Low latency timing advance command indication in layer 1 / layer 2 mobility

Abstract

In one embodiment, a network entity sends a command to trigger a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance (TA) groups (TAGs) associated with a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG), and receives data in response to the command; or the network entity transmits downlink control information (DCI) including the first TA value, and receives an uplink time slot having a time of arrival adjusted by the first TA value. A user equipment (UE) receives a command to trigger TA updates associated with one or more TAGs associated with a candidate spCell or a candidate CG, and transmits at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command; or the UE receives DCI including a first TA value, and transmits an uplink slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The techniques discussed below relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to low-latency timing advance command (TAC) indication in layer 1 / layer 2 mobility (L1 / L2 mobility). Background Art

[0002] A user equipment (UE) may be located at different distances from multiple network entities (e.g., base stations, gNBs, radio units associated with distributed units) at any given time. The network entities may be associated with various primary cells (PCells), secondary cells (SCells), primary secondary cells (PSCells), and special cells (spCells) that serve or may serve the UE. As the distance changes, the propagation delay (which is proportional to the distance) between the network entity and the UE changes accordingly. The change in propagation delay causes the uplink transmissions from the UE to arrive at the network entity at different times. Timing advance may be used to control the timing of the uplink transmissions of the UE. Summary of the invention

[0003] An overview of one or more aspects of the present disclosure is presented below to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an exhaustive overview of all expected features of the present disclosure, and is neither intended to identify key or important elements of all aspects of the present disclosure, nor to describe the scope of any or all aspects of the present disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the present disclosure in a form as a preface to a more detailed description presented later.

[0004] In one example, a network entity is disclosed. The network entity includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. In this example, the processor is configured to: send a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and receive data in response to the command, wherein the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) are associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0005] In another example, a method operation at a network entity is disclosed. The method includes sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and receiving data in response to the command, the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0006] In another example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus, which may be a network entity, includes means for sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG), and means for receiving data in response to the command.

[0007] In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code is disclosed. The code may cause an apparatus (such as a network entity) to send a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and receive data in response to the command, the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0008] In one example, a network entity is disclosed. The network entity includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. In this example, the processor is configured to send downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value and receive an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0009] In another example, a method operation at a network entity is disclosed. The method includes sending downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and receiving an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0010] In another example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus, which may be a network entity, includes means for sending downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and means for receiving an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0011] In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code is disclosed. The code may cause an apparatus (such as a network entity) to send downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value and receive an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0012] In one example, a user equipment is disclosed. The user equipment includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. In this example, the processor is configured to: receive a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and send at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command, the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0013] In another example, a method operation at a user equipment is disclosed. The method includes: receiving a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG); and sending at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command.

[0014] In another example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus, which may be a user equipment, includes: a component for receiving a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG); and a component for sending at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command.

[0015] In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code is disclosed. The code may cause an apparatus (such as a user equipment) to receive a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and to send at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command, the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0016] In one example, a user equipment is disclosed. The user equipment includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. In this example, the processor is configured to receive downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and to send an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0017] In another example, a method operation at a user equipment is disclosed. The method includes receiving downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and transmitting an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0018] In another example, an apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus, which may be a user equipment, includes means for receiving downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and means for transmitting an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0019] In another example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code is disclosed. The code may cause an apparatus (such as a user equipment) to receive downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value and transmit an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0020] These and other aspects will be more fully understood after reading the following detailed description. After reading the following description of specific exemplary aspects in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, other aspects, features, and examples will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Although each feature may be discussed below with respect to certain examples and drawings, all examples may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, although one or more examples may be discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of such features may also be used according to the various examples discussed herein. Similarly, although each example may be discussed below as an example of a device, system, or method, it should be understood that such examples may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of an example of a radio access network (RAN) according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 3 is an expanded view of an example subframe showing an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) resource grid according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 4 is a diagram providing a high-level illustration of one example of a configuration of a decomposed base station according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 5 is an example of how some aspects of the present disclosure may be used in various wireless communication devices (such as the above combined Figure 1 , Figure 2 and / or Figure 4 0 is a block diagram of a protocol stack implemented in a user plane and a control plane of various wireless communication devices shown and described in the examples.

[0026] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating various aspects of timing advance according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating reselecting or updating a spCell among a set of preconfigured candidate spCells based on L1 measurements of a user equipment according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a network entity employing a processing system according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process at a network entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Fig.10 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process at a network entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Fig.11 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of user equipment employing a processing system according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Fig.12 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process at user equipment according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

[0033] Fig.13 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process at user equipment according to some aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is intended as a description of various configurations and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts, the detailed description includes specific details. However, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some examples, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring these concepts.

[0035] Although various aspects and examples are described in this application by illustrating some examples, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that additional specific implementations and use cases can be generated in many different arrangements and scenarios. The innovation described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes, and packaging arrangements. For example, various aspects and / or use can be generated via integrated chip examples and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication equipment, computing equipment, industrial equipment, retail / shopping equipment, medical equipment, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may or may not specifically point to use cases or applications, the applicability of a wide range of described innovations may occur. Specific implementations can range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level specific implementations, and further to the range of aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems in conjunction with one or more aspects of the described innovations. In some actual settings, the device incorporating the described aspects and features may also necessarily include additional components and features for the implementation and implementation of the claimed and described examples. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components, including antennas, radio frequency (RF) chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / summers, etc.). The innovations described herein are intended to be practiced in a wide variety of devices of different sizes, shapes, and configurations, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, disaggregated arrangements (e.g., base stations and / or user equipment (UE)), end-user devices, etc.

[0036] The various concepts presented throughout this disclosure may be implemented across a wide variety of telecommunication systems, network architectures, and communication standards. Figure 1 , various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated with reference to a wireless communication system 100 as an illustrative example and not as a limitation. The wireless communication system 100 includes three interacting domains: a core network 102, a radio access network (RAN) 104, and a user equipment (UE) 106. By means of the wireless communication system 100, the UE 106 may be enabled to perform data communications with an external data network 110, such as (but not limited to) the Internet.

[0037] The RAN 104 may implement any suitable one or more wireless communication technologies to provide radio access to the UE 106. As an example, the RAN 104 may operate according to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) New Radio (NR) specification, commonly referred to as 5G. As another example, the RAN 104 may operate according to a hybrid of 5G NR and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (eUTRAN) standards, commonly referred to as Long Term Evolution (LTE). 3GPP refers to such a hybrid RAN as the Next Generation RAN or NG-RAN. Of course, many other examples may be utilized within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0038] As illustrated, RAN 104 includes multiple base stations 108. In a broad sense, a base station is a network element in a radio access network that is responsible for radio transmission and reception to or from a UE in one or more cells. In different technologies, standards or contexts, a base station may be referred to as a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), an access point (AP), a Node B (NB), an eNode B (eNB), a gNode B (gNB), a transmission and reception point (TRP) or some other suitable terminology by those skilled in the art. In some examples, a base station may include two or more TRPs that may be co-located or non-co-located. Each TRP may communicate on the same or different carrier frequencies in the same or different frequency bands. In an example where RAN 104 operates according to two standards, LTE and 5G NR, one of the base stations may be an LTE base station, and the other base station may be a 5G NR base station.

[0039] The RAN 104 is also illustrated as supporting wireless communications for multiple mobile devices. In the 3GPP standards, a mobile device may be referred to as a user equipment (UE), but those skilled in the art may also refer to it as a mobile station (MS), a subscriber station, a mobile unit, a subscriber unit, a wireless unit, a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a wireless communication device, a remote device, a mobile subscriber station, an access terminal (AT), a mobile terminal, a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a terminal, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable terminology. A UE may be a device (e.g., a mobile device) that provides access to network services to a user.

[0040] Within the present disclosure, a "mobile" device does not necessarily need to have the ability to move, but may be stationary. The term mobile device or mobile equipment refers broadly to a wide variety of devices and technologies. A UE may include a plurality of hardware structural components whose size, shape, and arrangement facilitate communication; such components may include antennas, antenna arrays, RF chains, amplifiers, one or more processors, etc. electrically coupled to each other. For example, some non-limiting examples of mobile devices include mobile stations, cellular (cell) phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and a wide variety of embedded systems (e.g., corresponding to the "Internet of Things" (IoT)).

[0041] The mobile device may also be a car or other transportation vehicle, a remote sensor or actuator, a robot or robotic device, a satellite radio, a global positioning system (GPS) device, an object tracking device, a drone, a multi-rotor aircraft, a quadcopter, a remote control device, a consumer and / or wearable device (such as glasses, a wearable camera, a virtual reality device, a smart watch, a health or fitness tracker, a digital audio player (e.g., an MP3 player), a camera, a game console, etc. The mobile device may also be a digital home or smart home device (such as home audio, video and / or multimedia equipment), an appliance, a vending machine, a smart lighting device, a home security system, a smart meter Etc. The mobile device may also be a smart energy device, a security device, a solar panel or solar array, a municipal infrastructure device that controls electrical power (e.g., a smart grid), lighting, water supply, etc., an industrial automation and enterprise device, a logistics controller, and / or agricultural equipment, etc. In addition, the mobile device may provide connected medical or telemedicine support, such as health care at a distance. Telemedicine devices may include telemedicine monitoring devices and telemedicine management devices, whose communications may be given priority or access priority over other types of information, for example, in terms of priority access for the transmission of critical service data and / or associated QoS for the transmission of critical service data.

[0042] Wireless communication between RAN 104 and UE 106 can be described as utilizing an air interface. Transmission from a base station (e.g., base station 108) to one or more UEs (e.g., similar to UE 106) over an air interface can be referred to as downlink (DL) transmission. According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, the term "downlink" can refer to point-to-multipoint transmission originating from a base station (e.g., base station 108). Another way to describe this scheme can be to use the term "broadcast channel multiplexing". Transmission from a UE (e.g., UE 106) to a base station (e.g., base station 108) can be referred to as uplink (UL) transmission. According to further aspects of the present disclosure, the term "uplink" can refer to point-to-point transmission originating at a UE (e.g., UE 106).

[0043] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, wherein a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station 108) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. Within the present disclosure, as discussed further below, a scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UEs 106). That is, for scheduled communications, multiple UEs 106 (which may be scheduled entities) may utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity 108.

[0044] Base station 108 is not the only entity that can act as a scheduling entity. That is, in some examples, a UE can act as a scheduling entity, scheduling resources for one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more other UEs). For example, a UE can communicate directly with other UEs in a peer-to-peer or device-to-device manner and / or in a relay configuration.

