Uplink timing management for multiple transmit and receive points in wireless communications

Abstract

Embodiments herein describe systems, methods, and apparatus for configuring multiple timing advance group (TAG) identifications (IDs) to support multiple timing advance values for multiple transmit and receive point operations. The TAG may be configured using a radio resource control (RRC) signal. The network node may transmit a timing advance command including one or more TAG IDs associated with the updated timing advance to the user equipment. The UE may update one or more timing advance values using the timing advance command.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application generally relates to wireless communication systems, including support for multiple timing advance values ​​for multiple transmit and receive point operations. Background Art

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to send data between base stations and wireless communication devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include, for example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G), 3GPP New Radio (NR) (e.g., 5G), and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs) (commonly referred to within industry organizations as WLANs). ).

[0003] As envisioned by 3GPP, different wireless communication system standards and protocols may use various radio access networks (RANs) to communicate between base stations of the RAN (which may also sometimes be referred to as RAN nodes, network nodes, or simply nodes) and wireless communication devices referred to as user equipment (UE). 3GPP RANs may include, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and / or Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN).

[0004] Each RAN may use one or more radio access technologies (RATs) to perform communications between base stations and UEs. For example, GERAN implements GSM and / or EDGE RAT, UTRAN implements Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT (sometimes referred to as LTE), and NG-RAN implements NR RAT (sometimes referred to herein as 5G RAT, 5G NR RAT, or NR). In some deployments, E-UTRAN may also implement NR RAT. In some deployments, NG-RAN may also implement LTE RAT.

[0005] The base stations used by the RAN may correspond to the RAN. An example of an E-UTRAN base station is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as an evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB). An example of an NG-RAN base station is a Next Generation Node B (sometimes also referred to as a g-Node B or gNB).

[0006] The RAN provides communication services together with external entities through its connection with the Core Network (CN). For example, E-UTRAN may utilize the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and NG-RAN may utilize the 5G Core Network (5GC). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or action, the most significant digit(s) in a reference number refers to the drawing number that first introduces the element.

[0008] Figure 1 A signal flow diagram for configuring and triggering multiple TAs according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0009] Figure 2 ASN.1 codes for RRC signal structures according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0010] Figure 3 Timing advance commands according to some embodiments are illustrated.

[0011] Figure 4 A wireless communication system including two TRPs in an invalid TAG configuration for inter-band CA according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 5 A wireless communication system including two TRPs in an invalid TAG configuration for intra-band CA according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0013] Figure 6 Illustrated is a signal flow diagram that can be used to configure and report UE assistance information for TA acquisition for multiple TRPs according to some embodiments.

[0014] Figure 7 An exemplary ASN.1 code according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 8 An enhanced TAC MAC-CE according to the first embodiment according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0016] Fig. 9 An enhanced TAC MAC-CE that may be used to update multiple TA values ​​according to some embodiments is illustrated.

[0017] Fig.10 An example architecture of a wireless communication system according to embodiments disclosed herein is illustrated.

[0018] Fig.11 A system for performing signaling between a wireless device and a network device according to embodiments disclosed herein is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] Various embodiments are described with reference to a user equipment (UE). However, reference to a UE is provided for illustrative purposes only. The example embodiments may be used with any electronic component that can establish a connection with a network and is configured with hardware, software, and / or firmware for exchanging information and data with the network. Therefore, a UE as described herein is used to represent any suitable electronic component.

[0020] Some of the goals of communication networks are low latency and high reliability. New mobile services that require low latency and high reliability performance, such as Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), are emerging. Standards have been created to ensure support for these services. While the 5G standard has been designed to address these services from the beginning, the evolution of 5G New Radio (NR) requires continued enhancement of mobility robustness performance for these challenging scenarios.

[0021] Network communication systems can benefit from uplink timing enhancement. For example, it may be useful for a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system to use two timing advances (TAs) for uplink (UL) multiple downlink control information (DCI) for multiple transmit and receive point (TRP) operations. Therefore, some embodiments herein provide multiple TAs for UL multiple DCIs for multiple TRP operations. In addition, some embodiments herein specify mechanisms and processes for inter-cell mobility based on layer 1 / layer 2 (L1 / L2) for mobility delay reduction. For example, some embodiments explore TA management.

