System and method for coverage enhancement in non-terrestrial networks

Abstract

The present invention provides a system and a method for coverage enhancement in a non-terrestrial network (Non-Terrestrial Network, NTN), and a method for coverage enhancement in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The wireless communication device determines a time window. The wireless communication device transmits at least one uplink transmission to the wireless communication node according to the time window.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communications, including but not limited to systems and methods for coverage enhancement in non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). Background Art

[0002] The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a standardization organization, is currently developing standards for the new air interface (called 5G New Radio (5G NR)) and the Next Generation Packet Core Network (NG-CN or NGC). 5G NR will have three main components: 5G Access Network (5G-AN), 5G Core Network (5G GC) and User Equipment (UE). In order to facilitate the implementation of different data services and meet different requirements, the components of 5GC (also called network functions) have been simplified, some of which are software-based and some of which are hardware-based, so that these components can be adjusted as needed. Summary of the invention

[0003] The exemplary embodiments disclosed herein are intended to solve one or more problems existing in the related art, and are intended to provide additional features, which will be readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when combined with the accompanying drawings. According to various embodiments, example systems, methods, devices, and computer program products are disclosed herein. However, it should be understood that these embodiments are given as examples rather than limitations, and it is obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art who has read this disclosure that various modifications may be made to the disclosed embodiments (e.g., including combining features from various disclosed examples, embodiments, and / or implementations), but these modifications are still within the scope of this disclosure.

[0004] At least one aspect relates to the following system, method, apparatus, or computer-readable medium. A wireless communication device may determine a time window. The time window includes at least one of a Quasi Colocation (QCL) window or a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) bundling time window. The length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length used to perform precompensation (e.g., Timing Advance (TA) precompensation). The wireless communication device may send at least one uplink transmission to a wireless communication node according to the time window. The time window may include at least one of the following: a DMRS bundling time window; or a Quasi Colocation (QCL) window. The at least one uplink transmission may include multiple DMRSs sent within the DMRS bundling time window. Multiple DMRSs may be bundled. The at least one uplink transmission may be sent within the QCL window. At least one uplink transmission shares the same channel properties.

[0005] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication of the length of the time window from the wireless communication node via first signaling. The first signaling may include at least one of the following: dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling or System Information Block (SIB) signaling.

[0006] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be determined based on predefined or stored information. The predefined or stored information may be for a type of network. The network type may include at least one of: a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network or a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) network.

[0007] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication of a segment length for performing precompensation from the wireless communication node via second signaling. The second signaling may include at least one of the following: dedicated RRC signaling or SIB signaling.

[0008] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be configured independently of the segment length used to perform precompensation. In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be shorter than the segment length.

[0009] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be configured based on the segment length. In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be equal to the segment length.

[0010] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be determined as: Ltimewindow =min(L timewindow,config ,L segment ), where L timewindow is the length of the determined time window, L timewindow,config is the length of the time window indicated by the first signaling, L segment is the segment length indicated via the second signaling.

[0011] In some embodiments, a wireless communication node (e.g., a network) may receive at least one uplink transmission from a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE) according to a time window. The time window may be determined by the wireless communication device. The length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length used to perform precompensation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings. The drawings or diagrams are provided for illustrative purposes only and depict only exemplary embodiments of the present invention to facilitate the reader's understanding of the present invention. Therefore, the drawings should not be considered as limiting the breadth, scope or applicability of the present invention. It should be noted that for clarity and ease of illustration, these drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.

