Power up-up process

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to a method, equipment and device for a power lifting process and a computer readable storage medium. In one method, a first device performs a first random access transmission with a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter. The first random access transmission is associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction. The first device stores a value of a power boost counter.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various example embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for a power boosting process. Background Art

[0002] In some communication systems, mobility enhancements such as inter-cell mobility based on layer 1 (L1) or layer 2 (L2) or low layer triggered mobility (LTM) have been proposed. The target for LTM is timing advance (TA) management, where a user equipment (UE) can be configured to obtain a TA value or to perform (multiple) procedures for obtaining a TA for at least one candidate target cell (also referred to as LTM candidate) before a cell handover command to handover the UE to a new target cell.

[0003] TA acquisition can be performed using a random access procedure triggered by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order. Currently, in LTM, a random access procedure triggered by a PDCCH order, such as a random access channel (RACH) procedure, can be triggered for a UE when the target of a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission is a candidate LTM cell. In addition, the RACH procedure triggered by the PDCCH order can be configured so that the network does not provide a random access response (RAR) as a response to the PRACH transmission. Work on power ramping of PRACH is ongoing. Summary of the invention

[0004] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to: perform a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter, the first random access transmission being associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction; and store the value of the power boost counter.

[0005] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device to: transmit to a first device a configuration for determining a transmission power of a random access transmission using a stored value of a power boost counter, the random access transmission being associated with a random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction.

[0006] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes, at a first device, performing a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter, the first random access transmission being associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction; and storing a value of the power boost counter.

[0007] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes transmitting, at a second device, to a first device, a configuration for determining a transmission power of a random access transmission using a stored value of a power ramp-up counter, the random access transmission being associated with a random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction.

[0008] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes a component for performing a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter, the first random access transmission being associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction; and a component for storing a value of the power boost counter.

[0009] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes a component for transmitting to a first device a configuration for determining a transmission power of a random access transmission using a stored value of a power boost counter, the random access transmission being associated with a random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction.

[0010] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, and the instructions are used to cause a device to at least execute the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

[0011] It should be understood that the invention summary is not intended to identify the key features or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present invention will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0013] Figure 1 An example communication environment is shown in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0014] Figure 2A shows a signaling diagram for L1 / L2 triggered mobility;

[0015] Figure 2BAn example diagram showing a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission is shown;

[0016] Figure 3 An example signaling diagram illustrating a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 4 shows another example signaling diagram of a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 5 shows another example signaling diagram of a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0019] Figure 6 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0020] Figure 7 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0021] Figure 8 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0022] Fig. 9 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0023] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The principle of the present invention will now be described with reference to some exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration, and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. In addition to the embodiments described below, the embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways.

[0025] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0026] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described implementation may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every implementation may include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same implementation. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments (whether or not explicitly described).

[0027] It should be understood that, although the terms "first", "second", etc. in front of (multiple) nouns can be used in this article to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element, and they do not limit the order of (multiple) nouns. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiment, the first element can be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element can be referred to as the first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more listed terms.

[0028] As used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions, where a list of two or more elements is combined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0029] As used herein, unless explicitly stated, performing a step "in response to A" does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after "A" occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0030] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprise", "including", "having", "including", and / or "comprising" when used herein specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0031] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one, more, or all of the following: (a) Pure hardware circuit implementation (such as pure module (b) implementation in analog and / or digital circuitry), and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software such as (as applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)), software and memory(s) with software that work together to cause the device to (such as a mobile phone or a server) to perform various functions, and (c) Hardware circuit(s) and / or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion(s) of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but which may not be present when not required for operation.

[0032] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or its) accompanying software and / or firmware. For example and if applicable to the particular claim element, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0033] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocol and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there are of course future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. It should not be considered that the scope of the present disclosure is limited to the above-mentioned system.

[0034] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses a network and receives services from it. A network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a Node B (Node B or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a remote radio head (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node such as a micro-micro, a micro-micro, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a non-terrestrial network device (such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, and a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite), an aircraft network device, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, a radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves as a UE to a parent node, and a DU portion of the IAB node behaves as a base station to a next-hop IAB node.

[0035] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless customer equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in the context of an industrial and / or automated processing chain), consumer electronic devices, equipment operating on a commercial and / or industrial wireless network, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) part of an IAB node (eg, a relay node).In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0036] As used herein, the terms "resource", "transmission resource", "resource block", "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource" or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the spatial domain, a resource in the code domain, or any other combination of time, frequency, space and / or code domain resources to achieve communication. In the following, unless explicitly stated, resources in the frequency domain and the time domain will be used as examples of transmission resources for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0037] As briefly mentioned, mobility enhancements such as L1 / L2 layer based inter-cell mobility or LTM have been proposed. The purpose of LTM is TA management, where the UE can be configured to obtain a TA value or to perform a procedure for obtaining a TA for at least one candidate target cell (also referred to as LTM candidate) before a cell handover command that switches the UE to a new target cell.

[0038] A variety of mechanisms and procedures for L1 / L2 based inter-cell mobility for mobility latency reduction have been proposed. In some mechanisms, configuration and maintenance of multiple candidate cells are proposed to allow rapid application of configurations for candidate cells. In addition, dynamic switching mechanisms between candidate serving cells (including special cells (SpCells) and secondary cells (SCells)) for potential applicable scenarios based on L1 / L2 signaling are proposed.

[0039] In some mechanisms, L1 enhancements are intended for inter-cell beam management, including L1 measurements and reporting, and beam indication. It is noted that early Radio Access Network 2 (RAN2) involvement is necessary, including the possibility of further clarifying the interaction. In addition, Timing Advance (TA) management is proposed. In some mechanisms, if necessary, Centralized Unit (CU)-Distributed Unit (DU) interface signaling may be used to support L1 / L2 mobility. It is noted that Frequency Range 2 (FR2) specific enhancements may not be excluded in any case.

[0040] In some mechanisms, L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility can be applicable to different scenarios. Applicable scenarios may be standalone networking, carrier aggregation (CA), and new radio (NR)-dual connectivity (DC) scenarios, where the serving cell changes within a cell group. Another applicable scenario may be the intra-DU scenario and the intra-CU inter-DU scenario (applicable to standalone networking and CA, and no new RAN interface is expected). L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility can be applied to intra-frequency and inter-frequency, and can be applied to FR1 and FR2. For L1 / L2-based inter-cell mobility, the source and target cells can be synchronous or asynchronous.

[0041] In LTM, the decision about cell change is based on L1 measurements and is made in the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer in the DU. During LTM, TA acquisition can be performed using a random access procedure triggered by a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) order. Several mechanisms are intended for early TA acquisition of candidate target cells for L1 / L2 Triggered Mobility (LTM).

[0042] In some mechanisms, in L1 / L2 based mobility, the TA of the candidate cell(s) is acquired before the cell handover command is received. Another mechanism to acquire the TA of the candidate cell(s) in LTM is intended to support at least RACH triggered by PDCCH order. The PDCCH order can be triggered only by the source cell.

[0043] Currently, in LTM, in case the target of PRACH transmission is a candidate LTM cell, a random access procedure (such as a RACH procedure) triggered by a PDCCH command may be triggered for the UE.

[0044] In another mechanism, the PDCCH instruction from the source cell contains an indication of the candidate cell. The reserved (multiple) bits in the downlink control information (DCI) format 1_0 for the PDCCH instruction can be used for the indication of the cell identity. For the RACH triggered by the PDCCH instruction for (multiple) candidate cells, RAR reception can be configured / indicated. The DCI format for the instruction triggering PRACH transmission may further include a random access preamble index field (and an index indicating the RA preamble used for PRACH) and a downlink reference signal index (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB) index) indicating the random access timing for PRACH transmission. In some examples, the downlink reference signal (e.g., SSB index) indicating the random access timing may be referred to as the target DL RS (for PRACH transmission). If the reception of RAR is not configured / indicated (no RAR), the TA value of the candidate cell may be indicated in the cell switching command. Otherwise, if the reception of RAR is configured / indicated, the RAR contains at least the TA of the candidate cell. The maximum number of TA values ​​stored by the UE is called the UE capability.