[0022] There are currently several open issues regarding how multiple TAs (e.g., two TAs) for UL multi-DCI for multi-TRP operation should be supported. For example, a communication system may support two timing advance groups (TAGs) for service cells associated with two TRPs. However, it remains undefined how to determine the TAG identifier (ID) or indicate the TAG ID to the UE. In addition, for carrier aggregation scenarios (e.g., intra-band carrier aggregation scenarios), certain restrictions on TAG configuration may be desired to simplify the UE specific implementation for TAG management. Another open issue is how the network can determine the moment for triggering TA acquisition for the second TRP to provide a given UE with more efficient two-TA operation. In addition, in 3GPP Release 17, a single TA is updated via a Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE) command. For multiple TRPs with two TAs, enhancements may be required to use a single MAC-CE to update one or both TAs in a timely manner.

[0023] The embodiments herein address these open issues.Thus, the embodiments herein may provide enhancements to a network communication system that allow the system to support multiple TAs.

[0024] Figure 1 A signal flow diagram 100 for configuring and triggering multiple TAs according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown, the network node 104 may encode and send a radio resource control (RRC) signal (e.g., RRC connection reconfiguration 106) to configure the UE 102. The UE 102 may decode the RRC connection reconfiguration 106 and use the information within the RRC connection reconfiguration 106 for configuration. The UE 102 signals the network node 104 an RRC connection reconfiguration complete 108 to indicate successful completion of the configuration and forms an established connection 112 with the network node 104.

[0025] RRC signaling (eg, RRC connection reconfiguration 106) from the network node 104 may be used to configure two TAGs for the serving cell. Various methods may be used to inform the UE 102 of the TAGIDs of the two TAGs belonging to the serving cells toward the two TRPs.

[0026] In some embodiments, the RRC signal may include two TAG IDs. In other words, the RRC signal may be used to explicitly configure two TAGs of the serving cell through independent TAG IDs. For example, Figure 2 An ASN.1 code 200 for an RRC signal structure is illustrated. Figure 2 As shown, the RRC signal may include a first TAG ID 202 and a second TAG ID 204. The UE 102 may decode the RRC signal to determine that the first TAG ID 202 is associated with the first TRP and the second TAG ID 204 is associated with the second TRP. The code 200 may enhance the current RRC framework by adding a row for a single serving cell to provide two TAG IDs. Thus, in some embodiments, the network node 104 may provide the two TAG IDs to the UE 102 in a single RRC message.

[0027] In some embodiments, the RRC signal may include a single TAG ID, and the UE 102 may determine the second TAG ID based on the TAG ID from the RRC signal. For example, the RRC signal may configure a first TAG ID for the serving cell. The second TAG ID (TAG_2) may be implicitly determined based on the first TAG ID (TAG_1) configured by the RRC as follows:

[0028] TAG_2=TAG_1+K

[0029] In some embodiments, the value of K may be a constant hard-coded into the system. For example, in the above equation, the value of K may be set to four. K may be related to the number of TAGs supported by the communication system. In some embodiments, the value of K may be RRC configured on a per-UE basis. For example, the value of K may be RRC configured based on the maximum TAG that the UE 102 is configured to support at a given time.

[0030] Regardless of whether the second TAG ID is explicitly configured or implicitly determined, the following rules may be hardcoded in the specification: In some implementations, a TAG with a smaller TAG ID is used for serving cells or "coresetPoolIndex=0", and another larger TAG ID is used for non-serving cells or "coresetPoolIndex=1".

[0031] Return to Figure 1 , UE 102 may transmit a random access preamble 110 to network node 104 to request an uplink allocation. Network node 104 may reply with a random access response (RAR) 114. Such "RRC+RAR" based signaling may be used by UE 102 to obtain the two TAG IDs (e.g., as discussed in the above embodiments) and trigger the use of timing advance for the two TAGs. For example, network node 104 may encode RAR 114 to include a timing advance command MAC CE.

