System information scheduling for reduced capability devices in wireless communications

Abstract

The present application relates to devices and components, including apparatus, systems and methods for scheduling system information for reduced-capacity devices in a wireless communication system.

Description

Background Art

[0001] Reduced capability New Radio "NR" devices may be used in 3rd Generation Partnership Project "3GPP" networks. Features and parameter lists with reduced capabilities may be required relative to Release 16 and future releases of enhanced Mobile Broadband "eMBB" and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications "URLCC" in NR. These reduced capability devices may be used for industrial wireless sensors, video surveillance, or wearables. Some of the UE reduction features include: reduced number of receive / transmit antennas, reduced UE bandwidth, half-duplex frequency division duplexing, relaxed UE processing time, and relaxed UE processing capabilities. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002] Figure 1 A network environment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0003] Figure 2 Physical downlink control channel transmissions according to some embodiments are shown.

[0004] Figure 3 Physical layer processing operations according to some embodiments are shown.

[0005] Figure 4A-4D Mapping schemes according to some embodiments are shown.

[0006] Figure 5 Physical downlink control channel transmissions according to some embodiments are shown.

[0007] Figure 6 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 7 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0009] Figure 8 An operational flow / algorithm structure according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Fig. 9 User equipment according to some embodiments is shown.

[0011] Fig.10 A gNB according to some embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0013] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure.

[0014] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or grouped) or a memory (shared, dedicated, or grouped) configured to provide the described functionality, an application specific integrated circuit "ASIC", a field programmable device "FPD" (e.g., a field programmable gate array "FPGA", a programmable logic device "PLD", a complex PLD "CPLD", a high capacity PLD "HCPLD", a structured ASIC or a programmable system on chip "SoC"), a digital signal processor "DSP", etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0015] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to an application processor, a baseband processor, a central processing unit "CPU", a graphics processing unit, a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes).

[0016] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0017] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0018] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the term "computer system" or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing resources or networked resources.

[0019] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time, a processor / CPU usage, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0020] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" or any other similar term representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, as used herein, the term "link" refers to a connection made between two devices for transmitting and receiving information.

[0021] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0022] The term "connected" may mean that two or more elements at a common communication protocol layer have an established signaling relationship with each other through a communication channel, link, interface, or reference point.

[0023] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, virtualized network function, etc.

[0024] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents. An information element may include one or more additional information elements.

[0025] Figure 1 A network environment 100 is shown according to some embodiments. The network environment 100 may include a UE 104 and a gNB 108. The gNB 108 may provide a radio access cell, such as a NR cell, through which the UE may communicate with the gNB 108. The UE 104 and the gNB 108 may communicate over an air interface compatible with fifth generation "5G" NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications.

[0026] UE 104 can be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a mobile phone, a computer, a tablet, an industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, inventory sensor, voltage / current meter, actuator, etc.), video monitoring / surveillance equipment (e.g., camera, camcorder, etc.), a wearable device; a loose IoT device.

[0027] In some embodiments, UE 104 may be a reduced capability "RedCap" UE, which may also be referred to as a "NR-Light" UE, which is designed to reduce device complexity and energy consumption. A RedCap UE may have less transmit / receive capability than a UE designed for URLCC or eMBB. Some UE reduction features include: reduced number of receive / transmit antennas (e.g., less than four), reduced UE bandwidth (e.g., up to 10 MHz), half-duplex frequency division duplexing, relaxed UE processing time, and relaxed UE processing power. In some embodiments, a reduced capability UE may have more transmit / receive capability than a narrowband Internet of Things "NB-IoT" or long term evolution machine type communication "LTE-M" device.

[0028] The operation of devices designed for specific use cases can be described with reference to six performance categories, including low latency, reliability, peak data rate, coverage, low cost, and battery life. The primary focus of eMBB design is peak rate; URLCC is low latency and reliability; NB-IOT is battery life, low cost, and coverage; and enhanced machine type coverage "eMTC" is coverage. RedCap devices may represent different tradeoffs between these performance categories. For example, a RedCap device may include a slight emphasis on coverage, where peak rate, reliability, low latency, cost, and battery life are generally considered equal and slightly less important than coverage.

[0029] In some embodiments, characteristics of the reduced-capacity device may include: latency between approximately 10 ms-30 ms; reliability between 1 / 10,000-1 / 100,000 (as measured by the probability of failure of a data packet not being successfully transmitted to a receiver within the latency limit); a data rate of approximately 10 megabits per second "Mbps" or less; and a coverage range with a maximum coupling loss of approximately 143 dB (e.g., the amount of coupling loss that can provide service).

[0030] The gNB 108 may transmit information (e.g., data and control signaling) in the downlink direction by mapping logical channels onto transport channels and mapping transport channels onto physical channels. Logical channels may transmit data between the radio link control "RLC" layer and the medium access control "MAC" layer; transport channels may transmit data between the MAC and physical "PHY" layers; and physical channels may transmit information across the air interface.

[0031] The physical channels may include a physical broadcast channel "PBCH"; a physical downlink control channel "PDCCH"; and a physical downlink shared channel "PDSCH".

[0032] PBCH can be used to broadcast the master information block "MIB" to provide information that facilitates access to NR cells. The MIB may include the system frame number, the cell barring flag, and information that can be used to receive the system information block 1 "SIB1". The MIB and SIB1 can be used to transmit minimum system information, which provides a basic set of parameters that the UE can use for initial access or to obtain any other system information.

