Uplink transmitter switching with multiple supply uplink band or carrier

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) is configured to: configure transceiver circuitry to transmit UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) handover to a network, wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) bands or carriers; decoding a UL Tx handover configuration based at least on the UE capability information according to signaling received from the network, wherein the UL Tx handover configuration comprises one of three configuration bands or four configuration bands; and performing UL transmission on the basis of the UL Tx switching configuration.

Description

[0001] Priority / Incorporated by Reference

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 370,700, filed on August 8, 2022, and entitled “Uplink Transmitter Switching with Multiple Supplementary Uplink Bands or Carriers,” which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art

[0003] The Supplementary Uplink (SUL) was introduced in Release 15 of the fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) standard. SUL extends uplink coverage by providing a supplementary uplink (UL), typically in the sub-3 GHz band. SUL was introduced because cell coverage in the UL direction is typically not as good as in the DL direction. This may be due to various factors, such as the user equipment (UE) transmit power being lower than the base station's transmit power. When the UE approaches the cell edge, performance typically becomes worse.

[0004] Currently, only a single SUL band with dynamic UL Tx switching is supported in the NR Release 16 / 17 standard. It is conceivable that additional SUL bands will provide better user experience and data throughput in the UL. However, adding additional SUL bands increases the complexity of transmit switching. Therefore, a mechanism for handling multiple SUL band scenarios is needed. Summary of the invention

[0005] Some exemplary embodiments relate to a device of a user equipment (UE) having a processing circuit configured to: configure a transceiver circuit to send UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching to a network, wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; decode a UL Tx switching configuration based on at least the UE capability information according to signaling received from the network, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and perform UL transmission based on the UL Tx switching configuration.

[0006] Other exemplary embodiments relate to a processor configured to: configure a transceiver circuit to send UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching to a network, wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; decode a UL Tx switching configuration based on at least the UE capability information according to signaling received from the network, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and perform UL transmission based on the UL Tx switching configuration.

[0007] Yet another exemplary embodiment relates to an apparatus of a base station, the apparatus having a processing circuit configured to: decode UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching based on signaling received from a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; determine a UL Tx switching configuration based at least on the UE capability information, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and configure a transceiver circuit to send the UL Tx switching configuration to the UE.

[0008] Additional exemplary embodiments relate to a processor configured to: decode UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching based on signaling received from a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; determine a UL Tx switching configuration based at least on the UE capability information, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and configure a transceiver circuit to send the UL Tx switching configuration to the UE. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 Exemplary network arrangements are shown according to various exemplary embodiments.

[0010] Figure 2 An exemplary user equipment (UE) is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments.

[0011] Figure 3 An exemplary base station according to various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0012] Figure 4 An exemplary signaling diagram illustrating a UE configured with an uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching configuration according to various exemplary embodiments is shown.

[0013] Figure 5 A table with multiple UL Tx switching configurations according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and related drawings, wherein like elements are provided with like reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments relate to providing an uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) configuration to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE supports multiple supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands and / or carriers. The exemplary embodiments are described with reference to a UE and a network supporting 3 or 4 SULs.

[0015] The exemplary embodiments are described with reference to UE. However, reference to UE is provided for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments may be used with any electronic component that can establish a connection with a network and is configured with hardware, software and / or firmware for exchanging information and data with the network. Therefore, UE as described herein is used to represent any appropriate type of electronic component.

[0016] The exemplary embodiments are also described with reference to a 5G NR network supporting multiple SUL frequency bands. However, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments may be applied to any network supporting multiple SUL frequency bands, including further evolution of cellular standards (e.g., 6G networks).

[0017] In addition, when describing exemplary embodiments, multiple cells may be described. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that a 5G base station (e.g., a gNB) may include multiple cells. In the example, each of the cells described will be considered to be associated with the same base station. However, it should be understood that this is for illustrative purposes only, and it is not required for the exemplary embodiments that each cell be included in a single base station.

[0018] Additionally, some exemplary embodiments are described with reference to a dual UL transmission mode. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the dual UL transmission mode indicates that the UE has more than one transmission chain allowing the UE to simultaneously transmit signals on different carriers.

[0019] As stated above, SUL was introduced in Release 15 of the 5G NR standard. As described below, enhancements to SUL were introduced in Release 16 and Release 17. For example, in Release 16, two cases are specified for UL transmission (Tx) switching. In Case 1, there is 1Tx on carrier 1 and 1Tx on carrier 2. In Case 2, there is 0Tx on carrier 1 and 2Tx on carrier 2. In Release 17, a 2Tx chain can be configured and scheduled for either of the two configured carriers, which is different from R16 in which only one carrier (carrier 2) can be configured with 2Tx. In addition, another set of cases and corresponding switching are included to allow 1 carrier on one band and 2 consecutive carriers on another band (inter-band + intra-band). In addition, there are specified additional cases in which it is not expected to schedule the UE on the configured carrier with UL transmission during the switching gap.