[0013] Figure 1 An example cellular communication network is shown in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0014] Figure 2 A block diagram showing example base station and user equipment apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0015] Figure 3 An example non-terrestrial network (NTN) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figure 4 shows segmented pre-compensation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[0017] Figure 5 A flow chart of coverage enhancement in NTN according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] 1. Mobile communication technology and environment

[0019] Figure 1An example wireless communication network and / or system 100 is shown in which the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the following discussion, the wireless communication network 100 may be any wireless network, such as a cellular network or a narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) network, and is referred to herein as "network 100". Such an example network 100 includes a base station 102 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 102"; also referred to as a wireless communication node) and a user equipment device 104 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 104"; also referred to as a wireless communication device) that may communicate with each other via a communication link 110 (e.g., a wireless communication channel), and a cluster of cells 126, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 covering a geographic area 101. In Figure 1 1, BS 102 and UE 104 are contained within the respective geographic boundaries of cell 126. Each of the other cells 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, and 140 may include at least one base station operating with its allocated bandwidth to provide adequate wireless coverage to its intended users.

[0020] For example, BS 102 may operate on an allocated channel transmission bandwidth to provide adequate coverage to UE 104. BS 102 and UE 104 may communicate via downlink radio frames 118 and uplink radio frames 124, respectively. Each downlink radio frame 118 / uplink radio frame 124 may be further divided into subframes 120 / 127, which may include data symbols 122 / 128. In the present disclosure, BS 102 and UE 104 are described herein as non-limiting examples of "communication nodes", which may generally practice the methods disclosed herein. According to various embodiments of the present solution, such communication nodes are capable of performing wireless and / or wired communications.

[0021] Figure 2 A block diagram of an example wireless communication system 200 for transmitting and receiving wireless communication signals (e.g., Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) / Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signals) according to some embodiments of the present solution is shown. The system 200 may include components and elements configured to support known or conventional operating features that need not be described in detail herein. In an illustrative embodiment, as described above, the system 200 may be used in a communication system such as Figure 1 The wireless communication environment 100 may be used to communicate (eg, transmit and receive) data symbols.

[0022] System 200 generally includes a base station 202 (hereinafter referred to as "BS 202") and a user equipment device 204 (hereinafter referred to as "UE 204"). BS 202 includes a BS transceiver module 210, a BS antenna 212, a BS processor module 214, a BS memory module 216, and a network communication module 218, each of which is coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 220 as needed. UE 204 includes a UE transceiver module 230, a UE antenna 232, a UE memory module 234, and a UE processor module 236, each of which is coupled to and interconnected with each other via a data communication bus 240 as needed. BS 202 communicates with UE 204 via a communication channel 250, which can be any wireless channel or other medium suitable for data transmission as described herein.

[0023] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the system 200 may also include Figure 2 Any number of modules outside the modules shown. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative blocks, modules, circuits, and processing logic described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in hardware, computer-readable software, firmware, or any actual combination thereof. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability and compatibility of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are generally described according to their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware, firmware, or software depends on the specific application and design constraints imposed on the entire system. People familiar with the concepts described herein can implement such functions in a manner suitable for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure.

[0024] According to some embodiments, the UE transceiver 230 may be referred to herein as an "uplink" transceiver 230, which includes a Radio Frequency (RF) transmitter and an RF receiver, each including circuitry coupled to an antenna 232. A duplex switch (not shown) may alternatively couple the uplink transmitter or receiver to the uplink antenna in a time duplex manner. Similarly, according to some embodiments, the BS transceiver 210 may be referred to herein as a "downlink" transceiver 210, which includes an RF transmitter and an RF receiver, each including circuitry coupled to an antenna 212. The downlink duplex switch may alternatively couple the downlink transmitter or receiver to the downlink antenna 212 in a time duplex manner. The operation of the two transceiver modules 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time such that the downlink receiver circuit is coupled to the downlink antenna 232 so as to receive transmissions over the wireless transmission link 250 while the downlink transmitter is coupled to the downlink antenna 212. Instead, the operation of the two transceivers 210 and 230 may be coordinated in time such that the downlink receiver coupled to the downlink antenna 212 receives transmissions over the wireless transmission link 250 at the same time as the uplink transmitter coupled to the uplink antenna 232. In some embodiments, tight time synchronization with minimal guard times between changes in duplex direction is provided.

