Wireless communication device and wireless communication method for SBFD operation

Abstract

The invention discloses a wireless communication method for sub-band full duplex (SBFD) operation, which is executed by a base station, and comprises the following steps: the base station configures the time / frequency position and bandwidth of a sub-band pool for user equipment (UE) in a cell through radio resource control (RRC) static configuration; and the base station indicates and activates / deactivates a downlink (DL) or an uplink (UL) sub-band of one or more user equipment (UE) in the cell through a physical layer signaling comprising downlink control information (DCI) or a media access control (MAC) layer signaling comprising a control element (CE) of a media access control (MAC).

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication systems, and in particular to wireless communication devices and wireless communication methods for sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) operation in 5G NR (new radio) communication systems. More specifically, the present application discusses an SBFD configuration method, in which a gNB (next generation base station) can statically configure a sub-band pool for a user equipment (UE) in a cell through radio resource control (RRC), and perform dynamic indication and activation / deactivation operations on a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) sub-band of one or more UEs. Background Art

[0002] SBFD operation is a new feature defined in Release 18 and it is not currently defined how to inform the UE of the time and / or frequency location of the subbands that the gNB will use for SBFD operation. Reusing the existing methods of legacy TDD configuration to configure / indicate UEs for SBFD may introduce the following challenges: 1. May increase the high-layer signaling overhead because for each subband, high-layer signaling may need to be configured. In addition, if the time-frequency location of the DL or UL subband changes, the high-layer signaling may need to be reconfigured. 2. May reduce the flexibility of the subband because the subband configuration fixes the subband to be used only in the DL or UL direction in a specific time slot / symbol. 3. May cause coexistence issues between legacy operation and SBFD operation because there are legacy UEs using legacy TDD configuration in the cell. 4. May increase the complexity of the gNB, such as handling the conflict of SSB (DL direction) transmission with UL subband in the same time slot / symbol, or the conflict of PRACH opportunity (UL direction) transmission with DL subband in the same time slot / symbol.

[0003] In the prior art, regarding the configuration of SBFD time / frequency resources and their indication to UE, the proposals submitted to the 3GPP RAN1#109-e meeting mainly focus on configuring DL and UL subbands by reusing the existing TDD-UL-DL-ConfigCommon or TDD-UL-DL-ConfigDedicated. However, none of these proposals focuses on how to reduce the high-level signaling configuration overhead and how to simplify the configuration process.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for a wireless communication device and a wireless communication method that define configuration, indication, and activation / deactivation of DL or UL subbands for one or more UEs in a cell for SBFD operation. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present application is to propose a wireless communication device and a wireless communication method for sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) operation, which can solve the problems in the prior art, define a method for SBFD configuration, indication, and activation / deactivation of one or more UEs in a cell, simplify the configuration process, reduce high-level signaling overhead, make sub-band operation more flexible, simplify the process of conflict handling between SSB and UL sub-band transmission or PRACH opportunity and DL sub-band transmission, and / or provide good communication performance. .

[0006] In the first aspect of the present application, a wireless communication method for a base station for sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) operation includes: the base station configures the time / frequency position and bandwidth of a sub-band pool for a user equipment (UE) in a cell through static configuration of radio resource control (RRC); and the base station indicates and activates / deactivates the downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) sub-band of one or more UEs in the cell through physical layer signaling including downlink control information (DCI) or MAC layer signaling including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0007] In a second aspect of the present application, a base station includes a memory, a transceiver, and a processor connected to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to configure the time / frequency position and bandwidth of a subband pool for a user equipment (UE) in a cell through radio resource control (RRC) static configuration; and the processor is configured to indicate and activate / deactivate a downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) subband of one or more UEs in the cell through physical layer signaling including downlink control information (DCI) or MAC layer signaling including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE).

[0008] In a third aspect of the present application, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium stores instructions, which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above method.

[0009] In a fourth aspect of the present application, a chip includes a processor configured to call and run a computer program stored in a memory so that a device having the chip installed therein executes the above method.

[0010] In a fifth aspect of the present application, a computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, which enables a computer to execute the above method.

[0011] In a sixth aspect of the present application, a computer program product comprises a computer program, which enables a computer to execute the above method.

[0012] In a seventh aspect of the present application, a computer program enables a computer to execute the above method. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or related technologies, the following briefly introduces the drawings to be described in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings are only some embodiments of the present application, and ordinary technicians in this field can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without paying any price.

