Method executed by user equipment and user equipment

Abstract

The present invention provides a method executed by a user equipment (UE) and the UE, the method executed by the UE comprising: determining availability of an RA resource set according to characteristics of the configured RA resource set, an access type applied by the RA resource set, and / or a bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set; determining the RA resource set for the RA process of the eRedCap according to the availability of the RA resource set; under the condition that the RA resource set is applied to two-step random access, the bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set is the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunity configured by the RA resource set. Therefore, the user equipment can select the resource for the RA according to the actual configuration, the target of communication with the network is achieved, the network can flexibly configure the resource for eRedCap user access, and the network efficiency is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of wireless communications, and in particular to a method executed by a user equipment and corresponding user equipment. Background Art

[0002] This section introduces various aspects that may help to better understand the present invention. Therefore, the statements in this section should be read from this perspective and should not be understood as an admission of what is or is not prior art.

[0003] Several typical applications are defined in the 5G system. For example, industrial wireless sensor applications are committed to accelerating industrial transformation and digitalization to obtain flexibility in industrial production processes, improve productivity and efficiency, and help reduce maintenance and improve operational safety. Video surveillance equipment is used in smart city construction to help achieve better urban management and services. Wearable devices can be used for intelligent services in many aspects such as medical care and life. The devices for these applications are expected to have lower complexity and less power consumption to reduce costs and expand the scope of application. In R17, the bandwidth of some device types was reduced from 100MHz to 20MHz, thereby reducing device costs. To further reduce the complexity of terminal devices, some new methods can be adopted, such as reducing the peak data rate supported by these devices to about 10Mbps, or further reducing the user equipment bandwidth from a maximum of 20MHz to a maximum of 5MHz. These methods or their combination can further reduce the complexity of devices and reduce costs at different levels. At the same time, the coexistence of these devices with other types of NR user equipment in the same cell must be considered to maintain the integrity of the ecosystem, maximize the scale of the ecosystem, and improve network benefits. These new business needs put forward some new requirements for existing NR networks. For example, if the network supports a data transmission bandwidth of no more than 5MHz for user equipment, the network configuration parameters or the resource parameters used by the terminal to transmit data must meet relevant requirements, and the impact of resource segmentation on system deployment must be considered. The relevant method of the present invention provides a better method for realizing these device requirements in the network, and can ensure coexistence with existing equipment in the network when relevant constraints are met, thereby obtaining better network utilization efficiency. Summary of the invention

[0004] In order to solve at least part of the above problems, the present invention provides a method executed by a user device and a user device, which enables the user device to select resources for RA according to the actual configuration to achieve the goal of communicating with the network, and enables the network to flexibly configure resources for eRedCap user access to improve network efficiency.

[0005] According to the present invention, a method performed by a user equipment UE is provided, comprising: determining the availability of the RA resource set according to the characteristics of the configured RA resource set and the access type applied by the RA resource set, and / or the bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set; determining the RA resource set used for the RA process of eRedCap according to the availability of the RA resource set; when the RA resource set is applied to a 2-step random access, the bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set is the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunities configured by the RA resource set.

[0006] In the above method, it may be that for a RA resource set using any characteristics or not associated with any characteristics, if the RA resource set is used for 2-step random access and the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunities configured by the RA resource set is greater than the number of PRBs determined by the UE capability for transmitting PUSCH on each carrier in each time slot, then the RA resource set is unavailable for the eRedCap-related RA process, otherwise it is available.

[0007] In the above method, the following judgment may be performed on each configured RA resource set: if the redcap of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply RedCap or eRedCap; if the eRedcap of the RA resource set is set to true, and the RA resource set is an RA resource set for 4-step random access, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply eRedCap; if the smallData of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that is not triggered by SDT; if the RA resource set is configured with NSAG-List, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable only for RA processes that are not triggered by SDT. The RA process triggered by a certain NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List is available; if the msg3-Repetitions of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply msg3 repetition; if the RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, the RA resource set is judged to be not associated with any feature; if the RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step random access and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission in a single carrier and a single time slot determined by the eRedCap feature, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process applied to eRedCap.

[0008] In the above method, it may be that, when the RA process does not apply non-competitive RA and the RA process is an RA process that applies one or more characteristics, if no RA resource set is available for any characteristic applied to the RA process, then an RA resource set that is not associated with any characteristic and is available is selected; if there is an RA resource set available for all characteristics applied to the RA process, then the RA resource set is selected for the RA process; if there are one or more RA resource sets available for a subset of all characteristics of the RA process, then an RA resource set is selected according to the priority order of the RA resource characteristics, and when non-competitive RA resources are provided to the RA process, eRedCap is applied to the RA process, there is an RA resource set available, and only the eRedCap characteristic indication is configured, the RA resource set is selected for the RA process; when non-competitive RA resources are provided to the RA process, eRedCap or RedCap is applied to the RA process, there is an RA resource set available, and only the RedCap characteristic indication is configured, the RA resource set is selected for the RA process; in other cases other than the above cases, an RA resource set that is not associated with any characteristic and is available is selected for the RA process.

