User equipment, base station, and methods performed in user equipment and base station

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment, a base station and methods performed in the user equipment and the base station. The user equipment comprises a transceiver unit, and a circuitry configured to: receive, via the transceiver unit from the base station, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, configure, based on the at least one parameter, a predefined time-domain pattern according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; and control to receive, via the transceiver unit, a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

Description

[0001] This application is a divisional application of the patent application with the application date of 5 April 2018, the application number: 201880088119.5, and the invention name of “Paging occasion design in new radio”. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to paging of user equipment in a communication system. BACKGROUND

[0003] New Radio (NR) is a technology being developed by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) that will be submitted to the International Telecommunication Union as a 5G candidate technology. One of the most notable aspects of NR is that it was designed with the use of beamforming operations in mind (Dahlman et al., “4G, LTE-Advanced Pro and The Road to 5G”, Third Edition, Elsevier. 2016), which is particularly useful in high frequency bands. Broadly speaking, beamforming allows the energy of a given radio transmission to be concentrated in a certain direction, such that the range can be extended, e.g. to compensate for the high propagation losses in high frequencies. Given that 5G is expected to operate at higher frequencies, where more spectrum is available, beamforming operations are crucial for NR. SUMMARY

[0004] One non-limiting and exemplary embodiment facilitates efficient monitoring of paging messages by user equipment.

[0005] In one general aspect, a technology disclosed herein provides a user equipment for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, comprising: a transceiver, and circuitry configured to: receive, via the transceiver, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter from the base station, based on the at least one parameter, configure a predefined time-domain pattern according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of combs; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for a comb time point whether a paging occasion is included in the comb time point; and control to receive, via the transceiver, a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0006] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides a base station for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, comprising: a transceiver, and circuitry to: define a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, the at least one parameter being used to configure a predefined time-domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; control transmission of the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment via the transceiver; and control transmission of a paging signal to the user equipment via the transceiver in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0007] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, the method being performed in a user equipment, and comprising the steps of: receiving, from the base station, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, based on the at least one parameter, configuring a predefined time-domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; and performing reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0008] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, the method being performed in a base station, and comprising: defining a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, the at least one parameter being used to configure a predefined time-domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; transmitting the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment; and transmitting a paging signal to the user equipment in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0009] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides an integrated circuit for controlling a process of transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, the process comprising: receiving, from the base station, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, based on the at least one parameter, configuring a predefined time-domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; and performing reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0010] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides an integrated circuit for controlling a procedure of transmitting and / or receiving data to and / or from a user equipment in a communication system, the procedure comprising: defining a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for a raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not; transmitting the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment; and transmitting a paging signal to the user equipment in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

[0011] In one general aspect, the technology disclosed herein provides a user equipment for transmitting and / or receiving data to and / or from a base station in a communication system, comprising circuitry, wherein: a paging occasion configuration is received from the base station, comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and reception of a paging signal is performed in a paging occasion within the predefined time-domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0012] It should be noted that general or specific embodiment can be implemented as a system, method, integrated circuit, computer program, storage medium or any combination of them.

[0013] Other benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the description and drawings. Benefits and / or advantages can be realized without one or more of the benefits and / or advantages described herein. One or more of the benefits and / or advantages can be realized independently. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of synchronization block allocation in a resource;

[0015] Figure 2 is an illustration of beamforming performed by a base station;

[0016] Figure 3A is an illustration of time slots of a paging occasion;

[0017] Figure 3B is an illustration of time slots of a paging occasion filled with a paging CORESET;

[0018] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of different NR numerologies and corresponding SSBs;

[0019] Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing different multiplexing patterns;

[0020] Figure 6is a diagram illustrating SSB mapping to a first half frame;

[0021] Figure 7 is a table illustrating the relationship between the duration in symbols of a RMSI CORESET and the corresponding multiplexing pattern for different numerologies;

[0022] Figure 8 is a table illustrating the relationship between the frequency band, synchronization signal length and numerology for NR;

[0023] Figure 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example user equipment and base station;

[0024] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating predefined patterns of PO locations, i.e. locations on a raster and locations uniformly distributed;

[0025] Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating the location of POs on a raster within a paging cycle;

[0026] Figure 12 is a diagram illustrating the location of POs on a raster within a paging cycle;

[0027] Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating PO locations uniformly distributed over a paging cycle;

[0028] Figure 14 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of PO locations. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] In order to support beamforming operations, several aspects of NR, including functions like time / frequency synchronization and paging, need to be redesigned. The present disclosure relates to paging design in NR.

[0030] An important function in mobile cellular systems (also in NR) is the paging mechanism by which the network locates a UE with incoming traffic (voice call or data). Antenna beams provide a greater range (distance between base station and user equipment to communicate with each other), but their coverage is narrower than a regular three-sector cell. Since paging is about locating a UE within a cell (or group of cells), the paging operation needs to be adapted to the beam sweeping operation in NR. Thus, some design principles from LTE can be inherited in NR, but other concepts, such as paging occasion definition and paging occasion resource allocation, need to be adjusted.

[0031] In the context of cellular systems, paging is a mechanism by which the network can locate a user equipment, UE (in IDLE mode), within a given geographical area, called a tracking area (possibly comprising several cells), to initiate a connection setup. Since the network does not know the exact geographical location of the UE to be paged, a beamformed paging message (used in NR) needs to be sent in different directions at different time instants in order to guarantee finding the UE to be paged. Here, the term "network" mainly refers to a base station (also called gNB in NR) with which the UE communicates via a wireless interface and to which the rest of the network is connected. The UE is any mobile station implemented for example in a terminal such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, a PC or any other device.

[0032] It is noted that the disclosed paging design can be applied to both modes in NR, i.e. to RRC_IDLE state and RRC_INACTIVE state. These are often referred to as IDLE and INACTIVE modes. These modes apply according to 3GPP TS 38.304 v0.1.2 (2018-02): when the UE is camped on an NR cell; and when the UE is searching for a cell to camp on. The UE camps on a cell if it has completed a cell selection / reselection procedure and has selected a cell. The UE monitors system information and (most of the time) paging information in these states. The RRC_IDLE state and RRC_INACTIVE state tasks can be divided into three procedures: PLMN selection; cell selection and reselection; location registration and RNA update. Cell selection applies only to RRC_IDLE state.

[0033] However, the present disclosure is not limited to very specific NR states. In general, it applies to any UE state in which a cell broadcast and a paging channel are monitored. Typically (not only in NR, but also in LTE or other systems) it is the case that no current data bearer is configured and no communication is pending between the UE and the base station. If there is an exchange of data and signaling between the UE and the base station, control information can also be sent through such a link, which is faster than monitoring the paging channel. In the following, when referring to IDLE_MODE, any idle mode is meant, such as the NR modes described above. Thus, an IDLE UE is any UE in IDLE_MODE.