[0014] Figure 1 It is a block diagram of a base station (e.g., gNB) in a communication network system according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0015] Figure 2 It is a flowchart of a wireless communication method for configuring, indicating and activating / deactivating DL or UL subbands of one or more UEs in a cell, performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0016] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of an example scenario of subband indication and activation / deactivation according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0017] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of cascading subband indication fields and activation / deactivation according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0018] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of DCI alternating bits for DL / UL subband indication and activation / deactivation according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0019] Figure 6 It is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE for indicating and activating / deactivating a subband to a UE according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0020] Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram of an example of a MAC CE for indicating and activating or deactivating a subband to UE1 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0021] Figure 8It is a schematic diagram of an example of a MAC CE for indicating and activating / deactivating a subband to UE2 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0022] Fig. 9 It is a schematic diagram of conflict handling between SSB and UL sub-band transmissions according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0023] Fig.10 It is a schematic diagram of conflict handling between PRACH opportunities and DL subband transmission according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0024] Fig.11 It is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The technical content, structural features, objectives and effects of the present application are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Specifically, the terms in the embodiments of the present application are only used to describe the purpose of specific embodiments, and are not intended to limit the present application.

[0026] The diverse usage scenarios and exponential growth in the number of user equipment (UE) in next-generation wireless communication systems have led to an explosive growth in data traffic, which has put forward higher requirements for spectrum efficiency. To meet these requirements, time division duplex (TDD) systems are widely used in commercial NR deployments. TDD systems use a single spectrum (frequency band) in different time slots for downlink (DL) and uplink (UL) communications, which can more efficiently utilize the available spectrum compared to frequency division duplex (FDD) systems.

[0027] In a traditional TDD system, time domain resources are divided into downlink (DL), uplink (UL), and flexible symbols, which can be used as a protection period for DL, UL, or DL-UL switching. In traditional TDD, the limited time allocated to the uplink leads to reduced coverage, increased latency, and reduced capacity. To improve these limitations, the 3GPP RAN working group approved a study project in Rel-18 to focus on the feasibility of simultaneous DL and UL operation within the traditional TDD band, that is, full-duplex operation, more specifically, sub-band non-overlapping full duplex (SBFD) operation, as shown below: Study potential enhancements of sub-band non-overlapping full duplex and dynamic / flexible TDD (RAN1, RAN4).

[0028] Compared to the characteristics of traditional TDD operation, the main goal of sub-band non-overlapping fullduplex (SBFD) operation is to allow simultaneous transmission of DL and UL in a TDD carrier. However, SBFD operation is a new feature in Rel-18, and the allocation of time-frequency resources to the subbands for SBFD operation in the TDD carrier is still under discussion, as stated in the following agreement reached in the 3GPP RAN1#109-e meeting: Study the impact / potential enhancement of resource allocation in symbols for subbands used for SBFD operation.

[0029] In addition, it is necessary to inform the UE about the time-frequency resource locations of the subbands that the gNB will use for SBFD operation, as described in the following agreement reached in 3GPP RAN1#109-e meeting: Study whether and how to inform the UE about the time and / or frequency locations of the subbands that the gNB will use for SBFD operation.

[0030] Regarding indicating to the UE the time-frequency location of the subbands that the gNB will use for SBFD operation, several proposals submitted to the 3GPP RAN1#109-e meeting mainly focus on reusing existing legacy TDD configurations for SBFD operation. However, reusing existing TDD configurations for SBFD operation may increase the overhead of high-layer signaling and increase the complexity of the gNB in ​​handling the synchronization signal block (SSB) and UL subband transmission or physical random access channel (PRACH) opportunities and DL subband transmissions in the same time slot / symbol. Therefore, the present disclosure further studies a detailed subband configuration / indication method to reduce the high-layer signaling overhead, simplify the configuration process, and make the use of subbands more flexible.

[0031] Figure 1The present invention describes base stations (e.g., gNBs) 10 and 20 for communication in a communication network system 40 in some embodiments, provided according to one embodiment of the present application. The communication network system 40 includes base stations 10 and 20. The base station 10 may include a memory 12, a transceiver 13, and a processor 11 connected to the memory 12 and the transceiver 13. The base station 20 may include a memory 22, a transceiver 23, and a processor 21 connected to the memory 22 and the transceiver 23. The processor 11 or 21 may be configured to implement the functions, processes, and / or methods described herein. The layers of the wireless interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 is operatively connected to the processor 11 or 21 and stores various information for operation by the processor 11 or 21. The transceiver 13 or 23 is operatively connected to the processor 11 or 21, and the transceiver 13 or 23 is used to send and / or receive wireless signals.

[0032] The processor 11 or 21 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipsets, logic circuits and / or data processing devices. The memory 12 or 22 may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, a memory card, a storage medium and / or other storage devices. The transceiver 13 or 23 may include a baseband circuit for processing radio frequency signals. When these embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented by modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the described functions. The modules may be stored in the memory 12 or 22 and executed by the processor 11 or 21. The memory 12 or 22 may be implemented inside the processor 11 or 21 or outside the processor 11 or 21, in which case it may be communicatively connected to the processor 11 or 21 in various ways known in the art.

[0033] In some embodiments, the processor 11 or 21 is configured to configure the time / frequency position and bandwidth of the subband pool for the user equipment (UE) in the cell through radio resource control (RRC) static configuration; and the processor 11 or 21 is configured to indicate and activate / deactivate the downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) subband of one or more UEs in the cell through physical layer signaling including downlink control information (DCI) or MAC layer signaling including medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). This can solve the problems in the prior art, define a method for configuring, indicating and activating / deactivating SBFD for one or more UEs in the cell, simplify the configuration process, reduce high-level signaling overhead, make subband operation more flexible, simplify the process of conflict handling between SSB and UL subband transmission or PRACH opportunity and DL subband transmission, and / or provide good communication performance.