[0045] Furthermore, the RACH procedure triggered by the PDCCH order may be configured such that the network does not provide a random access response (RAR) as a response to the PRACH transmission.

[0046] In another mechanism, for RACH triggered by PDCCH command, if the reception of RAR is not configured, UE autonomous retransmission of PRACH is not allowed regardless of the configuration of PreambleTransMax. If the reception of RAR is configured, it is supported that RAR can be received from the serving cell (at least in the intra-DU case in some examples, and in the inter-DU case in some cases). If the reception of RAR is configured, it is supported that RAR is received from the serving cell in the inter-DU case. Alternatively, RAR can be configured to be provided by the target cell (of PRACH transmission).

[0047] In a further mechanism, for a RACH triggered by a PDCCH command, if reception of RAR is not configured, it is determined whether power boost is performed according to the PDCCH command. To determine whether power boost will be performed, the PDCCH command may explicitly indicate whether the PRACH is an initial transmission or a retransmission. In addition, the power boost value is configured. Otherwise, if power boost is not performed, the power may be determined by open-loop power control.

[0048] In some mechanisms, the PRACH transmission power is determined when reception of RAR is not configured. A one-bit field in the PDCCH command may explicitly indicate an initial transmission or retransmission of the PRACH. For example, when determining the PRACH transmission power when reception of RAR is not configured, a [1-bit] field in the PDCCH command that explicitly indicates an initial transmission or retransmission of the PRACH is supported. If the UE is instructed to retransmit, the UE shall increase power with the value configured for power boosting unless the maximum allowed power is achieved. However, whether / how to reset the counter needs to be specified.

[0049] In addition to TA, when reception of RAR is configured, RAN1 may discuss the following alternatives. The first alternative is that when there is only one ongoing RACH procedure at a time, identification of candidate cells is not required. The second alternative is that when more than one RACH procedure at a time is allowed, identification of candidate cells is included in the RAR.

[0050] Therefore, power boost counters (such as power boost preamble counters) associated with LTM operation have become a matter of concern. In some mechanisms, the LTM RA procedure can be configured to operate without a RAR response. However, the power boost functionality can still be applied to subsequent RA transmissions triggered by a PDCCH command including a retransmission (re-tx) flag (i.e., incrementing power). As an example, a (current) random access procedure can be considered to be completed (successfully) when a PRACH transmission triggered by the command has been performed by the UE (and when no RAR response is configured). In a typical RA procedure (such as contention-free random access (CFRA) or contention-based random access (CBRA) with RAR response), the start of a new procedure can cause the power boost value to be reset, i.e., the power boost starts from the initial value. However, in the case of a random access procedure without a RAR response, determining the power boost counter / value requires further consideration, because the UE can initiate a new random access procedure at any given time (due to UE internal reasons such as scheduling request / providing buffer status report or beam failure recovery, etc.).

[0051] Although the UE may be triggered to send a PRACH to an LTM candidate cell, there may be RA procedures initiated by the UE on a serving cell such as the primary cell (PCell) (also referred to as scenario 1), for example, in case of beam failure recovery, or when the UL synchronization state becomes "asynchronous", or when a scheduling request / buffer status report is provided, or another PDCCH command-triggered RA procedure for another LTM candidate cell. Because the UE maintains a power up counter for LTM, and a new RACH procedure (i.e., a self-contained RA procedure) is triggered for the power up counter, it is unclear how to determine the power up counter value of the PDCCH command-triggered RACH procedure that is triggered again (for the same target downlink reference signal / RACH opportunity). In an example problem setting, the counter is particularly considered when the PDCCH command-triggered RACH has a re-tx flag after the UE initiates a RACH procedure or PRACH transmission to another LTM candidate cell.

[0052] Similarly, when the UE is triggered to perform RACH-based LTM for an LTM target cell (RACH procedure after a cell switching command is received, also known as scenario 2), and the UE has performed one or more PRACH transmissions before the cell switching command is received, then it is unclear how to determine the power boost counter value for the PRACH transmission to be sent after the cell switching command is received.

[0053] In order to solve at least part of the above problems or other potential problems, a scheme for a power boost process is proposed. According to an example embodiment, a first device (e.g., a terminal device or UE) performs a first random access (RA) transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter. The first random access transmission is associated with a first random access (RA) process initiated by a PDCCH instruction. For example, the first RA process may be an LTM process. The first RA transmission may be triggered by a PDCCH instruction. The first device may determine / may be configured to store the value of the power boost counter. For example, the first device may store the power boost counter value used in the first RA process.

[0054] In this way, the first device can store the previously (or last) used power up counter value. This power up counter value can be used for a subsequent RA procedure if necessary, or for a subsequent RA transmission (for the same target DL RS or the same target candidate cell).

[0055] In some example embodiments, the network may configure whether the power boost counter is stored. The configuration may be provided using radio resource control (RRC) signaling (or RRC plus MAC or RRC plus DCI). The UE may determine whether it stores the counter value (or resets the counter value) based on the configuration. As an example, if a second RA procedure is triggered after the first RA procedure (the second is a PDCCH command-triggered RACH to another LTM candidate or a UE-initiated RA procedure or a PDCCH command-triggered RA procedure with RAR), and there is a PDCCH command provided for the same target (target cell or target DL RS) as the first RA procedure, a reset may occur. The first random access procedure may refer to at least one transmission of a PRACH preamble (for a RA procedure without a RAR response) to an LTM candidate cell triggered by a PDCCH command.

[0056] In some example embodiments, the UE may be configured to store a power boost counter value for each candidate cell for which at least one PRACH transmission of a PDCCH command-triggered RA procedure has been performed. In some examples, whether the power boost counter value is stored may be configured per candidate cell, or for all candidate cells, or as part of a random access configuration, or as part of an LTM configuration. In some examples, the DCI that triggers a PDCCH command-triggered RA procedure may include an indication of whether the power boost counter value is stored, as described in some embodiments herein.

[0057] Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0058] Figure 1 An example communication environment 100 is shown in which example implementations of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices including a first device 110 and a second device 120 may communicate with each other. In the communication environment 100, the second device 120 may transmit data and control information to the first device 110, and the first device 110 may also transmit data and control information to the second device 120.

[0059] In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may have one or more cells (not shown). The first device 110 may be located within a certain coverage range of the cell of the second device 120. The cell currently serving the first device 110 may be referred to as a serving cell. The coverage range of the serving cell may be referred to as a service range. The second device 120 may provide one or more other cells in addition to the serving cell. A cell that does not provide service to the first device 110 may be referred to as a candidate cell.

[0060] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be moved from one location to another. In such a case, the serving cell for the first device 110 may change. Alternatively or additionally, in some scenarios, the serving cell may change in other situations or conditions. If the serving cell is to be switched from a first cell to a second cell, the first cell may be referred to as a "source cell" and the second cell may be referred to as a "target cell."

[0061] In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may support a distributed architecture. For example, the second device 120 may include a centralized unit (CU) and one or more distributed units (DUs). The CU may be configured to manage the DUs. If the current serving cell is provided by a first DU, the first DU may be referred to as a serving DU. If the serving cell needs to be switched from a first cell provided by the first DU to a second cell provided by the second DU, the first DU may be referred to as a "source DU" and the second DU may be referred to as a "target DU". The (multiple) first cells and the (multiple) second cells may be provided by the same DU.

[0062] In some example embodiments, L1 / L2 triggered mobility or LTM is supported by the first device 110 and the second device 120. For example, in an example embodiment where the second device 120 includes a CU and a DU, L1 / L2 triggered LTM mobility may be applied to an intra-CU inter-DU scenario. That is, intra-CU inter-DU LTM is supported.