[0034] The whole paging design and operation includes two interrelated issues:

[0035] 1) PO structure designThis is about determining the length and composition of each individual paging occasion. In LTE, the concept of PO refers to both the paging frame and subframe in which a given UE has to monitor for paging downlink control information (DCI). In NR, it has been agreed that a PO comprises one or more slots whose duration enables a complete beam sweep for the allocation of paging signals. In fact, each PO must contain one CORESET associated (and quasi-located) with each SSB. Therefore, in case of a variable number of beams in a cell, the length of the PO is also variable and will depend on the maximum number of synchronization blocks (SSBs), i.e. the parameter L, while the parameter L in turn depends on the numerology or the number of SSBs actually transmitted, e.g. the variable L' < L. In addition, for a given L, there are also several approaches possible. For example, a certain L-specific length allows for blanking in the time locations of the PO where no SSB is transmitted, or a length (L') directly dependent on the number of SSBs actually transmitted is used. In any case, POs of variable length need to be considered in NR, and therefore, the next question, i.e. the allocation of POs, has to take this into account.

[0036] 2) PO allocation. This is about allocating different POs within the paging cycle of the system. In LTE, the UE is indicated about the paging cycle of the system as system information and assumes it as a default value unless a UE-specific configuration (UE-specific DRX cycle) is provided. Then, the UE is allocated among different POs by a mod-type operation, while the number of POs depends on the paging load and can be modified. The same principle applies to NR, however, there are some important differences. The paging CORESET has been agreed to reuse the same configuration as the RMSI CORESET, which means that at least the paging CORESETs for RRC_IDLE are transmitted in the initial active downlink bandwidth part (IAD BP). This bandwidth part can or can not overlap with the bandwidth in which the SSBs are transmitted, and therefore, collisions between CORESETs and SSBs (and between different CORESETs) have to be avoided. In summary, the PO allocation strategy should have enough flexibility to be applicable and adaptable to several other cell-specific configurations, such as the SSB-CORESET multiplexing pattern (pattern 1, 2 or 3, see [3]) or the SSB periodicity.

[0037] For the synchronization signals providing the time and frequency reference to the UEs, a similar behavior has been agreed, i.e. these signals are beam-swept in the cell (i.e. transmitted on different beams at different time instants), so that the UE can access the system after obtaining the time and frequency reference and some other information from the so-called synchronization signal block (SSB).

[0038] The term "pre-synchronization" refers to a design principle that has been discussed in some standardization meetings. In particular, for fast moving UEs in IDLE_MODE, it is desirable or even required to receive a synchronization block before attempting to receive and decode a paging occasion. As the UE moves fast, the time and frequency reference can degrade, and thus the IDLE UE needs to be "updated" (re-synchronized) before receiving a page. Therefore, it is only required to have a PO after a SSB.

[0039] Therefore, given that SSB and paging signals exhibit similar behavior, i.e. both require beam sweeping, it is desirable that some association or relationship can be exploited. A SSB is a resource block comprising a predefined number of symbols in time domain (e.g. four symbols) and a predefined number of subcarriers or physical resource blocks. The number of symbols and / or subcarriers or physical resource blocks can be defined in the standard or configurable in the system resources. The SSB can carry a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH).

[0040] With respect to LTE, one fundamental change for NR is the fact that due to the beam sweeping operation, the length of the OFDM symbol or slot is not fixed, since the PO must contain as many paging configuration resource sets (CORESETs) as the synchronization blocks (beams). In addition, the paging CORESET (as well as remaining minimum system information (RMSI) and other system information (OSI)) will be confined within certain specific bandwidth parts, called initial active downlink bandwidth parts (IAD_BPs). The bandwidth used for the synchronization blocks can or can not overlap with the IAD_BPs. In case of overlap, collisions are typically not allowed to occur. Therefore, the problem of paging occasion allocation, i.e. the problem of determining the time and frequency resources for the paging CORESET, is not trivial and a unified framework for NR is encouraged (i.e. applicable to all relevant paging-impacted configurations).

[0041] The present disclosure provides several strategies to address the above problem by providing a common framework that allows the gNB to flexibly allocate the POs taking into account other operator-defined configurations, such as the number of SSBs, multiplexing patterns, system numerologies, etc. The allocation strategies also allow to avoid collisions between control signals, while keeping the required common control signaling overhead (system information) acceptable, and without requiring other UE-specific signaling except in cases where specific UE- specific configurations are needed.

[0042] The present disclosure relates to the ongoing work item on NR Access Technology (RP-171418 - "Revision of WI: New Radio Access Technology", SY Lien, SL Shieh, Y. Huang, B. Su, YL Hsu, and HY Wei, "5G New Radio: Waveform, Frame Structure, Multiple Access, and Initial Access", IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 55, no. 6, pp. 64-71, 2017). It is related to the "initial access" framework. Initial access includes, among others, synchronization signal and paging design. In particular, some embodiments provide a mechanism to embed paging messages into resources of the NR system, to make paging reception more efficient at the UE side. However, the present disclosure is not limited to adoption in NR, and can be readily applied to other mobile and / or cellular communication systems where UEs have to be paged.

[0043] The following points summarize the paging operation in previous Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and highlight similarities and differences in NR.

[0044] - When the UE is in IDLE mode, paging is used to locate the UE in a tracking area to initiate the establishment of a connection. Therefore, in LTE, the paging message is broadcast in each cell of the tracking area. This operation based on tracking areas is similar in NR.

[0045] - In LTE, to receive the paging message, a mechanism similar to data transmission is used: the UE first receives and monitors control information (L1 / L2 signaling, meaning Layer 1 / Layer 2 signaling, referring to the physical layer and the MAC layer) to know when and where the actual paging message is transmitted. In the following, this L1 / L2 signaling and the actual paging message are referred to as paging DCI (Downlink Control Information) and paging message, respectively. The DCI is carried on the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). This behavior is also adopted in NR, at least as a baseline. Moreover, in the context of NR, the paging DCI is contained in a set of resources commonly referred to as CORESET. Therefore, the UE needs to locate and receive the paging CORESET in order to receive the paging message. In other words, the CORESET is the set of time-frequency resources where the UE monitors the PDCCH (DCI) reception.

[0046] - In LTE, the paging DCI / message is broadcast in the cells of the tracking area, while in NR, beam operation is generally supported, i.e. the paging message is transmitted in different directions in different slots.

[0047] - In order to allow energy saving operation in LTE, UEs in IDLE mode are most of the time in sleep state and wake up only when they can be paged. The time instants at which a UE can be paged are called paging occasions (POs), thus, a paging cycle is defined. Using a pre-defined formula, UE ID and other parameters, each UE determines when (i.e. PO (frame and subframe)) it has to monitor paging. In the following, this is referred to as PO computation. In NR, although there are some differences, a similar behavior is expected. UEs also determine the time location of their corresponding POs, i.e. the specific POs in the paging cycle that are performed by the UE for reception, using a pre-defined formula, from the UE's perspective, and monitor these POs periodically. In order to support beam sweeping operation, a PO is defined as a time interval, possibly comprising several slots (in which all the required beams are transmitted). Thus, in principle, a UE listens in the whole PO interval to verify whether a paging message related to it has been transmitted.