[0045] like Figure 1 , the scheduling entity 108 may broadcast downlink traffic 112 to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more UEs 106). Broadly speaking, the scheduling entity 108 is a node or device responsible for scheduling traffic in the wireless communication network, including downlink traffic 112, and in some examples, uplink traffic 116 from one or more scheduled entities (e.g., one or more UEs 106) to the scheduling entity 108. On the other hand, the scheduled entity (e.g., UE 106) is a node or device that receives downlink control 114 (including but not limited to scheduling information (e.g., grant), synchronization or timing information, or other control information) from another entity in the wireless communication network (such as the scheduling entity 108). The scheduled entity 106 may also send uplink control 118 (including but not limited to scheduling request or feedback information or other control information) to the scheduling entity 108.

[0046] In addition, uplink control 118 and / or downlink control 114 information and / or uplink traffic 116 and / or downlink traffic 112 can be sent on a waveform, which can be divided into frames, subframes, time slots and / or symbols by time. As used herein, a symbol can refer to a time unit that carries one resource element (RE) per subcarrier in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform. A time slot can carry 7 or 14 OFDM symbols. A subframe can refer to a duration of 1 ms. Multiple subframes or time slots can be grouped together to form a single frame or radio frame. In the present disclosure, a frame can refer to a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) for wireless transmission, wherein each frame is composed of, for example, 10 subframes of 1 ms each. Of course, these definitions are not required, and any suitable scheme for organizing waveforms can be utilized, and the various time divisions of waveforms can have any suitable duration.

[0047] Generally speaking, base stations 108 may include a backhaul interface for communicating with a backhaul portion 120 of wireless communication system 100. Backhaul portion 120 may provide a link between base stations 108 and core network 102. Additionally, in some examples, a backhaul network may provide interconnections between respective base stations 108. Various types of backhaul interfaces may be employed, such as a direct physical connection using any suitable transport network, a virtual network, or the like.

[0048] The core network 102 may be part of the wireless communication system 100 and may be independent of the radio access technology used in the RAN 104. In some examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to 5G standards, such as 5G Core (5GC). In other examples, the core network 102 may be configured according to 4G Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or any other appropriate standard or configuration.

[0049] See now Figure 2 , by way of illustrative example and not limitation, a schematic illustration of a radio access network (RAN) 200 according to some aspects of the present disclosure is provided. In some examples, the RAN 200 may be similar to the ones described above and in Figure 1 is the same as the RAN 104 illustrated in .

[0050] The geographic area covered by the RAN 200 may be divided into a number of cellular regions (cells) that may be uniquely identified by a user equipment (UE) based on an identity broadcast from an access point or base station within the geographic area. Figure 2Cells 202, 204, 206, and 208 are illustrated, each of which may include one or more sectors (not shown). A sector is a sub-area of ​​a cell. All sectors within a cell are served by the same base station. A radio link within a sector may be identified by a single logical identifier belonging to the sector. In a cell divided into sectors, multiple sectors within a cell may be formed by multiple groups of antennas, each of which is responsible for communicating with a UE in a portion of the cell.

[0051] Various base station arrangements can be used. Figure 2 , two base stations (base station 210 and base station 212) are shown in cells 202 and 204. A third base station (base station 214) is shown as controlling a remote radio head (RRH) 216 in cell 206. That is, the base station may have an integrated antenna, or may be connected to an antenna or RRH 216 by a feeder cable. In the illustrated example, cells 202, 204, and 206 may be referred to as macro cells because base stations 210, 212, and 214 support cells with large sizes. In addition, base station 218 is shown in cell 208, which may overlap with one or more macro cells. In this example, cell 208 may be referred to as a small cell (e.g., a small cell, a micro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a home base station, a home node B, a home eNode B, etc.) because base station 218 supports a cell with a relatively small size. The cell size setting may be performed according to the system design and component constraints.

[0052] It should be appreciated that the RAN 200 may include any number of wireless base stations and cells. In addition, relay nodes may be deployed to extend the size or coverage area of ​​a given cell. Base stations 210, 212, 214, 218 provide wireless access points to the core network for any number of mobile devices. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, 214, and / or 218 may be similar to those described above and in Figure 1 The scheduling entity 108 illustrated in FIG. 1 is the same as or similar to that in FIG.

[0053] Figure 2 Also included is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) 220, which may be a drone or a quadcopter. UAV 220 may be configured to act as a base station, or more specifically, a mobile base station. That is, in some examples, the cell may not necessarily be stationary, and the geographic area of ​​the cell may move depending on the location of a mobile base station (such as UAV 220).

[0054] Within the RAN 200, cells may include UEs that may communicate with one or more sectors of each cell. In addition, each base station 210, 212, 214, 218, and 220 may be configured to provide access to the core network 102 (see FIG. 1 ) for all UEs in the corresponding cell. Figure 1 ) access point. For example, UEs 222 and 224 may communicate with base station 210; UEs 226 and 228 may communicate with base station 212; UEs 230 and 232 may communicate with base station 214 via RRH 216; UE 234 may communicate with base station 218; and UE 236 may communicate with mobile base station 220. In some examples, UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, 236, 238, 240, and / or 242 may communicate with the base stations described above and Figure 1 202. In some examples, UAV 220 (e.g., a quadcopter) may be a mobile network node and may be configured to act as a UE. For example, UAV 220 may operate within cell 202 by communicating with base station 210.

[0055] In other aspects of RAN 200, sidelink signals can be used between UEs without relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. Sidelink communications can be used in device-to-device (D2D) networks, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) networks, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks, and / or other suitable sidelink networks. For example, two or more UEs (e.g., UE 238, 240, and 242) can communicate with each other using sidelink signals 237 without relaying the communication through a base station. In some examples, UE 238, 240, and 242 can each act as a scheduling entity or a transmitting sidelink device and / or a scheduled entity or a receiving sidelink device to schedule resources and communicate sidelink signals 237 between them without relying on scheduling or control information from a base station. In other examples, two or more UEs (e.g., UE 226 and 228) within the coverage area of ​​a base station (e.g., base station 212) can also communicate sidelink signals 227 via a direct link (sidelink) without transmitting the communication through base station 212. In this example, base station 212 may allocate resources to UEs 226 and 228 for sidelink communications.

[0056] In order to obtain a low block error rate (BLER) for transmissions over the air interface while still achieving very high data rates, channel coding may be used. That is, wireless communications may typically utilize a suitable error-correcting block code. In a typical block code, an information message or sequence is split into code blocks (CBs), and an encoder (e.g., a codec) at the transmitting device then mathematically adds redundancy to the information message. Utilizing this redundancy in the encoded information message improves the reliability of the message, enabling correction of any bit errors that may occur due to noise.

[0057] Data decoding can be implemented in a variety of ways. In early 5G NR specifications, user data is decoded using quasi-cyclic low-density parity check (LDPC) with two different basemaps: one basemap is used for large code blocks and / or high code rates, and the other basemap is used for other cases. Control information and physical broadcast channel (PBCH) are decoded based on nested sequences using polar decoding. For these channels, puncturing, shortening, and repetition are used for rate matching.

[0058] Aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented using any suitable channel code. Various implementations of base stations and UEs may include appropriate hardware and capabilities (eg, encoders, decoders, and / or codecs) to utilize one or more of these channel codes for wireless communications.

[0059] In the RAN 200, the ability of a UE to communicate while moving (independent of its location) is called mobility. The various physical channels between the UE and the RAN 200 are generally established, maintained, and released under the control of an access and mobility management function (AMF). In some scenarios, the AMF may include: a security context management function (SCMF) and a security anchor function (SEAF) that performs authentication. The SCMF may manage security contexts for both control plane functions and user plane functions in whole or in part.

[0060] In various aspects of the present disclosure, the RAN 200 may utilize DL-based mobility or UL-based mobility to implement mobility and handover (i.e., the transfer of a UE's connection from one radio channel to another). In a network configured for DL-based mobility, during a call with a scheduling entity or at any other time, the UE may monitor various parameters of the signal from its serving cell and various parameters of neighboring cells. Based on the quality of these parameters, the UE may maintain communication with one or more neighboring cells. During this time, if the UE moves from one cell to another, or if the signal quality from a neighboring cell exceeds the signal quality from the serving cell for a given amount of time, the UE may perform a handover or handover from the serving cell to a neighboring (target) cell. For example, a UE 224 may move from a geographic area corresponding to its serving cell 202 to a geographic area corresponding to a neighboring cell 206. When the signal strength or quality from a neighboring cell 206 exceeds the signal strength and quality of its serving cell 202 for a given amount of time, the UE 224 may send a report message indicating this to its serving base station 210. In response, UE 224 may receive the handover command, and the UE may proceed with the handover to cell 206 .

[0061] In a network configured for UL-based mobility, the network can select a serving cell for each UE using a UL reference signal from each UE. In some examples, base stations 210, 212, and 214 / 216 may broadcast unified synchronization signals (e.g., unified primary synchronization signal (PSS), unified secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and unified physical broadcast channel (PBCH)). UEs 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, and 232 may receive unified synchronization signals, derive carrier frequency and slot timing from these synchronization signals, and send uplink pilots or reference signals in response to the derived opportunities. The uplink pilot signal sent by a UE (e.g., UE 224) may be received concurrently by two or more cells (e.g., base stations 210 and 214 / 216) within RAN 200. Each of the cells may measure the strength of the pilot signal, and the radio access network (e.g., one or more of the base stations 210 and 214 / 216 and / or a central node within the core network) may determine a serving cell for the UE 224. As the UE 224 moves through the RAN 200, the RAN 200 may continue to monitor the uplink pilot signals sent by the UE 224. When the signal strength or quality of the pilot signal measured by the neighboring cell exceeds the signal strength or quality measured by the serving cell, the RAN 200 may hand over the UE 224 from the serving cell to the neighboring cell with or without notifying the UE 224.

[0062] Although the synchronization signals transmitted by base stations 210, 212 and 214 / 216 may be uniform, the synchronization signal may not identify a specific cell, but may identify a zone of multiple cells operating on the same frequency and / or using the same timing. Using zones in a 5G network or other next generation communication network implements an uplink-based mobility framework and improves the efficiency of both the UE and the network, because the number of mobility messages that need to be exchanged between the UE and the network can be reduced.

[0063] In various specific implementations, the air interface in the radio access network 200 may utilize licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or shared spectrum. Licensed spectrum typically provides exclusive use of a portion of the spectrum with the help of a mobile network operator purchasing a license from a government regulator. Unlicensed spectrum provides shared use of a portion of the spectrum without the need for a government-granted license. Although it is still generally necessary to comply with some technical rules to access the unlicensed spectrum, access is generally available to any operator or device. Shared spectrum may fall between licensed spectrum and unlicensed spectrum, where some technical rules or restrictions may be required to access the spectrum, but the spectrum may still be shared by multiple operators and / or multiple RATs. For example, a license holder of a portion of a licensed spectrum may provide licensed shared access (LSA) to share the spectrum with other parties (e.g., with appropriate licensee-determined conditions to obtain access).