[0020] As can be seen from the above discussion, the number of SUL carriers is still limited through Release 17. Future releases are proposed to support UL Tx switching schemes across up to 3 bands or 4 bands, with a limit of up to 2 Tx simultaneous transmissions for frequency range 1 (FR1) UEs, including mechanisms for enabling more configured UL bands than their simultaneous transmission capabilities and supporting dynamic Tx carrier switching across configured bands for both single timing advance group (TAG) and multiple TAG configurations.

[0021] The exemplary embodiments propose solutions for supporting these multiple SUL scenarios. In some exemplary embodiments, when the UE is capable of supporting more than 2 UL bands and more than 1 UL contiguous carrier / band for dynamic UL TX switching, the UE may be configured with more than 1 SUL band and / or more than 1 contiguous SUL carrier per band, and it is not expected that the UE is configured with a higher number of SUL carriers across all bands than the normal UL (NUL) number of carriers across all bands.

[0022] In other exemplary embodiments, when the UE is configured with dual UL mode for dynamic UL TX switching (for example, when simultaneous transmission on 2 frequency bands can be configured according to a set of 3 frequency bands or 4 frequency bands), the UE may be configured with more than 1 SUL frequency band, wherein the UE may be configured with / indicated with simultaneous transmission on the SUL frequency band and the NUL frequency band, provided that each of the frequency bands corresponds to a different cell; and / or the UE may be configured with / indicated with simultaneous transmission on more than one SUL frequency band, provided that each of the frequency bands corresponds to a different cell.

[0023] In yet another exemplary embodiment, when the UE is capable of supporting more than 2 UL bands and more than 1 UL contiguous carrier / band for dynamic UL TX switching, the UE may report a band combination with M bands for dynamic UL Tx switching, where more than 1 band and / or carrier may be SUL, and if the UE is further indicated that there is a subset of N bands from the set of M bands, only 1 of the N bands is expected to be SUL, while the other bands are NUL. The indication of the subset of N bands with 1 SUL band / carrier may be signaled via downlink control information (DCI) and / or medium access control control element (MAC CE). Each of these exemplary embodiments will be described in more detail below.

[0024] Figure 1 An exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the UE 110 may be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, such as a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a tablet phone, an embedded device, a wearable device (e.g., a head mounted display (HMD), AR glasses, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Therefore, the example of a single UE 110 is provided for illustrative purposes only.

[0025] UE 110 may be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of network configuration 100, the network with which UE 110 may wirelessly communicate is a 5G NR radio access network (RAN) 120. However, UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g., 5G cloud RAN, next generation RAN (NG-RAN), long term evolution (LTE) RAN, traditional cellular network, wireless local area network (WLAN), etc.), and UE 110 may also communicate with the network via a wired connection. Referring to the exemplary embodiment, UE 110 may establish a connection with at least 5G NR RAN 120. Therefore, UE 110 may have a 5G NR chipset to communicate with NRRAN 120.

[0026] The 5G NR RAN 120 may be part of a cellular network that may be deployed by a network operator, such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc. The 5G NR RAN 120 may include, for example, cells or base stations (Node B, eNodeB, HeNB, eNB, gNB, gNodeB, macro cell, micro cell, small cell, femto cell, etc.) configured to transmit and receive traffic from UEs equipped with appropriate cellular chipsets.

[0027] In the network arrangement 100, the UE 110 may be connected to the 5G NR-RAN 120 via the gNB 120A. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any association procedure may be performed for connecting the UE 110 to the 5G NR-RAN 120. For example, as described above, the 5G NR-RAN 120 may be associated with a particular cellular provider at which the UE 110 and / or its user has protocol and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of the 5G NR-RAN 120, the UE 110 may send corresponding credential information to associate with the 5G NR-RAN 120. More specifically, the UE 110 may be associated with a particular base station (e.g., gNB 120A). However, as described above, reference to the 5G NR-RAN 120 is for illustrative purposes only, and any suitable type of RAN may be used.

[0028] The network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network service backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 can be viewed as an interconnected collection of components that manage the operation and services of the cellular network. The cellular core network 130 also manages the services that flow between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 can generally be described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 can communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide multimedia services to the UE 110. The network service backbone 160 communicates directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network service backbone 160 can generally be described as a collection of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc.) that implement a set of services that can be used to extend the functionality of the UE 110 to communicate with various networks.

[0029] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 is shown according to various exemplary embodiments. The UE 110 will refer to Figure 1100. UE 110 may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input / output (I / O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. Other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a power supply, a data acquisition device, a port for electrically connecting UE 110 to other electronic devices, etc.

[0030] The processor 205 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the UE 110. For example, these engines may include a UL Tx switching engine 235. The UL Tx switching engine 235 may perform a variety of operations, including reporting UE capabilities related to UL Tx switching to the network, receiving a UL Tx switching configuration from the network, and implementing the UL Tx switching configuration. Each of these operations will be described in more detail below.