[0009] In the above method, the priority of the RA resource set may be determined according to the parameters provided by featurePriorities in the system broadcast message, and when no priority parameter related to eRedCap is provided in featurePriorities, the same priority parameter as Redcap is used.

[0010] In the above method, when there are both RA resource sets with eRedCap and RedCap characteristic indications, the RA resource set with eRedCap characteristic indication is selected for further selection of RA resource sets.

[0011] In the above method, when the RA resource set can be used for sharing different characteristics, a second characteristic indication parameter is applied to indicate that the RA resource set applies the second characteristic, and the UE determines the availability of the RA resource set according to the second characteristic indication parameter of the RA resource set.

[0012] In the above method, it may be that, when the number of PRBs of PUSCH used on the PUSCH opportunity corresponding to the RA resource set used for 2-step random access is greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the UE can transmit on a single carrier and a single time slot, a second PUSCH resource is configured, wherein the number of PRBs of each PUSCH opportunity is not greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the UE can transmit on a single carrier and a single time slot, and the UE determines the availability of the second PUSCH resource of the RA resource set based on its characteristics.

[0013] In the above method, the UE may regard the RA resource set configured with the second characteristic indication parameter or the second PUSCH resource as two sub-resource sets, and determine the respective availability according to the characteristic parameters corresponding to the sub-resource sets.

[0014] In addition, according to the present invention, a user equipment is proposed, comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions execute the above method when executed by the processor.

[0015] Effects of the Invention

[0016] According to the present invention, the user equipment can select resources for RA according to the actual configuration to achieve the goal of communicating with the network, and the network can flexibly configure resources for eRedCap user access to improve network efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0018] Figure 1 It represents a method executed by a user equipment UE related to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a simplified structure of a user equipment UE according to the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] The present invention is described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that the present invention should not be limited to the specific embodiments described below, which are provided only as examples to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. In addition, for the sake of simplicity, detailed descriptions of known technologies that are not directly related to the present invention are omitted to prevent confusion in the understanding of the present invention.

[0021] Generally, unless clearly given and / or implied different meanings in the context of using the term, all terms used in this article will be interpreted according to their common meanings in the relevant technical field. Unless clearly stated, all references to one element, device, assembly, part, step, etc. should be publicly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of the element, device, assembly, part, step, etc. Unless a step must be clearly described as after or before another step and / or a step must be after or before another step implicitly, the steps of any method disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed. Where appropriate, any feature of any embodiment disclosed herein may be applicable to any other embodiment. Similarly, any advantage of any embodiment may be applicable to any other embodiment, and vice versa.

[0022] The following uses the 5G / NR mobile communication system and its subsequent evolution versions as example application environments to specifically describe multiple embodiments of the present invention. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the following embodiments, but is applicable to more other wireless communication systems, such as communication systems after 5G and 4G and 3G mobile communication systems before 5G, 802.11 wireless networks, etc.

[0023] The following describes some of the terms involved in the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, the terms involved in the present invention are defined herein. The terms given in the present invention may be named differently in LTE, LTE-Advanced, LTE-Advanced Pro, NR and subsequent or other communication systems, but unified terms are used in the present invention, and when applied to a specific system, they can be replaced by the terms used in the corresponding system.

[0024] 3GPP: 3rd Generation Partnership Project

[0025] LTE: Long Term Evolution

[0026] NR: New Radio

[0027] UE:User Equipment

[0028] gNB: NR base station

[0029] FR1: Frequency range 1as defined in TS 38.104, frequency range 1 defined by TS38.104

[0030] FR2: Frequency range 2as defined in TS 38.104, frequency range 2 defined by TS38.104

[0031] BWP: BandWidth Part, bandwidth fragment / part

[0032] SFN: System frame number, system frame number

[0033] OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0034] CP: Cyclic Prefix

[0035] TA: Timing Advance, uplink timing advance

[0036] SCS: sub-carrier spacing, sub-carrier spacing

[0037] TDD: Time Division Duplexing

[0038] FDD: Frequency Division Duplexing

[0039] DCI: Downlink Control Information, downlink control information

[0040] MCS: Modulation and Coding Scheme, modulation and coding scheme

[0041] HARQ: Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0042] CORESET: Control resource set, control resource set

[0043] MIB: Master Information Block

[0044] SIB: system information block

[0045] SIBl: System Information Block Type 1, system information block type 1

[0046] SSB: SS / PBCH block, synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel block

[0047] PSS: Primary Synchronization Signal

[0048] SSS: Secondary Synchronization Signal, auxiliary synchronization signal

[0049] SRS: Sounding Reference Signal, detection reference signal

[0050] DMRS: Demodulation Reference Signal

[0051] CSI-RS: Channel State Information Reference Signal, channel state information reference signal