[0033] The PBCH may be transmitted in a synchronization signal "SS" / PBCH block along with a physical synchronization signal "PSS" and a secondary synchronization signal "SSS." The SS / PBCH block "SSB" may be used by the UE 104 in a cell search process.

[0034] The PDSCH may be used to transmit end-user application data, Signaling Radio Bearer "SRB" messages, system information messages (in addition to, for example, the MIB), and paging messages.

[0035] The PDCCH may carry downlink control information "DCI" which is used by the base station packet scheduler to allocate both uplink and downlink resources. The DCI may also be used to provide uplink power control commands, configure the timeslot format, or indicate that preemption has occurred.

[0036] The PDCCH may be mapped to a specific search space set according to the content of the DCI. For example, if the DCI is used to provide resource allocation for system information block 1 "SIB1", the PDCCH may be mapped to a Type 0 common search space set. Each search space set may be mapped to a specific control resource set "CORSET", which defines a set of resource blocks and a number of symbols that may be used for the search space set.

[0037] The gNB 108 may also transmit a demodulation reference signal “DMRS” for different physical channels. The DMRS may be a sequence known or discoverable to the UE 104. The UE 104 may compare the received version of the DMRS with the known DMRS sequence that was transmitted to estimate the impact of the propagation channel. The UE 104 may then apply the inversion of the propagation channel during the demodulation process for the corresponding physical channel transmission.

[0038] Previous versions of 3GPP NR specified that the UE would support four receive "RX" antennas, where each RX antenna includes a single antenna element or a small group of antenna elements for PDCCH and PDSCH reception. The RX antennas can be coupled to the RX chain in a 1:1 manner or an n:1 manner (where n>1) through RF components, such as switches. However, reduced capability UEs such as UE 104 may have fewer RX antennas. Although the reduction in the number of RX antennas will reduce the cost and complexity of UE 104, it will also reduce coverage. Therefore, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a PDCCH transmission process for system information block scheduling that provides sufficient coverage and is suitable for reduced capability devices that may only have one or two receive antennas.

[0039] Reduced capability devices may have bandwidths limited to, for example, 10 megahertz "MHz". Thus, a reduced bandwidth version of the system information message may be used to accommodate these reduced bandwidths. Various embodiments describe scheduling mechanisms that may be used to schedule system information messages for reduced capability devices. For example, the number of repetitions of PDCCH transmissions within a Type 0 CSS "Type0-PDCCH CSS" may be applied to schedule SIB1 sent to reduced capability UEs (hereinafter referred to as "RedCap SIB1").

[0040] Figure 2 A PDCCH transmission 200 according to some embodiments is shown. Within the repetition window, the PDCCH transmission 200 may include four repetitions of the Type0-PDCCH CSS. Specifically, the PDCCH transmission 200 may include a first repetition 204, a second repetition 208, a third repetition 212, and a fourth repetition 216. The number of repetitions may be referred to as "X" and the repetition window (or period) may be referred to as "T", which may be in units of time slots, subframes, unit time, etc. As used herein, a repetition is a transmission that is to be repeated or has been repeated. Therefore, each instance of the repeated transmission may be referred to as a repetition, including the first, such as repetition 204, and the last, such as repetition 212.

[0041] In some designs, the number of repetitions of Type0-PDCCH CSS in one period may be based on the following table, which may be fixed in future versions of the 3GPP technical specifications.

[0042] The value of K Type0-PDCCH CSS repetition times "X" 0 N / A 1 2 2 4 3 8

[0043] Table 1: Type0-PDCCHCSS repetition times for RedCap devices

[0044] In some embodiments, the Type0-PDCCH CSS may be repeated X times within a period of T slots, where X∈{0,2,4,8}. In one example, T=20 slots, so that the Type0-PDCCH CSS shares some characteristics with legacy normal devices, which can reduce system control overhead.

[0045] Referring to Table 1, if the value of K is signaled as 0, the UE 104 may determine that repetition for the Type0-PDCCH CSS is not enabled.

[0046] Various embodiments describe the manner in which the UE 104 may determine the number of repetitions "X" for the Type0-PDCCH CSS.

[0047] In some embodiments, PHY processing operations may be designed to transmit information regarding the number of repetitions.

[0048] Figure 3 PHY processing operations 300 that may be performed by a transmitter of gNB 108 to communicate repetition value information according to some embodiments are shown. In some embodiments, PHY processing operations 300 may be used to broadcast a PBCH of a MIB. The MIB may occupy 24 bits, with the actual MIB payload being 23 bits and one additional bit indicating the BCCH message type.

[0049] Operation 300 may include including an additional timing payload in the PBCH payload, which may include a MIB transmission, at 304. The additional information may include eight bits having four least significant bits "LSBs" of a system frame number "SFN" and four bits providing information about a subcarrier offset between the SS / PBCH block and the master resource block grid.

[0050] After incorporating the additional information at 304, operation 300 may include a first interleaving at 308 to change the order of the bits prior to a first scrambling at 312. The scrambling may use a pseudo-random sequence to randomly change the value of the bits. The order of the bits may not change. The scrambling sequence may be initialized with a physical layer cell identity "PCI" and may randomize the bit stream as well as the inter-cell interference experienced by neighboring cells.

[0051] Operation 300 may also include, at 316, adding a cyclic redundancy check "CRC" to add CRC bits to the scrambling sequence. In some embodiments, 24 CRC bits may be calculated from 32 bits of the scrambling sequence. This may be cascaded to generate a final packet size of 56 bits. The CRC bits may be used by a receiver of the UE 104 to detect bit errors within the decoded packet.