[0031] The engine 235 referenced above is provided as an application (e.g., program) executed by the processor 205 for illustrative purposes only. The functionality associated with the engine 235 may also be represented as a separate combined component of the UE 110, or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include an input circuit for receiving a signal and a processing circuit for processing the signal and other information. The engine may also be embodied as an application or multiple separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is split between two or more processors (such as a baseband processor and an application processor). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the UE.

[0032] Memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by UE 110. Display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to display data to a user, and I / O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables a user to enter input. Display device 215 and I / O device 220 may be separate components or may be integrated together (such as a touch screen).

[0033] The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G NR-RAN 120 and / or any other appropriate type of network. Thus, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous frequency set). The transceiver 225 may include an advanced receiver for MU-MIMO (e.g., E-MMSE-RC, R-ML, etc.). The transceiver 225 includes a circuit configured to send and / or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals). Such signals may be encoded with information for implementing any of the methods described herein. The processor 205 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 225 and configured to receive signals from and / or send signals to the transceiver 225. The processor 205 may be configured to encode and / or decode signals (e.g., signaling from a base station of a network) for implementing any of the methods described herein.

[0034] Figure 3 An exemplary base station 300 is shown in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. Base station 300 may represent any access node (e.g., gNB 120A, etc.) that UE 110 may use to establish a connection and manage network operations.

[0035] Base station 300 may include processor 305, memory arrangement 310, input / output (I / O) devices 315, transceiver 320, and other components 325. Other components 325 may include, for example, batteries, data acquisition devices, ports for electrically connecting base station 300 to other electronic devices, and the like.

[0036] The processor 305 may be configured to execute multiple engines of the base station 300. For example, the engines may include a UL Tx switching configuration engine 330. The UL Tx switching configuration engine 330 may perform a variety of operations including receiving a report of UE capabilities related to UL Tx switching from the UE 110, determining a UL Tx switching configuration based on the UE capabilities, and transmitting the UL Tx switching configuration to the UE 110. Each of these operations will be described in more detail below.

[0037] The engine 330 described above as an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 is merely exemplary. The functionality associated with the engine 330 may also be represented as a separate combined component of the base station 300, or may be a modular component coupled to the base station 300, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuits for receiving signals and processing circuits for processing signals and other information. In addition, in some base stations, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split between multiple processors (e.g., baseband processors, application processors, etc.). The exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of the base station.

[0038] The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the base station 300. The I / O device 315 may be a hardware component or port that enables a user to interact with the base station 300.

[0039] The transceiver 320 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UE 110 and any other UE in the network arrangement 100. The transceiver 320 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous set of frequencies). The transceiver 320 includes a circuit configured to send and / or receive signals (e.g., control signals, data signals). Such signals may be encoded with information for implementing any of the methods described herein. The processor 305 may be operably coupled to the transceiver 320 and configured to receive signals from the transceiver 320 and / or send signals to the transceiver. The processor 305 may be configured to encode and / or decode signals (e.g., signaling from a UE) for implementing any of the methods described herein.

[0040] Figure 4 An exemplary signaling diagram 400 illustrating UE 110 configured with a UL Tx switching configuration according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. Before describing a specific exemplary SUL configuration for UE 110, signaling diagram 400 will illustrate a general manner in which UE 110 is configured.

[0041] In 410, gNB 120A may transmit a UE capability request to UE 110. Typically, the UE capability request may be transmitted during a registration procedure that UE 110 is performing with the network. However, the network (via gNB 120A) may request UE capability information at any time, including when UE 110 is in a connected state (e.g., RRC_Connected) with the network. In this example, the UE capability request would include a request for UE capabilities related to UL Tx switching.

[0042] In 420, UE 110 will respond to the UE capability request by transmitting a UE capability response to gNB 120A to inform the network of the UE capabilities. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that there may be a variety of ways to signal the UE capabilities to the network. Any of these ways may be used to signal the capabilities of UE 110. These capabilities may include UE capabilities regarding UL Tx switching, such as the number of SUL / NUL bands / carriers supported, the manner in which SUL / NUL bands / carriers are supported, multiple band combinations for which the UE can support dynamic UL Tx switching, etc. Additional examples of signaling UE capability information are provided below.

[0043] After receiving the UE capability information in 420, gNB 120A may configure or indicate to UE 110 in 430 a particular UL Tx switching configuration that UE 110 should use. As will be described in more detail below, this UL Tx switching configuration may include information such as to be used by UE 110 for UL transmissions, such as the frequency band / carrier to be used for each of the UL and / or NUL. The UL Tx switching configuration provided in 430 may be communicated in any type of message exchange between gNB 120A and UE 110, such as in an RRC, DCI, MAC CE, etc.

[0044] In 440 , the UE 110 performs UL transmission according to the UL Tx switching configuration provided in 430 .

[0045] As described above, in some exemplary embodiments, when UE 110 is capable of supporting more than 2 UL bands and more than 1 UL contiguous carrier / band for dynamic UL TX switching, UE 110 may be configured with more than 1 SUL band and / or more than 1 contiguous SUL carrier per band, wherein it is not desirable for the UE to be configured with a higher number of SUL carriers across all bands than the number of NUL carriers across all bands. These exemplary embodiments will be described below with the aid of examples.