[0063] It should be understood that in some example embodiments, one or more units may be provided by or associated with a single DU or a single CU. A serving cell may be a cell provided by a DU or a CU. The second device 129 may include any suitable number of CUs or DUs, and a CU or DU may provide any suitable number of units.

[0064] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of devices and their connections shown in are for illustration purposes only and are not meant to be limiting. Communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implement example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0065] In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described by the first device 110 operating as a terminal device, and the second device 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, the operations described in conjunction with the terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and the operations described in conjunction with the network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0066] In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device, the link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and the link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In the DL, the second device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and the first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter), and the second device 120 is an RX device (or receiver).

[0067] The communication in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc., and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. In addition, the communication may use any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or developed in the future.

[0068] As mentioned above, L1 / L2 triggered mobility has been proposed. Figure 2A A signaling diagram 200 of L1 / L2 triggered mobility is shown. Figure 2A An example message exchange for an intra-CU inter-DU LTM scenario captured for a split architecture is illustrated. The signaling diagram 200 may involve a UE, a source DU, a target DU, and a CU. The signaling diagram 200 may include a preparation phase 210, an execution phase 220, and a completion phase 240.

[0069] In the preparation phase 210, the UE provides a Layer 3 (L3) Radio Resource Control (RRC) measurement event report to the source DU, which is forwarded to the CU via UL RRC messaging (steps 1-2). Based on the measurements included in the measurement report, the CU decides on cell preparation (e.g., handover (HO) decision - step 3) and proceeds to set up the UE context in the target DU (steps 4-5). The CU communicates with the source DU to modify the UE context if necessary and to provide target cell information (i.e., target cell reference signal (RS) configuration, transmission configuration indicator (TCI) status, etc.). (steps 6-7).

[0070] In step 8, the CU creates and forwards an RRC Reconfiguration message to the source DU using DL RRC messaging, and the source DU forwards it to the UE (steps 9-10). The UE responds to the CU with an RRC Reconfiguration Complete (steps 11-12).

[0071] In the execution phase 220, based on its configuration, the UE provides periodic L1 reports to the source DU (step 13). Based on the received L1 measurement report, the source DU can trigger the UE, for example by sending a PDCCH instruction, to obtain the TA for the candidate cell set (i.e., the candidate cells for the handover target cell) (steps 14-15). Regarding the mechanism for obtaining the TA of the candidate cell, other schemes (in addition to the RACH-based PDCCH instruction-based mechanism) are further studied, such as Rx timing difference-based, RACH-free mechanism as in LTE, and TA acquisition based on sounding reference signal (SRS). The source DU / CU and the candidate target DU / CU coordinate the TA acquisition method during the LTM preparation phase (e.g., steps 4-5).

[0072] The UE continues L1 measurement reporting. Once the source DU decides the cell (ie, target cell) to which the UE should be handed over to another DU (ie, target DU), it triggers a cell handover using a cell handover command (eg, MAC CE) (steps 16-18).

[0073] The UE then applies the RRC configuration for the target cell of the target DU indicated by the cell handover command (via MAC CE) and switches to the target DU. An optional RA procedure 230 may be performed. For example, the UE may be configured to perform RA on the target cell, as shown in steps 19-20.

[0074] However, in other cases, the UE may be configured not to perform RA to the target cell because it has already obtained the TA of the target cell.To initiate communication with the target DU, the UE transmits an RRC Reconfiguration Complete to the target cell of the target DU using the already configured UL resources, which is forwarded to the CU-CP (steps 21-22).

[0075] In the completion phase 240, the CU releases the UE context from the source DU using a UE context release request and performs a path switch to the new DU (steps 23-25).

[0076] like Figure 2A As shown, the TA obtains the RA process triggered by the PDCCH command and is executed. Figure 2A During the LTM process, the power boost rule can be configured. For example, the MAC entity can be configured for each RA preamble. For example, the RA preamble transmission can be configured as shown in Table 1 below. Table 1

[0077] However, this power up counter process may not be applied to the LTM process in various scenarios. In the first scenario (also referred to as scenario 1), if the UE is triggered to transmit PRACH to the LTM candidate cell, there may be a UE-initiated RA process or other PDCCH instructions with RAR on the serving cell. Because the UE maintains / stores the power up counter for LTM and triggers a new RACH process (i.e., a self-contained RA process) for the power up counter, it is unclear how to determine the power up counter value for the RACH process triggered again for the same DL RS (and / or the same cell). This is particularly noteworthy, especially after the UE initiates a RACH process or PRACH transmission to another LTM candidate cell, or a RACH process triggered by a PDCCH instruction with RAR (response), a PDCCH instruction with a re-tx flag.

[0078] Figure 2B An example diagram 250 showing PRACH transmission is shown. As shown, the network (NW) transmits multiple PDCCH instructions 261, 263, and 265 to the UE. Therefore, in response to PDCCH instructions 261, PDCCH instructions 263, and PDCCH instructions 265, the UE is triggered to send PRACH 271, PRACH 273, and PRACH 275. For PRACH 271, PRACH 273, and PRACH 275, the UE maintains a power boost counter for LTM. However, a UE-triggered RA process 280 may be performed. For example, one or more PRACHs such as PRACH 282 and PRACH 284 may be transmitted during the UE-triggered RA process 280. The NW may transmit a RAR 286 to the UE. In such a case, if another PDCCH instruction 267 is transmitted to the UE, it is unclear to the UE how to determine the power boost counter value for PRACH 277 triggered by the PDCCH instruction 267.

[0079] Similarly, in the second scenario (also referred to as scenario 2), if the UE is triggered to perform RACH-based LTM for the LTM target cell (RACH procedure after the cell switching command is received), and before the cell switching command is received, the UE has performed one or more PRACH transmissions to the LTM target cell, it is unclear how to determine the power boost counter value for the PRACH transmission to be sent after the cell switching command is received.

[0080] To address at least a portion of the above problems or other potential problems, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 stores a value of a power boost counter used in an RA process triggered by a PDCCH instruction. For example, the first device 110 performs an RA transmission using a transmission power determined based on the power boost counter. The RA transmission is associated with an RA process initiated by a PDCCH instruction. The value of the power boost counter used for the RA transmission is stored by the first device 110.

[0081] In this way, the first device 110 can store a previously used power up counter value. The power up counter value can be used in a subsequent RA process, or can be used for a subsequent RA transmission if necessary (e.g., when the first device 110 receives a PDCCH instruction for a RACH for the same target DL RS (or cell) for which it has performed at least one transmission before). In some examples, a PDCCH instruction with a flag for an initial transmission can cause the first device 110 to reset the counter.

[0082] In one embodiment, the timer may be configured to supervise or manage the maintenance or storage value of the power boost counter. The timer may be started when at least one PRACH transmission has been performed on the target DL RS. The timer may be dedicated to a candidate cell or a target DL RS (of a candidate cell). While the timer is running, the power boost counter value is stored / maintained by the UE. In another example, while the timer is running, even in the case of a second RA process (as described in some embodiments of the present invention), the power boost counter value is stored / maintained by the UE. When the timer expires, when a new PDCCH instruction is triggered for the corresponding target DL RS or cell, the power boost counter value associated with the target DL RS or cell is reset to a default value.

[0083] In an example embodiment, the power boost counter for a RA procedure without RAR may be considered to be reset (to an initial value) for the next RA procedure without RAR for the same target DL RS (or target cell) due to and after any of the following (any of the following is considered a second RA procedure): a UE-initiated RA procedure is triggered (and completed), a PDCCH command without RAR is triggered for another candidate cell (or DL ​​RS), or a PDCCH command with RAR is triggered. As an example, the first device 110 may have performed at least one PRACH transmission on a first random access procedure for an LTM candidate cell (without RAR) triggered by a PDCCH command, and then performs a PRACH transmission due to triggering a second random access procedure, and it receives a PDCCH command with the same or partially the same parameters as the first RA procedure (such as a target DL RS). In some examples, in this case, a default value for the counter is used (and a value further determined by the DCI content of the PDCCH command). In other examples, the first device 110 stores the value used in the first RA procedure and uses the stored value when the first RA procedure continues (eg, same target DL RS / same cell indicated by a PDCCH order).

