Repetition of downlink control channels based on uplink messages

Abstract

Various aspects described herein may enable a base station to repeat a downlink control channel based on one or more indications received from a user equipment (UE). This may allow the base station to efficiently use network resources to enhance coverage of downlink control channels for different steps of a network access procedure as required by the UE. For example, the UE may determine to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. The UE may transmit an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to and the benefit of non-provisional application SN17 / 114,175, entitled “REPETITION OF DOWNLINK CONTROL CHANNELS BASED ON UPLINK MESSAGES,” filed in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on December 7, 2020, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes. Background Art Technical Field

[0004] The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly to repetition of a downlink control channel based on an uplink (UL) message.

[0005] introduction

[0006] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0007] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide common protocols that enable different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is a part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)) and other requirements. 5GNR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Some aspects of 5G NR can be based on 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. There is a need for further improvements to 5G NR technology. These improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Overview

[0008] A brief summary of one or more aspects is given below to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all conceived aspects, and is neither intended to identify the key or critical elements of all aspects nor to define the scope of any or all aspects. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description that will be presented later.

[0009] A base station may repeat a downlink (DL) control channel for messages (e.g., messages to a user equipment (UE) on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)) to enhance coverage in a cell. For example, a DL control channel may be associated with a message for a network access procedure. However, depending on network conditions and / or other factors, a downlink control channel for some messages may require less repetition than a downlink control channel for other messages. Various aspects described herein may enable a base station to selectively repeat a downlink control channel based on one or more indications received from a UE. This may allow a base station to efficiently use network resources to enhance coverage of downlink control channels for different stages of a network access procedure as required by the UE.

[0010] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus determines to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. The apparatus transmits an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel.

[0011] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus receives an indication from a user equipment (UE) configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. The apparatus repeats the downlink control channel or does not repeat the downlink control channel based on the indication.

[0012] To achieve the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. However, these features are merely indicative of several of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and this description is intended to cover all such aspects and their equivalents. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

[0015] Figure 2A , 2B, 2C, and 2D are diagrams illustrating examples of a first 5G / NR frame, a DL channel within a 5G / NR subframe, a second 5G / NR frame, and a UL channel within a 5G / NR subframe, respectively.

[0016] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network.

[0017] Figure 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example network access procedure performed between a UE and a base station.

[0018] Figure 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure based on an uplink message in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6 An example configuration information table including a row identifier field, a downlink control channel field, an indication field, and a rule and / or parameter field is illustrated.

[0020] Figure 7 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 8 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Fig. 9 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different devices / components in an example apparatus.

[0023] Fig.10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system.

[0024] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.12 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.13 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating the flow of data between different devices / components in an example apparatus.

[0027] Fig.14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a device employing a processing system.

[0028] Detailed Description

[0029] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. This detailed description includes specific details to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid diluting such concepts.

[0030] Several aspects of telecommunication systems will now be presented with reference to various apparatus and methods. These apparatus and methods will be described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether such elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0031] As an example, an element, or any part of an element, or any combination of elements may be implemented as a "processing system" including one or more processors. Examples of processors include: microprocessors, microcontrollers, graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), application processors, digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, systems on chip (SoCs), baseband processors, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gating logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout this disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system may execute software. Software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether it is described in software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or other terms.

[0032] Accordingly, in one or more example embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, each function may be stored or encoded on a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, a combination of computer-readable media of the above types, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-accessible instructions or data structure forms of computer executable code.

[0033] Figure 1 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and access network 100. The wireless communication system (also referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes a base station 102, a UE 104, an evolved packet core (EPC) 160, and another core network 190 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC)). The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). A macro cell includes a base station. A small cell includes a femto cell, a pico cell, and a micro cell.

[0034] Base stations 102 configured for 4G LTE (collectively referred to as Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)) may interface with EPC 160 via a backhaul link 132 (e.g., an S1 interface). Base stations 102 configured for 5G NR (collectively referred to as Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN)) may interface with core network 190 via a backhaul link 184. Base stations 102 may perform one or more of the following functions, among other functions: delivery of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, radio access network (RAN) sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (eg, through the EPC 160 or the core network 190) via a backhaul link 134 (eg, an X2 interface). The backhaul link 134 may be wired or wireless.

[0035] Base stations 102 may communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. There may be overlapping geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell 102' may have a coverage area 110' that overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro base stations 102. A network that includes both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). A communication link 120 between a base station 102 and a UE 104 may include an uplink (UL) (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. These communication links may be over one or more carriers. For each carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to Yx MHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction, the base station 102 / UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5, 10, 15, 20, 100, 400 MHz, etc.) bandwidth. These carriers may or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL compared to UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell), and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0036] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL WWAN spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, FlashLinQ, WiMedia, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Wi-Fi based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0037] The wireless communication system may further include a Wi-Fi access point (AP) 150 in communication with a Wi-Fi station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the STA 152 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available prior to communication.

[0038] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. Similar naming issues sometimes arise with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in various documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). EHF is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm.

[0039] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands of these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz–24.25GHz). The frequency bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. Additionally, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to above 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz–71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz–114.25GHz), and FR5 (114.25GHz–300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0040] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "sub-6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "millimeter wave" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0041] The small cell 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell 102' may employ NR and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the Wi-Fi AP 150. The small cell 102' employing NR in the unlicensed spectrum may boost the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network.

[0042] Whether a small cell 102' or a large cell (e.g., a macro base station), the base station 102 may include an eNB, a gB node (gNB), or another type of base station. Some base stations (such as gNB 180) may operate in traditional sub-6 GHz spectrum, millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 104. When gNB 180 operates in mmW or near mmW frequencies, gNB 180 may be referred to as a mmW base station. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend down to 3 GHz frequencies with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. Super high frequency (SHF) bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands (e.g., 3 GHz–300 GHz) have extremely high path loss and short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 182 with the UE 104 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range.

[0043] Base station 180 may transmit beamformed signals to UE 104 in one or more transmit directions 182'. UE 104 may receive beamformed signals from base station 180 in one or more receive directions 182". UE 104 may also transmit beamformed signals to base station 180 in one or more transmit directions. Base station 180 may receive beamformed signals from UE 104 in one or more receive directions. Base station 180 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of base station 180 / UE 104. The transmit direction and receive direction of base station 180 may be the same or may be different. The transmit direction and receive direction of UE 104 may be the same or may be different.

