Paging indication for idle or inactive state ue

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communications are disclosed. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) receives, from a base station, a paging indication (PI) in a first PI location associated with a next paging occasion (PO) of a paging cycle before the next PO, where the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted in the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decodes the PI to determine whether the UE is paged in the next PO.

Description

[0001] Cross-reference to related applications

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 094,077, filed October 20, 2020, entitled “PAGE INDICATION FOR IDLE OR INACTIVE USER EQUIPMENT (UE)”, and U.S. Non-Provisional Application No. 17 / 451,294, filed October 18, 2021, entitled “PAGE INDICATION FORIDLE OR INACTIVE USER EQUIPMENT (UE)”, both of which have been assigned to their assigns and are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The aspects of this disclosure generally relate to wireless communications. Background Technology

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved through several generations, including first-generation analog radiotelephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital radiotelephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, wireless services supporting the Internet, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication Services (PCS) systems. Known examples of cellular systems include cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc.

[0005] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), delivers higher data transmission speeds, more connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGC), the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on Location Reference Signals (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink Location Reference Signals (PRS)), and other technological improvements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advancements in PRS processes and technologies, and the high-density deployment of 5G, enable high-precision positioning based on 5G. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The following is a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, this summary should not be considered a broad overview relating to all anticipated aspects, nor should it be thought to identify key or important elements relating to all anticipated aspects or to define the scope associated with any particular aspect. Thus, the following summary has the sole purpose of presenting, in a simplified form, certain concepts related to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein, before the detailed descriptions that follow.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decoding the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0008] In one aspect, the user equipment (UE) includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive from a base station via the at least one transceiver a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next PO before the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0009] In one aspect, the user equipment (UE) includes: components for receiving from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and components for decoding the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0010] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0011] Based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description, other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Attached Figure Description

[0012] The accompanying drawings are provided to help describe various aspects of this disclosure, and are provided for illustrative purposes only and not for limiting the scope of the aspects.

[0013] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to aspects of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 2A and Figure 2B An example wireless network architecture according to aspects of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C It is a simplified block diagram of several example aspects of components that can be adopted in user equipment (UE), base stations, and network entities and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0016] Figure 4A This is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0017] Figure 4B This is a diagram illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0018] Figure 5 The illustration shows different Radio Resource Control (RRC) states in an NR according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0019] Figures 6A to 6C An example discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration according to aspects of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0020] Figure 7 The illustration depicts an example scenario in which a paging indication (PI) can provide power savings according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0021] Figure 8 The illustration shows the possible locations of the PI according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0022] Figure 9 An example of a beam scanning pattern for a PI according to aspects of this disclosure is illustrated.

[0023] Figure 10 The illustrations depict various options for using the Paging Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) with cross-timeslot scheduling as the PI according to aspects of this disclosure.

[0024] Figure 11An example method of wireless communication according to aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. Detailed Implementation

[0025] Aspects of this disclosure are provided in the following description and in the accompanying drawings with reference to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of this disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of this disclosure.

[0026] The terms “exemplary” and / or “example” are used herein to mean “served as an example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” and / or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as being more preferred or advantageous than other aspects. Similarly, the term “aspects of this disclosure” does not require that all aspects of this disclosure include the features, advantages, or modes of operation discussed.

[0027] Those skilled in the art will understand that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques can be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the required design, and in part on the appropriate technology, etc.

[0028] Furthermore, many aspects are described according to a sequence of actions to be performed by elements of, for example, a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s) of actions described herein may be considered entirely embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium in which a corresponding set of computer instructions is stored, which, when executed, will cause or instruct a processor of the associated device to perform the functions described herein. Therefore, various aspects of this disclosure may be embodied in many different forms, all of which are contemplated within the scope of the claimed intent. Furthermore, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described actions.

[0029] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, the terms “User Equipment” (UE) and “Base Station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT). Generally, a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop, consumer asset positioning device, wearable device (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or (e.g., stationary at certain times) and can interact with a Radio Access Network (RAN). UE communication. As used herein, the term "UE" is interchangeable with "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber device," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal," or "UT," "mobile device," "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. Typically, a UE can communicate with the core network via the RAN, and the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs through the core network. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting the UE to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) (e.g., based on the IEEE 802.11 standard), etc.

[0030] Base stations may operate according to one of several RATs (Radio Access Points) for communicating with the UE, depending on the network in which they are deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as Access Points (APs), Network Nodes, Node Bs, Evolved Node Bs (eNBs), Next Generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), New Radio (NR) Node Bs (also known as gNBs or g-Node Bs), etc. Base stations may primarily be used to support radio access by the UE, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UE. In some systems, base stations may provide purely edge node signaling functions, while in others, they may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The UE may transmit signals to the base station via a communication link, referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The base station may transmit signals to the UE via a communication link, referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term Traffic Channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0031] The term "base station" can refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs, which may be co-located or non-co-located. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be the antenna of a base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be the antenna array of a base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, or where the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio headend (RRH) (a remote base station connected to the serving base station). Alternatively, non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving measurement reports from the UE and neighboring base stations where the UE is measuring its reference radio frequency (RF) signal. As used in this article, the TRP is the point at which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, so references to transmissions from or receptions at a base station will be understood to refer to a specific TRP of the base station.

[0032] In some implementations that support UE positioning, the base station may not support radio access by the UE (e.g., it may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but instead transmits reference signals to the UE for measurement by the UE, and / or can receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to the UE) and / or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

[0033] An “RF signal” comprises electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transmit information across the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may send a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted on different paths between the transmitter and receiver can be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply a “signal,” where it is clear from the context that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0034] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of this disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 104. Base station 102 may include macro cell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base station may include an eNB and / or ng-eNB in ​​which the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or a gNB in ​​which the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0035] Base station 102 can collectively form a RAN and connect to core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or next-generation core (NGC)) via backhaul link 122, and via core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., location management function (LMF) or secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). Location servers 172 (multiple) can be part of core network 170 or can be outside core network 170. Location servers 172 can be integrated with base station 102. UE 104 can communicate directly or indirectly with location server 172. For example, UE 104 can communicate with location server 172 via base station 102 currently serving UE 104. UE 104 can also communicate with location server 172 via another path, such as via application server (not shown) or via another network (such as via wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150, etc., described below)). For signaling purposes, communication between UE 104 and location server 172 can be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., via core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), wherein intermediate nodes (if any) are omitted in the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0036] In addition to other functions, base station 102 may also perform functions related to one or more of the following: transferring user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, location, and warning message delivery. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / 5GC) on backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0037] Base station 102 can wirelessly communicate with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for its respective geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110 can support one or more cells. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., via some frequency resources, referred to as carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), Enhanced Cell Identifier (ECI), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCI), Global Cell Identifier (CGI), etc.). In some cases, different cells can be configured based on different protocol types that can provide access for different types of UEs (e.g., Machine Type Communication (MTC), Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), or others). Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” can refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting that logical communication entity, depending on the context. Furthermore, since the TRP is generally the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" can be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" can also refer to the geographical coverage area of ​​a base station (e.g., a sector), as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within certain parts of the geographical coverage area 110.

[0038] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macro cell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in handover areas), some geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102′ (labeled “SC” for “small cell”) may have a geographic coverage area 110′ that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations can be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs) that can provide service to restricted groups called Closed Subscriber Groups (CSGs).

[0039] The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may use one or more carrier frequencies. Carrier allocation may be asymmetric relative to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink compared to the uplink).

[0040] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150, which communicates with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or WLAN AP 150 may perform a free channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-talk (LBT) process to determine whether the channel is available before communication.

[0041] Small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as WLANAP 150. Using LTE / 5G in unlicensed spectrum can increase coverage and / or capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0042] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter-wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW and / or near-mmW frequencies when communicating with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of the RF spectrum in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band can be referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW waves may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 mm. Ultra-high frequency (SHF) bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and are also known as centimeter waves. Communication using mmW / near-mmW radio bands has high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it should be understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near-mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the aforementioned illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the scope of disclosure.

[0043] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing RF signals in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectional). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines the location of a given target device (e.g., a UE) relative to the transmitting network node and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thus providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to (multiple) receiving devices. To change the directivity of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates the beam of the RF wave. The beam can be "directed" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship, such that the radio waves from the respective antennas add together to increase radiation in the desired direction while canceling out radiation in undesired directions.

[0044] Transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning they appear to have the same parameters in the receiver (e.g., UE), regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network nodes themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters of the second reference RF signal for the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal of the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0045] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a specific direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase the gain level of that RF signal). Therefore, when we say that a receiver is beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain of all other receive beams available to the receiver in that direction. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0046] Transmit and receive beams can be spatially correlated. Spatial correlation means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., transmit or receive beam) of a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) of a first reference signal. For example, a UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0047] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit or receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if a UE is forming a downlink beam, then it is a receive beam used to receive downlink reference signals. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit or receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming an uplink beam, then it is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE is forming an uplink beam, then it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0048] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been designated as frequency ranges FR1 (410MHz to 7.125GHz) and FR2 (24.25GHz to 52.6GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is generally (interchangeably) referred to as the “below 6GHz” band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise regarding FR2; although different from the Very High Frequency (EHF) band (30GHz to 300GHz) designated as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), FR2 is generally (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in various documents and articles.

[0049] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are sometimes referred to as intermediate frequency (IF) bands. Recent 5G NR studies have designated the operating bands of these IF bands as the frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus can effectively extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to IF band frequencies. Additionally, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation above 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been designated as the frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher bands falls within the EHF band.

[0050] In light of the foregoing, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, if used herein, the terms "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies less than 6 GHz, within FR1, or including intermediate frequency band frequencies. Furthermore, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, if used herein, the terms "millimeter wave" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can include intermediate frequency band frequencies, within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or within the EHF band.

[0051] In multi-carrier systems (such as 5G), one carrier frequency is called the "primary carrier," "anchor carrier," "primary serving cell," or "PCell," while the remaining carrier frequencies are called "secondary carriers," "secondary serving cells," or "SCell." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by UE 104 / 182 and the cell, in which UE 104 / 182 either performs an initial Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and specific UE control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. Secondary carriers may contain only necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since the primary uplink and downlink carriers are generally specific to a particular UE, the information and signals specific to that UE may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 within a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. For example, this is done to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier on which some base stations are communicating, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," and "carrier frequency" are used interchangeably.

[0052] For example, still refer to Figure 1 One of the frequencies utilized by the macro cell base station 102 can be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), while other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 can be secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception on multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 182 to significantly improve its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, compared to the rate achieved by a single 20MHz carrier, the aggregation of two 20MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40MHz).

[0053] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which can communicate with the macro cell base station 102 via communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support PCells and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0054] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may be able to perform sidelink communication. Sidelink-enabled UEs (SL-UEs) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via radio sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-enabled UEs). Radio sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standards that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the need for a base station. Sidelink communication can be unicast or multicast and can be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of the SL-UEs in a group utilizing sidelink communication may be within the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102. Other SL-UEs in this group may be outside the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102, or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from base station 102. In some cases, the group of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communication. In other cases, sidelink communication is performed between SL-UEs without the involvement of base station 102.

[0055] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 can operate on a wireless communication medium of interest that can be shared with other vehicle and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. The “medium” can consist of one or more time, frequency, and / or space communication resources (e.g., comprising one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs. In one aspect, the medium of interest can correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. While different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently extended their operation to unlicensed frequency bands, such as the unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as “Wi-Fi”). Examples of this type of system include different variations of CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems.

[0056] Please note that, although Figure 1 Only two of the UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the illustrated UEs could be an SL-UE. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) could be beamforming. When SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they can beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UE 104), towards base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102', access point 150), etc. Therefore, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 can utilize beamforming on sidelink 160.

