Timing advance group indication

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses, and computer readable storage media for blind user equipment (UE) specific timing advance group (TAG) indication. The method includes determining, at a first device, whether to obtain, from a second device, an association between at least one TAG of the first device and respective one or more indices in RAR, the at least one TAG being associated with SpCell; and determining a suitability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first device based on the determination of the association.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for timing advance group (TAG) indication, especially for blind user equipment (UE) specific TAG indication. Background Art

[0002] The main targets for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) enhancements are likely to involve beam management, multiple transmission and reception points (mTRP) for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), mTRP for enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and time division duplex (TDD) / frequency division duplex (FDD) reciprocity. Summary of the invention

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the first device at least: determines whether an association between at least one TAG of the first device and one or more corresponding indexes in a random access response (RAR) is obtained from a second device, and the at least one TAG is associated with a special cell (SpCell); and based on the determination of the association, determines the applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first device.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory, wherein the at least one memory stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by the at least one processor, the second device at least: configures an association between at least one TAG of the first device and one or more corresponding indexes in the RAR to the first device, and the at least one TAG is associated with the SpCell.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: determining, at a first device, whether an association between at least one TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a RAR is obtained from a second device, the at least one TAG being associated with a SpCell; and determining, based on the determination of the association, the applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first device.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: configuring, from a second device to a first device, an association between at least one timing TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a RAR, wherein at least one TAG is associated with a SpCell.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes: a component for determining whether to obtain an association between at least one TAG of the first device and one or more corresponding indexes in a RAR from a second device, wherein the at least one TAG is associated with a SpCell; and a component for determining the applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first device based on the determination of the association.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes: a component configured to configure, for a first device, an association between at least one TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a RAR, wherein the at least one TAG is associated with a SpCell.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing a device to at least execute the method according to the third aspect.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon for causing a device to at least execute the method according to the fourth aspect.

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

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

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

[0014] Figure 2 shows a signaling diagram for illustrating an example of a process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] Figure 3 An example of a message format including a TAG indication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0016] Figure 4 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0017] Figure 5 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 6 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0019] Figure 7 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium is shown according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration, and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. In addition to the methods described below, the embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways.

[0022] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0023] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments (whether or not explicitly described).

[0024] It should be understood that, although the terms "first", "second", etc. can be used before (multiple) nouns herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element, and they do not limit the order of (multiple) nouns. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiment, the first element can be referred to as the second element, and similarly, the second element can be referred to as the first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more listed terms.

[0025] As used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions (wherein a list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”) refer to at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0026] As used herein, unless explicitly stated, performing a step “in response to A” does not mean performing the step immediately after “A” occurs, but may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0027] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that when used herein, the terms "comprises", "including", "having", "having", "including", and / or "comprising" specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and / or combinations thereof.

[0028] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware circuit implementation only (e.g., implementation only in analog and / or digital circuits), and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuits and software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor(s)), software and memory(s) with software that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions; and (c) hardware circuit(s) that require software (e.g., firmware) for operation and / or or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion(s) of microprocessor(s), but software may not be present when not required for operation.

[0029] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to a particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0030] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, for example, New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G) communication protocol and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there are of course future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. It should not be considered that the scope of the present disclosure is limited to the above-mentioned system.

[0031] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. A network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a repeater, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low-power node (e.g., a femto, a micro), a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or a non-terrestrial network device (such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, etc.), depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, a radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves like a UE toward a parent node, and a DU portion of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward a next-hop IAB node.

[0032] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, the terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback facility, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless client equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in industrial and / or automatic processing chain environments), consumer electronic devices, equipment operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) part of an IAB node (eg, a relay node).In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0033] As used herein, the terms "resource", "transmission resource", "resource block", "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource" or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the spatial domain, a resource in the code domain, or any other combination of time domain resources, frequency domain resources, spatial domain resources, code domain resources, etc. that enable communication. In the following, unless explicitly stated, resources in the frequency domain and the time domain will be used as examples of transmission resources for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be noted that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0034] As used herein, the term "transmission reception point (TRP)" may refer to an antenna port or antenna array (having one or more antenna elements) available to a network device located at a specific geographic location. For example, a network device may be coupled to multiple TRPs in different geographic locations to achieve better coverage. Alternatively or additionally, multiple TRPs may be incorporated into a network device, or in other words, a network device may include multiple TRPs. The term "TRP" may also be referred to as a cell, such as a macro cell, a small cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a remote radio head, a relay node, and the like. It should be understood that the term "TRP" may refer to a logical concept that can be physically implemented in various ways. For example, a TRP may refer to or correspond to a physical cell identifier (PCI) or a control resource set (CORESET) pool index (ie, CORESETPoolIndex). In the example embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably with the term "PCI" or "CORESETPoolIndex".