[0052] At 320, operations 300 may also include a second interleaving applied prior to channel encoding at 324. The channel encoding may be polar encoding at a code rate of 0.11, increasing the number of bits from 56 bits to 512 bits. In other embodiments, other code rates may be used.

[0053] After channel coding, operation 300 may include rate matching at 328 to ensure that the number of bits matches the physical channel capacity. 432 resource elements "REs" may be allocated for each transmission of the PBCH. The PBCH may be transmitted using PBCH QPSK modulation such that the 432 REs can accommodate 432 QPSK symbols to convey 864 bits of information. The rate matching at 328 may apply repetition to generate 864 bits from a set of 512 polar codes.

[0054] Operations 300 may further include second scrambling at 332. The second scrambling may be initialized using the PCI and based on the 2 least significant bits "LSBs" of the SS / PBCH block index for operating bands below 3 GHz or based on the 3 LSBs of the SS / PBCH block index for operating bands above 3 GHz.

[0055] Operation 300 may also include quadrature phase shift keying “QPSK” modulation at 336 .

[0056] In some embodiments, the physical processing operation 300 may be adjusted to communicate the value of the parameter "X". For example, the value of the parameter X may be signaled by selecting a corresponding sequence from a set of sequences [w0, w1, ..., w23] for scrambling the CRC of the PBCH block, where the scrambling may occur during the CRC addition at 316. Table 2 shows CRC scrambling sequences corresponding to the values ​​of K and X according to some embodiments.

[0057] The value of K Type0-PDCCH CSS repetition times "X" [w0, w1, w2, w3,…, w23] 0 N / A [0、0、0、0、……、0] 1 2 [0、1、0、1、……、0] 2 4 [1、0、1、0、……、1] 3 8 [1、1、1、1、……、1]

[0058] Table 2: Type0-PDCCHCSS repetition times for RedCap devices

[0059] After receiving the PBCH transmission, the UE 104 may descramble the CRC bits using different scrambling sequences. The UE 104 may identify the sequence that most closely correlates to the expected CRC based on the MIB payload. The sequence may indicate the number of repetitions that the Type 0-PDCCH CSS will be transmitted.

[0060] In some embodiments, a reserved bit of the MIB payload may be used to transmit the value of parameter X. As described above, the 23-bit payload of the MIB includes a spare bit. This bit may be used to indicate the value of parameter X. In some embodiments, this bit may be combined with other information to provide the ability to select from more than two candidate values.

[0061] In some embodiments, the value of parameter X may be signaled by reinterpreting some reserved fields in the PBCH payload. For example, some fields of the PBCH payload may only be relevant to certain or frequency ranges. As an example, reinterpreting bits "a" in the PBCH payload may A+6 a A+7 " is reserved for FR1 and can be reused to indicate the value of parameter X according to Table 2. If the MIB is transmitted with reference to non-relevant scenarios / frequency ranges, these fields can be reused to convey the value of parameter X. Therefore, the fields of the PBCH payload can be used to convey the repetition number information in one frequency range and can be used for another purpose in another frequency range.

[0062] In some embodiments, the value of parameter X may be based on a frequency range. For example, parameter X may be associated with a first value in frequency range "1FR1" (which may include frequencies between approximately 410 MHz-7125 MHz), and associated with a second value in frequency range 2 "FR2" (which may include frequencies between approximately 24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Given the possibility of signal attenuation in higher frequencies, the value of parameter X associated with FR2 may be higher than the value of parameter X associated with FR1. However, embodiments are not limited to this scenario.

[0063] The association of a specific value of parameter X with a frequency range may be dynamically configured to UE 104. For example, gNB 108 may configure UE 104 with the association information. In other embodiments, UE 104 may be pre-configured with the association information, for example, through the definition of the association information in a 3GPP technical specification.

[0064] Although the above embodiments describe associating a specific value of parameter X with FR1 or FR2, it should be understood that the value of parameter X can be associated with a frequency range with a smaller granularity. For example, in some embodiments, the value of parameter X can be associated with one or more NR frequency ranges as defined in, for example, 3GPP TS 38.101-1 v16.4.0 (2020-07-17).

[0065] In some embodiments, the value of parameter X may be based on signaling information along with other information. For example, UE 104 may be configured with multiple tables, such as Table 2. Each table may be associated with a different frequency range, operating condition, etc. Thus, UE 104 may interpret signaling information (e.g., a specific scrambling sequence for scrambling CRC bits) according to one table selected from the multiple tables based on the frequency range of operation, operating condition, etc.

[0066] In some implementations, the repetition number X may be encoded separately in a resource element using polar code channel coding.The resource element may be adjacent to the SS / PBCH block carrying the PBCH, SSS, and PSS. Figure 4A-4D Different resource mapping schemes that may be used to carry complex-valued modulation symbols to provide an indication of the number of repetitions X are shown according to various embodiments.

[0067] Figure 4A A mapping scheme 404 is shown in which a modulation symbol indicating a number of repetitions X "Xinfo" is provided to be mapped to resource elements in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing "OFDM" symbol carrying the PSS. The resource elements used in the mapping scheme 404 may be resource elements in a PSS OFDM symbol but not used for PSS transmission. For example, the resource elements may be on subcarriers at frequencies above and below the PSS. The resource elements may also completely overlap the PBCH bandwidth. For example, the resource elements may be deployed within the PBCH bandwidth.