[0057] exist Figure 1 In the examples, any of the illustrated UEs (for simplicity, in...) Figure 1A UE 104 (shown as a single UE 104) may receive signals from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SV 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. Satellite positioning systems typically include components positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UE 104) to determine their location above or over the Earth, at least in part, based on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from a transmitter. Such transmitters typically transmit signals of repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) codes labeled with a predetermined number of chips. While typically located in the SV 112, transmitters may sometimes be located at ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signal 124 to derive geographic location information from the SV 112.

[0058] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 can be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that can be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS can include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential correction, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geosynchronous Navigation Coverage Service (EGNOS), Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), GPS-assisted Geo-Augmented Navigation, or GPS and Geo-Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN). Therefore, as used herein, a satellite positioning system can include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0059] Alternatively, in one aspect, SV 112 may be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). Within an NTN, SV 112 connects to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn connects to elements in the 5G network, such as the modified base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or network nodes in a 5GC. This element then provides access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network, such as internet web servers and other user equipment. In this manner, UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112 as a replacement for or supplement to receiving communication signals from ground base station 102.

[0060] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) point-to-point (P2P) links (referred to as "side links"). Figure 1 In the example, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 connected to one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity), and a D2D P2P link 194 connected to a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based network connectivity). In the example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D) or WiFi Direct (WiFi-D). etc.

[0061] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is illustrated. For example, the 5GC 210 (also known as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate collaboratively to form the core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to user plane function 212 and control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also connect to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to user plane function 212. Furthermore, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the next-generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNB 222s, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNB 224 and gNB 222. The gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein).

[0062] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each server may correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, it may be located outside the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service host).

[0063] Figure 2B The diagram illustrates another example wireless network architecture 250. For example, 5GC 260 (which can correspond to...) Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 can be functionally considered as a control plane function provided by the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by the User Plane Function (UPF) 262, which cooperate to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The AMF 264's functions include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein) and the Session Management Function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access approval, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the Short Message Service Function (SMSF) (not shown), and a Security Anchor Function (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with the Authentication Server Function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204's authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The AMF 264 also includes Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which are used to derive keys for the specific access network. The AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interaction with the Evolved Packet System (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. Additionally, the AMF 264 supports functions for non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0064] The functions of UPF262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (where applicable), acting as an external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point for interconnection with a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic orientation), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, processing of user plane Quality of Service (QoS) (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 can also support the transfer of location service messages on the user plane between UE 204 and a location server such as SLP 272.

[0065] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of service orientation at UPF 262 to route services to appropriate destinations, control of QoS and partial policy enforcement, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0066] Another optional aspect may include LMF 270, which can communicate with 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to UE 204. LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UE 204, which can connect to LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 can support similar functions to the LMF 270, but while the LMF 270 can communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to convey signaling messages but not voice or data), the SLP 272 can communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party server 274) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols designed to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0067] Another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274, which can communicate with LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., location estimation) for UE 204. Therefore, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a Location Services (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server.

[0068] User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect 5GC 260, specifically UPF 262 and AMF 264, to one or more gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 in NG-RAN 220, respectively. The interface between (multiple) gNB 222 and / or (multiple) ng-eNB 224 and AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between (multiple) gNB 222 and / or (multiple) ng-eNB 224 and UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The (multiple) gNB 222 and / or (multiple) ng-eNB 224 in NG-RAN 220 can communicate directly with each other via backhaul connection 223, referred to as the "Xn-C" interface. One or more of gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a radio interface referred to as the "Uu" interface.

[0069] The functions of the gNB 222 can be partitioned among the gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions such as transmitting user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, and session management (except those specifically allocated to the gNB-DU 228). More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Serving Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Media Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and a cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DU 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functions of gNB 222 are typically managed by one or more independent gNB-RU 229s, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between gNB-DU 228 and gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Therefore, UE 204 communicates with gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0070] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) are shown, which may be incorporated into UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of UE 302). Figure 2A and Figure 2BThe NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 architectures (such as private networks) depicted herein are used to support file transfer operations as taught herein. It should be understood that these components can be implemented in different types of devices in different implementations (e.g., in ASICs, in System-on-Chip (SoCs), etc.). The components shown can also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Furthermore, a given device may contain one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0071] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350 for providing communication components (e.g., transmission components, reception components, measurement components, tuning components, transmission avoidance components, etc.) via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) (such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc.). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356 for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNB, gNB)) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a set of time / frequency resources in a specific spectrum). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured differently to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) respectively, according to a specified RAT. Specifically, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358 respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358 respectively.

[0072] UE 302 and base station 304, at least in some cases, each also include one or more short-range radio transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range radio transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide for communication via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, etc.) on the wireless communication medium of interest. Components (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for avoiding transmission, etc.) that enable communication between PC5, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), Wireless Access in Vehicle Environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), etc.) and other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.). Short-range transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured differently to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) according to a specified RAT. Specifically, short-range transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368 respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368 respectively. As a specific example, short-range transceivers 320 and 360 can be WiFi transceivers, transceiver and / or Z- Transceiver, NFC transceiver, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0073] UE 302 and base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370, at least in some cases. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may each provide components for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378. When satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. When satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals originating from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may each include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations from other systems when appropriate, and in at least some cases perform calculations to determine the locations of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

[0074] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, to provide components (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, base station 304 may use one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, network entity 306 may use one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or to communicate with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0075] Transceivers can be configured to communicate over wired or wireless links. A transceiver (whether wired or wireless) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single device), in some implementations it may include separate transmitter and receiver circuitry, or in other implementations it may be implemented in a different manner. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which permits the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit beamforming as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which permits the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the corresponding device may receive or transmit only at a given time, rather than simultaneously. Wireless transceivers (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include network listening modules (NLMs) for performing various measurements.

[0076] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) can generally be characterized as "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver can be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers generally involves signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) generally involves signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0077] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394 for providing functions related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functions. Processors 332, 384, and 394 can therefore provide components for processing, such as components for determining, components for calculating, components for receiving, components for transmitting, components for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0078] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry that respectively implements memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each includes a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Memories 340, 386, and 396 can therefore provide components for storage, retrieval, maintenance, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may each include paging components 342, 388, and 398. Paging components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuitry that is part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394 respectively, which, when executed, causes UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other respects, paging components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, paging components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), enable UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. Figure 3A The illustration shows possible locations of the paging component 342, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332 or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3B The illustration shows possible locations of the paging component 388, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3C The illustration shows possible locations of the paging component 398, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394 or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0079] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide components for sensing or detecting motion and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receivers 330. For example, the sensors 344 may include accelerometers (e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices), gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors (e.g., compasses), altimeters (e.g., barometric altimeters), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, the sensors 344 may include various different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, the sensors 344 may use a combination of multi-axis accelerometers and orientation sensors to provide the ability to calculate position in two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

[0080] Additionally, UE 302 includes a user interface 346, providing components for providing instructions to the user (e.g., auditory and / or visual instructions) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., after user actuation of a sensing device (such as a keyboard, touchscreen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, base station 304 and network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0081] Referring more specifically to one or more processors 384, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 306 can be provided to processor 384. One or more processors 384 can implement functions targeting the RRC layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and Media Access Control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with broadcasting system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with upper-layer PDU transmission, error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel priority.

[0082] Transmitter 354 and receiver 352 can implement Layer 1 (L1) functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1 (which includes the physical (PHY) layer) can include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) decoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 354 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols can then be divided into parallel streams. Each stream can then be mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domains, and then combined using inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from the channel estimator can be used to determine the decoding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from a reference signal transmitted by UE 302 and / or channel condition feedback. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. Transmitter 354 can modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0083] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to one or more processors 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on this information to recover any spatial stream destined for UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, along with the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most probable signal constellation point transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on a channel estimate calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement the functions of layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2).

[0084] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport channel and the logical channel to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0085] Similar to the functions described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by base station 304, one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connectivity, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with transmission of upper-layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs to transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel priority.

[0086] The channel estimate derived from the reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 via the channel estimator can be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate decoding and modulation scheme and facilitate spatial processing. The spatial stream generated by the transmitter 314 can be provided to different(multiple) antennas 316. The transmitter 314 can modulate the RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0087] Uplink transmissions are processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver function at UE 302. Receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. Receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides that information to one or more processors 384.

[0088] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing between the transport channel and the logical channel to recover IP packets from the UE 302. IP packets from one or more processors 384 can be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0089] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 are in Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe diagram is shown to include various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionalities in different designs. Specifically, Figures 3A to 3C The various components within are optional in the replacement configuration, and various aspects include configurations that can vary due to design choices, cost, equipment usage, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In certain cases, a specific implementation of UE 302 may omit (multiple) WWAN transceivers 310 (e.g., wearable devices, tablets, or PCs or laptops may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), or may omit (multiple) short-range wireless transceivers 320 (e.g., cellular only), or may omit satellite signal receivers 330, or may omit (multiple) sensors 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In certain cases, a specific implementation of base station 304 may omit (multiple) WWAN transceivers 350 (e.g., Wi-Fi "hotspot" access points without cellular capabilities), or (multiple) short-range wireless transceivers 360 (e.g., cellular only), or (satellite receiver 370), etc. For the sake of brevity, descriptions of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

[0090] Various components of UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 can communicatively couple with each other via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In one aspect, data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 can form, or be part of, a communication interface between UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306. For example, in cases where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functions are integrated into the same base station 304), data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 can provide communication between them.

[0091] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C Components can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3A , Figure 3A and Figure 3CThe components can be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 310 to 346 can be implemented by the processor and(s) memory components of UE 302 (e.g., through the execution of appropriate code and / or through the appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 350 to 388 can be implemented by the processor and(s) memory components of base station 304 (e.g., through the execution of appropriate code and / or through the appropriate configuration of the processor components). Furthermore, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 390 to 398 can be implemented by the processor and(s) memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., through the execution of appropriate code and / or through the appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE", "by the base station", "by the network entity", etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions, and / or functions can actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memory 340, 386 and 396, paging components 342, 388 and 398, etc.

[0092] In some designs, network entity 306 can be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, network entity 306 may operate differently from the network operator or cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, network entity 306 may be a component of a private network, which can be configured to communicate with UE 302 via base station 304 or independently of base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link, such as WiFi).

[0093] Various frame structures can be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Figure 4A Figure 400 illustrates an example frame structure according to an aspect of this disclosure. The frame structure can be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0094] LTE (and in some cases NR) uses OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR can also choose to use OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are often referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Typically, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, the nominal FFT size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. System bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20MHz, respectively.

[0095] LTE supports a single numberology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple numberologies (μ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or higher may be available. Within each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per time slot. For a 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one time slot per subframe, 10 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (μs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 50 with a 4K FFT size. For a 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are 2 time slots per subframe, 20 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.5ms, a symbol duration of 33.3μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 100, which is the size of a 4K FFT. For a 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are 4 time slots per subframe, 40 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.25ms, a symbol duration of 16.7μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 200, which is the size of a 4K FFT. For a 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are 8 time slots per subframe, 80 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.125ms, a symbol duration of 8.33μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 400, which is the size of a 4K FFT. For a 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 time slots per subframe, 160 time slots per frame, a time slot duration of 0.0625ms, a symbol duration of 4.17μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 800 with a 4K FFT size.

[0096] exist Figure 4A In the example, a 15kHz mathematical set was used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 subframes of equal size, each subframe being 1ms long, and each subframe including one time slot. Figure 4A In the diagram, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0097] A resource grid can be used to represent multiple time slots, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also known as "physical RBs" (PRBs) in the frequency domain). The resource grid is also divided into multiple resource elements (REs). One RE can correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 4AIn the mathematical set of the standard cyclic prefix (RB), for a nominal cyclic prefix, the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix (RB), the RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0098] Some REs can carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). Reference signals can include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the frame structure shown in the diagram is used for uplink or downlink communication. Figure 4A The illustration shows an example location (labeled "R") of an RE carrying a reference signal.