[0048] - In LTE, a PO indicates the frame and subframe in which a paging DCI can be transmitted (using a reserved ID: P-RNTI, i.e. Paging Radio Network Temporary Identifier as group ID). In NR, the operation is more flexible. A paging CORESET can be transmitted in different OFDM symbols (in the following, symbols) within a slot and its duration is also variable, i.e. a paging CORESET duration can be one or more symbols. Thus, in order to indicate the exact time location of the paging CORESET that a UE has to monitor, an indication with symbol resolution is needed. A slot consists of 14 symbols in time domain. Paging message details are defined in 3GPP TS 36.331, section 6.2.2, version f.1.0 or TS 38.331, section 15.1.0. In NR, a similar time structure to LTE is adopted, but there are differences due to the use of different numerologies. A (radio) frame of 10 ms and a subframe of 1 ms are reserved; however, the number of slots in a frame depends on the numerology, thus, for 15 KHz, there is 1 slot per subframe, for 30 KHz, there are 2 slots per subframe, and so on. The number of OFDM symbols per slot is the same (14), regardless of the numerology, see 3GPP TS 38.211 V15.0.0 (pages 8 and 9).

[0049] In other words, a paging occasion is a set of time slots (contiguous or distributed) in which the UE monitors for a paging-PDCCH (also called Type 2 PDCCH). A PO is defined as a time interval in which a paging signal is transmitted, and as mentioned above, it comprises one or more time slots. The paging signal comprises a paging DCI and a paging message. As mentioned above, the paging DCI is transmitted on a Type 2 PDCCH, the configuration of which is provided by the higher layer parameter paging-searchspace (here higher layer refers to the RRC protocol). The paging message is transmitted over a PDSCH. In principle, the paging DCI and the paging message can be time-division multiplexed and / or frequency-division multiplexed.

[0050] In the context of 3GPP specifications such as LTE and NR, the paging cycle is also called discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle. Note that in general, the paging cycle in which the base station provides the paging occasions (called system paging cycle or paging cycle from the network's point of view) can be different from the paging cycle in which a particular one UE accesses (performs reception) certain of the POs provided by the network (also called UE-specific paging cycle, or paging cycle from the UE's point of view). The present disclosure applies to the system paging cycle which can also correspond to the UE paging cycle. Moreover, as described later, embodiments are provided for the case in which the UE is provided with a UE-specific paging cycle.

[0051] From the UE's point of view, this is a period with POs, which repeats. No specific value has been set for NR, but the specific value is not important for the present disclosure which can work with any value. It has been discussed that the minimum DRX cycle is 32 frames, i.e. 320 ms. The eNB can configure a UE-specific DRX cycle, which is different from the default system's paging cycle, which is informed to the UE as system information.

[0052] The period of the POs (paging / DRX cycle) can or can not correspond to the period of the SSBs (T SSB ). T SSB is the periodicity of transmission of synchronization blocks. This value can be chosen from the following set {5, 10, 20,..., 160} [ms]; the default value for all bands is 20 ms; but the operator can adjust this value.

[0053] The number of POs represents the number of POs (N PO ) in the system's paging cycle. Depending on the paging capacity requirements, the gNB can configure another suitable N POThe number of POs can thus be in the range of e.g. from 32 to 128. Each PO has the potential to page up to 16 UEs (the actual UE IDs are in the paging message). In the paging occasion, if a paging CORESET with P-RNTI occurs, it indicates to the UE that there is a paging message that the UE needs to decode. The way / location of the paging message is a scheduling problem. It is in the paging message where the UE ID is used to distinguish the message for different UEs.

[0054] As mentioned above, the paging occasion computation (POC) is a mechanism (e.g. a formula and / or an algorithm) for the UE to determine the number of the PO it belongs to. The parameters of the POC can include the UE identity (e.g. IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity)) and some system parameters (e.g. nB, nB is the number of POs per paging cycle in LTE and can also be applied in NR or another system).

[0055] One key aspect of NR is the support for beamforming based operation. One important function in cellular systems is to provide a reliable time-frequency reference to the UEs. While in LTE this signal is broadcasted in the cell for this purpose, in NR it needs to be transmitted in different directions (beams) at different times. Therefore, the SSB is defined to contain the time-frequency reference and information to allow the UE to access the system. Since the SSBs are transmitted in all directions respectively, a UE in principle has the potential to capture (i.e. be able to successfully receive) at least one of those time-multiplexed SSBs and eventually access the system. Therefore, the UE self-locates by the SSB it receives. Since 1) these signals are monitored periodically for other purposes, e.g. radio resource management, and 2) in principle even IDLE UEs always can determine the SSB they belong to, it is possible to use this knowledge to locate the corresponding paging CORESET within the PO, as long as there is some kind of association and it is signaled to the UE or known by the UE. The PO contains paging CORESETs corresponding to all SSBs (i.e. beams) and its duration corresponds to the period needed to beam-sweep the paging signal.

[0056] In LTE, and possibly in NR, in case of initial synchronization after detecting a synchronization signal (when the UE is not camped on or connected to a LTE cell), the UE decodes the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) from which key system information can be obtained. Specifically, the PSS and SSS are transmitted periodically and enable the terminal to acquire slot boundary timing. Then, the PBCH of the cell carrying configuration information can be read. The configuration information can be common configuration information to be read by all terminals and / or a group of terminals. This can include, for example, configuration of cell resources such as paging resources. The RMSI (Remaining Minimum System Information) and OSI (Other System Information) are resources pointed to from the PBCH and also carry (cell) broadcast common information to be read by any terminal in the cell. This information can also carry configurations. The configuration information can be carried by a resource control protocol (RRC).

[0057] Figure 1 The principle of using several blocks as time / frequency synchronization means in NR is depicted. Candidate SSB positions can be provided in the specification as well as their total number, and they are numerology specific, with a maximum of L = 64 SSBs for a subcarrier spacing of 240 kHz. The numerology is defined by the subcarrier spacing and the cyclic prefix (CP) overhead. In Figure 1 In the figure, the candidate positions are represented as boxes. In this representation, 5 out of L = 8 possible SSBs are actually transmitted by the network (indicated by their respective SSB indices "SSB1", "SSB2", etc.) and signaled by the RMSI. Typically, as Figure 2 shown in the figure, the base station (referred to as gNB in NR, similar to eNB / eNodeB in LTE) uses different beams to transmit different SSBs in different time instances to cover the cell / sector.

[0058] It should be noted that the UE monitors the SSBs in order to perform some other functions, for example, radio resource management (RRM) (e.g., handover), and therefore, the UE knows the best reception beam. Moreover, since the gNB does not know the location of the IDLE mode UE within the tracking area, the paging message also needs to be beam swept, and therefore, it is a natural design to associate the operation of SSBs and paging.

[0059] In the above agreement, the key agreement of the present disclosure states that the UE can assume QCL (quasi co-location) between SSBs and paging (DCI / message). Quasi co-locationThe concept of quasi co-location (QCL) means that the radio channels experienced by signals transmitted by different antenna ports have the same large-scale properties (e.g., average delay spread, Doppler spread / shift, average gain, etc.) if and only if they are quasi co-located. In practice, this means that the signals corresponding to two different channels (e.g., SSB and paging) are transmitted using the same beam structure from the same transmission and reception point (TRP). In other words, each SSB transmitted with a unique index has its corresponding paging signal transmitted using the same beam. This agreement creates a link between each SSB and the paging message through QCL. The association between SSB and CORESET will be indicated through RMSI.

[0060] Another agreement reached so far concerns the fact that RMSI, OSI and paging will share the same CORESET configuration defined in IAD BP. IAD BP refers to the initial active downlink bandwidth part, which (i.e., in terms of location and size) is defined as the bandwidth of RMSI. Moreover, different multiplexing patterns between SSB and RMSI / OSI / paging CORESETs are to be considered.