[0032] Figure 3A timing advance command 300 in a RAR message according to some embodiments is illustrated. The timing advance command 300 may be encoded by the network node 104 and sent to the UE 102 in the RAR 114. The RAR message may include a bit field 302 indicating which of the two TAG IDs is associated with the timing advance command included in the RAR message. The timing advance command 300 is a MAC CE for controlling the timing of uplink signal transmission. The timing advance command 300 may enable the UE 102 to adjust its uplink transmission to better align with the timing of the network side. The uplink adjustment may be applied to the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), and the sounding reference signal (SRS). For example, the network node 104 may identify the timing difference between the uplink signal sent by the UE 102 and the network timing. The network node 104 may transmit the timing advance command 300 via the RAR 114 to enable the UE 102 to adjust the future uplink transmission timing so as to better align it with the subframe timing at the network side. If the PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS arrives at the network too early, the network node 104 may transmit a timing advance command 300 to the UE 102 indicating that future signals are to be sent later. Similarly, if the PUSCH / PUCCH / SRS arrives at the network too late, the network node 104 may transmit a timing advance command 300 to the UE 102 indicating that future signals are to be sent earlier.

[0033] In an embodiment where two TAs are supported, there may be two TAGs. Therefore, the network node 104 may indicate to the UE 102 which TAG ID is associated with the timing advance command 300. For example, the network node 104 may encode the bit field 302 with a value for indicating to the UE 102 which TAG ID is associated with the timing advance command 300. In other words, the corresponding TAG ID for the TA value indicated by the RAR 114 may be represented by the RAR MAC PDU by reusing the TAG ID as shown in FIG. Figure 3 The illustrated 1-bit "R" field is used to indicate that the bit field 302 can be set to a value of "0" to indicate to the UE that a smaller TAG ID is used. The bit field 302 can be set to a value of "1" to indicate to the UE that a larger TAG ID is used.

[0034] In some implementations, various restrictions on TAG configuration may be introduced for UEs configured with carrier aggregation (CA).For carrier aggregation cases (especially intra-band CA cases), certain restrictions on TAG configuration may be desirable to simplify UE specific implementation for TAG management. Figure 4 and Figure 5 Invalid TAG configurations based on some possible restrictions are illustrated.

[0035] Figure 4A wireless communication system 400 is illustrated including two TRPs (ie, a first TRP 402 and a second TRP 404) in an invalid TAG configuration 408 for inter-band CA. As previously explained, the wireless communication system 400 can support two TAGs of serving cells associated with the two TRPs.

[0036] In some implementations, in the case of CA for a given UE 406, the UE 406 does not expect to receive a TAG configuration in which a single TAG is associated with different CORESETpoolindex values ​​for different component carriers (CCs). Therefore, it may be expected that the network associates different TAGs with CORESETpoolindex values ​​for different CCs. The UE 406 may verify that the TAG configuration meets this restriction requirement.

[0037] For example, Figure 4 An invalid TAG configuration 408 for multi-TRP use case for inter-band CA is included. The invalid TAG configuration 408 includes a TAG provided on a CC basis for each CORESETpoolindex. As shown, the network has configured CORESETpoolindex=0 (TRP#1) with TAG1 on CC1 and TAG2 on CC2. CORESETpoolindex=1 (TRP#2) has been configured with TAG2 on CC1 and TAG3 on CC2. In some embodiments, the UE 406 may determine that the TAG configuration is invalid and discard the configuration because CORESETpoolindex=1 is associated with TAG2 on CC1 and CORESETpoolindex=0 is associated with TAG2 on CC2.

[0038] In other words, in some implementations, a given TAG is not allowed to be associated with different CORESETpoolindex values ​​for different CCs. If the TAG associated with CC1 with CORESETpoolindex=1 is changed to TAG3 or TAG4, the TAG configuration will be valid. However, UE 406 identifies invalid TAG configuration 408 as invalid because TAG2 is associated with CC2 of the first TRP 402.

[0039] The technical consideration behind this restriction is that "CORESETpoolindex" basically acts as a visible TRP ID. Therefore, it may not be feasible to associate a single TAG (e.g., TAG#2) to two TRPs with different CORESETpoolindex values ​​on different CCs.

[0040] Figure 5A wireless communication system 500 is illustrated that includes two TRPs (i.e., a first TRP 502 and a second TRP 504) in an invalid TAG configuration 508 for intra-band CA. In some embodiments, in the case of CA, the same TAG is expected to be used for intra-band CCs. For example, UE 506 may expect CC1 and CC2 to have the same TAG. This restriction illustrates the fact that single baseband (BB) operation (e.g., fast Fourier transform (FFT)) is desirable for simplifying UE implementation and reducing power. Therefore, it may be desirable for the network to apply a single TAG to intra-band CA. UE 406 may verify that the TAG configuration meets this restriction requirement.