[0099] A cluster of resource elements (REs) used for PRS transmission is called a "PRS resource". A cluster of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and 'N' (such as one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. Within a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies a consecutive PRB in the frequency domain.

[0100] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a specific comb size (also known as "comb density"). The comb size 'N' represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / frequency modulation spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size 'N', the PRS is transmitted in every N subcarriers of a symbol in the PRB. For example, for comb size 'N', for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, every four subcarriers (such as subcarriers 0, 4, and 8) of the corresponding REs are used to transmit the PRS resource. Currently, DL-PRS supports comb sizes of comb size 'N', comb size 'N', comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', and comb size 'N', respectively. Figure 4A The illustration shows an example PRS resource configuration for Comb-4 (which spans four symbols). Specifically, the position of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicates the Comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0101] Currently, DL-PRS resources can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a time slot, with a fully frequency-domain interleaved mode. DL-PRS resources can be configured in flexible (FL) symbols of downlinks or time slots in any higher-layer configuration. For all REs of a given DL-PRS resource, there may be a constant energy (EPRE) per resource element. The following are the symbol-to-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (e.g.) Figure 4A (in the example); 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

[0102] A “PRS resource set” is a collection of PRS resources used for the transmission of PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Furthermore, PRS resources within a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and can be associated with a specific TRP (identified by a TRPID). Additionally, PRS resources within a PRS resource set share the same periodicity, a common silent mode configuration, and the same repetition factor across time slots (such as the “Resource Repetition Factor (PRS)”). The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource in the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource in the next PRS instance. The periodicity can have a length selected from 2^μ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} time slots, where μ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor can have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} time slots.

[0103] In a PRS resource set, a PRS resource ID is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and thus, a "RS resource," or simply a "resource," can also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not affect whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0104] A “PRS instance” or “PRS occasion” is an instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) for the expected transmission of a PRS. A PRS occasion may also be referred to as a “PRS location occasion”, “PRS location instance”, “location occasion”, “location instance”, “location repetition”, or simply “occurrence”, “instance”, or “repetition”.

[0105] A “location frequency layer” (also simply “frequency layer”) is a cluster of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs that have the same values ​​for certain parameters. Specifically, a cluster of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all mathematical sets supported for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) are also supported by the PRS), the same point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth value, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter “ARFCN-ValueNR” (where “ARFCN” stands for “Absolute Radio Channel Number”), an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of 4 PRBs, a minimum of 24 PRBs, and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, a maximum of four frequency layers are defined, and each TRP of each frequency layer can be configured with a maximum of two PRS resource sets.

[0106] The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWP), but the difference is that component carriers and BWP are used by a single base station (or a macro cell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while a frequency layer is used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. When a UE transmits its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session, the UE can indicate the number of frequency layers it can support. For example, the UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0107] Note that the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., as defined in LTE and NR. Furthermore, unless otherwise stated, the terms "location reference signal" and "PRS" can refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals as indicated by the context. If further differentiation of the type of PRS is required, downlink positioning reference signals can be referred to as "DL-PRS," and uplink positioning reference signals (such as SRS and PTRS used for positioning) can be referred to as "UL-PRS." Additionally, for signals that can be transmitted in both the uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS and PTRS), "UL" or "DL" can be added before the signal to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be distinguished from "DL-DMRS."

[0108] Figure 4B Figure 430 illustrates various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot. Figure 4B In this diagram, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top. Figure 4B In the example, a parameter set of 15 kHz is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the time slot shown is one millisecond (ms) in length and is divided into 14 symbols.

[0109] In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple bandwidth portions (BWPs). A BWP is a set of consecutive common RBs selected from a given set of parameters on a given carrier. Typically, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can configure a maximum of four BWPs on the downlink and a maximum of four BWPs on the uplink. At any given time, only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active, meaning that the UE can only receive or transmit through one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not include the SSB.

[0110] refer to Figure 4BThe UE uses the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identifiers. The UE uses the Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) to determine the physical layer cell identifier group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identifier and physical layer cell identifier group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on this PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. The Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carrying the Master Information Block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also known as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides many RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and system frame number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data and broadcast system information not transmitted via the PBCH, such as System Information Blocks (SIBs) and paging messages.

[0111] The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries Downlink Control Information (DCI) within one or more Control Channel Elements (CCEs). Each CCE includes one or more RE Groups (REGs) bundled together (potentially spanning multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle includes one or more REGs, each corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The physical resource set used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a Control Resource Set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is restricted to a single CORESET and transmitted along with its own DMRS. This enables beamforming for specific UEs targeting the PDCCH.

[0112] exist Figure 4B In the example, each BWP has a CORESET, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it may only be one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel resides in a specific region (i.e., the CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, Figure 4B The frequency components of the PDCCH shown are illustrated as being less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESET is continuous in the frequency domain, it does not have to be. Furthermore, the CORESET may span fewer than three symbols in the time domain.

[0113] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (permanent and non-permanent) and a description of downlink data sent to the UE, referred to as uplink grant and downlink grant, respectively. More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)). Multiple (e.g., up to 8) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of several formats. For example, different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, and uplink transmit power control (TPC). The PDCCH can be transmitted by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0114] Following the random access procedure, the UE is in the RRC CONNECTED state. The RRC protocol is used for the air interface between the UE and the base station. The main functions of the RRC protocol include connection establishment and release, broadcasting system information, radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration, and release, RRC connection mobility procedures, paging notification and release, and outer loop power control. In LTE, the UE can be in one of two RRC states (CONNECTED or IDLE), but in NR, the UE can be in one of three RRC states (CONNECTED, IDLE, or INACTIVE). Different RRC states have different associated radio resources, which the UE can use when in a given state. Note that the different RRC states are usually written in uppercase letters, as mentioned above; however, this is not mandatory, and these states can also be written in lowercase letters.

[0115] Figure 5 Figure 500 illustrates the different RRC states (also referred to as RRC modes) available in the NR according to aspects of this disclosure. When the UE is powered on, it is initially in the RRC DISCONNECTED / IDLE state 510. After a random access procedure, the UE moves to the RRC CONNECTED state 520. If the UE is inactive for a short period, it can suspend its session by moving to the RRC INACTIVE state 530. The UE can resume its session by performing a random access procedure to transition back to the RRC CONNECTED state 520. Therefore, the UE needs to perform a random access procedure to transition to the RRC CONNECTED state 520, regardless of whether the UE is in the RRC IDLE state 510 or the RRC INACTIVE state 530.

[0116] Operations performed in RRC IDLE state 510 include Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) selection, broadcasting of system information, cell reselection mobility, paging of mobile termination data (initiated and managed by the 5GC), and discontinuous reception (DRX) for core network paging (configured by the Non-Access Stratum (NAS)). Operations performed in RRC CONNECTED state 520 include 5GC (e.g., 5GC 260) and NG-RAN (e.g., NG-RAN 220) connection establishment (both control plane and user plane), UE context storage at the NG-RAN and UE, NG-RAN knowledge of the UE's cell, transmission of unicast data to / from the UE, and network-controlled mobility. Operations performed in RRC INACTIVE state 530 include broadcasting system information, cell reselection for mobility, paging (initiated by NG-RAN), RAN-based notification area (RNA) management (performed by NG-RAN), DRX for RAN paging (configured by NG-RAN), 5GC and NG-RAN connection establishment for the UE (including both control plane and user plane), storage of UE context in NG-RAN and UE, and NG-RAN knowledge of the RNA to which the UE belongs.

[0117] Even when no traffic is being transmitted from the network to the UE, the UE is expected to monitor every downlink subframe on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). This means the UE must always be in an "on" or active state (even when there is no traffic), because the UE does not know exactly when the network will send data to it. However, being constantly active consumes significant power for the UE.

[0118] To address this issue, the UE can implement Discontinuous Reception (DRX) and / or Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception (CDRX) technologies. DRX and CDRX are mechanisms in which the UE enters a "sleep" mode during scheduled time periods and "wakes up" during other time periods. During a wake-up or active period, the UE checks for any data from the network, and if no data is received, it returns to sleep mode.

[0119] To implement DRX and CDRX, the UE and network need to be synchronized. In the worst-case scenario, when the UE is in sleep mode, the network may attempt to send some data to the UE, and when no data is received, the UE may wake up. To prevent this scenario, the UE and network should have a well-defined protocol regarding when the UE can be in sleep mode and when the UE should wake up / be active. This protocol has been standardized in various technical specifications. Note that DRX includes CDRX, and therefore, references to DRX refer to both DRX and CDRX unless otherwise stated.

[0120] The network (e.g., the serving cell) can use RRC connection reconfiguration messages (for CDRX) or RRC connection establishment messages (for DRX) to configure DRX / CDRX timing for the UE. The network can signal the following DRX configuration parameters to the UE: (1) DRX period: The duration of one 'ON time' plus one 'OFF time'. This value is not explicitly specified in the RRC message; instead, it is calculated from the subframe / slot time and the "long DRX period start offset". (2) ON Duration Timer: The duration of the 'ON time' within a DRX period. (3) DRX Inactivity Timer: How long the UE should remain 'ON' after receiving the PDCCH. When this timer is active, the UE remains in the 'ON state', which can extend the ON period to a period that would otherwise be 'OFF'. (4) DRX Retransmission Timer: After the first available retransmission time, the UE should remain active to wait for the maximum number of consecutive PDCCH subframes / slots for incoming retransmission. (5) Short DRX Cycle: A DRX cycle that can be implemented during the 'off' period of a long DRX cycle. (6) DRX Short Cycle Timer: The number of consecutive subframes / slots that should follow the short DRX cycle after the DRX inactivity timer expires.

[0121] Figures 6A to 6C An example DRX configuration according to aspects of this disclosure is shown. Figure 6A The illustration shows a sample DRX configuration 600A, in which a long DRX period (the time from the start of one ON duration to the start of the next ON duration) is configured and no PDCCH is received during that period. Figure 6B Example DRX configuration 600B is shown, in which a long DRX period is configured and a PDCCH is received during the ON duration 610 of the illustrated second DRX period. Note that the ON duration 610 ends at time 612. However, the UE wake-up / activation time (“Active Time”) is extended to time 614 based on the length of the DRX inactivity timer and the time when the PDCCH is received. Specifically, when the PDCCH is received, the UE starts the DRX inactivity timer and remains in the active state until the timer expires (it is reset each time a PDCCH is received during the Active Time).

[0122] Figure 6CExample DRX configuration 600C is shown, in which a long DRX cycle is configured and the PDCCH and DRX command MAC control element (MAC-CE) are received during the ON duration 620 of the illustrated second DRX cycle. Note that because the PDCCH is received at time 622 and the DRX inactivity timer subsequently expires at time 624, the active period that begins during the ON duration 620 typically ends at time 624, as referenced above. Figure 6B The subject of discussion. However, in Figure 6C In the example, based on the time when the DRX command MAC-CE, which instructs the UE to terminate the DRX inactivity timer and the ON duration timer, is received, the activity time is shortened to time 626.

[0123] More specifically, the active time of the DRX cycle is the time during which the UE is considered to be monitoring the PDCCH. The active time can include the following: the ON duration timer is running; the DRX inactivity timer is running; the DRX retransmission timer is running; the MAC contention resolution timer is running; a scheduling request has been sent on the PUCCH and is pending processing; an uplink grant for a pending HARQ retransmission may occur and data exists in the corresponding HARQ buffer; or the time during which a new transmission indicating a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) addressed to the UE has not been received after successfully receiving a Random Access Response (RAR) with a preamble not selected by the UE. Furthermore, in contention-free random access, after receiving the RAR, the UE should be active until a new transmission indicating a C-RNTI addressed to the UE is received.