[0052] TRS: Tracking Reference Signal, tracking reference signal

[0053] RACH: random-access channel, random access channel

[0054] PBCH: Physical broadcast channel

[0055] PUCCH: Physical Uplink Control Channel, physical uplink control channel

[0056] PUSCH: Physical Uplink Shared Channel, physical uplink shared channel

[0057] PRACH: Physical random-access channel, physical random access channel

[0058] PDSCH: Physical downlink shared channel, physical downlink shared channel

[0059] PDCCH: Physical downlink control channel, physical downlink control channel

[0060] UL-SCH: Uplink Shared Channel, uplink shared channel

[0061] DL-SCH: Downlink Shared Channel, uplink shared channel

[0062] RA: Random Access

[0063] RSRP: Reference signal received power

[0064] SDT: Small Data Transmission

[0065] The following is a description of the technology associated with the solution of the present invention. Unless otherwise specified, the meanings of the same terms in the specific embodiments and the related technology are the same.

[0066] It is worth pointing out that the user, user equipment and terminal equipment involved in the specification of the present invention have the same meaning. UE can also be used to represent user equipment in the text, and no specific distinction or limitation will be made in the following text. Similarly, network equipment is equipment that communicates with user equipment, including but not limited to base station equipment, gNB, eNB, wireless AP, wireless relay, terminal with relay capability, etc., and no specific distinction or limitation will be made in the following text. In the text, a base station can be used as a form of network equipment implementation for illustration, and other forms of network equipment can be easily used for replacement in specific implementation.

[0067] The network can configure a 2-step and / or 4-step random access (RA) resource set for the terminal for random access in the cell. For example, the network configures a 4-step random access resource set for the terminal. When initiating random access, the terminal selects a PRACH opportunity in the 4-step random access resource set to send the PRACH preamble, then detects the PDCCH on the relevant search space, and receives the random access response message msgRAR of the PDSCH transmission scheduled by the PDCCH. The terminal transmits msg3 according to the uplink authorization in the random access response message, and detects and receives the contention completion message sent by the base station after transmitting msg3 to complete the random access process. The network can also configure 2-step random access resources. When the terminal initiates the random access process using 2-step access, it sends a msgA message to the base station. The msgA message sent by the terminal includes not only sending the PRACH preamble on the selected PRACH opportunity, but also sending the PUSCH on the PUSCH opportunity that has a mapping relationship with the preamble. The relationship between PUSCH and preamble mapping and parameters such as bandwidth and symbols are configured by system messages. For example, the NR network uses the msgA configuration parameter MsgA-ConfigCommon to configure 2-step RA resources for the terminal. MsgA-ConfigCommon can contain two parameter groups, recorded as rach-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA and msgA-PUSCH-Config. Among them, rach-ConfigCommonTwoStepRA is used to configure parameters such as PRACH preamble used in 2-step access, and msgA-PUSCH-Config is used to configure parameters such as PUSCH used in 2-step access, including MCS parameters msgA-MCS, resource starting positions in the time domain and frequency domain, the number of RBs for each PUSCH resource block nrofPRBs-PerMsgA-PO, etc. The UE can then receive the msgB message responded by the network, and implement different processes according to the instructions in the message, such as completing the access process, or falling back to the 4-step access process, etc.

[0068] In the network, multiple 2-step random access resources and 4-step random access resources may be configured on a BWP at the same time, or only one of them may be configured. When the terminal selects the BWP for random access, it can select the appropriate 2-step or 4-step resource for the relevant access process according to certain rules.

[0069] For example, if there are available 2-step and 4-step RA resource sets in multiple RA resource sets on the BWP used by the terminal for the RA process, and the RSRP of the downlink is higher than the RSRP threshold configured for the 2-step RA resource set, the terminal selects the RA type as 2-step RA; otherwise, the terminal selects 4-step RA. In another case, there are only 2-step RAs in the available RA resources on the BWP selected by the terminal for the RA process, and the terminal selects 2-step RA. The terminal performs the corresponding random access process according to the selected RA type.

[0070] Feature parameters can be used in the RA resource set to indicate that the RA resource set is used for a specific RA process, such as features such as Msg3 repetition, redcap, smalldata, and so on. Different RA resource sets use different PRACH preamble sets, such as using different starting root sequences to generate preambles, or using different peamble starting sequence numbers in preamble sets using the same set of root sequences. In this way, when the terminal applies a certain RA resource set for random access, the network can learn the corresponding RA process through the peamble used and perform related subsequent processing. When the network configures the RA resource set, a specific field can be set to true to identify related features. For example, if the redcap indication position in the featurecombination field in the RA resource set parameter set is true, it means that the RA resource set applies the redcap feature and can be used for RA processes related to the redcap feature. The following text can be simplified to refer to the redcap of the RA resource set being set to true. Similar simplified descriptions can also be used when applying other feature indications.