[0041] Figure 5 An exemplary invalid TAG configuration 508 assuming two intra-band CCs is provided. As shown, CC#1 is associated with TAG#1 towards TRP#1. CC#2 is associated with TAG#2 towards TRP#2. This provides an invalid configuration based on the restriction because the CCs have two different TAGs. UE 406 may determine that the TAG configuration is invalid and discard the configuration.

[0042] In some embodiments, the UE may provide assistance information for TA acquisition for multiple TRPs. The UE assistance information may be used by the network to determine the moment to trigger TA acquisition for the second TRP to provide the given UE with more efficient two-TA operation. For example, the UE may begin operating in a single TRP mode. Then, when the UE identifies that it is approaching a TRP boundary, the UE provides an indication of the UE's location to the network, and the network may configure the UE to operate in a multiple TRP mode.

[0043] The UE assistance information may include measurements performed by the UE. For example, in some embodiments, new UE assistance information downlink time difference (DL TD) may be introduced. DL TD may be used by the network to determine whether to send a PDCCH command for a second uplink timing acquisition to the second TRP.

[0044] DL TD may be defined as in Table 1.

[0045]

[0046] Table 1

[0047] For example, Figure 6A signal flow diagram 600 is illustrated that may be used to configure and report UE assistance information for TA acquisition for multiple TRPs. A UE 606 may establish a first connection with a first TRP. A network node 608 may encode 602 a DL TD measurement configuration that includes configuration details of reference signals from the first TRP and a second TRP for measuring DL TD between the first TRP and the second TRP.

[0048] The network node 104 may transmit a DL TD measurement configuration 610 to the UE 606. The UE may receive and decode the DL TD measurement configuration 610. The UE 606 may measure 604 the DL TD to determine a relative receive timing difference between two TRPs at the UE based on the DL TD measurement configuration 610. For intra-cell multiple TRPs where two TRPs have the same physical cell ID (PCI), various implementations may use different methods to associate the measured signals (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, etc.) with the corresponding TRPs.

[0049] For example, in some embodiments, the reference signal for DL ​​TD used by UE 606 for two TRP measurements may be configured via RRC signaling. Figure 7 An exemplary ASN.1 code 700 for implementing such an implementation is illustrated. The additionalPCI field indicates that the ReferenceSignal refers to an additional PCI different from the serving cell PCI, as configured in servingCellConfig. The RRC signal may include detail information for facilitating measurements. For example, the RRC signal may include configuration details about candidate reference signals for the TRP. The configuration details may include a channel state information (CSI)-RS configuration, a pointer to a resourceID, and a synchronization signal block (SSB) index.

[0050] In some embodiments, the DL TD measurement configuration 610 may include a path loss RS signal associated with an indicated or active joint / DL transmission configuration indicator (TCI) state. The path loss RS signal associated with the indicated or active joint / DL TCI state may be used to measure the DL TD between two TRPs. For example, the UE 606 may reuse the established path loss signal as a reference signal.

[0051] In some embodiments, the granularity of DL TD reporting may be defined. For example, the scope and granularity of reported DL TD measurements for multiple TRPs may be defined in the 3GPP specification using SxT c T c It can be a fixed value and S can be configured by the network node 608. For example, S=2 k, where "k" is configured by the network and may be reported based on UE capabilities. Thus, the UE may indicate the ability to support a particular granularity, and the range may be configured based on that capability.

[0052] The UE may measure 604 DL TD according to the configuration and report 612 DL TD to the network node 104. Embodiments herein may use a variety of methods to trigger UE assistance information for DL ​​TA measurement reporting. In some embodiments, periodic DL TD reports may be transmitted by the UE 606 on the PUCCH or PUSCH. For these embodiments, a parameter set for PUSCH or PUCCH resources, a periodicity for reporting (e.g., a periodic DL TD timer) may be provided to the UE 606. In some embodiments, the network node 608 may control the periodicity based on the UE mobile speed.

