User equipment for sounding reference signal triggering and sounding reference signal triggering method

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) for triggering a sounding reference signal (SRS) is disclosed. The UE may include a radio frequency (RF) signal processing device and a processor. The RF signal processing device receives first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from a network node. The first time slot offset information is configured via a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information (DCI) and a resource reference time slot. The second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between a reference time slot and an SRS resource. The processor is coupled to the RF signal processing device. When the RF signal processing device receives the DCI, the processor triggers SRS transmission according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information to obtain SRS resources.

Description

[0001] Related cross references

[0002] This application claims priority to the following application: U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 061,214, filed on August 5, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention generally relates to wireless communication technology, and more particularly, to a sounding reference signal (SRS) triggering technology. Background Art

[0004] GSM / GPRS / EDGE technology is also known as 2G cellular technology, WCDMA / CDMA-2000 / TD-SCDMA technology is also known as 3G cellular technology, and LTE / LTE-A / TD-LTE technology is also known as 4G cellular technology. These cellular technologies have been used in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at the municipal, national, regional and even global levels. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by increasing spectrum efficiency, reducing costs and improving services.

[0005] In 5G NR, aperiodic sounding reference signal (A-SRS) triggering can be limited to some configurations, which are configured through radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the network. Therefore, A-SRS triggering is not flexible enough. Therefore, a flexible behavior for triggering A-SRS measurements needs to be designed. Summary of the invention

[0006] In order to overcome the above problems, a user equipment (UE) for triggering a sounding reference signal (SRS) and an SRS triggering method are provided.

[0007] An embodiment of the present invention provides a user equipment (UE) for triggering a sounding reference signal (SRS). The UE may include a radio frequency (RF) signal processing device and a processor. The RF signal processing device receives first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from a network node. The first time slot offset information is configured through a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information (DCI) and a reference time slot. The second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between a reference time slot and an SRS resource. The processor is coupled to the RF signal processing device. When the RF signal processing device receives the DCI, the processor triggers SRS transmission according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information to obtain SRS resources.

[0008] In some embodiments of the present invention, the second time slot offset information is carried on the DCI. In one embodiment, a new field is added to the DCI to carry the second time slot offset information. In another embodiment, the second time slot offset information is carried on an unused field of the DCI.

[0009] In some embodiments of the present invention, the RF signal processing device receives a media access control control element (MAC-CE) from a network node, wherein the MAC-CE indicates modified time slot offset information, and the processor device triggers SRS transmission of the SRS resource according to the modified time slot offset information. In this embodiment, the MAC-CE is also used to carry the starting position information of the SRS resource in the time slot when the time slot format changes.

[0010] An embodiment of the present invention provides a sounding reference signal (SRS) triggering method. The SRS triggering method is applied to a user equipment (UE). The SRS triggering method includes the following steps. The radio frequency (RF) signal processing device of the UE receives first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from a network node, wherein the first time slot offset information is configured through a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information (DCI) and a resource reference time slot. The second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between a reference time slot and an SRS resource. When the RF signal processing device receives the DCI, the processor of the UE triggers SRS transmission of the SRS resource according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information.

[0011] By reading the following description of specific embodiments of the UE and the SRS triggering method, other aspects and features of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0013] Figure 1 A block diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0014] Figure 2 A schematic diagram showing triggering SRS transmission according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0015] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing the change of the time slot format according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 4 A flowchart 400 of an SRS transmission triggering method according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] The following description is the best mode of implementing the present invention. This description is intended to illustrate the general principles of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting. The scope of the present invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.

[0018] Figure 1 1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication system 100 may include a user equipment (UE) 110 and a network node 120. It should be noted that, in order to illustrate the concept of the present invention, Figure 1 A simplified block diagram is presented, in which only the elements relevant to the present invention are shown. However, the present invention should not be limited to Figure 1 The content shown.

[0019] Reference Figure 1 UE 110 may include at least a baseband signal processing device 111, a radio frequency (RF) signal processing device 112, a processor 113, a storage device 114, and an antenna module including at least one antenna. It should be noted that, in order to clarify the concept of the present invention, Figure 1 The UE 110 of the present invention presents a simplified block diagram, in which only the components related to the present invention are shown. However, the present invention should not be limited to Figure 1 The content shown.

[0020] In the embodiment of the present invention, UE 110 may be a smart phone, a personal data assistant (PDA), a pager, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a wireless handset, or any computing device including a wireless communication interface.

