Beamforming technology in reference signal (RS) transmission

Abstract

Beamforming techniques in reference signal (RS) transmissions applicable to a frequency range including frequencies between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz are described. Such techniques may include: determining that a communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; determining a number of communication slots of the communication channel to be postponed for transmission; and counting one or more communication slots of the communication channel that are not in use. The technique may include: determining that the number of one or more communication slots counted is not equal to the number of communication slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed; and transmitting one or more data units based on the determination that the number of one or more communication slots counted is not equal to the number of communication slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems. Background Art

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between base stations and wireless mobile devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G) or New Radio (NR) (e.g., 5G); the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is generally referred to as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) by industry organizations; and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs), which is generally referred to as Wi-Fi by industry organizations. In the 3GPP radio access network (RAN) in an LTE system, a base station may include a RAN node such as an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly referred to as an evolved Node B, an enhanced Node B, an eNodeB, or an eNB) and / or a radio network controller (RNC) in the E-UTRAN, which communicates with a wireless communication device referred to as a user equipment (UE). In the fifth generation (5G) wireless RAN, the RAN nodes may include 5G nodes, NR nodes (also called next generation Node B or g NodeB (gNB)).

[0003] The RAN uses radio access technologies (RATs) to communicate between RAN nodes and UEs. The RAN may include a global system for mobile communications (GSM), an enhanced data rate for GSM evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), a universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), and / or an E-UTRAN, which provides access to communication services through a core network. Each RAN in the RAN operates according to a specific 3GPP RAT. For example, GERAN implements GSM and / or EDGE RAT, UTRAN implements Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT, and NG-RAN implements 5G RAT. In some deployments, E-UTRAN may also implement 5G RAT.

[0004] The frequency bands for 5G NR can be divided into two different frequency ranges. Frequency Range 1 (FR1) may include frequency bands operating at frequencies below 6 GHz, some of which may be used by previous standards and F-EF237036

[0005] and can potentially be expanded to cover new spectrum products from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. Frequency Range 2 (FR2) may include frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Frequency bands in the millimeter wave (mmWave) range of FR2 may have a smaller range but potentially higher available bandwidth than frequency bands in FR1. The skilled person will recognize that these frequency ranges, which are provided by way of example, may vary from time to time or region to region. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, the most significant digit(s) in a reference number refers to the drawing number that first introduces the element.

[0007] Figure 1 The operation of an extended clear channel assessment (eCCA) mechanism according to some embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 2 According to some embodiments, Figure 1 The CSI-RS transmission operation of the mechanism.

[0009] Figure 3 The operation of another eCCA mechanism according to some embodiments is shown.

[0010] Figure 4A and Figure 4B A process for implementing the eCCA mechanism of the present disclosure is shown according to some embodiments.

[0011] Figure 5 Infrastructure equipment is shown according to some embodiments.

[0012] Figure 6 A platform according to some embodiments is shown.

[0013] Figure 7 A system according to some embodiments is shown.

[0014] Figure 8 Components according to some embodiments are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] According to Rel. 17 System Information (SI): New Radio (NR) 52.6-71 GHz, RP 193259 / RP-200902 (December 2019), frequencies between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz may be of interest due to proximity to sub-52.6 GHz (current NR systems) and urgent commercial opportunities for high data rate communications (e.g., unlicensed spectrum between 57 GHz and 71 GHz). Studies have focused on the feasibility of using existing waveforms, and changes are needed to frequencies between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz, which would be advantageous for exploiting these opportunities by, for example, minimizing regulatory burden and maximizing leverage of specific implementations based on Frequency Range 2 (FR2). See Technical Report (TR) 38.807 for the previous SI (completed in 2019) for NR beyond 52.6 GHz and up to 114.25 GHz.

[0016] RP 193259 / RP-200902 objectives include studying the desired changes to NR to support operation between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz using existing downlink (DL) / uplink (UL) NR waveforms, and applicable numerology including subcarrier spacing, channel bandwidth (BW) (including maximum BW), and their impact on FR2 physical layer design to support system functionality considering actual RF impairments (RAN1, RAN4). Objectives also include identifying potential critical issues with physical signals / channels (if any, e.g., RAN1). Objectives also include studying channel access mechanisms, assuming beam-based operation is compliant with regulatory requirements for unlicensed spectrum applicable to frequencies between 52.6 GHz and 71 GHz (e.g., RAN1). For potential interference, if interference is identified, interference mitigation solutions may be required as part of the channel access mechanism.

[0017] For channel access, in the RAN1 102-e protocol, for gNB / UE initiated channel occupation, both channel access with listen-before-talk (LBT) mechanism and channel access without LBT are supported. Items for further study (FFS) include (1) LBT mechanisms, such as omnidirectional LBT, directional LBT, and receiver-assisted LBT type schemes when channel access with LBT is used; (2) if operational restrictions for channel access without LBT are required, such as to comply with regulations, and / or there are automatic transmit power control (ATPC), dynamic frequency selection (DFS), long-term sensing or other interference mitigation mechanisms; and (3) mechanisms and conditions for switching between channel access with LBT and channel access without LBT (if local regulations allow). It is agreed that the LBT procedure in draft v2.1.20 of EN 302 567 will be used as the baseline system evaluation for LBT. Enhancements to energy detection (ED) thresholds, contention window size, etc. may be considered as part of the evaluation.

[0018] For the LBT requirements in ETSI EN 302.567v2.1.20, the differences from the 5GHz unlicensed band include the use of extended clear channel assessment (eCCA) and the absence of exponential backoff as in CAT4 LBT. There is also no access priority.

[0019] In ETSI EN 302.567v2.1.20, requirement 4.2.5.3 states that adaptivity (medium access protocol) should be implemented by the equipment and should be active in all cases, and LBT is mandatory to facilitate spectrum sharing. The LBT mechanism is as follows:

[0020] 1. Prior to a single transmission or a burst of transmissions on an operating channel, the transmitting device shall perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) check on the operating channel.

[0021] 2. If the equipment finds that the operating channel is occupied, it shall not transmit on that channel and shall not enable other equipment to transmit on that channel. If the CCA check determines that the channel is no longer occupied and transmission is postponed for a number of empty time slots defined by the CCA check procedure, transmission may be resumed or other equipment may be enabled to transmit on that channel.

[0022] 3. The equipment initiating the transmission shall perform a CCA check using "Energy Detect". If the energy level in the channel exceeds the threshold corresponding to the power level given in step 7) below, the operating channel shall be considered occupied for a slot time of 5 μs. The operating channel shall be observed for the duration of the CCA observation time measured in multiple slot times.