[0053] In some embodiments, the UE 606 may use semi-persistent (SP) DL TD (SP-DL TD) reporting on PUSCH or PUCCH. Periodicity and PUSCH resources may be configured for SP-DL TD reporting. In addition, SP-DL TD reporting may be triggered by a new MAC-CE in the case of PUCCH resources or a new DCI format with cyclic redundancy check (CRC) bits scrambled by a dedicated radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) (e.g., SP-DL TD-RNTI for PUSCH resources).

[0054] In some embodiments, the UE 606 may use an aperiodic DL TD report (A-DL TD) report. A-DL TD may be triggered by DCI or by the occurrence of certain events. For example, in some embodiments, a new field may be added to the scheduling DCI (e.g., TD request) to trigger an A-DL TD report (e.g., a single aperiodic DL TD report). In some embodiments, A-DL TD may be triggered if one or any of the following events occurs. The event may include a joint or UL TCI state associated with "CORESTpoolIndex=1", or the additional PCI of the neighboring cell list is activated by the MAC-CE, or the additional PCI of the active UL TCI state is updated / switched. Another event may include that the measured DL TD value exceeds a threshold "T". The value of the threshold "T" may be hard-coded in the specification (e.g., using the cyclic prefix (CP) length) or configured by the network using a system information block (SIB) or UE-specific RRC signaling. Another event may include that the additional PCI list is configured by RRC signaling. In some implementations, a new field may be added to the scheduling DCI (eg, TD request) to trigger A-DL TD reporting.

[0055] Based on the DL TD report, the network node 608 may configure a multi-TRP connection 614 for the UE 606. The UE 606 may operate with a single TRP to save power until it approaches a TRP boundary. The network node 608 may be informed of the location of the UE 606 based on the DL TD reported by the UE 606. When the DL TD is equal to or less than a threshold, the network node 104 may transmit a multi-TRP configuration to the UE 606 for establishing a connection with a second TRP. The UE 606 may establish a second connection with the second TRP based on the multi-TRP configuration while maintaining a first connection with the first TRP. The multi-TRP connection may establish multiple TAGs and TAG IDs, as discussed elsewhere herein.

[0056] In some embodiments, for a multi-TRP with two TAs, an enhanced timing command MAC-CE may facilitate the use of a single MAC-CE to update one or both TAs. Figure 8 and Fig. 9 Two methods are illustrated that can be used to indicate two timing advance commands (TACs) to two TRPs. Common to both implementations is that a new TAC MAC-CE may be introduced and identified by a dedicated MAC subheader.

[0057] Figure 8 The enhanced TAC MAC-CE 800 according to the first embodiment is illustrated. The field size of TAG-ID is increased from 2 bits to 3 bits, so that the addressable TAG number of TAC MAC-CE is extended up to eight. Therefore, the enhanced TAC MAC-CE 800 can be used to update the TA value of one of the eight TAGs.

[0058] Fig. 9 The enhanced TAC MAC-CE 900 that can be used to update multiple TA values ​​is illustrated. The enhanced TAC MAC-CE 900 may have a variable size and include the following fields, such as Fig. 9 The TAG ID field includes a bitmap field 902 to indicate the presence of a TAC field for each TAG. i The TAC field is set to one to indicate that the TAC field of TAG ID i is included in the enhanced TAC MAC-CE 900. i The field is set to zero to indicate that the TAC field of TAG ID i is not included in the enhanced TAC MAC-CE 900. The TAC field indicates a TA command value of the corresponding TAG.

[0059] Fig.10An example architecture of a wireless communication system 1000 according to an embodiment disclosed herein is illustrated. The description provided below is for an example wireless communication system 1000 operating in conjunction with the LTE system standard and / or the 5G or NR system standard provided in the 3GPP technical specifications.

[0060] like Fig.10 As shown, the wireless communication system 1000 includes UE 1002 and UE 1004 (although any number of UEs may be used). In this example, UE 1002 and UE 1004 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device configured for wireless communication.

[0061] UE 1002 and UE 1004 may be configured to be communicatively coupled with RAN 1006. In an embodiment, RAN 1006 may be NG-RAN, E-UTRAN, etc. UE 1002 and UE 1004 utilize connections (or channels) (shown as connection 1008 and connection 1010, respectively) with RAN 1006, where each connection (or channel) includes a physical communication interface. RAN 1006 may include one or more base stations (such as base station 1012 and base station 1014) to implement connection 1008 and connection 1010.