[0124] Paging is a mechanism by which the network notifies the UE that it has data for the UE. In most cases, paging occurs when the UE is in Radio Resource Control (RRC) IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state. This means the UE needs to monitor whether the network is sending it any paging messages. For example, during IDLE state, the UE enters a sleep mode defined in its Discontinuous Receive (DRX) cycle. The UE periodically wakes up and monitors its paging frame (PF) and the paging opportunity (PO) within that PF on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) to check for the presence of a paging message. PF and PO indicate the time period (e.g., one or more symbols, slots, subframes, etc.) during which the RAN (e.g., serving base station / TRP / cell) will send any paging to the UE, and therefore the time period during which the UE should monitor for paging. PF and PO are configured to occur periodically, specifically at least once during each DRX cycle (equal to the paging cycle). Although both PF and PO are needed to determine when to monitor for paging, for simplicity, only PO is typically mentioned. If the PDCCH sends a paging message in a subframe via PF and PO indication, the UE needs to demodulate the paging channel (PCH) on the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) to see if the paging message was directed to the UE.

[0125] PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted using beam scanning and repetition. For beam scanning, within each PO, the paging PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted on all synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) beams of the SSBs transmitted in the cell. This is because when the UE is in RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE state, the base station does not know the UE's location within its geographic coverage area and therefore needs to perform beamforming across its entire geographic coverage area (i.e., on all its transmitted beams). For repetition, the paging PDCCH and PDSCH can be transmitted multiple times on each beam within the PO. Therefore, each PO contains multiple consecutive paging PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMOs).

[0126] Legacy UEs are expected to monitor all Pagers (POs) during their paging cycles (typically one PO per UE per paging cycle). However, in NR, the network (e.g., the serving base station) can send a Paging Indication (PI) to the UE during a monitoring period preceding the PO. The PI (also known as an "Early Paging Indication" or "PEI") indicates whether the UE is being paged in the upcoming PO. Specifically, if the PI indicates that the UE is not being paged, the UE does not need to decode the paging PDCCH and PDSCH. The UE only continues decoding the paging PDCCH and PDSCH if the PI indicates that the UE is being paged.

[0127] There are different options for the design of the PI. As a first option, the PI can be based on a paging PDCCH with cross-timeslot scheduling. As a second option, the PI can use a dedicated PDCCH. That is, a dedicated portion of the PDCCH can carry the PI, and if present, can indicate that the UE is paged, or there can be different indications for whether the UE is paged or not. As a third option, the PI can be a specific reference signal (or sequence) (referred to as RS-based). In that case, the presence of the reference signal can indicate that the UE is paged, or different sequences encoded as the reference signal can indicate whether the UE is paged or not.

[0128] As will be understood, PI is used to provide power saving gains for idle and inactive UEs. For example, PI can provide power savings because if PI indicates that the UE has not been paged in an upcoming PO, the UE can skip the processing of the SSB and / or reference signals required to decode the paging PDSCH. Figure 7 An example is shown. This is beneficial because the PDSCH has higher requirements for time / frequency tracking loop updates and automatic gain control (AGC) accuracy than the PDCCH. Furthermore, if the UE is not paged, as indicated by the PI or if the PI is missing, the UE does not need to decode the paging PDCCH and PDSCH, further reducing power consumption.

[0129] Figure 7 The illustration depicts an example scenario where PI can provide power savings according to aspects of this disclosure. Figure 7 In this diagram, time is represented horizontally. Figure 700 illustrates two SSB timings 710 (with a period of 20 milliseconds), followed by PO 720. In this example, the UE is not configured with a reference signal (which will replace or be used in addition to SSB timing 710), so only SSB timing 710 is used for tracking loop and AGC. In this example, even if the UE is not paged in PO 720, because there is no PI, the UE is still expected to process all SSB timings 710 and PO 720 as if it were paged.

[0130] Figure 750 shows the same two SSB timings 710, followed by PO 720. However, in this example, PI 730 exists before the first SSB timing 710. Once the UE decodes PI 730, the UE knows it was not paged in the subsequent PO 720 and can skip both SSB timing 710 and PO 720 (as indicated by “Xs”). Note that although Figure 7 The SSB timing 710 is illustrated, but the SSB timing 710 can alternatively be a reference signal timing for the same purpose (e.g., tracking loop and AGC).

[0131] Regarding the timing of SSB or reference signal processing by the UE before the PO, the UE processes SSBs and / or reference signals before the PO to refine its tracking loop (e.g., time / frequency, AGC). The number of SSB and / or reference signal opportunities the UE needs to process for the PO depends on various factors. One factor is whether the UE is paged and whether the PDSCH is scheduled by the paging PDCCH. If the PDSCH is not scheduled, at most one SSB and / or reference signal opportunity may be sufficient. If the PDSCH is scheduled, more than one SSB and / or reference signal opportunity may be required, depending on the channel's SINR. Another factor is the SINR condition. For high or medium SINR values, at most one SSB and / or reference signal opportunity may be required. However, for low SINR values, more than one SSB and / or reference signal opportunity may be required.

[0132] Figure 8 The diagram illustrates the possible locations of the PI according to aspects of this disclosure. Figure 8 In the figures, time is represented horizontally. Figure 800 shows an example of multiple SSB timings 810 and PO 820 but no reference signal timing. Figure 850 shows an example of multiple SSB timings 810 interleaved with multiple reference signal (RS) timings 830. The reference signal timings 830 can be, for example, CSI-RS or TRS timings. In Figure 850, the SSB timings 810 and reference signal timings 830 are uniformly distributed. In both Figures 800 and 850, the period of both the SSB timings 810 and the reference signal timings 830 is 20 ms (although this disclosure is not limited to this example).

[0133] The brackets in both figures indicate the timing when the UE should process SSB timing 810 before and including PO 820 when being paged. Therefore, in Figure 800, for high SINR, the UE only needs to process SSB timing 810 before PO 820. For low SINR, the UE needs to process two SSB timings 810 before PO 820. For very low SINR, the UE needs to process three SSB timings 810 before PO 820. It will be understood that these are merely examples, and the UE may need to process more or fewer SSB timings 810 before PO 820, depending on the channel's SINR.

[0134] In Figure 850, the UE needs to process the same number of timings before PO 820. However, because SSB timing 810 and reference signal timing 830 are interleaved, this can include both SSB timing 810 and reference signal timing 830, depending on the SINR. Specifically, for high SINR, the UE only needs to process SSB timing 810 before PO 820. For low SINR, the UE needs to process both reference signal timing 830 and SSB timing 810 before PO 820. For very low SINR, the UE needs to process both SSB timing 810 and reference signal timing 830 before PO 820. Again, it will be understood that these are merely examples, and the UE may need to process more or fewer SSB timings 810 and reference signal timings 830 before PO 820, depending on the channel's SINR.

[0135] The circled numbers before and after the SSB timing 810 and reference signal timing 830 that need to be monitored in each SINR scenario indicate the possible positions of the PI for PO 820. As discussed above, if the PI indicates that the UE is not paged, the UE can skip the SSB timing 810 and reference signal timing 830 (all or part) before PO 820. Therefore, it is preferable to send the PI before all SSB timings 810 and reference signal timings 830 that the UE needs to process for PO 820 (e.g., position 3' for low SINR). However, for PDCCH-based PIs, assuming that PDCCH-based PIs have relatively higher requirements than RS-based PIs, the UE may need to process one SSB timing 810 or reference signal timing 830 first to refine the tracking loop for PDCCH decoding. Therefore, for PDCCH-based PIs, the preferred position may be after the first SSB timing 810 or reference signal timing 830 that will be processed before PO 820 (e.g., position 4' for low SINR).

[0136] It should be noted that due to the repetition of beam scanning and SSB or reference signals, each SSB timing 810 or reference signal timing 830 may contain multiple SSBs or reference signals. This is to ensure that for all beams transmitting paging PDCCH and PDSCH, there are SSBs and / or reference signals that the UE can use to track the time / frequency offset and channel gain of the PDCCH and PDSCH.

[0137] Continuing with the possible locations of the PI, for idle or inactive UEs, there is typically no uplink transmission from the UE to the base station. Because of this, the UE's SINR condition is unknown to the base station (i.e., the base station cannot measure the SINR of the channel between the base station and the UE based on uplink signaling from the UE), and therefore, the base station cannot set the PI location based on the channel's SINR. One option is to assume some SINR condition (e.g., low SINR). Another option is to send the PI at multiple locations to cover all SINR conditions. Furthermore, the optimal PI location may differ for different implementations.

[0138] The first suggestion described herein relates to the location of the PI (Placement Indicator). Specifically, this disclosure provides various options for the location of the PI preceding the next PO (Placement Output). As a first option, the PI can be transmitted for each PO at a single location during a paging cycle. In this option, various SINR conditions and implementation methods need to be considered. As a second option, the PI can be transmitted for each PO at multiple locations during a paging cycle. In this option, the UE can select its preferred PI location based on its implementation method and the SINR conditions of the channel. Figure 8 As shown, each PI position can be associated with an SSB timing or a reference signal timing (e.g., position '5' is associated with SSB timing 810 immediately preceding PO 820). These options apply to both PDCCH-based and RS-based PIs, but the optimal PI position may differ for PDCCH-based and RS-based cases, for example, due to the different time / frequency and / or gain tracking accuracy requirements used to receive these different PIs.

[0139] The second suggestion described in this paper involves beam scanning and PI repetition. Specifically, for each PI position (e.g., as...) Figure 8 As shown in the diagram, beam scanning and repetition can be used to transmit PIs, similar to beam scanning and repetition used for paging PDCCH and PDSCH. Regarding beam scanning, within each PI location, the PI can be transmitted on all beams of the cell. A beam can be associated with an SSB transmitted in the cell (e.g., the PI can be transmitted on the same beam as that SSB). This means the PI will be quasi-co-located with the transmitted SSB. Regarding repetition, within each PI location, the PI associated with each SSB can be transmitted multiple times. This repetition provides processing gain. More specifically, in one or more first repetitions, the UE can estimate the channel gain during PI transmission, and in one or more subsequent repetitions, the UE can measure and process (decode) the PI. In this proposal, for PDCCH-based PIs, beam scanning and repetition can be applied across consecutive PMOs.

[0140] Similarly, for RS-based PI, beam scanning and repetition can occur across successive reference signal transmissions. More specifically, a single transmission does not include beam scanning or repetition; instead, the base station can perform beam scanning by first transmitting reference signal transmissions on one beam, then on the second beam, then on the third beam, and so on. Thus, each reference signal transmission will correspond to a single beam.

[0141] The third suggestion described in this paper relates to the beam scanning and repetition pattern of the PI. As a first option, beam scanning can be applied across beams first, and then the beam scanning pattern can be repeated over time. As a second option, the base station can first repeat the PI on one beam, and then transmit the repetition of the PI on the next beam, and so on. Figure 9 The options are illustrated in the diagram.

[0142] Figure 9 Examples of beam scanning patterns for a PI according to aspects of this disclosure are illustrated. Figure 900 illustrates the first option described above, and Figure 950 illustrates the second option described above. Both figures represent a single PI location (e.g., Figure 8 (One of the positions '1', '2', '3', etc. in the image). The base station can transmit four repetitions of PI (indicated by shaded blocks) on each of the four beams 910, 920, 930, and 940. The repetitions can be within one or more symbols, one or more time slots, one or more subframes, etc.

[0143] In Figure 900, the base station first performs a beam scan of the PI across beams 910 to 940, and then repeats the beam scan pattern across time. In this way, there are four repetitions on each beam, but each repetition on a beam is temporally separated from the next repetition on that beam by the three repetitions of the PI on the other three beams. In Figure 950, the base station transmits four repetitions of the PI on beam 910, then four repetitions on beam 920 (not shown), then four repetitions on beam 930 (not shown), and then four repetitions on beam 940.

[0144] The remaining recommendations described herein relate to the design of the PI (e.g., based on a paging PDCCH with cross-timeslot scheduling, a dedicated PDCCH, or a reference signal). The fourth recommendation described herein relates to using a paging PDCCH with cross-timeslot scheduling as the PI. Cross-timeslot scheduling means that the PDSCH scheduling offset (K0) is greater than zero. The current maximum configurable K0 value is 32 (in timeslots). K0 is dynamically indicated by the paging PDCCH based on the set of K0 values ​​defined in the Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table.