[0068] Figure 4B A mapping scheme 408 according to some embodiments is shown. The mapping scheme 408 may provide that the modulation symbol carrying Xinfo is mapped to the OFDM symbol carrying the PSS and / or the resource element in the immediately preceding OFDM symbol. This embodiment may be used when additional Xinfo bits need to be transmitted or additional redundancy with respect to the mapping scheme 404 is provided.

[0069] Figure 4C A mapping scheme 412 according to some embodiments is shown. The mapping scheme 412 may provide that the modulation symbols carrying Xinfo are mapped to resource elements that are temporally adjacent to the SSB block. For example, the resource element may be in an OFDM symbol immediately following an OFDM symbol of an SS / PBCH block. The OFDM symbol carrying Xinfo may be adjacent to a second full bandwidth PBCH. The resource elements used by the mapping scheme 412 may use the same bandwidth of the SS / PBCH block.

[0070] Figure 4D A mapping scheme 416 according to some embodiments is shown. The mapping scheme 416 may provide that the modulation symbols carrying Xinfo are mapped to resource elements that are adjacent in frequency to the SSB block. For example, a resource element may include four OFDM symbols that may be the same as the SSB block, and one or more resource blocks "RBs" (e.g., K RBs). In some embodiments, the value K may be defined in the 3GPP TS or may be configured to the UE.

[0071] As described above, UE 104 may use DMRS to estimate the propagation channel experienced by the PDCCH. This information may be used to help demodulate the PDCCH and subsequently decode the DCI in the PDCCH. DMRS is a signal that may be initialized based on the initialization value “c init .” In some embodiments, the initialization value can be a function of the repetition value X.

[0072] Figure 5 A PDCCH transmission 500 according to some embodiments is shown. Similar to PDCCH transmission 200, within a repetition window, PDCCH transmission 500 may include four repetitions of Type0-PDCCH CSS (also referred to as "CSS#0"). These repetitions may include a first repetition 504, a second repetition 508, a third repetition 512, and a fourth repetition 516.

[0073] In some embodiments, two types of CSS#0 may be defined for DMRS sequence transmissions, depending on whether the transmission is to be used by non-RedCap devices or visible / available only to RedCap devices. The first type, which may be referred to as TypeA CSS#0, may be the first CSS#0 transmitted in a repetition window. This CSS#0 may be used by non-RedCap devices. The second type, which may be referred to as TypeB CSS#0, may be a repeated CSS#0 used to transmit the same DCI transmitted by TypeA CSS#0 in a repetition window. Thus, reference Figure 5 , the first repetition 504 may be TypeA CSS#0, while repetitions 508, 512, and 516 may all be TypeB CSS#0.

[0074] In some implementations, the DMRS sequence may be initialized based on a repetition value X. For example, the DMRS sequence for TypeB CSS#0 for OFDM symbol 1 may be defined as:

[0075]

[0076] c init =f(X);

[0077] Alternative 1:

[0078] Alternative 2: where c init is the initialization value, is the number of symbols per time slot, N ID is the physical layer cell identity, and is the timeslot number within the frame; and N ID∈{0,1,…,65535} if provided, given by the higher layer parameter pdcch-DMRS-ScramblingID, otherwise N ID It can be a physical layer cell identity, for example

[0079] For TypeA CSS#0, repeat 504, X may be set to 0 for DMRS sequence generation. In some embodiments, the DMRS sequence provided above for TypeB CSS#0 may also be used for TypeA CSS#0, where X=0; in other embodiments, TypeA CSS#0 may use a traditional DMRS sequence. In either case, TypeA CSS#0 is readable for non-RedCap devices (e.g., Release 15 eMBB devices).

[0080] For TypeB CSS#0, for example, repeating 508, 512, and 516, X may be set to 4 for DMRS sequence generation.

[0081] Under different assumptions about the value of X, UE 104 may perform DMRS sequence correction to determine the number of repetitions of CSS # 0. In some implementations, some overhead signaling may be incurred due to requiring at least one repetition of CSS # 0 (eg, repetition 508).

[0082] In this way, one or more explicit bits of the X value may be transmitted via the DMRS sequence for the first repetition transmission (eg, repetition 508) of the Type0-PDCCH CSS within a repetition window of "T" time slots.

[0083] Adjacent PDCCH repetitions may be separated by a gap "O", which may be a number of time slots. In some embodiments, the gap "O" may be defined in the 3GPP technical specification and / or indicated by the PBCH / MIB payload. For example, two values ​​of "O" may be defined in the technical specification, such as O∈{0slots,1slot}, and then a reserved bit in the PBCH payload may be used to select between the two values.

[0084] Figure 6 An operational flow / algorithm structure 600 according to some embodiments may be included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 600 may be performed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 900; or a component thereof, such as baseband processor 904A.

[0085] The operation flow / algorithm structure 600 may include determining a repetition value for a PDCCH of Type 0 CSS at 604. The PDCCH may carry scheduling information for RedCap SIB1.

[0086] In some embodiments, determining the repetition value may include determining which sequence of a plurality of sequences is used to scramble the CRC of the PBCH transmission. The UE may access a table that associates a plurality of scrambling sequences with corresponding plurality of repetition values. The UE may attempt to decode the CRC using one or more of the plurality of scrambling sequences until the CRC is correctly decoded. After correctly decoding the CRC, the UE may reference the table information using the successful scrambling sequence to determine the corresponding repetition value.

[0087] In some embodiments, determining the repetition value may additionally / alternatively include determining an operating frequency and comparing the frequency to predefined or otherwise configured frequency ranges that respectively correspond to the repetition value information.

[0088] In some embodiments, determining the repetition value may include decoding the PBCH to determine, for example, one or more bits in a field. In some embodiments, the field may be used for repetition value indications within the first frequency range and other indications within the second frequency range.