[0035] Figure 1 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. Figure 1 As shown, the communication network 100 may include a first device 110-1 and a first device 110-2. Each of the first device 110-1 and the first device 110-2 may be referred to as a terminal device (eg, UE). Hereinafter, the first device 110-1 and the first device 110-2 may be collectively referred to as the first device 110.

[0036] The communication network 100 may also include a second device 120-1 and a second device 120-2. Each of the second device 120-1 and the second device 120-2 may be referred to as a network device (e.g., a gNB or a TRP). Hereinafter, the second device 120-1 and the second device 120-2 may be collectively referred to as the second device 120.

[0037] Both the second device 120-1 and the second device 120-2 can serve the first device 110. That is, each of the second device 120-1 and the second device 120-2 can serve the first device 110 within its serving cell. In this case, the serving cell associated with the second device 120-1 and the serving cell associated with the second device 120-2 can be referred to as the SpCell 102 of the first device 110. The SpCell can be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and / or a primary secondary cell (PSCell).

[0038] In some scenarios, the first device 110 may be configured with multiple TRPs (MTRPs), for example, a first TRP (eg, the second device 120 - 1 ) and a second TRP (eg, the second device 120 - 2 ) within the SpCell of the first device 110 .

[0039] When the first device 110 communicates with the second device 120 in the serving cell, it should be understood that the first device 110 can communicate with one or both of the first TRP and the second TRP. For example, the terminal device may be allowed to send and / or receive control information and data from the first TRP and the second TRP.

[0040] It should be understood that Figure 1 The number of network devices and terminal devices shown is given for illustrative purposes and does not imply any limitation. Communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

[0041] In some example embodiments, the link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL), and the link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL). In the DL, the second device 120 is a transmission (TX) device (or transmitter), and the first device 110 is a reception (RX) device (or receiver). In the UL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter), and the second device 120 is an RX device (or receiver).

[0042] The communication in the communication environment 100 can be implemented according to any suitable (multiple) communication protocols, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. In addition, the communication can utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or developed in the future.

[0043] As discussed above, MIMO has been widely used in current wireless communication systems. In particular, MIMO is one of the key technologies in NR systems and is successful in commercial deployment. MIMO features are studied and specified for both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) systems, with the main part being used for downlink MIMO operation.

[0044] It is important to identify and specify the necessary enhancements for UL MIMO, while the necessary enhancements to facilitate the use of large antenna arrays, not only for frequency range 1 (FR1) but also for downlink MIMO in frequency range 2 (FR2) will still need to be introduced to meet the requirements of the evolution of NR deployment. This includes the following enhancement areas.

[0045] First, especially in multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) scenarios, significant performance loss of UEs at high / medium speeds has been observed in commercial deployments. Since the performance loss is partly caused by outdated channel state information (CSI), enhancements to CSI acquisition to mitigate this loss may be beneficial.

[0046] Second, a unified Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) framework is introduced, which facilitates streamlined multi-beam operation targeting FR2. Since we focus on single TRP use cases, the extension of the unified TCI framework focusing on multi-TRP use cases is beneficial.

[0047] Third, due to the increased need for multiplexing capability of downlink and uplink demodulation reference signals (DMRS) from various use cases, there is a need to increase the number of orthogonal ports for DMRS.

[0048] Fourth, features introduced to facilitate multi-TRP deployment focus on non-coherent joint transmission (NC-JT). Since coherent joint transmission (CJT) improves coverage and average throughput in commercial deployments with high-performance backhaul and synchronization, enhancements to CSI acquisition for FDD and TDD (targeting FR1) can be beneficial in extending the utility of multi-TRP deployment.