[0062] In this example, connection 1008 and connection 1010 are air interfaces that enable such communicative coupling and may conform to the RAT used by RAN 1006, such as, for example, LTE and / or NR.

[0063] In some embodiments, UE 1002 and UE 1004 may also directly exchange communication data via side link interface 1016. UE 1004 is shown as being configured to access an access point (shown as AP 1018) via connection 1020. By way of example, connection 1020 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 1018 may include In this example, AP 1018 may not be connected to another network (eg, the Internet) through CN 1024.

[0064] In an embodiment, UE 1002 and UE 1004 may be configured to communicate with each other or with base station 1012 and / or base station 1014 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0065] In some embodiments, all or part of base station 1012 or base station 1014 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network. In addition, or in other embodiments, base station 1012 or base station 1014 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 1022. In an embodiment where wireless communication system 1000 is an LTE system (e.g., when CN 1024 is EPC), interface 1022 may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to EPC and / or between two eNBs connected to EPC. In an embodiment where wireless communication system 1000 is an NR system (e.g., when CN 1024 is 5GC), interface 1022 may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to 5GC, between base station 1012 (e.g., gNB) and eNB connected to 5GC, and / or between two eNBs connected to 5GC (e.g., CN 1024).

[0066] The RAN 1006 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the CN 1024. The CN 1024 may include one or more network elements 1026 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., UE 1002 and users of UE 1004) connected to the CN 1024 via the RAN 1006. The components of the CN 1024 may be implemented in one physical device or separate physical devices including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium).

[0067] In an embodiment, CN 1024 may be an EPC, and RAN 1006 may be connected to CN 1024 via an S1 interface 1028. In an embodiment, S1 interface 1028 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a serving gateway (S-GW); and an S1-MME interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a mobility management entity (MME).

[0068] In an embodiment, CN 1024 may be a 5GC, and RAN 1006 may be connected to CN 1024 via an NG interface 1028. In an embodiment, NG interface 1028 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a user plane function (UPF); and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and an access and mobility management function (AMF).

[0069] In general, the application server 1030 may be an element that provides applications that use Internet Protocol (IP) bearer resources with the CN 1024 (e.g., packet-switched data services). The application server 1030 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, group communication sessions, etc.) for the UE 1002 and UE 1004 via the CN 1024. The application server 1030 may communicate with the CN 1024 via the IP communication interface 1032.

[0070] Fig.11 A system 1100 for performing signaling 1134 between a wireless device 1102 and a network device 1118 according to an embodiment disclosed herein is illustrated. The system 1100 may be part of a wireless communication system as described herein. The wireless device 1102 may be, for example, a UE of a wireless communication system. The network device 1118 may be, for example, a base station (e.g., an eNB or a gNB) of a wireless communication system.

[0071] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more processors 1104. The processor 1104 may execute instructions to cause various operations of the wireless device 1102 to be performed, as described herein. The processor 1104 may include one or more baseband processors implemented using, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof for performing the operations described herein.

[0072] The wireless device 1102 may include a memory 1106. The memory 1106 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions 1108 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 1104). The instructions 1108 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 1106 may also store data used by the processor 1104 and results calculated by the processor.

[0073] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more transceivers 1110, which may include radio frequency (RF) transmitter and / or receiver circuitry that uses an antenna 1112 of the wireless device 1102 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 1134) transmitted and / or received by the wireless device 1102 with other devices (e.g., network device 1118) according to a corresponding RAT.

[0074] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more antennas 1112 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). For embodiments with multiple antennas 1112, the wireless device 1102 may take advantage of the spatial diversity of these multiple antennas 1112 to transmit and / or receive multiple different data streams on the same time-frequency resources. This behavior may be referred to as, for example, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) behavior (referring to multiple antennas used at each of the transmitting device and the receiving device to implement this aspect). MIMO transmission by the wireless device 1102 may be implemented based on precoding (or digital beamforming) applied to the wireless device 1102, which multiplexes data streams between the antennas 1112 based on known or assumed channel characteristics, so that each data stream is received with appropriate signal strength relative to the other streams and at a desired location in the spatial domain (e.g., the location of the receiver associated with the data stream). Certain embodiments may use a single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) approach (where data streams are all directed to a single receiver) and / or a multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) approach (where separate data streams may be directed to separate (different) receivers in different locations in the spatial domain).