[0061] Figure 3A A PO is shown, which starts at time to and includes slots i-2, i-1, i and i+1 in the IAD BP. Note that the term “IAD BP” used in this disclosure is synonymous with the acronym “IAD BWP”.

[0062] Figure 3B Another example of a PO with some slots including a paging CORESET (PC) is shown. Specifically, in the paging occasion calculation, the starting point (to) should be determined. This has to be done taking into account the transmission of RMSI and OSI CORESETs (as they are also transmitted in the IAD BP). It is understood that the paging CORESET does not overlap (does not collide in time) with the RMSI / OSI CORESETs. The RMSI CORESET, the OSI CORESET and the paging CORESET are all allocated in the IAD BP. Therefore, they are located in the same frequency part. However, they cannot overlap in time, which can be achieved by the gNB configuring them. Therefore, in the case of “mode 1” in which the SSB and the paging CORESET are in the same frequency band IAD BP, the transmission pattern of the SSBs is considered. The transmission pattern of the SSBs is typically every T SSB occupies approximately half a frame (i.e., a 5 ms window).

[0063] Specifically, Figure 4NR frame with SSB burst set is shown. In this exemplary representation, the SSB burst set is in the first half frame. In NR, a frame has 10 ms, and accordingly, a half frame has 5 ms. Each half frame has 5 subframes, which are further divided into slots. The number of slots is different for different frequency bands (i.e., numerologies). In Figure 4 In the middle, the slot level structure includes slots (shown with different padding patterns), each slot containing up to two SSBs. L is the maximum number of SSBs (SSBs) in a burst. Specifically, when looking Figure 4 at each slot, up to two SSBs can be mapped. For example, in a 15 KHz band, L = 4, there is one burst in two adjacent slots of the first half frame, and it is assumed that each slot carries two SSBs. For the same frequency band and L = 8, there is still one burst in 4 slots, with up to two (total 8) SSBs. For a 120 KHz band with L = 64, there are four SSB bursts in one cluster.

[0064] Figure 5 Three possible multiplexing patterns for SSB burst set 510, CORESET 520, and PDSCH (data channel) 530 are shown.

[0065] “Pattern 1” refers to a multiplexing pattern in which SSB (SS / PBCH block) and RMSI CORESET occur in different time instances, while the transmission bandwidth of the SS / PBCH block overlaps with the initial active DL BP containing the RMSI CORESET.

[0066] “Pattern 2” refers to a multiplexing pattern in which SS / PBCH block and RMSI CORESET occur in different time instances, while the transmission bandwidth of the SS / PBCH block does not overlap with the initial active DL BP containing the RMSI CORESET.

[0067] “Pattern 3” refers to a multiplexing pattern in which SS / PBCH block and RMSI CORESET occur in the same time instance, and the transmission bandwidth of the SS / PBCH block does not overlap with the initial active DL BP containing the RMSI CORESET.

[0068] In addition, Figure 6 The periodicity of the SSB burst set is shown. Typically, the duration of the SSB burst set is less than 5 ms, i.e., less than a half frame (the half frame used is indicated by the network, e.g., “0” indicates the first half frame, and “1” indicates the second half frame). In Figure 6 In the middle, the SSB burst periodicity is set to 20 ms (the default value is T SSB= 20 ms, but the operator can configure other values). Typically, currently, the periodicity can be chosen from the values {5, 10, 20,..., 160}. The periodicity configuration is especially important for multiplexing mode 1, as it must be ensured that the SSB and RMSI CORESET do not overlap.

[0069] Figure 7 It is shown that SSB and RMSI CORESET can have different numerologies, and the number of SSBs and numerologies (subcarrier spacing, SCS) are specified for different frequency ranges. For example, based on the table of Figure 7 The possible CORESET durations (in symbols) are as follows:

[0070] - Mode 1: {1, 2, 3}, Mode 2: {1, 2} and Mode 3: {2}.

[0071] - The RMSI CORESET configuration depends on the SSB / RMSI numerology combination and the multiplexing mode.

[0072] - OSI and paging reuse this configuration.

[0073] Figure 8 The relationship between frequency band, SSB and numerology is shown. Specifically, it has been agreed that the maximum number of SS blocks in an SS burst set, L, is as follows for different frequency ranges:

[0074] - For frequency ranges up to 3 GHz, L is 4

[0075] - For frequency ranges from 3 GHz to 6 GHz, L is 8

[0076] - For frequency ranges from 6 GHz to 52.6 GHz, L is 64. The value “L” is the maximum number of SSBs that can be transmitted. The operator can decide to use fewer beams. The network indicates how many beams are used and when they are transmitted (in a predefined set of candidate locations for the SSB).

[0077] Typically, it is desirable to avoid that the UE monitors the entire PO, where several paging CORESETs are transmitted using different beams, which can be inefficient (high energy cost). Therefore, utilizing QCL is the preferred approach.

[0078] The present disclosure thus relates to the allocation and design of paging occasions.

[0079] A user equipment and a base station corresponding to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in Figure 9 A user equipment 910 (i.e., user equipment (UE) or user terminal) and a base station 960 (i.e., gNB of NR) communicate with each other over a wireless channel 950.

[0080] The present disclosure relates to the transmission and reception of paging signals, and in particular to the determination of the location and / or length of paging signals. In particular, it relates to determining the location and length of paging occasions taking into account beam sweeping operations such as used in NR.

[0081] Furthermore, in some embodiments, other constraints to be considered (which can follow some ideal design principles discussed in 3GPP) include: pre-synchronization, avoidance of CORESET collision and load adaptation (i.e. paging capacity should be at least equal to LTE and adjustable). Generally, a unified framework is desired. This means that we have one solution that can be applied (perhaps with different configurations) regardless of other settings of the cell, rather than a scattered solution, e.g. another solution is needed if some parameters of the cell change. In other words, providing a basis for a predefined time-domain pattern for paging occasions while providing parameterization for configuring the pattern provides such a unified framework.

[0082] In order to efficiently signal the paging information, in some embodiments, the location of the paging information is determined by a parameterized predefined pattern, which is configured by the network (e.g. base station) through at least one parameter of the user equipment. The term “predefined” of the pattern means that the pattern follows a certain rule, such as regularity of the occurrence of POs in time, or in other words a constraint limiting the possible time locations of POs. The term “parameterized” means that the specific PO location in time varies with the parameter as long as the predefined pattern is followed. In particular, the paging occasion allocation is based on a predefined time-domain allocation strategy, which uses the entire paging cycle as the time framework, and whose parameters can be set depending on the required paging capacity of the cell and the beam sweeping (SSB) pattern.

[0083] Generally, the paging information can be transmitted by the network (e.g. base station on the radio interface) in a paging area of system resources. The paging area will be read by a group of terminals. In order to save power, the terminals only read the paging resources configured to carry the paging information among the resources that the network can generally configure to carry the paging information.