[0049] Fifth, as advanced UEs (e.g., customer premises equipment (CPE), fixed wireless access (FWA), vehicles, industrial equipment) become more relevant, introducing the necessary enhancements to support 8 antenna ports and 4 and more layers for UL transmission can provide the required improvements in UL coverage and average throughput.

[0050] Sixth, with the introduction of features for UL panel selection, advanced UEs (e.g., CPE, FWA, vehicles, industrial equipment) can benefit from higher UL coverage and average throughput with simultaneous UL multi-panel transmissions. Finally, some further enhancements to facilitate UL multi-TRP deployment via two TAs and enhanced UL power control can provide additional UL performance improvements.

[0051] In addition, studies on two timing advances (TA) for UL multi-downlink control information (DCI) for multi-TRP operation have been discussed.

[0052] Agreed that for two TAs of DCI for multi-TRP operation, the UE can be configured with two TAGs per service area.

[0053] The corresponding protocol may indicate the following: For multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation with two TAs, configuration of two TAGs belonging to the serving cell is supported. For intra-cell multi-DCI based multi-TRP operation with two TA enhancements and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) sequential contention free random access (CFRA), a representation of a TAG identifier (ID) with 1 bit (the first TAG ID or the second TAG ID for the serving cell) is indicated as part of the TA command in the RAR. For multi-TRP operation based on multiple DCIs within a cell, only a single N TA,offset .

[0054] It is also agreed that for contention based random access (CBRA), the mechanism for the CFRA case may be used, ie, using the random access (RA) RAR to indicate the TAG.

[0055] This means that when a UE performs a RA procedure towards a serving cell configured with 2 TAGs (for CBRA), it is always on a SpCell, i.e. PCell or PSCell, and the network (NW) indicates the TAG to which the RAR applies through an indication in the RAR. It is commonly understood that the R bit in the medium access control (MAC) payload for RAR can be used for this indication.

[0056] The MAC RAR is octet aligned and consists of the following fields: -R: reserved bit, set to 0; - Timing Advance Command (TAC): The Timing Advance Command field indicates the index value T used to control the timing adjustment amount that the MAC entity must apply. A The size of the timing advance command field is 12 bits; -UL Grant: The uplink grant field indicates the resources to be used by the uplink. The size of the UL grant field is 27 bits; - Temporary C-RNTI: The Temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) field indicates a temporary identity used by the MAC entity during random access. The size of the Temporary C-RNTI field is 16 bits.

[0057] As described above, when performing the CBRA procedure, the NW identifies the UE only after having received the message 3 (Msg3) transmission of the RA procedure from the UE. This causes a problem in indicating the associated TAG in the RAR (e.g., message 2 (Msg2)) of the RA procedure when two UEs in the same serving cell have different TAG IDs associated with the same TRP of the cell.

[0058] For example, Figure 1 As shown, this can occur when a first device 110-1 (e.g., a first UE) performs initial access to a beam provided by a second device 120-1 (e.g., a first TRP), a first TA#0 provided to the first device 110-1 can be associated with TAG#0 (towards the second device 120-1), and an additional TA of the second device 120-2 (e.g., a second TRP) can be further associated with TAG#1 / 2 / 3.

[0059] On the other hand, the first device 110-2 (e.g., the second UE) can perform initial access to the beam provided by the second device 120-2 (e.g., the second TRP), the first TA#0 provided to the first device 110-2 can be associated with TAG#0 (towards the second device 120-2), and the additional TA of the second device 120-1 (e.g., the first TRP) can be further associated with TAG#1 / 2 / 3.

[0060] Therefore, since the NW does not know which UE sent the preamble when it receives the preamble via the random access channel (RACH), the NW does not know whether the UE is configured with multiple TAGs for serving cells, and if so, the NW does not know which TAG ID is associated with a given TRP for the UE.

[0061] According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, a solution for blind UE-specific TAG indication is provided. In the solution, the first device 110 determines whether to obtain an association between at least one TAG of the first device 110 and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR from the second device 120, and the at least one TAG is associated with the SpCell. Based on the determination of the association, the first device 110 determines the applicability of the RAR for the random access procedure of the first device 110.