[0064] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0065] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz–24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, so the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz-71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz-114.25GHz) and FR5 (114.25GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0066] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this article, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" and the like are used in this article, they can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0067] Devices communicating in the radio access network 200 may utilize one or more multiplexing techniques and multiple access algorithms to enable simultaneous communication of various devices. For example, the 5G NR specification provides multiple access for UL transmissions from UEs 222 and 224 to the base station 210, and multiplexing of DL transmissions from the base station 210 to one or more UEs 222 and 224 using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP). In addition, for UL transmissions, the 5G NR specification provides support for discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) with CP (also known as single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA)). However, within the scope of the present disclosure, multiplexing and multiple access are not limited to the above schemes, and may be provided using time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), sparse code multiple access (SCMA), resource extension multiple access (RSMA), or other suitable multiple access schemes. In addition, multiplexing of DL transmissions from base station 210 to UEs 222 and 224 may be provided using time division multiplexing (TDM), code division multiplexing (CDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sparse code multiplexing (SCM), or other suitable multiplexing schemes.

[0068] The equipment in the radio access network 200 may also utilize one or more duplex algorithms. Duplex refers to a point-to-point communication link in which two endpoints can communicate with each other in two directions. Full-duplex means that two endpoints can communicate with each other at the same time. Half-duplex means that only one endpoint can transmit information to the other endpoint at a time. Half-duplex simulation is often implemented for wireless links using time division duplex (TDD). In TDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using time division multiplexing. That is, in some scenarios, a channel is dedicated to transmission in one direction, while at other times, the channel is dedicated to transmission in another direction, where the direction can change very quickly, for example, several times per time slot. In wireless links, full-duplex channels generally rely on physical isolation of transmitters and receivers and suitable interference cancellation techniques. Full-duplex simulation is often implemented for wireless links by utilizing frequency division duplex (FDD) or space division duplex (SDD). In FDD, transmissions in different directions can operate at different carrier frequencies (e.g., within a paired spectrum). In SDD, transmissions in different directions on a given channel are separated from each other using spatial division multiplexing (SDM). In other examples, full-duplex communication may be implemented within an unpaired spectrum (e.g., within a single carrier bandwidth), where transmissions in different directions occur within different sub-bands of the carrier bandwidth. This type of full-duplex communication may be referred to herein as sub-band full-duplex (SBFD), also known as flexible duplex.

[0069] Reference Figure 3 Various aspects of the present disclosure are described using OFDM waveforms schematically illustrated in . It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various aspects of the present disclosure can be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms in substantially the same manner as described below herein. That is, while some examples of the present disclosure may focus on OFDM links for clarity, it should be understood that the same principles can also be applied to SC-FDMA waveforms.

[0070] Reference now Figure 3 , illustrates an expanded view of an exemplary subframe 302 showing an OFDM resource grid according to some aspects of the present disclosure. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the physical (PHY) transmission structure for any particular application may differ from the examples described herein depending on any number of factors. Here, time is in units of OFDM symbols in the horizontal direction; and frequency is in units of subcarriers of a carrier in the vertical direction.

[0071] Resource grid 304 can be used to schematically represent the time-frequency resources for a given antenna port. That is, in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) implementation with multiple available antenna ports, a corresponding plurality of resource grids 304 can be available for communication. Resource grid 304 is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs) 306. RE (which is 1 subcarrier×1 symbol) is the smallest discrete portion of the time-frequency grid and contains a single complex value representing data from a physical channel or signal. Depending on the modulation utilized in a particular implementation, each RE can represent one or more bits of information. In some examples, a block of REs can be referred to as a physical resource block (PRB), or more simply a resource block (RB) 308, which contains any suitable number of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In one example, an RB can include 12 subcarriers (a number independent of the parameter set used). In some examples, depending on the parameter set, an RB can include any suitable number of consecutive OFDM symbols in the time domain. Within the present disclosure, it is assumed that a single RB (such as RB 308) corresponds entirely to communication in a single direction (transmission or reception for a given device).

[0072] A collection of contiguous or discontinuous resource blocks may be referred to herein as a resource block group (RBG), a subband, or a bandwidth part (BWP). A collection of subbands or BWPs may span the entire bandwidth. Scheduling a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) for downlink, uplink, or sidelink transmission typically involves scheduling one or more resource elements 306 within one or more subbands or bandwidth parts (BWPs). Thus, a UE typically utilizes only a subset of a resource grid 304. In some examples, an RB may be the smallest resource unit that may be allocated to a UE. Thus, the more RBs scheduled for a UE, and the higher the modulation scheme selected for the air interface, the higher the data rate for the UE. The RBs may be scheduled by a scheduling entity such as a base station (e.g., a gNB, an eNB, etc.), or may be self-scheduled by a UE implementing D2D sidelink communication.

[0073] In this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire bandwidth of subframe 302, with some subcarriers illustrated above and below RB 308. In a given implementation, subframe 302 may have a bandwidth corresponding to any number of one or more RBs 308. Furthermore, in this illustration, RB 308 is shown as occupying less than the entire duration of subframe 302, although this is only one possible example.

[0074] Each 1 ms subframe 302 may consist of one or more adjacent time slots. Figure 3In the example shown in , as an illustrative example, a subframe 302 includes four time slots 310. In some examples, a time slot may be defined according to a specified number of OFDM symbols with a given cyclic prefix (CP) length. For example, a time slot may include 7 or 14 OFDM symbols with a nominal CP. Additional examples may include micro-slots (sometimes referred to as shortened transmission time intervals (TTIs)) with shorter durations (e.g., one to three OFDM symbols). These micro-slots or shortened transmission time intervals (TTIs) may be transmitted in some cases by occupying resources that are scheduled for ongoing time slot transmissions for the same UE or different UEs. Any number of resource blocks may be utilized within a subframe or time slot.

[0075] An expanded view of one of the time slots 310 illustrates that the time slot 310 includes a control region 312 and a data region 314. In general, the control region 312 may carry control channels, and the data region 314 may carry data channels. Of course, a time slot may contain full DL, full UL, or at least one DL portion and at least one UL portion. Figure 3 The structures illustrated in are merely exemplary in nature, and different slot structures may be utilized and may include one or more regions in each of the control region and the data region.

[0076] Although not in Figure 3 308, but various REs 306 within RB 308 may be scheduled to carry one or more physical channels, including control channels, shared channels, data channels, etc. Other REs 306 within RB 308 may also carry pilot signals or reference signals. These pilot signals or reference signals may be provided to a receiving device to perform channel estimation of the corresponding channel, which may enable coherent demodulation / detection of control channels and / or data channels within RB 308.

[0077] In some examples, time slot 310 may be utilized for broadcast, multicast, groupcast, or unicast communications. For example, broadcast, multicast, or groupcast communications may refer to point-to-multipoint transmissions from one device (e.g., a base station, UE, or other similar device) to other devices. Here, broadcast communications are delivered to all devices, while multicast or groupcast communications are delivered to multiple intended receiving devices. Unicast communications may refer to point-to-point transmissions from one device to a single other device.

[0078] In an example of cellular communication over a cellular carrier via a Uu interface, for DL ​​transmission, a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) may allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., within a control region 312) to one or more scheduled entities (e.g., UEs) to carry DL control information including one or more DL control channels (such as a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)). The PDCCH carries downlink control information (DCI), including but not limited to power control commands (e.g., one or more open-loop power control parameters and / or one or more closed-loop power control parameters), scheduling information, grants, and / or assignments of REs for DL ​​transmission and UL transmission. The PDCCH may further carry a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback transmission, such as an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK). HARQ is a technique well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, wherein the integrity of a packet transmission may be checked for accuracy at the receiving side, for example, using any appropriate integrity check mechanism, such as a checksum or a cyclic redundancy check (CRC). If the integrity of the transmission is confirmed, an ACK may be sent, and if it is not confirmed, a NACK may be sent. In response to the NACK, the sending device may transmit a HARQ retransmission, which may implement trace combining, incremental redundancy, and the like.

[0079] The base station may also allocate one or more REs 306 (e.g., in the control region 312 or the data region 314) to carry other DL signals, such as a demodulation reference signal (DMRS); a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS); a channel state information (CSI) reference signal (CSI-RS); and a synchronization signal block (SSB). The SSB may be broadcast at regular intervals based on a periodicity (e.g., 5ms, 10ms, 20ms, 40ms, 80ms, or 160ms). The SSB includes a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a physical broadcast control channel (PBCH). The UE may use the PSS and SSS to achieve radio frame, subframe, time slot, and symbol synchronization in the time domain, identify the center of the channel (system) bandwidth in the frequency domain, and identify the physical cell identity (PCI) of the cell.

[0080] The PBCH in the SSB may also include a master information block (MIB) containing various system information and parameters for decoding a system information block (SIB). The SIB may be, for example, SystemInformationType 1 (SIB1), which may include various additional system information. The MIB and SIB1 together provide minimum system information (SI) for initial access. Examples of system information sent in the MIB may include, but are not limited to, subcarrier spacing (e.g., default downlink parameter set), system frame number, configuration of the PDCCH control resource set (CORESET) (e.g., PDCCH CORESET0), cell barring indicator, cell reselection indicator, grid offset, and search space for SIB1. Examples of remaining minimum system information (RMSI) sent in SIB1 may include, but are not limited to, random access search space, paging search space, downlink configuration information, and uplink configuration information. The base station may also send other system information (OSI).

[0081] In an UL transmission, a scheduled entity (e.g., a UE) may utilize one or more REs 306 to a scheduling entity to carry UL control information (UCI) including one or more UL control channels, such as a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). The UCI may include various packet types and categories, including pilots, reference signals, and information configured to enable or assist in decoding uplink data transmissions. Examples of uplink reference signals may include a sounding reference signal (SRS) and an uplink DMRS. In some examples, the UCI may include a scheduling request (SR), i.e., a request to a scheduling entity to schedule an uplink transmission. In this document, in response to the SR sent on the UCI, the scheduling entity may send downlink control information (DCI), which may schedule resources for uplink packet transmissions. The UCI may also include HARQ feedback, channel state feedback (CSF) (such as a CSI report), or any other appropriate UCI.

[0082] In addition to control information, one or more REs 306 (e.g., within the data region 314) may also be allocated for data. Such data may be carried on one or more traffic channels, such as, for DL ​​transmissions, on a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH); or for UL transmissions, on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). In some examples, one or more REs 306 within the data region 314 may be configured to carry other signals, such as one or more SIBs and DMRS. In some examples, the PDSCH may carry multiple SIBs, not limited to the SIB1 discussed above. For example, OSI may be provided in these SIBs (e.g., SIB2 and above SIBs).