[0071] The NR network also supports a combination of different characteristics for an RA resource set. For example, the characteristics of an RA resource set set the corresponding indication bits of redcap and smalldata to true at the same time. When the UE selects the RA resource set, when the RA to be performed by the UE is related to redcap and smalldata, the resource set is an available resource set.

[0072] The NR system of version 18 supports a terminal type called eRedCap. This terminal has some restrictions on the supported transmission bandwidth and processing delay, which can reduce the complexity of terminal implementation. To avoid the segmentation of RA resources, eRedCap users can share RA resource sets with other features. When the network schedules related resources, it makes the related resources meet the bandwidth or delay requirements of eRedCap users based on the judgment of the base station. This can reduce the configuration of RA resources and reduce the burden on the network. On the other hand, the network can configure a separate RA resource set for eRedCap users so that when the user performs RA, the network can immediately identify the terminal type and perform related resource scheduling to meet the bandwidth and delay requirements of eRedCap.

[0073] The present invention describes a method for selecting an available RA resource set when an eRedCap terminal uses RA resources independently or shared with other features, which can effectively reduce system complexity and improve network efficiency.

[0074] Figure 1 It represents a method executed by a user equipment UE related to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0075] like Figure 1 As shown, in step S101, the UE determines the availability of the RA resource set according to the characteristics of the configured RA resource set, the access type applied by the RA resource set, and / or the bandwidth parameters used by the RA resource set.

[0076] In step S102, the UE determines the RA resource set used for the RA process of eRedCap according to the availability of the RA resource set. In the case where the RA resource set is applied to 2-step random access, the bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set is the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunity configured by the RA resource set.

[0077] According to the above method, the user equipment can select resources for RA according to the actual configuration to achieve the goal of communicating with the network, and the network can flexibly configure resources for eRedCap user access to improve network efficiency.

[0078] The relevant processes are described in detail below.

[0079] [Example 1]

[0080] The terminal can determine whether to select the cell according to the indication information in the system broadcast sent by the cell, for example, according to the indication information in SIB1. When the cell does not prohibit the eRedCap device from accessing the cell network in the broadcast message, the eRedCap device can select the cell according to certain rules. According to the relevant configuration information in the broadcast channel, the eRedCap device can randomly access the RA resources in the selected cell through appropriate procedures, initiate a competitive RA process, or, according to the indication in the PDCCH order of the network, use the relevant RA resources for a non-competitive RA process.

[0081] Several RA resources may be configured in the network for different RA processes. The device needs to select the appropriate set of RA resources according to the RA process to be performed. For example, an eRedCap device needs to select the RA resources available for the eRedCap feature; an RA process using the SDT service needs to select the RA resources available for the smalldata feature, and so on.

[0082] Optionally, for an eRedCap device or an RA procedure that applies the eRedCap feature, the availability of the RA resource set is determined based on the characteristics of the RA resource set. Resources using the redcap feature are available for eRedCap-related RA procedures, except when the RA resource set is used for 2-step access and the number of PRBs for PUSCH opportunities configured by the RA resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for transmitting PUSCH per carrier per timeslot determined by the terminal capabilities.

[0083] Optionally, for an eRedCap device or an RA process that applies the eRedCap feature, the availability of the RA resource set is determined based on the features of the RA resource set. When using any feature, or a resource set that is not associated with any feature, the RA resource set is unavailable when the RA resource set is used for 2-step access and the number of PRBs for the PUSCH opportunity configured by the RA resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for transmitting PUSCH on each carrier per timeslot determined by the terminal capability.

[0084] In an optional specific example, the UE may determine the availability of the RA resource set according to the relevant process. The MAC entity (of the terminal) performs the following judgment on each resource set configured in the network for 2-step RA or 4-step RA:

[0085] If redcap is set to true for an RA resource set, the MAC entity identifies the RA resource set as unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply RedCap or eRedCap.

[0086] If the eRedcap of an RA resource set is set to true, and the RA resource is a 4-step access RA resource, the RA resource set is considered unavailable to the RA process that does not apply eRedCap.

[0087] If smallData of an RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that are not triggered by SDT.

[0088] If an RA resource set is configured with NSAG-List, the RA resource set is considered unavailable unless the RA process is triggered by an NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List.

[0089] If msg3-Repetitions is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply msg3 repetitions.

[0090] If a RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, the RA resource set is considered not to be associated with any feature.

[0091] If an RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step RA and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission in a single carrier and a single timeslot determined by the eRedCap feature, the RA resource is considered unavailable for the RA process applied to eRedCap.

[0092] In another optional specific example, the UE may determine the availability of the RA resource set according to the relevant process. The MAC entity (of the terminal) performs the following judgment on each resource set configured in the network for 2-step RA or 4-step RA:

[0093] If redcap is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is unavailable to RA processes that do not apply RedCap or eRedCap.