[0062] In this way, if the UE is configured with two TAGs for its SpCell, the NW does not need to identify the UE to be able to indicate the correct TAG for the UE through the RAR.

[0063] The embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0064] Reference now Figure 2, which shows a signaling diagram 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2 As shown, the signaling diagram 200 involves the terminal device 110 and the network device 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to Figure 1 Signaling diagram 200 is described.

[0065] In with Figure 2 In some related scenarios, at least two TAGs associated with the SpCell 102 of the first device 110 may be configured for the first device 110 .

[0066] In some embodiments, the first device 110 may configure ( 205 ) by the second device 120 an association between at least one TAG of the first device 110 and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR, the at least one TAG being associated with the SpCell 102 .

[0067] For example, the first device 110 may obtain (210) the association when configuring the second TAG for the first device 110. That is, the second device 120 may provide / configure an association between each TAG associated with the SpCell (e.g., each of the two TAGs) and an indication (e.g., an index) through the RAR. The association may indicate which TAG applies to which index value of the indication in the RAR.

[0068] It should be understood that in some embodiments, the index in the RAR or the indication in the RAR may be indicated by the value of a bit field in the RAR. In some examples, the index in the RAR or the indication in the RAR may be indicated by the value of a bit field in the UL grant field of the RAR.

[0069] As another example, if the second TAG does not exist, the first device 110 may obtain (215) an association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR. For example, the second device 120 may configure such an association, i.e., an association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR, based on an initial configuration of the first device 110.

[0070] For the association between at least one TAG and the corresponding one or more indexes / indications, the second device 120 may configure only the association between one TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device 110 and the index having a specific index value (e.g., value #1) in the RAR. The first device 110 may determine that another TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device 110 is indicated by an index having another index value (e.g., value #0) in the RAR.

[0071] Optionally or alternatively, the indication in the RAR is always interpreted in a certain manner. For example, a lower index value (e.g., value #0) of the indication in the RAR may always be mapped to a TAG with a lower TAG index value (e.g., TAG ID #0), while a higher index value (e.g., #1) of the indication in the RAR may always be mapped to a TAG with a higher TAG index value (e.g., TAG ID #2) of the first device 110.

[0072] In this case, in some embodiments, the second device 120 may have to ensure that the TAG ID for the (multiple) first devices 110 configured with two TAGs for the SpCell is properly configured. For example, when configuring the second TAG associated with the SpCell for the first device 110, the second device 120 may need to reconfigure TAG ID #0 as the second TAG and configure a new TAG ID (e.g., TAG ID #2) for the first TAG of the first device 110.

[0073] The second device 120 may send 220 a RAR to the first device 110 (eg, during a RA procedure). The first device 110 may determine a TAG indication (eg, an index) in the RAR.

[0074] In some embodiments, if the first device 110 determines, based on the configured association, that the received RAR indicates an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device, the first device 110 may determine that the received RAR may be applied to the RA procedure. That is, the first device 110 will apply (225) the RAR during the RA procedure only if the indication (e.g., index) in the RAR corresponds to the configured value of the TAG for the first device 110.

[0075] Otherwise, the first device 110 may not apply the received RAR to the RA process until the first device 110 receives a RAR including an indication (eg, an index) corresponding to a configuration value for its TAG.

[0076] In some other embodiments, it is also possible that there is no configuration or corresponding index for the second TAG in the received RAR, in which case the first device 110 can ignore the indication in the RAR (or regard it as a reserved bit) and always apply (225) the RAR for the RA process.

[0077] Figure 3 An example of a message format including a TAG indication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0078] In some embodiments, an index of a TAG ID associated with a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device 110 may be included in the TID field 301 of the MAC payload for the RAR. For example, if the TID field 301 indicates an index having an index value #1 in the RAR received by the first device 110, which is associated with TAG #1 associated with the SpCell of the first device 110, the first device 110 may apply the RAR to the RA procedure.

[0079] Based on the solution proposed in the present disclosure, various embodiments proposed in the present disclosure may be implemented as MAC specifications. Different alternative implementations associated with the TID field in the RAR for the MAC specification may be listed as follows:

[0080] Although the solutions of the present disclosure have been described using a 4-step RA procedure (ie, Msg2 in the 4-step RA procedure), it should be understood that these solutions may also be applied to a 2-step RA MSGB and / or fallback RAR.

