Enhanced transmissions in random access (RA) procedures

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a solution for enhanced transmission during a random access (RA) procedure. In the solution, a first device receives first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction from a second device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and during the RA procedure, receiving an enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction from the second device based on the first information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly, to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for enhancing transmission during a random access (RA) procedure. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed and can support various types of service applications for terminal devices. Generally speaking, a terminal device (also referred to as a user equipment UE) needs to perform a random access (RA) procedure through the network so that the terminal device can communicate with the network for data transmission. In view of this, it is important to ensure that the terminal device can successfully perform the RA. Summary of the invention

[0003] In a first aspect of the present invention, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the first device to at least: receive first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction from a second device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and receive, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction from the second device based on the first information.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the second device to at least: transmit first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction to a first device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and transmit, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction to the first device based on the first information.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: receiving, at a first device, first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction from a second device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and receiving, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction from the second device based on the first information.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a method is provided. The method includes: transmitting, at a second device, first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction to a first device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and transmitting, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction to the first device based on the first information.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a first device is provided. The first device includes: a component for receiving first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message with a first transmission direction from a second device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and a component for receiving, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction from the second device based on the first information.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a second device is provided. The second device includes: a component for transmitting first information associated with enhanced transmission of a message with a first transmission direction to a first device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and a component for transmitting, during the RA procedure, enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction to the first device based on the first information.

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

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

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

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

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

[0014] Figure 1B shows the signaling flow of a 4-step RA communication;

[0015] Figure 1C The signaling flow of a 2-step RA communication is shown;

[0016] Figure 2 shows a signaling flow of communications according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 3 shows a signaling flow of another communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0018] Figure 4 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] Figure 5 A flowchart showing a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0020] Figure 6 shows a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0021] Figure 7 A block diagram illustrating an example computer-readable medium according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0022] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The principles of the present disclosure can now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration, and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, and do not suggest any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. In addition to the embodiments described below, the embodiments described herein can be implemented in various ways.

[0024] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0025] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, whether or not explicitly described, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art that such feature, structure, or characteristic would be affected in conjunction with other embodiments.

[0026] It should be understood that although the terms "first", "second", etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0027] As used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions (wherein a list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”) refer to at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

[0028] As used herein, unless explicitly stated, performing a step “in response to A” does not mean performing the step immediately after “A” occurs, and may include one or more intermediate steps.

[0029] The terms used herein are only used for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should be further understood that when used herein, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "has", "having", "includes" and / or "including" specify the presence of the features, elements and / or parts, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, parts and / or combinations thereof.

[0030] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one, more, or all of the following: (a) hardware circuit implementation only (e.g., implementation only in analog and / or digital circuitry), and (b) a combination of hardware and software circuitry such as (where applicable): (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor and software (including a digital signal processor), software, and memory that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions; and (c) A hardware circuit and / or processor, such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when not needed for operation.

[0031] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or its) accompanying software and / or firmware. For example and if applicable to the particular claimed element, the term circuitry also covers a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0032] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and / or any other currently known or future developed protocols, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network can be performed. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there may be future types of communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. It should not be considered that the scope of the present disclosure is limited to the above-mentioned system.

[0033] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses a network and receives services from it. A network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), an NRNB (also known as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a repeater, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node (such as a femtocell, a microcell), a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network equipment, such as satellite network equipment, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network equipment, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied. In some example embodiments, a radio access network (RAN) split architecture includes a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node includes a mobile terminal (IAB-MT) portion that behaves like a UE toward a parent node, and a DU portion of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward a next-hop IAB node.

[0034] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, the terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a USB dongle, a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IOT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and an application (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and an application (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automatic processing chain environment), a consumer electronic device, a device operating on a commercial and / or industrial wireless network, etc. The terminal device may also correspond to the mobile terminal (MT) part of an IAB node (eg, a relay node).In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0035] As used herein, the terms "resources", "transmission resources", "resource blocks", "physical resource blocks" (PRBs), "uplink resources" or "downlink resources" may refer to any resources used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as resources in the time domain, resources in the frequency domain, resources in the spatial domain, resources in the code domain, or any other resources that enable communication.

[0036] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 18 work item (WI) on non-terrestrial networks (NTN) focuses on the applicability of solutions developed by general NR coverage enhancement to NTN, and is trying to identify potential issues and enhancements, considering NTN characteristics including large propagation delay and satellite mobility.

[0037] Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) enhancements, such as repetition, for hybrid automatic repeat request-acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) specified for message 4 (Msg 4) have been proposed. Further, it is proposed to study demodulation reference signal (DMRS) bundling for physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) taking into account NTN details (e.g., time-frequency pre-compensation).

[0038] It can be seen that the proposed enhancements are mainly focused on UL enhancements, namely, on the enhancement of Msg 4 HARQ-ACK and on the enhancement of the DMRS bundling framework for PUSCH.

[0039] However, in general, coverage performance is affected by different UL and DL channel conditions. For example, in NTN, when satellite power limitations are considered (due to, for example, regulatory requirements or power splitting between satellite beams), channels related to initial access need to be enhanced. When PFD limitations or more generally limitations on satellite output power are considered, coverage enhancement for Msg 2 PDSCH channels is necessary. Similar limitations and needs for enhancement are found for Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH channels.

[0040] In general, to improve coverage, three basic approaches can be considered, including (a) reducing interference and noise contributions, (b) increasing transmit power, and (c) increasing energy per bit (either by reducing the payload or by transmitting over a longer time). Options (a) and (b) are not applicable due to factors such as PFD limitations. Option (c) is typically achieved by introducing repetition of the channel to be enhanced.