[0094] If the eRedcap of an RA resource set is set to true, and the RA resource is a 4-step access RA resource, the RA resource set is considered unavailable to the RA process that does not apply eRedCap.

[0095] If smallData of an RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that are not triggered by SDT.

[0096] If an RA resource set is configured with NSAG-List, the RA resource set is considered unavailable, unless the RA process is triggered by an NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List.

[0097] If msg3-Repetitions is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply msg3 repetitions.

[0098] If a RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, the RA resource set is considered not to be associated with any feature.

[0099] If an RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step RA, and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity of the resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission on a single carrier and a single time slot determined by the UE capability, the RA resource is considered unavailable for the RA process of the UE.

[0100] In another optional specific example, the UE may determine the availability of the RA resource set according to the relevant process. The MAC entity (of the terminal) performs the following judgment on each resource set configured in the network for 2-step RA or 4-step RA:

[0101] If redcap is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply RedCap or eRedCap. If the RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step RA and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity of the resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission on a single carrier and a single timeslot determined by the eRedCap UE capability, the RA resource set is unavailable for RA procedures that apply eRedcap.

[0102] If the eRedcap of an RA resource set is set to true, and the RA resource is a 4-step access RA resource, the RA resource set is considered unavailable to the RA process that does not apply eRedCap.

[0103] If smallData of an RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that are not triggered by SDT.

[0104] If an RA resource set is configured with NSAG-List, the RA resource set is considered unavailable, unless the RA process is triggered by an NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List.

[0105] If msg3-Repetitions is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply msg3 repetitions.

[0106] If a RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, the RA resource set is considered not to be associated with any feature. If the RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step RA, and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity of the resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission on a single carrier and a single timeslot determined by the eRedCap UE capability, the RA resource is unavailable for the RA process applying eRedcap.

[0107] When selecting RA resources, the UE can determine the availability of each RA resource when applied to the relevant RA process according to the above method. There may be multiple available RA resource sets on the selected BWP of the UE. Optionally, the UE can select a resource set of 2-step RA or 4-step RA for the RA process according to the availability of the resource set according to the following steps.

[0108] 1> If the RA process does not apply non-contention-based RA, and the RA process is an RA process that applies one or more features,

[0109] 2> For any characteristic applied to the RA process, if no RA resource set is available, select an available RA resource that is not associated with any characteristic.

[0110] 2> Otherwise, if there is an RA resource set available for all characteristics that apply to this RA, select that RA resource set for the RA process.

[0111] 2> Otherwise, that is, for a subset of all characteristics of the RA process, when one or more RA resource sets are available, an RA resource is selected according to the priority order of the RA resource characteristics.

[0112] 1> Otherwise, if non-contention-free RA resources are provided to the RA process and eRedCap is applied to the RA process and there is an RA resource set available and only the eRedCap feature indication is configured (that is, its featurecombination's eredcap is set to true), select the RA resource set for the RA process.

[0113] 1> Otherwise, if non-contention-free RA resources are provided to the RA process and eRedCap or RedCap is applied to the RA process and there is an RA resource set available and only the RedCap indication is configured (that is, its featurecombination's redcap is set to true), select the RA resource set for the RA process.

[0114] 1> Otherwise, select an available RA resource set that is not associated with any characteristic for the RA process.

[0115] In the above process, when one or more RA resource sets are available for a subset of all features of the RA process, the MAC entity may select the RA resource set based on the priority characteristics of the features. Optionally, the eRedCap UE determines the priority of the resource set based on the parameters provided by featurePriorities. When the eRedCap related priority parameters are not provided in featurePriorities, the UE uses the same priority parameters as redcap.

[0116] In an optional embodiment, the UE may determine the priority of the RA resource according to the following process and determine the RA resource set according to the priority.

[0117] 1> For the RA process, determine an RA resource set with a certain feature in the available resource set, and the feature has the highest priority in the featurePriorities in the system broadcast message.

[0118] 2> If the RA process applies the eRedCap feature and the featurePriorities in the system broadcast message does not indicate the value corresponding to eRedCap, the UE can apply the same priority value as RedCap indicated in the featurePriorities.

[0119] 1> If a unique RA resource set is determined, the UE selects that resource set

[0120] 1> Otherwise, if multiple RA resource sets are identified,

[0121] 2> If there are RA resource sets with both eRedCap and RedCap characteristic identifiers, the UE selects the RA resource set with eRedCap for further selection of resource sets.

[0122] 2> If there are still multiple available resource sets, the UE will repeat the previous steps for the remaining resource sets according to the RA resource set with the highest priority in featurePriorities that has not been considered in featurePriorities (select the RA resource set corresponding to the highest priority).