[0023] 4. CCA inspection definition:

[0024] a) Initiate a CCA check at the end of the time slot occupied by the operating channel.

[0025] b) Transmission deferral shall occur when the operating channel is observed to be unoccupied for a minimum of 8 μs.

[0026] c) The transmission deferral shall last for a minimum of a random number (0 to a maximum number) of empty slot periods.

[0027] d) The maximum number should not be less than 3.

[0028] 5. The total time that the transmitting equipment uses the operating channel is defined as the channel occupation time (COT). This channel occupation time should be less than 5ms, after which the equipment should perform a new CCA check as described in steps 1), 2) and 3) above.

[0029] 6. Upon correctly receiving a packet intended for a device, the device (initiating or not initiating a transmission) may skip the CCA check and immediately continue transmitting in response to the received frame. In the absence of a new CCA check, a sequence of consecutive transmissions performed by the device should not exceed the 5ms channel occupancy time as defined in step 5) above.

[0030] 7. The energy detection threshold for CCA check should be -47dBm + 10×log10(PMax / Pout) (Pmax and Pout are in W (effective radiated power (EIRP))), where Pout is the RF output power (EIRP) and Pmax is the RF output power limit defined in clause 4.2.2.1 of ETSI EN302.567v2.1.20.

[0031] In ETSI EN 302.567v2.1.20, the adaptability test procedure 5.3.8 defines tests for adaptivity (medium access protocol). In steps 1 to 3, setup, configuration and interference addition are performed. In step 4, verification of the reaction to the interfering signal is performed, where beamforming short control signaling is allowed for up to 10% of the time. Specifically, after injecting the interfering signal, the analyzer monitors the transmissions of the unit under test (UUT) and the companion equipment on the selected operating channel. This may require triggering the analyzer scan by starting the interfering signal. Using the procedure defined in clause 5.3.8.3, verify that:

[0032] a) The UUT ceases transmission on the currently operating channel for a period equal to the maximum channel occupancy time defined in clause 4.2.5.3; the UUT is allowed to respond to transmissions from the companion device, and the channel occupancy time shall be less than or equal to the maximum channel occupancy time on the currently operating channel.

[0033] b) No frames should be initiated except for transmission of frames used for short control signaling (such as, for example, ACK / NACK signals, beacon frames, other time synchronization frames, and frames used for beamforming).

[0034] c) Time synchronization and beamforming frame transmissions should be less than or equal to 10% of the 100 millisecond (ms) observation period.

[0035] d) When the interfering signal is removed, the UUT may begin transmitting again on that channel. However, this is not required and therefore does not need to be tested.

[0036] In the transmission of discovery reference signal (DRS) in licensed assisted access (LAA) / NR-U, CCA based on unlicensed band usage priority less than 6 GHz can be used. To ensure that DRS has a higher transmission opportunity, Category 2 (CAT-2) or Category 4 (CAT-4) with priority 1 is allowed. When the DRS is less than 1ms and the DRS period is less than or equal to 50ms, a single 25 microsecond (μs) LBT (CAT-2) can be used. When the DRS is less than or equal to 2ms, priority 1 CAT-4 can be used. A large DRS window is configured when the initial CCA is unsuccessful because there may be greater power consumption for the UE to be monitored.

[0037] In frequency bands greater than 52.7 GHz, a larger number of beams is expected compared to NR-U. Therefore, even larger transmissions may be required to accommodate beam training in different beam directions. For beamforming based on channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), the UE may need to perform blind detection as to whether a signal is present. If the signal is offset in time, it may be difficult for the UE to use the appropriate UE beam. In ESTI EN 302.567, the eCCA method can be used. There may be no priority and a fixed maximum COT length of 5 ms. In interference-dominated scenarios, the use of ESTI EN 302.567 can make DRS transmission more difficult than LAA / NR-U.

[0038] Solution 1

[0039] In some embodiments, Section 5.3.8 of ESTI EN 302.567 may be followed. Here, for example, short control signaling (such as ACK / NACK signals, beacon frames, other synchronization frames, and frames for beamforming) may be initiated even after interference is injected. Short control signaling may be performed 10% of the time within an observation period of 100 ms. DRS, RACH, CSI-RS, and sounding reference signal (SRS) transmissions without LBT are allowed. This ensures regular beam training RS transmissions. In addition, p-CSI, sp-CSI, sr, feedback may be allowed to have no LBT outside of COT. Normal data traffic may undergo an eCCA process with randomly generated numbers.

[0040] For gNB or base station synchronization and beamforming training transmissions, the gNB may schedule transmission of synchronization signal block (SSB) bursts on a regular basis. For example, with an SSB burst configuration of 64 SSBs with 20ms DRS periodicity and 240K subcarrier spacing, the total overhead (in the time domain) may be about 5.7%. When the gNB obtains a COT that includes the SSB transmission position as part of the COT, the gNB may transmit the SSB along with other DL transmissions. When the gNB does not obtain a COT due to a CCA failure, the gNB may transmit the SSB at the scheduled position. Here, the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols between the SSBs within the DRS are not transmitted, and for other non-SSB occupied resource blocks (RBs) in the SSB symbol, broadcast transmissions such as SI, paging may be transmitted. Alternatively, unicast data may be transmitted in the remaining RBs of the SSB symbol. In order to meet the 10% rule (i.e., short control signaling may be performed 10% of the time within, for example, a 100ms observation period), the conservative approach is based on the configuration regardless of the actual transmission. A conservative approach may limit SSB / CSI-RS configurations. For example, for CSI-RS, the gNB may need to ensure that the CSI-RS configuration is together with the SSB configuration less than 10% of the time within the observation period. In a more aggressive option, only unsuccessful SSB and / or CSI-RS transmissions with eCCA are considered as 10% exceptions (only the 1st DRS transmission in this example). For example, the gNB may need to ensure that CSI-RS transmissions are together with SSB transmissions outside the COT less than 10% of the time within the observation period. If the CSI-RS is within the gNB COT, transmit the CSI-RS together with other transmissions. If the CSI-RS time position is outside the gNB COT, only transmit the CSI-RS symbol.

[0041] For UE synchronization and beamforming training transmission, a contention-based random access channel (RACH) is configured for UEs to perform initial access, UL synchronization, requests for additional SI, beam failure recovery, etc. The RACH-ConfigCommon index is part of the System Information Block (SIB) 1 message, where RACH-ConfigCommon defines the radio resources for RACH transmission available to all UEs in the cell. Time resources can be periodically configured in the TDD FR2 RachConfig table, where the periodicity can be derived from the system frame number (SFN) and the length can be determined using different preamble formats.