[0025] The UE transceiver 230 and the BS transceiver 210 are configured to communicate via a wireless data communication link 250 and cooperate with an appropriately configured RF antenna arrangement 212 / 232 that can support a specific wireless communication protocol and modulation scheme. In some illustrative embodiments, the UE transceiver 210 and the BS transceiver 210 are configured to support industry standards such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) and emerging 5G standards. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to application to specific standards and related protocols. Instead, the UE transceiver 230 and the BS transceiver 210 can be configured to support alternative or additional wireless data communication protocols, including future standards or variations thereof.

[0026] According to various embodiments, for example, BS 202 may be an evolved Node B (eNB), a serving eNB, a target eNB, a femtocell or a microcell. In some embodiments, UE 204 may be embodied in various types of user equipment, such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computing device, etc. Processor modules 214 and 236 may be implemented or completed with a general purpose processor, a content addressable memory, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, any suitable programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof for performing the functions described herein. In this way, the processor may be implemented as a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a state machine, etc. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other such configuration.

[0027] In addition, the steps of the methods or algorithms described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in firmware, in software modules executed by processor modules 214 and 236, respectively, or in any practical combination thereof. Memory modules 216 and 234 may be implemented as RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. In this regard, memory modules 216 and 234 may be coupled to processor modules 210 and 230, respectively, so that processor modules 210 and 230 may read information from and write information to memory modules 216 and 234, respectively. Memory modules 216 and 234 may also be integrated into their respective processor modules 210 and 230. In some embodiments, memory modules 216 and 234 may each include a cache memory for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during the execution of instructions executed by processor modules 210 and 230, respectively. Memory modules 216 and 234 may also each include non-volatile memory for storing instructions to be executed by processor modules 210 and 230, respectively.

[0028] The network communication module 218 generally represents the hardware, software, firmware, processing logic and / or other components of the base station 202 that enable bidirectional communication between the BS transceiver 210 and other network components and communication nodes configured to communicate with the base station 202. For example, the network communication module 218 can be configured to support Internet or WiMAX services. In a typical deployment, but not limited to, the network communication module 218 provides an 802.3 Ethernet interface so that the BS transceiver 210 can communicate with a traditional Ethernet-based computer network. In this way, the network communication module 218 can include a physical interface for connecting to a computer network (e.g., a Mobile Switching Center (MSC)). The terms "configured for", "configured to" and their conjugates used herein for a specific operation or function refer to a device, component, circuit, structure, machine, signal, etc. that is physically constructed, programmed, formatted and / or arranged to perform a specific operation or function.

[0029] The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (referred to herein as the "OSI model") is a conceptual and logical layout that defines network communications used by systems (e.g., wireless communication devices, wireless communication nodes) that are open to interconnection and communication with other systems. The model is divided into seven subcomponents or layers, each representing a conceptual set of services provided to the layers above and below it. The OSI model also defines a logical network and effectively describes computer packet transmission by using different layer protocols. The OSI model may also be referred to as a seven-layer OSI model or a seven-layer model. In some embodiments, the first layer may be a physical layer. In some embodiments, the second layer may be a medium access control (MAC) layer. In some embodiments, the third layer may be a radio link control (RLC) layer. In some embodiments, the fourth layer may be a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. In some embodiments, the fifth layer may be a radio resource control (RRC) layer. In some embodiments, the sixth layer may be a non-access (NAS) layer or an Internet Protocol (IP) layer, and the seventh layer is another layer.

[0030] Various exemplary embodiments of the present solution are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art can make and use the present solution. It is obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that, after reading this disclosure, various changes or modifications can be made to the examples described herein without departing from the scope of the present solution. Therefore, the present solution is not limited to the exemplary embodiments and applications described and shown herein. In addition, the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the method disclosed herein is merely an example method. Based on design preferences, the specific order or hierarchy of the steps of the disclosed method or process can be rearranged while remaining within the scope of the present solution. Therefore, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the methods and techniques disclosed herein present various steps or actions in a sample order, and unless otherwise expressly stated, the present solution is not limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