[0081] By applying the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, if a UE is configured with two TAGs for its SpCell, the NW does not need to identify the UE to be able to indicate the appropriate TAG for the UE through the RAR.

[0082] Figure 4 A flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. For the purpose of discussion, Figure 1 The method 400 is described from the perspective of the first device 110.

[0083] In block 410 , the first device 110 determines whether an association between at least one TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR is obtained from the second device, the at least one TAG being associated with the SpCell.

[0084] At block 420 , the first device 110 determines applicability of RAR for a random access procedure of the first device based on the determination of the association.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the first device can be configured with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

[0086] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further comprises: acquiring the association when configuring the second TAG for the first device.

[0087] In some exemplary embodiments, the method 400 further includes: when there is no configuration of the second TAG, acquiring an association between the first TAG and a corresponding index in the RAR.

[0088] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further includes determining that the RAR is to be applied to the random access procedure if the received RAR indication corresponds to an index of a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device based on the association determination.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further includes determining that the RAR is not to be applied for the random access procedure if the received RAR does not indicate an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device based on the association.

[0090] In some example embodiments, method 400 further includes: obtaining an association between a TAG associated with the SpCell and an index having a specific index value in the RAR; and determining that another TAG associated with the SpCell is associated to another index having another index value in the RAR.

[0091] In some example embodiments, lower index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having lower group identifiers, and higher index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having higher group identifiers.

[0092] In some example embodiments, the method 400 further includes: if it is determined that the configuration and the corresponding index of the second TAG do not exist in the received RAR, determining that the RAR is to be applied to the random access procedure.

[0093] In some example embodiments, the index in the RAR is indicated by the value of a bit field in the RAR.

[0094] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0095] Figure 5 A flowchart showing an example method 500 implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, Figure 1 The method 500 is described from the perspective of the second device 120.

[0096] In block 510 , the second device 120 configures, to the first device, an association between at least one TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR, the at least one TAG being associated with the SpCell.

[0097] In some example embodiments, the first device can be configured with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: configuring an association to the first device when configuring the second TAG for the first device.

[0099] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further includes: when there is no configuration of the second TAG, configuring, to the first device, an association between the first TAG and a corresponding index in the RAR.

[0100] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: configuring the first device with an index having a specific index value in the TAG and the RAR associated with the SpCell.

[0101] In some example embodiments, lower index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having lower group identifiers, and higher index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having higher group identifiers.

[0102] In some example embodiments, the method 500 further comprises: in response to configuring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the higher index value, reconfiguring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the lower index value if the TAG with the higher group identifier is configured.

[0103] In some example embodiments, the index in the RAR is indicated by the value of a bit field in the RAR.

[0104] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0105] In some example embodiments, a first device (eg, Figure 1 The first device 110 in the method 400 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of the method 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The first device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1 In the first device 110.

[0106] In some example embodiments, the first device includes: a component for determining whether to obtain an association between at least one TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR from the second device, at least one TAG being associated with the SpCell; and a component for determining the applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first device based on the determination of the association.

[0107] In some example embodiments, the first device can be configured with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

[0108] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for acquiring an association when configuring the second TAG for the first apparatus.

[0109] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further includes: when there is no configuration of the second TAG, a component for acquiring an association between the first TAG and a corresponding index in the RAR.

[0110] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for determining that the RAR is to be applied for the random access procedure if the received RAR indication corresponds to an index of a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first apparatus based on the association determination.

[0111] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for determining that the RAR is not to be applied for the random access procedure if the received RAR does not indicate an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first apparatus based on the association determination.

[0112] In some example embodiments, the first device further comprises: a component for obtaining an association between a TAG associated with the SpCell and an index having a specific index value in the RAR; and a component for determining that another TAG associated with the SpCell is associated to another index having another index value in the RAR.

[0113] In some example embodiments, lower index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having lower group identifiers, and higher index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having higher group identifiers.

[0114] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for determining that the RAR is to be applied to the random access procedure if it is determined that the configuration and the corresponding index of the second TAG are not present in the received RAR.