[0041] In the conventional scheme, the network schedules resources for Msg 2 PDSCH using DCI format 1_0 with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambled by random access (RA)-radio network temporary identification (RNTI), where RA-RNTI is based on the radio network identifier value of the RACH occasion (RO) in which the UE has sent the PRACH preamble. The following information is sent via DCI format 10 with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI or MsgB-RNTI: Frequency Domain Resource Allocation - Bit; If CORESET 0 is configured for a cell, then It is the control resource set (CORESET) 0, and if CORESET 0 is not configured for a cell, then is the size of the initial DL bandwidth portion; Time domain resource allocation - 4 bits; VRB to PRB mapping - 1 bit; Modulation and coding scheme - 5 bits; Transport Block (TB) scaling - 2 bits; Least Significant Bit (LSB) for Single Frequency Network (SFN) - 2 bits for DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by MsgB-RNTI if msgB-responseWindow is configured to be greater than 10 ms; or 2 bits for DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI operating in a cell with shared spectrum channel access if ra-ResponseWindow or ra-Response Window-v1610 is configured to be greater than 10 ms; otherwise, 0 bits; Reserved bits - (16-A) bits for operation in cells without shared spectrum access in frequency range 1 and frequency range 2-1, (18-A) bits for operation in cells with shared spectrum access in frequency range 1 or for operation in cells in frequency range 2-2, where the value of A is the number of bits of the field used for 'LSB of SFN' as defined above.

[0042] It can be seen that the traditional solution does not support PDSCH repetition of Msg 2 (or Msg B).

[0043] In the conventional scheme, the TB scaling field size is 2 bits and indicates the scaling factor to be applied in the calculation of the transport block size (TBS) of Msg2. The scaling factor is determined according to the TB scaling field in the DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by P-RNTI or RA-RNTI, MsgB-RNTI in Table 1 below. 1

[0044] As mentioned above, in order to improve the physical layer performance of the channel, a commonly used method is to allocate a larger number of resources for the channel transmission for a specific number of bits. One method to achieve this is to repeat the channel multiple times to provide the receiver with the possibility of combining the received signal and improving the reliability of the demodulated and decoded bits.

[0045] In view of this, one approach that may be followed in enhancing the coverage of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH may be to repeat Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH multiple times in the same or different time slots, thereby allowing the UE receiver to combine the received PDSCH single transmission.

[0046] To be able to combine multiple Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH repetitions, the UE needs to know how many repetitions will be sent by the gNB and therefore the time length of the PDSCH repetitions.

[0047] According to the present disclosure, a scheme for indicating Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH repetition or more generally indicating a repetition factor of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resources is proposed. In this way, the coverage of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B can be enhanced. In addition, in order to avoid resource waste on the gNB, the gNB needs to know whether the UE supports repetition of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B. According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE can indicate capability-related information about whether the UE supports Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH repetition. In this way, unnecessary repetition of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B is avoided.

[0048] Hereinafter, message 2 (Msg 2) may be used as an example of a second message for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to message 4 (Msg 4) and message B (Msg B). For the sake of brevity, the same or similar content is omitted here.

[0049] As used herein, the terms "requirement" and "capability" may be used interchangeably; the terms "extension factor," "repetition number," and "repetition factor" may be used interchangeably.

[0050] As used herein, the terms "message enhancement," "message repetition," and "resource extension" may be used interchangeably. Example Environment

[0051] Figure 1A An example communication environment 100A is shown in which an example embodiment of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication environment 100A includes a first device 110 and a second device 120. The service area provided by the second device 120 is referred to as a cell. The second device 120 may provide one or more units, such as Figure 1A Unit 102 is shown.

[0052] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be included in a terminal device, and the second device 120 may be included in a network device serving the terminal device.

[0053] Hereinafter, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described in which the first device 110 operates as a terminal device and the second device 120 operates as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, the operations described in conjunction with the terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and the operations described in conjunction with the network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

[0054] In some example embodiments, if first device 110 is a terminal device and second device 120 is a network device, a link from second device 120 to first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from first device 110 to second device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, second device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or transmitter), and first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver). In UL, first device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter), and second device 120 is an RX device (or receiver).

[0055] Communications in the communication environment 100A may be implemented according to any appropriate communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G), sixth generation (6G), etc., wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future. In addition, communications may use any appropriate wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or developed in the future.

[0056] exist Figure 1A In the IEEE 802.11ac protocol, two contention-based random access (CBRA) procedures are supported, namely, 4-step RA (also known as 4-step RA channel, 4-step RACH) and 2-step RA (also known as 2-step RACH).

[0057] Reference now Figure 1B , which shows the signaling flow 100B of the 4-step RA communication. Figure 1B As shown, the first device 110 sends a message 1 (Msg 1, also called a physical random access channel (PRACH)) to the second device 120, and the second device 120 receives 1 35 Msg1 from the first device 110 accordingly. Specifically, the first device 110 sends a specific preamble code to the second device 120 via PRACH by using a specific resource called a RACH opportunity (RO) or a PRACH opportunity.

[0058] Next, the second device 120 sends 145 a message 2 (Msg 2, also referred to as a RA response, RAR) to the first device 110, and the first device 110 accordingly receives 140 Msg 2 from the second device 120. Specifically, the second device 120 replies with a random access response (RAR) message, which includes a detected preamble identity (ID), a timing advance command, a temporary cell radio network temporary identifier (TC-RNTI), and an uplink (UL) grant for transmitting Msg 3 on the PUSCH.

[0059] Then, the first device 110 transmits 150 Msg 3 (also referred to as RRC request) to the second device 120, and the second device 120 accordingly receives 155 Msg 3 from the first device 110. Specifically, the first device 110 responds to Msg 3 on the scheduled PUSCH with an ID for contention resolution.

[0060] Finally, the second device 120 transmits 165 a message 4 (Msg4, also referred to as RRC setup) to the first device 110, and the first device 110 accordingly receives 160 Msg4 from the second device 120. Specifically, the second device 120 sends 165 a contention resolution message having a contention resolution ID to the first device 110.

[0061] Furthermore, upon receiving Msg4, the first device 110 sends an acknowledgement (ACK) on a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) if its contention resolution ID is carried by Msg4. This completes the 4-step RACH.

[0062] In addition, before Msg1, there is also a preliminary step of sending and receiving synchronization signal blocks (SSBs) (i.e., downlink (DL) beam scanning), which is not formally part of the RACH process. As a result of this preliminary step, the first device 110 selects the index of the preferred SSB beam and decodes the associated physical broadcast channel (PBCH) for the master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB), etc. Based on the SSB to RO mapping implicitly conveyed by SIB1, the first device 110 also uses the index to identify the appropriate R0 (i.e., Msg1) for the preamble transmission.