[0046] In a first example, the UE 110 may be considered to support 3 frequency bands for dynamic UL Tx switching based on the UE capability report. These frequency bands will be referred to as Band A, Band B, and Band C. The configuration rules or UE capabilities may also indicate that the UE 110 may support up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers within a frequency band and only support up to 1 frequency band with up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers. This means that according to the following exemplary configurations that comply with the above configuration rules and / or reported capabilities, the UE 110 may be configured / indicated with up to 2 SUL carriers across 2 frequency bands or 2 SUL carriers within 1 frequency band.

[0047] In case 3-1, band A may have 2 SUL carriers, band B may have 1 NUL carrier, and band C may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers within 1 band (e.g., band A). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (2) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (2) across all bands.

[0048] In case 3-2, band A may have 1 SUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier, and band C may have 2 NUL carriers. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). Likewise, UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (2) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (2) across all bands.

[0049] In case 3-3, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier, and band C may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (2) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (2) across all bands.

[0050] In case 3-4, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 NUL carrier, and band C may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with less than the maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., 1 SUL carrier in band A). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (1) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (3).

[0051] It should be understood that the above examples and corresponding situations are not exhaustive. There may be other frequency band / carrier combinations that also meet the above configuration rules. These examples are provided to illustrate how a UE can be configured to support multiple SULs.

[0052] In the second example, the UE 110 may be considered to support 4 frequency bands for dynamic UL Tx switching based on the UE capability report. These frequency bands will be referred to as Band A, Band B, Band C, and Band D. Similar to the first example, a maximum of 2 contiguous SUL carriers within a frequency band may be supported and only a maximum of 1 frequency band with a maximum of 2 contiguous SUL carriers may be supported. This means that according to the following exemplary configurations that comply with the above configuration rules and / or reported capabilities, the UE 110 may be configured / indicated with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 frequency bands or 2 SUL carriers within 1 frequency band.

[0053] In case 4-1, band A may have 1 SUL carrier, band Bn may have 1 SUL carrier, band C may have 1 NUL carrier, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (2) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (2) across all bands.

[0054] In case 4-2, band A may have 2 SUL carriers, band B may have 1 NUL carrier, band C may have 1 NUL carrier, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers within 1 band (e.g., band A). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (2) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (3).

[0055] In case 4-3, band A may have 1 SUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier, band C may have 2 NUL carriers, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (2) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (3).

[0056] In case 4-4, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier, band C may have 1 NUL carrier, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (2) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (3).

[0057] In case 4-5, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 NUL carrier, band C may have 1 NUL carrier, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with less than the maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., 1 SUL carrier in band A). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (1) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (4).

[0058] It should be understood that the above examples and corresponding situations are not exhaustive. There may be other frequency band / carrier combinations that also meet the above configuration rules. These examples are provided to illustrate how a UE can be configured to support multiple SULs.

[0059] In a third example, the UE 110 may be considered to support 3 bands for dynamic UL Tx switching based on the UE capability report. These bands will be referred to as Band A, Band B, and Band C. Configuration rules or UE capabilities may also indicate that the UE 110 may support up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers within a band and more than 1 band with up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers. This means that according to the following exemplary configurations that comply with the above configuration rules and / or reported capabilities, the UE 110 may be configured / indicated with up to 3 SUL carriers across 2 bands or 3 bands.

[0060] In case 3-1, band A may have 2 SUL carriers, band B may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, and band C may have 2 NUL carriers. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 3 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (3) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (3) across all bands.

[0061] In case 3-2, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, and band C may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 3 SUL carriers across 3 bands (e.g., band A, band B, and band C). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (3) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (3) across all bands.

[0062] It should be understood that the above examples and corresponding situations are not exhaustive. There may be other frequency band / carrier combinations that also meet the above configuration rules. These examples are provided to illustrate how a UE can be configured to support multiple SULs.

[0063] In a fourth example, the UE 110 may be considered to support 4 frequency bands for dynamic UL Tx switching based on the UE capability report. These frequency bands will be referred to as Band A, Band B, Band C, and Band D. The configuration rules or UE capabilities may also indicate that the UE 110 may support up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers within a frequency band and more than 1 frequency band with up to 2 contiguous SUL carriers. This means that according to the following exemplary configurations that comply with the above configuration rules and / or reported capabilities, the UE may be configured / indicated with up to 4 SUL carriers across 2 frequency bands, 3 frequency bands, or 4 frequency bands.

[0064] In case 4-1, band A may have 2 SUL carriers, band B may have 2 SUL carriers, band C may have 2 NUL carriers, and band D may have 2 NUL carriers. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 4 SUL carriers across 2 bands (e.g., band A and band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (4) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (4).