[0145] Figure 10 The various options in this suggestion are shown. Figure 10In this diagram, time is represented horizontally, and each block represents a time slot (but it can also represent other time units, such as symbols, subframes, etc.). Furthermore, a base station can transmit two time slots on each of the four beams 1010, 1020, 1030, and 1040 (although it should be understood that each beam can have more or fewer time slots). The illustrated time slots represent the PMO of the same PO.

[0146] As the first option in this proposal, the base station does not transmit on different beams between the PI PDCCH (i.e., the paging PDCCH acting as the PI) and the scheduled PDSCH. This is illustrated in Figure 1000, where the paging PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted on the same beam (beam 1010). Furthermore, in the example of Figure 1000, the paging PDCCH search space period is two time slots, meaning that the PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted on the same beam in two consecutive time slots (and therefore, K0 = 1).

[0147] As a second option, the base station transmits on different beams between the PI PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH. This is illustrated in Figure 1050, where the paging PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted on the same beam (beam 1010), but the UE receives the PDCCH on beam 1010, while receiving beams 1020, 1030, and 1040 between the PDCCH and PDSCH. In the example of Figure 1050, the paging PDCCH search spatial period is one time slot. Furthermore, in this option, the PMO is directed to the same PO, and there are no intervals in the case of transmitted PMOs not being directed to the same PO. That is, the eight time slots in Figure 1050 are directed to the same PO, and there are no intervals between them (i.e., they are consecutive time slots).

[0148] As a third option, the PI PDCCH and the scheduled PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, where PMOs from the same PO are not transmitted through the base station. This is illustrated in Figure 1080, where the paging PDCCH and PDSCH are transmitted on the same beam (beam 1010), but there are intervals between the time slots of the PO's PMOs.

[0149] For the first option (shown in Figure 1000), the UE needs to process all SSBs and / or reference signals required to decode the PDSCH before receiving the paging PDCCH. Using the third option (shown in Figure 1080), the UE can skip any SSBs and / or reference signals after the PI to further save power (if the UE is not paging). The second option offers flexibility and power savings between the first and third options.

[0150] Continuing with recommendation four, for type 2 PDCCH common search space (CSS) sets, the PI's PDCCH configuration can still be provided in the RRC configuration parameter "pagingSearchSpace". The DCI (i.e., the PDCCH payload) can provide scheduling information for the paging message PDSCH. Note that the search space is the downlink resource grid (e.g., such as...). Figure 4B The area shown is a search space in which the PDCCH can be carried. The CSS is a specific search space in which each UE needs to search for signals of each UE (e.g., the PDCCH of the SIB) or signaling messages applied to each UE before establishing a dedicated channel for a specific UE (e.g., the PDCCH used during the RACH procedure).

[0151] As the fifth recommendation described herein, the PMO of the PI should not conflict with any paging PMO of legacy UEs (e.g., LTE UEs and UEs compliant with earlier 5G NR versions) associated with different PO indices (i.e., different UE groups). In other words, different UE groups can be associated with different PO indices, and the PI's PMO should not conflict with any paging PMO associated with different PO indices. Otherwise, if a conflict exists, UEs associated with different POs will not know which UE groups are being paged.

[0152] As mentioned above, the current maximum configurable K0 value is 32 time slots. However, due to beam scanning and repetition, this maximum value may be insufficient for cross-carrier scheduling of PI. Accordingly, the sixth recommendation disclosed herein expands the range of values ​​for the scheduling offset (K0, indicated as "K_0" in the figure). As a first option within this recommendation, the maximum configurable value of K0 can be increased. As mentioned above, a set of K0 values ​​is provided in the TDRA table. To avoid impacting legacy UEs, a dedicated TDRA table can be defined for idle or inactive UEs supporting the disclosed paging PDCCH-based PI. For example, this table may include a new default table in the applicable wireless communication standard and a new configurable table provided in the cell-specific PDSCH configuration message (e.g., "PDSCH-configCommon" in SIB1).

[0153] As a second option in this proposal, a time offset can be defined. This offset can be configured by the network. In this option, the time-domain location of the legacy PO can be used as a reference point. For example, the offset can be defined as the distance between the PI PMO and the legacy PO (e.g., the time slot offset between the first PMO of the PI for the PO and the first legacy paging PMO in the same PO). This offset can be added to the value of K0 indicated by the PDCCH PI received in the PIPMO. If the PI is sent at multiple locations (the second option of the first proposal), the offset can first be multiplied by a factor n of the nth PI location preceding the legacy paging PMO in the PO.

[0154] Referring now to PIs based on dedicated PDCCHs, the seventh recommendation described herein provides for using dedicated PDCCHs as PIs for idle or inactive UEs. Regarding the search space set for PDCCHs, if the search space set is specifically configured for PDCCH monitoring of the PI for idle or inactive UEs, this configuration can be provided in the parameter "PDCCH-ConfigCommon". This parameter also provides configuration for other search space sets that can be used for idle or inactive UEs (e.g., paging, SIB1, etc.). Regarding the CORESET of the PIPDCCH, the search space set can be linked to a public CORESET or CORESET#0 based on the CORESET-Id in the search space set configuration.

[0155] The eighth recommendation described herein provides options for designing search space sets for PIs based on dedicated PDCCHs. As a first option, a new search space set can be added to the 3GPP Release 15 (3GPP standard release for non-standalone NR) search space set configuration. As a second option, a new search space set can be added to the 3GPP Release 16 (3GPP standard release for extended NR) search space set configuration. As a third option, search space sets from the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration (e.g., “pagingSearchSpace”, “searchSpaceZero”) can be reused for PDCCH-based PIs. For example, the aggregation level of the PDCCH and the number of PDCCH candidates can be reused for 3GPP Release 15 numbers defined for paging PDCCHs, SIB1 scheduling PDCCHs, and other SIBs. As a fourth option, search space sets from the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration (e.g., the search space set for DCI format 2_6 used for connected-mode UE wake-up PDCCHs) can be reused. As a fifth option, a new search space set can be defined for the 3GPP Release 17 (the next phase of the NR standard) search space set configuration.

[0156] Continuing with reference to dedicated PDCCH-based PIs, Recommendation 9 described herein defines what the configuration parameter set for dedicated PDCCH-based PIs may include. For example, the configuration parameter set may include the RNTI of the PDCCH's DCI scrambled with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC). The configuration parameter set may also include the offset from the start of the PI search time to the start of the PO (i.e., the first legacy PMO of the PO). The parameter may also include the minimum time interval between the end of the slot used for PI monitoring and the start of the PO. This parameter may also include the size of the PDCCH's DCI. The parameter may also include the number of bits in the indication field for each UE group. However, if the network is not configured for this, a default number of bits (e.g., one) may be used. The parameter may also include a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO if the PI is not detected. The parameter may also include a repetition factor, which indicates how many PMOs of the PDCCH PI were transmitted on each beam in a PO (e.g., in...). Figure 9 (There are four examples).

[0157] Continuing with reference to PI based on a dedicated PDCCH, Recommendation Ten described herein defines how PI configuration can be provided to the UE. For example, PI configuration can be provided in the following: (1) an “RRCRelease” message, (2) a new RRC message (e.g., within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon”), (3) an existing SIB (e.g., SIB1), or (4) a new SIB. As a fifth option, PI configuration can be carried by the PDSCH scheduled by the paging PDCCH.

[0158] Continuing with reference to the PI based on a dedicated PDCCH, in Recommendation 11 described herein, the start bit of the indication field for the UE group containing the UE within the DCI of the PDCCHPI can be determined by the PO index of the paged UE, the group index of the UE, and the number of bits for each indication field (which can be configured as described above in Recommendation 9). Note that the PO index of the paged UE is optional. For example, PO i s UE group i (also represented as i_s) g The start bit of (also represented as i_g) can be determined as (i s *N g +i g )*N b If the PIs of UEs associated with different POs are transmitted in different PDCCHs, then PO i s UE group i g The starting bit can be determined as i g *N b In the foregoing, N g(Also indicated as N_g) is the number of UE groups in the same PO, and N b (Also indicated as N_b) is the number of bits per indicator (which can be configured as described above in Recommendation 9). If no further configuration is specified, the number of bits per indicator is N. b It can have a default value of 1.

[0159] In another aspect of Recommendation Eleven, UEs within the same PO can be divided into smaller groups to reduce unnecessary erroneous paging reception. An erroneous paging occurs when a UE is not being paged, but another UE in the same UE group is. Therefore, by dividing the PO group into smaller groups, a UE will be less likely to receive a paging message that is not addressed to it.

[0160] Referring now to RS-based PIs, the twelfth recommendation described herein provides the use of a sequence or reference signal as a PI. A reference signal can be described as carrying a sequence, and a sequence can be described as being configured as a reference signal. Therefore, these terms can be used interchangeably. Configuration parameters for the reference signal / sequence can be provided by the base station in the RRC parameter “RRCRelease”, a new RRC message, an existing SIB, a new SIB, or a PDSCH scheduled by the paging PDCCH. Configuration parameters for the reference signal / sequence can include an offset from the start of the search time for the sequence or reference signal to the start of the PO, where the start of the PO is the first legacy PMO of the PO. Configuration parameters can also include the minimum time interval between the end of the time slot used to receive the reference signal / sequence and the start of the PO. Configuration parameters can also include a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the PO if the reference signal / sequence is not detected. Configuration parameters can also include a repetition factor, which indicates how many transmissions are sent on each beam in a PO (e.g., in...). Figure 9 (The example shows four). Configuration parameters can also include the availability of reference signals / sequences. This can be dynamically indicated by the paging PDCCH or based on the lifetime in the reference signal or sequence configuration.

[0161] Continuing with RS-based PI, in Recommendation XIII described herein, reference signal / sequence-based PI can support multiple UE groups within the same PO. As a first option, UE group information (e.g., group index) can be provided in the reference signal / sequence configuration. In this option, the UE monitors the reference signals / sequences associated with its own group to determine whether it is being paged.

[0162] As a second option, UE group information (e.g., group index) can be determined by a mapping from the index of the reference signal (which should be unique among all reference signals configured as PI) to the UE group index. For example, if mod(i rs -i g Ng If ) = 0, then it has index i rs The reference signal (also indicated as r_rs) can be mapped to UE group i g , where N g It represents the number of UE groups within the same PO.

[0163] With either option, RS-based PI can be transmitted on multiple SSB beams. In this case, the first option above operates without modification. However, the second option can be optimized so that the index of the reference signal / sequence is first uniquely defined within all reference signals / sequences quasi-co-located with the same SSB, and then mapped to the UE group index.

[0164] Figure 11 An example method 1100 for wireless positioning according to an aspect of this disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, method 1100 can be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0165] At 1110, the UE receives a PI from a base station (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) prior to the next PO of the paging cycle, in a first PI location associated with the next PO, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted in the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams. In one aspect, operation 1120 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340 and / or paging component 342, wherein any one or all of them may be considered as components for performing the operation.

[0166] At 1120, the UE decodes the PI to determine whether the UE is paged in the next PO. In one aspect, operation 1120 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340 and / or paging components 342, wherein any one or all of them may be regarded as components for performing the operation.

[0167] As will be understood, the technical advantage of method 1100 is improved PI signaling for idle or inactive UEs, thereby reducing, for example, UE power consumption and signaling overhead.

[0168] As can be seen in the detailed description above, different features are combined together in the examples. This manner of disclosure should not be construed as having an intent to include more features than those explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, aspects of this disclosure may include fewer features than those in the individual example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered as included in the specification, where each clause may serve as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer in its clause to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspects(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include combinations of aspects of dependent clauses with the subject matter of any other dependent or independent clauses, or any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. These combinations are expressly included in the aspects disclosed herein unless they are expressly stated or can be readily inferred not to be intended as a particular combination (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). Furthermore, even if a clause is not directly dependent on an independent clause, it is intended that aspects of the clause be included in any other independent clause.