[0084] In some example embodiments, when a RA procedure without RAR is involved, the RA procedure may include one or more PRACH transmissions / RA procedures and may be completed after the transmission, but is considered part of the same procedure when considered from the perspective of the power boost counter value.

[0085] Figure 3 An example signaling diagram 300 for a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The signaling diagram 300 relates to Figure 1 For the purpose of illustration, reference will be made to the first device 110 and the second device 120. Figure 1 A signaling diagram 300 is described.

[0086] Although in Figure 3 A single first device 110 and a single second device 120 are shown in FIG. 1 , but it should be understood that there may be multiple devices that perform similar operations as described below with respect to the first device 110 or the second device 120 .

[0087] In operation, the first device 110 performs (320) a first RA transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter. The first RA transmission is associated with a first RA process initiated by a PDCCH instruction. For example, the second device 120 may transmit (310) a PDCCH instruction (referred to as a first PDCCH instruction) to the first device 110. In response to receiving (315) the PDCCH instruction, the first device 110 performs (320) the first RA transmission. As used herein, the term "first RA process" may refer to a RA process triggered by a PDCCH instruction. For example, the first RA process may be an LTM process.

[0088] The first device 110 stores (325) a value of a power boost counter. For example, the first device 110 stores (325) a value of a power boost counter used in a first RA process. In some example embodiments, the power boost counter is specific to a RA process without RAR. The RA process is triggered by a PDCCH instruction. In some example embodiments, the power boost counter may be a power boost preamble counter. As used herein, the term "power boost counter value" may also be referred to as "power boost counter value" or "power boost preamble counter value" or "preamble power boost counter value".

[0089] In some example embodiments, the stored value of the power ramp-up counter is associated with a candidate cell. For example, the candidate cell may be an LTM candidate cell.

[0090] Alternatively or additionally, the stored value of the power boost counter may be associated with a target reference signal of the candidate cell.For example, the stored value of the power boost counter may be associated with a target DL reference signal (RS) of a PDCCH order for the LTM candidate cell.

[0091] In some example embodiments, an RA transmission is performed to a candidate cell such as an LTM candidate cell (toward a target DL RS). For example, a power boost counter may be associated with the candidate cell (and / or a target DL RS of the candidate cell). As an example, the RA transmission may be an RA preamble transmission, such as a PRACH preamble transmission.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be configured to maintain a preamble power boost counter dedicated to the LTM PDCCH order triggered RACH. For any PDCCH order triggered RACH configured without RAR (i.e., RAR is not expected), the first device 110 may maintain a specific counter for preamble power boost. In some example embodiments, the power boost counters for RA procedures with RAR and without RAR may maintain separate states / values. The power boost counter may be dedicated to the target DL RS (of the target cell) or the target cell.

[0093] If the first device 110 receives a PDCCH instruction requiring no RAR, the first device 110 can use a preamble power boost counter dedicated for no-RAR operation (eg, for LTM).

[0094] If any other RA procedure requiring RAR (i.e., the first device 110 expects a response to a PRACH transmission) is initiated, a counter for RAR operation (e.g., contention-based random access (CBRA) or contention-free random access (CFRA) or PDCCH instructions for PCell, etc.) may be used.

[0095] In an example embodiment specific to the implementation of the first device 110, the first device 110 may maintain only one counter variable name in the MAC entity. The first device 110 may store the most recent power boost counter value for LTM when triggering (and initiating) a new RA procedure. If PRACH for LTM is triggered for the first device, the first device 110 may retrieve the stored value and apply it to the power boost calculation.

[0096] The variable may be named, for example, PREAMBLE_POWER_RAMPING_COUNTER_NORAR. In an alternative, different counters are used for different candidate cells, one counter for each candidate cell for which PRACH is triggered.

[0097] In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 determines that a second RA process is to be initiated, and the second RA process is not initiated by a PDCCH instruction, the first device 110 may store (325) the value of a power boost counter associated with the first RA process. For example, the first device 110 may store (325) the value of the power boost counter used for the first RA transmission. The second RA process is not initiated by a PDCCH instruction. For example, the RA process may be initiated by a MAC entity (e.g., a CBRA for beam failure recovery or for providing a buffer status report / scheduling request). As used herein, the term "second RA process" may refer to a RA process that is not initiated by a PDCCH instruction (e.g., a CBRA) or initiated by a PDCCH instruction with a RAR.

[0098] In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 has performed at least one PDCCH command-triggered RACH transmission (such as a first RA transmission) to the LTM candidate cell and determines to trigger a second random access process initiated by the first device 110, the first device 110 may be configured to store a power boost counter value for the LTM PDCCH command-triggered RACH process.

[0099] In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 performs the second RA procedure, the first device 110 may reinitialize (330) the value of the power boost counter. For example, the first device 110 may reinitialize (330) the value of the power boost counter to a predefined or configured value, such as 1 or any other suitable value.

[0100] In some example embodiments, second device 120 may transmit (335) a PDCCH instruction (referred to as a second PDCCH instruction) to first device 110. The second PDCCH instruction indicates a second RA transmission. In response to receiving (340) the second PDCCH instruction, first device 110 may perform (345) the second RA transmission based on the stored value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0101] In some example embodiments, if the second RA transmission is indicated as an initial RA transmission (eg, with an "initial Tx" flag), the first device 110 may perform (345) the second RA transmission using a transmission power determined using a stored value of the power ramp-up counter.

[0102] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, if the second RA transmission is indicated as a retransmission of the first RA transmission (e.g., using a "re-Tx" flag), the first device 110 may perform (345) the second RA transmission using a transmission power determined by using a different option. For example, if the second PDCCH order has the same target DL (i.e., indicating a retransmission) or has a "re-tx" flag, the first device 110 may perform (345) the second RA transmission using a transmission power determined by using a different option as follows.

[0103] An example option may be that the first device 110 uses the stored value of the power up counter to perform (345) a second RA transmission. That is, the transmission power of the second RA transmission is determined based on the stored value of the power up counter. The stored value may be the latest power up counter value for the LTM candidate cell.

[0104] In another option, the first device 110 performs (345) a second RA transmission using the value of the power up counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power up counter. For example, the transmission power of the second RA transmission can be determined by a value generated by incrementing the stored value by 1 or any other suitable value.

[0105] In another option, the first device 110 may perform (345) a second RA transmission using a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing a default value of the power boost counter. The default value may be predefined or configured. Alternatively, the first device 110 may perform (345) a second RA transmission using a default value of the power boost counter and may increment the default value after the second RA transmission.

[0106] In yet another option, the first device 110 may perform (345) a second RA transmission using the reset value of the power boost counter. For example, the value of the power boost counter may be reset to a predefined or configured value, such as 1 or any other suitable value. The transmission power of the second RA transmission may be determined based on the reset value of the power boost counter.

[0107] In some example embodiments, a configuration for use of a stored value of a power ramp-up counter for determining a transmission power of an RA transmission may be communicated from second device 120 to first device 110. The configuration may indicate which option first device 110 may use to perform the second RA transmission. That is, the configuration may indicate which option first device 110 may use to determine the transmission power of the second RA transmission.

[0108] For example, the second device 120 may indicate whether the first device 110 may reset, increment, or use the same counter value for the RACH on the LTM target cell. The behavior may also be indicated in a medium access control element (MAC CE) indicating a cell handover or in a DCI of a MAC CE that schedules a triggered cell handover.