[0021] The RF signal processing device 112 may receive an RF signal through an antenna and process the received RF signal to convert the received RF signal into a baseband signal for processing by the baseband signal processing device 111, or receive a baseband signal from the baseband signal processing device 211 and convert the received baseband signal into a radio frequency signal and send it to a peer communication apparatus. The RF signal processing device 112 may include a plurality of hardware components to perform radio frequency conversion. For example, the RF signal processing device 112 may include a power amplifier, a mixer, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) / digital-to-analog converter (DAC), etc.

[0022] The baseband signal processing device 111 may also process the baseband signal to obtain information or data sent by the opposite communication device. The baseband signal processing device 111 may also include multiple hardware components to perform baseband signal processing.

[0023] The processor 113 may control the operation of the baseband signal processing device 111 and the RF signal processing device 112. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the processor 113 may also be used to execute the program code of one or more software modules of the corresponding baseband signal processing device 211 and / or RF signal processing device 112. The program code accompanied by specific data in the data structure may also be referred to as a processor logic unit or stack instance when executed. Therefore, the processor 113 may be regarded as consisting of a plurality of processor logic units, each of which is used to execute one or more specific functions or tasks of the corresponding software module.

[0024] The storage device 114 may store software and firmware program codes, system data, user data, etc. of the UE 110. The storage device 114 may be a volatile memory, such as a random access memory (RAM); a non-volatile memory, such as a flash memory or a read-only memory (ROM); a hard disk; or any combination thereof.

[0025] According to an embodiment of the present invention, the RF signal processing device 112 and the baseband signal processing device 111 may be collectively referred to as a radio module, which can communicate with a wireless network to provide wireless communication services in accordance with a predetermined radio access technology (Radio Access Technology, referred to as RAT). It is worth noting that in some embodiments of the present invention, the UE 110 may be further extended to include more than one antenna and / or more than one radio module, and the present invention should not be limited to Figure 1 The content shown.

[0026] In an embodiment, the network node 120 may be a base station, a gNodeB (gNB), a NodeB (NB), an eNodeB (eNB), an access point, or an access terminal, but the present invention should not be limited thereto. In the above embodiment, the UE 110 may communicate with the network node 120 via a fifth generation (5G) communication technology or a 5G new radio (NR) communication technology, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

[0027] In an embodiment of the present invention, UE 110 may detect or monitor whether there is downlink control information (DCI), where DCI is used to trigger the transmission of a sounding-reference-signal (SRS) of an SRS resource (e.g., an aperiodic SRS (A-SRS)), wherein the DCI is carried by a control channel (e.g., a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)) from a network node 120. When UE 110 detects the DCI for triggering the transmission of an SRS of an SRS resource, a processor 113 of UE 110 may trigger the SRS transmission according to the time slot offset information from the network node 120. In one embodiment, the time slot offset information may include first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information. Details are as follows.

[0028] In one embodiment of the present invention, the RF signal processing device 112 may receive the first time slot offset information from the network node 120 via a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE). The first time slot offset information may indicate a first time difference between the DCI and the reference time slot. Figure 2 As shown, the first time slot offset information may indicate the time difference (ie, the time slot offset) between the DCI of time slot n and the reference time slot of time slot (n+time slot offset).

[0029] In addition, in an embodiment of the present invention, the radio frequency signal processing device 112 may also receive second time slot offset information from the network node 120. The second time slot offset information may be carried on the DCI. In this embodiment, the second time slot offset information may indicate a second time difference between the reference time slot and the SRS resource. Figure 2 As shown, the second time slot offset information may indicate the time difference (ie, the additional time slot offset) between the reference time slot at time slot (n+time slot offset) and the SRS resource at time slot (n+time slot offset+additional time slot offset).

[0030] When the RF signal processing device 112 receives the DCI for triggering SRS transmission of the SRS resource, the processor 113 of the UE 110 may trigger SRS transmission for the SRS resource according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information. Figure 2As shown, when the RF signal processing device 112 receives the DCI in time slot n, the UE 110 can trigger the SRS transmission for the SRS resource in the time slot (n+time slot offset+additional time slot offset) according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information. In this embodiment, the DCI can carry additional time slot offset information between the reference time slot and the SRS resource.