[0089] In some embodiments, determining the repetition value may include decoding a resource element carrying a complex-valued modulation symbol providing an indication of the repetition value. The resource element may be within or adjacent (in the time or frequency domain) to an OFDM symbol used to transmit the SSB block.

[0090] In some embodiments, determining the repetition value may include: detecting or otherwise determining an initialization value for generating a DMRS sequence. In some embodiments, the UE may receive a DMRS transmitted for a Type0 PDCCH CSS. The DMRS may have been transmitted at an initialization value corresponding to the repetition value. The UE may attempt to decode the DMRS using multiple candidate repetition values ​​to determine the initialization value for the DMRS. The candidate repetition value that enables the UE to successfully decode the DMRS may be determined as the repetition value for repeated transmission of the Type0-PDCCH CSS.

[0091] In some embodiments, the DMRS used to determine the repetition value may be associated with a second or subsequent repetition of a PDCCH. For example, in some embodiments, the DMRS used for the first repetition of a PDCCH may not necessarily indicate a repetition value that correctly indicates the number of repetitions of the PDCCH. This may be used to facilitate decoding of the PDCCH by legacy equipment. However, the DMRS used for subsequent repetitions of the PDCCH may correspond to an appropriate repetition value that may be determined by a RedCap device.

[0092] The operation flow / algorithm structure 600 may further include, based on the repetition value, decoding the PDCCH to determine scheduling information for RedCap SIB1 at 608. In some embodiments, the UE may jointly decode all repetitions of the PDCCH to detect the DCI scheduling the PDSCH to carry RedCap SIB1.

[0093] The operation flow / algorithm structure 600 may further include, at 612 , decoding the RedCapSIB1 scheduled by the DCI decoded at 608 .

[0094] Figure 7 An operational flow / algorithm structure 700 according to some embodiments may be included. The operational flow / algorithm structure 700 may be performed or implemented by a UE such as, for example, UE 104 or UE 900; or a component thereof, such as baseband processor 904A.

[0095] The operation flow / algorithm structure 700 may include determining an initialization value of a DMRS sequence to decode the DMRS at 704. As described above, the DMRS sequence may be initialized using an initialization value based on a repetitive value of X. The UE may attempt to decode the DMRS using multiple candidate values ​​of X to determine an initialization value for initializing the DMRS sequence.

[0096] The operation flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include: at 708, estimating a propagation channel for PDCCH transmission based on the DMRS. Since the UE may know the sequence transmitted by the DMRS, it can infer the composite propagation channel by comparing the received DMRS with the transmitted DMRS sequence. And, assuming that the DMRS can be transmitted through the same antenna port used to transmit the PDCCH, the estimation of the propagation channel for the DMRS can also be applied to the corresponding PDCCH.

[0097] The operation flow / algorithm structure 700 may further include: determining the number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission based on the initialization parameter at 712. As described above, the repetition value of the initialization value for the DMRS sequence that provides correct decoding of the DMRS sequence may correspond to the number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission.

[0098] In some embodiments, the initialization parameters for the DMRS for the first repetition may be different from the initialization parameters for the DMRS for the second and subsequent repetitions. In these embodiments, the initialization parameters for the second and subsequent repetitions of the PDCCH may correspond to the repetition value. For the second and subsequent repetitions, the UE may perform DMRS sequence correction using one or more candidate repetition values ​​to determine the value corresponding to the correct initialization parameter.

[0099] The operation flow / algorithm structure 700 may also include: at 716, processing the PDCCH transmission in the Type 0 common SSS based on the propagation channel and the number of repetitions. In some embodiments, the UE may demodulate the PDCCH transmission based on the propagation channel and jointly decode the repetitions of the PDCCH transmission to recover the DCI. To jointly decode multiple repetitions, the UE may perform a soft combination of bits from each repetition with each acknowledgement bit to increase the confidence level associated with the corresponding bit.

[0100] Figure 8 An operational flow / algorithm structure 800 according to some embodiments may be included. In some embodiments, the operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may be performed or implemented by a gNB (e.g., gNB 108 or 1000) or a component thereof (e.g., baseband processor 1004A).

[0101] The operation flow / algorithm structure 800 may include determining a repetition number for scheduling PDCCH transmission of SIB1 at 804. In some embodiments, the repetition value may be selected based on network conditions, operating frequency, etc. In various embodiments, the repetition number may be 2, 4, 8, or other values.

[0102] The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may also include, at 808, transmitting an indication of the number of repetitions. In some embodiments, the gNB may select a scrambling sequence corresponding to the repetition value and use the scrambling sequence to scramble the CRC of the PBCH block. The gNB may transmit the indication by transmitting the scrambled CRC. In other embodiments, the gNB may select an initialization parameter to initialize a DMRS corresponding to one or more PDCCH repetitions. The gNB may transmit the indication of the repetition value by transmitting the DMRS.

[0103] The operational flow / algorithm structure 800 may further include transmitting a PDCCH according to the repetition number at 812. The PDCCH may include a DCI for scheduling RedCap SIB1 and may be transmitted in a Type 0 common SSS as described herein.

[0104] Fig. 9 UE 900 according to some embodiments is shown. UE 900 may be similar to Figure 1 UE 104 and is substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0105] Similar to what is described above with reference to UE 104, UE 900 may be any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a mobile phone, computer, tablet, industrial wireless sensor (e.g., microphone, carbon dioxide sensor, pressure sensor, humidity sensor, thermometer, motion sensor, accelerometer, laser scanner, fluid level sensor, inventory sensor, voltage / current meter, actuator, etc.), video surveillance / monitoring equipment (e.g., camera, camcorder, etc.), wearable device, loose IoT device. In some embodiments, the UE may be a RedCap UE or an NR-Light UE.