[0034] Figure 2 A wireless communication method 200 for configuring, indicating, and activating / deactivating DL or UL subbands of one or more UEs in a cell is described, the method being performed by a base station according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the method 200 includes: a module 202, in which the base station configures the time / frequency position and bandwidth of a subband pool for a user equipment (UE) in the cell through radio resource control (RRC) static configuration; and a module 204, in which the base station indicates and activates / deactivates downlink (DL) or uplink (UL) subbands of one or more UEs in the cell through physical layer signaling including downlink control information (DCI) or MAC layer signaling including a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). This can solve the problems in the prior art, define a method for configuring, indicating, and activating / deactivating SBFD for one or more UEs in a cell, simplify the configuration process, reduce high-level signaling overhead, make subband operation more flexible, simplify the process of conflict handling between SSB and UL subband transmission or PRACH opportunity and DL subband transmission, and / or provide good communication performance.

[0035] In some embodiments, the RRC static configuration is used to configure SBFD time-frequency resources for the UE in the cell. In some embodiments, the subband pool is a time slot or symbol, wherein the time slot or the symbol is a DL time slot or symbol, a UL time slot or symbol, or a flexible time slot or symbol. In some embodiments, the RRC static configuration includes a TDD-Subband-ConfigCommon information element (IE). In some embodiments, the DCI includes a subband indication field and / or a subband activation / deactivation field. In some embodiments, the subband indication field is used in a single UE-specific or UE group-specific manner and contains N bits in the form of a bitmap, where N is the number of subbands configured by the RRC static configuration, and each bit of the bitmap is associated with a subband. In some embodiments, the indication of the DL or UL subband comes from a bit of the bitmap.

[0036] In some embodiments, a first value of a bit of the bitmap indicates the DL subband to the one or more UEs in the cell, and a second value of a bit of the bitmap indicates the UL subband to the one or more UEs in the cell. In some embodiments, the subband activation / deactivation field is used in a single UE-specific manner and contains N bits in the form of a bitmap, wherein the N number of bits of the subband activation / deactivation field is equal to the N number of bits of the subband indication field. In some embodiments, the subband activation / deactivation field provides the bitmap to a UE, and each bit of the bitmap is associated with the activation / deactivation of a subband. In some embodiments, a first value of a bit of the bitmap activates the DL or UL subband to the UE, and a second value of a bit of the bitmap deactivates the DL or UL subband to the UE. In some embodiments, the base station indicates the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs using a first DCI, and activates / deactivates the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs using a second DCI. In some embodiments, the first DCI is UE group-specific, and indicates the DL or UL subband to a group of UEs by transmitting the subband indication field. In some embodiments, the second DCI is UE-specific, and the DL or UL subband is activated or deactivated to each UE by transmitting the subband activation / deactivation field. In some embodiments, the first DCI is a group-common DCI, whose cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled by a new sub-band indication-radio network temporary identifier (SBI-RNTI), and / or the second DCI is a UE-specific DCI, whose CRC is scrambled by the new SBIRNTI.

[0037] In some embodiments, the base station uses a UE-specific DCI, with the CRC scrambled by a new SBI RNTI, to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs. In some embodiments, the UE-specific DCI sequentially transmits a bitmap of the subband indication field and the subband activation / deactivation field, wherein the first field of the bitmap is used to indicate the DL or UL subband to the UE, and the second field is used to activate or deactivate the DL or UL subband to the UE. In some embodiments, the base station uses alternating bits of the subband indication field and the subband activation / deactivation field of the UE-specific DCI to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs.

[0038] In some embodiments, the MAC CE includes the subband indication field and / or the subband activation / deactivation field. In some embodiments, the subband indication field of the MAC CE indicates the identity of the subband to the one or more UEs, and the length of the subband indication field of the MAC CE is at most 4 bits and varies according to the number of subbands configured by the RRC static configuration. In some embodiments, the bit in the subband indication field of the MAC CE is set to a first value to indicate a DL subband to the UE, which is mapped to the position of the bit, and the bit is set to a second value to indicate a UL subband to the UE, which is mapped to the position of the bit. In some embodiments, the subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE activates / deactivates the DL or UL subband, and the length of the subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE depends on the length of the subband indication field of the MAC CE. In some embodiments, a bit in the subband activation / deactivation field is set to a first value to activate the DL or UL subband, mapped to the position of the bit to the UE, and the bit is set to a second value to deactivate the DL or UL subband, mapped to the position of the bit to the UE.

[0039] In some embodiments, the MAC CE includes one byte for performing indication and activation / deactivation of the DL or UL subband. In some embodiments, if the number of bits in the subband indication field and the subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE is less than one byte, the bit positions that are not mapped to any subband indication or activation / deactivation are left blank.