[0044] The EPC 160 may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, other MMEs 164, a serving gateway 166, a multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) gateway 168, a broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) 170, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway 172. The MME 162 may be in communication with a home subscriber server (HSS) 174. The MME 162 is a control node that handles signaling between the UE 104 and the EPC 160. In general, the MME 162 provides bearer and connection management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through the serving gateway 166, which itself is connected to the PDN gateway 172. The PDN gateway 172 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. The PDN gateway 172 and the BM-SC 170 are connected to IP services 176. The IP services 176 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services. The BM-SC 170 may provide functionality for MBMS user service provisioning and delivery. The BM-SC 170 may serve as an entry point for content provider MBMS transmissions, may be used to authorize and initiate MBMS bearer services within a public land mobile network (PLMN), and may be used to schedule MBMS transmissions. The MBMS Gateway 168 may be used to distribute MBMS traffic to base stations 102 belonging to a multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) area broadcasting a specific service, and may be responsible for session management (start / stop) and for collecting eMBMS related charging information.

[0045] The core network 190 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 192, other AMFs 193, a session management function (SMF) 194, and a user plane function (UPF) 195. AMF 192 may be in communication with a unified data management (UDM) 196. AMF 192 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and the core network 190. In general, AMF 192 provides QoS flow and session management. All user Internet Protocol (IP) packets are delivered through UPF 195. UPF 195 provides UE IP address allocation and other functions. UPF 195 is connected to IP services 197. IP services 197 may include the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), a PS streaming service, and / or other IP services.

[0046] A base station may also be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmission reception point (TRP), or some other suitable term. The base station 102 provides an access point to the EPC 160 or the core network 190 for the UE 104. Examples of UE 104 include a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a satellite radio, a global positioning system, a multimedia device, a video device, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, a tablet device, a smart device, a wearable device, a vehicle, an electric meter, a gas pump, a large or small kitchen appliance, a health care device, an implant, a sensor / actuator, a display, or any other similar functional device. Some UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, ovens, vehicles, heart monitors, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as a station, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal, a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology.

[0047] Refer again Figure 1 In certain aspects, UE 104 may be configured to transmit an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure (198). Although the following description may focus on 5G NR, the concepts described herein may be applicable to other similar areas such as LTE, LTE-A, CDMA, GSM, and other wireless technologies.

[0048] Figure 2A 200 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G / NR frame structure. Figure 2B FIG230 is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G / NR subframe. Figure 2C 250 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G / NR frame structure. Figure 2D 280 is a diagram illustrating an example of an UL channel within a 5G / NR subframe. The 5G / NR frame structure may be FDD, where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that subcarrier set are dedicated to either DL or UL, or TDD, where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that subcarrier set are dedicated to both DL and UL. Figure 2A , 2CIn the example provided, the 5G / NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, where subframe 4 is configured with slot format 28 (mostly DL) and subframe 3 is configured with slot format 34 (mostly UL), where D is DL, U is UL, and X is for flexible use between DL / UL. Although subframes 3 and 4 are shown as having slot formats 34 and 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0-61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are full DL and full UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mixture of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. The UE is configured with a slot format (dynamically configured by DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured by radio resource control (RRC) signaling) through the received slot format indicator (SFI). Note that the following description also applies to the 5G / NR frame structure for TDD.

[0049] Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10ms) may be divided into 10 equally sized subframes (1ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include mini-slots, which may include 7, 4, or 2 symbols. Each time slot may include 7 or 14 symbols, depending on the time slot configuration. For time slot configuration 0, each time slot may include 14 symbols, and for time slot configuration 1, each time slot may include 7 symbols. The symbols on the DL may be cyclic prefix (CP) OFDM (CP-OFDM) symbols. The symbols on the UL may be CP-OFDM symbols (for high throughput scenarios) or discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbols (also known as single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbols) (for power-limited scenarios; limited to single stream transmission). The number of time slots within a subframe is based on the time slot configuration and parameter design. For slot configuration 0, different parameter designs μ of 0 to 5 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 slots per subframe, respectively. For slot configuration 1, different parameter designs 0 to 2 allow 2, 4, and 8 slots per subframe, respectively. Accordingly, for slot configuration 0 and parameter design μ, there are 14 symbols per slot and 2 per subframe. μ time slots. The subcarrier spacing and symbol length / duration vary depending on parameter design. The subcarrier spacing can be equal to 2 μ *15kKz, where μ is parameter design 0 to 5. Thus, parameter design μ=0 has a subcarrier spacing of 15kHz, while parameter design μ=5 has a subcarrier spacing of 480kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. Figures 2A-2D An example is provided for slot configuration 0 with 14 symbols per slot and parameter design μ=0 with 1 slot per subframe. The subcarrier spacing is 15 kHz and the symbol duration is about 66.7 μs.

[0050] A resource grid may be used to represent the frame structure. Each slot includes a resource block (RB) (also called a physical RB (PRB)) extending over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a number of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0051] like Figure 2A As explained in the illustration, some REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for UEs. RSs may include demodulation RSs (DM-RSs) for channel estimation at the UE (indicated as R for a particular configuration). x , where 100x is the port number, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0052] Figure 2B Examples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE including 9 RE groups (REGs), each REG including 4 consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol. The primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is used by the UE 104 to determine the subframe / symbol timing and the physical layer identity. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE may determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE may determine the location of the aforementioned DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block. The MIB provides the number of RBs in the system bandwidth, as well as the system frame number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH (such as System Information Blocks (SIBs)), and paging messages.

[0053] As in Figure 2CAs illustrated in FIG, some REs carry DM-RSs for channel estimation at the base station (indicated as R for one particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible). The UE may transmit DM-RSs for the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and DM-RSs for the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be transmitted in the first or first two symbols of the PUSCH. The PUCCH DM-RS may be transmitted in different configurations depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is transmitted and depending on the specific PUCCH format used. Although not shown, the UE may transmit a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to enable frequency-dependent scheduling on the UL.