[0106] UE 900 may include a processor 904, RF interface circuitry 908, memory / storage 912, a user interface 916, a sensor 920, a driver circuit 922, a power management integrated circuit "PMIC" 924, and a battery 928. The components of UE 900 may be implemented as an integrated circuit "IC", a portion of an integrated circuit, a discrete electronic device or other module, logical component, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof. Fig. 9 The block diagram of UE 900 is intended to show a high-level view of certain of the components of UE 900. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0107] Components of the UE 900 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 932, which may represent any type of interface, input / output, bus (local, system, or extension), transmission line, trace, optical connection, etc., which allows various circuit components (on a common or different chip or chipset) to interact with each other.

[0108] The processor 904 may include processor circuits such as, for example, a baseband processor circuit "BB" 904A, a central processor unit circuit "CPU" 904B, and a graphics processor unit circuit "GPU" 904C. The processor 904 may include any type of circuit or processor circuit that executes or otherwise operates computer-executable instructions (such as program codes, software modules, or functional processes from the memory / storage device 912) to cause the UE 900 to perform operations as described herein.

[0109] In some embodiments, the baseband processor circuit 904A can access the communication protocol stack 936 in the memory / storage device 912 to communicate through a 3GPP compatible network. Generally speaking, the baseband processor circuit 904A can access the communication protocol stack to: perform user plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, SDAP layer, and PDU layer; and perform control plane functions at the PHY layer, MAC layer, RLC layer, PDCP layer, RRC layer, and non-access layer (NAS) layer. In some embodiments, the PHY layer operations can be additionally / alternatively performed by components of the RF interface circuit 908.

[0110] The baseband processor circuit 904A may generate or process baseband signals or waveforms that carry information in a 3GPP-compatible network. In some embodiments, the waveforms used for NR may be based on cyclic prefix OFDM ("CP-OFDM") in the uplink or downlink, and discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM ("DFT-S-OFDM") in the uplink.

[0111] The baseband processor circuit 904A may also access repetition value information 925 from the memory / storage device 912 to determine the number of repetitions that the PDCCH for scheduling RedCap SIB1 will be transmitted. The repetition value information 925 may include, for example, the repetition value itself, a table such as Table 1 or Table 2, frequency range information, or other data structures that may be accessed in conjunction with or independently of the signaled information to determine the number of repetitions.

[0112] The memory / storage 912 may include any type of volatile or non-volatile memory that may be distributed throughout the UE 900. In some embodiments, some of the memory / storage 912 may be located on the processor 904 itself (e.g., L1 cache and L2 cache), while other memory / storage 912 is external to the processor 904 but accessible via a memory interface. The memory / storage 912 may include any suitable volatile or non-volatile memory, such as, but not limited to, dynamic random access memory "DRAM", static random access memory "SRAM", erasable programmable read-only memory "EPROM", electrically erasable programmable read-only memory "EEPROM", flash memory, solid-state memory, or any other type of memory device technology.

[0113] The RF interface circuit 908 may include transceiver circuits and a radio frequency front end module "RFEM" that allows the UE 900 to communicate with other devices through a radio access network. The RF interface circuit 908 may include various elements arranged in a transmit path or a receive path. These elements may include, for example, switches, mixers, amplifiers, filters, synthesizer circuits, control circuits, etc.

[0114] In the receive path, the RFEM may receive the radiated signal from the air interface via the antenna and proceed to filter and amplify the signal (using a low noise amplifier). The signal may be provided to the transceiver's receiver, which down-converts the RF signal to a baseband signal that is provided to the baseband processor of the processor 904.

[0115] In the transmit path, the transmitter of the transceiver up-converts the baseband signal received from the baseband processor and provides an RF signal to the RFEM. The RFEM may amplify the RF signal through a power amplifier before the signal is radiated across the air interface via an antenna.

[0116] In various embodiments, the RF interface circuit 908 may be configured to transmit / receive signals in a manner compatible with NR access technology.

[0117] The user interface circuit 916 includes various input / output (I / O) devices designed to enable a user to interact with the UE 900. The user interface 916 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for accepting input, and in particular includes one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual device for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number or combination of audio or visual displays, and in particular includes one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary state indicators such as light emitting diodes "LEDs" and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays "LCDs", LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the UE 900.

[0118] Sensor 920 may include a device, module, or subsystem that is designed to detect events or changes in its environment and send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit including an accelerometer, gyroscope, or magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system or nanoelectromechanical system including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, or a magnetometer; a liquid level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0119] The driver circuit 922 may include software elements and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in the UE 900, attached to the UE 900, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the UE 900. The driver circuit 922 may include various drivers, thereby allowing other components to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in the UE 900 or connected to the UE. For example, the driver circuit 922 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 920 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 920, a driver for obtaining an actuator position of an electromechanical component or controlling and allowing access to an electromechanical component, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0120] A power management integrated circuit “PMIC” 924 may manage power provided to various components of the UE 900. Specifically, with respect to the processor 904, the PMIC 924 may control power source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion.