[0084] According to one embodiment, Figure 9The illustrated user equipment 910 comprises a transceiving unit 920 comprising a transmitting unit for transmitting data to a base station and / or a receiving unit for receiving data from a base station, and circuitry 930. The circuitry 930 receives, from a base station via the transceiving unit 920, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle. The circuitry 930 then performs (via the transceiving unit 920) reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within the predefined time domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0085] The user equipment can be any device implementing the UE functionality in a standard such as LTE or NR. In other words, it can be a mobile phone, a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a computer or any terminal device such as a machine-to-machine communication device implementing a receiving unit. The user equipment can also have a relaying functionality.

[0086] A base station 960 for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system comprises processing circuitry 980 for transmitting, to a user equipment via a transceiving unit 970, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle, and transmitting, via the transceiving unit 970, a paging signal in one or more paging occasions within the predefined time domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0087] The base station can generally be any wireless interface to a network (cellular network) to which paging is applied. For example, the base station can correspond to an eNB in LTE or a gNB in NR, or to any similar station. The base station can also be a relay providing a wireless interface to user equipment(s).

[0088] The respective transceiving units 920 and 970 comprise a transmitting unit and a receiving unit. The transmitting and receiving units can have any known structure, including antennas (array of antennas for beamforming), amplifiers, and possibly also electronics for transmitting / receiving signals in the desired time and frequency resources. The processing circuitry 930 and 980, on the other hand, implements the baseband processing, such as transmission and reception of signalling and data, which means that the processing received signals on the respective transceiving units 920 and 970, and extracts (i.e. demodulates, decodes) and interprets the signalling and data. Furthermore, the circuitry can map signalling and data onto resources for transmission on the respective transceiving units 920 and 970. The transceiving units enable communication over a channel 950, which is formed by certain physical resources such as frequency band and time for transmission and / or reception.

[0089] As mentioned above, in these embodiments the synchronization and paging procedures share some common features, such as the feature of being transmitted from the same (or substantially the same) transmission and reception point (TRP) such as a base station using the same beam structure. It is therefore feasible to link the two procedures together. The synchronization resources are referred to as synchronization blocks (SSB). An SSB can be defined by its location in the communication system resources. For example, in NR, an SSB can be given as a block in the time-frequency grid, i.e. as a certain number of symbols (in the time domain) and subcarriers (in the frequency domain).

[0090] Thus, the user equipment 910 and the base station 960 as described above make use of predefined time-domain patterns for the POs, which use the system paging cycle as a reference. The predefined time-domain patterns are parameterized such that they are configurable by the base station 960. In particular, the parameterization can have as input some parameters, which are typically configurable by the operator of the communication system. Such inputs can be, for example, one or more of the following:

[0091] - a multiplexing pattern defining the mutual location of synchronization signal blocks and system information blocks (such as those referred to above with reference to Figure 5 The parameter can also resolve a possible conflict in location of the synchronization signal block (SSB) and the RMSI CORESET. In addition, pre-synchronization can be taken into account. This can be achieved by ensuring that the synchronization signal blocks occur regularly before the paging occasions, so that IDLE UEs can update their synchronization (i.e. re-synchronize) shortly before receiving a paging.

[0092] - a beam sweeping configuration, in particular a maximum SSB length L and / or an actual SSB length L’. These parameters can influence the required PO length.

[0093] - a paging capacity, in particular the number of POs per paging cycle.

[0094] The PO configuration can then include a predefined rule. The rule can be, for example, a raster definition in the time domain, which constrains the possible PO locations. Alternatively, the rule can be a uniform distribution of the POs over the paging cycle. These exemplary rules will be described in detail below. Further parameters and design rules can be provided to impose further constraints on the PO locations within the raster or the uniform distribution rule. The further parameters can include adjustable cell parameters such as the paging capacity. One of the possible design goals is that both schemes of a raster and a uniform location of the POs within the paging cycle can operate with any multiplexing pattern (with or without bandwidth overlap).

[0095] Paging occasions located on a raster

[0096] One example of a pattern and parameterization is as follows: a pre-defined time-domain pattern specifies that the paging occasions are only allowed to exist in a regular raster within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates in which raster position the reception of the paging occasion is to be performed.

[0097] In particular, in this embodiment, a raster is defined in time domain within the paging occasion cycle of the system. The raster points correspond to candidate positions (possible starting points) of the POs. In Figure 10 This raster is shown on the left side of Figure 1. An offset with respect to the beginning of the paging cycle can define the raster positions. The offset can be fixed (pre-defined in the standard) or configurable (e.g. by the base station within the system information). Furthermore, a raster spacing corresponds to the minimum possible PO spacing. Here, the POs can be positioned (i.e. can start) in all raster points. The POs cannot start at positions outside the raster points. Furthermore, not every raster point necessarily includes a PO. The actual PO positions can be limited by additional constraints.

[0098] A plurality of rasters with different granularity can be defined, such that it is possible for the base station or an operator operating the communication system comprising the base station to select from a pre-defined plurality of raster configurations. In other words, the paging occasion configuration transmitted from the base station to the user equipment can indicate one of the pre-defined plurality of rasters. In this case, the rasters can be assigned respective identifiers, and the signaling from the base station to the user equipment comprises an identifier of the selected raster among the plurality of rasters.

[0099] In another example, the raster can be parameterized by directly signaling the selected raster spacing (e.g. a parameter defining the distance between adjacent raster points).

[0100] Assuming the raster has equidistantly spaced raster points (shown as triangles in Figure 10 ), i.e. points with equal distance between each pair of adjacent raster points. The selection of the raster can also be implicitly determined depending on the remaining cell configuration, such as the paging capacity, maximum SSB length, etc.

[0101] The actual presence of the POs in the raster points can then be signaled or derived based on a combination of additional constraints or signaling and derivation. For example, the presence of the POs can be signaled by:

[0102] - Bit patternThe bitmap can comprise bits, where each bit represents a respective raster point. Then, a bit is in a first value (1 or 0) indicating that a PO is present on the respective raster point associated with this bit and in a second value (0 or 1) indicating that a PO is not present on the respective raster point. Signaling the bitmap provides full flexibility in configuring the presence of POs within the raster. On the other hand, this can result in a large overhead. This bitmap option is more suitable for small L, as the use of L in an absolute sense does not represent a large overhead (few bits, e.g., <8 is enough for L = 4,..., 8). If we have L = 64, the raster can be in the order of 80 bits, thus, sending a bitmap of 80 bits can be limited as this is typically system information designed to be as small as possible. Therefore, for large L values, the short pattern mentioned below can be a more efficient option.

[0103] - Repeated short pattern In practice, there can be many POs within a paging cycle, e.g., 128. In this case, a raster of at least 128 points is needed. Thus, to signal the presence of POs of this raster by the bitmap mentioned above, 128 bits would be needed (resulting in a quite large bitmap). The possibility to reduce this overhead at the cost of some flexibility is to use a short pattern that is repeated on the raster. For example: let us have a raster of 50 points. Depending on the desired number of bits to be used for signaling the presence of POs, a short pattern can be defined. Let us assume, for example, that only 4 bits are used to signal the actual positions of 32 POs (N PO = 32) within the 50 raster points. With 4 bits, up to 16 different values (actually 15 values, as the empty pattern 0000 is not applicable) corresponding to the short pattern can be indicated. Thus, if we send the pattern 1001, the UE assumes that POs will be present in the positions where the 1 is, repeating the pattern until the desired number of POs is obtained. Thus, the pattern of POs in the raster will be 1001 1001 1001... 1001 until 32 ones are present. In this way, instead of sending a bitmap of 50 bits, only 4 bits are sent, but obviously the constraint of 15 patterns is applied. Signaling a repeated short pattern provides less flexibility, but can greatly reduce the signaling overhead.