[0065] In case 4-2, band A may have 2 SUL carriers, band B may have 1 SUL carrier, band C may have 2 NUL carriers, and band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 4 SUL carriers (e.g., 2 SUL carriers in band A and 1 SUL carrier in band B). UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers (3) across all bands does not exceed the number of NUL carriers (3) across all bands.

[0066] In case 4-3, band A may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band B may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, band C may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier, and band D may have 1 SUL carrier and 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this case, UE 110 is configured with a maximum of 4 SUL carriers across 4 bands, e.g., one SUL carrier for each of bands A to D. UE 110 is also configured such that the number of SUL carriers across all bands (4) does not exceed the number of NUL carriers across all bands (4).

[0067] It should be understood that the above examples and corresponding situations are not exhaustive. There may be other frequency band / carrier combinations that also meet the above configuration rules. These examples are provided to illustrate how a UE can be configured to support multiple SULs.

[0068] Thus, the above examples illustrate exemplary embodiments in which UE 110 is capable of supporting more than 2 UL bands and more than 1 UL contiguous carrier / band for dynamic UL TX switching, and in which it is not expected that the UE is configured with a higher number of SUL carriers across all bands than the number of NUL carriers across all bands.

[0069] As described above, in other exemplary embodiments, when UE 110 is configured with dual UL mode for dynamic UL Tx switching (e.g., UE 110 is capable of transmitting simultaneously on 2 bands that can be configured according to a set of 3 bands or 4 bands), UE 110 may be configured with more than 1 SUL band. In such cases, UE 110 may be configured / instructed to transmit simultaneously on the SUL band and the NUL band, provided that each of these bands corresponds to a different cell. UE 110 may also be configured / instructed to transmit simultaneously on more than one SUL band, provided that each of these bands corresponds to a different cell.

[0070] For example, in one option, a UL Tx may be indicated once on a SUL band with 1 or more contiguous carriers, and another (simultaneous) UL Tx may be indicated on a NUL band with 1 or more contiguous carriers. As described above, the indicated SUL band / carrier does not correspond to the indicated NUL band / carrier on the same serving cell. To provide an example, considering that the band A carrier and the band B carrier are not on the same serving cell, it can be considered that the UE 110 may be indicated / configured with 2 contiguous SUL carriers on band A and 2 contiguous NUL carriers on band B for simultaneous transmission.

[0071] In another option, one UL Tx may be indicated / configured on a SUL band with 1 or more contiguous carriers, and another (simultaneous) UL Tx may be indicated on another SUL band with 1 carrier. To provide an example, considering that the Band A carrier and the Band B carrier are not on the same serving cell, it may be considered that the UE 110 may be indicated / configured with 2 contiguous SUL carriers on Band A and 1 SUL carrier on Band B for simultaneous transmission.

[0072] In these exemplary embodiments, for dynamic UL Tx switching involving more than 1 SUL band / carrier, it is not desirable to indicate to the UE other combinations for simultaneous UL transmission on 2 TX chains.

[0073] As described above, in further exemplary embodiments, when UE 110 is capable of supporting more than 2 UL bands and more than 1 UL contiguous carrier / band for dynamic UL TX switching, UE 110 may be configured with M bands for dynamic UL Tx switching, where more than 1 band and / or carrier may be SUL. UE 110 may be further indicated with a subset of N bands from the set of M bands, where it is desired that only 1 of the N bands is SUL, and the other bands are NUL.

[0074] For example, in one option, it can be considered that M=3 and N=2, then among the M=3 configured bands, 1 band or 2 bands among the 3 configured bands can be SUL, but among the indicated N=2 bands, only 1 band among the indicated bands can be SUL, and the other indicated band is NUL, and only NUL can have 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers, while the indicated SUL band can have only 1 continuous carrier.

[0075] To again provide an example of this scenario, consider if M=3 and N=2, and the bands are Band A, Band B, and Band C, where Band A and Band B are subsets of N=2. Using the above configuration rules, Band A may have 1 SUL carrier, Band B may have 2 contiguous NUL carriers, and Band C may have 1 SUL carrier. Thus, in this example, there are multiple SUL bands in the set M=3, such as Band A and Band C. Additionally, there is only 1 SUL band in the subset N=2 and there is only 1 carrier in that band (e.g., Band A), and Band B has 2 contiguous carriers. Multiple combinations for the N=2 bands (out of the M=3 bands) may also be configured, and a single combination from these combinations may be indicated to the UE 110.

[0076] In another option, it can be considered that M=4 and N=3, then among the M=4 configured bands, 1 band or 2 bands among the 4 configured bands can be SUL, and among the indicated N=3 bands, 1 band can be SUL with 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers and the other 2 bands are NUL, or 2 bands can be SUL with 1 carrier each and the other band is NUL with 2 continuous carriers.