[0040] In some embodiments, the base station further utilizes the DCI or the MAC CE to handle conflicts between synchronization signal block (SSB) transmissions and the UL subband transmissions in the same time slot or symbol, and conflicts between physical random access channel (PRACH) opportunities and the DL subband transmissions in the same time slot or symbol. In some embodiments, when a SSB region is configured in a resource block (RB) of a subband, the base station uses the DCI or the MAC CE to indicate another subband for UL transmission. In some embodiments, when a PRACH region is configured in an RB of a subband, the base station uses the DCI or the MAC CE to indicate another subband for DL ​​transmission.

[0041] Some embodiments of the present application define a new SBFD configuration method for notifying one or more UEs of the time and / or frequency position of the subbands that the network / gNB will use for SBFD operation. In this example method, the network / gNB will use high-level RRC static configuration to configure the time / frequency position and bandwidth of the subband pool for all UEs participating in SBFD operation in the cell, and the network / gNB will also use physical layer signaling (i.e., DCI) or MAC layer signaling (i.e., MAC CE) to indicate and activate / deactivate DL / UL subbands to one or more UEs in the cell. The main goal of this new configuration method is to simplify the high-level configuration of SBFD operation, reduce high-level signaling overhead, and make SBFD configuration more flexible. Certain embodiments describe static configuration of the time and / or frequency position of the subband pool through RRC high-level configuration. Certain embodiments describe indicating and activating / deactivating DL / UL subbands through DCI or MAC CE. Certain embodiments describe handling conflicts between SSB and UL subband transmissions in the same time slot / symbol, and handling conflicts between PRACH opportunities and DL subband transmissions.

[0042] Static configuration of SBFD time and frequency resources for cells:

[0043] In this embodiment, a static configuration of SBFD time-frequency resource locations and subband bandwidths is defined, wherein the SBFD time-frequency resources are configured to all UEs in a cell through high-layer RRC signaling. In addition, in this configuration, the subband pool is defined in specific time slots or symbols, which can be UL time slots or symbols, DL time slots or symbols, or flexible time slots or symbols.

[0044] The following Information Element (IE) TDD-Subbands-ConfigCommon determines the cell-specific configuration of the subband pool for all UEs in the cell, as shown below.

[0045] TDD-Subband-ConfigCommon information element:

[0046]

[0047]

[0048]

[0049] The description of the sub-band pool configuration IE is shown in Table 1.

[0050] Table 1: Sub-band pool time frequency occupancy field description.

[0051]

[0052] Subband indication and activation / deactivation:

[0053] Some embodiments of the present application explain how to indicate and activate / deactivate configured DL / UL subband resources to one or more UEs through physical layer signaling (e.g., DCI) or MAC layer signaling (e.g., MAC CE). Some embodiments explain how to indicate DL / UL subbands to one or more UEs in a cell and activate or deactivate them through DCI. Some embodiments explain how to indicate DL / UL subbands to one or more UEs in a cell and activate or deactivate them through MAC CE.

[0054] Subband indication and activation / deactivation via DCI:

[0055] In an embodiment of the present application, the network / gNB may use downlink control information (DCI) to indicate the configured subband resources according to the DL or UL traffic direction of the UE, and activate / deactivate the DL / UL subbands to one or more UEs in the cell. To this end, the DCI field containing the indication and activation / deactivation information and its transmission process are described in detail below.

[0056] In order to indicate and activate / deactivate DL / UL subbands, the following information is transmitted via DCI: 1. Subband indication field: The subband indication field of the DCI may be dedicated to a single UE or a UE group, and may contain N bits in the form of a bitmap, where N is the number of subbands configured by the higher layer, as described in the above embodiments. The N bits of the subband indication field of the DCI provide a bitmap for one or more UEs in the cell, where each bit of the bitmap is associated with a subband. The UE may assume the following information from the bitmap of the subband indication field: Number of subbands in N bits: For example, if the number of bits in the bitmap of the subband indication field is 2, the UE may assume that two subbands are configured in the TDD band. Similarly, if the number of bits in the bitmap of the subband indication field is 3, the UE may assume that three subbands are configured in the TDD band. 2. Indicating DL or UL subband from the bit in the bitmap: An embodiment of the present application proposes that a value of a bit in the bitmap is "1" indicating that the subband is a DL subband of one or more UEs in the cell, and a value of a bit in the bitmap is "0" indicating that the subband is a UL subband of one or more UEs in the cell, as shown in Table 2.

[0057] Table 2: Bitmap description of the DL / UL subband indication field based on DCI.