[0063] Reference now Figure 1C , which shows the signaling flow 100C of the 2-step RA communication. Figure 1C As shown, the first device 110 transmits 170 a message A (Msg A) to the second device 120, and the second device 120 accordingly receives 175 Msg A from the first device 110. Next, the second device 120 sends 145 a message B (Msg B) to the first device 110, and the first device 110 receives 140 Msg B from the second device 120 accordingly.

[0064] That is, the 2-step RA is Figure 1B RA is similar to the 4-step RA shown in , but Msg 1 and Msg 3 are combined in Msg A and Msg A is sent from the first device without waiting for feedback from the second device 120 (ie, conventionally, Msg 2). Similarly, the second device 120 combines Msg 2 and Msg 4 into Msg B. Working principles and example signaling for communication

[0065] Reference Figure 2 and Figure 3 Example processes are discussed. Although features are discussed individually, it should be understood that the features discussed below may be implemented individually or in any suitable subcombination. The present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

[0066] It should be understood that operations at the first device 110 and the second device 120 should be coordinated. In other words, the second device 120 and the first device 110 should have a common understanding regarding configurations, parameters, etc. Such a common understanding can be achieved through any suitable interaction between the second device 120 and the first device 110 or both the second device 120 and the first device 110 applying the same rules / policies.

[0067] In the following, although some operations are described from the perspective of the first device 110, it should be understood that the corresponding operations should be performed by the second device 120. Similarly, although some operations are described from the perspective of the second device 120, it should be understood that the corresponding operations should be performed by the first device 110. For the sake of brevity, some of the same or similar contents are omitted here.

[0068] Just for better understanding, hereinafter, the first device 110 may be described as a terminal device (eg, UE), and the second device 120 may be described as a network device (eg, NW).

[0069] refer to Figure 2 , which shows a signaling flow 200 of communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, for example, reference may be made to Figure 1A , a signaling flow 200 is discussed using the first device 110 and the second device 120 .

[0070] In operation, the first device 110 receives (230) first information from the second device 120, wherein the first information may be associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, which message may be transmitted from the second device 120 to the first device 110 during a RA procedure. Based on the first information, the first device 110 receives (240) an enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction from the second device 120 during the RA procedure.

[0071] In some example embodiments, the RA procedure may be a 4-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction may be at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4).

[0072] Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the RA procedure may be a 2-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction may be message B (Msg B).

[0073] In this way, the transmission of messages having a first transmission direction (ie, from the second device 120 to the first device 110) may be enhanced.

[0074] In some example embodiments, the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction may be that the message with the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once. In this case, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may receive each message with the first transmission direction individually until the message with the first transmission direction can be successfully decoded. Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the first device 110 may receive the message with the first transmission direction more than once and combine at least a portion of the received messages with the first transmission direction.

[0075] In the following, details about the first information are discussed. In some example embodiments, the first information may indicate an indication that a message with a first transmission direction is to be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor, wherein the preconfigured repetition factor is associated with the number of times the message with the first transmission direction is transmitted. In some example embodiments, the first information may indicate that the message with the first transmission direction is to be transmitted with a TB scaling factor less than 0.25.

[0076] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the first information may indicate a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0077] Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the first information may indicate a value of a transport block (TB) scaling factor lower than 0.25 (eg, 0.125).

[0078] In some example embodiments, the first information may be downlink control information (DCI), and the first information may indicate the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits, as described below.

[0079] In some example embodiments, one of the most significant bit (MSB) and the least significant bit (LSB) may be used to indicate a first configuration, and the other of the MSB and the LSB may be used to indicate a TB scaling factor (e.g., '0' indicates that the TB scaling factor is 0.5, and '0' indicates that the TB scaling factor is 0.25).

[0080] In some example embodiments, all TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a first configuration, for example, the TB scaling bits may indicate a repetition factor.

[0081] In some example embodiments, all TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a code point for a table (eg, Table 2 below) of corresponding repetition factors. Table 2 Code Point Repetition Factor 00 1 01 2 10 4 11 8

[0082] In some example embodiments, the above table of corresponding repetition factors may be defined as a default configuration, or may be configured by the second device 120 .

[0083] In some example embodiments, the code point, a portion of the code point, or the entirety of the code point may be used to indicate the first configuration.

[0084] Alternatively, in some example embodiments, a reserved code point for the TB scaling bits may be used to indicate the first configuration, and other code points may be used to indicate the TB scaling factor.

[0085] In some example embodiments, the number of TB scaling bits may be two, and the reserved code point may be

[11] .

[0086] In some example embodiments, in the case where the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point or all TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, the TB scaling factor may be determined as one of the following: default value, a first value configured by a second device, or The value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration if the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point.

[0087] In some example embodiments, the default value may be one of: a maximum TB scaling factor (such as 1) or a minimum TB scaling factor (such as 0.25).

[0088] In some example embodiments, during the RA procedure, first device 110 may transmit (220) a message having a second transmission direction from first device 110 to second device 120, wherein the message having the second transmission direction indicates that first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0089] In some example embodiments, the message with the second transmission direction may be a PRACH transmission. In some example embodiments, the PRACH transmission may be associated with a specific preamble. Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the PRACH transmission may be associated with a specific random access channel opportunity (RO). Specifically, the specific preamble and the specific RO may imply that the first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of messages with the first transmission direction.

[0090] In some demonstrative embodiments, the message having the second transmission direction may be message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure.

[0091] In some example embodiments, the transmission of the message having the second transmission direction may be performed conditionally.

[0092] As an example, the first device 110 may transmit a message having a second transmission direction to the second device 120 based on determining that the signal quality between the first device and the second device is lower than or equal to a threshold quality. In some example embodiments, the threshold quality may be defined as a default value or configured by the second device 120.

[0093] Alternatively, in another example, in a case where there is no configuration of enhanced transmission in the system information, the first device 110 may transmit a message having the second transmission direction to the second device 120 .

[0094] In some example embodiments, second device 120 may preconfigure at least one parameter regarding enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction. In some example embodiments, prior to transmitting the message having the second transmission direction, first device 110 may receive (210) second information from second device 120, wherein the second information may indicate a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0095] In some example embodiments, the second information may be included in system information (SI).

[0096] To better understand the above example process, some further details are discussed as follows.

[0097] In some example embodiments, Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhancement may refer to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B repetition, and thus, “Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhancement” and “Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B repetition” may be used interchangeably.