[0042] SRS can be used for UE to perform UL sounding for gNB receive / transmit beam training. Alternatively, the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) location report request (LRR) that can be used for beam failure recovery can also be considered as part of the short control signaling transmission. If any of the configured RACH resources or SRS symbols are within the COT obtained by the UE or the COT shared by the gNB, the UE can transmit as scheduled. If any of the configured RACH resources or SRS symbols are outside the COT obtained by the UE or the COT shared by the gNB, the UE can transmit without LBT as short control signaling. In order to meet the 10% rule (i.e., short control signaling can be performed 10% of the time within, for example, a 100ms observation period), the conservative approach is based on the configuration, regardless of the actual transmission. In another approach, only RACH and / or SRS and / or PUCCH-LRR transmitted with eCCA are unsuccessful and are considered as 10% exceptions.

[0043] Solution 2

[0044] The general idea of ​​solution 2 is to allow shorter CCA for synchronization and beam training symbols based on the CCA check requirement of ETSI EN 302.567v2.1.20, 4.2.5.3 4(d), where the transmission deferral should last for a minimum of a random number (0 to a maximum number) of empty slot periods and the maximum number should not be less than 3. Here, the gNB may be allowed to select a maximum value of 3 for CCA sensing for DRS bursts. If the gNB CCA is successful, the entire SSB burst along with all other transmissions may be transmitted within 5ms COT. The maximum value of 3 for CCA sensing may be for before CSI-RS transmission. For UE, the UE may be configured to perform up to 3 times for SRS and RACH transmissions. Alternatively, the gNB may configure a larger maximum value in SIB1 for the UE to use. This may reduce contention between the gNB and the UE and may ensure that the gNB has a high CCA success rate for SSB transmissions.

[0045] Figure 1 The operation of an extended clear channel assessment (eCCA) mechanism 100 according to some embodiments is shown. For example, the mechanism may correspond to or comply with Section 5.3.8 of ESTI EN 302.567. For example, short control signaling (e.g., ACK / NACK signals, beacon frames, other synchronization frames, and frames for beamforming) may be initiated even after interference is injected. Short control signaling may be performed 10% of the time within an observation period of 100ms. DRS, RACH, CSI-RS, and SRS transmissions without LBT are allowed. This ensures regular beam training RS transmissions. In addition, p-CSI, sp-CSI, sr, and feedback may be allowed to have no LBT outside of COT. Normal data traffic may undergo an eCCA process with randomly generated numbers.

[0046] The eCCA mechanism 100 may be a listen-before-talk (LBT) mechanism used by a device (e.g., a base station, a UE) that wants to access (e.g., transmit) on a channel. The mechanism 100 may use eCCA on a channel to determine whether a device is allowed to access a channel. Here, a device may sense a channel to determine whether the channel is occupied. First, the device may sense the energy level in the channel and compare it to a threshold. If the energy level in the channel is above the threshold, the channel is considered occupied. If the energy level in the channel is below the threshold, the device continues to sense the channel in multiple time slots. For example, the device may first sense the channel for an initial duration, which may be, for example, 8 μs. If the energy level in the channel remains below the threshold during this initial portion, the eCCA mechanism may continue to postpone its transmission in the channel for a random number (e.g., 0 to a maximum number) of time slots below the threshold (which may include a duration different from the initial duration, e.g., 5 μs). When the energy detected during any of these time slots during the postponement process is higher than the threshold, CCA does not count the time slot, but continues to sense the channel and counts any subsequent time slots that do not have energy above the threshold during the postponement process. Once a random number of additional time slots are sensed to have energy below a threshold, the channel is assumed to be unoccupied. Therefore, the device is then allowed to occupy the channel (e.g., transmit on it, and / or instruct and / or allow other devices to transmit on it) for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT). In some cases, the maximum COT may be, for example, 5 ms.

[0047] For example, a device implementing mechanism 100 may determine that a channel is not occupied for an initial duration (e.g., 8 μs) by comparing the energy detected in the channel to a threshold. In some embodiments, the device may begin counting a random number of CCA idle slots 102 and may transmit after N CCA idle slots 102 have passed. Mechanism 100 determines whether each slot is idle (i.e., not busy, occupied, or in use) or busy (i.e., in use, occupied, or not idle). After counting a random number of CCA idle slots 102 (i.e., after the CCA slot 102 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 106), a transmission may occur. Here, a device is allowed to occupy a channel (e.g., transmit on it, and / or indicate and / or allow other devices to transmit on it) for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT), where the COT may be up to 5 ms. In the illustrated embodiment, mechanism 100 defers its counting of CCA idle slots 102 for the duration of the CCA busy slot 104. For example, during the CCA busy time slot 104 the energy in the channel is above a threshold.

[0048] The thresholds used during mechanism 100 may be determined using one or more formulas that take into account aspects of the device performing eCCA. The device may use these one or more formulas to determine the thresholds that should be used during eCCA. These formulas may incorporate and / or use predetermined values. For example, these formulas may use values ​​set by interoperability standards. This may help ensure compatibility / appropriate thresholding within a standard-defined environment. For example, some threshold formulas used in NR may utilize a transmit power cap applicable to (one or more) devices in the NR system.

[0049] These formulas can be further adjusted so that channels can be shared fairly between devices with weaker transmission power and devices with stronger transmission power. For example, in general, a device with relatively strong transmission power (e.g., a base station) can calculate a threshold that is lower than the threshold calculated by a device with relatively weaker transmission power (e.g., a UE) using the same formula. Therefore, devices with relatively weaker transmission power have a relatively increased likelihood of passing eCCA, and therefore channels will not necessarily always be occupied by devices with larger transmission power (devices with larger transmission power may have squeezed out devices with smaller transmission power during eCCA due to their larger transmission power). Lower thresholds for devices with weaker transmission power may also be appropriate because these devices do not need as many channels spatially when transmitting compared to devices with stronger transmission power.

[0050] For example, the equivalent isotropic radiated power (EIRP) of the transmissions that a device wishes to perform in the channel may be known or estimated before performing eCCA. The formula can account for this by providing a lower threshold to devices with higher EIRP, which can make them relatively less likely to pass eCCA.

[0051] Back to Figure 1 For base station (e.g., gNB) synchronization and beamforming training transmissions, the base station may transmit synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) 108 with regular scheduling according to the DRS period 110. In some embodiments, 64 SSBs are transmitted, the DRS period is 20ms, and the subcarrier spacing is 240K. Here, the total overhead may be about 5.7% in the time domain.