[0123] 1> Otherwise, (no RA resource set is identified), use the resource set identified in the previous step according to the RA resource set with the highest priority in featurePriorities that has not been considered in featurePriorities to repeat the previous step (select the RA resource set corresponding to the highest priority).

[0124] The method of this embodiment can enable the network to flexibly configure resources for eRedCap user access, thereby improving network efficiency. Users can select resources for RA according to actual configuration to achieve the goal of communicating with the network.

[0125] [Example 2]

[0126] The RA resource set may use a characteristic parameter to indicate the RA process applied by the RA resource set. For example, the featureCombination parameter is used to indicate the feature applied by the RA resource set. When the resource set can be used for sharing different features, a second characteristic indication parameter may be applied to indicate that the resource set applies the second feature. For example, the first characteristic parameter indicates that the RA resource set is related to the RA process that applies RedCap, and the second characteristic parameter indicates that the RA resource set is related to the RA process that applies eRedCap. On the other hand, if the number of PRBs of PUSCH used on the PUSCH opportunity corresponding to the RA resource set used for 2-step access is greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the eRedCap UE can transmit on a single carrier and a single time slot, the network may configure a second PUSCH resource, in which the number of PRBs of each PUSCH opportunity is not greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the UE can transmit on a single carrier and a single time slot.

[0127] A specific example configuration is as follows: an RA resource set can use the FeatureCombinationPreambles parameter set to indicate the relevant parameters used by the resource set, such as using featureCombination to indicate the characteristics related to the resource set; using startPreambleForThisPartition to indicate the starting preamble sequence number applied to the resource set, and so on.

[0128]

[0129]

[0130] In this embodiment, the featureCombination-r18 parameter can be used to indicate that the PRACH resources in the resource set are used for the feature or feature combination indicated by the second featurecombination. At this time, the feature indicated by the first featurecombination and the feature indicated by the second featurecombination use other parameters of the resource set together, such as the configuration parameters of the PRACH preamble, etc., and at this time, these two features use the same PRACH preamble resource set. In addition to featureCombination-r 18, the second featurecombination may use other name forms, such as featureCombinationSec, etc. This is only used as an example. The same is true for other parameters used for the second featurecombination, which are not listed one by one.

[0131] Optionally, when there is a second feature combination and the resource set is applied to 2-step random access, separateMsgA-PUSCH-Config-eRedCap-r18 can also be configured to indicate the PUSCH resource parameters used for msgA transmission in the resource set corresponding to the second feature combination.

[0132] When this configuration is applied in the system, the eRedCap terminal can also determine the availability of the resource set according to the second characteristic parameter of the resource set when determining its availability. For example, the UE can regard the RA resource set configured with the second characteristic parameter as two sub-resource sets, and determine their availability according to the characteristic parameters corresponding to the sub-resource sets respectively. The two sub-resource sets may use the same PRACH preamble parameters, as well as some other shared parameters, etc.

[0133] At this time, whether the RA process of the eRedCap terminal shares the RA resource set with the RedCap terminal or the RA resource set using the characteristic can be determined by whether the second characteristic parameter is configured in the resource set parameter.

[0134] In an optional specific example, the UE may determine the availability of the RA resource set or subset according to the relevant process. The MAC entity (of the terminal) performs the following judgment on each resource set or sub-RA resource set configured in the network for 2-step RA or 4-step RA:

[0135] If the redcap of an RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is considered unavailable to RA processes that do not apply RedCap.

[0136] If eRedcap is set to true for an RA resource set or a sub-RA resource set, the RA resource set or the sub-RA resource set is considered unavailable to RA processes that do not apply eRedCap.

[0137] If smallData of an RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that are not triggered by SDT.

[0138] If an RA resource set is configured with NSAG-List, the RA resource set is considered unavailable unless the RA process is triggered by an NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List.

[0139] If msg3-Repetitions is set to true for an RA resource set, the RA resource set is considered unavailable for RA procedures that do not apply msg3 repetitions.

[0140] If a RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, the RA resource set is considered not to be associated with any feature.

[0141] If an RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step RA, and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission in a single carrier and a single timeslot determined by UE characteristics, the RA resource is considered to be unavailable for the RA process applied to the UE.

[0142] When selecting RA resources, the UE can determine the availability of each RA resource when applied to the relevant RA process according to the above method. There may be multiple available RA resource sets on the selected BWP of the UE. Optionally, the UE can select a 2-step or 4-step RA resource set for the RA process according to the availability of the resource set according to the following steps.

[0143] 1> If the RA process does not apply non-contention-based RA, and the RA process is an RA process that applies one or more features,

[0144] 2> For any characteristic applied to the RA process, if no RA resource set is available, select an available RA resource that is not associated with any characteristic.

[0145] 2> Otherwise, if there is an RA resource set or sub-resource set available for all characteristics that apply to the RA, select that RA resource set for the RA process.