[0058]

[0059] 2. Subband activation / deactivation field: The subband activation / deactivation field of the DCI may be dedicated to a single UE and may contain N bits, where the number of N bits is equal to the number of N bits of the subband indication field. In other words, the number of bits in the subband activation / deactivation field depends on the number of bits in the subband indication field. For example, if the number of bits in the subband indication field is 3, the number of bits in the subband activation / deactivation field is also 3. The subband activation / deactivation field of the DCI provides a bitmap for one UE (UE-specific), where each bit of the bitmap is associated with the activation / deactivation of a subband. This embodiment of the present disclosure proposes that a value of "1" for a bit in the bitmap indicates activation of the DL or UL subband of the UE, and a value of "0" for a bit in the bitmap indicates deactivation of the DL or UL subband of the UE, as shown in Table 3 below.

[0060] Table 3: Bitmap description of DL / UL subband activation / deactivation based on DCI:

[0061]

[0062] In order to transmit the indication and activation / deactivation information of DL / UL subbands to one or more UEs via DCI, some embodiments of the present application propose the following two methods. In addition, some embodiments of the present application consider reusing existing DCI. However, in order to distinguish the subband indication and activation / deactivation functions from other functions performed by the existing DCI, some embodiments of the present application suggest using a new RNTI, such as sub-band indication (SBI) RNTI.

[0063] In method 1, the network / gNB uses two DCIs for indication and activation / deactivation purposes respectively. The first DCI is UE group-specific and is used to transmit the subband indication field to indicate the DL / UL subband to a group of UEs. The second DCI is UE-specific and is used to transmit the subband activation / deactivation field to each UE to activate or deactivate the DL / UL subband. Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 1 , this is an example scenario of subband indication and activation / deactivation in one embodiment of the present disclosure. For example, consider a scenario in which the network / gNB needs to indicate three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and UE2 in a cell, and activate two DL subbands for UE1 and one UL subband for UE2, such as Figure 3 shown.

[0064] In order to indicate the DL / UL subband to UE1 and UE2, a DCI common to the UE group, such as DCI format 2_0, can be used to transmit the indication of the DL / UL subband. Since DCI format 2_0 is used for time slot format indication in the current specification, the CRC of DCI format 2_0 can be scrambled by a new SBI RNTI to distinguish the subband indication from the time slot format indication. In this case, the following indication field can be used to indicate the DL-UL subband for a group of UEs (i.e., UE1 and UE2), as shown in Table 4.

[0065] Table 4: Example of subband indication to a group of UEs:

[0066]

[0067] To activate or deactivate a DL or UL subband, a UE-specific DCI with CRC scrambled by the new SBI RNTI may be used to transmit the subband activation / deactivation field. In this case, the activation / deactivation field may be transmitted to UE1 and UE2 using the DCI given in Tables 5 and 6 below, respectively.

[0068] Table 5: Example of UE1 subband activation / deactivation based on DCI:

[0069]

[0070] Table 6: Example of UE2 subband activation / deactivation based on DCI:

[0071]

[0072] The advantage of method 1 is that it reduces the overall load of DCI, that is, the number of bits in DCI. However, in this method, the amount of physical layer signaling (that is, the number of DCI transmissions) is greater than that of method 2. For example, three DCIs need to be transmitted in the above example.

[0073] In method 2, the network / gNB may use UE-specific DCI with CRC scrambled by the new SBI RNTI to perform indication of DL / UL subbands and their activation / deactivation. To this end, the above-mentioned DCI fields (i.e., subband indication field and subband activation / deactivation field) may be transmitted to each UE participating in SBFD operation through UE-specific DCI. The advantage of method 2 is that the amount of signaling is reduced compared to method 1. However, in method 2, the payload of the DCI or the number of bits in the DCI is greater than that in method 1. For method 2, some embodiments of the present application propose the following two possible options for indication and activation / deactivation through UE-specific DCI.

[0074] Option 1:

[0075] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a cascaded subband indication field and an activation / deactivation field according to an embodiment of the present application. In option 1 of method 2, the network / gNB may use a bitmap of a DL / UL subband indication field and a DL / UL subband activation / deactivation field to transmit in a cascaded form, such as Figure 4 In other words, the UE-specific DCI may sequentially transmit a bitmap of a subband indication field and a subband activation / deactivation field, wherein the first field is used to indicate a DL / UL subband, and the second field is used to activate or deactivate the DL / UL subband of the UE, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0076] For example, consider Figure 3In the scenario in Figure 1, the network / gNB needs to indicate three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and UE2 in the cell, and activate two DL subbands for UE1 and one UL subband for UE2. In order to indicate and activate / deactivate DL / UL subbands to the UEs (i.e., UE1 and UE2), the UE-specific DCI contains a subband indication field and a subband activation / deactivation field through the new SBI RNTI scrambled CRC, which can be transmitted to each UE separately. Since the number of UEs here is two, i.e., UE1 and UE2, the network / gNB can transmit two DCIs to indicate and activate / deactivate the subbands to UE1 and UE2. Table 7 shows an example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and activating two DL subbands. Table 8 shows an example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE2 and activating one UL subband.

[0077] Table 7: Example of indicating three DL-UL subbands to UE1 and activating two DL subbands.

[0078]

[0079] Table 8: Example of sending 3 DL-UL subband indications and 1 UL subband activation to UE2.