[0104] In other words, a bitmap can be signaled from the base station to the user equipment, which indicates with each bit for a raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in said raster time point. The bitmap contains one bit for each raster point in a paging cycle. Depending on the maximum number of paging occasions desired per paging cycle, the raster interval can be chosen (either implicitly indicated by the number of paging occasions or explicitly signaled as mentioned above).

[0105] Alternatively, to reduce the overhead in signaling the bitmap, an additional constraint is introduced that specifies that the position of the paging occasions within the raster is cyclically repeated according to a short pattern. The short pattern specifies the actual presence of a PO for N adjacent raster points. N is an integer smaller than the number of raster points, e.g. in particular smaller than or equal to half of the raster points. The short pattern can then be signaled by means of a corresponding short (N-point) bitmap that indicates for each of the N bits whether there is a PO in the respective corresponding one of the N raster points. At the user equipment, the short bitmap is received and interpreted: the N bits are cyclically mapped onto the raster points to determine whether there is a PO in each of the raster points.

[0106] It is noted that the above PO presence signaling examples (raster bitmap, short bitmap) are merely exemplary and not limiting for the present disclosure. Further, the short bitmap can have any length. The length of the short bitmap can also be signaled, i.e. be configurable. Alternatively, it can be implicitly determined based on other cell parameters or fixed in the standard.

[0107] The start of the raster can be specified as an offset from the start of the paging cycle, as shown in Figure 10 From the UE perspective, the target PO can be determined autonomously by the UE. In other words, a particular UE does not need to perform reception in every PO that is indicated to be present in the raster.

[0108] By selecting the appropriate position and number of POs, the gNB can flexibly avoid CORESET collision, adjust the paging capacity and have different inter-PO times. Also the PO length is considered. Thus, although the raster is regular and equally spaced, the POs can be flexibly configured within the paging cycle.

[0109] According to an exemplary implementation, the raster time points are defined at such positions within the paging cycle that the configurable paging occasions do not overlap with the synchronization signal blocks. This is an exemplary constraint. It is noted that in case the bandwidth used by the POs and the synchronization signal blocks overlap (multiplexing mode 1, see Figure 5 ), here the overlap to be avoided is in the time domain.

[0110] Figure 11 A more detailed illustration of the PO pattern based on the raster is shown from the perspective of both the base station and the user equipment. In particular, Figure 11 A paging cycle of the system and an offset indicating the start of the raster within each paging cycle is shown. The raster is shown by triangles that are equally spaced by a "inter-PO distance". The actual presence of a PO is indicated by black triangles. The remaining triangles only indicate the raster positions without actual presence of a PO. In Figure 11bottom, showing a shorter UE-specific paging cycle. Specifically, there are 6 UE-specific cycles with respective numbers of POs 3, 2, 4, 3, 2, 4 (denoted as #POs). From Figure 11 It can be seen that the system paging cycle and the UE-specific paging cycle do not have to be aligned or otherwise coordinated. In the UE-specific cycle, the UE can have to read only one PO, called the "target PO". The UE can use a formula (known to both the base station and the UE) to determine such target PO. Such formula can involve a modulo operation. For example, if there are the same number of POs in the UE-specific cycles, the calculation can be performed over the number of POs per UE-specific cycle modulo the number that can be calculated based on the UE identity and possibly some other parameters. In Figure 11 The number of POs in the UE-specific cycles is different. According to an exemplary embodiment, the target PO can be calculated by applying a modulo number determined as the minimum number of POs in the UE-specific cycles. In Figure 11 The minimum number of POs per UE-specific cycle is 2. Other solutions are possible.

[0111] Figure 12 Another example is shown, in which the actual presence of POs in the raster points is coordinated with the SSB burst locations. Specifically, POs are present only on raster points that do not overlap with SSBs in the time domain. Specifically, in this case, the cell is set to N PO = 32, T DRX = 320 ms, T SSB = 40 ms and multiplex mode 1. In this example, 32 POs 0 to 31 are located on the DRX cycle (paging cycle).

[0112] Uniform distribution of POs within the paging cycle

[0113] According to another embodiment, the predefined time domain pattern specifies that paging occasions are to be received at uniformly distributed time intervals within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates a periodicity of the uniformly distributed time intervals. This is shown on the right side of Figure 10 In this case, there is one PO in each of the uniformly distributed POs, resulting in a PO interval given by the ratio between the paging cycle (system cycle) duration and the desired number of POs.

[0114] In other words, the idea of this embodiment is to provide a predefined paging occasion pattern by distributing N PO POs evenly distributed (over the paging occasion cycle) in positions that the UE can calculate according to a predefined rule.

[0115] For example, one rule can be to avoid collision with SSB in multiplexing mode 1 by the following: - if collision occurs - take the next following (or next preceding) time slot or skip the PO, etc. Generally, the collision avoidance rule can be to take the i-th time slot after or before the end of the synchronization signal. Another possibility is to assume that the half frame where the SSB is located does not exist at all (deleted) and make the PO follow a uniform distribution over the remaining time axis.

[0116] To provide the UE with the PO position, the number of POs in a period and the offset within the paging cycle where the first PO is located need to be known. This offset as well as the raster offset in the raster embodiment above can also be fixed or configurable. Typically, the offset will be smaller than the distance between adjacent POs. To have a similar LTE design, N PO may be chosen from a predefined set (e.g. {4, 16, 32, 64}, etc.). However, this is only a non-limiting example of the present disclosure.

[0117] From the UE’s perspective, the target PO can be determined autonomously by the UE as shown in the embodiments above. Thus, the UE can calculate which PO in the system cycle the UE has to receive (check) based on a formula or algorithm known by both the base station and the UE. Then, the base station distributes the paging indication (DCI) for a specific UE into the PO that the UE reads.

[0118] In this embodiment, all N PO positions have a PO, so this method is more suitable for multiplexing mode 2 or 3 where no overlap with SSBs occurs. However, as mentioned above, the offset setting can help to avoid SSB collision and there can be some additional constraints to make this embodiment also applicable for mode 1.

[0119] Figure 13 An example is shown where the POs are evenly distributed within the DRX cycle. The example cell settings are: N PO = 32, T DRX = 320 ms, T SSB = 40 ms, and multiplexing mode 2 so that the SSBs are located in a different frequency band than the one where the POs are located. Thus, no collision occurs.

[0120] In one example implementation, the periodicity is specified in the received paging occasion configuration as the number of paging occasions within the paging cycle. This refers to the way in which the periodicity (in this case, corresponding to the inter-PO time) is determined. The paging cycle here refers to (is understood to be) the system (network) cycle defined by the system parameters. It is the default value that the UE has to use unless otherwise specified. Sometimes the term "DRX cycle" is used because it determines the period in which the UE can turn off reception and the period in which the UE has to wake up to monitor its paging occasions. The network and UE paging cycle can be the same as referred to above with respect to the paging occasion configuration. Figure 11 The same or different.