[0054] Figure 2D Examples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a location as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI.

[0055] Figure 33 is a block diagram of a base station 310 in communication with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, IP packets from the EPC 160 may be provided to a controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a media access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration of UE measurement reports; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, cipher decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0056] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and the receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from reference signals and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318TX. Each transmitter 318TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0057] At the UE 350, each receiver 354RX receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 352. Each receiver 354RX recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for the UE 350. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for the UE 350, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the RX processor 356. The RX processor 356 then transforms the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbol on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point most likely transmitted by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimate calculated by the channel estimator 358. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 310. These data and control signals are then provided to the controller / processor 359 which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0058] The controller / processor 359 may be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher interpretation, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the EPC 160. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0059] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0060] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 310 may be used by a TX processor 368 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via separate transmitters 354TX. Each transmitter 354TX may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0061] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318RX receives a signal through its respective antenna 320. Each receiver 318RX recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to a RX processor 370.

[0062] The controller / processor 375 may be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 350. The IP packets from the controller / processor 375 may be provided to the EPC 160. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0063] At least one of the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 The 198 combined aspects.

[0064] Figure 4 4 is a signal flow diagram illustrating an example network access procedure 400 performed between a UE (e.g., UE 402) and a base station (e.g., base station 404). The network access procedure 400 may be a 4-step random access (RA) procedure and may be initiated by the UE 402 to achieve initial access to the network (e.g., to achieve UL synchronization with the base station 404). Figure 4 As shown, UE 402 may receive cell detection information 406 from base station 404. In some aspects of the disclosure, cell detection information 406 may include synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (SSB) and random access channel (RACH) configuration information.

[0065] The UE 402 may initiate a network access procedure 400 by transmitting a PRACH preamble in a message 1 (Msg1) 408. Upon detecting the PRACH preamble, the base station 404 may transmit a message 2 (Msg2) 410 including a random access response (RAR). The base station 404 may use the PDCCH for scheduling and the PDSCH for transmitting the message 2 410. The RAR in the message 2 (Msg2) 410 may include a UL grant for the UE 402. The UE 402 may transmit a message 3 (Msg3) 412 including a radio resource control (RRC) connection request on the PUSCH using the UL grant. The base station 404 may transmit contention resolution via a message 4 (Msg4) 414 using the PDCCH for scheduling and the PDSCH for transmitting the message 4 414. The UE 402 may transmit an uplink (UL) message 416 (e.g., on the PUSCH) after receiving the message 4 (Msg4) 414.

[0066] The base station can access the network in a manner such as Figure 4A downlink (DL) control channel (such as a broadcast PDCCH) is transmitted during one or more steps of the 4-step random access procedure previously described in 4G NR. For example, the base station may transmit a broadcast PDCCH for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a broadcast PDCCH for message 2 (Msg2) 410, and / or a broadcast PDCCH for message 4 (Msg4) 414. In some scenarios, the downlink (DL) control channel may require coverage enhancement in 5G NR (e.g., in FR 2). The base station may achieve this coverage enhancement by repeating the DL control channel.

[0067] However, the broadcast PDCCH for some messages may require fewer repetitions than the broadcast PDCCH for other messages (e.g., due to additional enhancements or required resources). Various aspects described herein may enable a base station to selectively repeat a downlink (DL) control channel associated with a network access procedure based on one or more indications received from a UE. This may allow the base station to efficiently use network resources to enhance coverage of the broadcast PDCCH for different steps of the network access procedure as required by the UE.

[0068] As used herein, the term "broadcast PDCCH" may refer to a PDCCH transmitted from a base station to a UE before an RRC connection is established with the UE. A broadcast PDCCH from a base station may be intended for a UE transmitting a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble. For example, in a network access procedure (e.g., Figure 4 A PDCCH transmitted from a base station (eg, base station 4040) to a UE (eg, UE 402) during the 4-step random access procedure described previously in AT-4A may be considered a broadcast PDCCH.

[0069] Figure 5 5 is a signal flow diagram illustrating repetition of downlink control channels associated with a network access procedure based on uplink messages according to various aspects of the present disclosure. At 502, a base station 404 may obtain configuration information including a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of a set of downlink control channels (also referred to as a repeatable downlink control channel set). In some examples, the set of indications may include at least one indication for each different downlink control channel in the set of downlink control channels. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the set of downlink control channels may be associated with a network access procedure (e.g., a set of downlink control channels) that may be executed by a UE 402. Figure 4 The 4-step random access procedure described previously in .

[0070] The base station 404 may be configured to repeat the downlink control channel m times, where m is a positive integer. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the base station may determine the value of m from a standard specification being implemented by the base station 404, system information provided to the base station 404, an indication received from the UE 402 for activating repetition of the downlink control channel, or from a previously received message. In some aspects of the present disclosure, when repetition of the downlink control channel is activated, the base station 404 may repeat the same downlink control channel (e.g., the same PDCCH) on multiple monitoring occasions of the downlink control channel (e.g., on multiple monitoring occasions of the PDCCH).

[0071] In some examples, the set of downlink control channels from the base station 404 that can be repeated (e.g., the set of repeatable downlink control channels) can include at least one of the following: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a random access response message (e.g., Figure 4 410), a PDCCH for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a PDCCH for a contention resolution message (eg, Figure 4 The PDCCH of message 4 (Msg4) 414) in the UE 402, or the unicast PDCCH before the channel state information (CSI) report is transmitted from the UE 402.

[0072] In some examples, the indication set may include at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined RACH opportunity subset, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation (e.g., a resource allocation from a specified frequency allocation or resource block set), a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message (e.g., Figure 4 3 (Msg3) 412) in the request or predefined message, and / or the first uplink transmission after receiving the contention resolution message (e.g., in Figure 4 The first UL message 416 after message 4 (Msg4) 414 in the example.

[0073] In one example, the base station 404 may be configured to repeat a PDCCH for a random access response message (e.g., a broadcast PDCCH for message 2 (Msg2) 410) and / or a PDCCH for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message (e.g., a broadcast PDCCH for a transmission grant of message 3 (Msg2) 412)) when the UE 402 transmits (e.g., in message 1 (Msg1) 408) a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured PRACH preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple RACH opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined RACH opportunity subset, or a PRACH preamble with a specified resource allocation (e.g., a predefined frequency allocation or a predefined resource block allocation).