[0121] In some embodiments, the PMIC 924 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the UE 900. For example, if the platform UE is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the UE 900 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the UE 900 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handovers, etc. are performed. The UE 900 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up again periodically to listen to the network and then powers off again. The UE 900 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to several hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0122] The battery 928 can power the UE 900, but in some examples, the UE 900 can be installed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 928 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in vehicle-based applications, the battery 928 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0123] Fig.10 A gNB 1000 is shown according to some embodiments. gNB node 1000 may be similar to gNB 108 and substantially interchangeable therewith.

[0124] gNB 1000 may include a processor 1004, an RF interface circuit 1008, a core network “CN” interface circuit 1012, and a memory / storage device circuit 1016.

[0125] Components of the RAN node 1000 may be coupled to various other components via one or more interconnects 1028 .

[0126] The processor 1004, RF interface circuit 1008, memory / storage circuit 1016 (including communication protocol stack 1010), and interconnect 1028 may be similar to those described with reference to Fig. 9 Like-named components shown and described.

[0127] The CN interface circuit 1012 may provide connectivity to a core network (e.g., a 5GC using a 5th Generation Core Network "5GC" compatible network interface protocol such as a Carrier Ethernet protocol or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to / from the gNB node 1000 via optical fiber or wireless backhaul. The CN interface circuit 1012 may include one or more dedicated processors or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the CN interface circuit 1012 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0128] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0129] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the example section below.

[0130] Example

[0131] In the following sections, additional exemplary embodiments are provided.

[0132] Embodiment 1 may include a method for operating a UE, the method comprising: determining a repetition value corresponding to the number of repetitions of a physical downlink control channel "PDCCH" of a Type 0 common search space set "CSS"; and based on the number of repetitions, decoding the PDCCH to determine scheduling information of a system information block 1 "SIB1" sent to a UE with reduced capability.

[0133] Embodiment 2 may include the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: determining a sequence for scrambling a cyclic redundancy check of a physical broadcast channel block; and determining the repetition value based on the sequence.

[0134] Embodiment 3 may include the method according to embodiment 2 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: accessing a table that maps multiple sequences to multiple repetition values; and determining the repetition value based on the table.

[0135] Embodiment 4 may include the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: decoding a physical broadcast channel "PBCH"; and determining an indication of the repetition value based on one or more bits in a field of the PBCH.

[0136] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to embodiment 4 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the field is reserved for signaling information related to a first frequency range, and the PDCCH is transmitted in a second frequency range different from the first frequency range.

[0137] Embodiment 6 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: decoding control signaling to detect an indication of the repetition value.

[0138] Embodiment 7 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein decoding the control signaling includes decoding one or more resource elements of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing "OFDM" symbol that also includes a primary synchronization signal.

[0139] Embodiment 8 may include a method according to embodiment 7 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the OFDM codeword is a first OFDM codeword, and decoding the control signaling includes: decoding a second OFDM codeword that is adjacent to the first OFDM codeword in frequency and immediately precedes the first OFDM codeword.

[0140] Embodiment 9 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein decoding the control signaling includes: decoding one or more resource elements of a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing "OFDM" codeword, wherein the first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing OFDM codeword is adjacent in frequency to a second OFDM codeword carrying a physical broadcast channel and immediately follows the second OFDM codeword.

[0141] Embodiment 10 may include a method according to embodiment 6 or some other embodiment herein, wherein decoding the control signaling includes decoding a plurality of resource blocks that are frequency adjacent to a synchronization signal block.

[0142] Embodiment 11 may include the method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: detecting an initialization value associated with a demodulation reference signal "DMRS"; and determining the repetition value based on the initialization value.

[0143] Embodiment 12 may include a method of operating a UE, the method comprising storing information related to a demodulation reference signal "DMRS" sequence; determining an initialization value of the DMRS sequence to decode the DMRS; based on the DMRS, estimating a propagation channel for a physical downlink control channel "PDCCH" transmission; based on the initialization parameter, determining a number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission; and processing the PDCCH transmission received in a Type 0 common search space based on the propagation channel and the number of repetitions.

[0144] Embodiment 13 may include a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, wherein the initialization parameter is a first initialization parameter, the DMRS is a second DMRS, the PDCCH transmission is a first PDCCH transmission, and the method further includes: determining a second initialization parameter for decoding the second DMRS; based on the second DMRS, estimating a propagation channel for a second PDCCH transmission, wherein the first PDCCH transmission is a repetition of the second PDCCH transmission, and the second initialization parameter is different from the first initialization parameter.

[0145] Embodiment 14 may include a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, wherein determining the initialization parameter includes: using one or more candidate repetition values ​​to perform DMRS sequence correction; using a first repetition value among the one or more candidate repetition values ​​to successfully decode the DMRS, wherein the first repetition value corresponds to the number of repetitions.

[0146] Embodiment 15 may include a method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: performing soft combining of the number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission to recover information for scheduling system information broadcast 1 "SIB1" transmission for reduced capability UEs.

[0147] Embodiment 16 may include the method according to embodiment 12 or some other embodiment herein, further comprising: determining a time gap between adjacent repetitions of the PDCCH transmission based on a predetermined configuration or indication in a physical broadcast channel transmission.

[0148] Embodiment 17 may include a method of operating a gNB, the method comprising: determining a number of repetitions of a physical downlink control channel "PDCCH" transmission to schedule a system information broadcast 1 "SIB1" for reduced capability user equipment; transmitting an indication of the number of repetitions; and transmitting the PDCCH transmission according to the number of repetitions.

[0149] Embodiment 18 may include a method according to embodiment 17 or some other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting the indication comprises: scrambling a cyclic redundancy check of a physical broadcast channel with a scrambling sequence corresponding to the number of repetitions.