[0109] It should be understood that the above options for performing the second RA transmission are for illustrative purposes only and do not suggest any limitation. Any suitable options or rules may be applied to the second RA transmission. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0110] In some example embodiments, if first device 110 receives a PDCCH instruction-triggered RACH for LTM while performing a RACH procedure initiated by first device 110, and if first device 110 determines to initiate a PDCCH instruction-triggered RACH procedure (stop the current procedure initiated by first device 110), first device 110 may apply any of the above options or any other suitable option. In these cases, first device 110 applies a power-up counter to the RACH procedure for the target cell.

[0111] In this way, the power increase for the second RA transmission after the second RA process initiated by the UE can be determined. Therefore, the second RA transmission can be transmitted with an appropriate transmission power (for the second transmission of the new process or additional transmission after the second process). The number of retransmissions can be reduced accordingly. Figure 4 Other example embodiments are described regarding a second RA transmission triggered by a second PDCCH order.

[0112] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit (350) a cell switching command to the first device 110. The cell switching command indicates switching based on the RA transmission. In response to receiving (355) the cell switching command, the first device 110 may perform (370) a third RA transmission (of the new process) with a transmission power (determined based on the stored value).

[0113] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 is configured to store a power up counter for one or more DL RSs indicated as target RSs for a RACH triggered by a PDCCH command for an LTM candidate cell, and upon receiving (355) a cell switching command that triggers RACH-based LTM (i.e., without providing a TA value or providing an explicit RACH trigger or other signaling indicating that the first device 110 should perform RACH-based LTM). There are several options for the first device 110 to perform (370) an RA transmission of a third RA procedure. In an example option, the first device 110 may use the stored value of the power up counter to perform (370) the third RA transmission. That is, the transmission power of the third RA transmission is determined based on the stored value of the power up counter. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may use the stored value of the power up counter and increment it by a predefined value for the next transmission.

[0114] That is, upon receiving (355) a cell handover command to an LTM target cell indicating a RACH-based LTM handover, the first device 110 may determine to use the last stored value of the power boost counter for RA preamble transmission. For example, if the first device 110 selects the same target RS and target cell that have performed at least one PRACH transmission, the first device 110 may determine to use the last stored value of the power boost counter for RA preamble transmission. In another example, if the target cell is the same as the target cell for which at least one PRACH transmission was performed, the first device 110 may determine to use the last stored value of the power boost counter for RA preamble transmission.

[0115] In another option, the first device 110 can use the current value of the power boost counter to perform (370) a third RA transmission. For example, the transmission power of the third RA transmission can be determined by the current value of the power boost counter. The current value is the value used for the most recent transmission.

[0116] That is, upon receiving an LTM command indicating a RACH-based LTM cell switch, the first device 110 may apply a power boost counter for the RACH process of the target cell by using one of: a stored counter value (of the RA process performed on the target cell before the LTM command) or a current power boost counter value.

[0117] In another option, the first device 110 may perform (370) a third RA transmission using a value of the power up counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power up counter. For example, the transmission power of the third RA transmission may be determined by a value generated by incrementing the stored value by 1 or any other suitable value.

[0118] In yet another option, the first device 110 may perform (370) a third RA transmission using the reset value of the power boost counter. That is, the first device 110 may be configured to reset the initial value. For example, the value of the power boost counter may be reset to a predefined or configured value, such as 1 or any other suitable value. The transmission power of the third RA transmission may be determined based on the reset value of the power boost counter.

[0119] In some example embodiments, a configuration for using the stored value of the power boost counter to determine the transmission power of the third RA transmission may be transmitted (360) from the second device 120 to the first device 110. The first device 110 may receive (365) the configuration.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the configuration may be configured per cell. For example, the configuration may be included in the LTM candidate cell configuration or any other appropriate signaling.

[0121] For example, the second device 120 may indicate whether the first device 110 may reset, increment, or use the same counter value for the RACH on the LTM target cell. The behavior may also be indicated in the MAC CE indicating the cell handover or in the DCI of the MAC CE scheduling the triggered cell handover.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the configuration may be transmitted together with the cell handover command (360). Alternatively, the configuration and the cell handover command may be transmitted separately. For example, the configuration may be transmitted before the cell handover command or after the cell handover command (360). In some example embodiments, the configuration may be transmitted before the second PDCCH instruction or after the PDCCH instruction. The same configuration may be transmitted for the second RA transmission and the third RA transmission. Alternatively, different configurations may be configured for the second RA transmission and the third RA transmission.

[0123] The configuration may indicate which option the first device 110 may use to perform (370) the third RA transmission. That is, the configuration may indicate which option the first device 110 may use to determine the transmission power of the third RA transmission.

[0124] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may prioritize random access resources that have been transmitted for the first RA procedure / transmission. For example, the first device 110 may be configured to apply a priority order of random access resources (e.g., CBRA) when selecting / performing an RA-based LTM cell handover on an LTM cell handover. For example, the first device 110 may prioritize one or more downlink RSs for which the first device 110 has performed at least one PDCCH instruction-triggered transmission.

[0125] It should be understood that the above options for performing the third RA transmission are for illustrative purposes only and do not suggest any limitation. Any suitable options or rules may be applied to the third RA transmission. The scope of the present invention is not limited in this regard.

[0126] In this way, the power boost of the third RA transmission associated with the cell switching command can be determined. Therefore, the third RA transmission can be transmitted with an appropriate transmission power. The number of retransmissions can be reduced accordingly. Figure 5 Other example embodiments are described regarding a second RA transmission triggered by a second PDCCH order.

[0127] Advantages and / or benefits of the embodiments described herein may reduce the number of retransmissions that a UE must perform due to using the stored value for the power boost counter. As an example, a UE may need to perform fewer RA transmissions because it is able to use the already boosted power (due to the stored value of the counter). Reducing the number of transmissions reduces UE power consumption and causes less interference to other UEs and the network. In addition, since the number of PDCCH instructions triggered by the network is smaller, this reduces resource consumption, thereby providing more scheduling flexibility to the network, and since the number of transmissions performed is smaller, network energy consumption may be reduced.

[0128] Several example embodiments have been described with respect to performing RA transmissions based on a power ramp-up counter. Using the value of the power ramp-up counter, power control for RA transmissions (such as UL power control for PRACH transmissions) may be implemented.

[0129] In some example embodiments, first device 110 may determine, in transmission opportunity i, a transmission power P for an RA transmission (such as the second RA transmission or the third RA transmission described above) for a PRACH on an active UL BWP b of carrier f of serving cell c based on the DLRS for serving cell c. PRACH,b,f,c (i). An example determination may be (1): P PRACH,b,f,c (i) = min{P CMAX,f,c (i),P PRACH,target,f,c+PL b,f,c}[dBm] (1) Where P CMAX,f,c (i) is the configured maximum output power for the first device 110, which may be predefined or configured for the carrier f of the serving cell c within the transmission opportunity i, P PRACH,target,f,c is the PRACH target received power PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER provided by higher layers for the active UL BWP b of carrier f serving cell c, and PL b,f,c is the path loss of the active UL BWP b for carrier f, which is based on the DL RS associated with the PRACH transmission on the active DL BWP of serving cell c and is calculated by the first device 110 in dB as referenceSignalPower–higher layer filtered reference signal received power (RSRP) in dBm, where RSRP is predefined and the high layer filter configuration is predefined. If the active DL BWP is the initial DL BWP, and for synchronization signal (SS) / physical broadcast channel (PBCH) blocks and control resource set (CORESET) multiplexing mode 2 or 3, as described, the first device 110 determines the PL based on the SS / PBCH blocks associated with the PRACH transmission. b,f,c .

[0130] In some example embodiments, if the PRACH transmission from the first device 110 is in response to detection of a PDCCH command by the first device 110 triggering a contention-free random access procedure, and depends on a DL RS that is quasi-co-located with the DM-RS of the PDCCH command as described, then the referenceSignalPower is provided by the ss-PBCH-BlockPower.