[0121] In Figure 13 In the example above, the paging occasions are transmitted in frequency sub-bands that do not overlap with the frequency sub-bands in which the synchronization signal blocks are transmitted. This applies to multiplexing modes 2 and 3.

[0122] Additional configurations

[0123] As mentioned above, in principle, both the grating-based PO location and the uniformly distributed PO location can be used for any multiplexing mode.

[0124] However, according to examples, the configuration of the multiplexing mode can be associated with a particular respective predefined PO pattern (predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging). For example, multiplexing mode 1 (SSB and PO are located in the same frequency band) can be associated with grating-based PO location, while multiplexing modes with SSB and PO in non-overlapping frequency bands (modes 2 and 3 in the example above) can be associated with uniformly distributed PO location.

[0125] Other example uses of the above embodiments are possible. For example, the standard can only allow the use of one of the grating-based and uniformly distributed PO location methods. Alternatively, it can be configurable by the base station whether to apply the grating for the uniformly distributed PO location. Alternatively or additionally, some cell parameters can constrain the application of grating-based and / or uniformly distributed PO location.

[0126] In an example implementation, the processing circuitry of the user equipment performs the reception configuration of the paging signal in the paging occasions that are additionally configured according to a paging occasion calculation specific to the user equipment and / or a beam sweeping configuration set in the base station. In particular, the PO calculation is UE-specific and the calculation is to determine one PO within the DRX cycle.

[0127] The paging occasion configuration can be signaled by the base station within the broadcast channel (PBCH) and includes an offset relative to the start of the paging cycle. In the case of uniformly distributed POs, the offset can indicate the start of the grating or the location of the first PO. In other words, the offset specifies the start of the predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging.

[0128] Figure 14 An illustration showing parameters that can determine the location of the PO to be received (checked) by the user equipment is shown. First, signaling is provided 1410 from the base station to the user equipment with a configuration possibly specifying the allocation strategy (predefined time domain pattern, e.g. raster-based or uniform distribution), parameters for the allocation strategy (e.g. raster interval, PO interval and / or offset) and (for raster allocation) PO presence (e.g. bitmap, short bitmap). This information can be provided in the default paging configuration and / or signaled in a system information block (SIB) and is common for the cell.

[0129] Then, a UE-specific paging configuration can be signaled 1420 to the UE via RRC (Radio Resource Control protocol). It can define a UE-specific periodicity and other parameters. The UE learns from the system configuration specifying the system paging periodicity and PO allocation the minimum number of POs (not necessarily the target POs) in the DRX cycle. As described above with reference to Figure 11 The minimum number of POs in the UE-specific periodicity can be used as a modulo parameter. The paging load balancing depends on the gNB, e.g. how the DRX cycle and the paging allocation scheme configuration are allocated.

[0130] Finally, the system information can be updated 1430 by the base station via cell broadcast and includes one or more parameters described above with reference to signaling 1410.

[0131] Regarding the determination of the length of the PO, the length of the PO can depend on the number of SSBs (beams to be scanned). Figure 3B One possibility is shown, where the PO length in symbols / slots is arbitrary (e.g. M PO ), but proportional to L and L'. Obviously, M PO > L x S P always holds. S P is the number of symbols used for paging CORESET according to the table Figure 7 In other words, the length of the PO can be determined by both the user equipment and the base station as being greater (or equal) to the product of the maximum number of beams (L) and the number of time domain symbols configured for the paging resource. It is to be noted that the PO length is only relevant from the gNB perspective in terms of PO allocation. The UE can also know the length, but from the UE perspective, it is important to know the start of the PO and then the offset of the relevant CORESET within the PO; unless the UE does not know the location of the relevant CORESET and in this case, the length of the PO can also be relevant to the UE as the entire PO has to be monitored.

[0132] The location of the PO should be flexibly configured to take into account the multiple options available in NR. Using the above allocation strategy provides a unified framework to flexibly indicate the location of the PO in a manner that is compatible with the possible configurations available in NR (e.g. multiplexing CORESET-SSB multiplexing patterns). Moreover, the required signaling is low and no UE-specific signaling is needed (unless a UE-specific DRX cycle is configured). In Figure 3B In particular, the PO individual offset within a slot can be indicated using RMSI.

[0133] As mentioned above, embodiments relate to the determination of the location of the PO. This is performed on both the user equipment and the base station side. While the configuration of the PO within the paging cycle is the same and applies to both sides, the base station can also be configured to configure the PO allocation (e.g. by setting the parameters used to determine the PO location), while the user equipment can be configured to receive the configuration and determine the relevant PO location. Based on the PO location within the paging cycle, the user equipment can then determine the target PO(s) that the user equipment actually monitors subsequently.

[0134] Hence, the PO allocation and signaling can also be implemented by the base station, which is therefore not repeated here.

[0135] Moreover, corresponding to the above reference Figure 9 to steps performed by the processing circuitry of the user equipment and the base station, methods for transmitting and / or receiving a paging signal are provided.

[0136] In particular, a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system is provided, which method is performed in a user equipment and comprises the steps of receiving a paging occasion configuration from the base station, including at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and performing reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within the predefined time domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration. Such a method can be performed by any processing circuitry or in a single processor.

[0137] Moreover, a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system is provided, which method is performed in a base station and comprises transmitting a paging occasion configuration to the user equipment, including at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and transmitting a paging signal in one or more paging occasions within the predefined time domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0138] It is noted that according to any embodiment and example, the method can comprise any of the steps described with reference to the above processing circuitry.

[0139] Further, a non-transitory medium can be provided, storing program code comprising code instructions, which when executed on a processor (or generally processing circuitry), performs all steps of the above method.

[0140] The present disclosure can be realized by software, hardware, or software in cooperation with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of each embodiment described above can be partly or entirely realized by an LSI, such as an integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment can be controlled partly or entirely with the same LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI can be individually formed as chips, or one chip can be formed to include a part or all of the functional blocks. The LSI can include a data input and output coupled thereto. The LSI here can be referred to as an IC, a system LSI, a super LSI, or a ultra LSI depending on a difference in the degree of integration. However, the technique of implementing an integrated circuit is not limited to the LSI, and can be realized by using a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a special-purpose processor. In addition, a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after manufacturing the LSI, or a reconfigurable processor in which the connections and settings of circuit cells disposed inside the LSI can be reconfigured can be used. The present disclosure can be realized as digital processing or analogue processing. If future integrated circuit technology replaces LSIs as a result of the advancement of semiconductor technology or other derivative technology, the functional blocks could be integrated using the future integrated circuit technology. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0141] In summary, according to example 1, there is provided a user equipment for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, comprising circuitry that: receives a paging occasion configuration from the base station, comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern for receiving a paging occasion within a paging cycle; and performs reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within the predefined time-domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0142] According to example 2, in example 1, the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that paging occasions are only allowed to exist in regular raster within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates in which raster position to perform reception of the paging occasion.

[0143] In example 1 or 2, the paging occasion configuration indicates at least one of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in said raster time point; (iii) a short bitmap shorter than the number of raster points in the paging cycle, indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in said raster time point when the short bitmap is cyclically repeated.

[0144] The raster time points can be defined at such positions within the paging cycle that the configurable paging occasions do not overlap with synchronization signal blocks.