[0052] In some embodiments, after counting a random number of CCA idle slots 102 (i.e., after the CCA slot 102 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 106), the device is allowed to occupy (e.g., transmit on, and / or indicate and / or allow other devices to transmit on) the channel for a maximum COT, which may be 5 ms. In the illustrated embodiment, the base station may occupy the channel as shown by the transmission or indicated / allowed transmission 112, which includes SSBs along with other DL data transmissions, such as those on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) and / or the physical data shared channel (PDSCH). The device (e.g., a gNB or a base station) may also arrange for the UE to transmit on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and / or the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) within the COT (where the COT may be, for example, 5 ms), thereby sharing the COT with the UE.

[0053] In some embodiments, when the base station does not obtain COT due to CCA failure (e.g., a random number of CCA idle time slots 102 are not counted), the base station may transmit SSB 108 at the scheduled position, as shown by reference numeral 114. In some embodiments, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols between SBSs within the DRS are not transmitted. In some embodiments, CSI-RS may not be transmitted within the DRS. In some embodiments, for other non-SSB occupied resource blocks (RBs) in the SSB symbol, broadcast transmissions such as SI, paging may be transmitted. In some embodiments, unicast data may be transmitted in the remaining RBs of the SSB symbol.

[0054] In order to meet the 10% rule (i.e., short control signaling can be performed 10% of the time within, for example, a 100ms observation period), the conservative approach is based on configuration, regardless of the actual transmission. A more aggressive option is to restrict the SSB / CSI-RS configuration. In this case, only unsuccessful SSB and / or CSI-RS transmissions with eCCA are considered as 10% exceptions (only the 1st DRS transmission in this example).

[0055] Figure 2 An operational CSI-RS transmission 200 in the mechanism 100 according to some embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, for CSI-RS, a device (e.g., a base station or gNB) may need to ensure that the CSI-RS configuration is transmitted together with the SSB configuration less than 10% of the time within the observation period. In the illustrated embodiment, similar to the above discussion, the mechanism 100 can determine that the channel is not occupied for an initial duration (e.g., 8 μs) by comparing the energy detected in the channel to a threshold. In some embodiments, the device may begin counting a random number of CCA idle slots 202 and may transmit after N idle CCA slots 202 have passed. The mechanism 100 determines whether each slot is idle (i.e., not busy or in use) or busy (i.e., in use or not idle). Slot 202 is a CCA idle slot, and slot 204 is a CCA busy slot. After counting the random number of CCA idle slots 202 (i.e., after the CCA slot 202 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 206), the transmission may occur. Here, a device is allowed to occupy the channel (e.g., transmit on it, and / or instruct and / or allow other devices to transmit on it) for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT), where the COT can be up to 5 ms. In the illustrated embodiment, the mechanism 100 defers its counting of CCA idle slots 202 for the duration of the CCA busy slots 204. That is, the energy in the channel during the CCA busy slots 204 is above the threshold.

[0056] After counting a random number of CCA idle slots 202 (i.e., after CCA slots 202 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 206), the device is allowed to occupy (e.g., transmit on, and / or indicate and / or allow other devices to transmit on) the channel for a maximum COT, which may be 5 ms. In the illustrated embodiment, the base station may occupy the channel as shown by the transmission or indicated / allowed transmission 210, which is a CSI-RS 208 transmitted along with other transmissions (such as transmissions on the PDCCH and / or PDSCH). The device (e.g., gNB or base station) may also schedule the UE to transmit on the PUSCH and / or PUCCH within the COT. If the CSI-RS time position is outside the base station COT (i.e., before counting a random number of CCA idle slots 202), only the CSI-RS symbol 208 is transmitted, as shown by reference numeral 212.

[0057] Figure 3 Operation of an extended clear channel assessment (eCCA) mechanism 300 according to some embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, for UE synchronization and beamforming training transmissions, a contention-based random access channel (RACH) is configured for the UE to perform initial access, UL synchronization, requests for other SI, beam failure recovery, etc. For example, a RACH-ConfigCommon index may be part of a system information block (SIB) 1 message, where RACH-ConfigCommon may define radio resources for RACH transmissions that may be used for all UEs in a cell. Time resources may be periodically configured in a TDD FR2RachConfig table, where the periodicity may be derived by a system frame number (SFN) and the length may be determined using different preamble formats. SRS may be used for UEs to perform UL sounding for base station receive / transmit beam training. Alternatively, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) location report request (LRR) that may be used for beam failure recovery may also be considered as part of a short control signaling transmission.

[0058] Go to Figure 3, a UE implementing mechanism 300 may determine that the channel is not occupied for an initial duration (e.g., 8 μs) by comparing the energy detected in the channel to a threshold. In some embodiments, the device may begin counting a random number of CCA idle slots 302, and may transmit after N idle CCA slots 302 have passed. Mechanism 300 determines whether each slot is idle (i.e., not busy or in use) or busy (i.e., in use or not idle). Slot 302 is a CCA idle slot, and slot 304 is a CCA busy slot. After counting a random number of CCA idle slots 302 (i.e., after the CCA slot 302 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 306), a transmission may occur. Here, the UE is allowed to occupy the channel (e.g., transmit on it, and / or indicate and / or allow other devices to transmit on it) for up to a maximum channel occupancy time (COT), where the COT may be up to 5 ms. In the illustrated embodiment, the mechanism 300 defers its counting of CCA idle slots 302 by the duration of a CCA busy slot 304. That is, the energy in the channel during the CCA busy slot 304 is above a threshold.

[0059] The thresholds used during mechanism 300 may be as described above with reference to Figure 1 To determine. Back Figure 3 In some embodiments, after counting a random number of CCA idle slots 302 (i.e., after the CCA slot 302 at position 0, marked by reference numeral 306), the UE is allowed to occupy (e.g., transmit on, and / or instruct and / or allow other devices to transmit on) the channel for up to a maximum COT, which may be 5 ms, as scheduled. In the illustrated embodiment, the UE may occupy the channel, and any of the configured RACH resources or SRS symbols 308 within the UE-obtained COT (or gNB-shared COT) shown by reference numeral 312 may be transmitted by the UE as scheduled. If any of the configured RACH resources or SRS symbols 308 are outside the UE-obtained COT or the gNB-shared COT, as shown by reference numeral 314, the UE may transmit them without LBT as short control signaling.

[0060] In order to satisfy the 10% rule (i.e., short control signaling may be performed 10% of the time within, for example, a 100 ms observation period), the conservative approach is based on configuration, regardless of the actual transmission. In another approach, only unsuccessful RACH and / or SRS and / or PUCCH-LRR transmissions with eCCA are considered as 10% exceptions.