[0074] In another example, base station 404 may be configured to receive a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message (eg, Figure 4 4 (Msg4) 414) and / or a unicast PDCCH prior to a channel state information (CSI) report transmission from UE 402 when an explicit request or a predefined message is included in a message 3 (Msg3) 412 in the UE 402. In some examples, the base station 404 may be configured to deactivate the PDCCH for contention resolution messages (e.g., the broadcast PDCCH for message 4 (Msg4) 414) and / or a unicast PDCCH prior to a channel state information (CSI) report transmission from UE 402 when the UE 402 includes an implicit indication to deactivate the repetition of the PDCCH for contention resolution messages. For example, the implicit indication may be a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message (e.g., Figure 4 In the case of a beam report in message 3 (Msg3) 412 in the contention resolution message, the base station 404 may disable repetition of the PDCCH used for the contention resolution message (e.g., the broadcast PDCCH used for message 4 (Msg4) 414).

[0075] Base station 404 may transmit message 504 including configuration information. In some aspects of the present disclosure, base station 404 may optionally transmit message 505 including an identifier associated with the configuration information (e.g., as referred to herein). Figure 6 The unique k-bit identifier in question).

[0076] UE 402 may receive message 504 and may obtain configuration information from message 504. At 506, UE 402 may determine to activate repetitions of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. In some aspects of the present disclosure, UE 402 may determine to activate repetitions of a downlink control channel based on channel conditions (e.g., based on one or more signal measurements). In one example, UE 402 may determine to activate repetitions of a downlink control channel based on a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement for an SSB. In this example, in the event that the RSRP measurement is less than a threshold, UE 402 may determine to activate repetitions of a downlink control channel. In some examples, the type of signal measurement to be applied by UE 402 to determine and / or the value of the threshold may be configured by base station 404 or may be selected by UE 402.

[0077] In another example, UE 402 may determine to activate repetition of the downlink control channel based on at least one criterion received from base station 404. For example, in a random access procedure (eg, as previously described with reference to Figure 4 During the 4-step RA procedure described above, base station 404 may transmit message 2 (e.g., Figure 4 Message 2 (Msg 2) 410 in the example, wherein message 2 includes determining to activate the message 3 for use (eg, Figure 4 The repetition of the PDCCH of message 3 (Msg 3) 412) in the UE 402 is at least one criterion to be applied by the UE 402 (eg, a signal type to be measured by the UE 402 and a threshold value for the signal).

[0078] In some examples, the type of signal measurement and / or the value of the threshold to be applied by the UE 402 to determine whether to activate repetition of the downlink control channel may be configured by the base station 404 (e.g., via system information) or may be selected by the UE 402. In other examples, the UE 402 may use a combination of any of the previously described measurements and thresholds when determining to activate repetition of the downlink control channel. In some examples, the UE 402 may use the type of signal measurement and / or the value of the threshold when determining whether to deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel (e.g., in a scenario where the UE 402 may have previously activated repetition of the downlink control channel, but may no longer need any further repetition of the downlink control channel based on current channel measurements).

[0079] At 508, UE 402 may select an indication configured to activate repetition of the downlink control channel from the indication set in the configuration information. UE 402 may transmit a message 510 including the selected indication. For example, message 510 may be Figure 4The message 1 (Msg1) 408 of the 4-step random access procedure previously described in the present invention may include a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles. The base station 404 may be configured to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for the 4-step random access procedure) in response to receiving a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles.

[0080] At 512, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure based on the indication. In some aspects of the disclosure, the base station 404 may automatically repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure after receiving the indication in the message 510. In other aspects of the disclosure, the base station 404 may determine whether to repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure based on one or more conditions defined by the network.

[0081] For example, where the indication in the message 510 includes a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure). Accordingly, the base station 404 may transmit a downlink control channel 514 for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure), followed by a first repetition 516 of the downlink control channel. Figure 5 As shown in , the base station 404 may transmit up to the Nth repetition 518 of the downlink control channel. In some aspects of the disclosure, the value of N may be predefined in a standard specification implemented by the base station 404.

[0082] In some aspects of the present disclosure, in the case where the base station 404 has the option of determining whether to repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure after receiving the indication in the message 510, the UE 402 may perform blind decoding to decode the downlink control channel (e.g., to obtain control information in the downlink control channel). In this case, the UE 402 may be expected to perform blind decoding by considering that the downlink control channel may or may not be repeated. For example, the UE 402 may perform a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on the assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated, and may perform a second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on the assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated.

[0083] In some aspects of the present disclosure, when message 510 is the first message of a network access procedure (eg, Figure 4In the case where a message 1 (Msg1) 408 of a 4-step random access procedure in the network access procedure is included and includes an indication for activating repetition of a downlink control channel, the base station 404 may repeat the downlink control channel for any subsequent messages of the network access procedure (e.g., the PDCCH for message 2 (Msg2) 410, and the PDCCH for message 4 (Msg4) 414).

[0084] For example, where the indication in the message 510 includes a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure). Accordingly, the base station 404 may transmit a downlink control channel 514 for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure), followed by a first repetition 516 of the downlink control channel. Figure 5 As shown in , the base station 404 can transmit up to an Nth repetition 518 of the downlink control channel.

[0085] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the configuration information may be structured in a table format. For example, Figure 6 An example configuration information table 600 is illustrated that includes a row identifier field 602, a downlink control channel field 604, an indication field 606, and a rule and / or parameter field 608. In some examples, and as described in detail herein, the configuration information table 600 may describe indications that the UE 402 may transmit to activate or deactivate repetition of a particular downlink control channel. Additionally, the configuration information table 600 may further describe any additional rules and / or parameters for controlling repetition of the downlink control channel.

[0086] The row identifier field 602 may include a unique k-bit identifier for each row (eg, the first row 610, the second row 612, the eighth row 614) of the configuration information table 600. Figure 6 In the example of , the k-bit identifier is a 3-bit identifier. In other examples, the k-bit identifier may be smaller than the 3-bit identifier or larger than the 3-bit identifier.