[0031] 2. Systems and methods for coverage enhancement in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) Coverage enhancement for NTN can alleviate performance losses due to the long distance between UE and satellite. Enhancement of terrestrial networks (TN) may include demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling and / or joint channel estimation (JCE). However, due to the high mobility of satellites in NTN, timing drift may be rapid and the timing advance (TA) pre-compensation value may be adjusted frequently. DMRS with different TA pre-compensations may be irrelevant and may not be bundled. In the present disclosure, how to bundle DMRS while taking TA pre-compensation into account is studied. The systems and methods proposed herein include new methods for coverage enhancement in non-terrestrial networks.

[0032] Figure 3 An example representation of an NTN is shown, for example, a transparent NTN. In some embodiments, the link between the UE and the satellite may be a serving link. The link between the base station (BS) and the satellite may be a feeder link. The feeder link may be common to all UEs in the same cell.

[0033] In a TN system, methods for coverage enhancement may include: repetition and / or joint channel estimation (Joint Channel Estimation, JCE). For the repetition method, the transmitter may repeatedly transmit a message over a period of time. The receiver may combine repeated transmissions and may improve decoding performance. For the JCE method, reference signals (RS) at different time instances may be used jointly to estimate the channel. JCE may provide better channel estimation and / or better decoding performance. In the JCE method, DMRS may be bundled, for example, and considered as quasi colocation (QCL) in channel estimation.

[0034] Segmented pre-compensation can apply different TA and / or frequency offset pre-compensation to different components of a single uplink (UL) transmission. In order to avoid the timing offset / frequency offset (TO / FO) exceeding the allowable range, the pre-compensated TA and / or Doppler can be adjusted after a period of time to mitigate the timing and / or frequency drift caused by satellite mobility. When the adjustment period is shorter than the total time of a single transmission (with multiple repetitions), the transmission can be divided into multiple segments. Each segment can be applied to or have a TA and / or Doppler pre-compensation value applied.

[0035] Implementation Example 1: DMRS bundling with segmented pre-compensation

[0036] DMRS bundling can be considered as a method to enhance coverage performance. DMRS bundling can be used to estimate reference signaling in a channel. DMRS bundling may include / use / involve multiple demodulation reference signals (DMRS). In UL transmission, DMRS in multiple time slots can be bundled, for example, for channel estimation. DMRS in the same bundle are considered to be coherent. DMRS within a DMRS bundling time window can be bundled, for example, for channel estimation. Similarly, some or all (e.g., types of) signals within a QCL window may be grouped or bundled for a specific purpose and / or with certain characteristics. For example, DMRS within the same bundle may be highly correlated with each other. In this case, JCE may be performed across multiple time slots to improve channel estimation performance. The detection performance of the data may be improved accordingly. A larger DMRS bundling size may improve JCE performance.

[0037] However, if segmented pre-compensation is performed, the TA applied at / on different segments may be different. The time / frequency coherence of the signals in different segments may be reduced. In this case, the DMRS in different segments may not be considered as quasi-co-located (QCL). Therefore, the DMRS bundled across multiple segments may not provide better performance.

[0038] The UE may determine a time window. The length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length for performing pre-compensation. The time window includes at least one of a quasi-co-location (QCL) window or a DMRS bundling time window. The UE may send at least one uplink transmission to the network according to the time window. The at least one uplink transmission may include multiple DMRSs sent within the DMRS bundling time window. Multiple DMRSs may be bundled (e.g., within the QCL window). In some embodiments, multiple DMRSs will be used for JCE. The UE may receive an indication of the length of the QCL window from the network via a first signaling. The UE may receive an indication of the segment length for performing pre-compensation from the network via a second signaling (e.g., RRC or SIB signaling).