[0077] To provide a first example of such a scenario, consider if M=4 and N=3, and the bands are Band A, Band B, Band C, and Band D, where Band A, Band B, and Band C are a subset of N=3. Using the above configuration rules, Band A may have 1 SUL carrier, Band B may have 1 SUL carrier, Band C may have 2 NUL carriers, and Band D may have 1 NUL carrier. Thus, in this example, there are 2 SUL bands in the set M=4, and there are 2 SUL bands in the subset N=3, such as Band A and Band B. Additionally, in the subset N=3, there is only 1 carrier per SUL band, and there are 2 carriers in the NUL bands, such as Band C having two consecutive NUL carriers. Multiple combinations for the N=3 bands (out of the M=4 bands) may also be configured, and a single combination from these combinations may be indicated to the UE 110.

[0078] To provide a second example of this scenario, consider that if M=4 and N=3, and the bands are Band A, Band B, Band C, and Band D, where Band A, Band B, and Band C are subset N=3. Using the above configuration rules, Band A can have 2 SUL carriers, Band B can have 1 NUL carrier, Band C can have one NUL carrier, and Band D can have 1 NUL carrier. Therefore, in this example, there is one SUL band, such as Band A, in the set M=4 and the subset N=3. In addition, because Band A in the subset N=3 includes two consecutive SUL carriers, the other two bands in the subset N=3 are NUL bands, such as Band B and Band C.

[0079] It should be understood that the above examples for both options are not exhaustive. There may be other frequency band / carrier combinations that also satisfy the above configuration rules. These examples are provided to illustrate how a UE may be configured to support multiple SULs.

[0080] As mentioned above Figure 4 As described in the signaling diagram 400 of FIG. 4 , UE 110 may report capability information related to UL Tx switching. For example, in some embodiments, UE 110 may indicate support for more than 1 SUL band and / or carrier for dynamic UL Tx switching. In other examples, when more than 2 bands may be configured for dynamic UL Tx switching, UE 110 may indicate which configuration mode UE 110 supports. For example, UE 110 may report support for a first mode in which all bands of 3 bands or 4 bands may be configured for dynamic UL Tx switching. In another example, UE 110 may report support for a second mode in which 3 bands or 4 bands may be configured for UL Tx switching, but only a subset of 2 bands or 3 bands may be indicated to UE 110 for participating in dynamic UL Tx switching at any given time. UE 110 may indicate support for two modes, which then allows the network to configure UE 110 to have any of the supported modes.

[0081] Figure 5 A table 500 with multiple UL Tx switching configurations according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. Table 500 may be used with reference to the above exemplary embodiments related to a set of M frequency bands and a subset of N frequency bands. In this example, UE 110 may be semi-statically configured with a new radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE) or new parameters in an existing IE for configuring UE 110 to have table 500.

[0082] like Figure 5As shown in , table 500 has multiple rows and each row indicates 2 UL bands. A combination of 2 UL bands is selected from 3 or 4 band combinations reported by UE 110, and only a maximum of 1 UL band of the 2 UL bands is SUL. Each row also includes a combination index.

[0083] In some exemplary embodiments, UE 110 may be dynamically instructed by a DCI format such as format 0_1 ​​(for UL grant) or a MAC CE command to indicate the index of the configured table, to which a new bit field may be added. The number of bits may depend on the size of the table, which may depend on the set of frequency band combinations. Figure 5 In the example, 2 bits can be used.

[0084] In other exemplary embodiments, UE 110 is dynamically instructed by a DCI format such as format 0_1 ​​to use an existing bit field such as a carrier indicator field or a UL / SUL indicator field or a MAC CE command to indicate the index of the configured table. If UE 110 is configured with a table for dynamic UL Tx switching as described above, the existing field can be re-interpreted to indicate the index of the above table, otherwise, the same interpretation as the currently specified interpretation can be used.

[0085] Example

[0086] In a first embodiment, a method is performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: reporting UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching to a network, wherein the UE capability comprises an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; receiving a UL Tx switching configuration based at least on the UE capability information from the network; and performing UL transmission based on the UL Tx switching configuration.

[0087] In a second embodiment, according to the method of the first embodiment, the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands.

[0088] In a third embodiment, the method according to the second embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes a first number of SUL carriers across all configured frequency bands, the first number being less than or equal to a second number of normal uplink (NUL) carriers across all configured frequency bands.

[0089] In a fourth embodiment, according to the method of the third embodiment, the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 configured frequency bands or 2 SUL carriers within 1 frequency band.

[0090] In a fifth embodiment, according to the method of the third embodiment, when the UL Tx switching configuration includes 3 configured frequency bands, the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 3 SUL carriers across 2 configured frequency bands or 3 configured frequency bands.

[0091] In a sixth embodiment, according to the method of the fifth embodiment, the maximum three SUL carriers include two SUL carriers in one frequency band.

[0092] In a seventh embodiment, according to the method of the third embodiment, when the UL Tx switching configuration includes 4 configured frequency bands, the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 4 SUL carriers across 2 frequency bands, 3 frequency bands, or 4 frequency bands.

[0093] In an eighth embodiment, according to the method of the fifth embodiment, the maximum four SUL carriers include two SUL carriers in one frequency band.

