7 August 2020, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining a time slot unit "G" including at least one time slot included in a portion of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity; as well as During the monitoring occasion, monitoring is performed in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by a radio access network node, Wherein, at least one first time slot for monitoring is determined in units of "G" time slots, and possible values ​​of "G" are powers of 2.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: "G" is determined based on system parameters being used for communications with the UE.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: For higher system parameters, use higher "G".

4. A user equipment, namely, UE, comprising: A memory for storing instructions; as well as at least one processor configured to process the instructions to: determining a time slot unit "G" including at least one time slot included in a portion of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity, and During the monitoring occasion, monitoring is performed in a plurality of search spaces in at least one control resource set for downlink control information (DCI) transmitted by a radio access network node, Wherein, at least one first time slot for monitoring is determined in units of "G" time slots, and possible values ​​of "G" are powers of 2.

5. The UE according to claim 4, wherein: "G" is determined based on system parameters being used for communications with the UE.

6. The UE according to claim 5, wherein: For higher system parameters, use higher "G".

7. A method performed by a wireless access network node, the method comprising: transmitting information indicating a time slot unit "G" including at least one time slot included in a portion of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity to a user equipment (UE), The information includes information for indicating at least one first time slot in units of "G" time slots, and the at least one first time slot is used to monitor downlink control information (DCI) using the UE, and Possible values ​​for "G" are powers of 2.

8. A wireless access network node, comprising: A memory for storing instructions; as well as at least one processor configured to process the instructions to: transmitting information indicating a time slot unit "G" including at least one time slot included in a portion of consecutive time slots for forming a monitoring opportunity to a user equipment (UE), The information includes information for indicating at least one first time slot in units of "G" time slots, and the at least one first time slot is used to monitor downlink control information (DCI) using the UE, and Possible values ​​for "G" are powers of 2.

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