[0131] Alternatively or additionally, if within the random access response window, the first device 110 does not receive a random access response including a preamble identifier corresponding to a preamble sequence transmitted by the first device 110, the first device 110 determines a transmission power (if any) for subsequent PRACH transmissions.

[0132] If the first device 110 changes the spatial domain transmission filter before PRACH retransmission, L1 notifies the higher layer to suspend the power up counter.

[0133] In some example embodiments regarding the second RA transmission, the second RA transmission may be indicated as an initial transmission or a retransmission. Such an indication may be included in downlink control information (DCI) such as DCI format 1_0. DCI format 1_0 may be used for scheduling of a physical downlink shared channel (PDCSH) in a DL cell.

[0134] The following information can be transmitted through DCI format 1_0 with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by cell-radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) or configured scheduling radio network temporary identifier (CS-RNTI) or modulation and coding scheme C-RNTI (MCS-C-RNTI): Identifier for DCI format - 1 bit, the value of this bit field is always set to 1, indicating DL DCI format, frequency domain resource allocation Bits, of which Is predefined or configured.

[0135] If the CRC of DCI format 1_0 is scrambled by C-RNTI and the "Frequency Domain Resource Allocation" fields are all 1, then DCI format 1_0 is used for random access procedures initiated by PDCCH orders, and all remaining fields are set as follows. Random access preamble index according to ra-PreambleIndex in the specification – 6 bits. UL / Supplementary Uplink Carrier (SUL) Indicator – 1 bit. If the value of "Random Access Preamble Index" is not all zeros and the UE is configured with SupplementaryUplink in ServingCellConfig in the cell, this field indicates which UL carrier in the cell transmits PRACH according to a predefined table; otherwise, this field is reserved. SS / PBCH Index – 6 bits. If the value of "Random Access Preamble Index" is not all zeros, this field indicates the SS / PBCH that will be used to determine the RACH opportunity for PRACH transmission; otherwise, this field is reserved. PRACH Mask Index – 4 bits. If the value of "Random Access Preamble Index" is not all zeros, according to the specification, this field indicates the RACH timing associated with the SS / PBCH indicated by the "SS / PBCH Index" for PRACH transmission; otherwise, this field is reserved. If the first device 110 is configured with high-level parameters XYZ, cell indicator - x bits, which indicates the cell for the corresponding PRACH transmission; otherwise, 0 bit. If the first device 110 is configured with high-level parameters XYZ and the cell indicated by the cell indicator field is a candidate cell, PRACH retransmission indicator - 1 bit, which indicates the initial transmission or retransmission of PRACH according to a predefined table; if the first device 110 is configured with high-level parameters XYZ and the cell indicated by the cell indicator field is a serving cell rather than a candidate cell, this field is reserved; otherwise, 0 bit. Reserved bits - 12 bits for operation in a cell with shared spectrum channel access in frequency range 1, or when this DCI format is monitored in the common search space for operation in a cell in frequency range 2-2; otherwise, 10 bits.

[0136] In some example embodiments, for example further in RAN 1-112, for PDCCH order content, it is agreed that the PDCCH order from the source cell will contain an indication of the candidate cells. Reserved bit(s) may be used for indication of cell identity.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the RA process may be specified as shown in Table 2 below. Table 2

[0138] In some example embodiments, RA preamble transmission may be configured as shown in Table 3 below. Table 3

[0139] Figure 3 Several example embodiments have been described regarding storing and applying the value of a power boost counter in different scenarios. Figure 4 Another example implementation regarding the power boosting process in scenario 1 (eg, for the second RA transmission described above) is described.

[0140] Figure 4 An example signaling diagram 400 for a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. The signaling diagram 400 involves a UE 402 (such as Figure 1 The first device 110 in the embodiment of the present invention may include a DU 404, a DU 406, and a CU 408. The DU 404, the DU 406, and the CU 408 may be included in the embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 DU 404 may include a first cell (referred to as cell 1) and a second cell (referred to as cell 2). DU 406 may include a third cell (referred to as cell 3).

[0141] In About Figure 4 In the description of , it is assumed that cell 1 is a serving cell. It is also assumed that cell 2 is a target cell (such as an LTM target cell), and cell 3 is another target cell (such as an LTM target cell). That is, cell 2 or cell 3 can be a candidate target LTM cell. Figure 4 In the description of FIG. 4 , UE 402 may be configured for PRACH power boosting for LTM cells in the presence of another RACH procedure.

[0142] In operation, UE 402 and DU 404 may perform (410 / 412) data exchange with a serving cell (ie, cell 1). At block 414, UE 402 is configured with LTM to candidate target cell 2 or cell 3.

[0143] In some example embodiments, UE 402 may transmit (416) LTM L1 beam measurements to DU 404. DU 404 may receive (418) the LTM L1 beam measurements. DU 404 may decide (420) TA acquisition for cell 3.

[0144] DU 404 may transmit (422) a PDCCH command to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with an initial Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (424) the PDCCH command. In response to receiving (424) the PDCCH command, UE 402 may transmit (426) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 1. The PRACH preamble may not be received by DU 406.

[0145] In some example embodiments, DU 404 may also decide (430) TA acquisition for cell 3 with power boost. DU 404 may transmit (432) a PDCCH instruction to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with a re-Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (434) the PDCCH instruction. In response to receiving (434) the PDCCH instruction, UE 402 may transmit (436) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 2. The PRACH preamble may not be received by DU 406.

[0146] UE 402 may determine (440) to trigger a RACH to serving cell 1, for example, due to beam failure recovery (BFR) or any other situation. In one option, UE 402 may store (442) the value of the power up counter for LTM cell 3. In another option, UE 402 may refresh (444) the power up counter for LTM cell 3. An RA procedure (446) triggered by UE 402 may be performed. For example, the RA procedure may be a 4-step procedure.

[0147] In such a case, the PRACH process triggered for LTM cell 3 has one or more retransmissions, i.e., the last power up counter in this example is equal to 2. At the same time, another RACH process is triggered. For example, the other RACH process may be triggered by UE 402 at the serving cell (e.g., cell 1), or may be a PRACH triggered by a PDCCH order for another LTM candidate cell (e.g., cell 4 (not shown)).

[0148] UE 402 may transmit (448) the LTM L1 beam measurement to DU 404. DU 404 may receive (450) the LTM L1 beam measurement. DU 404 may decide (452) on TA acquisition for cell 3 with power boost. DU 404 may transmit (454) a PDCCH command to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with a re-Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (456) the PDCCH command. That is, UE 402 receives a RACH triggered by another PDCCH command for LTM cell 3. In some example embodiments, UE 402 may be configured to store the latest power boost counter for LTM cell 3, e.g., 2 in the illustrated case.

[0149] In response to receiving (456) the PDCCH order, these are several options for UE 402. In a first option, referred to as Option 1A, UE 402 may transmit (458) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 3 to DU 406. DU 406 may receive (460) the PRACH preamble. It should be appreciated that in some example embodiments, DU 406 may not be able to receive the PRACH preamble.

[0150] In a second option (referred to as option 1B), UE 402 may transmit (462) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 2 to DU 406. In some cases, DU 406 may not be able to receive the PRACH preamble. DU 404 may decide (466) to acquire TA for cell 3 with power boost. DU 404 may transmit (468) a PDCCH instruction to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with a re-Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (470) the PDCCH instruction. In response to receiving (470) the PDCCH instruction, UE 402 may transmit (472) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 3 to DU 406. In some example embodiments, DU 406 may receive (474) the PRACH preamble.

[0151] In a third option (referred to as option 2), the UE 402 may transmit (476) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 1 to the DU 406. In some cases, the DU 406 may not receive the PRACH preamble. The UE 402 may transmit more PRACH preambles with different Tx powers to the DU 406. For example, the UE 402 may transmit (480) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 3 to the DU 406. In some cases, the DU 406 may receive (482) the PRACH preamble.