[0169] Examples of implementation methods are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0170] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decoding the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0171] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein: the PI is sent at a single position of the next PO in the paging cycle, and the first PI position is a single position.

[0172] Clause 3. The method described in Clause 2, wherein: the individual position precedes the timing of the synchronization signal block (SSB) or the timing of the reference signal associated with the next PO.

[0173] Clause 4. The method described in Clause 2, wherein the individual position is after the SSB timing or the timing of a reference signal associated with the next PO.

[0174] Clause 5. The method according to Clause 1, wherein the PI is sent at multiple locations of the next PO in the paging cycle.

[0175] Clause 6. The method according to any one of Clauses 3 to 5, wherein the UE receives the PI at the first PI location based on the channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the base station.

[0176] Clause 7. The method according to Clause 6, wherein the channel conditions include the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the channel.

[0177] Clause 8. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 7, wherein each of the plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0178] Clause 9. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, wherein each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by a base station.

[0179] Clause 10. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein the PI includes a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and is applied with multiple beams and multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMO).

[0180] Clause 11. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein: the PI includes a reference signal (RS) based PI, and multiple beams and multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions.

[0181] Clause 12. The method according to Clause 11, wherein each of the plurality of reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

[0182] Clause 13. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 12, wherein the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams before the second repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams.

[0183] Clause 14. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 12, wherein all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted in the first PI position on the first beam of the plurality of beams before all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions are transmitted in the first PI position on the second beam of the plurality of beams.

[0184] Clause 15. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 14, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to the associated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH),

[0185] Clause 16. The method according to Clause 15, wherein the base station does not transmit on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH.

[0186] Clause 17. The method according to Clause 15, wherein the base station transmits on different beams among a plurality of beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH.

[0187] Clause 18. The method according to any one of Clauses 15 to 17, wherein the paging PDCCH and associated PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, wherein the PMO from the next PO is not transmitted by the base station.

[0188] Clause 19. The method according to any one of Clauses 15 to 18 further includes: receiving a Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration from a base station for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as a PI.

[0189] Clause 20. The method according to any one of Clauses 15 to 19 further includes: receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI providing scheduling information for associated PDSCH.

[0190] Clause 21. The method according to any one of Clauses 15 to 20 further includes: receiving from the base station a PDSCH scheduling offset K0 indicating the number of time slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH.

[0191] Clause 22. The method according to Clause 21, wherein the PDSCH scheduling offset K0 is provided in a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table dedicated to idle or inactive UEs.

[0192] Clause 23. The method according to Clause 22, wherein the value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K0 is greater than 32 time slots.

[0193] Clause 24. The method according to any one of Clauses 22 to 23, wherein: the TDRA table includes a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table, the default TDRA table being specified in the wireless communication standard, and the configurable TDRA table being provided in a cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

[0194] Clause 25. The method according to any one of Clauses 15 to 24 further includes: receiving from the base station a time offset indicating the number of timeslots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH.

[0195] Clause 26. The method described in Clause 25, wherein a time offset is added to a time domain reference point.

[0196] Clause 27. The method according to Clause 26, wherein the time-domain reference point includes the PDSCH scheduling offset K0.

[0197] Clause 28. The method according to Clause 27, wherein, based on the PIs transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n is multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO.

[0198] Clause 29. The method according to any one of Clauses 26 to 28, wherein the time-domain reference point includes the starting time slot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

[0199] Clause 30. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 29, wherein the PMO of the PI is scheduled to not conflict with any PMO of the legacy UE associated with a different PO index.

[0200] Clause 31. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 30, wherein the PI includes a dedicated PDCCH.

[0201] Clause 32. The method according to Clause 31, wherein the search space set is defined for a dedicated PDCCH.

[0202] Clause 33. The method according to Clause 32, wherein the search space set includes: the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration, the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration, or the search space set in the 3GPP Release 17 search space set configuration.

[0203] Clause 34. The method described in accordance with Clause 33, wherein the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes either the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set.

[0204] Clause 35. The method according to any one of Clauses 33 to 34, wherein the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes a search space set of DCI format 2_6 for connected mode UE wake-up PDCCH.

[0205] Clause 36. The method according to any one of Clauses 31 to 35 further includes: receiving a set of configuration parameters for a dedicated PDCCH from a base station.

[0206] Clause 37. The method according to Clause 36, wherein the configuration parameter set includes: a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) scrambled with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, an offset from the start of the search time of the dedicated PDCCH to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot monitored by the dedicated PDCCH and the start of the next PO, the size of the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, the number of bits of the indication field for each of the multiple UE groups, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on the dedicated PDCCH not being detected, a repetition factor indicating how many PMOs of the dedicated PDCCH were transmitted on each of the multiple beams for the next PO, or any combination thereof.

[0207] Clause 38. The method according to Clause 37, wherein the starting bit of the indicator field is determined based on the UE's PO index, the UE group index, the number of bits in each indicator field, or any combination thereof.

[0208] Clause 39. The method described in accordance with Clause 38, wherein POi s UE group i g The start bit is determined to be (i s *N g +i g )*N b , where N g N is the number of UE groups in the same PO, and N b It refers to the number of bits for each indicator field.

[0209] Clause 40. The method according to any one of Clauses 38 to 39, wherein the PI of the UE associated with different POs is transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, POi s UE group i g The starting bit is i g *N b , where N g N is the number of UE groups in the same PO, and N b It refers to the number of bits for each indicator field.

[0210] Clause 41. The method according to any one of Clauses 28 to 40, wherein a set of configuration parameters is received in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0211] Clause 42. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 41, wherein PI includes a reference signal or sequence.

[0212] Clause 43. The method according to Clause 42, wherein the configuration of receiving a reference signal or sequence is: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0213] Clause 44. The method according to any one of Clauses 42 to 43 further includes: receiving a set of configuration parameters for a reference signal or sequence from a base station.

[0214] Clause 45. The method according to Clause 44, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: an offset from the start of the search time of the reference signal or sequence to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot of the reference signal or sequence and the start of the next PO, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO when the reference signal or sequence is not detected, a repetition factor indicating how much of the reference signal or sequence has been transmitted on each of the multiple beams in the next PO, the availability of the reference signal or sequence, or any combination thereof.

[0215] Clause 46. The method according to any one of Clauses 42 to 45 further includes: receiving UE group information from a base station in a set of configuration parameters for a reference signal or sequence.

[0216] Clause 47. The method according to any one of Clauses 42 to 46 further includes: determining UE group information for a UE based on a mapping from an index of a reference signal or sequence to a UE group index for UE group information.

[0217] Clause 48. The method according to any one of Clauses 38 to 47, wherein if mod(i rs -i g N g If ) = 0, then it has index i rs The reference signal or sequence is mapped to UE group i g , where N g It is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

[0218] Clause 49. The method according to any one of Clauses 42 to 48, wherein a reference signal or sequence is transmitted by a base station on a plurality of SSB beams, and each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0219] Clause 50. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 49 further includes: waking up to receive paging in the next PO based on the PI indicating that the UE is paged in the next PO.

[0220] Clause 51. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 50 further includes: ignoring the next PO based on the PI indicating that the UE is not paged in the next PO.

[0221] Clause 52. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 51, wherein the UE is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

[0222] Clause 53. An apparatus comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory, transceiver, and processor being configured to perform a method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 52.

[0223] Clause 54. An apparatus comprising components for performing the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 52.

[0224] Clause 55. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including at least one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform a method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 52.

[0225] Examples of additional implementation methods are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0226] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decoding the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0227] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein: the PI is sent at a single position of the next PO in the paging cycle, and the first PI position is a single position.

[0228] Clause 3. The method described in Clause 2, wherein: a single position is before the synchronization signal block (SSB) timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO, or a single position is after the SSB timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO.

[0229] Clause 4. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein the PI is sent at multiple locations of the next PO in the paging cycle.

[0230] Clause 5. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein the PI is received in the first PI location based on the channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the base station.

[0231] Clause 6. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein: each of the plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by the base station, each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station, or any combination thereof.

[0232] Clause 7. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 6, wherein the PI includes a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and is applied with multiple beams and multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMO).

[0233] Clause 8. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 7, wherein: the PI includes a reference signal (RS) based PI, multiple beams and multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions, and each of the multiple reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

[0234] Clause 9. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, wherein the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams before the second repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams.

[0235] Clause 10. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted in the first PI position on the first beam of the plurality of beams before all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted in the first PI position on the second beam of the plurality of beams.

[0236] Clause 11. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 10, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to the associated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the base station does not transmit on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, the base station transmits on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, or the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, wherein the PMO from the next PO is not transmitted by the base station.

[0237] Clause 12. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 11, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration from a base station for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as the PI.

[0238] Clause 13. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 12, wherein: PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI providing scheduling information for the associated PDSCH.

[0239] Clause 14. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 13, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is provided in a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table dedicated to idle or inactive UEs, the value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 being greater than 32 slots, the TDRA table including a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table, the default TDRA table being specified in a wireless communication standard, and the configurable TDRA table being provided in a cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

[0240] Clause 15. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 14, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a time offset indicating the number of timeslots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the time offset is added to a time-domain reference point, the time-domain reference point including a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0, based on the PI transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO, the time-domain reference point including the start timeslot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

[0241] Clause 16. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 15, wherein the PMO of the PI is scheduled to not conflict with any PMO of the legacy UE associated with a different PO index.

[0242] Clause 17. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 16, wherein: PI includes a dedicated PDCCH, the search space set is defined for the dedicated PDCCH, and the search space set configuration of the search space set includes: 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration, 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration, or 3GPP Release 17 search space set configuration.

[0243] Clause 18. The method according to Clause 17, wherein the search space set is linked to a common control resource set (CORESET) or CORESET#0 based on a CORESET identifier in the search space set configuration.

[0244] Clause 19. The method according to any one of Clauses 17 to 18, wherein: the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes: the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set, or the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes: the search space set of DCI format 2_6 for UE wake-up PDCCH in connected mode.

[0245] Clause 20. The method according to any one of Clauses 17 to 19 further includes receiving from a base station a set of configuration parameters for a dedicated PDCCH, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) scrambled with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, an offset from the start of the search time of the dedicated PDCCH to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot monitored by the dedicated PDCCH and the start of the next PO, the size of the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, the number of bits of the indication field for each of the plurality of UE groups, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on the undetected dedicated PDCCH, a repetition factor indicating how many PMOs of the dedicated PDCCH were transmitted on each of the plurality of beams for the next PO, or any combination thereof; and wherein the set of configuration parameters is received in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), an SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0246] Clause 21. The method according to Clause 20, wherein: the start bit of the indication field is determined based on the PO index of the UE, the UE group index, the number of bits for each indication field, or any combination thereof, and the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is determined as (i_s*N_g+i_g)*N_b, where N_g is the number of UE groups in the same PO and N_b is the number of bits for each indication field, or based on the PI of UEs associated with different POs being transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is i_g*N_b.

[0247] Clause 22. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 21, wherein the PI includes a reference signal or sequence, and receives a configuration of the reference signal or sequence in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0248] Clause 23. The method according to Clause 22 further comprises: receiving from a base station a set of configuration parameters for a reference signal or sequence, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: an offset from the start of the search time of the reference signal or sequence to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot of the reference signal or sequence and the start of the next PO, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on an undetected reference signal or sequence, a repetition factor indicating how much of the reference signal or sequence has been transmitted on each of a plurality of beams in the next PO, the availability of the reference signal or sequence, or any combination thereof.

[0249] Clause 24. The method according to any one of Clauses 22 to 23 further includes: determining UE group information for a UE based on a mapping from an index of a reference signal or sequence to a UE group index for UE group information.