[0146] 2> Otherwise, that is, for a subset of all characteristics of the RA process, when one or more RA resource sets or sub-resource sets are available, an RA resource set is selected according to the priority order of the RA resource characteristics.

[0147] 1> Otherwise, if non-contention-free RA resources are provided to the RA process and eRedCap applies to the RA process and there is an RA resource set or sub-resource set available and only the eRedCap indication is configured (that is, its featurecombination's eredcap is set to true), select the RA resource set for the RA process.

[0148] 1> Otherwise, if contention-free RA resources are offered to the RA process and RedCap applies to the RA process and there is an RA resource set available and only RedCap indication is configured, select the RA resource set for the RA process.

[0149] 1> Otherwise, select an available RA resource set that is not associated with any characteristic for the RA process.

[0150] In the above process, when one or more RA resource sets are available for a subset of all features of the RA process, the MAC entity may select the RA resource set based on the priority characteristics of the features. Optionally, the eRedCap UE determines the priority of the resource set based on the parameters provided by the featurePriorities in the system information block SIB message. When the eRedCap related priority parameters are not provided in featurePriorities, the UE uses the same priority parameters as redcap.

[0151] In an optional embodiment, the UE may determine the priority of the RA resource according to the following process and determine the RA resource set according to the priority.

[0152] 1> For the RA process, determine an RA resource set with a certain feature in the available resource set, and the feature has the highest priority in the featurePriorities in the system broadcast message.

[0153] 2> If the RA process applies the eRedCap feature and the featurePriorities in the system information block does not indicate the value corresponding to eRedCap, the UE may apply the same priority value as RedCap indicated in the featurePriorities.

[0154] 1> If a unique RA resource set is determined, the UE selects this resource set.

[0155] 1> Otherwise, if multiple RA resource sets are identified,

[0156] 2> If there are still multiple available resource sets, the UE will repeat the previous steps for the remaining resource sets according to the RA resource set with the highest priority in featurePriorities that has not been considered in featurePriorities (select the RA resource set corresponding to the highest priority).

[0157] 1> Otherwise, (no RA resource set is identified), use the RA resource set with the highest priority in featurePriorities that has not been considered in featurePriorities among the resource sets identified in the previous step to repeat the previous steps (select the RA resource set corresponding to the highest priority).

[0158] Next, use Figure 2 A user equipment as a variation example that can execute the method executed by the user equipment described in detail above of the present invention is described.

[0159] Figure 2 It is a block diagram showing a user equipment UE involved in the present invention.

[0160] like Figure 2 As shown, the user equipment UE20 includes a processor 201 and a memory 202. The processor 201 may include, for example, a microprocessor, a microcontroller, an embedded processor, etc. The memory 202 may include, for example, a volatile memory (such as a random access memory RAM), a hard disk drive (HDD), a non-volatile memory (such as a flash memory), or other memories, etc. The memory 202 stores program instructions. When the instructions are executed by the processor 201, the above method performed by the user equipment described in detail in the present invention may be executed.

[0161] The method of the present invention and the related equipment have been described above in conjunction with the preferred embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the method shown above is only exemplary, and the embodiments described above can be combined with each other without contradiction. The method of the present invention is not limited to the steps and sequence shown above. The network node and user equipment shown above may include more modules, for example, modules that can be developed or developed in the future and can be used for base stations, MMEs, or UEs, etc. The various identifiers shown above are only exemplary and not restrictive, and the present invention is not limited to the specific information elements that serve as examples of these identifiers. Those skilled in the art may make many changes and modifications based on the teachings of the illustrated embodiments.

[0162] It should be understood that the above embodiments of the present invention can be implemented by software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware. For example, the various components inside the base station and user equipment in the above embodiments can be implemented by a variety of devices, including but not limited to: analog circuit devices, digital circuit devices, digital signal processing (DSP) circuits, programmable processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (CPLDs), and the like.

[0163] In this application, "base station" may refer to a mobile communication data and control exchange center with a large transmission power and a wide coverage area, including functions such as resource allocation scheduling, data reception and transmission, etc. "User equipment" may refer to a user mobile terminal, such as a mobile phone, a notebook, etc., which can communicate wirelessly with a base station or a micro base station.

[0164] In addition, the embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein can be implemented on a computer program product. More specifically, the computer program product is a product as follows: having a computer-readable medium, on which a computer program logic is encoded, and when executed on a computing device, the computer program logic provides relevant operations to implement the above-mentioned technical solution of the present invention. When executed on at least one processor of a computing system, the computer program logic causes the processor to perform the operation (method) described in the embodiment of the present invention. This arrangement of the present invention is typically provided as software, code and / or other data structures arranged or encoded on a computer-readable medium such as an optical medium (e.g., CD-ROM), a floppy disk or a hard disk, or other media such as firmware or microcode on one or more ROM or RAM or PROM chips, or downloadable software images in one or more modules, shared databases, etc. The software or firmware or such a configuration can be installed on a computing device so that one or more processors in the computing device execute the technical solution described in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0165] In addition, each functional module or each feature of the base station device and the user equipment used in each of the above embodiments can be implemented or executed by a circuit, which is usually one or more integrated circuits. The circuits designed to perform the various functions described in this specification may include a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a general-purpose integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, or a discrete hardware component, or any combination of the above devices. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be an existing processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The above-mentioned general-purpose processor or each circuit may be configured by a digital circuit, or may be configured by a logic circuit. In addition, when, due to the advancement of semiconductor technology, an advanced technology that can replace the current integrated circuit appears, the present invention may also use an integrated circuit obtained using the advanced technology.