[0039] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length used to perform (TA and / or other) pre-compensation. The time window may affect or be applied to a signal within the window, for example, a DMRS for DMRS bundling. The time window may be a QCL window. The QCL window may include different reference signals, for example, DMRS and / or a sounding reference signal (SRS). The configuration method for DMRS bundling for NTN may include at least one of the following methods (i) to (iv). (i) The length of the QCL window / DMRS bundling time window may be directly configured by the network via SIB broadcast or dedicated RRC signaling. (ii) The length of the QCL window / DMRS bundling time window may be determined based on predefined or stored information. For example, different DMRS bundling sizes may be defined for different types of networks. The predefined or stored information may be for one type of network. The network type may include at least one of the following: a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network or a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) network. Information on different DMRS bundling sizes for different types of networks (e.g., LEO networks and GEO networks) may be listed / stored / specified / maintained in a predefined table. (iii) The length of the QCL window / DMRS bundling time window may be determined based on the DMRS bundling size and / or the segment length used for pre-compensation obtained by the previous two methods (i) and (ii). DMRS bundling size and segmented pre-compensation may be considered / enabled. If the configured DMRS bundling size is larger than the segment length for pre-compensation, the final DMRS bundling size may be equal to the segment length. The final DMRS bundling size may be L DMRSbundling =min(L DMRSbundling,config ,L segment ). (iv) The length of the QCL window / DMRS bundling time window can be equal to the segment length. As described above, the size of the DMRS bundle may be large, but should not be larger than the pre-compensated segment length. Therefore, directly setting the DMRS bundle size equal to the segment length may be a suitable option. In this case, only one indication is sufficient. In some embodiments, since segment length configuration is supported in the NTN system, the DMRS bundle size can be directly set / configured to the segment length without additionally defining signaling for the DMRS bundle size configuration.

[0040] The DMRS bundling size may be configured based on at least one of: (1) predefined / prestored information; (2) SIB broadcast signaling; or (3) dedicated RRC signaling. In some embodiments, when the segment length is indicated by the network, the DMRS bundling size may be determined as at least one of: (1) a configured DMRS bundling size that is independent of / regardless of the segment length; (2) a smaller / minimum value of the configured DMRS bundling size and the segment length used for precompensation (e.g., L DMRSbundling =min(L DMRSbundling,config ,L segment )); (3) The segment length for pre-compensation is independent of / without considering the DMRS bundling size configuration. In some embodiments, for method (2), the DMRS bundling size L can be further reduced. DMRSbundling , so that the segment length L segment Can be L DMRSbundling Divisible.

[0041] Implementation Example 2: Frame Combination Length and DMRS Bundling

[0042] In NTN, voice service may be a key issue to be studied. In voice service, delay may be an important constraint. Due to the delay constraint, each voice frame can be transmitted within 20ms. Therefore, up to 20 time slots can be considered in DMRS bundling and joint channel estimation.

[0043] However, when frame combining is allowed in voice service, the DMRS bundling size can be larger. For example, if two voice frames can be transmitted in the same transport block, the maximum allowed delay can be 40ms. The average delay per frame can still be 20ms. Although the code rate remains basically unchanged, a larger DMRS bundling window can be obtained. With more DMRS in JCE, the channel estimation performance can be better and the overall detection performance can be improved.

[0044] In some embodiments, the network may indicate the frame combining length / factor to the UE via SIB broadcast, dedicated RRC signaling, or higher layer signaling.The DMRS bundling size may be equal to the product of the configured DMRS bundling and the frame combining length / factor.

[0045] In some embodiments, the network may indicate the frame combination length / factor to the UE via SIB broadcast, dedicated RRC signaling, or high-layer signaling. The segment length may be determined based on the configured segment length and frame combination length / factor. The UE may ensure that the frequency offset (FO) is less than the threshold for UL transmission segmentation.