[0087] The downlink control channel field 604 may include downlink control channels that may be repeated by a base station (e.g., base station 404), where these downlink control channels are associated with a network access procedure. The indication field 606 may include an indication for activating or deactivating repetition of a downlink control channel. The rules / parameters field 608 may include rules and / or parameters that may control repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0088] In one example, the first row 610 with row identifier '000' in the configuration information table 600 may indicate that repetition of PDCCH for message 2 of a random access procedure (eg, message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure) may be activated by transmitting a PRACH preamble having a type A format.

[0089] In another example, the second row 612 with the row identifier '001' in the configuration information table 600 may indicate a PDCCH for message 2 of a random access procedure and a PDCCH for message 4 (eg, for Figure 4 The repetition of Message 2 (Msg2) 410 and Message 4 (Msg4) 414) of the 4-step random access procedure in the UE 402 may be activated by transmitting a PRACH preamble having a Type B format. As indicated in the Rules / Parameters field 608 for row identifier '001', the beam report from the UE 402 in Message 3 on the PUSCH may deactivate the repetition of the PDCCH for Message 4.

[0090] In another example, the eighth row 614 with the row identifier '111' in the configuration information table 600 may indicate that repetition of the unicast PDCCH before the UE 402 transmits a CSI report may be activated by transmitting a PRACH preamble with a Type C format.

[0091] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the base station 404 may transmit to the UE 402 in the RMSI a row identifier to indicate which downlink control channels may be repeated (e.g., to indicate a set of repeatable downlink control channels), an indication for activating or deactivating the repetition of those downlink control channels, and any rules / parameters for controlling the repetition of those downlink control channels. For example, the base station 404 may transmit to the UE 402 in the RMSI bits '001' (assigned to the second row 612 in the configuration information table 600). This may inform the UE 402 that the transmission of a PRACH preamble with a type B format may be used as a PDCCH for message 2 and a PDCCH for message 4 for activating a random access procedure (e.g., for Figure 4 In addition, UE 402 may be aware that beam reporting in message 3 on PUSCH (e.g., in message 3 (Msg3) 412 of the 4-step random access procedure) is disabled for message 4 (e.g., for Figure 4 Repetition of the PDCCH of message 4 (Msg4) 414) in the 4-step random access procedure.

[0092] Figure 7700 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 402; device 902 / 902'; processing system 1014, which may include memory 360 and may be the entire UE 402 or a component of UE 402 (such as TX processor 368, RX processor 356 and / or controller processor 359)).

[0093] At 702, the UE determines that repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure is to be activated or deactivated. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the UE determines that repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure is to be activated or deactivated by obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The UE may then select a downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels, and may select an indication from the set of indications that is configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel. In some examples, the configuration information may include a configuration information table 600. In some examples, and as described with reference to Figure 5 As described in 506 of , the UE may determine to activate repetitions of the downlink control channel based on channel conditions (eg, based on one or more signal measurements).

[0094] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0095] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the indication set includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined RACH opportunity subset, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message. For example, the predefined message may include a beam report and may be configured to disable repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0096] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the configuration information may include at least one rule for controlling the repetition of the downlink control channel. For example, the at least one rule may be included in the rule and / or parameter field of the configuration information table (e.g., reference Figure 6 In the rules and / or parameters field 608 of the configuration information table 600 described.

[0097] Finally, at 704, the UE transmits an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the indication may be configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel for one or more subsequent messages of the network access procedure from the base station. For example, referring to Figure 5 , in the event that the indication from the UE 402 (e.g., in the message 510) includes a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure). Accordingly, the base station 404 may transmit a downlink control channel 514 for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure), followed by a first repetition 516 of the downlink control channel. Figure 5 As shown in , the base station 404 may transmit up to an Nth repetition 518 of the downlink control channel. In some aspects of the disclosure, the downlink control channel is automatically repeated up to a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

[0098] Figure 8 800 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a UE (e.g., UE 402; device 902 / 902'; processing system 1014, which may include memory 360 and may be the entire UE 402 or a component of UE 402 (such as TX processor 368, RX processor 356 and / or controller processor 359)).

[0099] At 802, the UE receives a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. For example, the unique identifier may be a unique k-bit identifier for each row (e.g., first row 610, second row 612, eighth row 614) of the configuration information table 600.

[0100] At 804, the UE determines that repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure is to be activated or deactivated. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the UE determines that repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure is to be activated or deactivated by obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The UE may then select a downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels, and may select an indication from the set of indications that is configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel. In some examples, the configuration information may include a configuration information table 600. In some examples, and as described with reference to Figure 5 As described in 506 of , the UE may determine to activate repetitions of the downlink control channel based on channel conditions (eg, based on one or more signal measurements).

[0101] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0102] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the indication set includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined RACH opportunity subset, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message. For example, the predefined message may include a beam report and may be configured to disable repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0103] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the configuration information may include at least one rule for controlling the repetition of the downlink control channel. For example, the at least one rule may be included in the rule and / or parameter field of the configuration information table (e.g., reference Figure 6 In the rules and / or parameters field 608 of the configuration information table 600 described.

[0104] At 806, the UE transmits an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the indication may be configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel for one or more subsequent messages of a network access procedure from the base station. For example, referring to Figure 5 , in the event that the indication from the UE 402 (e.g., in the message 510) includes a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure). Accordingly, the base station 404 may transmit a downlink control channel 514 for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure), followed by a first repetition 516 of the downlink control channel. Figure 5 As shown in , the base station 404 may transmit up to an Nth repetition 518 of the downlink control channel. In some aspects of the disclosure, the downlink control channel is automatically repeated up to a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

[0105] At 808, the UE performs a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated. The UE may perform the first blind decoding operation to obtain control information included in the downlink control channel.

[0106] Finally, the UE performs a second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated at 810. The UE may perform the second blind decoding operation to obtain control information included in the downlink control channel.