[0083] In an example of sidelink communication on a sidelink carrier via a proximity service (ProSe) PC5 interface, a control region 312 of a time slot 310 may include a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) including sidelink control information (SCI) sent by an initiating (transmitting) sidelink device (e.g., a Tx V2X device or other Tx UE) toward a set of one or more other receiving sidelink devices (e.g., an Rx V2X device or other Rx UE). A data region 314 of the time slot 310 may include a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) including sidelink data sent by the initiating (transmitting) sidelink device in resources reserved by the transmitting sidelink device via the SCI on the sidelink carrier. Other information may also be sent via various REs 306 within the time slot 310. For example, HARQ feedback information may be sent from a receiving sidelink device to a transmitting sidelink device in a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH) within the time slot 310. Additionally, one or more reference signals may be sent within time slot 310, such as a sidelink SSB, a sidelink CSI-RS, a sidelink SRS, and / or a sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0084] These physical channels described above are typically multiplexed and mapped to transport channels for handling at the medium access control (MAC) layer. The transport channels carry blocks of information called transport blocks (TBs). Based on the modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and the number of RBs in a given transmission, the transport block size (TBS), which may correspond to the number of information bits, may be a controlled parameter.

[0085] Figure 4 4 is a diagram that provides a high-level illustration of an example of a configuration of a disaggregated base station 400 according to some aspects. The disaggregated base station 400 architecture may include one or more central units (CUs) 410 that may communicate directly with a core network 420 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 420 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 425 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 415 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 405, or both. The CU 410 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 430 via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DU 430 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 440 via respective fronthaul links. The RU 440 may communicate with respective UEs 450 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 450 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 440.

[0086] Each of the units (i.e., CU 410, DU 430, RU 440, near-RT RIC 425, non-RT RIC 415, and SMO framework 405) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. In addition, the unit may include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units via a wireless transmission medium.

[0087] In some aspects, CU 410 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 410. CU 410 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 410 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 410 may be implemented to communicate with DU 430 for network control and signaling.

[0088] DU 430 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 440. In some aspects, DU 430 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) depending at least in part on a functional split, such as a functional split defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 430 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 430 or with control functions hosted by CU 410.

[0089] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 440. In some deployments, the RU 440 controlled by the DU 430 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional splitting (such as lower layer functional splitting). In such an architecture, the RU 440 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 450. In some specific implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 440 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 430. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 430 and the CU 410 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0090] The SMO framework 405 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 405 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 490) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 410, DU 430, RU 440, and near-RT RIC 425. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 405 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 411) via the O1 interface. In addition, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 405 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 440 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 405 may also include a non-RT RIC 415 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 405 .

[0091] The non-RT RIC 415 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 425. The non-RT RIC 415 may be coupled to or communicate with the near-RT RIC 425 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 425 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 410, one or more DUs 430, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 425.

[0092] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 425, the non-RT RIC 415 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 425 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 405 or the non-RT RIC 415. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 415 or the near-RT RIC 425 may be configured to adjust RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 415 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 405 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0093] The uplink transmission of the user equipment can be synchronized with the downlink transmission to ensure that the start of the uplink frame from multiple user equipments is received at the network entity at the same time. In order to compensate for the changing distance between the network entity and each of the multiple user equipments, a timing advance command is transmitted from the network entity to the UE. The UE can use the timing advance group (TAG) and the associated time alignment timer to set the start of the uplink frame, and then monitor the degree of synchronization between the uplink frame and the downlink frame. Adding to the complexity are the identities and roles of various cells, such as the primary cell (PCell), the secondary cell (SCell), the primary and secondary cells (PSCell) and the special cell (spCell) (which corresponds to PCell+PSCell). In addition, a group of service cells controlled by one network entity can be referred to as a cell group (CG). The primary cell group (MCG) can be the group of service cells controlled by the network entity that controls the PCell. The secondary cell group (SCG) can describe a group of service cells controlled by a network entity that is not associated with the MCG. Members of the timing advance group (TAG) share the same timing. The TAG may be identified as a primary timing advance group (P-TAG) or a secondary timing advance group (S-TAG).

[0094] Figure 5 This is an example that can be used in various wireless communication devices (e.g., UE, base station, gNB, RU, DU, OeNB, etc.) (such as the above combination Figure 1 , Figure 2 and / or Figure 45. The protocol stack 500 is illustrated as being implemented in a user plane and a control plane of various wireless communication devices (e.g., various wireless communication devices shown and described in the examples of FIG. 5. The protocol stack 500 is illustrated as being implemented in a user equipment (UE) 502 (e.g., a client device), a network access node 504 (e.g., a gNB, a base station, a network entity), and an access and mobility management function (AMF) 506. The user plane protocol stack 501 implemented at the UE 502 may include a physical (PHY) 510 layer, a medium access control (MAC) 511 layer, a radio link control (RLC) 512 layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) 513 layer, and a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) 514 layer. The user plane protocol stack 501 implemented at the network access node 504 corresponds to the protocol stack implemented at the UE 502. Thus, the user plane protocol stack 501 implemented at the network access node 504 may include a physical (PHY) 520 layer, a medium access control (MAC) 521 layer, a radio link control (RLC) 522 layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) 523 layer, and a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) 524 layer. According to the open system interconnection (OSI) model, the PHY layer 510 and the PHY layer 520 may be referred to as the first layer or L1 layer. The MAC 511 layer, the MAC 521 layer, the RLC 512 layer, the RLC 522 layer, the PDCP 513 layer, the PDCP 523 layer, and the SDAP 514 layer, the SDAP 524 layer may be referred to as the second layer or L2 layer. User data in each of the identified layers (e.g., similar to Figure 1 The downlink traffic 112 and uplink traffic 116 of the UE 502 may be communicated via an air interface (not shown) between the PHY 510 layer of the UE 502 and the PHY 520 layer of the network access node 504.

[0095] The control plane protocol stack 503 implemented at the UE 502 may include a PHY 530 layer, a MAC 531 layer, an RLC 532 layer, a PDCP 533 layer, a radio resource control (RRC) 536 layer, and a non-access stratum (NAS) 537 layer. The control plane protocol stack 503 implemented at the network access node 504 corresponds to the protocol stack implemented at the UE 502 except for the NAS 537 layer. The NAS 537 layer passes through the network access node 504 but is not terminated at the network access node 504. Instead, the NAS 537 layer at the UE 502 is terminated at the corresponding NAS257 layer of the AMF 506. Based on the correspondence between the network access node 504 and the protocol stack implemented at the UE 502, the control plane protocol stack 503 implemented at the network access node 504 may include a PHY 540 layer, a MAC 541 layer, an RLC 542 layer, a PDCP 543 layer, and an RRC 544 layer. Control signaling messaging in each of the identified layers (e.g., similar to Figure 1 The downlink control 114 and uplink control 118 of the UE 502 may be communicated via an air interface (not shown) between the PHY 530 layer of the UE 502 and the PHY 540 layer of the network access node 504.

[0096] The user plane function (UPF) 505 interfaces with the entities of the user plane protocol stack 501 and may be at least one of a function or a circuit that functionally or operationally couples user data communicated through the user plane to the 5G core network (5GCN) 207. The UPF 505 may provide an interconnection point between a mobile infrastructure (e.g., a network access node, a TRP, etc.) and a data network (not shown) such as the Internet. The AMF 506 may be used as an interface between the NAS 537 entity and the NAS 557 entity in the control plane protocol stack 503. The AMF 506 may support, for example, termination of NAS signaling, NAS encryption and integrity protection, registration management, connection management, mobility management, access authentication and authorization, and security context management. A detailed explanation of the user plane entity and the control plane entity just identified is available to those skilled in the art and will not be described herein for the sake of brevity.

[0097] Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 and / or Figure 5 The channels or carriers illustrated are not necessarily all channels or carriers that may be utilized between devices, and one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other channels or carriers may be utilized in addition to those illustrated, such as other traffic, control, and feedback channels.

[0098] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B is a schematic diagram illustrating various aspects of timing advance according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 6A A first UE 602 (e.g., a wireless communication device) and a second UE 606 are depicted at different distances from a network entity 604 (e.g., a gNB, a base station, etc.). Fig. 6A In the XZ plane of , the first UE 602 is closer to the network entity 604 than the second UE 606.

[0099] Figure 6B The network entity 604 and the first UE 602 are depicted at several instances in time, and downlink frames and uplink frames at those several instances in time are graphically represented. Figure 6B The timing advance in the context of propagation delay and timing offset is illustrated from the perspective of the network entity 604 and the first UE 602.

[0100] Timing advance (TA) may be performed using a command transmitted by the network entity 604 to the first UE 602, i.e., a timing advance command (TAC). The TAC enables the first UE 602 to adjust the timing of its uplink transmissions. In implementation, a specific implementation of the TA may enable the first UE 602 to transmit uplink symbols before the time at which the UE would transmit uplink symbols without utilizing the TA. The uplink transmission may be, for example, at least one of a PUSCH, a PUCCH, and an SRS transmission. The TAC informs the first UE 602 of the amount of time by which the UE needs to advance the UE's uplink transmissions.

[0101] The TAC may have at least two variants. The first variant may be referred to as an initial TAC. The initial TAC may be transmitted via a random access response (RAR) message sent from the network entity 604 to the first UE 602. The RAR may be a response to a random access preamble sent from the first UE 602 to the network entity 604.

[0102] A second variation may communicate the TAC via a Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE).According to some aspects, the timing advance may be controlled by a MAC entity (eg, controlled at the MAC layer) and may be implemented by the physical layer.

[0103] By way of example and not limitation, the initial TAC may be communicated via the RAR and the first TA may be set. When the TA of a UE (e.g., the first UE 602) needs to be corrected, a given network entity 604 (e.g., a gNB, a base station, etc.) may transmit the TAC to the first UE 602, thereby commanding the first UE 602 to adjust the uplink transmission timing. The TAC may be transmitted to the first UE 602 via a TAC MAC-CE. Thus, the timing advance may be determined by a MAC entity of the UE (e.g., a UE 602). Figure 5 The TACMAC-CE may have a fixed 8 bits, of which the first two bits represent a TAG ID and the last 6 bits represent a TAC. The TAG ID indicates a timing advance group ID. The TAG ID of a TAG containing a spCell is 0. The TAC field indicates a MAC entity (e.g., similar to the one in combination with Figure 5 The first UE 602 may determine the degree of uplink synchronization at the MAC layer based on a timer referred to herein as timeAlignmentTimer. timeAlignmentTimer is signaled via RRC signaling (e.g., via an RRC entity, similar to as described in conjunction with Figure 5 The RRC 536 entity shown and described) is provided to the UE.

[0104] Additional mechanisms for transmitting a timing advance value from the network entity 604 to the first UE 602 may be described herein.

[0105] The timing advance value may depend on the signal propagation delay between the network entity 604 and the first UE 602. Therefore, different UEs at various locations will have different timing advance values. The goal of TAC is to align uplink transmissions from all UEs with the network entity.