[0098] In some example embodiments, the UE may provide a request for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (e.g., repetition) or may report the capability of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (e.g., repetition).

[0099] In some example embodiments, a request or capability for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (or Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhanced capability) may be indicated via PRACH resources (e.g., via a specific PRACH preamble or PRACH opportunity (ie, RI opportunity)).

[0100] In some example embodiments, the capability for Msg4 enhancement or the request for Msg4 enhancement (and this will only apply to Msg4) is indicated via Msg 3. Specifically, when the capability or request is indicated via Msg 3, the indication of Msg 4 PDSCH resource extension from the gNB to the UE is transmitted via DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI (i.e., before Msg 3), but whether the UE will consider it for Msg 4 will depend on the UE capability or request sent via Msg 3. The gNB will ultimately consider the indication via Msg 3 for scheduling Msg 4.

[0101] In some example embodiments, a request for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (or Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhanced capability) may be associated with a UE repetition request or capability for repeatedly performing DCI 1_0 scheduling Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B. As a specific example embodiment, if the UE repeatedly requests DCI1_0 at a repetition factor X, the request for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (or Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhanced capability) may be associated with X (such as a function of X) based on a predetermined rule.

[0102] In some example embodiments, a request for Msg2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (or Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B enhanced capabilities) may be sent depending on measured signal quality (such as SS-RSRP). In an example embodiment, if the measured signal quality is below a threshold, the UE may send a request for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension (or Msg 2 / Msg4 / Msg B enhanced capabilities) to the gNB.

[0103] Additionally, the threshold may be configured by the gNB, and further, if the threshold is not configured, a predefined value may be applied.

[0104] In the following, how the gNB configures / instructs enhanced transmission is discussed.

[0105] In summary, an indication related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension via TB scaling bits in DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI may be provided. In particular, the indication related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension may include a repetition factor of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / MsgB PDSCH resources (e.g., a repetition factor in the case of PDSCH repetition), or a trigger of a configured repetition factor of resources of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH (i.e., an indication that a message with a first transmission direction will be sent more than once).

[0106] In some example embodiments, the gNB may send the repetition factor of the Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resources to the UE. Alternatively or additionally, in some example embodiments, the gNB may transmit the trigger of the configured repetition factor of the Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resources to the gNB via the TB scaling bits in DCI format 1_0 with CRC scrambled by RA-RNTI.

[0107] In some example embodiments, all TB scaling bits (2 bits) may be used to indicate enhanced transmission. As an example embodiment, all TB scaling bits may be used to explicitly indicate the repetition factor.

[0108] As another example embodiment, all TB scaling bits (2 bits) may be used to implicitly indicate the repetition factor, e.g., all TB scaling bits may indicate a code point of a row of a table of values ​​for the repetition factor. Additionally, in some example embodiments, the table of corresponding repetition factors may be defined as a default configuration. Alternatively, the table of corresponding repetition factors may be configured by the gNB via higher layer signaling. Further, if the table is not configured by the gNB, the UE may use the default table.

[0109] In some example embodiments, since all TB scaling bits are used to indicate the repetition factor, the UE may determine the TB scaling factor based on a predefined default value or based on a higher layer configuration of the TB scaling factor that applies only to enhanced UEs (i.e., UEs capable of receiving extended PDSCH).

[0110] In some example embodiments, all code points generated by the TB scaling bits (eg,

[00] ,

[01] ,

[10] ,

[11] ) may be used for indications related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extensions.

[0111] In one embodiment, a portion of the code points generated by the TB scaling bits (e.g.,

[00] ,

[01] ,

[10] ,

[11] ) can be used for indications related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extensions. For example, only code points

[00] ,

[01] ,

[10] can be used for the indication, which maintains backward compatibility and allows legacy (non-enhanced) UEs to at least understand that a certain scaling factor is being indicated. In other words, legacy UEs can interpret the TB scaling field normally, while enhanced UEs can interpret the field as being used for indications related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extensions.

[0112] In some example embodiments, a portion of the TB scaling bits may be used for indications related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg BPDSCH resource extensions, and the remaining TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a subset of TB scaling factors. In an example embodiment, the most significant bit (MSB) of the TB scaling bit may be used for indication, and the least significant bit (LSB) may be used to select one of two states of the subset of TB scaling factors. In one example, the subset of TB scaling factors may include a first value (e.g., 0.5) and a second value (e.g., 0.25), and the LSB may be used to select between the first and second values.

[0113] In some example embodiments, a reserved code point (e.g.,

[11] ) for the TB scaling bit may be used for indications related to Msg2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension. In one embodiment, a reserved code point (e.g.,

[11] ) may be used to indicate triggering of a configured or specified repetition factor for Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resources, while other states may be used for traditional indications of TB scaling factors.

[0114] Additionally, in some example embodiments, if a reserved code point (e.g.,

[11] ) is used for indications related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extensions, the UE may assume a fixed TB scaling factor value. For example, the UE may assume that the TB scaling factor is equal to the minimum TB scaling factor (i.e., 0.25). In another example, the UE may assume that the TB scaling factor is equal to the maximum TB scaling factor (i.e., 1). In yet another example, the UE may assume that the TB scaling factor is equal to the configured or specified TB scaling factor (i.e., 0.5).

[0115] In some example embodiments, a reserved code point (e.g.,

[11] ) for the TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a lower TB scaling factor than currently supported. For example, a reserved code point may be used to indicate a TB scaling of half the current minimum value (i.e., 0.125).

[0116] In some example embodiments, receiving the extended Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH at the UE may be performed based on an indication related to Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH resource extension.

[0117] In some example embodiments, where the extended Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B PDSCH is a repetition of Msg 2 / Msg4 / Msg B, the UE may receive each repetition of the Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg BPDSCH individually until the Msg 2 / Msg4 / Msg BPDSCH is successfully decoded. Alternatively, in some embodiments, where the extended Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg BPDSCH is a repetition of Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B, the UE may combine all Msg 2 / Msg4 / Msg BPDSCH transmissions before decoding the Msg 2 / Msg 4 / Msg B payload.

[0118] Reference now Figure 3 , which shows a signaling flow 300 of communication according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3 1, the UE and the gNB may be implemented as the first device 110 and the second device 120 in FIG1, respectively. The following specific example embodiments should not be construed as any limitation to the present disclosure.