[0061] Figure 4A and Figure 4B400 for implementing the mechanisms of the present disclosure according to some embodiments. Note that the order of the blocks in process 400 may vary. Figure 4A and Figure 4B The order shown in and described herein may be the same or different, may not include one or more blocks, and may include one or more additional blocks that include additional process aspects.

[0062] At block 402, a device (e.g., a base station, a UE) determines whether a channel is unoccupied for an initial duration. In some embodiments, the initial duration is 8 μs. In some embodiments, the device determines whether a channel is unoccupied by comparing the detected energy of the channel to a threshold. The threshold may be determinable, such as in combination with Figure 1 As discussed. If the energy level in the channel is above the threshold, the channel is considered occupied. If the energy level in the channel is below the threshold, the process continues with block 404 to sense the channel over a plurality of time slots. For example, as noted, the process may first sense the channel for an initial duration (e.g., 8 μs). If the energy level in the channel remains below the threshold during this initial duration, the eCCA process may continue to defer its transmission in the channel for a random number (e.g., 0 to a maximum number) of time slots below the threshold (which may include a duration different from the initial duration, e.g., a 5 μs slot time).

[0063] At block 404, the device determines N CCA idle slots of the channel to postpone transmission in the channel. In some embodiments, the number of CCA idle slots is a random number (e.g., from 0 to a maximum number) of slots below a threshold. In some embodiments, the maximum number is 3. In some embodiments, the number of CCA idle slots is covered by a duration that may be the same or different from the initial duration discussed with reference to block 402. In some embodiments, the duration is 5 μs.

[0064] At block 406, the device counts a random number of CCA idle time slots according to the duration. In some embodiments, the device determines whether a time slot is idle (not in use) or busy (in use) by comparing the energy of the time slot to a threshold. If the energy of the time slot is below the threshold, the time slot may be idle. If the energy of the time slot is equal to or above the threshold, the time slot may be busy.

[0065] At block 408, the device determines that N time slots have not been counted and a CCA failure has occurred (e.g., COT was not obtained). Here, for example, process 400 may continue to one or more of blocks 410, 412, and / or 414, where certain data units are transmitted by the device. Process 400 may then return to block 402.

[0066] F-EF237036

[0067] In block 410, the device may transmit SSBs at scheduled time positions. In some embodiments, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols between SBSs within the DRS are not transmitted. In some embodiments, CSI-RS may not be transmitted within the DRS. In some embodiments, for other non-SSB occupied resource blocks (RBs) in the SSB symbol, broadcast transmissions such as SI and paging may be transmitted. In some embodiments, unicast data may be transmitted in the remaining RBs of the SSB symbol. In block 412, the device may transmit only CSI-RS symbols. In block 414, the device may transmit configured RACH resources or SRS symbols without LBT as short control signaling. In some embodiments, in one, some or all of blocks 410, 412 or 414, the transmission may use short control signaling. In some embodiments, process 400 thus provides that the signal transmission as described for blocks 410, 412 and / or 414 may occur even without CCA success (e.g., when CCA failure occurs and COT is not obtained).

[0068] Returning to block 406, as discussed, the device counts a random number of CCA idle slots based on the duration. At block 416 ( Figure 4B ), the device determines that N time slots have been counted and CCA success has occurred (e.g., the device has obtained COT). The device may be allowed to occupy the channel (e.g., transmit on it, and / or instruct and / or allow other devices to transmit on it) for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT), where the COT may be up to 5 ms. Here, for example, process 400 may continue to one or more of blocks 418, 420, and / or 422, where certain data units are transmitted by the device.

[0069] At block 418, the device may transmit the SSB symbols with other DL data transmissions, such as data transmissions on the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. The device (e.g., a gNB or a base station) may also schedule the UE to transmit on the PUSCH and / or PUCCH within the COT (where the COT may be, for example, 5 ms) so that the COT is shared with the UE. At block 420, the device may transmit the CSI-RS with other transmissions, such as transmissions on the PDCCH and / or PDSCH. Also here, the device (e.g., a gNB or a base station) may also schedule the UE to transmit on the PUSCH and / or PUCCH within the COT. At block 422, the device may transmit the configured RACH resources and / or SRS symbols as scheduled.

[0070] In some embodiments, modifications to the mechanisms described herein may be provided. In some embodiments, a shorter CCA for synchronization and beam training may be performed (e.g., based on the CCA check requirements of ETSI EN 302.567 v2.1.20, 4.2.5.3 4(d)), where the transmission deferral shall last for a minimum of a random number (0 to a maximum number) of empty slot periods and the maximum number shall not be less than 3. Here, a device (e.g., a gNB) may be allowed to select a maximum value of 3F-EF237036 for CCA sensing for DRS bursts

[0071] (ie, maximum number = 3). In some implementations, if CCA is successful, the entire SSB burst along with all other transmissions may be transmitted within the COT (eg, 5 ms COT). In some implementations, if CCA is successful, CSI-RS transmission may occur.

[0072] In some embodiments, for a UE, the UE may be configured to defer up to 3 empty slots before transmitting SRS and RACH. Alternatively, the gNB may configure a larger maximum in SIB1 for the UE to use. For example, this arrangement may reduce contention between the gNB and the UE and may ensure that the gNB has a high CCA success rate for SSB transmissions.

[0073] Figure 5 An example of infrastructure equipment 500 according to various embodiments is shown. The infrastructure equipment 500 can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node, an AN, an application server, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, the infrastructure equipment 500 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0074] The infrastructure equipment 500 includes application circuits 502, baseband circuits 504, one or more radio front end modules 506 (RFEM), memory circuits 508, power management integrated circuits (shown as PMIC 510), power tee circuits 512, network controller circuits 514, network interface connectors 520, satellite positioning circuits 516, and user interface circuits 518. In some embodiments, the infrastructure equipment 500 may include additional elements such as memory / storage devices, displays, cameras, sensors, or input / output (I / O) interfaces. In other embodiments, these components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuits may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other similar implementations. The application circuits 502 include, for example, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more low dropout regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 502 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the infrastructure equipment 500. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0075] The processor of the application circuit 502 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 502 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 502 may include one or more Intel FPGAs. or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processor; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium (TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPSWarrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, the infrastructure equipment 500 may not utilize the application circuit 502, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from the EPC or 5GC.