[0166] Although the present invention has been illustrated above in conjunction with the preferred embodiments of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications, substitutions and changes may be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited by the above-described embodiments, but by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment UE, comprising: Determining availability of the RA resource set according to characteristics of the configured RA resource set and an access type applied by the RA resource set, and / or a bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set; Determining an RA resource set for an RA process of eRedCap according to availability of the RA resource set; In the case where the RA resource set is applied to a two-step random access, the bandwidth parameter used by the RA resource set is the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunities configured by the RA resource set.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that For an RA resource set that uses any characteristics or is not associated with any characteristics, if the RA resource set is used for 2-step random access and the number of PRBs of the PUSCH opportunities configured by the RA resource set is greater than the number of PRBs for transmitting PUSCH on each carrier per time slot determined by the UE capability, then the RA resource set is unavailable for the eRedCap-related RA process, otherwise it is available.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The following judgments are made for each configured RA resource set: If the redcap of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply RedCap or eRedCap; If the eRedcap of the RA resource set is set to true, and the RA resource set is an RA resource set for 4-step random access, then the RA resource set is determined to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply eRedCap; If smallData of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that is not triggered by SDT; If the RA resource set is configured with an NSAG-List, it is determined that the RA resource set is available only for the RA process triggered by a certain NSAG-ID in the NSAG-List; If msg3-Repetitions of the RA resource set is set to true, the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process that does not apply msg3 repetitions; If the RA resource set is not configured with the FeatureCombination parameter, it is determined that the RA resource set is not associated with any feature; If the RA resource set is a resource set for 2-step random access and the number of PRBs of the corresponding PUSCH opportunity is greater than the number of PRBs for PUSCH transmission in a single carrier and a single time slot determined by the eRedCap characteristics, then the RA resource set is judged to be unavailable for the RA process applied to eRedCap.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: In the case where the RA process does not apply non-contention-based RA and the RA process is an RA process applying one or more characteristics, If no RA resource set is available for any characteristic applied to the RA process, then an RA resource set that is not associated with any characteristic and is available is selected; If there is an RA resource set available for all characteristics applied to the RA process, then the RA resource set is selected for the RA process; if one or more RA resource sets are available for a subset of all characteristics of the RA process, then selecting an RA resource set according to the priority order of the RA resource characteristics, and selecting the RA resource set for the RA process if non-competitive RA resources are provided to the RA process, eRedCap is applied to the RA process, there is an RA resource set available, and only the eRedCap characteristic indication is configured, In the case where non-competitive RA resources are provided to the RA process, eRedCap or RedCap is applied to the RA process, there is an RA resource set available, and only the RedCap characteristic indication is configured, selecting the RA resource set for the RA process, In cases other than the above, an available RA resource set not associated with any characteristics is selected for the RA process.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that The priority of the RA resource set is determined according to the parameters provided by featurePriorities in the system broadcast message. If no priority parameters related to eRedCap are provided in featurePriorities, the same priority parameters as Redcap are used.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that In the case that there are both RA resource sets with eRedCap and RedCap characteristic indications, the RA resource set with eRedCap characteristic indication is selected for further selection of RA resource sets.

7. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that When the RA resource set can be used for sharing different characteristics, a second characteristic indication parameter is applied to indicate that the RA resource set applies the second characteristic, The UE determines the availability of the RA resource set according to the second characteristic indication parameter of the RA resource set.

8. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that In the case that the number of PRBs of PUSCH used in the PUSCH opportunity corresponding to the RA resource set for 2-step random access is greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the UE can transmit in a single carrier and a single time slot, a second PUSCH resource is configured, wherein the number of PRBs of each PUSCH opportunity is not greater than the number of PRBs of PUSCH that the UE can transmit in a single carrier and a single time slot, The UE determines availability of the second PUSCH resource of the RA resource set according to characteristics of the second PUSCH resource.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that: The UE regards the RA resource set configured with the second characteristic indication parameter or the second PUSCH resource as two sub-resource sets, and determines the respective availability according to the characteristic parameters corresponding to the sub-resource sets.

10. A user equipment, comprising: processor; as well as Memory, which stores instructions, Wherein, when the instructions are executed by the processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is performed.

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