[0119] exist Figure 3 In the example embodiment, the repetition factor of the Msg 2 PDSCH resource is configured and dynamically triggered via a reserved code point (such as,

[11] ) of the TB scaling factor field in the DCI. In this example embodiment, and without loss of generality, the repetition factor may refer to the repetition factor for a set of N PDSCH repetitions.

[0120] like Figure 3 As shown, the UE may receive (310) the configuration of the Msg 2 repetition factor from the gNB, and the gNB may transmit (315) the configuration of the Msg 2 repetition factor to the UE accordingly. In this way, the UE may be configured with the repetition factor (N repetitions in this example) for the Msg2 PDSCH from the gNB via SIB 1.

[0121] In some example embodiments, the configuration of the Msg 2 repetition factor may be in the PDSCH-TimeDomainResourceAllocationList in the PDSCH-ConfigCommon.

[0122] The UE may transmit (320) a Msg 2 repetition capability indication to the gNB via a PRACH resource, and the gNB may correspondingly receive (325) a Msg 2 repetition capability indication from the UE via the PRACH resource. In this manner, the UE may indicate the capability of Msg 2 repetition via a specific selection of PRACH resources. As an example embodiment, the UE may transmit a PRACH transmission in a specific PRACH occasion (i.e., RO) to indicate its capability. Alternatively, the UE may transmit a PRACH transmission with a specific preamble to indicate its capability. Alternatively, the UE may transmit a PRACH transmission with a specific preamble in a specific RO to indicate its capability.

[0123] Next, the UE may receive (330) a DCI 1_0 message with a CRC scrambled by the RA-RNTI corresponding to the R0 used by the UE to indicate the capability, and the gNB may transmit (335) a DCI1_0 message to the UE accordingly. In addition, the DCI message may be used to schedule the Msg 2PDSCH, and the TB scaling field in the DCI is set to

[11] .

[0124] Hereinafter, the UE may successfully decode (340) DCI 1_0 and may understand the repetition factor configured for the subsequent Msg 2 PDSCH enabling.

[0125] In some example embodiments, the UE may use the indication (ie, TB scaling field) to understand that the PDSCH has N repetitions and set (350) the TB scaling factor for a single PDSCH to 0.25.

[0126] Afterwards, the UE can receive (360-1, 360-2, ..., 360-N) / gNB can send (365-1, 365-2, ..., 365-N) N Msg 2 PDSCH repetitions, and thus more reliable decoding of the Msg2 payload can be achieved.

[0127] According to the above example procedures, downlink transmission during the RA process may be achieved. Example Method

[0128] Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an example method 400 implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described in detail in FIG. Figure 1A The perspective of the first device 110 and further by reference Figure 2 to describe.

[0129] At block 410 , the first device 110 may receive ( 230 ) from the second device 120 first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction transmitted from the second device 120 to the first device 110 during a random access (RA) procedure.

[0130] At block 420 , the first device 110 may receive ( 240 ) an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction from the second device 120 based on the first information during the RA procedure.

[0131] In some example embodiments, the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction may be that the message with the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once. The first device 110 may receive each message with the first transmission direction from the second device 120 separately until the message with the first transmission direction is successfully decoded, or may receive the message with the first transmission direction from the second device more than once and combine at least a portion of the received messages with the first transmission direction.

[0132] In some example embodiments, the first information may indicate a first configuration that includes at least one of: an indication that a message having a first transmission direction will be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor, wherein the preconfigured repetition factor is associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted; a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction; or a value of a transmission block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than a minimum TB scaling factor.

[0133] In some example embodiments, the first information may be downlink control information (DCI), and the first information may indicate the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

[0134] In some example embodiments, one of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) may be used to indicate the first configuration, and the other of the MSB and the LSB may be used to indicate the TB scaling factor.

[0135] In some example embodiments, all TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a first configuration, and the TB scaling bits may indicate at least one of: a repetition factor, or a code point of a table for a corresponding repetition factor.

[0136] In some example embodiments, the table corresponding to the repetition factor may be defined as a default configuration, or may be configured by the second device.

[0137] In some example embodiments, the TB scaling bits may correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein a portion of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate the first configuration, or all of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate the first configuration.

[0138] In some example embodiments, the TB scaling bits may correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein reserved code points of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate a first configuration and other code points of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

[0139] In some example embodiments, the number of TB scaling bits may be 2 and the reserved code point may be

[11] .

[0140] In some example embodiments, in a case where the TB bit is set to a reserved code point or all TB scaling bits are used to indicate a first configuration, if the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point, the TB scaling factor is determined to be one of: a default value, a first value configured by the second device, or a value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration.

[0141] In some example embodiments, the default value may be one of: a maximum TB scaling factor or a minimum TB scaling factor.

[0142] In some example embodiments, during the RA procedure, first device 110 may transmit (220) a message having a second transmission direction from first device 110 to second device 120, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0143] In some example embodiments, the message having the second transmission direction may be a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and may be associated with one of: a specific preamble or a specific random access channel opportunity (RO), wherein the specific preamble and the specific RO may imply that the first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0144] In some example embodiments, the message having the second transmission direction may be message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction may be message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA procedure.

[0145] In some example embodiments, first device 110 may transmit a message having a second transmission direction to second device 120 based on determining that the signal quality between first device 110 and second device 120 is less than or equal to a threshold quality, or may transmit a message having a second transmission direction to second device 120 in the absence of configuration enhanced transmission in system information.

[0146] In some example embodiments, the threshold quality may be defined as a default value or configured by the second device.

[0147] In some example embodiments, prior to transmitting the message having the second transmission direction, the first device may receive (210) second information from the second device indicating a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

[0148] In some example embodiments, the second information may be included in system information (SI).

[0149] In some example embodiments, the RA process may be a 4-step RA process, and the message having the first transmission direction is at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4), or the RA process may be a 2-step RA process, and the message having the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

[0150] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be a terminal device, and the second device 120 may be a network device.

[0151] Figure 5 1 shows a flow chart of an example method 500 implemented at the second device 120 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, Figure 1A The angle of the second device 120 and further reference Figure 2 Method 500 is described.

[0152] At block 510, the second device 120 may transmit (235) to the first device 110 first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction transmitted from the second device 120 to the first device 110 during a random access (RA) procedure.