[0076] In some implementations, the application circuit 502 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such implementations, the circuits of the application circuit 502 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 502 may include a memory unit (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM), an anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc. The baseband circuit 504 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0077] The user interface circuitry 518 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the infrastructure equipment 500 or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the infrastructure equipment 500. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0078] The radio front end module 506 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio front end module (RFEM) and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 506 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0079] The memory circuit 508 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM); and a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 508 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0080] The PMIC 510 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 512 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 500 using a single cable.

[0081] The network controller circuit 514 may provide connectivity to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to / from the infrastructure equipment 500 via the network interface connector 520 using a physical connection, which may be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 514 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 514 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0082] The positioning circuit 516 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global satellite navigation system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 516 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 516 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 516 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 504 and / or the radio front end module 506 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 516 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 502, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures, etc. Figure 5 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0083] Figure 6 An example of a platform 600 according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 600 may be suitable for use as a UE, an application server, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 600 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 600 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 600, or as components otherwise incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. Figure 6 The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 600. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

[0084] Application circuit 602 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 C or general programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counter (including interval timer and watchdog timer), general IO, memory card controller (such as SDMMC or similar controller), USB interface, MIPI interface and JTAG test access port. The processor (or core) of the application circuit 602 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage element to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the platform 600. In some specific implementations, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0085] The processor of the application circuit 602 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 602 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0086] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 602 may include a processor based on Architecture Core TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU-class processors, or can be purchased from The processor of application circuit 602 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s AS-A9 processor, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some implementations, the application circuit 602 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which the application circuit 602 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as from Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0087] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 602 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 602 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 602 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0088] Baseband circuit 604 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits.

[0089] The radio front end module 606 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) radio front end module (RFEM) and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the millimeter wave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays, and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical radio front end module 606 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0090] The memory circuit 608 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 608 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 608 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 608 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power implementation, the memory circuit 608 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 602. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 608 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 600 may be combined with a memory device obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0091] Removable memory circuitry 626 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 600. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0092] Platform 600 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for connecting external devices to platform 600. External devices connected to platform 600 via the interface circuitry include sensors 622 and electromechanical components (shown as EMC 624), as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory 626.

[0093] Sensors 622 include devices, modules, or subsystems that are designed to detect events or changes in their environment and send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; etc.

[0094] EMC 624 includes devices, modules or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform 600 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control mechanisms or (sub)systems. In addition, EMC 624 can be configured to generate and send messages / signaling to other components of platform 600 to indicate F-EF237036

[0095] The current state of the EMC 624. Examples of EMC 624 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMR) and / or solid-state relays (SSR)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 600 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 624 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients. In some specific implementations, the interface circuit can connect the platform 600 to the positioning circuit 616. The positioning circuit 616 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include GPS of the United States, GLONASS of Russia, Galileo system of the European Union, Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 616 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 616 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 616 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 604 and / or the radio front end module 606 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 616 may also provide position data and / or time data to the application circuit 602, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructures (e.g., radio base stations) for turn-by-turn navigation applications, etc.

[0096] In some implementations, the interface circuit may connect the platform 600 to a near field communication circuit (shown as NFC circuit 612). The NFC circuit 612 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 612 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 600. The NFC circuit 612 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 612 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 612, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 612 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smart phone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) near the platform 600.

[0097] The driver circuit 618 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 600. The driver circuit 618 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 600 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 600. For example, the driver circuit 618 may include a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 600, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of a sensor 622 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor 622, an EMC driver for obtaining actuator positions of an EMC 624 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 624, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0098] A power management integrated circuit (shown as PMIC 610) (also referred to as a "power management circuit") can manage the power provided to various components of the platform 600. Specifically, the PMIC 610 can control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion with respect to the baseband circuit 604. When the platform 600 is capable of being powered by a battery 614, for example, when the device is included in a UE, the PMIC 610 may generally be included.

[0099] In some embodiments, the PMIC 610 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 600. For example, if the platform 600 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 600 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 600 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. are performed. The platform 600 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up periodically again to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 600 may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, the platform must transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is completely unable to connect to the network and can be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will be significantly delayed, and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

[0100] F-EF237036

[0101] The battery 614 can provide power to the platform 600, but in some examples, the platform 600 can be installed and deployed in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the power grid. The battery 614 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some specific implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 614 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0102] In some implementations, the battery 614 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 600 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 614. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 614, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 614 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information about the battery 614 to the application circuit 602 or other components of the platform 600. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 602 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 614 or the current from the battery 614. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 600 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0103] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 614. In some examples, the power block can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 600. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 614 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0104] The user interface circuit 620 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 600, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 600 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 600. The user interface circuit 620 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuit may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, particularly including one or more simple visual outputs / indicators, such as binary state indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. is generated or produced by the operation of the platform 600. The output device circuit may also include a speaker or other audio emitting device, a printer, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor 622 may be used as an input device circuit (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as an output device circuit (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuit including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0105] Although not shown, the components of platform 600 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0106] Figure 7 An exemplary architecture of a system 700 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an example system 700 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0107] like Figure 7 As shown, system 700 includes UE 722 and UE 720. In this example, UE 722 and UE 720 are shown as smart phones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing devices, such as consumer electronic devices, mobile phones, smart phones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handheld devices, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters (ICs), heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine electronic control units (ECUs), electronic / engine electronic control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, etc.

[0108] In some embodiments, UE 722 and / or UE 720 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0109] UE 722 and UE 720 may be configured to be connected, e.g., communicatively coupled, to an access node or radio access node (shown as (R) AN 708). In an embodiment, (R) AN 708 may be an NG RAN or SG RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a traditional RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to an (R) AN 708 operating in an NR or SG system, and the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to an (R) AN 708 operating in an LTE or 4G system. UE 722 and UE 720 utilize connections (or channels) (shown as connection 704 and connection 702, respectively), each connection (or channel) comprising a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0110] In this example, connection 704 and connection 702 are air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a SG protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any of the other communication protocols discussed herein. In an embodiment, UE 722 and UE 720 may also directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 710. The ProSe interface 710 may alternatively be referred to as a side link (SL) interface, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0111] UE 720 is shown as being configured to access AP 712 (also referred to as a "WLAN node," "WLAN," "WLAN terminal," "WT," etc.) via connection 724. Connection 724 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 712 would include Wireless Fidelity. router. In this example, AP 712 may be connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 720, (R) AN 708, and AP 712 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 720 in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 720 using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 724) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 724. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0112] (R)AN 708 may include one or more AN nodes, such as RAN node 714 and RAN node 716, that enable connection 704 and connection 702. As used herein, the terms "access node", "access point", etc. may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functions for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP or TRP, etc., and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN node" and the like may refer to RAN nodes (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or SG systems, while the terms "E-UTRAN nodes" and the like may refer to RAN nodes (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 700. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 714 and the RAN node 716 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as macrocell base stations and / or low power (LP) base stations for providing femtocells, picocells, or other similar cells with smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than macrocells.