[0094] In a ninth embodiment, the method according to the first embodiment is used, wherein the UE capability information indicates one of the following modes: a first mode, in which the UE supports UL Tx switching for the 3 configured frequency bands or the 4 configured frequency bands; a second mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the 3 configured frequency bands but only for a subset of 2 of the 3 configured frequency bands at a given time; and a third mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the 4 configured frequency bands but only for 2 of the 4 configured frequency bands or a subset of 3 configured frequency bands at a given time.

[0095] In a tenth embodiment, according to the method of the ninth embodiment, the UE capability information includes support for the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, or any combination thereof.

[0096] In an eleventh embodiment, the method according to the ninth embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the second mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 3 configured bands, and a subset of the 2 bands includes 1 SUL band and 1 NUL band.

[0097] In a twelfth embodiment, the method according to the eleventh embodiment, wherein the 1 NUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers, and the 1 SUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes only 1 carrier.

[0098] In an eleventh embodiment, the method according to the ninth embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and a subset of the 3 bands includes 2 NUL bands and 1 SUL band with 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers.

[0099] In a fourteenth embodiment, the method according to the ninth embodiment is described, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 SUL bands each having 1 carrier and 1 NUL band having 2 consecutive carriers.

[0100] In a fifteenth embodiment, the method according to the ninth embodiment, wherein the UE includes a table listing frequency band combinations, and the UL Tx switching configuration includes an indication of an entry in the table.

[0101] In a sixteenth embodiment, the method according to the first embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration is received in one of: downlink control information (DCI), medium access control control element (MAC CE), or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0102] In a seventeenth embodiment, a processor is provided, wherein the processor is configured to execute any of the methods according to the first to sixteenth embodiments.

[0103] In an eighteenth embodiment, a user equipment (UE) includes: a transceiver configured to communicate with a network; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform any of the methods described in the first to sixteenth embodiments.

[0104] In a nineteenth embodiment, a method is performed by a base station, the method comprising: receiving UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching from a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE capability comprises an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; determining a UL Tx switching configuration based at least on the UE capability information; and sending the UL Tx switching configuration to the UE.

[0105] In a twentieth embodiment, according to the method of the nineteenth embodiment, the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands.

[0106] In a twenty-first embodiment, the method of the twentieth embodiment, wherein a first number of SUL carriers across all configured frequency bands is less than or equal to a second number of normal uplink (NUL) carriers across all configured frequency bands.

[0107] In a twenty-second embodiment, the method according to the twenty-first embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 2 SUL carriers across 2 configured frequency bands or 2 SUL carriers within 1 frequency band.

[0108] In a twenty-third embodiment, according to the method of the twenty-first embodiment, when the UL Tx switching configuration includes 3 configured frequency bands, the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 3 SUL carriers across 2 configured frequency bands or 3 configured frequency bands.

[0109] In a twenty-fourth embodiment, according to the method of the twenty-third embodiment, the maximum three SUL carriers include two SUL carriers in one frequency band.

[0110] In a twenty-fifth embodiment, according to the method of the twenty-first embodiment, when the UL Tx switching configuration includes 4 configured frequency bands, the UL Tx switching configuration further includes a maximum of 4 SUL carriers across 2 frequency bands, 3 frequency bands, or 4 frequency bands.

[0111] In a twenty-sixth embodiment, according to the method of the twenty-third embodiment, the maximum of four SUL carriers include two SUL carriers within one frequency band.

[0112] In a twenty-seventh embodiment, a method according to the twentieth embodiment is provided, wherein the UE capability information indicates one of the following modes: a first mode, in which the UE supports UL Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands or the four configured frequency bands; a second mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands but only for a subset of two of the three configured frequency bands at a given time; and a third mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the four configured frequency bands but only for two of the four configured frequency bands or a subset of three configured frequency bands at a given time.

[0113] In a twenty-eighth embodiment, according to the method of the twenty-seventh embodiment, the UE capability information includes support for the first mode, the second mode, the third mode, or any combination thereof.

[0114] In a twenty-ninth embodiment, the method according to the twenty-seventh embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the second mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 3 configured bands, and a subset of the 2 bands includes 1 SUL band and 1 NUL band.

[0115] In a thirtieth embodiment, the method according to the twenty-ninth embodiment, wherein the 1 NUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers, and the 1 SUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes only 1 carrier.

[0116] In a thirty-first embodiment, a method is described according to the twenty-seventh embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and a subset of the 3 bands includes 2 NUL bands and 1 SUL band with 1 continuous carrier or 2 continuous carriers.

[0117] In a thirty-second embodiment, a method according to the twenty-seventh embodiment is provided, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 SUL bands each having 1 carrier and 1 NUL band having 2 consecutive carriers.

[0118] In a thirty-third embodiment, the method according to the twenty-seventh embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes an indication of an entry in a table listing frequency band combinations stored in the UE.