[0153] At block 520 , the second device 120 may transmit ( 245 ) an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction to the first device 110 during the RA procedure based on the first information.

[0154] In some example embodiments, the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction may be that the message having the first transmission direction may be transmitted more than once.

[0155] In some example embodiments, the first information may indicate a first configuration that includes at least one of: an indication that a message having a first transmission direction will be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor, wherein the preconfigured repetition factor is associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted, a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction, or a value of a transmission block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than a minimum TB scaling factor.

[0156] In some example embodiments, the first information may be downlink control information (DCI), and the first information may indicate the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

[0157] In some example embodiments, one of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) may be used to indicate the first configuration, and the other of the MSB and the LSB may be used to indicate the TB scaling factor.

[0158] In some example embodiments, all TB scaling bits may be used to indicate a first configuration, and the TB scaling bits indicate at least one of: a repetition factor, or a code point of a table for a corresponding repetition factor.

[0159] In some example embodiments, the table corresponding to the repetition factor may be defined as a default configuration, or may be configured by the second device.

[0160] In some example embodiments, the TB scaling bits may correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein a portion of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate the first configuration, or all of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate the first configuration.

[0161] In some example embodiments, the TB scaling bits may correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein reserved code points of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate a first configuration and other code points of the plurality of code points may be used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

[0162] In some example embodiments, the number of TB scaling bits may be 2 and the reserved code point may be

[11] .

[0163] In some example embodiments, in a case where the TB scaling bits are set to a reserved code point or all TB scaling bits are used to indicate a first configuration, determining that the TB scaling factor is one of: a default value, a first value configured by the second device, or a value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration in a case where the TB scaling bits are set to a reserved code point.

[0164] In some example embodiments, the default value may be one of: a maximum TB scaling factor or a minimum TB scaling factor.

[0165] In some example embodiments, second device 120 may receive (225) a message having a second transmission direction from first device 110 during the RA procedure, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

[0166] In some example embodiments, the message having the second transmission direction may be a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and may be associated with at least one of: a specific preamble or a specific random access channel opportunity (RO), wherein the specific preamble and the specific RO may imply that the first device 110 supports enhanced transmission of messages having the first transmission direction.

[0167] In some example embodiments, the message having the second transmission direction may be message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction may be message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA procedure.

[0168] In some example embodiments, prior to receiving the message having the second transmission direction, the second device 120 may transmit (215) to the first device 110 second information indicating a repetition factor to be used for enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

[0169] In some example embodiments, the second information may be included in system information (SI).

[0170] In some example embodiments, the RA process may be a 4-step RA process and the message having the first transmission direction may be at least one of: message 2 (Msg2) or message 4 (Msg4), or the RA process may be a 2-step RA process and the message having the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

[0171] In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may be a terminal device, and the second device 120 may be a network device. Example devices, equipment, and media

[0172] In some example embodiments, a first device (eg, Figure 1A The first device 110 in the method 400 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of the method 400. The device may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the device may be implemented in a circuit system or a software module. The first device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1A In the first device 110.

[0173] In some example embodiments, a first device includes: a component for receiving first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction from a second device, wherein the first transmission direction is transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and a component for receiving, during the RA procedure, an enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction from the second device based on the first information.

[0174] In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means or the first device 110 for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 400. In some example embodiments, the means comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first apparatus to be executed.

[0175] In some example embodiments, a second device (eg, Figure 1A The second device 120 in the method 500 may include a component for performing the corresponding operation of the method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit system or a software module. The second device may be implemented as or included in Figure 1A In the second device 120 in.

[0176] In some example embodiments, the second device includes: a component for sending first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction to the first device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and a component for transmitting the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction to the first device based on the first information during the RA procedure.

[0177] In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means or a second device 120 for performing other operations in some example embodiments of method 500. In some example embodiments, the means comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause execution of the second device.

[0178] In some example embodiments, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause an apparatus to at least: receive, from a second device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and receive, from the second device during the RA procedure, an enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction based on the first information.

[0179] In some example embodiments, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes instructions stored thereon, the instructions being configured to cause an apparatus to at least: send first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction to a first device, the first transmission direction being transmitted from a second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; and based on the first information, transmit the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction to the first device during the RA procedure.

[0180] Figure 6 6 is a simplified block diagram of a device 600 suitable for implementing an example embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 600 may be configured to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1A The first device 110 or the second device 120 shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the device 600 includes one or more processors 610, one or more memories 620 coupled to the processor 610, and one or more communication modules 640 coupled to the processor 610.

[0181] The communication module 640 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 640 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 640 may include at least one antenna.

[0182] Processor 610 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network, and, as non-limiting examples, may include one or more of: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture. Device 600 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock that synchronizes a main processor.

[0183] The memory 620 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 624, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disk (CD), digital video disk (DVD), optical disk, laser disk, and other magnetic and / or optical memories. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 622 and examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 622 and other volatile memories that may not persist during power failure.

[0184] The computer program 630 includes computer executable instructions executed by the associated processor 610. The instructions of the program 630 may include instructions for performing the operations / actions of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 630 may be stored in a memory (e.g., ROM 624). The processor 610 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 630 into the RAM 622.

[0185] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a program 630 so that the device 600 may execute the following steps: Figures 2 to 5 Any process of the present disclosure discussed. Example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0186] In some example embodiments, program 630 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 600 (such as in memory 620) or included in other storage devices accessible by device 600. Device 600 may load program 630 from the computer-readable medium to RAM 622 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer-readable medium may include any type of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. The term "non-transitory" as used herein is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal), as opposed to limitations on data storage persistence (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

[0187] Figure 6 One example of a computer readable medium 600 is shown, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD, or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 600 has a program 630 stored thereon.

[0188] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, and other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that, as non-limiting examples, the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0189] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer-readable medium (such as, non-volatile computer-readable medium). The computer program product includes computer executable instructions, such as those computer executable instructions executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor included in a program module to perform any method as described above. Typically, a program module includes routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules can be combined or split between program modules as needed in different embodiments. The machine executable instructions for the program modules can be executed in a local device or a distributed device. In a distributed device, the program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0190] The program code for performing the method of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device so that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, causes the implementation of the functions / operations specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine, partially on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0191] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform the different processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0192] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, devices, or equipment, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of computer readable storage media will include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0193] In addition, although the operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring the execution of such operations in the particular order shown or in a sequential order, or the execution of all described operations, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing can be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to a particular embodiment. Unless explicitly stated, certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, unless explicitly stated, the different features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0194] Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Instead, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A first device, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: receiving, from a second device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as During the RA procedure, the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction is received from the second device based on the first information.

2. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is that the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once, And wherein the first device is further caused to: receiving each message having the first transmission direction from the second device respectively until the message having the first transmission direction is successfully decoded, or The message having the first transmission direction is received more than once from the second device, and at least a portion of the received messages having the first transmission direction are combined.

3. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first information indicates a first configuration including at least one of the following: an indication indicating that the message having the first transmission direction is to be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor, wherein the preconfigured repetition factor is associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted; a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction; or The value of the transport block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than the minimum TB scaling factor. 4 . The first device of claim 3 , wherein the first information is downlink control information (DCI), and the first information indicates the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

5. The first device according to claim 4, wherein: One of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) is used to indicate the first configuration, and The other of the MSB and the LSB is used to indicate a TB scaling factor.

6. The first device of claim 4, wherein all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, and the TB scaling bits indicate at least one of the following: The repetition factor, or Code point for the table corresponding to the repetition factor.

7. The first device according to claim 6, wherein the table of corresponding repetition factors is defined as a default configuration or configured by the second device.

8. The first device of claim 4, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein, A portion of the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration, or All code points in the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration.

9. The first device of claim 4, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein, A reserved code point among the plurality of code points is used to indicate the first configuration, and Other code points in the plurality of code points are used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

10. The first device of claim 9, wherein the number of the TB scaling bits is 2, and the reserved code point is [11].

11. The first device of claim 4, wherein, in a case where the scaling bit is set to a reserved code point or all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, determining a TB scaling factor is one of: default value, a first value configured by the second device, or A value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration if the TB scaling bit is set to the reserved code point.

12. The first device according to claim 11, wherein the default value is one of the following: Maximum TB scaling factor, or The minimum TB scaling factor.

13. The first device according to claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to: During the RA procedure, a message having a second transmission direction is transmitted from the first device to the second device, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

14. The first device of claim 13, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and is associated with one of: A specific preamble, or A specific random access channel opportunity (RO), The specific preamble and the specific RO imply that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction.

15. The first device according to claim 13, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA process, and the message having the first transmission direction is message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA process.

16. The first device according to claim 13, wherein the first device is further caused to: transmitting the message having the second transmission direction to the second device based on determining that the signal quality between the first device and the second device is lower than or equal to a threshold quality, or In a case where the enhanced transmission configuration does not exist in the system information, the message having the second transmission direction is transmitted to the second device.

17. The first device of claim 16, wherein the threshold quality is defined as a default value or configured by the second device.

18. The first device according to claim 13, wherein the first device is further caused to: Prior to transmitting the message having the second transmission direction, second information is received from the second device, the second information indicating a repetition factor to be used for the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

19. The first device according to claim 18, wherein the second information is included in system information (SI).

20. The first device according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein: The RA procedure is a 4-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4), or The RA procedure is a 2-step RA procedure, and the message with the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

21. The first device according to any one of claims 1 to 20, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

22. A second device, comprising: at least one processor; as well as at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least: transmitting, to a first device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as During the RA procedure, the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted to the first device based on the first information.

23. The second device according to claim 22, wherein the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is that the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once.

24. The second device according to claim 22, wherein the first information indicates a first configuration including at least one of the following: an indication indicating that the message having the first transmission direction is to be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor, wherein the preconfigured repetition factor is associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted; a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction; or The value of the transport block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than the minimum TB scaling factor.

25. The second device of claim 24, wherein the first information is downlink control information (DCI), and the first information indicates the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

26. The second device according to claim 25, wherein: One of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) is used to indicate the first configuration, and The other of the MSB and the LSB is used to indicate a TB scaling factor.

27. The second device of claim 25, wherein all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, and the TB scaling bits indicate at least one of the following: The repetition factor, or Code point for the table corresponding to the repetition factor.

28. The second device of claim 26, wherein the table of corresponding repetition factors is defined as a default configuration or is configured by the second device.

29. The second device of claim 25, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein, A portion of the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration, or All code points in the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration.

30. The second device of claim 25, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein, A reserved code point among the plurality of code points is used to indicate the first configuration, and Other code points in the plurality of code points are used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

31. The second device of claim 30, wherein the number of the TB scaling bits is 2 and the reserved code point is [11].

32. The second device of claim 25, wherein, in a case where the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point or all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, determining a TB scaling factor is one of: default value, a first value configured by the second device, or A value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration if the TB scaling bit is set to the reserved code point.

33. The second device of claim 32, wherein the default value is one of: Maximum TB scaling factor, or The minimum TB scaling factor.

34. The second device of claim 22, wherein the second device is further caused to: During the RA procedure, a message having a second transmission direction is received from the first device, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

35. The second device of claim 34, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and is associated with one of: A specific preamble, or A specific random access channel opportunity (RO), The specific preamble and the specific RO imply that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction.

36. The second device of claim 32, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is a message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA procedure.

37. The second device of claim 34, wherein the second device is further caused to: Prior to receiving the message having the second transmission direction, second information is transmitted to the first device, the second information indicating a repetition factor to be used for the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

38. The second device according to claim 18, wherein the second information is included in system information (SI).

39. The second device according to any one of claims 22 to 39, wherein The RA procedure is a 4-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4), or The RA procedure is a 2-step RA procedure, and the message with the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

40. The second device according to any one of claims 22 to 39, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

41. A first device, comprising: means for receiving, from a second device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as Means for receiving, during the RA procedure, from the second device the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction based on the first information.

42. The first device according to claim 41, wherein the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is that the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once, and the device further comprises: means for receiving, from said second device, each message having said first transmission direction, respectively, until said message having said first transmission direction is successfully decoded, or Means for receiving said message having said first transmission direction from said second device more than once and combining at least a portion of the received messages having said first transmission direction.