[0113] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 714 and the RAN node 716 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splits, such as PDCP splits, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes (e.g., RAN node 714 or RAN node 716); MAC / PHY splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes (e.g., RAN node 714 or RAN node 716); or "lower PHY" splits, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 to execute other virtualized applications. In some specific implementations, each RAN node may represent a node via each F1 interface ( Figure 7 In some implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs, and the gNB-CUs may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the (R)AN 708 or by a server pool in a manner similar to the CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN node 714 or the RAN node 716 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a RAN node that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations to the UE 722 and the UE 720 and is connected to the SGC via an NG interface (discussed below). In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN node 714 or the RAN node 716 may be an RSU or act as an RSU.

[0114] The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs (vUEs). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuits for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz direct short range communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate on a cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low-latency communications as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0115] The RAN node 714 and / or the RAN node 716 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 722 and the UE 720. In some embodiments, the RAN node 714 and / or the RAN node 716 may perform various logical functions of the (R)AN 708, including but not limited to radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0116] In an embodiment, UE 722 and UE 720 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN node 714 and / or RAN node 716 using OFDM communication signals over a multi-carrier communication channel according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0117] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from RAN node 714 and / or RAN node 716 to UE 722 and UE 720, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0118] According to various embodiments, UE 722 and UE 720 and RAN node 714 and / or RAN node 716 communicate (e.g., transmit and receive) data through a licensed medium (also referred to as a "licensed spectrum" and / or a "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as an "unlicensed spectrum" and / or an "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0119] To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, UE 722 and UE 720 and RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these specific implementations, UE 722 and UE 720 and RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0120] LBT is a mechanism for equipment (e.g., UE 722 and UE 720, RAN node 714 or RAN node 716, etc.) to sense a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an expected transmission band, and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0121] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs use a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 722, AP 712, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some specific implementations, the LBT process for a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0122] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0123] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 722 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0124] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 722 and UE 720. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 722 and UE 720 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 720 within the cell) may be performed at either the RAN node 714 or the RAN node 716 based on channel quality information fed back from either the UE 722 and UE 720. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UE 722 and UE 720.

[0125] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0126] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0127] The RAN node 714 or the RAN node 716 may be configured to communicate with each other via the interface 730. In an embodiment where the system 700 is an LTE system (e.g., when the CN 706 is an EPC), the interface 730 may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC. In some specific implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 722 in sequence for user data; information about PDCP PDUs not delivered to the UE 722; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the Se NB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0128] In an embodiment where the system 700 is a SG or NR system (e.g., when the CN 706 is an SGC), the interface 730 may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the SGC, between a RAN node 714 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the SGC, and / or between two eNBs connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 706). In some specific implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 722 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 714 or RAN nodes 716. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) service RAN node 714 to the new (target) service RAN node 716, and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) service RAN node 714 and the new (target) service RAN node 716. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on the Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of the UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other specific implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0129] (R)AN 708 is illustrated as being communicatively coupled to a core network, in this embodiment, to CN 706. CN 706 may include one or more network elements 732 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 722 and UE 720) connected to CN 706 via (R)AN 708. The components of CN 706 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). The logical instantiation of CN 706 may be referred to as a network slice, and the logical instantiation of a portion of CN 706 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. The NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0130] In general, the application server 718 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 718 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.) for UE 722 and UE 720 via the EPC. The application server 718 may communicate with the CN 706 via the IP communication interface 736.

[0131] In an embodiment, CN 706 may be an SGC, and (R)AN 116 may be connected to CN 706 via an NG interface 734. In an embodiment, NG interface 734 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 726, which carries traffic data between RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 728, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 and AMF.

[0132] In an embodiment, CN 706 may be an SG CN, while in other embodiments, CN 706 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 706 is an EPC, (R)AN 116 may be connected to CN 706 via an S1 interface 734. In an embodiment, S1 interface 734 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 726, which carries traffic data between RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 728, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 714 or RAN node 716 and MME.

[0133] Figure 8 8 is a block diagram illustrating a component 800 capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and capable of performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Figure 8 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 802 is shown, including one or more processors 806 (or processor cores), one or more memory / storage devices 814, and one or more communication resources 824, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 816. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 822 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 802.

[0134] Processor 806 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) (such as a baseband processor), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, processor 808 and processor 810.

[0135] The memory / storage device 814 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 814 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0136] The communication resources 824 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 804 or one or more databases 820 via the network 818. For example, the communication resources 824 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, Parts (such as Low power consumption), components and other communication components.

[0137] The instructions 812 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 806 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 812 may reside completely or partially in at least one of the processors 806 (e.g., in a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 814, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 812 may be transmitted to the hardware resources 802 from any combination of the peripheral device 804 or the database 820. Therefore, the memory of the processor 806, the memory / storage device 814, the peripheral device 804, and the database 820 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0138] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following examples section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples shown in the examples section below.

[0139] Examples

[0140] The following examples relate to additional embodiments.

[0141] Embodiment 1 is a method for extended clear channel assessment (eCCA), which may include: determining that a communication channel is not occupied within an initial duration; determining the number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be postponed for transmission; counting one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use; determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed; and transmitting one or more data units based on determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed. The one or more data units may include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), configured random access channel (RACH) resources, sounding reference signal (SRS) symbols, or channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS) only.

[0142] Embodiment 2 may include the method of embodiment 1, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may use short control signaling.

[0143] Embodiment 3 may include the method of Embodiment 1, wherein the initial duration may be 8 microseconds (μs).

[0144] Embodiment 4 may include the method of Embodiment 1, wherein the determining that the communication channel is not occupied for the initial duration comprises comparing a detected energy of the communication channel to a predetermined threshold.

[0145] Embodiment 5 may include the method described in Embodiment 1, wherein counting the one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use may include comparing the energy of the time slot with a predetermined threshold, wherein when the energy of the time slot is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold, the time slot is in use, and when the energy of the time slot is lower than the predetermined threshold, the time slot is not in use.

[0146] Embodiment 6 may include the method of Embodiment 1, and may further include determining that the number of the counted one or more communication time slots is equal to the determined number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be deferred.

[0147] Embodiment 7 may include the method of Embodiment 6, wherein the transmitting of the one or more data units may include transmitting on the communication channel for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT).