[0075] In certain embodiments with multiple antennas, the wireless device 1102 may implement analog beamforming techniques whereby the phases of signals transmitted by the antennas 1112 are relatively adjusted so that the (joint) transmissions of the antennas 1112 may be directional (this is sometimes referred to as beam steering).

[0076] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more interfaces 1114. The interface 1114 may be used to provide input or output to the wireless device 1102. For example, a wireless device 1102 as a UE may include an interface 1114, such as a microphone, a speaker, a touch screen, buttons, etc., to allow a user of the UE to input and / or output to the UE. Other interfaces of such a UE may be composed of transmitters, receivers, and other circuits (for example, in addition to the transceiver 1110 / antenna 1112 described above), which allow the UE to communicate with other devices and may communicate according to known protocols (for example, etc.) to perform the operation.

[0077] The wireless device 1102 may include a timing management module 1116. The timing management module 1116 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the timing management module 1116 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 1108 stored in the memory 1106 and executed by the processor 1104. In some examples, the timing management module 1116 may be integrated within the processor 1104 and / or the transceiver 1110. For example, the timing management module 1116 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 1104 or the transceiver 1110.

[0078] The timing management module 1116 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figures 1 to 9 The timing management module 1116 is configured to support multiple TAs for multi-TRP operation.

[0079] The network device 1118 may include one or more processors 1120. The processor 1120 may execute instructions to cause various operations of the network device 1118 to be performed, as described herein. The processor 1120 may include one or more baseband processors implemented using, for example, a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a controller, an FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

[0080] The network device 1118 may include a memory 1122. The memory 1122 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions 1124 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 1120). The instructions 1124 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 1122 may also store data used by the processor 1120 and results calculated by the processor.

[0081] The network device 1118 may include one or more transceivers 1126, which may include RF transmitter and / or receiver circuits that use an antenna 1128 of the network device 1118 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 1134) to and / or from the network device 1118 with other devices (e.g., wireless device 1102) according to a corresponding RAT.

[0082] The network device 1118 may include one or more antennas 1128 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). In embodiments with multiple antennas 1128, the network device 1118 may perform MIMO, digital beamforming, analog beamforming, beam steering, etc. as described above.

[0083] The network device 1118 may include one or more interfaces 1130. The interface 1130 may be used to provide input to or output from the network device 1118. For example, a network device 1118 that is a base station may include an interface 1130 consisting of a transmitter, a receiver, and other circuits (e.g., in addition to the transceiver 1126 / antenna 1128 that has been described), which enables the base station to communicate with other equipment in the core network and / or enables the base station to communicate with an external network, computer, database, etc., for the purpose of operating, managing, and maintaining the base station or other equipment that is operably connected to the base station.

[0084] The network device 1118 may include a timing management module 1132. The timing management module 1132 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the timing management module 1132 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 1124 stored in the memory 1122 and executed by the processor 1120. In some examples, the timing management module 1132 may be integrated within the processor 1120 and / or the transceiver 1126. For example, the timing management module 1132 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 1120 or the transceiver 1126.

[0085] The timing management module 1132 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figures 1 to 9 The timing management module 1132 is configured to configure multiple TAs for multi-TRP operation.

[0086] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus including means for performing one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus that is a UE (such as wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein).

[0087] Embodiments contemplated herein include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a UE (such as memory 1106 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein).

[0088] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising logical components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein).

[0089] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein).

[0090] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals as described in or associated with one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600 .

[0091] Embodiments contemplated herein include a computer program or computer program product including instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processor causes the processor to perform one or more elements of the methods shown in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The processor may be a processor of a UE (such as processor 1104 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein). These instructions may be located, for example, in a processor and / or on a memory of a UE (such as memory 1106 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein).

[0092] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus including means for performing one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. For example, the apparatus may be an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 1118 as a base station, as described herein).

[0093] Embodiments contemplated herein include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. For example, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may be a memory of a base station (such as memory 1122 of network device 1118 acting as a base station, as described herein).

[0094] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus including logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. For example, the apparatus may be an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 1118 as a base station, as described herein).