[0046] Implementation Example 3: Msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH Repetition

[0047] In the NR system, msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH repetition may not be supported. In NTN, due to large propagation loss, the detection performance of msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH may be poor and may not meet the requirements. In order to alleviate the performance loss, repetition of msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH may be supported. Two repetitions are sufficient to meet the performance requirements in the NTN scenario. Therefore, at least one of the following signaling methods (i) and (ii) may be supported. (i) The network may indicate 1-bit signaling to the UE. When 0 is indicated or no signaling is indicated, msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH repetition may not be supported. When 1 is indicated, msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH repetition may be supported, and the number of repetitions may be 2. (ii) The network may indicate 1-bit signaling to the UE. When 1 is indicated or no signaling is indicated, msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH repetition may not be supported. When 0 is indicated, msg4 HARQ-ACK PUCCH repetition may be supported, and the number of repetitions may be 2. The signaling may be indicated in msg4 carried in PDSCH, SIB broadcast, MACCE, or dedicated RRC signaling.

[0048] It should be understood that one or more features from the above-mentioned implementation examples are not exclusive of a specific implementation example, but can be combined in any manner (for example, in any priority and / or order, simultaneously or in other manners).

[0049] Figure 5 A flowchart of coverage enhancement in a non-terrestrial network (NTN) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The method 500 may be implemented by any one or more components and devices described in detail. In general, in some embodiments, the method 500 may be performed by a wireless communication device. Depending on the embodiment, additional, fewer or different operations may be performed in the method 500. At least one aspect of the operation involves a system, method, device or computer-readable medium.

[0050] The wireless communication device may determine a time window. The time window includes at least one of a QCL window or a DMRS bundling time window. The length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length used to perform one or more types of pre-compensation. The wireless communication device may send at least one uplink transmission to the wireless communication node according to the time window. The time window may include at least one of the following: a DMRS bundling time window; or a QCL window.

[0051] The at least one uplink transmission may include multiple DMRSs sent within a DMRS bundling time window. Multiple DMRSs may be bundled (e.g., occurring within a DMRS bundling time window or a bundling size). At least one uplink transmission sent within a QCL window may share the same channel properties.

[0052] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication of the length / size / duration of the time window from the wireless communication node via first signaling. The first signaling may include at least one of the following: dedicated RRC signaling or SIB signaling.

[0053] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be determined based on predefined or stored information. The predefined and / or stored information may be for a type of network. The network type may include at least one of the following: a LEO network or a GEO network.

[0054] In some embodiments, the wireless communication device may receive an indication of a segment length for performing precompensation from the wireless communication node via second signaling. The second signaling may include at least one of the following: dedicated RRC signaling or SIB signaling.

[0055] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be configured independently of the segment length used to perform precompensation. In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be shorter than (or equal to) the segment length.

[0056] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be configured based on the segment length. In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be (eg, configured to be) equal to (or shorter than) the segment length (or a specific fraction of the segment length).

[0057] In some embodiments, the length of the time window may be determined as: timewindow =min(L timewindow,config ,L segment ), where L timewindow is the length of the determined time window, L timewindow,config is the length of the time window indicated by the first signaling, L segment is the segment length indicated via the second signaling.

[0058] In some embodiments, a wireless communication node (e.g., of a network, specifically, e.g., of a base station) may receive at least one uplink transmission (e.g., multiple DMRS) from a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE) according to a time window (e.g., bundled within or according to the time window). The time window may be determined by the wireless communication device. The length of the time window may be at most equal to the segment length used to perform precompensation. The wireless communication node may receive and / or use at least one uplink transmission to perform joint channel estimation and / or precompensation (e.g., calculate / generate a TA precompensation value).

[0059] Although various embodiments of the present solution have been described above, it should be understood that they are provided only in an exemplary and non-restrictive manner. Similarly, various figures can depict example architectures or configurations, and these example architectures or configurations are provided to enable those of ordinary skill in the art to understand the exemplary features and functions of the present solution. However, these personnel will understand that the present solution is not limited to the example architectures or configurations shown, but can be implemented using a variety of alternative architectures and configurations. In addition, as those of ordinary skill in the art will understand, one or more features of an embodiment can be combined with one or more features of another embodiment described herein. Therefore, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-mentioned exemplary embodiments.