[0106] exist Fig. 6A In the example of FIG. 6 , the first UE 602 is closer to the network entity 604 than the second UE 606. Therefore, the uplink transmission and downlink transmission of the first UE 602 (indicated by the direction of the first set of arrows 603) will have a shorter (e.g., less elapsed time) propagation delay (t ) than the uplink transmission and downlink transmission of the second UE 606 (indicated by the direction of the second set of arrows 605). 传播 ). The physical distances between the network entity 604 and the first UE 602 and between the network entity 604 and the second UE 606, and the resulting time propagation delays, are represented by the lengths of the first set of arrows 603 and the second set of arrows 605, respectively. Therefore, when making timing adjustments, the first UE 602 can utilize a smaller (e.g., shorter) timing advance than the second UE 606.

[0107] Now turn to Figure 6B According to some aspects, an uplink frame 612a with a given frame number (not shown) for uplink transmission from the first UE 602 may start a given amount of time (i.e., TA microseconds) before the start of the corresponding downlink frame 610b as received at the first UE 602. The given amount of time may be referred to as a timing advance (TA). By starting the uplink frame 612a TA microseconds before the first UE 602 begins receiving the downlink frame 610b, the starting edges of the downlink frame 610b (as seen at the first UE 602) and the uplink frame 612c (as seen by the network entity 604) may be made to coincide or substantially coincide.

[0108] Figure 7is a schematic diagram illustrating a pre-configured candidate spCell set 700 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The pre-configured candidate spCell set 700 is associated with four network entities: a first network entity 704, a second network entity 706, a third network entity 708, and a fourth network entity 710. The network entities may be implemented in a converged or monolithic base station architecture (e.g., gNB), or alternatively in a disaggregated base station architecture, and may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (Near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (Non-RT) RIC.

[0109] The number of four network entities is used for illustrative purposes and is not limiting. Figure 7 In the example of , the four network entities are more or less located on the circumference of the circle 702; however, the depiction of the positions of the four network entities on the circumference of the circle 702 is for illustrative purposes and not limiting. In other examples, similar network entities may be positioned relative to each other in a manner that does not correspond to positions on the circumference of a circle. The first network entity 704 is depicted as having multiple cells, including a current spCell 714 in a timing advance group (TAG) identified as TAG 0. The current spCell 714 serves the UE 712. The second network entity 706 is depicted as having one candidate spCell, namely, a second candidate spCell 718 in TAG 2. No additional cells are depicted in conjunction with the second network entity 706 to avoid cluttering the drawing. Multiple cells including the first candidate spCell 716 in TAG1 are described in conjunction with the third network entity 708. The fourth network entity 710 is depicted as having one candidate spCell, namely, a third candidate spCell 720 in TAG 3. Additional cells are not depicted in conjunction with the fourth network entity 710 to avoid cluttering the drawing.

[0110] When the UE 712 moves in the direction of the motion vector 722, the spCell serving the UE 712 may be reselected or updated. The reselection may move the spCell serving the UE 712 in the preconfigured candidate spCell set 700 to any one of the first candidate spCell 716, the second candidate spCell 718, or the third candidate spCell 720. The reselection or update may be based on the L1 measurement performed by the UE 712 with reference to the candidate spCell. Figure 7 In the scenario of , the first candidate spCell 716, the second candidate spCell 718, and the third candidate spCell 720 are not activated before one of them is selected as a new spCell to serve the UE 712. Figure 4In the illustrated example, the L1 measurement for the first candidate spCell 716 in TAG 1 may be the strongest; therefore, the first candidate spCell 716 in TAG 1 may be selected as the new spCell serving the UE 712.

[0111] Although TAG 1 is associated with the first candidate spCell 716, TAG 2 is associated with the second candidate spCell 718, and TAG 3 is associated with the third candidate spCell 720, there may be other cells that share the TAGs just described. Figure 7 In the scenario depicted in FIG. 7 , all candidate cells in TAG 1, TAG 2, and TAG 3 were previously deactivated and may remain deactivated, while the TA value associated with each candidate spCell is updated and maintained at UE 712. For example, before the first candidate spCell 716 in TAG 1 is selected as the new spCell serving UE 712, the TA value associated with each candidate spCell is updated and maintained at UE 712. Figure 7 All candidate cells sharing TAG 1 of the new spCell in are not activated.

[0112] In the case of L1 / L2-based mobility, for example, in instances involving spCell reselection or updating between a network entity and a given UE, determining and transmitting a timing advance involves some latency. The transmission of a reference signal from a given UE may need to be triggered, data may need to be collected, a TA value based on the transmission and / or data may need to be obtained, and a TAC including the obtained TA value may need to be sent from one or more of the network entities to the given UE before the obtained TA value can be applied to uplink transmissions from the given UE. Such operations may occur with a handover from one network entity to another, or generally in conjunction with the reselection of a spCell from a current spCell to a candidate spCell. In conjunction with L1 / L2-based mobility, in order to reduce the latency of new spCell activation, the TA value may be maintained relative to the deactivated candidate spCell so that no TA update is required after a given deactivated candidate spCell is selected as the new spCell. The maintenance of the TA value corresponding to the deactivated spCell at UE 712 facilitates low-latency timing advance command indication in L1 / L2-based mobility. Described herein may be aspects related to TA maintenance for deactivated cells and aspects that may reduce TA update latency involved in L1 / L2 based mobility.

[0113] According to various aspects described herein, commands that are currently used for other things (such as, for example, a spCell update command or a cell group (CG) update command) can be used to trigger a TA update associated with a TAG of a candidate spCell or candidate CG. By way of example, the TA update triggered by the spCell update command or the cell group update command can cause the UE 712 to send an uplink reference signal (RS) for TA measurement (e.g., a PRACH or SRS sent from the UE 712 to the candidate spCell or candidate CG), or can cause the UE 712 to report a receiver (Rx) timing difference between an activated spCell associated with a network entity (a current or network entity associated with the spCell currently serving the UE 712) and a candidate spCell, based on which the network entity can derive a corresponding TA value associated with the corresponding candidate spCell.

[0114] According to some aspects, a TA indication based on DCI may be considered. For example, the TA indication may be carried by the MAC-CE, or carried in conjunction with a random access response (RAR) when initially accessing a network entity. In addition, a TA indication based on DCI may be supported to reduce TA update latency and increase signaling flexibility. By way of example and not limitation, a DCI including a TA update may be enhanced based on a version 17 TCI update DCI, wherein a reserved bit may be used to indicate a TA value when such a TCI update DCI may not be used for scheduling data. Other DCIs may also be used to carry TA updates. In some examples, the TA value indicated in the DCI may be applied after X symbols from the DCI, where X may be a predetermined number that may be incorporated into a standard document, for example. In other words, the TA application time may be defined as X symbols from the DCI. In some examples, the TA value indicated in the DCI may be applied after Y symbols from an ACK associated with the DCI, where Y may be a predetermined number that may be incorporated into a standard document, for example. In other words, the TA application time may be defined as Y symbols from an ACK associated with the DCI. X and Y may or may not be equal. In another example, in the case where the DCI including the TA update is the TCI update DCI, the timing for applying the TA (in other words, the TA application time) may be the same as the TCI application time (ie, the timing for applying the TCI).

[0115] According to another aspect, the spCell update DCI or CG update DCI that can be utilized in L1 / L2 mobility can also be used to indicate the TA for the new spCell or new CG, respectively. In examples including but not limited to using TCI update DCI, spCell update DCI or CG update DCI (or any combination thereof), the DCI can indicate the TA value and the TAG ID.

[0116] According to one example, the TAG ID may be explicitly indicated by a DCI (e.g., by a TCI update DCI, a spCell update DCI, or a CG update DCI (or any combination thereof)). In another example, the TAG ID may be implicitly determined as a TAG ID associated with the DCI. For example, the TAG ID associated with the TA may be the same as the TAG ID of the TCI update DCI, the spCell update DCI, or the CG update DCI (or any combination thereof).

[0117] According to another example, the update DCI may be a group common DCI. According to such an example, the UE may be configured with one or more fields of TA indication, wherein the one or more fields are respectively associated with different TAG IDs. In such an example, the TA value indicated in the group common DCI associated with a given TAG-ID may be applied after Z symbols from the update DCI, wherein Z may be a predetermined number that may be incorporated into a standard document, for example.

[0118] Figure 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a network entity 800 employing a processing system 802 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The network entity 800 may be a scheduling entity and may be implemented in a converged or monolithic base station architecture, or alternatively, in a disaggregated base station architecture, and may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC), or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC, such as Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7 Any one or more of the following may be shown.

[0119] According to various aspects of the present disclosure, an element or any portion of an element or any combination of elements may be implemented using a processing system 802 including one or more processors, such as a processor 804. Examples of processor 804 include microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), state machines, gated logic, discrete hardware circuits, and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. In various examples, network entity 800 may be configured to perform any one or more of the functions described herein. That is, processor 804 as utilized in network entity 800 may be used to implement, for example, Fig. 9 and Fig.10 Any one or more of the methods or processes described and illustrated in any one or more of .

[0120] In some examples, the processor 804 may be implemented via a baseband or modem chip, and in other implementations, the processor 804 may include multiple devices distinct and other than a baseband or modem chip (e.g., in scenarios that may work together to implement the examples discussed herein). And as mentioned above, various hardware arrangements and components outside of a baseband modem processor may be used in implementations, including RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, interleavers, adders / summers, etc.

[0121] In this example, the processing system 802 may be implemented using a bus architecture, which is generally represented by bus 806. The bus 806 may include any number of interconnecting buses and bridges, depending on the specific application of the processing system 802 and the overall design constraints. The bus 806 communicatively couples together various circuits including one or more processors, which are generally represented by processor 804, memory 808, and computer-readable media, which are generally represented by computer-readable media 810. The bus 806 may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, and power management circuits, which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0122] The bus interface 812 provides an interface between the bus 806 and the transceiver 814. The transceiver 814 can be a wireless transceiver. The transceiver 814 can provide a component for communicating with various other devices through a transmission medium (e.g., an air interface). The transceiver 814 can also be coupled to one or more antenna arrays (hereinafter, antenna array 816). The bus interface 812 further provides an interface between the bus 806 and a user interface 818 (e.g., a keypad, a display, a touch screen, a speaker, a microphone, a control feature, etc.). Of course, such a user interface 818 is optional and can be omitted in some examples. In addition, the bus interface 812 further provides an interface between the bus 806 of the network entity 800 and a power supply 820.

[0123] The processor 804 is responsible for managing the bus 806 and general processing, including executing software stored on the computer-readable medium 810. The software, when executed by the processor 804, causes the processing system 802 to perform various functions described below for any particular device. The computer-readable medium 810 and the memory 808 can also be used to store data manipulated by the processor 804 when executing the software. According to some aspects of the present disclosure, this data can include data in a table, such as the maintained TA values ​​of the deactivated spCells and / or deactivated CGs 809.