[0152] In some example embodiments, in response to receiving the PRACH preamble, DU 406 may transmit 484 a TA value to DU 404. DU 404 may receive 486 the TA value.

[0153] In response to receiving 486 the TA value, DU 404 may transmit 488 a MAC CE trigger for a cell change to UE 402. UE 402 may receive 490 the MAC CE trigger. The MAC CE trigger may indicate cell 3 and the TA value.

[0154] UE 402 may transmit 492 an RRC reconfiguration complete message to DU 406. DU 406 may receive 494 the message.

[0155] Figure 5 Another example signaling diagram 500 for a power boost procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Similar to signaling diagram 400, signaling diagram 500 involves UE 402 (such as Figure 1 404, DU 406, and CU 408. DU 404, DU 406, and CU 408 may be included in Figure 1 DU 404 may include a first cell (referred to as cell 1) and a second cell (referred to as cell 2). DU 406 may include a third cell (referred to as cell 3).

[0156] In About Figure 5 In the description of , it is assumed that cell 1 is a serving cell. It is also assumed that cell 2 is a target cell (such as an LTM target cell) and cell 3 is another target cell (such as an LTM target cell). That is, cell 2 or cell 3 can be a candidate target LTM cell. Figure 4 In the description of FIG. 4 , UE 402 may be configured for PRACH power boosting for LTM cells in the presence of another RACH procedure.

[0157] Similar to signaling diagram 400, in operation, UE 402 and DU 404 may perform (410 / 412) data exchange with a serving cell (ie, cell 1). At block 414, UE 402 is configured with LTM to candidate target cell 2 or cell 3.

[0158] In some example embodiments, UE 402 may transmit (416) LTM L1 beam measurements to DU 404. DU 404 may receive (418) the LTM L1 beam measurements. DU 404 may decide (420) TA acquisition for cell 3.

[0159] DU 404 may transmit (422) a PDCCH command to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with an initial Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (424) the PDCCH command. In response to receiving (424) the PDCCH command, UE 402 may transmit (426) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 1. The PRACH preamble may not be received by DU 406.

[0160] In some example embodiments, DU 404 may also decide (430) TA acquisition for cell 3 with power boost. DU 404 may transmit (432) a PDCCH instruction to UE 402 that triggers a PRACH transmission to cell 3 with a re-Tx flag. UE 402 may receive (434) the PDCCH instruction. In response to receiving (434) the PDCCH instruction, UE 402 may transmit (436) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power boost counter equal to 2. The PRACH preamble may not be received by DU 406.

[0161] In some example embodiments, where UE 402 has performed a PDCCH command-triggered RACH for LTM cell 3 prior to the cell switch, for example, the initial transmission and / or N retransmission transmissions may have failed (e.g., in this example, the power boost counter reaches 2), DU 404 may trigger (510) a cell switch.

[0162] As an example, due to time constraints, the serving cell (e.g., DU 404) decides to trigger a cell switch using RACH-based LTM, but now requires UE 402 to use the latest power boost counter (=2) (e.g., the same value or an incremented value) to determine the PRACH tx power for the PRACH process after the cell switch command instead of resetting the counter value to the initial value.

[0163] DU 404 may transmit (515) a MAC CE triggering a cell change to cell 3 without TA and an indication / configuration to use the latest power up counter to UE 402. In response to receiving (520) the MAC CE triggering a cell change, UE 402 may transmit (525) a PRACH preamble with a Tx power using a power up counter equal to 2 (same) or 3 (increment) to DU 406. DU 406 may receive (530) the PRACH preamble.

[0164] In some example embodiments, in response to receiving (530) the PRACH preamble, DU 406 may transmit (535) a RAR to UE 402. UE 402 may receive (540) the RAR. In response to receiving (540) the RAR, UE 402 may transmit (545) a message to DU 406. In response to receiving (550) the message, DU 406 may transmit (555) a contention resolution to UE 402. UE 402 may receive (560) the contention resolution.

[0165] Figure 3 and Figure 5 Example embodiments of a power boosting procedure have been described.In some example embodiments, the embodiments described with reference to the above signaling diagram 300, signaling diagram 400 and signaling diagram 500 may be used alone or in any suitable combination.

[0166] By using these signaling diagrams 300, 400 and / or 400, the power boosting process may be enhanced, in particular the power boosting for the LTM process. Thus, the perceived performance in the ISAC can be improved.

[0167] Specifically, by storing the value of the power increase counter by the first device 110 or UE 402, when the RA process (referred to as the first RA process) triggered by the PDCCH instruction for the LTM cell is interrupted by another RA process, the first device 110 or UE 402 can continue the first RA process based on the stored value of the power increase counter. In this way, the transmission power of the RA transmission can be appropriately set. Therefore, the number of retransmissions can be reduced. For example, the minimum number of retransmissions can be achieved.

[0168] It should be understood that the above provides some illustrative descriptions and examples, and that specific implementations may vary.

[0169] Figure 6 A flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, Figure 1 The perspective description method 600 of the first device 110 in FIG.

[0170] At block 610, the first device 110 performs a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on the power ramp-up counter. The first random access transmission is associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order.

[0171] At block 620 , the first device 110 stores the value of the power boost counter.

[0172] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further includes: if it is determined that a second random access procedure is to be initiated, storing a value of a power up counter associated with the first random access procedure. The second random access procedure is not initiated by a PDCCH command, or the second random access procedure is initiated by a medium access control (MAC) entity or by a PDCCH command.

[0173] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises: in response to performing the second random access procedure, reinitializing the value of the power up counter.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further includes: receiving a PDCCH instruction indicating a second random access transmission; and performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of a power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0175] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further includes, in response to the second random access transmission being indicated as an initial random access transmission, performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined using a stored value of a power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0176] In some example embodiments, method 600 further includes, in response to the second random access transmission being indicated as a retransmission of the first random access transmission, performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined using one of: a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access process, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access process, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing a default value of the power boost counter, or a reset value of the power boost counter.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission comprises a random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH order without a random access response to a target reference signal or a candidate cell. The second random access transmission is subsequent to at least one random access transmission performed in the first random access procedure without a random access response to a target reference signal or a candidate cell.

[0178] In some example embodiments, method 600 also includes: receiving a cell switching command indicating a switching based on a random access transmission; and performing the random access transmission using a transmission power determined using one of the following items: a stored value of a power boost counter associated with a first random access process, a current value of the power boost counter, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access process, or a reset value of the power boost counter.

[0179] In some example embodiments, the stored value of the power ramp-up counter is associated with at least one of a candidate cell or a target reference signal of the candidate cell, wherein the random access transmission is performed to the candidate cell.

[0180] In some example embodiments, the power ramp-up counter is dedicated to a random access procedure without a random access response, the random access procedure being triggered by a PDCCH command.

[0181] In some example embodiments, a power ramp-up counter is associated with the candidate cell.

[0182] In some example embodiments, the power ramp-up counter is associated with a downlink reference signal of the candidate cell.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises prioritizing the random access resources that have been used for the first random access transmission.

[0184] In some example embodiments, the method 600 further comprises receiving, from the second device, a configuration for using the stored value of the power boost counter.

[0185] Figure 7 A flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, Figure 1 The perspective description method 700 of the second device 120 in FIG.

[0186] At block 710, the second device 120 transmits to the first device a configuration for determining a transmission power of a random access transmission using a stored value of the power ramp-up counter. The random access transmission is associated with a random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) order.

[0187] In some example embodiments, a first device (eg, Figure 1 The first device 110 in the method 600 may include components for performing the corresponding operations of the method 600. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The first device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1In the first device 110.

[0188] In some example embodiments, the first device includes: a component for performing a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power boost counter, the first random access transmission being associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) instruction; and a component for storing a value of the power boost counter.