[0080]

[0081] The advantage of Option 1 in Method 2 is that it decouples the bitmaps of the two fields, thus simplifying the UE's decoding mechanism for indication and activation / deactivation.

[0082] Option 2:

[0083] Figure 5 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating indicating and activating / deactivating DL / UL subbands through alternating bits of UE-specific DCI according to an embodiment of the present application. In option 2 of method 2, the network / gNB may indicate and activate / deactivate DL / UL subbands to the UE using alternating bits of the DL / UL subband indication field and the activation / deactivation field of the UE-specific DCI, such as Figure 5 shown.

[0084] For example, consider Figure 3In the scenario in Figure 1, the network / gNB needs to indicate three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and UE2 in the cell, and activate two DL subbands for UE1 and one UL subband for UE2. In order to indicate and activate / deactivate DL / UL subbands to UEs (i.e., UE1 and UE2), UE-specific DCIs are transmitted to each UE separately by scrambling CRC with the new SBI RNTI, which contains alternating bits for indicating DL / UL subbands and alternating bits for activating / deactivating DL / UL subbands. Since the number of UEs here is two, i.e., UE1 and UE2, the network / gNB can transmit two DCIs to indicate and activate / deactivate subbands to UE1 and UE2. Table 9 shows an example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and activating two DL subbands by alternating bits. Table 10 shows an example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE2 and activating one UL subband by alternating bits.

[0085] Table 9: Example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE1 by alternating bits and activating two DL subbands.

[0086]

[0087]

[0088] Table 10: Example of indicating three DL / UL subbands to UE2 by alternating bits and activating one UL subband.

[0089]

[0090] The advantage of Option 2 is that each UE can obtain the required information by decoding a smaller number of bits. However, Option 2 has a higher complexity compared to Option 1.

[0091] Subband indication and activation / deactivation via MAC CE:

[0092] Figure 6 1 is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE for indicating and activating / deactivating a subband to a UE according to an embodiment of the present application. In this embodiment of the present application, the network / gNB uses MAC layer signaling to indicate and activate / deactivate the configured DL / UL subband resources to one or more UEs in the cell by sending indication and activation / deactivation information in the MAC CE. To this end, some embodiments of the present application propose a new MAC CE, which consists of an octet, such as Figure 6 shown.

[0093] For subband indication and activation / deactivation, the following information can be transmitted via MAC CE:

[0094] 1. Subband indication field: This field is used to indicate the identity information of the subband, such as whether the subband is a DL subband or a UL subband. The length of this field is up to 4 bits and may vary according to the number of subbands configured by the higher layer. For example, if the number of subbands configured by the higher layer is 3, the length of the subband indication field in the MAC CE is 3 bits. In addition, the bit in the subband indication field of the MAC CE is set to "1" to indicate the DL subband, and the bit in the field is set to "0" to indicate the UL subband. For example, if the bit of a specific bit position is set to "1", it indicates that the subband corresponding to the position is a DL subband; if the bit of the position is set to "0", it indicates that the subband corresponding to the position is a UL subband.

[0095] 2. Subband Activation / Deactivation Field:

[0096] This field is used to activate / deactivate the DL / UL subband. The length of this field depends on the length of the subband indication field. For example, if the length of the subband indication field is 3 bits, the length of the subband activation / deactivation field can also be considered to be 3 bits. In addition, the activation and deactivation of the subband is configured through a bitmap. If the bit of a specific bit position is set to "1", the DL or UL subband corresponding to the position is activated; if the bit is set to "0", the DL or UL subband corresponding to the position is deactivated.

[0097] For transmitting subband indication and activation / deactivation information to one or more UEs in a cell via MAC CE, some embodiments of the present application consider Figure 3 An example scenario is shown in FIG. 1 , where the network / gNB needs to indicate three DL / UL subbands to UE1 and UE2 in the cell and activate two DL subbands for UE1 and one UL subband for UE2. Figure 7 It is a schematic diagram illustrating a MAC CE for indicating and activating / deactivating a subband to UE1 according to an embodiment of the present application. Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a MAC CE for indicating and activating / deactivating a subband to UE2 according to an embodiment of the present application. In this case, when indicating and activating / deactivating a DL / UL subband to UE (i.e., UE1 and UE2), a UE-specific MAC CE containing one octet may be transmitted to UE1 and UE2, such as Figure 7 and Figure 8 As mentioned above, the MAC CE for DL / UL subband indication and activation / deactivation consists of one octet. If the number of bits in the DL / UL subband indication field and the DL / UL subband activation / deactivation field is less than one octet (i.e., 8 bits), the bit positions that are not mapped to any subband indication or activation / deactivation will remain empty. For example, in the above example, the number of bits in the indication field and the activation / deactivation field is 3 bits respectively, so the 4th bit position of each field is empty, as shown in FIG. Figure 7 and Figure 8 shown.