[0107] Fig. 9 900 is a conceptual data flow diagram illustrating data flows between different devices / components in an example device 902. The device may be a UE. The device includes a receiving component 904 that receives configuration information (e.g., from a base station 950), the configuration information including a set of repeatable downlink control channels and an indication set for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The receiving component 904 further receives a unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and an indication set for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The receiving component 904 further receives a reference signal (e.g., a reference signal, such as an SSB, which allows the device to perform signal measurements, such as reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements).

[0108] The apparatus further includes a downlink control channel repetition activation or deactivation determination component 906 that determines to activate or deactivate repetitions of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. In some examples, the downlink control channel repetition activation or deactivation determination component 906 may perform a signal measurement (e.g., an RSRP measurement) and may determine to activate repetitions of the downlink control channel based on the signal measurement (e.g., the RSRP measurement). In this example, if the RSRP measurement is less than a threshold, the UE 402 may determine to activate repetitions of the downlink control channel. In some examples, the type of signal measurement to be applied by the UE 402 to determine and / or the value of the threshold may be configured by the base station 404 or may be selected by the UE 402.

[0109] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the downlink control channel repetition activation or deactivation determining component 906 may be configured to obtain configuration information (e.g., via the receiving component 904). The configuration information may include a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The downlink control channel repetition activation or deactivation determining component 906 may select a downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels, and may select an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetitions of the downlink control channel from the set of indications.

[0110] The device further includes a blind decoding execution component 908 that performs a first blind decoding operation for a downlink control channel (e.g., a PDCCH for a message of a network access procedure) based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated and performs a second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated, and a transmission component 910 that transmits an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel.

[0111] The apparatus may include executing Figure 7 and Figure 8 The additional components of each box of the algorithm in the preceding flowchart. Therefore, Figure 7 and Figure 8 Each block in the aforementioned flow chart of can be performed by a component, and the device may include one or more of these components. These components can be one or more hardware components specially configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0112] Fig.101 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a device 902' employing a processing system 1014. The processing system 1014 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by a bus 1024. Depending on the specific application of the processing system 1014 and the overall design constraints, the bus 1024 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1024 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by the processor 1004, components 904, 906, 908, 910, and computer readable medium / memory 1006). The bus 1024 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0113] The processing system 1014 may be coupled to the transceiver 1010. The transceiver 1010 is coupled to one or more antennas 1020. The transceiver 1010 provides a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1010 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1020, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1014 (specifically, the receiving component 904). In addition, the transceiver 1010 receives information from the processing system 1014 (specifically, the transmitting component 910) and generates signals to be applied to the one or more antennas 1020 based on the received information. The processing system 1014 includes a processor 1004 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1006. The processor 1004 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 1006. The software, when executed by the processor 1004, causes the processing system 1014 to perform the various functions described above for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 1006 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1004 when executing software. The processing system 1014 further includes at least one of the components 904, 906, 908, 910. These components may be software components running in the processor 1004, software components resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1006, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1004, or some combination thereof. The processing system 1014 may be a component of the UE 350 and may include the memory 360 and / or at least one of the following: the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359. Alternatively, the processing system 1014 may be the entire UE (e.g., see Figure 3 of 350).

[0114] In one configuration, the device 902 / 902' for wireless communication includes: a device for determining at a UE to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure; a device for transmitting an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel; a device for receiving a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; a device for performing a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated; and a device for performing a second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated. The aforementioned means may be one or more components of the aforementioned components of the device 902 and / or the processing system 1014 of the device 902' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the processing system 1014 may include a TX processor 368, an RX processor 356, and a controller / processor 359. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 368, the RX processor 356, and the controller / processor 359 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0115] Fig.11 1100 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a base station (e.g., base station 404; device 1302 / 1302'; processing system 1414, which may include memory 376 and may be the entire base station 404 or a component of the base station 404 (such as TX processor 316, RX processor 370 and / or controller / processor 375)).

[0116] At 1102, a base station receives an indication from a user equipment (UE) configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. Figure 5 , the indication received from the UE may be the selected indication included in the message 510, and the network access procedure may be Figure 4 The 4-step random access procedure 400 is shown in FIG.

[0117] In some examples, the indication may come from an indication set that includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) occasions, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH occasions, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

[0118] In some examples, the downlink control channel may be from a set of repeatable downlink control channels, the repeatable downlink control channel set including at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0119] Finally, at 1104, the base station repeats the downlink control channel or does not repeat the downlink control channel based on the indication. Figure 5 512, 514, 516 in the message, the base station 404 may automatically repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure after receiving the indication in the message 510. In other aspects of the present disclosure, the base station 404 may determine whether to repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure based on one or more conditions defined by the network.

[0120] Fig.12 1200 is a flow chart of a wireless communication method. The method may be performed by a base station (e.g., base station 406; device 1302 / 1302'; processing system 1414, which may include memory 376 and may be the entire base station 406 or a component of base station 406 (such as TX processor 316, RX processor 370 and / or controller / processor 375)).

[0121] At 1202, a base station obtains configuration information including a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels.

[0122] For example, refer to Figure 5 In 502, the base station 404 may obtain configuration information including a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of a set of downlink control channels (also referred to as a repeatable downlink control channel set). In some examples, the set of indications may include at least one indication for each different downlink control channel in the set of downlink control channels. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the set of downlink control channels may be associated with a network access procedure (e.g., Figure 4 In some examples, the configuration information may include the previously referenced Figure 6 Configuration information table 600 is described.

[0123] In some examples, the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for random access response messages, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for contention resolution messages, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0124] In some examples, the indication set includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) occasions, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH occasions, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

[0125] At 1204, the base station transmits configuration information to the UE.

[0126] At 1206, the base station transmits a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. For example, the unique identifier may be one of the unique k-bit identifiers for each row (e.g., first row 610, second row 612, eighth row 614) of the configuration information table 600.

[0127] At 1208, the base station receives an indication from a user equipment (UE) configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure. Figure 5 , the indication received from the UE may be the selected indication included in the message 510, and the network access procedure may be Figure 4 The 4-step random access procedure 400 is shown in FIG.