[0124] Software should be construed broadly to mean instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program code, programs, subroutines, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc., whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. The software may reside on a computer-readable medium 810. The software, when executed by the processor 804, may cause the processing system 802 to perform the various processes and functions described herein for any particular apparatus.

[0125] The computer-readable medium 810 may be a non-transient computer-readable medium and may be referred to as a computer-readable storage medium or a non-transient computer-readable medium. A non-transient computer-readable medium may store computer executable code (e.g., a processor executable code). A computer executable code may include a code for causing a computer (e.g., a processor) to implement one or more of the functions described herein. Non-transient computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact discs (CDs) or digital versatile discs (DVDs)), smart cards, flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, or key drives), random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories (ROMs), programmable ROMs (PROMs), erasable PROMs (EPROMs), electrically erasable PROMs (EEPROMs), registers, removable disks, and any other suitable medium for storing software and / or instructions that can be accessed and read by a computer. The computer-readable medium 810 may reside in the processing system 802, be located outside the processing system 802, or be distributed across multiple entities including the processing system 802. The computer readable medium 810 may be embodied in a computer program product or article of manufacture. By way of example, a computer program product or article of manufacture may include a computer readable medium in packaging materials. In some examples, the computer readable medium 810 may be part of the memory 808. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functionality presented throughout this disclosure, depending on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0126] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 804 may include a communication and processing circuit 841 that is configured for various functions, including, for example, communicating with other network entities, a network core (e.g., a 5G core network), one or more user equipment or wireless communication devices, or any other entity such as, for example, a local infrastructure or an entity communicating with the network entity 800 via the Internet (such as a network provider). In some examples, the communication and processing circuit 841 may include one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure that performs processes related to wireless communication (e.g., signal reception and / or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and / or processing signals for transmission). For example, the communication and processing circuit 841 may include one or more transmit / receive chains.

[0127] In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may obtain or identify information from a component of the network entity 800 (e.g., from a transceiver 814 that receives information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for an applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may output the information to another component of the processor 804, to the memory 808, or to the bus interface 812. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may receive one or more of a signal, a message, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may include functionality for components for receiving. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may include functionality for components for processing, including components for demodulating, components for decoding, and the like.

[0128] In some embodiments in which communication involves transmitting (e.g., sending) information, the communication and processing circuit 841 may obtain or identify information from a component of the network entity 800 (e.g., from the processor 804, the memory 808, or the bus interface 812), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, according to some aspects of the present disclosure, the communication and processing circuit 841 may obtain data stored in the memory 808, and may process the obtained data. For example, the communication and processing circuit 841 may determine a value of TA to be communicated to the UE. The value of TA may be determined based on data received from the UE (e.g., including reports). According to some aspects, the value of TA may be stored in the memory 808, for example, in a table of maintained TA values ​​for deactivated spCells and / or deactivated CGs 809.

[0129] In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may obtain information and output the information to the transceiver 814 (e.g., the transceiver sends the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for the applicable communication medium). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may transmit one or more of signals, messages, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may transmit information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may include functionality for components for transmitting (e.g., components for sending). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may include functionality for components for generating (including components for modulating, components for encoding, etc.). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 841 may be configured to receive and process uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to) via the antenna array 816 and the transceiver 814. Figure 1 116 and uplink control 118) and processes and sends downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to Figure 1 According to some aspects, the communication and processing circuit 841 may be configured to receive an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by a first TA value.

[0130] The communication and processing circuitry 841 may be further configured to execute communication and processing instructions 851 (eg, software) stored on the computer-readable medium 810 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0131] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 804 may include a timing advance update trigger circuit 842. The timing advance update trigger circuit 842 may be configured for various functions, including, for example, sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). In some examples, the command may be an L2 command, such as a MAC-CE. According to some aspects, at least one of the following items applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, and the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG. The TA update may be associated with the retention of a TA, the TA being associated with at least one of a deactivated candidate spCell or a deactivated candidate CG. The retention of a TA value may refer to the retention of a TA value at the network entity 800 (e.g., in the memory 808) or at the UE (e.g., in a memory of the UE). When maintained at the UE, low latency can be achieved by applying the maintained TA value to the candidate spCell or candidate CG as long as the candidate spCell or candidate CG is activated.

[0132] According to some aspects, the network entity 800 may correspond to an activated cell (e.g., an activated spCell, an activated CG), and at least one of the following may correspond to a deactivated cell: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). According to some aspects, the command may be at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command. The timing advance update trigger circuit 842 may be further configured to execute a timing advance update trigger instruction 852 (e.g., software) stored on the computer readable medium 810 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0133] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 804 may include a TA-related data acquisition circuit 843. The TA-related data acquisition circuit 843 may be configured for various functions, such as receiving data in response to a command (i.e., a command sent to trigger a timing advance (TA) update). In one example, the data may be in the form of a report of a received timing difference between a current spCell serving the UE and a candidate spCell that may be activated to serve the UE. Based on the report of the received timing difference, the TA-related data acquisition circuit 843 (alone or in combination with, for example, the communication and processing circuit 841) may obtain (e.g., determine, derive) a TA to be used by the UE in conjunction with the candidate spCell. The TA-related data acquisition circuit 843 may be further configured to execute TA-related data acquisition instructions 853 (e.g., software) stored on the computer-readable medium 810 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0134] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 804 may include a TAC transmission circuit 844. The TAC transmission circuit 844 may be configured for various functions, including, for example, transmitting a TAC to a user equipment, the TAC including a TA update associated with one or more TAGs (associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG)). The TAC transmission circuit 844 may be further configured to execute TAC transmission instructions 854 (e.g., software) stored on the computer-readable medium 810 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0135] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 804 may include a DCI circuit 845. The DCI circuit 845 may be associated with various aspects of the timing advance described herein. The DCI circuit 845 may be configured for various functions, including, for example, sending a DCI including a first TA value. The DCI may be formatted to include timing advance data. For example, the DCI may be sent to a UE. The DCI circuit 845 may be further configured to include a second TA value in the DCI, which may be associated with, for example, at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). In other examples, the DCI may be configured to include a first TA value and a second TA value.

[0136] According to some aspects, the DCI may be a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Update DCI. In some examples, the first TA value and / or the second TA value included in the TCI Update DCI may be applied (at the UE) at the same time as the TCI is applied. In some examples, the first TA value and / or the second TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI. In other examples, the first TA value and / or the second TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgment (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0137] In some aspects, the DCI may include a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, the TAG ID may be indicated by the DCI. In other examples, the TAG ID may be implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

[0138] In some aspects, the DCI may be a group-common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields may be associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, a corresponding one of the one or more fields of the TA value included in the group-common DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group-common DCI.

[0139] The DCI circuitry 845 may be further configured to execute DCI instructions 855 (eg, software) stored on the computer-readable medium 810 to implement one or more functions described herein. The DCI instructions 855 may be associated with various aspects of the timing advance described herein.

[0140] Fig. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 900 (eg, a method of wireless communication) at a network entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The process 900 may be performed in a wireless communication network (eg, Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7 As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required in all implementations. In some examples, process 900 may be performed in conjunction with Figure 8 The process 900 is performed by the described and illustrated network entity 800. In some examples, the process 900 can be performed by any suitable device or component for performing the functions or algorithms described herein.

[0141] At block 902, a network entity may send a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). Figure 8 The timing advance update trigger circuit 842 shown and described may provide a component for sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with at least one of the following: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). According to some aspects, the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, and the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG maintained at the user equipment. In some examples, the network entity may correspond to an activated cell, and at least one of the candidate spCell or the candidate CG may correspond to a deactivated cell. In some examples, the command may be at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0142] According to some aspects, a network entity may send a timing advance command (TAC) including a TA update associated with one or more TAGs to a user equipment. Figure 8 The illustrated and described TAC transmission circuitry 844 may provide means for transmitting a timing advance command (TAC) including a TA update associated with one or more TAGs to a user equipment.

[0143] At block 904, the network entity may receive data in response to a command (i.e., a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update). Figure 8 The communications and processing circuitry 841 shown and described may provide means for receiving data in response to commands.

[0144] Fig.101 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 1000 (eg, a method of wireless communication) at a network entity according to some aspects of the present disclosure. Process 1000 may be performed in a wireless communication network (eg, Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7 As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required in all implementations. In some examples, process 1000 may be performed in conjunction with Figure 8 The process 1000 is performed by the described and illustrated network entity 800. In some examples, the process 1000 can be performed by any suitable device or component for performing the functions or algorithms described herein.

[0145] At block 1002, a network entity may send downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value. According to some aspects, the first TA value may be associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). According to other aspects, the network entity may include a second TA value in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). For example, the above combination Figure 8 The illustrated and described DCI circuit 845 may provide means for transmitting a DCI including a first timing advance (TA) value and / or a second TA value.

[0146] In some examples, the DCI may be a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Update DCI. In such examples, the first TA value included in the TCI Update DCI may be applied while applying the TCI.

[0147] In some examples, the first TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI. According to some aspects, the first TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgment (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0148] According to some aspects, the DCI may include a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, the TAG ID may be indicated by the DCI. In some examples, the TAG ID may be implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

[0149] According to some aspects, the DCI may be a group-common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, a corresponding one of the one or more fields of the TA value included in the group-common DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group-common DCI.

[0150] Fig.11 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation of a user equipment (UE) 1100 (eg, a scheduled entity, a wireless communication device, a mobile device) employing a processing system 1102 according to some aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the UE 1100 may be such as Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7 Any UE, scheduled entity, or wireless communication device shown in any one or more of the above. According to various aspects of the present disclosure, an element or any part of an element or any combination of elements may be implemented using a processing system 1102 including one or more processors (such as processor 1104). The processing system 1102 may be combined with Figure 8 The processing system 802 illustrated and described is substantially the same, including a bus interface 1112, a bus 1106, a memory 1108, a processor 1104, and a computer-readable medium 1110. In addition, the UE 1100 may include a user interface 1118, a transceiver 1114, an antenna array 1116, and a power supply 1120, which are substantially similar to the above combined Figure 8 Therefore, for the sake of brevity, their description will not be repeated.

[0151] In some aspects of the present disclosure, processor 1104 may include communication and processing circuitry 1141 configured for various functions, including, for example, communicating with other UEs or wireless communication devices, network entities, a network core (e.g., a 5G core network), or any other entity (such as, for example, a local infrastructure or an entity that communicates with UE 1100 via the Internet (such as a network provider)). In some examples, communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include one or more hardware components that provide a physical structure that performs processes related to wireless communication (e.g., signal reception and / or signal transmission) and signal processing (e.g., processing received signals and / or processing signals for transmission). For example, communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include one or more transmit / receive chains.