[0148] Embodiment 8 may include the method of Embodiment 7, wherein the COT may be equal to 5 milliseconds (ms).

[0149] Embodiment 9 may include the method described in Embodiment 7, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may include transmitting SSB.

[0150] Embodiment 10 may include the method of embodiment 7, wherein the transmitting of the one or more data units may include transmitting a CSI-RS.

[0151] Embodiment 11 may include the method of embodiment 7, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may include transmitting a configured random access channel (RACH) resource or a sounding reference signal (SRS) symbol.

[0152] Embodiment 12 may include the method of Embodiment 7, wherein the number of communication slots of the communication channel to be deferred for transmission is three.

[0153] Embodiment 13 is a method for extended clear channel assessment (eCCA), which may include: determining that a communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; determining to defer transmission in the communication channel by 3 communication slots of the communication channel; counting one or more communication slots of the communication channel; determining that the number of counted communication slots is equal to 3; and transmitting one or more data units based on determining that the number of counted communication slots is equal to 3. The one or more data units may include synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), configured random access channel (RACH) resources, or sounding reference signal (SRS) symbols.

[0154] Embodiment 14 may include the method described in Embodiment 13, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may be performed by a base station, and the one or more data units may include the SSB.

[0155] Embodiment 15 may include the method of embodiment 13, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may be performed by a user equipment, and the one or more data units may include the configured RACH resources or the SRS symbols.

[0156] Embodiment 16 may include a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following operations: determining that a communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; determining a number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be postponed for transmission; counting one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use; determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed; and transmitting one or more data units based on determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed. The one or more data units may include a synchronization signal block (SSB), a configured random access channel (RACH) resource, a sounding reference signal (SRS) symbol, or a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) only.

[0157] Embodiment 17 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Embodiment 16, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may use short control signaling.

[0158] Embodiment 18 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium described in Embodiment 16 and may include instructions that, when executed by a processor, further cause the processor to determine that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed.

[0159] Embodiment 19 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Embodiment 18, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units may include transmission on the communication channel for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT).

[0160] Embodiment 20 may include the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of Embodiment 19, wherein the COT may be equal to 5 ms.

[0161] Embodiment 21 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the above embodiments or any other method or process described herein.

[0162] Embodiment 22 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of the above embodiments or any other method or process described herein.

[0163] Embodiment 23 may include a device comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of the above embodiments or any other method or process described herein.

[0164] Embodiment 24 may include methods, techniques or processes described in or related to any of the above embodiments, or parts or components thereof.

[0165] Embodiment 25 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, process, or portion thereof described in or related to any one of the above embodiments.

[0166] Embodiment 26 may include signals or parts or components thereof as described in or related to any of the above embodiments.

[0167] Embodiment 27 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU) or message or a portion or component thereof as described in or related to any of the above embodiments, or content otherwise described in the present disclosure.

[0168] F-EF237036

[0169] Embodiment 28 may include a signal encoded with data or a portion or component thereof as described in or related to any of the above embodiments, or content described in other ways in this disclosure.

[0170] Embodiment 29 may include a signal or a portion or component thereof encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, PDU or message as described in or related to any of the above embodiments, or content described in other ways in the present disclosure.

[0171] Embodiment 30 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors will cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any of the above embodiments.

[0172] Embodiment 31 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform a method, technique, or process described in or related to any one of the above embodiments, or a portion thereof.

[0173] Embodiment 32 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0174] Embodiment 33 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0175] Embodiment 34 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0176] Embodiment 35 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0177] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings or may be obtained from the practice of the various embodiments.

[0178] Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that may be embodied in machine executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. A computer system may include one or more general or special purpose computers (or other electronic devices). A computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic components for performing operations, or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0179] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially incorporated into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of one embodiment may be used in another embodiment. For clarity, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that unless otherwise stated herein, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment.

[0180] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0181] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for extending clear channel assessment (eCCA), the method comprising: determining that the communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; determining a number of communication time slots of the communication channel for which transmission is to be postponed; counting one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use; determining that the counted number of one or more communication time slots is not equal to the determined number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be deferred; as well as One or more data units are transmitted based on determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed, and the one or more data units include synchronization signal blocks SSB, configured random access channel RACH resources, sounding reference signal SRS symbols or only channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units uses short control signaling. The method of claim 1 , wherein the initial duration is 8 microseconds. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that the communication channel is not occupied for the initial duration comprises comparing a detected energy of the communication channel to a predetermined threshold.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein counting the one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use includes comparing the energy of the time slot with a predetermined threshold, wherein when the energy of the time slot is equal to or higher than the predetermined threshold, the time slot is in use, and when the energy of the time slot is lower than the predetermined threshold, the time slot is not in use.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the number of the counted one or more communication time slots is equal to the determined number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be deferred.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units comprises transmission on the communication channel for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT). The method of claim 7 , wherein the COT is equal to 5 milliseconds.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units comprises transmitting SSB.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units comprises transmitting a CSI-RS.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units comprises transmitting a configured random access channel (RACH) resource or a sounding reference signal (SRS) symbol.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the number of communication time slots of the communication channel for which transmission is to be postponed is three.

13. A method for extending clear channel assessment (eCCA), the method comprising: determining that the communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; Determining to postpone transmission in the communication channel by three communication time slots of the communication channel; counting one or more communication time slots of the communication channel; determining that the number of counted communication time slots is equal to three; and One or more data units are transmitted based on determining that the counted number of communication time slots is equal to 3, and the one or more data units include synchronization signal blocks SSB, configured random access channel RACH resources, or sounding reference signal SRS symbols.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units is performed by a base station, and the one or more data units include the SSB.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units is performed by a user equipment, and the one or more data units include the configured RACH resources or the SRS symbols.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to: determining that the communication channel is not occupied for an initial duration; determining a number of communication time slots of the communication channel for which transmission is to be postponed; counting one or more communication time slots of the communication channel that are not in use; determining that the counted number of one or more communication time slots is not equal to the determined number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be deferred; as well as One or more data units are transmitted based on determining that the number of one or more communication time slots counted is not equal to the number of communication time slots of the communication channel determined to be postponed, and the one or more data units include synchronization signal blocks SSB, configured random access channel RACH resources, sounding reference signal SRS symbols or only channel state information reference signal CSI-RS.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units uses short control signaling.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, further cause the processor to: A determination is made that the counted number of one or more communication time slots is equal to the determined number of communication time slots of the communication channel to be deferred.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the transmission of the one or more data units comprises transmission on the communication channel for a maximum channel occupancy time (COT).

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the COT is equal to 5 milliseconds.

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