[0128] Finally, at 1210, the base station repeats the downlink control channel or does not repeat the downlink control channel based on the indication. Figure 5, in the event that the indication from the UE 402 (e.g., in the message 510) includes a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, the base station 404 may determine to repeat the PDCCH for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure). Accordingly, the base station 404 may transmit a downlink control channel 514 for the next message of the network access procedure (e.g., message 2 (Msg2) 410 for a 4-step random access procedure), followed by a first repetition 516 of the downlink control channel. Figure 5 , the base station 404 may transmit up to the Nth repetition 518 of the downlink control channel. In some aspects of the disclosure, the downlink control channel is automatically repeated up to a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication. In other aspects of the disclosure, the base station 404 may determine whether to repeat the downlink control channel for the next message of the network access procedure based on one or more conditions defined by the network.

[0129] Fig.13 is a conceptual data flow diagram 1300 illustrating the data flow between different means / components in an example apparatus 1302. The apparatus may be a base station.

[0130] The device includes a receiving component 1304 that receives an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure (e.g., from a UE 1350). The receiving component 1304 may further receive configuration information (e.g., from a network) that includes a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels.

[0131] The device further includes a configuration information obtaining component 1306 that obtains configuration information including a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The configuration information obtaining component 1306 may output a unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels.

[0132] The device further includes a downlink control channel repeating component 1308 that repeats a downlink control channel (e.g., a PDCCH for a message of a network access procedure) or does not repeat the downlink control channel based on an indication. In some aspects of the present disclosure, the downlink control channel repeating component 1308 can use an indication from the UE 1350 and configuration information to determine a downlink control channel and determine whether the downlink control channel is to be repeated.

[0133] The device further includes a transmission component 1310 that transmits configuration information to the UE 1350, transmits a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels, and transmits the configuration information.

[0134] The apparatus may include executing Fig.11 and Fig.12 The additional components of each box of the algorithm in the preceding flowchart. Therefore, Fig.11 and Fig.12 Each block in the aforementioned flow chart of can be performed by a component, and the device may include one or more of these components. These components can be one or more hardware components specially configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by a processor configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by a processor, or some combination thereof.

[0135] Fig.14 1400 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a device 1302' employing a processing system 1414. The processing system 1414 may be implemented with a bus architecture generally represented by a bus 1424. Depending on the specific application of the processing system 1414 and the overall design constraints, the bus 1424 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges. The bus 1424 links various circuits together, including one or more processors and / or hardware components (represented by the processor 1404, components 1304, 1306, 1308, 1310, and computer readable medium / memory 1406). The bus 1424 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0136] The processing system 1414 may be coupled to the transceiver 1410. The transceiver 1410 is coupled to one or more antennas 1420. The transceiver 1410 provides a means for communicating with various other devices over a transmission medium. The transceiver 1410 receives signals from the one or more antennas 1420, extracts information from the received signals, and provides the extracted information to the processing system 1414 (specifically, the receiving component 1304). In addition, the transceiver 1410 receives information from the processing system 1414 (specifically, the transmitting component 1310) and generates signals to be applied to the one or more antennas 1420 based on the received information. The processing system 1414 includes a processor 1404 coupled to a computer-readable medium / memory 1406. The processor 1404 is responsible for general processing, including the execution of software stored on the computer-readable medium / memory 1406. The software, when executed by the processor 1404, causes the processing system 1414 to perform the various functions described above for any particular device. The computer-readable medium / memory 1406 may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 1404 when executing software. The processing system 1414 further includes at least one of the components 1304, 1306, 1308, 1310. These components may be software components running in the processor 1404, software components resident / stored in the computer-readable medium / memory 1406, one or more hardware components coupled to the processor 1404, or some combination thereof. The processing system 1414 may be a component of the base station 310 and may include the memory 376 and / or at least one of the following: the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375. Alternatively, the processing system 1414 may be the entire base station (e.g., see Figure 3 310).

[0137] In one configuration, a device 1302 / 1302' for wireless communication includes: a device for receiving an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure; a device for repeating the downlink control channel or not repeating the downlink control channel based on the indication; a device for obtaining configuration information, the configuration information including a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; a device for transmitting the configuration information to a UE; a device for transmitting a unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels. The aforementioned means may be one or more components in the aforementioned components of the device 1302 and / or the processing system 1414 of the device 1302' configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means. As described above, the processing system 1414 may include a TX processor 316, an RX processor 370, and a controller / processor 375. As such, in one configuration, the aforementioned means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the aforementioned means.

[0138] Thus, the various aspects described herein can enable a base station to selectively repeat downlink control channels associated with messages for network access procedures based on one or more indications received from a UE. Accordingly, the base station can efficiently use network resources to enhance coverage of downlink control channels for different messages of network access procedures as required by the UE. Since the UE can use certain messages of the network access procedure (e.g., a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured subset of physical random access channel (PRACH) preambles, a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message (e.g., Figure 4 The repetition of the downlink control channel may be activated or deactivated by a request in message 3 (Msg3) 412) in the message or a predefined message, etc., so the various aspects described in this document can be implemented with low complexity and without a significant increase in signaling overhead.

[0139] However, the broadcast PDCCH for some messages may require fewer repetitions than the broadcast PDCCH for other messages (e.g., due to additional enhancements or required resources). Aspects of this document may enable a base station to understand that the specific order or hierarchy of the various blocks in the disclosed process / flowchart is an illustration of an example approach. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the various blocks in these process / flowcharts may be rearranged based on design preferences. In addition, some blocks may be combined or omitted. The attached method claims present the elements of the various blocks in an exemplary order and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0140] The following provides an overview of various aspects of the disclosure:

[0141] Example 1: A wireless communication method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining at the UE to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure; and transmitting an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel.

[0142] Example 2: A method as in Example 1, wherein determining to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel comprises: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; selecting a downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels; and selecting an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel from the set of indications.

[0143] Example 3: A method as in Example 2, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0144] Example 4: A method as in Example 2 or 3, wherein the indication set includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) occasions, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH occasions, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or the first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

[0145] Example 5: The method of Example 4, wherein the predefined message comprises a beam report, and wherein the predefined message is configured to disable repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0146] Example 6: The method of any one of Examples 2 to 4 further includes: receiving a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels.