[0152] In some implementations where communication involves receiving information, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may obtain or identify information from a component of the UE 1100 (e.g., from a transceiver 1114 that receives information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for an applicable communication medium), process (e.g., decode) the information, and output the processed information. For example, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may output the information to another component of the processor 1104, to the memory 1108, or to the bus interface 1112. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may receive one or more of a signal, a message, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may receive information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include functionality for components for receiving. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include functionality for components for processing, including components for demodulation, components for decoding, and the like.

[0153] In some implementations where the communication involves transmitting (e.g., sending) information, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may obtain or identify information from a component of the UE 1100 (e.g., from the processor 1104, the memory 1108, or the bus interface 1112), process (e.g., modulate, encode, etc.) the information, and output the processed information. For example, according to some aspects of the present disclosure, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may obtain data stored in the memory 1108 and may process the obtained data.

[0154] In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may obtain information and output the information to the transceiver 1114 (e.g., the transceiver sends the information via radio frequency signaling or some other type of signaling suitable for the applicable communication medium). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may transmit one or more of a signal, a message, other information, or any combination thereof. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may transmit information via one or more channels. In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include functionality for components for transmitting (e.g., components for sending). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may include functionality for components for generating (including components for modulating, components for encoding, etc.). In some examples, the communication and processing circuitry 1141 may be configured to receive and process downlink traffic and downlink control messages (e.g., similar to) via the antenna array 1116 and the transceiver 1114. Figure 1 downlink traffic 112 and downlink control 114) and processing and sending uplink traffic and uplink control messages (e.g., similar to Figure 1According to some aspects, the communication and processing circuit 1141 may be configured to transmit an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0155] The communication and processing circuitry 1141 may be further configured to execute communication and processing instructions 1151 (eg, software) stored on the computer-readable medium 1110 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0156] In some aspects of the present disclosure, the processor 1104 may include a timing advance update trigger circuit 1142. The timing advance update trigger circuit 1142 may be configured for various functions, including, for example, sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). In some examples, the command may be an L2 command, such as a MAC-CE. According to some aspects, the command may be a command configured to cause a user equipment to measure data associated with a determination of a timing advance update based on a distance between the user equipment and at least one of the candidate spCell or the candidate CG, respectively. According to some aspects, the network entity may correspond to an activated cell (e.g., an activated spCell, an activated CG), and at least one of the following items may correspond to a deactivated cell: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). According to some aspects, the command may be at least one of the following items: a spCell update command or a CG update command. The timing advance update triggering circuit 1142 may be further configured to execute timing advance update triggering instructions 1152 (eg, software) stored on the computer-readable medium 1110 to implement one or more functions described herein.

[0157] Fig.12 1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 1200 (eg, a method of wireless communication) at a user equipment according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The process 1200 may be performed over a wireless communication network (such as, for example, Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7 As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required in all implementations. In some examples, process 1200 may be performed in conjunction with Fig.11The process 1200 is performed by the user equipment 1100 described and illustrated. In some examples, the process 1200 can be performed by any suitable device or component for performing the functions or algorithms described herein.

[0158] At block 1202, a user equipment may receive a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). Fig.11 The timing advance update trigger circuit 1142 shown and described may provide a component for receiving a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), wherein the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) are associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0159] According to some aspects, the candidate spCell may be a deactivated candidate spCell, and the candidate CG may be a deactivated candidate CG. The TA update may be associated with the retention of a TA value at the UE, the TA being associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG. For example, the memory 1108 of the UE 1100 may store the retained TA value associated with the deactivated spCell and / or the deactivated CG 1109.

[0160] In some aspects, the command may be at least one of: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0161] According to some aspects, the reference signal may be an uplink reference signal, and the processor of the UE may be further configured to: receive an updated TA value from at least one of the following items in response to sending the reference signal: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG); and store the updated TA value as a retained TA value associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). In some examples, the reference signal may be at least one of the following items: a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a random access preamble carried by a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0162] According to some aspects, the data may correspond to a currently serving cell (such as in conjunction with a network entity (e.g., Figure 7The activated spCells associated with the first network entity 704) associated with the current spCell 714 are shown and described with reference to the candidate spCells (which may be associated with other network entities) (e.g., the first candidate spCell 716 associated with the third network entity 708, the second candidate spCell 718 associated with the second network entity 706, and the third candidate spCell 720 associated with the fourth network entity 710, all as combined Figure 7 Based on this data, the network entity that sends the command (e.g., Figure 7 The first network entity 704 may export the user equipment (eg, Figure 7 UE 712) can communicate with a candidate spCell (e.g., Figure 7 The TA value used in association with each of the candidate spCells 716, 718 and 720).

[0163] In some examples, the network entity from which the UE receives the command may correspond to an activated cell, and at least one of the following items may correspond to a deactivated cell: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0164] According to some aspects, a UE may receive a timing advance command (TAC) that includes a TA value associated with a TA update. The TA value may be associated with one or more TAGs by a network entity sending the command. For example, the above combination Fig.11 The illustrated and described TAC transmission circuit 1144 may provide means for receiving a timing advance command (TAC) including a TA value associated with a TA update and associated with one or more TAGs.

[0165] At block 1204, the UE may send at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command (e.g., sending a PRACH or SRS and / or data corresponding to an Rx report as described above). Fig.11 The communication and processing circuitry 1141 shown and described may provide means for transmitting at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving a command.

[0166] Fig.13 1 is a flow chart illustrating an exemplary process 1300 (eg, a method of wireless communication) at a user equipment (UE) according to some aspects of the present disclosure. The process 1300 may be performed in a wireless communication network (such as, for example, Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 , Figure 6 and / or Figure 7As described below, some or all of the illustrated features may be omitted in certain implementations within the scope of the present disclosure, and some of the illustrated features may not be required in all implementations. In some examples, process 1300 may be performed in conjunction with Fig.11 The process 1300 is performed by the described and illustrated UE 1100. In some examples, the process 1300 can be performed by any suitable device or component for performing the functions or algorithms described herein.

[0167] At block 1302, the UE may receive downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value. According to some aspects, the first TA value may be associated with a current spCell or PCell currently serving the UE. According to some aspects, the first TA may be associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). According to other aspects, the DCI may include a first TA value (e.g., associated with a current spCell or PCell currently serving the UE) and a second TA value. The second TA value may be associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG). For example, the above in combination Fig.11 The DCI circuit 1145 shown and described may provide means for sending a DCI including a first timing advance (TA) value and / or a second TA value.In some examples, at least one of the following applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG.

[0168] In some examples, the DCI may be a Transmit Configuration Indicator (TCI) update DCI. In such examples, a first TA value included in the TCI update DCI may be applied at the same time as the TCI is applied. In some examples, the first TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI. According to some aspects, the first TA value included in the DCI may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgment (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0169] According to some aspects, the DCI may include a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, the DCI may indicate the TAG ID. In some examples, the TAG ID may be implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

[0170] According to some aspects, the DCI may be a group-common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). In some examples, a corresponding one of the one or more fields of a TA value included in the group-common DCI and associated with a given TAG ID may be applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group-common DCI.

[0171] Of course, in the above examples, the circuits included in the processor 804 and / or the processor 1004 are provided only as examples. Other components for performing the described processes or functions may be included in various aspects of the present disclosure, including but not limited to computer-readable media 810 and / or computer-readable media 1010 or 1011, respectively. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , Figure 4 , Figure 5 Figure 6 Figure 7 , Figure 8 and / or Fig.11 In any other suitable device or component described in any of the foregoing and utilizing, for example, Fig. 9 , Fig.10 , Fig.12 and / or Fig.13 Instructions of the described processes and / or algorithms.

[0172] The following provides an overview of various aspects of the disclosure:

[0173] Aspect 1: A network entity, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: send a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and receive data in response to the command, wherein the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) are associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0174] Aspect 2: A network entity according to Aspect 1, wherein at least one of the following items applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG maintained at the user equipment.

[0175] Aspect 3: A network entity according to Aspect 1 or 2, wherein the network entity corresponds to an activated cell, and at least one of the following items corresponds to a deactivated cell: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

[0176] Aspect 4: The network entity according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the command is at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0177] Aspect 5: According to the network entity of any one of aspects 1 to 4, the processor is further configured to: send a timing advance command (TAC) including the TA update associated with the one or more TAGs to a user equipment.

[0178] Aspect 6: A network entity comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: send downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and receive an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0179] Aspect 7: According to the network entity of aspect 6, the processor is further configured to: include a second TA value in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0180] Aspect 8: The network entity according to aspect 6 or 7, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) update DCI.

[0181] Aspect 9: The network entity according to aspect 8, wherein the first TA value included in the TCI update DCI is applied at the same time as applying the TCI.

[0182] Aspect 10: The network entity according to any one of aspects 6 to 9, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

[0183] Aspect 11: A network entity according to any one of aspects 6 to 10, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgement (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0184] Aspect 12: The network entity according to any one of aspects 6 to 11, wherein the DCI comprises a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0185] Aspect 13: The network entity according to aspect 12, wherein the DCI indicates the TAG ID.

[0186] Aspect 14: The network entity according to aspect 12, wherein the TAG ID is implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

[0187] Aspect 15: A network entity according to any one of aspects 6 to 14, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0188] Aspect 16: The network entity according to aspect 15, wherein a corresponding one of the one or more fields including the TA value in the group common DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group common DCI.

[0189] Aspect 17: A user equipment, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: receive a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), and send at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command, wherein the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) are associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0190] Aspect 18: A user equipment according to Aspect 17, wherein the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell and the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with maintaining a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG at the user equipment.

[0191] Aspect 19: The user equipment according to aspect 17 or 18, wherein the command is at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0192] Aspect 20: A user equipment according to any one of Aspects 17 to 19, wherein the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, and the processor is further configured to: receive an updated TA value from at least one of the following items in response to sending the reference signal: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG); and store the updated TA value as a maintained TA value associated with at least one of the following items: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

[0193] Aspect 21: The user equipment according to any one of aspects 17 to 20, wherein the reference signal is at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a random access preamble carried by a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0194] Aspect 22: User equipment according to any one of aspects 17 to 21, wherein the data corresponds to a report of a receive (Rx) timing difference between an activated spCell associated with a network entity and the candidate spCell.

[0195] Aspect 23. A user equipment, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: receive downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and send an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0196] Aspect 24: According to the user equipment according to aspect 23, the processor is further configured to: receive a second TA value included in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0197] Aspect 25: The user equipment according to Aspect 24, wherein at least one of the following applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG.

[0198] Aspect 26: A user equipment according to any one of aspects 23 to 25, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Update DCI.