[0145] In Example 1, the predefined time-domain pattern can specify that the paging occasions are to be received at uniformly distributed time intervals within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration can indicate a periodicity of the uniformly distributed time intervals.

[0146] In one example, the periodicity is specified in the received paging occasion configuration as a number of paging occasions within the paging cycle.

[0147] In some embodiments, the paging occasions are transmitted in frequency sub-bands that do not overlap with frequency sub-bands in which synchronization signal blocks are transmitted.

[0148] According to an exemplary implementation, the processing circuitry of the user equipment performs reception of the paging signal in paging occasions further configured according to a paging occasion configuration specific to the user equipment and / or a beam sweeping configuration set in the base station.

[0149] In some embodiments, the paging occasion configuration is signaled by the base station within a broadcast channel and comprises an offset relative to a start of the paging cycle.

[0150] According to a general example, there is provided a base station for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, comprising processing circuitry configured to: transmit, to the user equipment, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and transmit a paging signal in one or more paging occasions within the predefined time-domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0151] In the general example, according to one embodiment, the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that the paging occasions are only allowed to exist in regular rasters within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates in which raster position to perform reception of the paging occasion.

[0152] The paging occasion configuration can indicate (i) at least one of a plurality of predefined rasters; (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in said raster time point; (iii) a short bitmap shorter than a number of raster points in the paging cycle, indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in said raster time point when the short bitmap is periodically repeated.

[0153] The raster time points can be defined at such positions within the paging cycle that the configurable paging occasions do not overlap with synchronization signal blocks.

[0154] In a general example, according to one embodiment, the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that paging occasions are to be transmitted at uniformly distributed time intervals within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates a periodicity of the uniformly distributed time intervals.

[0155] The periodicity can be specified in the transmitted paging occasion configuration as a number of paging occasions within the paging cycle.

[0156] Further, the paging occasions can be transmitted in frequency sub-bands that do not overlap with frequency sub-bands in which the synchronization signal blocks are transmitted.

[0157] In one example, the processing circuitry of the base station transmits the paging signal in a paging occasion further configured according to a beam sweeping configuration set in the base station and / or a paging occasion calculation specific to the user equipment.

[0158] The paging occasion configuration can be signaled by the base station within a broadcast channel and comprise an offset relative to a start of the paging cycle.

[0159] Corresponding methods are also provided. In one example, a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system is provided, the method being performed in a user equipment and comprising the steps of: receiving a paging occasion configuration from the base station, comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and performing reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within the predefined time-domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

[0160] Further, a method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system is provided, the method being performed in a base station and comprising: transmitting a paging occasion configuration to the user equipment, comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern for receiving paging occasions within a paging cycle; and transmitting a paging signal in one or more paging occasions within the predefined time-domain pattern configured according to the received paging occasion configuration.

Claims

1. A user equipment for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, comprising: a transceiver unit, and circuitry: receiving, via the transceiver unit, from a base station, a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter, configuring, based on the at least one parameter, a predefined time-domain pattern according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating, with each bit for one raster time point, whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; and controlling to receive, via the transceiver unit, a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

2. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein: the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that the paging occasion is only allowed to exist in a regular raster within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates at which raster position to perform the reception of the paging occasion.

3. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein, the paging occasion configuration indicates: (iii) a short bitmap shorter than a number of raster points in the paging cycle, indicating, with each bit for one raster time point, whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point when the short bitmap is repeated cyclically.

4. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein, the raster time points are defined in positions within the paging cycle where a configurable paging occasion does not overlap with a synchronization signal block.

5. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein: the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that the paging occasion is received at evenly distributed time intervals within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates a periodicity of the evenly distributed time intervals.

6. The user equipment of claim 5, wherein, the periodicity is specified in the received paging occasion configuration as a number of paging occasions within the paging cycle.

7. The user equipment of claim 5, wherein, the paging occasion is transmitted in a frequency sub-band that does not overlap with a frequency sub-band where a synchronization signal block is transmitted.

8. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein, the paging occasion is configured according to a user equipment specific paging occasion computation and / or a beam sweeping configuration set in the base station.

9. The user equipment of claim 1, wherein, the paging occasion configuration is signaled by the base station within a broadcast channel and comprises an offset relative to a start of the paging cycle.

10. A base station for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, comprising: a transceiver unit, and circuitry: defining a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time-domain pattern according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating, with each bit for one raster time point, whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point; controlling to transmit, via the transceiver unit, the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment; and controlling to transmit, via the transceiver unit, a paging signal to the user equipment in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time-domain pattern.

11. The base station according to claim 10, wherein: the predefined time-domain pattern specifies that the paging occasion is only allowed to exist in a regular raster within the paging cycle; and the paging occasion configuration indicates at which raster position to perform the reception of the paging occasion. The paging occasion configuration indicates at which raster position the reception of the paging occasion is to be performed.

12. The base station of claim 10, wherein, The paging occasion configuration indicates: (iii) a short bitmap shorter than the number of raster points in the paging cycle, when cyclically repeating the short bitmap, with each bit for one raster time point indicating whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not.

13. The base station of claim 10, wherein, The raster time points are defined in configurable paging occasions within the paging cycle that do not overlap with synchronization signal blocks.

14. The base station of claim 10, wherein: The predefined time domain pattern specifies that the paging occasions are transmitted at uniformly distributed time intervals within the paging cycle; and The paging occasion configuration indicates a periodicity of the uniformly distributed time intervals.

15. The base station of claim 14, wherein, The periodicity is specified in the transmitted paging occasion configuration as a number of paging occasions within the paging cycle.

16. The base station of claim 14, wherein, The paging occasions are transmitted in frequency sub-bands that do not overlap with frequency sub-bands in which synchronization signal blocks are transmitted.

17. The base station of claim 10, wherein, The paging occasions are configured according to a user equipment specific paging occasion computation and / or a beam sweep configuration set in the base station.

18. The base station of claim 10, wherein, The paging occasion configuration is signaled by the base station within a broadcast channel and comprises an offset relative to a start of the paging cycle.

19. A method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, the method being performed in a user equipment and comprising the steps of: receiving a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter from a base station, configuring a predefined time domain pattern based on the at least one parameter according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not; and performing reception of a paging signal in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time domain pattern.

20. A method for transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, the method being performed in a base station and comprising: defining a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not; transmitting the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment; and transmitting a paging signal to the user equipment in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time domain pattern.

21. An integrated circuit for controlling a process of transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a base station in a communication system, the integrated circuit comprising: a functional module: receiving a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter from a base station, configuring a predefined time domain pattern based on the at least one parameter according to two of: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating with each bit for one raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not; and The reception of the paging signal is performed in a paging occasion within a paging cycle according to the predefined time domain pattern.

22. An integrated circuit for controlling a procedure of transmitting data to and / or receiving data from a user equipment in a communication system, the integrated circuit comprising: a function module: defining a paging occasion configuration comprising at least one parameter for configuring a predefined time domain pattern according to: (i) one of a predefined plurality of rasters; and (ii) a bitmap indicating for each bit of a raster time point whether a paging occasion is included in the raster time point or not; transmitting the defined paging occasion configuration to the user equipment; and transmitting a paging signal to the user equipment in one or more paging occasions within a paging cycle according to the predefined time domain pattern. ​

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