43. The first device of claim 41 , wherein the first information indicates a first configuration including at least one of: an indication indicating that the message having the first transmission direction is to be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted, a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction, or The value of the transport block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than the minimum TB scaling factor.

44. The first apparatus of claim 43, wherein the first information is downlink control information (DCI), and the first information indicates the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

45. The first device according to claim 44, wherein: One of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) is used to indicate the first configuration, and The other of the MSB and the LSB is used to indicate a TB scaling factor.

46. ​​The first apparatus of claim 44, wherein all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, and the TB scaling bits indicate at least one of: The repetition factor, or Code point for the table corresponding to the repetition factor.

47. The first device of claim 46, wherein the table of corresponding repetition factors is defined as a default configuration or is configured by the second device.

48. The first apparatus of claim 44, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein: A portion of the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration, or All code points in the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration.

49. The first apparatus of claim 44, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein: A reserved code point among the plurality of code points is used to indicate the first configuration, and Other code points in the plurality of code points are used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

50. The first device of claim 49, wherein the number of the TB scaling bits is 2 and the reserved code point is [11].

51. The first apparatus of claim 44, wherein, in a case where the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point or all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, determining a TB scaling factor is one of: default value, a first value configured by the second means, or A value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration if the TB scaling bit is set to the reserved code point.

52. The first device of claim 51 , wherein the default value is one of: Maximum TB scaling factor, or The minimum TB scaling factor.

53. The first device of claim 41, further comprising: Means for transmitting a message having a second transmission direction from the first device to the second device during the RA procedure, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction.

54. The first apparatus of claim 53, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and is associated with one of: A specific preamble, or A specific random access channel opportunity (RO), The specific preamble and the specific RO imply that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction.

55. The first apparatus of claim 53, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is a message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA procedure.

56. The first device of claim 53, further comprising: means for transmitting the message having the second transmission direction to the second device in response to determining that the signal quality between the first device and the second device is less than or equal to a threshold quality, or means for transmitting the message having the second transmission direction to the second device in the absence of the configuration of the enhanced transmission in the system information.

57. The first device of claim 56, wherein the threshold quality is defined as a default value or configured by the second device.

58. The first device of claim 53, further comprising: Means for receiving, prior to transmitting said message having said second transmission direction, second information from said second device, said second information indicating a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction.

59. The first device of claim 58, wherein the second information is included in system information (SI).

60. The first device according to any one of claims 41 to 59, wherein: The RA procedure is a 4-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4), or The RA procedure is a 2-step RA procedure, and the message with the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

61. The first device according to any one of claims 41 to 60, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

62. A second device comprising: means for transmitting, to a first device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as Means for transmitting the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction to the first device based on the first information during the RA procedure.

63. The second device according to claim 62, wherein the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is that the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted more than once.

64. The second device of claim 62, wherein the first information indicates a first configuration including at least one of: an indication indicating that the message having the first transmission direction is to be transmitted more than once according to a preconfigured repetition factor associated with the number of times the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted, a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction; or The value of the transport block (TB) scaling factor that is lower than the minimum TB scaling factor.

65. The second apparatus of claim 64, wherein the first information is downlink control information (DCI), and the first information indicates the first configuration via at least a portion of transport block (TB) scaling bits.

66. The second device according to claim 65, wherein One of a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) is used to indicate the first configuration, and The other of the MSB and the LSB is used to indicate a TB scaling factor.

67. The second device according to claim 65, wherein: All of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, and the TB scaling bits indicate at least one of the following: The repetition factor, or Code point for the table corresponding to the repetition factor.

68. The second device of claim 66, wherein the table of corresponding repetition factors is defined as a default configuration or is configured by the second device.

69. The second apparatus of claim 65, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein: A portion of the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration, or All code points in the plurality of code points can be used to indicate the first configuration.

70. The second apparatus of claim 65, wherein the TB scaling bits correspond to a plurality of code points, and wherein: A reserved code point among the plurality of code points is used to indicate the first configuration, and Other code points in the plurality of code points are used to indicate candidate TB scaling factors.

71. The second device of claim 70, wherein the number of the TB scaling bits is 2 and the reserved code point is [11].

72. The second apparatus of claim 65, wherein, in a case where the TB scaling bit is set to a reserved code point or all of the TB scaling bits are used to indicate the first configuration, determining a TB scaling factor is one of: default value, a first value configured by the second means, or A value of the TB scaling factor indicated by the first configuration if the TB scaling bit is set to the reserved code point.

73. The second device of claim 72, wherein the default value is one of: Maximum TB scaling factor, or The minimum TB scaling factor.

74. The second device of claim 62, further comprising: Means for receiving, during the RA procedure, from the first device a message having a second transmission direction, the message having the second transmission direction indicating that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message having a first transmission direction.

75. The second apparatus of claim 74, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is a physical random access channel (PRACH) transmission and is associated with one of: A specific preamble, or A specific random access channel opportunity (RO), The specific preamble and the specific RO imply that the first device supports the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction.

76. The second apparatus of claim 72, wherein the message having the second transmission direction is message 3 (Msg 3) during the RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is message 4 (Msg 4) during the RA procedure.

77. The second device according to claim 74, further comprising: Means for transmitting second information to said first device prior to receiving said message having said second transmission direction, said second information indicating a repetition factor to be used for said enhanced transmission of said message having said first transmission direction.

78. The second device of claim 58, wherein the second information is included in system information (SI).

79. The second device according to any one of claims 62 to 79, wherein The RA procedure is a 4-step RA procedure, and the message having the first transmission direction is at least one of: message 2 (Msg 2) or message 4 (Msg 4), or The RA procedure is a 2-step RA procedure, and the message with the first transmission direction is message B (Msg B).

80. The second device according to any one of claims 62 to 79, wherein the first device is a terminal device and the second device is a network device.

81. A method comprising: receiving, at a first device, from a second device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as During the RA procedure, the enhanced transmission of the message with the first transmission direction is received from the second device based on the first information.

82. A method comprising: transmitting, at a second device, to a first device, first information associated with an enhanced transmission of a message having a first transmission direction, the first transmission direction being transmitted from the second device to the first device during a random access (RA) procedure; as well as During the RA procedure, the enhanced transmission of the message having the first transmission direction is transmitted to the first device based on the first information.

83. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to claim 81 or 82.

Images