[0189] In some example embodiments, the first device further includes: if it is determined that a second random access process is to be initiated, storing the value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access process, wherein the second random access process is not initiated by a PDCCH instruction, or the second random access process is initiated by a medium access control (MAC) entity or by a PDCCH instruction.

[0190] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for reinitializing a value of the power up counter in response to performing the second random access procedure.

[0191] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a PDCCH instruction indicating a second random access transmission; and means for performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0192] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing, in response to the second random access transmission being indicated as an initial random access transmission, the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined using a stored value of a power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0193] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a PDCCH instruction indicating a random access transmission without an RAR; and means for performing the random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0194] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving a PDCCH instruction for a random access procedure indicating a random access transmission without an RAR; and means for performing the random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access procedure.

[0195] In some example embodiments, the first device also includes: a component for receiving a PDCCH instruction for a random access procedure indicating a random access transmission without an RAR; and a component for performing the random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of a power boost counter, wherein the stored value of the power boost counter is associated with a previous random access procedure associated with the same target downlink reference signal or cell.

[0196] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined using a stored value of a power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure in response to the second random access transmission being indicated as an initial random access transmission.

[0197] In some example embodiments, the first device also includes: a component for performing the second random access transmission using a transmission power determined using one of the following items: a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access process, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access process, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing a default value of the power boost counter, or a reset value of the power boost counter.

[0198] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission may refer to a subsequent PDCCH instruction triggered random access transmission (without RAR) to a target downlink reference signal (or cell), for which the first device has previously performed at least one PDCCH instruction triggered random access transmission (without RAR) to the target downlink reference signal (or cell).

[0199] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission may refer to a subsequent PDCCH instruction triggered random access transmission (without RAR) to a target downlink reference signal, the target downlink reference signal being associated with a candidate cell, and the first device has performed at least one PDCCH instruction triggered random access transmission (without RAR) for the candidate cell.

[0200] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission may refer to a subsequent random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH instruction without RAR to a target downlink reference signal or a target cell, and the first device has performed at least one random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH instruction without RAR for the target downlink reference signal or the target cell.

[0201] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission may refer to a random access transmission triggered by a subsequent PDCCH instruction without RAR of a new random access procedure to a target downlink reference signal or cell (the first device has performed at least one random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH instruction without RAR for the target downlink reference signal or cell).

[0202] In some example embodiments, the second random access transmission refers to a random access transmission triggered by a subsequent PDCCH instruction without RAR to a target downlink reference signal or a target cell, and the first device has performed at least one random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH instruction without RAR for the target downlink reference signal or the target cell during the first random access process.

[0203] In some example embodiments, the first device also includes: a component for receiving a cell switching command indicating a switching based on a random access transmission; and a component for performing a random access transmission by determining a transmission power using one of the following items: a stored value of a power boost counter associated with the first random access process, a current value of the power boost counter, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access process, or a reset value of the power boost counter.

[0204] In some example embodiments, the stored value of the power ramp-up counter is associated with at least one of a candidate cell or a target reference signal of the candidate cell, wherein the random access transmission is performed to the candidate cell.

[0205] In some example embodiments, the power ramp-up counter is dedicated to a random access procedure without a random access response, the random access procedure being triggered by a PDCCH command.

[0206] In some example embodiments, a power ramp-up counter is associated with the candidate cell.

[0207] In some example embodiments, the power ramp-up counter is associated with a downlink reference signal of the candidate cell.

[0208] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for prioritizing random access resources that have been used for the first random access transmission.

[0209] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a configuration for using the stored value of the power boost counter from the second apparatus.

[0210] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing the method 600 or other operations in some example embodiments of the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

[0211] In some example embodiments, a second device (eg, Figure 1 The second device 120 in the method 700 may include components for performing the corresponding operations of the method 700. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The second device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1 In the second device 120.

[0212] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus includes means for transmitting to the first apparatus a configuration for determining a transmission power for a random access transmission using a stored value of a power ramp-up counter, the random access transmission being associated with a random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command.

[0213] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing the method 700 or other operations in some example embodiments of the second apparatus 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second apparatus to perform.

[0214] Figure 8 8 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 800 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The apparatus 800 may be configured to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1 The first device 110 or the second device 120 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processor 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processor 810.

[0215] The communication module 840 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 840 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 840 may include at least one antenna.

[0216] Processor 810 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may include one or more of the following: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. Device 800 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips, which are time-slaved to a clock that synchronizes a master processor.

[0217] The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 824, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic and / or optical memories. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that will not persist over the duration of a power outage.

[0218] The computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions executed by the associated processor 810. The instructions of the program 830 may include instructions for performing the operations / actions of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 830 may be stored in a memory (e.g., ROM 824). The processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 830 into the RAM 822.

[0219] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 830 so that the device 800 may execute the Figures 3 to 7 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0220] In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or in other storage devices accessible by the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer-readable medium to the RAM 822 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), versus a limitation on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM vs. .ROM).

[0221] Fig. 9 An example of a computer readable medium 900 is shown, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 900 has a program 830 stored thereon.

[0222] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that, as non-limiting examples, the boxes, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0223] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium (such as a non-transitory computer-readable medium). The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those included in a program module that are executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor to perform any method as described above. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules can be combined or split between program modules as needed in different embodiments. The machine executable instructions for the program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0224] The program code for performing the method of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device so that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the implementation of the functions / operations specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine, partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0225] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0226] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of computer readable storage media will include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0227] Further, although the operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring the execution of such operations in the particular order shown or in a sequential order, or the execution of all described operations, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment. Unless explicitly stated, certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, unless explicitly stated, the different features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable subcombination.

[0228] Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Instead, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor cause the first device to: performing a first random access transmission using a transmission power determined based on a power ramp-up counter, the first random access transmission being associated with a first random access procedure initiated by a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) command; as well as The value of the power boost counter is stored.

2. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device: If it is determined that a second random access procedure is to be initiated, the value of the power boost counter associated with the first random access procedure is stored, wherein the second random access procedure is not initiated by the PDCCH instruction, or the second random access procedure is initiated by a medium access control (MAC) entity or by the PDCCH instruction.

3. The first device according to claim 2, wherein the first device is further configured to: In response to performing the second random access procedure, the value of the power ramp-up counter is reinitialized.

4. The first device according to claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the first device is further configured to: receiving a PDCCH command indicating a second random access transmission; and The second random access transmission is performed using a transmission power determined based on a stored value of the power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure.

5. The first device according to claim 4, wherein the first device is further configured to: In response to the second random access transmission being indicated as an initial random access transmission, performing the second random access transmission using the transmission power determined using the stored value of the power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure.

6. The first device according to claim 4, wherein the first device is further configured to: In response to the second random access transmission being indicated as a retransmission of the first random access transmission, performing the second random access transmission using the transmission power determined using one of: the stored value of the power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure, a value of the power ramp-up counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure, a value of the power boost counter generated by incrementing a default value of the power boost counter, or The reset value of the power boost counter.

7. The first device according to claim 4, wherein the second random access transmission comprises a random access transmission triggered by a PDCCH instruction without a random access response to a target reference signal or a candidate cell, and the second random access transmission follows at least one random access transmission without a random access response to the target reference signal or the candidate cell performed in the first random access procedure.

8. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device: receiving a cell handover command indicating a handover based on a random access transmission; and The random access transmission is performed by using a transmission power determined by one of the following: a stored value of the power ramp-up counter associated with the first random access procedure, the current value of the power boost counter, a value of the power up counter generated by incrementing the stored value of the power up counter associated with the first random access procedure, or The reset value of the power boost counter.

9. The first device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the stored value of the power boost counter is associated with at least one of a candidate cell or a target reference signal of the candidate cell, wherein the random access transmission is performed to the candidate cell.

10. The first device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the power up counter is dedicated to a random access procedure without a random access response, the random access procedure being triggered by a PDCCH command.

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