[0098] Collision handling between SSB and UL subbands and PRACH opportunities and DL subbands:

[0099] Some embodiments of the present application discuss potential enhancements to SBFD operation, where the network / gNB can utilize DCI-based indication or MAC CE-based DL / UL subband indication to handle the collision of SSB transmissions with UL subband transmissions in the same time slot / symbol, and the collision of PRACH opportunities with DL subband transmissions in the same time slot / symbol.

[0100] Overlap of SSB and UL transmission directions in the time domain:

[0101] In the current specification, the time domain position of the SSB transmitted in the frame of the SS / PBCH block is indicated by system information, and the UE does not perform UL transmission, i.e., if the UL transmission overlaps with the SS / PBCH block in the time domain, the UE does not transmit PUSCH, PUCCH or PRACH in these time slots / symbols (refer to TS 38.213 Section 11.1).

[0102] Based on this limitation, some embodiments of the present application believe that the gNB should not indicate the location where the SSB overlaps with the RB of the UL subband as a UL subband. Since the method proposed in the above embodiments does not limit the DL and UL subbands to specific subbands, but defines a subband pool that can be indicated and activated / deactivated as a DL or UL subband. Therefore, when the SSB area is configured in the RB of a certain subband, the gNB can use DCI-based indication or MAC CE-based indication to indicate other subbands as UL transmission subbands. Fig. 9 As shown in FIG. 1 , this is an example of conflict handling between SSB and UL subband transmission in one embodiment of the present application. If SSB is configured at the RB position of subband #0, the gNB can use DCI-based indication or MAC CE-based indication to indicate subband #1 and / or subband #2 as the UL subband of the UE, such as Fig. 9 shown.

[0103] Time domain overlap between PRACH and DL directions:

[0104] In a similar or identical manner, when the PRACH region is configured in an RB of a certain subband, the gNB may indicate other subbands as DL transmission subbands using a DCI-based indication or a MAC CE-based indication, as described in the above embodiments. Fig.10As shown, this is an example of conflict handling between PRACH opportunities and DL subband transmissions in an embodiment of the present application. If PRACH is configured at the RB position of subband #1, the gNB can use DCI-based indication or MAC CE-based indication to indicate subband #0 and / or subband #2 as the DL subband of the UE, such as Fig.10 shown.

[0105] In summary, the main goal of some embodiments of the present application is to simplify the configuration process of SBFD operation, reduce high-level signaling overhead, and make subband operation more flexible. To achieve these goals, the proposed solutions are summarized as follows: 1. Use RRC static configuration to explicitly configure a subband pool of SBFD time / frequency resources for UEs in a cell. 2. Use physical layer signaling and MAC layer signaling to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL / UL subbands of one or more UEs. Use a DCI-based bitmap to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL / UL subbands of one or more UEs. Use a MAC CE-based mechanism to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL / UL subbands of one or more UEs. 3. A method for handling conflicts between SSB and UL subband transmissions and between PRACH opportunities and DL subband transmissions is proposed. 4. Some embodiments of the present application propose a new SBFD configuration and a method for indicating it to the UE, which has the following advantages: 1. The proposed method and solution simplify the configuration process of SBFD operation. 2. The proposed method and solution reduce the overhead of high-level configuration. 3. The proposed method and solution make subband operation more flexible. 4. The proposed solution reduces the complexity of coexistence between legacy UEs and SBFD-enabled UEs and handles conflicts between DL and UL transmissions more efficiently.

[0106] Fig.11 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication system 700 according to an embodiment of the present application. The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any appropriately configured hardware and / or software. Fig.11 A system 700 is shown, which includes a radio frequency (RF) circuit 710, a baseband circuit 720, an application circuit 730, a memory / storage device 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input / output (I / O) interface 780, which are coupled to each other at least as shown. The application circuit 730 may include circuits, such as but not limited to one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors, such as a graphics processor, an application processor. The processor may be coupled to a memory / storage device and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications and / or operating systems to run on the system.

[0107] While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiment, but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A wireless communication method for sub-band full-duplex SBFD operation, performed by a base station, characterized in that: include: The base station configures the time / frequency position and bandwidth of the subband pool for the user equipment UE in the cell through radio resource control RRC static configuration; as well as The base station indicates and activates / deactivates the downlink DL or uplink UL subbands of one or more UEs in the cell through physical layer signaling including downlink control information DCI or MAC layer signaling including media access control MAC control element CE.

2. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The RRC static configuration is used to configure SBFD time and frequency resources for the UE in the cell.

3. The wireless communication method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that: The subband pool is a time slot or a symbol, wherein the time slot or the symbol is a DL time slot or a symbol, a UL time slot or a symbol, or a flexible time slot or a symbol.

4. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that: The RRC static configuration includes the TDD-Subband-ConfigCommon information element IE.

5. The wireless communication method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The DCI includes a subband indication field and / or a subband activation / deactivation field.

6. The wireless communication method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The subband indication field is used in a single UE-specific or UE group-specific manner and contains N bits in a bitmap form, where N is the number of subbands configured by the RRC static configuration, and each bit of the bitmap is associated with a subband.