[0250] Clause 25. The method according to any one of Clauses 22 to 24, wherein a reference signal or sequence is transmitted by a base station on a plurality of SSB beams, and each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0251] Clause 26. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 25, wherein a reference signal or sequence having an index i_rs is mapped to a UE group i_g based on mod(i_rs-i_g, N__g) equal to 0, and N_g is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

[0252] Clause 27. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 26 further includes: waking up to receive paging in the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is paged in the next PO; or ignoring the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is not paged in the next PO, wherein the UE is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

[0253] Clause 28. A user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from a base station before the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next PO, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0254] Clause 29. The UE as described in Clause 28, wherein: the PI is transmitted at a single location of the next PO in the paging cycle, and the first PI location is a single location.

[0255] Clause 30. The UE as described in Clause 29, wherein: a single position is before the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO, or a single position is after the SSB timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO.

[0256] Clause 31. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 30, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of locations in the next PO of the paging cycle.

[0257] Clause 32. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 31, wherein the PI is received in the first PI location based on the channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the base station.

[0258] Clause 33. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 28 to 32, wherein: each of the plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by the base station, each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station, or any combination thereof.

[0259] Clause 34. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 28 to 33, wherein the PI includes a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and is applied with multiple beams and multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMO).

[0260] Clause 35. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 34, wherein: the PI includes a reference signal (RS) based PI, multiple beams and multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions, and each of the multiple reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

[0261] Clause 36. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 35, wherein the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted in the first PI position in each of the plurality of beams before the second repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted in the first PI position in each of the plurality of beams.

[0262] Clause 37. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 36, wherein all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted in the first PI position on the first beam of the plurality of beams before all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions are transmitted in the first PI position on the second beam of the plurality of beams.

[0263] Clause 38. A UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 37, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to the associated Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), the base station does not transmit on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, the base station transmits on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, or the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, wherein the PMO from the next PO is not transmitted by the base station.

[0264] Clause 39. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 38, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and at least one processor is further configured to receive radio resource control (RRC) configuration from a base station via at least one transceiver for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as the PI.

[0265] Clause 40. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 39, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to the associated PDSCH, and at least one processor is further configured to receive downlink control information (DCI) from the base station via at least one transceiver, the DCI providing scheduling information for the associated PDSCH.

[0266] Clause 41. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 40, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via at least one transceiver, a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 from a base station indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is provided in a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table dedicated to idle or inactive UEs, the value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 being greater than 32 slots, the TDRA table including a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table, the default TDRA table being specified in a wireless communication standard, and the configurable TDRA table being provided in a cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

[0267] Clause 42. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 41, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via at least one transceiver, a time offset from a base station indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the time offset is added to a time-domain reference point, the time-domain reference point including a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0, based on the PI transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO, the time-domain reference point including the starting slot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

[0268] Clause 43. A UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 28 to 42, wherein the PMO of the PI is scheduled to not conflict with any PMO of a legacy UE associated with a different PO index.

[0269] Clause 44. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 28 to 43, wherein: the PI includes a dedicated PDCCH, the search space set is defined for the dedicated PDCCH, and the search space set configuration of the search space set includes: 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration, 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration, or 3GPP Release 17 search space set configuration.

[0270] Clause 45. The UE as described in Clause 44, wherein the search space set is linked to the common control resource set (CORESET) or CORESET#0 based on the CORESET identifier in the search space set configuration.

[0271] Clause 46. The UE according to any one of Clauses 44 to 45, wherein: the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes: the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set, or the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes: the search space set of DCI format 2_6 for UE wake-up PDCCH in connected mode.

[0272] Clause 47. The UE according to any one of Clauses 44 to 46, wherein at least one processor is further configured to: receive from a base station via at least one transceiver a set of configuration parameters for a dedicated PDCCH, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) scrambled with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, an offset from the start of the search time of the dedicated PDCCH to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot monitored by the dedicated PDCCH and the start of the next PO, the size of the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, and parameters for multiple The number of bits in the indication field of each UE group in the UE group, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on an undetected dedicated PDCCH, a repetition factor of how many PMOs of dedicated PDCCH were transmitted on each of the multiple beams for the next PO, or any combination thereof; and wherein the set of configuration parameters is received in the following: RRC release message, RRC message within the “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or PDSCH scheduled by paging PDCCH.

[0273] Clause 48. A UE according to any one of Clauses 46 to 47, wherein: the start bit of the indication field is determined based on the UE's PO index, UE group index, the number of bits for each indication field, or any combination thereof, and the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is determined as (i_s*N_g+i_g)*N_b, where N_g is the number of UE groups in the same PO and N_b is the number of bits for each indication field, or based on the PI of UEs associated with different POs being transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is i_g*N_b.

[0274] Clause 49. A UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 28 to 48, wherein the PI includes a reference signal or sequence and receives a configuration of the reference signal or sequence in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0275] Clause 50. The UE as described in Clause 49, wherein at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via at least one transceiver, from a base station a set of configuration parameters for a reference signal or sequence, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: an offset from the start of the search time of the reference signal or sequence to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot of the reference signal or sequence and the start of the next PO, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on an undetected reference signal or sequence, a repetition factor indicating how much of the reference signal or sequence has been transmitted on each of a plurality of beams in the next PO, the availability of the reference signal or sequence, or any combination thereof.

[0276] Clause 51. The UE according to any one of Clauses 49 to 50, wherein at least one processor is further configured to: determine UE group information for the UE based on a mapping from an index of a reference signal or sequence to a UE group index for UE group information.

[0277] Clause 52. The UE according to any one of Clauses 49 to 51, wherein the reference signal or sequence is transmitted by the base station on a plurality of SSB beams, and each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0278] Clause 53. A UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 52, wherein a reference signal or sequence having an index i_rs is mapped to a UE group i_g based on mod(i_rs-i_g, N_g) equal to 0, and N_g is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

[0279] Clause 54. The UE according to any one of Clauses 28 to 53, wherein at least one processor is further configured to: wake up to receive paging in the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is paged in the next PO; or ignore the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is not paged in the next PO, wherein the UE is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

[0280] Clause 55. A user equipment (UE) comprising: means for receiving from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and means for decoding the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0281] Clause 56. The UE as described in Clause 55, wherein: the PI is transmitted at a single location of the next PO in the paging cycle, and the first PI location is a single location.

[0282] Clause 57. The UE as described in Clause 56, wherein: a single position is before the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO, or a single position is after the SSB timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO.

[0283] Clause 58. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 57, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of locations of the next PO in the paging cycle.

[0284] Clause 59. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 58, wherein the PI is received in the first PI location based on the channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the base station.

[0285] Clause 60. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 55 to 59, wherein: each of the plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by the base station, each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station, or any combination thereof.

[0286] Clause 61. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 60, wherein the PI includes a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and is applied with multiple beams and multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMO).

[0287] Clause 62. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 61, wherein: the PI includes a reference signal (RS) based PI, multiple beams and multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions, and each of the multiple reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

[0288] Clause 63. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 62, wherein the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams before the second repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams.

[0289] Clause 64. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 63, wherein all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted in the first PI position on the first beam of the plurality of beams before all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions are transmitted in the first PI position on the second beam of the plurality of beams.

[0290] Clause 65. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 64, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to the associated Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), the base station does not transmit on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, the base station transmits on different beams among multiple beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, or the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, wherein the PMO from the next PO is not transmitted by the base station.

[0291] Clause 66. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 65, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration from a base station for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as the PI.

[0292] Clause 67. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 66, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI providing scheduling information for the associated PDSCH.

[0293] Clause 68. A UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 67, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is provided in a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table dedicated to idle or inactive UEs, the value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 being greater than 32 slots, the TDRA table including a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table, the default TDRA table being specified in a wireless communication standard, and the configurable TDRA table being provided in a cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

[0294] Clause 69. The UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 68, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a time offset indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the time offset is added to a time-domain reference point, the time-domain reference point including a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0, based on the PI transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO, the time-domain reference point including the start slot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

[0295] Clause 70. A UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 55 to 69, wherein the PMO of the PI is scheduled to not conflict with any PMO of a legacy UE associated with a different PO index.

[0296] Clause 71. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 55 to 70, wherein: the PI includes a dedicated PDCCH, the search space set is defined for the dedicated PDCCH, and the search space set configuration of the search space set includes: 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration, 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration, or 3GPP Release 17 search space set configuration.

[0297] Clause 72. The UE as described in Clause 71, wherein the search space set is linked to the common control resource set (CORESET) or CORESET#0 based on the CORESET identifier in the search space set configuration.

[0298] Clause 73. The UE according to any one of Clauses 71 to 72, wherein: the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes: the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set, or the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes: the search space set of DCI format 2_6 for UE wake-up PDCCH in connected mode.

[0299] Clause 74. The UE according to any one of Clauses 71 to 73 further includes: receiving from the base station a set of configuration parameters for a dedicated PDCCH, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) scrambled with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, an offset from the start of the search time of the dedicated PDCCH to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot monitored by the dedicated PDCCH and the start of the next PO, the size of the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH, the number of bits of the indication field for each of the plurality of UE groups, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on an undetected dedicated PDCCH, a repetition factor indicating how many PMOs of the dedicated PDCCH were transmitted on each of the plurality of beams for the next PO, or any combination thereof; and wherein the set of configuration parameters is received in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), an SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0300] Clause 75. The UE as described in Clause 74, wherein: the start bit of the indication field is determined based on the UE's PO index, UE group index, the number of bits for each indication field, or any combination thereof, and the start bit of UE group i_g in POi_S is determined as (i_s*N_g+i_g)*N_b, where N_g is the number of UE groups in the same PO and N_b is the number of bits for each indication field, or based on the PI of UEs associated with different POs being transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is i_g*N_b.

[0301] Clause 76. A UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 55 to 75, wherein the PI includes a reference signal or sequence and receives a configuration of the reference signal or sequence in the following: an RRC release message, an RRC message within a “PDCCH-ConfigCommon” information element, a System Information Block (SIB), SIB Type 1 (SIB1), or a PDSCH scheduled by a paging PDCCH.

[0302] Clause 77. The UE as described in Clause 76 further includes: receiving from the base station a set of configuration parameters for a reference signal or sequence, wherein the set of configuration parameters includes: an offset from the start of the search time of the reference signal or sequence to the start of the next PO, a minimum time interval between the end of the time slot of the reference signal or sequence and the start of the next PO, a detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on an undetected reference signal or sequence, a repetition factor indicating how much of the reference signal or sequence has been transmitted on each of a plurality of beams in the next PO, the availability of the reference signal or sequence, or any combination thereof.

[0303] Clause 78. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 76 to 77 further includes: determining UE group information for the UE based on a mapping from an index of a reference signal or sequence to a UE group index for UE group information.

[0304] Clause 79. The UE according to any one of Clauses 76 to 78, wherein the reference signal or sequence is transmitted by the base station on a plurality of SSB beams, and each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0305] Clause 80. A UE according to any one of Clauses 55 to 79, wherein a reference signal or sequence having an index i_rs is mapped to a UE group i_g based on mod(i_rs-i_g, N_g) equal to 0, and N_g is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

[0306] Clause 81. The UE pursuant to any one of Clauses 55 to 80 further includes: waking up to receive paging in the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is paged in the next PO; or ignoring the next PO based on a PI indicating that the UE is not paged in the next PO, wherein the UE is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

[0307] Clause 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive from a base station a PI at a first paging indication (PI) location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams; and decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

[0308] Clause 83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 82, wherein: the PI is transmitted at a single position of the next PO in the paging cycle, and the first PI position is a single position.

[0309] Clause 84. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 73 to 83, wherein: a single location is prior to a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) timing or a reference signal timing associated with the next Point of Purchase (PO), or a single location is after an SSB timing or a reference signal timing associated with the next Point of Purchase (PO).

[0310] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 72 to 84, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of locations of the next PO in a paging cycle.

[0311] Clause 86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 85, wherein the PI is received in a first PI location based on channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the base station.