[0115] In some example embodiments, the index in the RAR is indicated by the value of a bit field in the RAR.

[0116] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0117] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 400 or the first apparatus 110. In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause performance of the first apparatus.

[0118] In some example embodiments, a second device (eg, Figure 1The second device 120 in the method 500 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of the method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit or a software module. The second device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1 In the second device 120.

[0119] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises: means for configuring the first apparatus with an association between at least one TAG of the first apparatus and corresponding one or more indexes in the RAR, the at least one TAG being associated with the SpCell.

[0120] In some example embodiments, the first device can be configured with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for configuring the association to the first apparatus when configuring the second TAG for the first apparatus.

[0122] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for configuring, to the first apparatus, an association between the first TAG and a corresponding index in the RAR when there is no configuration of the second TAG.

[0123] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for configuring the first apparatus with an index having a specific index value in the TAG and the RAR associated with the SpCell.

[0124] In some example embodiments, lower index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having lower group identifiers, and higher index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having higher group identifiers.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the second device further comprises: in response to configuring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the higher index value, in the case where the TAG with the higher group identifier is configured, reconfiguring means for reconfiguring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the lower index value.

[0126] In some example embodiments, the index in the RAR is indicated by the value of a bit field in the RAR.

[0127] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises a terminal device and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

[0128] In some example embodiments, the second device further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 500 or the second device 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause performance of the second device.

[0129] Figure 6 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be provided for implementing a communication device, such as Figure 1 The first device 110 and the second device 120 are shown. As shown, the apparatus 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processors 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processors 610.

[0130] The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

[0131] Processor 610 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may include one or more of the following: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. Device 600 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock synchronized with a main processor.

[0132] The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that will not persist until power is removed.

[0133] The computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing the operations / actions of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in a memory, such as ROM 624. The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

[0134] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 630 so that the device 600 may execute the Figures 2 to 5 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0135] In some example embodiments, the program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in the device 600 (such as in the memory 620) or in other storage devices accessible by the device 600. The device 600 may load the program 630 from the computer-readable medium to the RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), not a limitation on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

[0136] Figure 7 An example of a computer readable medium 700 is shown, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 700 has a program 630 stored thereon.

[0137] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that, as non-limiting examples, the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0138] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium (such as, non-volatile computer-readable medium). The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those computer executable instructions executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor included in a program module to perform any method as described above. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules can be combined or split between program modules as needed in various embodiments. The machine executable instructions for the program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0139] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code can be provided to a processor or controller in a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device, so that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the realization of the function / operation specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram. The program code can be executed completely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or completely on a remote machine or server.

[0140] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0141] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or equipment, or any suitable combination thereof. A more specific example of a computer readable storage medium may include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage component, a magnetic storage component, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0142] In addition, although the operations are depicted in a specific order, this should not be understood as requiring the specific order shown or in a sequential order to perform these operations, or to perform all described operations, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but should be interpreted as descriptions of features that may be specific to a specific embodiment. Unless explicitly stated, certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, unless explicitly stated, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0143] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Rather, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: Determine whether to obtain an association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in the random access response RAR from the second device, wherein the at least one TAG is associated with a special cell SpCell; as well as Based on the determination of the association, applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first apparatus is determined. 2 . The first device according to claim 1 , wherein the first device is configurable with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

3. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to: The association is obtained when configuring a second TAG for the first device.

4. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to: When there is no configuration of the second TAG, the association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR is obtained.

5. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to: If it is determined based on the association that the received RAR indicates an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device, it is determined that the RAR is to be applied to the random access procedure.

6. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to: If it is determined based on the association that the received RAR does not indicate an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device, it is determined that the RAR will not be applied to the random access procedure.

7. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to: Obtaining the association between the TAG associated with the SpCell and the index having a specific index value in the RAR; and Another TAG associated with the SpCell is determined to be associated with another index having another index value in the RAR.

8. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a lower index value in the RAR is associated with a TAG having a lower group identifier, and a higher index value in the RAR is associated with a TAG having a higher group identifier.

9. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to: If it is determined that the configuration and the corresponding index of the second TAG do not exist in the received RAR, it is determined that the RAR will be applied to the random access procedure.