7. The wireless communication method according to claim 6, characterized in that: The indication of the DL or UL subband comes from a bit of the bitmap.

8. The wireless communication method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: A first value of a bit of the bitmap indicates the DL subband to the one or more UEs in the cell, and a second value of a bit of the bitmap indicates the UL subband to the one or more UEs in the cell.

9. The wireless communication method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The subband activation / deactivation field is used in a single UE-specific manner and includes N bits in a bitmap form, wherein the N bits of the subband activation / deactivation field are equal to the N bits of the subband indication field.

10. The wireless communication method according to claim 9, characterized in that: The subband activation / deactivation field provides the bitmap to a UE, and each bit of the bitmap is associated with activation / deactivation of a subband.

11. The wireless communication method according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that: A first value of a bit of the bitmap activates the DL or UL sub-band for the UE, and a second value of the bit of the bitmap deactivates the DL or UL sub-band for the UE.

12. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 5 to 11, characterized in that: The base station indicates the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs using a first DCI, and activates / deactivates the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs using a second DCI.

13. The wireless communication method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The first DCI is dedicated to a UE group and indicates the DL or UL subband to a group of UEs by transmitting the subband indication field.

14. The wireless communication method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that: The second DCI is UE-specific, and activates or deactivates the DL or UL subband for each UE by transmitting the subband activation / deactivation field.

15. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, characterized in that: The first DCI is a group-common DCI, whose cyclic redundancy check CRC is scrambled by a new subband indication-radio network temporary identifier SBI-RNTI, and / or the second DCI is a UE-specific DCI, whose CRC is scrambled by the new SBI RNTI.

16. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 5 to 11, characterized in that: The base station uses the UE-specific DCI, and the CRC is scrambled by the new SBI RNTI, to indicate and activate / deactivate the DL or UL subband for the one or more UEs.

17. The wireless communication method according to claim 16, characterized in that: The UE-specific DCI sequentially transmits the subband indication field and the bitmap of the subband activation / deactivation field, wherein the first field of the bitmap is used to indicate the DL or UL subband to the UE, and the second field is used to activate or deactivate the DL or UL subband to the UE.

18. The wireless communication method according to claim 16, characterized in that: The base station indicates and activates / deactivates the DL or UL subband to the one or more UEs using alternating bits of the subband indication field and the subband activation / deactivation field of the UE-specific DCI.

19. The wireless communication method according to claim 5, characterized in that: The MAC CE includes the subband indication field and / or the subband activation / deactivation field.

20. The wireless communication method according to claim 18, characterized in that: The subband indication field of the MAC CE indicates the identification of the subband to the one or more UEs, and the length of the subband indication field of the MAC CE is at most 4 bits and varies according to the number of subbands configured by the RRC static configuration.

21. The wireless communication method according to claim 20, characterized in that: The bit in the subband indication field of the MAC CE is set to a first value to indicate to the UE a DL subband that is mapped to the position of the bit, and the bit is set to a second value to indicate to the UE a UL subband that is mapped to the position of the bit.

22. The wireless communication method according to claim 19 or 21, characterized in that: The subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE activates / deactivates the DL or UL subband, and a length of the subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE depends on a length of the subband indication field of the MAC CE.

23. The wireless communication method according to claim 22, characterized in that: The bit in the subband activation / deactivation field is set to a first value to activate the DL or UL subband, mapped to the position of the bit to the UE, and the bit is set to a second value to deactivate the DL or UL subband, mapped to the position of the bit to the UE.

24. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 19 to 24, characterized in that: The MAC CE includes one byte for performing indication and activation / deactivation of the DL or UL subband.

25. The wireless communication method according to claim 24, characterized in that: If the number of bits in the subband indication field and the subband activation / deactivation field of the MAC CE is less than one byte, the bit positions that are not mapped to any subband indication or activation / deactivation are left blank.

26. The wireless communication method according to any one of claims 5 to 25, characterized in that: The base station further utilizes the DCI or the MAC CE to handle conflicts between synchronization signal block SSB transmission and the UL subband transmission in the same time slot or symbol, and conflicts between physical random access channel PRACH opportunities and the DL subband transmission in the same time slot or symbol.

27. The wireless communication method according to claim 26, characterized in that: When an SSB area is configured in a resource block RB of a subband, the base station uses the DCI or the MAC CE to instruct another subband for UL transmission.

28. The wireless communication method according to claim 26 or 27, characterized in that: When a PRACH region is configured in an RB of one subband, the base station uses the DCI or the MAC CE to instruct another subband to perform DL transmission.

29. A base station, characterized in that: include: Memory; Transceiver; as well as a processor connected to the memory and the transceiver; The processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

30. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, characterized in that Instructions are stored which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 28.

31. A chip, characterized in that: include: The processor is configured to call and run the computer program stored in the memory so that the device on which the chip is installed executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

32. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: A computer program is stored, the computer program causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

33. A computer program product, characterized in that It comprises a computer program causing a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

34. A computer program, characterized in that The computer program causes a computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 28.

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