[0312] Clause 87. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 72 to 86, wherein: each of a plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by a base station, each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by a base station, or any combination thereof.

[0313] Clause 88. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 72 to 87, wherein the PI comprises a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and is applied with multiple beams and multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities (PMOs).

[0314] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 88, wherein: the PI includes a reference signal (RS) based PI, multiple beams and multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions, and each of the multiple reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

[0315] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 89, wherein the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams before the second repetition of the PI is transmitted at the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams.

[0316] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 90, wherein all repetitions of a plurality of repetitions of a PI are transmitted at a first PI position on a first beam of a plurality of beams before all repetitions of a plurality of repetitions are transmitted at a first PI position on a second beam of a plurality of beams.

[0317] Clause 92. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 91, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), the base station does not transmit on different beams among a plurality of beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, the base station transmits on different beams among a plurality of beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, or the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH are transmitted at intervals, wherein a PMO from the next PO is not transmitted by the base station.

[0318] Clause 93. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 92, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-timeslot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving a radio resource control (RRC) configuration from a base station for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as a PT.

[0319] Clause 94. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 93, wherein: the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes receiving downlink control information (DCI) from a base station, the DCI providing scheduling information for the associated PDSCH.

[0320] Clause 95. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 94, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is provided in a Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table dedicated to idle or inactive UEs, the value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 being greater than 32 slots, the TDRA table including a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table, the default TDRA table being specified in a wireless communication standard, and the configurable TDRA table being provided in a cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

[0321] Clause 96. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 72 to 95, wherein the PI includes a paging PDCCH having cross-slot scheduling to an associated PDSCH, and the method further includes: receiving from a base station a time offset indicating the number of slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein the time offset is added to a time-domain reference point, the time-domain reference point including a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0, based on the PI transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO, the time-domain reference point including the starting slot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

[0322] Clause 97. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 72 to 96, wherein the PMO of the PI is scheduled to not conflict with any PMO of the legacy UE associated with a different PO index.

[0323] Clause 98. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 72 to 97, wherein: the PI includes a dedicated PDCCH, the search space set is defined for the dedicated PDCCH, and the search space set configuration of the search space set includes: a 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration, a 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration, or a 3GPP Release 17 search space set configuration.

[0324] Clause 99. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 88 to 98, wherein the search space set is linked to a common control resource set (CORESET) or CORESET#0 based on a CORESET identifier in the search space set configuration.

[0325] Clause 100. A non-transitory computer-readable medium pursuant to any one of Clauses 88 to 99, wherein: the search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set, or the search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes the search space set of DCI format 2_6 for UE wake-up PDCCH in connected mode.

[0326] Clause 101. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 90 to 100, wherein: the start bit of an indication field is determined based on the PO index of the UE, the UE group index, the number of bits for each indication field, or any combination thereof, and the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is determined as (i_s*N_g+i_g)*N_b, where N_g is the number of UE groups in the same PO and N_b is the number of bits for each indication field, or based on the PI of UEs associated with different POs being transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, the start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is i_g*N_b.

[0327] Clause 102. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 89 to 101, wherein a reference signal or sequence is transmitted by a base station on a plurality of SSB beams, and each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with an SSB transmitted by the base station.

[0328] Clause 103. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of Clauses 68 to 102, wherein a reference signal or sequence having an index i_rs is mapped to a UE group i_g based on mod(i_rs-i_g, N_g) equal to 0, and N_g is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

[0329] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the foregoing description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or light particles, or any combination thereof.

[0330] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the various illustrated logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can all be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability between hardware and software, the various illustrated components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether this functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the system as a whole. Skilled artisans can implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as departing from the scope of this disclosure.

[0331] The various illustrated logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or performed using a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor can be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor can also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a combination of multiple microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0332] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or a combination of both. The software module can reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Example storage media are coupled to a processor such that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium can be a component of the processor. The processor and storage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). Alternatively, the processor and storage medium can reside as discrete components in the user terminal.

[0333] In one or more examples, the described functionality can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality can be stored as one or more instructions or code on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium. A computer-readable medium includes both computer storage media and communication media, which includes any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such a computer-readable medium can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disc storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are all included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disks and optical discs include compact optical discs (CDs), laser optical discs, optical discs, digital multifunction optical discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, wherein disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0334] Although the foregoing disclosure illustrates illustrative aspects of this disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of this disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to aspects of this disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of this disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms are contemplated unless explicitly limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: The UE receives a PI from the network node at at least a first paging indication PI location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of the paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of PI locations including the first PI location before the next PO on each of the plurality of beams, and wherein the UE receives the PI at at least at the first PI location based on channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the network node; and Decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first PI position is before the timing of the synchronization signal block SSB or the timing of the reference signal associated with the next PO, or The first PI position is after the SSB timing or the reference signal timing associated with the next PO.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Each of the plurality of beams is associated with an SSB transmitted by the network node. Each of the plurality of beams is quasi-co-located with the SSB transmitted by the network node, or Any combination thereof.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a PI based on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), and The multiple beams and the multiple repetitions across multiple consecutive PDCCH monitoring opportunities are applied by the PMO.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a PI based on the reference signal RS. The multiple beams and the multiple repetitions are applied across multiple consecutive reference signal transmissions, and Each of the plurality of reference signal transmissions includes a reference signal sequence.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Before the second repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted in the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams, the first repetition of the plurality of repetitions of the PI is transmitted in the first PI position on each of the plurality of beams.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, Before all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted at the first PI position on the second beam of the plurality of beams, all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions of the PI are transmitted at the first PI position on the first beam of the plurality of beams.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a paging PDCCH, which has cross-slot scheduling to the associated physical downlink shared channel PDSCH. The network node does not transmit on different beams among the plurality of beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH. The network node transmits on different beams among the plurality of beams between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, or The paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH are sent at intervals, wherein the PMO from the next PO is not sent by the network node.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a paging PDCCH, which has cross-slot scheduling to the associated PDSCH, and The method further includes: Receive Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration from the network node for enabling the paging PDCCH to act as the PI.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a paging PDCCH, which has cross-slot scheduling to the associated PDSCH, and The method further includes: The network node receives downlink control information (DCI), which provides scheduling information for the associated PDSCH.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a paging PDCCH, which has cross-slot scheduling to the associated PDSCH, and The method further includes: Receive from the network node a PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 indicating the number of time slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, where: The PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is provided in the Time Domain Resource Allocation (TDRA) table, which is dedicated to idle or inactive UEs. The value of the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0 is greater than 32 time slots. The TDRA table includes a default TDRA table and a configurable TDRA table. The default TDRA table is specified in the wireless communication standard, and The configurable TDRA table is provided in the cell-specific PDSCH configuration message.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a paging PDCCH, which has cross-slot scheduling to the associated PDSCH, and The method further includes: Receive from the network node a time offset indicating the number of time slots between the paging PDCCH and the associated PDSCH, wherein: The time offset is added to the time domain reference point. The time-domain reference point includes the PDSCH scheduling offset K_0. Based on the PIs transmitted at multiple locations, a factor n is multiplied by the time offset of the nth PI location preceding the legacy PMO in the next PO. The time-domain reference point includes the starting time slot of the next PO of the legacy PMO.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The PMO of the PI is scheduled so that it does not conflict with any PMO of legacy UEs associated with different PO indices.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a dedicated PDCCH. The search space set is defined for the specific PDCCH, and The search space set configuration includes: 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 15 Search Space Set Configuration 3GPP Release 16 Search Space Set Configuration, or 3GPP Release 17 Search Space Set Configuration.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, The search space set is linked to the public control resource set CORESET or CORESET#0 based on the CORESET identifier in the search space set configuration.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein: The search space set in the 3GPP Release 15 search space set configuration includes: the "pagingSearchSpace" search space set or the "searchSpaceZero" search space set, or The search space set in the 3GPP Release 16 search space set configuration includes the search space set for DCI format 2_6 for connected mode UE wake-up PDCCH.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising: Receive the configuration parameter set for the dedicated PDCCH from the network node. The configuration parameter set includes: The radio network temporary identifier RNTI, scrambled by cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the DCI used in the dedicated PDCCH, The offset from the start of the search time of the dedicated PDCCH to the start of the next PO. The minimum time interval between the end of the time slot monitored by the dedicated PDCCH and the start of the next PO. The size of the DCI of the dedicated PDCCH. The number of bits used for the indication field of each of the multiple UE groups. Indicates whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on the undetected dedicated PDCCH, a detection flag. Indicates the repetition factor of how many PMOs of the dedicated PDCCH were transmitted on each of the plurality of beams for the next PO, or Any combination thereof, and The configuration parameter set is received in the following items: RRC release message, RRC messages within the "PDCCH-ConfigCommon" information element System Information Block (SIB) SIB type 1SIB1, or PDSCH scheduled by paging PDCCH.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein: The starting bit of the indicator field is determined based on the UE's PO index, UE group index, the number of bits in each indicator field, or any combination thereof. The start bit of UE group i_g in PO i_s is determined as Where N_g is the number of UE groups in the same PO, and N_b is the number of bits for each indication field, or The PI of the UE associated with different POs is transmitted separately in different PDCCHs, and the start bit of the UE group i_g in the PO i_s is .

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PI includes a reference signal or sequence, and The configuration for receiving the reference signal or sequence is as follows: RRC release message, RRC messages within the "PDCCH-ConfigCommon" information element System Information Block (SIB) SIB type 1SIB1, or PDSCH scheduled by paging PDCCH.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: Receive a set of configuration parameters for the reference signal or sequence from the network node. The configuration parameter set includes: The offset from the start of the search time of the reference signal or sequence to the start of the next PO. The minimum time interval between the end of the time slot of the reference signal or sequence and the start of the next PO. A detection flag indicating whether the UE is expected to process the next PO based on the undetected reference signal or sequence. A repetition factor indicating how much of the reference signal or sequence was transmitted on each of the plurality of beams in the next PO. The availability of the reference signal or sequence, or Any combination thereof.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising: The UE group information for the UE is determined based on the mapping from the index of the reference signal or sequence to the UE group index for the UE group information.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein: The reference signal or sequence is transmitted by the network node on multiple SSB beams, and Each repetition of the reference signal or sequence is quasi-co-located with the SSB sent by the network node.

23. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The reference signal or sequence with index i_rs is mapped to UE group i_g based on mod(i_rs–i_g, N_g) equal to 0, and N_g is the number of UE groups in the next PO.

24. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Wake up to receive paging in the next PO based on the PI that indicates the UE is paged in the next PO; or Based on the PI indicating that the UE was not paged in the next PO, the next PO is ignored. The UE is in an RRC idle state or an RRC inactive state.

25. A user equipment (UE), comprising: One or more memory units; One or more transceivers; as well as One or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being configured individually or in combination to: The UE receives a PI at at least a first paging indication PI location associated with the next paging PO from the network node via the one or more transceivers before the next paging opportunity PO of the paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of PI locations including the first PI location before the next PO on each of the plurality of beams, and wherein the UE receives the PI at at least the first PI location based on channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the network node; as well as Decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

26. A user equipment (UE), comprising: Components for receiving from a network node a PI at at least a first paging indication PI location associated with the next paging opportunity (PO) of a paging cycle, wherein the PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of PI locations including the first PI location prior to the next PO on each of the plurality of beams, and wherein the UE receives the PI at at least at the first PI location based on channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the network node; and A component used to decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

27. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: Receives a PI from the network node at at least the first paging indication PI location associated with the next paging PO before the next paging opportunity PO of the paging cycle, wherein, The PI includes at least one repetition of a plurality of repetitions of the PI transmitted at the first PI location on each of a plurality of beams, wherein the PI is transmitted at a plurality of PI locations including the first PI location prior to the next PO on each of the plurality of beams, and wherein the UE receives the PI at at least at the first PI location based on channel conditions of the channel between the UE and the network node. as well as Decode the PI to determine whether the UE was paged in the next PO.

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