[0119] In a thirty-fourth embodiment, the method according to the nineteenth embodiment, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration is sent in one of the following: downlink control information (DCI), medium access control control element (MAC CE) or radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

[0120] In a thirty-fifth embodiment, a processor is configured to perform any of the methods described in embodiments 19 to 34.

[0121] In a thirty-sixth embodiment, a base station comprises: a transceiver configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE); and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform any of the methods described in the nineteenth to thirty-fourth embodiments.

[0122] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the exemplary embodiments described above may be implemented with any suitable software configuration or hardware configuration or combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, Intel x86-based platforms with compatible operating systems, Windows OS, Mac platforms and MAC OS, mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. The exemplary embodiments of the above methods may be embodied as a program comprising lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0123] Although this application describes various embodiments, each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any feature of one embodiment may be combined with features of other embodiments in any manner that is not expressly negated or that is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the prescribed function of the disclosed embodiment.

[0124] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0125] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure covers modifications and variations of the present disclosure as long as they fall within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to: configuring transceiver circuitry to send UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) switching to a network, wherein the UE capabilities include an indication that the UE supports two or more supplemental uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; decoding a UL Tx switching configuration based on at least the UE capability information according to signaling received from the network, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and UL transmission is performed based on the UL Tx switching configuration.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration comprises a first number of SUL carriers across all configured frequency bands, the first number being less than or equal to a second number of normal uplink (NUL) carriers across all configured frequency bands.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the UE capability information indicates one of the following modes: a first mode, in which the UE supports UL Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands or the four configured frequency bands; a second mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands but only for a subset of two of the three configured frequency bands at a given time; and a third mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the four configured frequency bands but only for two of the four configured frequency bands or a subset of three configured frequency bands at a given time.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the second mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 3 configured bands, and the subset of 2 bands includes 1 SUL band and 1 NUL band. 5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the 1 NUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes 1 contiguous carrier or 2 contiguous carriers, and the 1 SUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes only 1 carrier.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 NUL bands and 1 SUL band with 1 contiguous carrier or 2 contiguous carriers.

7. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 SUL bands each having 1 carrier and 1 NUL band having 2 consecutive carriers.

8. A processor, the processor being configured to: configuring transceiver circuitry to send UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmit (Tx) switching to a network, wherein the UE capabilities include an indication that the UE supports two or more supplemental uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; decoding a UL Tx switching configuration based on at least the UE capability information according to signaling received from the network, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration includes one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and UL transmission is performed based on the UL Tx switching configuration.

9. The processor of claim 8, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration comprises a first number of SUL carriers across all configured frequency bands, the first number being less than or equal to a second number of normal uplink (NUL) carriers across all configured frequency bands.

10. The processor of claim 8, wherein the UE capability information indicates one of the following modes: a first mode, in which the UE supports UL Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands or the four configured frequency bands; a second mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the three configured frequency bands but only for a subset of two of the three configured frequency bands at a given time; and a third mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the four configured frequency bands but only for a subset of two of the four configured frequency bands or three configured frequency bands at a given time.

11. The processor of claim 10, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the second mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 3 configured bands, and the subset of 2 bands includes 1 SUL band and 1 NUL band.

12. The processor of claim 10, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 NUL bands and 1 SUL band with 1 contiguous carrier or 2 contiguous carriers.

13. The processor of claim 10, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 SUL bands each having 1 carrier and 1 NUL band having 2 consecutive carriers.

14. A base station device, the device comprising a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to: decoding, based on signaling received from a user equipment (UE), UE capability information related to uplink (UL) transmission (Tx) switching, wherein the UE capability includes an indication that the UE supports two or more supplementary uplink (SUL) frequency bands or carriers; determining a UL Tx switching configuration based at least on the UE capability information, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration comprises one of three configured frequency bands or four configured frequency bands; and Transceiver circuitry is configured to send the UL Tx switching configuration to the UE.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration comprises a first number of SUL carriers across all configured frequency bands, the first number being less than or equal to a second number of normal uplink (NUL) carriers across all configured frequency bands.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the UE capability information indicates one of the following modes: a first mode, in which the UE supports UL Tx switching for the 3 configured frequency bands or the 4 configured frequency bands; a second mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the 3 configured frequency bands but only for a subset of 2 of the 3 configured frequency bands at a given time; and a third mode, in which the UE supports Tx switching for the 4 configured frequency bands but only for 2 of the 4 configured frequency bands or a subset of 3 configured frequency bands at a given time.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the second mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 3 configured bands, and the subset of 2 bands includes 1 SUL band and 1 NUL band.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the 1 NUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes 1 contiguous carrier or 2 contiguous carriers, and the 1 SUL frequency band in the subset of 2 frequency bands includes only 1 carrier.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 NUL bands and 1 SUL band with 1 contiguous carrier or 2 contiguous carriers.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the UL Tx switching configuration corresponding to the third mode includes 1 SUL band or 2 SUL bands among the 4 configured bands, and the subset of 3 bands includes 2 SUL bands each having 1 carrier and 1 NUL band having 2 consecutive carriers.

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