[0150] Embodiment 19 may include a method according to embodiment 17 or some other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting the indication includes: encoding the indication in a plurality of resource elements, wherein the plurality of resource elements are: in a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing "OFDM" symbol including a primary synchronization signal or being adjacent in time to a physical broadcast channel; or in a plurality of resource blocks adjacent in frequency to synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks.

[0151] Embodiment 20 may include a method according to embodiment 17 or some other embodiment herein, wherein transmitting the indication comprises: initializing a modulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence used for the PDCCH transmission based on the number of repetitions.

[0152] Example 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1 to 20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0153] Embodiment 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 20 or any other method or process described herein.

[0154] Embodiment 23 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 20, or any other method or process described herein.

[0155] Embodiment 24 may include methods, techniques or processes described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or parts or components thereof.

[0156] Embodiment 25 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20.

[0157] Embodiment 26 may include a signal as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof.

[0158] Embodiment 27 may include a datagram, information element, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message, or a portion or component thereof, as described or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0159] Embodiment 28 may include a signal encoded with data as described or associated with any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion or component thereof, or as otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0160] Embodiment 29 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, IE, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message as described or associated with any of the above embodiments 1 to 64, or a portion or component thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0161] Embodiment 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20.

[0162] Embodiment 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 20, or a portion thereof.

[0163] Embodiment 32 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0164] Embodiment 33 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0165] Embodiment 34 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0166] Embodiment 35 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0167] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0168] Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to encompass all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable storage media having instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a user equipment (UE) to: determining a repetition value corresponding to a number of repetitions of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of a Type 0 common search space set (CSS); and Based on the number of repetitions, the PDCCH is decoded to determine scheduling information for a system information block 1 (SIB1) sent to the reduced capability UE.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: determining a sequence for scrambling a cyclic redundancy check of a physical broadcast channel block; and Based on the sequence, the repetition value is determined.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: accessing a table that maps multiple sequences to multiple repeating values; and Based on the table, the repetition value is determined.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: Decoding the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH); and An indication of the repetition value is determined based on one or more bits in a field of the PBCH.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 4, wherein the field is reserved for signaling information related to a first frequency range, and the PDCCH is transmitted in a second frequency range different from the first frequency range.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: decode control signaling to detect an indication of the repetition value.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein to decode the control signaling, the instructions further cause the UE to: decode one or more resource elements of an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol that also includes a primary synchronization signal.

8. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 7, wherein the OFDM codeword is a first OFDM codeword, and in order to decode the control signaling, the instructions also cause the UE to: decode a second OFDM codeword that is adjacent to the first OFDM codeword in frequency and immediately precedes the first OFDM codeword.

9. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 6, wherein, in order to decode the control signaling, the instructions further cause the UE to: decode one or more resource elements of a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol, wherein the first OFDM symbol is adjacent in frequency to a second OFDM symbol carrying a physical broadcast channel and immediately follows the second OFDM symbol.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein to decode the control signaling, the instructions further cause the UE to: decode a plurality of resource blocks that are adjacent in frequency to a synchronization signal block.

11. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the UE to: detecting an initialization value associated with a demodulation reference signal (DMRS); and Based on the initialization value, the repetition value is determined.

12. A user equipment (UE), comprising: A memory having information related to a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence; a processing circuit coupled to the memory to access the information, the processing circuit to: Determining an initialization value of the DMRS sequence to decode the DMRS; estimating a propagation channel for a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission based on the DMRS; Determining a number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission based on the initialization value; as well as The PDCCH transmission received in a Type 0 common search space is processed based on the propagation channel and the repetition number.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the initialization value is a first initialization value, the DMRS is a second DMRS, the PDCCH transmission is a first PDCCH transmission, and the processing circuit further: determining a second initialization value to decode a second DMRS; and A propagation channel for a second PDCCH transmission is estimated based on the second DMRS, wherein the first PDCCH transmission is a repetition of the second PDCCH transmission, and the second initialization value is different from the first initialization value.

14. The UE of claim 12, wherein in order to determine the initialization value, the processing circuit further comprises: performing DMRS sequence correction using the one or more candidate repetition values; and The DMRS is successfully decoded using a first repetition value of the one or more candidate repetition values, wherein the first repetition value corresponds to the number of repetitions.

15. The UE of claim 12, wherein the processing circuit is further to: perform soft combining of the number of repetitions of the PDCCH transmission to recover information for scheduling a system information broadcast 1 (SIB1) transmission for reduced capability UEs.

16. The UE according to any one of claims 12 to 15, wherein the processing circuit is further to: determine the time gap between adjacent repetitions of the PDCCH transmission based on a predetermined configuration or indication in a physical broadcast channel transmission.

17. A method of operating a gNB, comprising: determining a number of repetitions of a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) transmission to schedule a system information broadcast 1 (SIB1) for reduced capability user equipment; transmitting an indication of the number of repetitions; and The PDCCH transmission is transmitted at the number of repetitions.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the indication comprises: The cyclic redundancy check of the physical broadcast channel is scrambled using a scrambling sequence corresponding to the number of repetitions.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein transmitting the indication comprises: The indication is encoded in a plurality of resource elements, wherein the plurality of resource elements are: in a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol including a primary synchronization signal or adjacent in time to a physical broadcast channel; or in a plurality of resource blocks adjacent in frequency to synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel blocks.

20. The method of any one of claims 17 to 19, wherein transmitting the indication comprises: Based on the number of repetitions, a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) sequence for the PDCCH transmission is initialized.

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