[0095] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. For example, the apparatus may be an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 1118 as a base station, as described herein).

[0096] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals as described in or associated with one or more elements of the methods illustrated in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600 .

[0097] Embodiments contemplated herein include a computer program or computer program product including instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform one or more elements of the methods shown in signal flow diagram 100 and signal flow diagram 600. The processor may be a processor of a base station (such as processor 1120 of network device 1118 as a base station, as described herein). For example, these instructions may be located in a processor and / or on a memory of a base station (such as memory 1122 of network device 1118 as a base station, as described herein).

[0098] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described herein. For example, a baseband processor as described herein in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth herein. For another example, circuits associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc. as described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth herein.

[0099] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0100] Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that may be embodied in machine executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. A computer system may include one or more general or special purpose computers (or other electronic devices). A computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic components for performing operations; or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0101] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially combined into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment may be used in one embodiment. For clarity, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment unless expressly stated herein.

[0102] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0103] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signal including configuration information of a plurality of timing advance group (TAG) identities (IDs) from a network node; Determine a TAG ID based on the configuration information; as well as Future communications are configured based on the TAG associated with the TAG ID. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the configuration information comprises two independent TAG IDs. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the configuration information includes a first TAG ID, and wherein the method further comprises determining a second TAG ID based on the first TAG ID.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein a smaller TAG ID is used for a serving cell or an uplink transmission associated with a coresetPoolIndex set to “0”, and a larger TAG ID is used for a non-serving cell or an uplink transmission associated with a coresetPoolIndex set to “1”.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a timing advance command in a random access response (RAR) message, and wherein the RAR message includes a bit field indicating which of the two TAG IDs is associated with the timing advance command included in the RAR message.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining that the TAG configuration is invalid for inter-band carrier aggregation when a single TAG is associated with different coresetPoolIndex values ​​for different aggregated component carriers. 7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining that a TAG configuration is invalid for intra-band carrier aggregation when component carriers use different TAGs.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a timing advance command MAC-CE to update one or more timing advance values ​​of one or more TAGs.

9. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: processor; and a memory storing instructions, which, when executed by the processor, configure the UE to: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) signal including configuration information of a plurality of timing advance group (TAG) identities (IDs) from a network node; Determine a TAG ID based on the configuration information; as well as Future communications are configured based on the TAG associated with the TAG ID.

10. The UE according to claim 9, wherein the configuration information comprises two independent TAG IDs.

11. The UE of claim 9, wherein the configuration information comprises a first TAG ID, and wherein the UE determines a second TAG ID based on the first TAG ID.

12. The UE of claim 9, wherein a smaller TAG ID is used for a serving cell or an uplink transmission associated with a coresetPoolIndex set to "0", and a larger TAG ID is used for a non-serving cell or an uplink transmission associated with a coresetPoolIndex set to "1".

13. The UE of claim 9, wherein the instructions further configure the UE to receive a timing advance command in a random access response (RAR) message, and wherein the RAR message includes a bit field indicating which of the TAG IDs is associated with the timing advance command included in the RAR message.

14. The UE of claim 9, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to determine that the TAG configuration is invalid for inter-band carrier aggregation when a single TAG is associated with different coresetPoolIndex values ​​for different aggregated component carriers.

15. The UE of claim 9, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to determine that a TAG configuration is invalid for intra-band carrier aggregation when component carriers use different TAGs.

16. The UE of claim 9, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to receive a timing advance command MAC-CE to update one or more timing advance values ​​of one or more TAGs.

17. A method for a network node, the method comprising: transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) signal to a user equipment (UE), the RRC signal including configuration information of a plurality of timing advance group (TAG) identifiers (IDs); determining a timing advance command for enabling the UE to adjust its uplink transmissions to better align with the timing of the network node; as well as The timing advance command is transmitted to the UE and indicates which TAG ID is associated with the timing advance command. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the configuration information comprises two independent TAG IDs.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the configuration information includes a first TAG ID, and wherein the method further comprises determining a second TAG ID based on the first TAG ID.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein a smaller TAG ID is used for a serving cell or uplink transmission associated with coresetPoolIndex set to "0", and a larger TAG ID is used for a non-serving cell or uplink transmission associated with coresetPoolIndex set to "1".

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