[0031] In traditional SRS triggering, UE 110 or other UEs in the serving cell can only obtain the first time slot offset information from the network node 120 through RRC signaling. Therefore, if the configured DCI is not in the default time slot previously configured by RRC, the UE will not correctly trigger the SRS transmission of the SRS resources. In an embodiment of the present invention, UE 110 or other UEs in the serving cell can obtain additional second time slot offset information from the DCI. Therefore, even if the configured DCI is not in the default time slot configured by RRC, UE 110 or other UEs in the serving cell can normally trigger the SRS transmission of the SRS resources. In other words, in this embodiment, the network node 120 may transmit the DCI that triggers the SRS transmission to one or more UEs in different time slots to guide the UE that triggers the SRS transmission to obtain the SRS resources. Therefore, the SRS triggering can become more flexible. It should be noted that Figure 2 This is only used to illustrate the embodiments of the present invention, but the present invention should not be limited thereto.

[0032] In one embodiment of the present invention, a new field may be added to the DCI to carry the second time slot offset information.

[0033] In another embodiment of the present invention, the second time slot offset information may be carried on an unused field of the DCI (e.g., an existing field that is not currently used in the DCI or a reserved bit in the DCI, but the present invention should not be limited thereto). That is, in this embodiment, the second time slot offset information may be carried on an unused field of the DCI without adding a new field to the DCI. For example, if the time domain resource assignment (TDRA) field of the DCI is not currently used, the TDRA field is reused to carry the second time slot offset information. In another example, if the physical downlink shares channel (PDSCH) hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) field of the DCI is not currently used, the PDSCH-to-HARQ field will be reused to carry the second time slot offset information. In this embodiment, the network node 120 may send DCI only for SRS resources to trigger SRS transmission without scheduling PDSCH and physical uplink shares channel (PUSCH). It should be noted that the examples in this embodiment are only used to illustrate the embodiments of the present invention and are not used to limit the present invention.

[0034] In an embodiment of the present invention, the network node 120 may send a media access control element (MAC-CE) to the UE 110. The RF signal processing device 112 may receive the MAC-CE. The MAC-CE may be used to update an associated trigger list of SRS resources. That is, the updated SRS resource trigger list may indicate a modified time slot offset for SRS transmission of the SRS resource. Therefore, in this embodiment, the processor 113 of the UE 110 may trigger SRS transmission of the SRS resource according to the modified time slot offset. Figure 2 As shown, when UE 110 receives a DCI for triggering SRS transmission for SRS resources in time slot n, processor 113 of UE 110 may trigger SRS transmission for SRS resources in time slot (n+modified time slot offset) according to MAC-CE, wherein Figure 2 In the embodiment of the present invention, the modified time slot offset = time slot offset + additional time slot offset. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, even if the configured DCI is not in the default time slot previously configured by RRC, UE 110 or other UEs in the serving cell can trigger SRS transmission of the SRS resource. Therefore, SRS triggering can become more flexible.

[0035] In one embodiment of the present invention, MAC-CE may also be used to carry the starting position information of the SRS resources in the time slot when the time slot format changes. Each time slot format may define the allocation of uplink and downlink symbols in the time slot. In addition, the time slot format may be changed by a slot format indicator (SFI) from the network node 120. In this embodiment, when the time slot format changes, the network node 120 may send a MAC-CE to update the associated SRS resource trigger list. The updated SRS resource trigger list may indicate the new starting position of the SRS resource in the new time slot format. Figure 3 3 is a schematic diagram of the time slot format change according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG3, in time slot n, the starting position of the SRS resource is the fourth symbol (uplink symbol) of time slot n. When the time slot format in time slot (n+1) changes, the starting position of the SRS resource can be changed to the second symbol (uplink symbol) of time slot (n+1). Therefore, in this embodiment, UE110 will not miss the SRS detection opportunity due to the change of the time slot format.

[0036] Figure 4 4 is a flowchart of a sounding reference signal (SRS) triggering method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The SRS triggering method may be applied to a communication system 100 including a UE 110 and a network node 120. Figure 4 As shown, in step S410, the radio frequency (RF) signal processing device of UE 110 may receive first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from network node 120. The first time slot offset information is configured through a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information (DCI) and a resource reference time slot. The second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between the reference time slot and the SRS resource.

[0037] In step S420, when the RF signal processing device receives the DCI, the processor of the UE 110 may trigger SRS transmission of the SRS resource according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information.

[0038] In some embodiments of the present invention, in the SRS triggering method, the second time slot offset information is carried on the DCI. In one embodiment, a new field is added to the DCI to carry the second time slot offset information. In another embodiment, the second time slot offset information is carried on an unused field of the DCI.