10. The first device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the index in the RAR is indicated by a value of a bit field in the RAR.

11. The first apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

12. A second device for communication, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least: An association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a random access response RAR is configured to the first device, wherein the at least one TAG is associated with a special cell SpCell.

13. The second device of claim 12, wherein the first device is configurable with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

14. The second device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the second device is further caused to: When configuring a second TAG for the first device, the association is configured to the first device.

15. The second device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the second device is further caused to: When there is no configuration of the second TAG, the association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR is configured to the first device.

16. The second device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the second device is further caused to: The first device is configured with a TAG associated with the SpCell and an index having a specific index value in the RAR.

17. The second apparatus according to claim 12 or 13, wherein a lower index value in the RAR is associated to a TAG having a lower group identifier, and a higher index value in the RAR is associated to a TAG having a higher group identifier.

18. The second device of claim 17, wherein the second device is further caused to: In response to configuring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the higher index value, reconfiguring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the lower index value in the case where the TAG with the higher group identifier is configured.

19. The second device according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the index in the RAR is indicated by a value of a bit field in the RAR.

20. The second apparatus according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the first apparatus comprises a terminal device, and the second apparatus comprises a network device.

21. A method of communication, comprising: At the first device, determining whether to obtain an association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in the random access response RAR from the second device, the at least one TAG being associated with a special cell SpCell; as well as Based on the determination of the association, applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first apparatus is determined.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first device is configurable with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: The association is obtained when configuring a second TAG for the first device.

24. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: When there is no configuration of the second TAG, the association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR is obtained.

25. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: If it is determined based on the association that the received RAR indicates an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device, it is determined that the RAR is to be applied to the random access procedure.

26. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: If it is determined based on the association that the received RAR does not indicate an index corresponding to a TAG associated with the SpCell of the first device, it is determined that the RAR will not be applied to the random access procedure.

27. The method according to claim 21 or 22, further comprising: Obtaining the association between the TAG associated with the SpCell and the index having a specific index value in the RAR; as well as Another TAG associated with the SpCell is determined to be associated with another index having another index value in the RAR.

28. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein a lower index value in the RAR is associated to a TAG having a lower group identifier, and a higher index value in the RAR is associated to a TAG having a higher group identifier.

29. The method according to claim 21, further comprising: If it is determined that the configuration and the corresponding index of the second TAG do not exist in the received RAR, it is determined that the RAR will be applied to the random access procedure.

30. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein the index in the RAR is indicated by a value of a bit field in the RAR.

31. The method of claim 21 or 22, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.

32. A method of communication, comprising: An association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a random access response RAR is configured from the second device to the first device, wherein the at least one TAG is associated with a special cell SpCell.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the first device is configurable with two TAGs associated with the SpCell.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, further comprising: When configuring a second TAG for the first device, the association is configured to the first device.

35. The method according to claim 32 or 33, further comprising: When there is no configuration of the second TAG, the association between the first TAG and the corresponding index in the RAR is configured to the first device.

36. The method according to claim 32 or 33, further comprising: The first device is configured with a TAG associated with the SpCell and an index having a specific index value in the RAR.

37. The method of claim 32 or 33, wherein lower index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having lower group identifiers, and higher index values ​​in the RAR are associated to TAGs having higher group identifiers.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising: In response to configuring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the higher index value, reconfiguring the TAG with the lower group identifier associated to the lower index value in the case where the TAG with the higher group identifier is configured.

39. The method of claim 32 or 33, wherein the index in the RAR is indicated by a value of a bit field in the RAR.

40. The method of claim 32 or 33, wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.

41. A first device for communication, comprising: A means for determining whether to obtain an association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a random access response RAR from a second device, the at least one TAG being associated with a special cell SpCell; as well as means for determining applicability of the RAR for a random access procedure of the first apparatus based on the determination of the association.

42. A second device for communication, comprising: A means for configuring, to a first device, an association between at least one timing advance group TAG of the first device and corresponding one or more indexes in a random access response RAR, the at least one TAG being associated with a special cell SpCell.

43. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, the instructions being used to cause an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 21-31 or the method according to any one of claims 32-40.

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