[0060] It should also be understood that any reference to an element herein using names such as "first," "second," etc. does not generally limit the number or order of those elements. Rather, these names may be used herein as a convenient means of distinguishing between two or more elements or instances of an element. Thus, a reference to a first and a second element does not mean that only two elements can be employed, or that the first element must precede the second element in some manner.

[0061] In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, and symbols that may be referenced in the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0062] Those of ordinary skill in the art will further understand that any of the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, processors, devices, circuits, methods, and functions described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented by electronic hardware (e.g., digital implementation, analog implementation, or a combination of both), firmware, various forms of programs or design codes containing instructions (for convenience, referred to herein as "software" or "software modules"), or any combination of these technologies. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware, firmware, and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functions. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware, firmware, or software, or a combination of these technologies, depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. A skilled person may implement the described functionality in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions will not cause a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0063] In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, devices, components and circuits described herein may be implemented or performed in an integrated circuit (IC) including a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof. The logic blocks, modules and circuits may further include antennas and / or transceivers to communicate with various components within a network or within a device. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP core, or any other suitable configuration to perform the functions described herein.

[0064] If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Therefore, the steps of the method or algorithm disclosed herein may be implemented as software stored on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that enables a computer program or code to be transferred from one place to another. The storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, and any other medium that can be used to store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0065] As used herein, the term "module" refers to software, firmware, hardware, and any combination of these elements to perform the relevant functions described herein. In addition, for the purpose of discussion, various modules are described as discrete modules; however, it is obvious to a person skilled in the art that two or more modules can be combined to form a single module that performs the relevant functions of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0066] In addition, memory or other storage and communication components can be used in the embodiments of the present solution. It should be understood that, for the sake of clarity, the above description has described the embodiments of the present solution with reference to different functional units and processors. However, it will be apparent that any appropriate functional distribution between different functional units, processing logic elements or domains can be used without departing from the present solution. For example, the functions illustrated as being performed by a separate processing logic element or controller can be performed by the same processing logic element or controller. Therefore, references to specific functional units are only references to suitable devices for providing the described functions, rather than indicating a strict logical or physical structure or organization.

[0067] Various modifications to the embodiments described in this disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Therefore, this disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the novel features and principles disclosed herein, as described in the following claims.

Claims

1. A method comprising: The wireless communication device determines a time window; as well as The wireless communications apparatus sends at least one uplink transmission to a wireless communications node according to the time window.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The time window includes at least one of the following: Demodulation reference signal DMRS bundling time window; or Quasi-co-sited QCL window.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The at least one uplink transmission includes a plurality of DMRSs transmitted within a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling time window, and Wherein, the multiple DMRSs are bundled.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The at least one uplink transmission sent within the quasi co-located QCL window shares the same channel properties.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising: The wireless communication apparatus receives an indication of a length of the time window from the wireless communication node via first signaling.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: The first signaling includes at least one of the following: dedicated radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB signaling.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Include at least one of the following: Determining the length of the time window based on predefined or stored information; or The predefined or stored information is for a type of network, and the type of network includes at least one of the following: a low earth orbit (LEO) network or a geostationary earth orbit (GEO) network.

8. The method according to claim 1, comprising: The wireless communication apparatus receives, via second signaling, an indication of a segment length for performing precompensation from the wireless communication node.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein: The second signaling includes at least one of the following: dedicated radio resource control RRC signaling or system information block SIB signaling.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time window is configured independently of the segment length used to perform precompensation.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time window is shorter than the segment length.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time window is configured based on the segment length.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time window is equal to the segment length.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The length of the time window is determined as: L timewindow =min(L timewindow,config ,L segment ) Among them, L timewindow is the length of the time window, L timewindow,config is the length of the time window indicated via the first signaling, L segment is the segment length indicated via the second signaling.

15. A method comprising: The wireless communication node receives at least one uplink transmission from the wireless communication device according to the time window, The time window is determined by the wireless communication device.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. An apparatus comprising at least one processor configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 15.

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