[0147] Example 7: A method as in any one of Examples 2 to 6, wherein: the configuration information includes at least one rule for controlling repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0148] Example 8: The method of any one of Examples 1 to 7, wherein the downlink control channel is automatically repeated for a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

[0149] Example 9: A method as in any one of Examples 1 to 8, further comprising: performing a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated; and performing a second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated.

[0150] Example 10: A method as in Examples 1 to 9, wherein: the indication is configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel for one or more subsequent messages of a network access procedure from the base station.

[0151] Example 11: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, and the at least one processor is configured to perform the method of any one of Examples 1 to 10.

[0152] Example 12: A wireless communication method for a base station, comprising: receiving an indication from a user equipment (UE) configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel associated with a network access procedure; and repeating the downlink control channel or not repeating the downlink control channel based on the indication.

[0153] Example 13: The method as in Example 12 further includes: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information including a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; and transmitting the configuration information to the UE.

[0154] Example 14: A method as in Example 13, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection setup message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from a UE.

[0155] Example 15: A method as in Example 13 or 14, wherein the indication set includes at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) occasions, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH occasions, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or the first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

[0156] Example 16: The method of Example 15, wherein the predefined message includes a beam report, and wherein the predefined message is configured to disable repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0157] Example 17: The method of any one of Examples 14 to 16 further comprises: transmitting a unique identifier associated with a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetitions of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels.

[0158] Example 18: A method as in any one of Examples 13 to 17, wherein: the configuration information includes at least one rule for controlling repetition of a downlink control channel.

[0159] Example 19: The method of any one of Examples 12 to 18, wherein: the downlink control channel is automatically repeated for a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

[0160] Example 20: The method of any one of Examples 12 to 18, wherein: the downlink control channel is repeated or not repeated for one or more subsequent messages of the network access procedure.

[0161] Example 21: An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory, and the at least one processor is configured to perform the method of any one of Examples 12 to 20.

[0162] The previous description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be easily understood by those skilled in the art, and the universal principles defined in this article can be applied to other aspects. Thus, the claims are not intended to be limited to the aspects shown in this article, but should be granted the full scope consistent with the claims in language, wherein the singular reference of the elements is not intended to represent "there is and only one", but "one or more", unless otherwise stated. The wording "exemplary" is used in this article to represent "used as an example, instance, or explanation". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein does not have to be interpreted as being superior to or superior to other aspects. Unless otherwise stated, the term "some / certain" refers to one or more. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B or C", "one or more of A, B or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B and C" and "A, B, C or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B and / or C, and may include multiple A, multiple B or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C," "one or more of A, B, or C," "at least one of A, B and C," "one or more of A, B, and C," and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be A only, B only, C only, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, wherein any such combination may include one or more members of A, B, or C. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are currently or hereafter known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is expressly recorded in the claims. The terms "module," "mechanism," "element," "device," and the like may not be a substitute for the term "means." Thus, no claim element should be interpreted as a means-plus-function unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "means for..."

Claims

1. A wireless communication method for a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining, at the UE, to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being associated with a network access procedure; as well as An indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel is transmitted.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel comprises: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; selecting the downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels; as well as The indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel is selected from the set of indications.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels comprises at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection establishment message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) prior to transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from the UE.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication set comprises at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH opportunities, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the predefined message comprises a beam report, and wherein the predefined message is configured to disable repetition of the downlink control channel.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising: A unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of the one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels is received.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the configuration information includes at least one rule for controlling repetition of the downlink control channel.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the downlink control channel is automatically repeated for a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated; as well as A second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel is performed based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel for one or more subsequent messages of the network access procedure from a base station.

11. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: Memory; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to: determining to activate or deactivate repetitions of a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being associated with a network access procedure; and An indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel is transmitted.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel associated with the network access procedure is further configured to: Determining to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel comprises: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; selecting the downlink control channel from the set of repeatable downlink control channels; as well as The indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel is selected from the set of indications.

13. An apparatus as claimed in claim 12, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection establishment message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) before transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from the UE.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the set of indications comprises at least one of: a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH opportunities, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: A unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of the one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels is received.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: performing a first blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will not be repeated; and A second blind decoding operation for the downlink control channel is performed based on an assumption that the downlink control channel will be repeated.

17. A wireless communication method for a base station, comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being associated with a network access procedure; as well as The downlink control channel is repeated or not repeated based on the indication.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; as well as The configuration information is transmitted to the UE.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of the following: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection establishment message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) before transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from the UE.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the indication set comprises at least one of: a PRACH preamble from a preconfigured physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble subset, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH opportunities, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the predefined message comprises a beam report, and wherein the predefined message is configured to deactivate repetition of the downlink control channel.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising: A unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of the one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels is transmitted.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the configuration information includes at least one rule for controlling repetition of the downlink control channel.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the downlink control channel is automatically repeated for a predefined number of repetitions in response to the transmitted indication.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the downlink control channel is repeated or non-repeated for one or more subsequent messages of the network access procedure.

26. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: Memory; as well as at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), an indication configured to activate or deactivate repetition of a downlink control channel, the downlink control channel being associated with a network access procedure; as well as The downlink control channel is repeated or not repeated based on the indication.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtaining configuration information, the configuration information comprising a set of repeatable downlink control channels and a set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels; and The configuration information is transmitted to the UE.

28. An apparatus as described in claim 27, wherein the set of repeatable downlink control channels includes at least one of the following: a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for remaining minimum system information (RMSI), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a random access response message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a retransmission grant of a radio resource connection (RRC) connection establishment message, a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) for a contention resolution message, or a unicast physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) before transmitting a channel state information (CSI) report from the UE.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the set of indications comprises at least one of: a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble from a preconfigured subset of PRACH preambles, a PRACH preamble repeated on multiple random access channel (RACH) opportunities, a PRACH preamble on a predefined subset of RACH opportunities, a PRACH preamble using a specified resource allocation, a request in a radio resource connection (RRC) connection request message or a predefined message, or a first uplink transmission after receiving a contention resolution message.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: A unique identifier associated with the set of repeatable downlink control channels and the set of indications for activating or deactivating repetition of the one or more downlink control channels in the set of repeatable downlink control channels is transmitted.

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