[0039] In some embodiments of the present invention, in the SRS triggering method, the RF signal processing device receives a media access control element (MAC-CE) from a network node, wherein the MAC-CE indicates the modified time slot offset information. The processor may trigger the SRS transmission of the SRS resource according to the modified time slot offset information. In some embodiments of the present invention, in the SRS triggering method, the MAC CE is also used to carry the starting position information of the SRS resource in the time slot when the time slot format changes.

[0040] In the SRS triggering method, the flexibility of triggering SRS transmission is increased through DCI or MAC-CE.

[0041] The steps of the method described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Software modules (e.g., including executable instructions and associated data) and other data may reside in a data storage device, such as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of computer-readable storage medium known in the art. A sample storage medium may be coupled to a machine, such as a computer / processor (which may be referred to herein as a "processor" for convenience), so that the processor can read and write information to the storage medium. A sample storage medium may be integrated into a processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user device. Alternatively, the processor and storage medium may reside in a user device as discrete components. In addition, in some aspects, any suitable computer program product may include a computer-readable medium including code associated with one or more aspects of the present disclosure. In some aspects, a computer software product may include packaging materials.

[0042] It should be noted that, although not explicitly specified, one or more steps of the method described herein may include steps for storing, displaying and / or outputting according to the needs of a specific application. In other words, any data, record, field and / or intermediate result discussed in the method may be stored, displayed and / or output to another device according to the needs of a specific application. Although the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention, other and further embodiments of the present invention may be designed without departing from its basic scope. The various embodiments or parts thereof proposed herein may be combined to produce further embodiments. The above description is the best expected mode for implementing the present invention. This description is made to illustrate the general principles of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting. The scope of the present invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.

[0043] The above paragraphs describe many aspects. Obviously, the teachings of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of ways, and any specific configuration or function in the disclosed embodiments only represents representative conditions. Those skilled in the art will understand that all aspects disclosed in the present invention can be applied independently or incorporated.

[0044] Although the present invention has been described by way of examples and preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications may still be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should be defined and protected by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A user equipment, for detecting a reference signal trigger, comprising: A radio frequency signal processing device receives first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from a network node, wherein the first time slot offset information is configured via a radio resource control information element to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information and a reference time slot, and the second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between the reference time slot and a sounding reference signal resource; as well as A processor is coupled to the radio frequency signal processing device, and triggers the transmission of the sounding reference signal for the sounding reference signal resource according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information when the radio frequency signal processing device receives the downlink control information.

2. The user equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that The second time slot offset information is carried on the downlink control information.

3. The user equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that A new field is added to the downlink control information to carry the second time slot offset information.

4. The user equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that The second time slot offset information is carried in an unused field in the downlink control information.

5. The user equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that The radio frequency signal processing device receives a media access control-control element from the network node, wherein the media access control-control element indicates modified time slot offset information, and the processor triggers the sounding reference signal transmission of the sounding reference signal resource according to the modified time slot offset information.

6. The user equipment according to claim 5, characterized in that The MAC-control element is further used to carry the starting position information of the SRS resource in the time slot when the time slot format is changed.

7. A method for triggering a sounding reference signal, for use in a user equipment, comprising: Receiving, by a radio frequency signal processing device of the user equipment, first time slot offset information and second time slot offset information from a network node, wherein the first time slot offset information is configured through a radio resource control information element to indicate a first time difference between downlink control information and a reference time slot, and the second time slot offset information indicates a second time difference between the reference time slot and a sounding reference signal resource; as well as When the radio frequency signal processing device receives the downlink control information, the processor of the user equipment triggers the transmission of the sounding reference signal of the sounding reference signal resource according to the first time slot offset information and the second time slot offset information.

8. The method for triggering a sounding reference signal according to claim 7, wherein: The second time slot offset information is carried in the downlink control information.

9. The method for triggering a sounding reference signal according to claim 8, wherein: A field is added to the downlink control information to carry the second time slot offset information.

10. The method for triggering a sounding reference signal according to claim 8, wherein: The second time slot offset information is carried in an unused field in the downlink control information.

11. The method for triggering a sounding reference signal according to claim 7, wherein: A medium access control-control element is received by the radio frequency signal processing device from the network node, wherein the medium access control-control element indicates modified time slot offset information, and the processor triggers the sounding reference signal transmission of the sounding reference signal resource according to the modified time slot offset information.

12. The method for triggering a sounding reference signal according to claim 11, wherein: The MAC-control element is further used to carry the starting position information of the SRS resource in the time slot when the time slot format is changed.

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