[0199] Aspect 27: A user equipment according to any one of aspects 23 to 26, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

[0200] Aspect 28: A user equipment according to any one of aspects 23 to 27, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgement (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0201] Aspect 29: A user equipment according to any one of aspects 23 to 28, wherein the DCI comprises a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0202] Aspect 30: A user equipment according to any one of aspects 23 to 29, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0203] Aspect 31: A method operating at a network entity, the method comprising: sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), wherein the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) are associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG); and receiving data in response to the command.

[0204] Aspect 32: A method according to Aspect 31, wherein at least one of the following items applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG maintained at the user equipment.

[0205] Aspect 33: A method according to Aspect 31 or 32, wherein the network entity corresponds to an activated cell, and the at least one of the following items corresponds to a deactivated cell: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

[0206] Aspect 34: The method according to any one of aspects 31 to 33, wherein the command is at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0207] Aspect 35: The method according to any one of aspects 31 to 34, further comprising: sending a timing advance command (TAC) including the TA update associated with the one or more TAGs to a user equipment.

[0208] Aspect 36: A method operating at a network entity, the method comprising: sending downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value; and receiving an uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0209] Aspect 37: The method according to aspect 36 also includes: including a second TA value in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0210] Aspect 38: A method according to aspect 36 or 37, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) update DCI.

[0211] Aspect 39: The method according to Aspect 38, wherein the first TA value included in the TCI update DCI is applied at the same time as applying the TCI.

[0212] Aspect 40: A method according to any one of aspects 36 to 39, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

[0213] Aspect 41: A method according to any one of aspects 36 to 40, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgement (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0214] Aspect 42: A method according to any one of aspects 36 to 41, wherein the DCI includes a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0215] Aspect 43: The method according to aspect 42, wherein the DCI indicates the TAG ID.

[0216] Aspect 44: The method according to aspect 42, wherein the TAG ID is implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

[0217] Aspect 45: A method according to any one of aspects 36 to 44, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAGID).

[0218] Aspect 46: The method according to aspect 45, wherein a corresponding one of the one or more fields including the TA value in the group common DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group common DCI.

[0219] Aspect 47: A method operating at a user equipment, the method comprising: receiving a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG); and sending at least one of a reference signal or data in response to receiving the command.

[0220] Aspect 48: A method according to Aspect 47, wherein the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell and the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with maintaining a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG at the user equipment.

[0221] Aspect 49: The method according to aspect 47 or 48, wherein the command is at least one of the following: a spCell update command or a CG update command.

[0222] Aspect 50: A method according to any one of Aspects 47 to 49, wherein the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, the method further comprising: receiving an updated TA value from at least one of the following items in response to sending the reference signal: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG); and storing the updated TA value as the maintained TA value associated with the at least one of the following items: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

[0223] Aspect 51: A method according to any one of aspects 47 to 50, wherein the reference signal is at least one of the following: a sounding reference signal (SRS) or a random access preamble carried by a physical random access channel (PRACH).

[0224] Aspect 52: A method according to any one of aspects 47 to 51, wherein the data corresponds to a report of a receive (Rx) timing difference between an activated spCell associated with a network entity and the candidate spCell.

[0225] Aspect 53. A method operating at a user equipment, the method comprising: receiving downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value; and transmitting an uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value.

[0226] Aspect 54: The method according to aspect 53 also includes: receiving a second TA value included in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of the following items: a candidate special cell (spCell) or a candidate cell group (CG).

[0227] Aspect 55: The method according to Aspect 53 or 54, wherein at least one of the following applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG.

[0228] Aspect 56: A method according to any one of aspects 53 to 55, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Update DCI.

[0229] Aspect 57: A method according to any one of Aspects 53 to 56, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

[0230] Aspect 58: A method according to any one of aspects 53 to 57, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgement (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

[0231] Aspect 59: A method according to any one of aspects 53 to 58, wherein the DCI includes a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

[0232] Aspect 60: A method according to any one of aspects 53 to 59, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAGID).

[0233] Aspect 61: An apparatus configured for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising at least one component for performing a method according to any one of aspects 31 to 60.

[0234] Aspect 62: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable code, the computer-executable code comprising code for causing an apparatus to perform a method according to any one of aspects 31 to 60.

[0235] Several aspects of wireless communication networks have been presented with reference to exemplary implementations. As those skilled in the art will readily appreciate, various aspects described throughout this disclosure may be extended to other telecommunication systems, network architectures and communication standards.

[0236] As an example, various aspects may be implemented within other systems defined by 3GPP, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Evolved Packet System (EPS), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and / or Global System for Mobile (GSM). Various aspects may also be extended to systems defined by 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2), such as CDMA 2000 and / or Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO). Other examples may be implemented within systems employing IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Ultra Wideband (UWB), Bluetooth, and / or other suitable systems. The actual telecommunication standard, network architecture, and / or communication standard employed will depend on the specific application and the overall design constraints imposed on the system.

[0237] Within the present disclosure, the word "exemplary" is used to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration". Any specific implementation or aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as superior or superior to other aspects of the present disclosure. Likewise, the term "aspect" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the discussed features, advantages, or modes of operation. The term "coupled" is used herein to refer to a direct or indirect coupling between two objects. For example, if object A physically contacts object B, and object B contacts object C, objects A and C may still be considered to be coupled to each other, even if they are not in direct physical contact with each other. For example, a first object may be coupled to a second object, even if the first object has never been in direct physical contact with the second object. The terms "circuit" and "circuitry" are used broadly, and they are intended to include both hardware implementations of electronic devices and conductors (where these electronic devices and conductors, when connected and configured, implement the execution of the functions described in the present disclosure, without limitation on the type of electronic circuits) and software implementations of information and instructions (where these information and instructions, when executed by a processor, implement the execution of the functions described in the present disclosure).

[0238] Figures 1 to 13 One or more of the components, steps, features, and / or functions illustrated in the present invention may be rearranged and / or combined into a single component, step, feature, or function, or may be embodied in several components, steps, or functions. Additional elements, components, steps, and / or functions may also be added without departing from the novel features disclosed herein. Figures 1 to 13 The illustrated apparatus, devices and / or components may be configured to perform one or more of the methods, features or steps described herein. The novel algorithms described herein may also be effectively implemented in software and / or embedded in hardware.

[0239] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in the disclosed methods is an illustration of an exemplary process. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in these methods can be rearranged based on design preferences. The attached method claims present the elements of the various steps in a sample order and are not meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented unless specifically stated herein. Although some of the examples illustrated herein only depict the time domain and the frequency domain, additional domains such as the spatial domain are also contemplated in the present disclosure.

[0240] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not intended to be limited to the various aspects shown herein, but to conform to the full scope consistent with the text of the claims, wherein unless explicitly stated otherwise, reference to an element in the singular form is not intended to mean "one and only one", but "one or more". Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. The phrase "at least one" referring to a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including a single member. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to cover: a; b; c; a and b; a and c; b and c; and a, b, and c. Structures A and / or B are intended to cover: A; B; and A and B. As used herein, the word "obtain" may mean, for example, obtaining, calculating, constructing, deriving, determining, receiving, and / or retrieving. The foregoing list is exemplary and non-restrictive. All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the various aspects described throughout this disclosure that are or later become known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element should be interpreted under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. §112(f) unless the element is explicitly recited using the phrase "means for..." or, in the case of a method claim, the phrase "step for..." is used to recite the element.

Claims

1. A network entity, comprising: Memory; and a processor, the processor being coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: Sending a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of: Candidate special cell (spCell), or Candidate Cell Group (CG); and Data is received in response to the command.

2. A network entity according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following items applies: the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG maintained at the user equipment.

3. The network entity of claim 1, wherein the network entity corresponds to an activated cell and the at least one of the following corresponds to a deactivated cell: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

4. The network entity of claim 1, wherein the command is at least one of: spCell update command, or CG update command.

5. The network entity according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: A timing advance command (TAC) including the TA update associated with the one or more TAGs is sent to a user equipment.

6. A network entity, comprising: Memory; and a processor, the processor being coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: sending downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and An uplink time slot having an arrival time adjusted by the first TA value is received.

7. The network entity according to claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to: A second TA value is included in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of: Candidate special cell (spCell), or Candidate Cell Group (CG).

8. The network entity of claim 6, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) update DCI.

9. The network entity of claim 8, wherein the first TA value included in the TCI update DCI is applied at the same time as applying the TCI.

10. The network entity of claim 6, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

11. The network entity of claim 6, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgment (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

12. The network entity of claim 6, wherein the DCI comprises a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID). The network entity according to claim 12 , wherein the DCI indicates the TAG ID.

14. The network entity of claim 12, wherein the TAG ID is implicitly determined from parameters associated with the DCI.

15. The network entity of claim 6, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAGID).

16. The network entity of claim 15, wherein a corresponding one of the one or more fields including the TA value in the group-common DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the group-common DCI.

17. A user equipment, the user equipment comprising: Memory; and a processor, the processor being coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: Receiving a command for triggering a timing advance (TA) update associated with one or more timing advance groups (TAGs), the one or more timing advance groups (TAGs) being associated with at least one of: Candidate special cell (spCell), or Candidate Cell Group (CG); and At least one of a reference signal or data is sent in response to receiving the command.

18. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell and the candidate CG is a deactivated candidate CG, and the TA update is associated with maintaining a TA value associated with at least one of the deactivated candidate spCell or the deactivated candidate CG at the user equipment.

19. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the command is at least one of: spCell update command, or CG update command.

20. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the reference signal is an uplink reference signal, and the processor is further configured to: receiving an updated TA value from at least one of: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG) in response to sending the reference signal; and The updated TA value is stored as the maintained TA value associated with the at least one of: the candidate special cell (spCell) or the candidate cell group (CG).

21. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the reference signal is at least one of: Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), or A random access preamble carried by the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH).

22. The user equipment of claim 17, wherein the data corresponds to a report of a receive (Rx) timing difference between an activated spCell associated with a network entity and the candidate spCell.

23. A user equipment, the user equipment comprising: Memory; and a processor, the processor being coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to: receiving downlink control information (DCI) including a first timing advance (TA) value, and An uplink time slot having a transmission time adjusted by the first TA value is transmitted.

24. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the processor is further configured to: receiving a second TA value included in the DCI, the second TA value being associated with at least one of: Candidate special cell (spCell), or Candidate Cell Group (CG).

25. The user equipment of claim 24, wherein at least one of the following applies: The candidate spCell is a deactivated candidate spCell, or The candidate CG is a disabled candidate CG.

26. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the DCI is a Transmission Configuration Indicator (TCI) Update DCI.

27. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from the DCI.

28. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the first TA value included in the DCI is applied after a predetermined number of symbols from an acknowledgement (ACK) corresponding to the DCI.

29. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the DCI comprises a timing advance group identifier (TAGID).

30. The user equipment of claim 23, wherein the DCI is a group common DCI including one or more fields of a TA value, wherein each of the one or more fields is associated with a timing advance group identifier (TAG ID).

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